"Wait--" Nautilus might have a history behind that one, but Ren wasn't even sure he'd fully gotten that. "What do you mean paused? If we go home, things will pick up right where they left off?"

The thought made him sick to his stomach, to think that if he went home, right back to the investigators, and their burning needles and painful fists he would go. Sure, he was used to a long time passing in the Metaverse, but only a few hours or even a few minutes back home. That's just how the 'verse worked.

This? A pause, just like that? That turned his stomach. "Sorry, this is just... this is all crazy." Ren tugged at a lock of hair. "...You've been in a place like this before?"