"Has to be a wish or a prayer that's - directed outward, not just somebody sitting and thinking about wanting something, and it has to be directed either at me or at something vague enough that I could count as it. Like the mage in Ryganaav who wanted her gods 'or someone kinder', or the Aleists who keep asking 'watchful spirits' for things, or the girl in Erubia who wanted help from 'the saviors'." (He quotes all those phrases in the relevant languages.) "At home people mostly know how to get my attention if they want it, but sometimes they try praying to miscellaneous gods just to see what works, and it seems like as long as the god they're asking for doesn't have a definition in their mind that excludes me, it works. And wishing on things like stars and birthday candles works too, if they're not thinking of the star or the candle as a specific person inhabiting that specific thing, if it's more like a convenient stand-in for Magic Or Whatever or a superstition they're not really thinking about that closely."
no subject
"Has to be a wish or a prayer that's - directed outward, not just somebody sitting and thinking about wanting something, and it has to be directed either at me or at something vague enough that I could count as it. Like the mage in Ryganaav who wanted her gods 'or someone kinder', or the Aleists who keep asking 'watchful spirits' for things, or the girl in Erubia who wanted help from 'the saviors'." (He quotes all those phrases in the relevant languages.) "At home people mostly know how to get my attention if they want it, but sometimes they try praying to miscellaneous gods just to see what works, and it seems like as long as the god they're asking for doesn't have a definition in their mind that excludes me, it works. And wishing on things like stars and birthday candles works too, if they're not thinking of the star or the candle as a specific person inhabiting that specific thing, if it's more like a convenient stand-in for Magic Or Whatever or a superstition they're not really thinking about that closely."