"I - don't really know what that means but I think I'm supposed to be trying to figure out how my powers work so I can save a bunch of people."

"...well, if you came back with us then time would be paused here, so you'd have lots of time to figure them out."

"...I think I am moderately concerned about how the powers might or might not be determining what I want."

" - I'm a fan of the 'pause time' thing because it sounds like there are like eighty ongoing moral emergencies and if time is paused then you don't have to deal with any of them."

"Definitely tempting. Honestly - very close to the thing I was wishing for, except, like, the wish was half-formed and mostly unendorsed, if very strong, and having it granted via the sudden appearance of an obviously extremely powerful Liar who I have never met or suspected the existence of is kind of terrifying in its implications."

“You think you summoned into existence an interdenominational coalition of powerful magic humans who were planning to freeze time in your dimension?”

"I mean I don't know? It's just a really weird thing to have happen at exactly this point in time? And - maybe they already existed but I got them to come here, or something. Why - did you guys have a reason for coming?"

"Um. Curiosity?"

" - I'm just saying that's really suspicious."

“Huh! I’m going to try to reassimilate that fork since it knows it’s not real now, this didn’t happen to it.”

Nodnod.

"....so do you want to come?"

"I - don't object to meeting a magical coalition of myself unless you're secretly planning to torture or kill me or do something else horrible, in which case I would think that my consent wouldn't matter very much, except that I guess it does, because I am in theory capable of making anyone do anything I want. I have no idea whether that includes conditionals."

"...why are you under the impression that you can do that."

"I spoke to a god a few hours ago and that's what he said."

"...huh."

“She can,” he tells Valentine. “My father explained the whole thing and she can.”

Well that's sort of terrifying. "And you don't know whether you're doing it?"

"No."

"Okay. I think I will talk to some people and ask them if they're okay with you coming to the demiplane, given that. As soon as Elizabeth picks me up. But I'll tell them you want to come and pause time."

Nodnod.

"Do you want a hug?" he asks the evidently terrified human who Eru just gave mind-control powers.

" - yes. I'm - trying not to want very many things but yes."

Hug. "If we somehow later manage to magically determine that I gave you a hug because of your wanting-powers I will not be bothered about this."

"Well I wouldn't want you to be."

But she accepts a hug.