ELEVEN! HE’S LATE.

TICKTOCKI’MACLOCK wrote:

FOR FUCK’S SAKE ASOTIL W H E R E A R E Y O U

Hatmadefromaskinnedhamster wrote:

If you’re going to lay on that boulder, strike a sensual pose to entice Asotil to arrive faster.

Thesoundofreality wrote:

There is nobody coming to get you, is there. You are alone.

Like you said, you’re sure Asotil is fine. Imperial Legionnaires are the Empire’s best-of-the-best; even that orcish bandit with the angular, rock-hard abs, luscious, steely pecs, and tight, herculean glutes said he steers clear of the Legion. Their patrols are what make Cyrodiil’s roads the safest on the entire continent.

Safest for people who aren’t you, anyway. You are aware that all the flora and fauna try to kill you every time you go between cities.

In fact, you bet that’s why Asotil’s not here! You bet he realized you’re nothing but trouble and this was the perfect time to ditch you! You bet he’s off patrolling some scenic beach-road while sipping a delicious tropical drink he wouldn’t have felt right drinking in front of you! Leaving you out here waiting for sixteen hours must have been way easier than telling you to your face that he hated you!

But hypothetically if he didn’t hate you and was actually just late, it sure would be embarrassing if he showed up right now while you are exposed and posing seductively. That sure does seem like the sort of thing your luck would facilitate!

Or more likely it would just mean that yet another person you thought was your friend has realized you’re not worth their time and energy. Gaius only tolerates you because you might have a lead on his nightmare problems. Quill-Weave only tolerates you out of pity. You bet none of it is actually real, and you’re just pretending things are okay while waiting for the other shoe to drop.

… something might have happened to Asotil.

Right. You’re not concretely saying Asotil has been decapitated by a monster or is otherwise indefinitely delayed, but you need to have a plan if he is.

Traveling back on your own is one possibility, especially now that you have a full three spells with which to defend yourself: fire, lightning, and ineffectually throwing small objects. The only problem is that you apparently have terrible luck on Cyrodiilic roads – or, more likely, luck doesn’t exist and this is just a particularly dangerous summer and you shouldn’t be traveling alone.

The other option would be hiring someone from the Fighter’s Guild. You’ve never exactly had the funds to hire people before, so you have no idea what that sort of thing costs. You’re guessing it would be enough to demote you from a high-end hundredaire to regular hundredaire at least, and your small taste of fortune has already filled you with too much greed to be comfortable with that.

And then there’s Gaius.

He said he wasn’t quite ready to go tromping off on an adventure with an ex-cultist, but maybe one more day getting to know you could change that. He is still the only potential lead you’ve ever found on your weird king nightmares, and you’re the same for him and his weird cultist nightmares. You have an incentive to look out for one another.

Fuck, with the way the two of you just ran into eachother by sheer chance… maybe someone is looking out for you. A little divine favor would be nice, even if deep down you’re pretty sure no god views you that favorably or has any interest in your smalltime struggles.

That… isn’t something you want to do.

Not only would it be kind of an asshole move to intentionally go missing to see if your best friend will get worried and send people looking for you, but the best case scenario is that she does – and discovers you abused her care to save yourself a few coins. And worst case scenario, you learn she wasn’t all that worried about your wellbeing – and was correct not to be, because you were actually fine and just trying to manipulate her into sending people to help you. Either way, it’d make you a huge jerk.

It’s not as if you aren’t a little curious whether she cares enough to do something, but… all the other times in your life this has come up, you’ve never exactly liked the answer.

As for just throwing the quest out and staying in Kvatch, it does seem like a safe and stable enough place to live now that its evil wizard problem is solved. Plus, being an official Mages Guild member means you have a free place to stay for long as you want. And, even if you did streak naked through the streets and wreck several buildings, this is the first city you’ve spent any length of time in where you didn’t do all that and also have sex with four or five people, in three or four public venues, typically two or three at a time, and either before, during, or after drunkenly defiling one or two pineapples. As far as long-term homes go, Kvatch is probably the best you’ll ever get.

But, you’re also not ready to give up on Quill-Weave’s delivery right when you’re so close to proving you can accomplish simple tasks. You’re also not about to just ditch Quill-Weave – your official Best Friend. Even if your life seems to be on the up-and-up, friends are still a rare commodity you can’t afford to throw away.

Speaking of: it’s been more than the 30 or 120 minutes necessary for that bi-hourly skeleton mindwipe.

Reaching out past the liminal barrier, you feel the familiar rush of positive feelings from the skeleton, excited to see how CairnCorp® can aid you today. You quickly think about how it’s nothing urgent; you’re just checking in. Are we still friends?

The skeleton happily ponders the sheer degree^[1] to which CairnCorp® values† all of its customers.

Alright, cool. That was everything. Carry on, enjoy your swim.

Hey, when… we were talking about nightmares earlier, you said the Daedric Prince of nightmares had a sort of “front desk” you could connect me to, right?

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Sometimes I save a rant for 10 years and finally decide it's not a thinkpiece, it's a stupid joke.

lurking…

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Just gently closing the door on ever giving a TED talk there. Very nice.

Date: 75 PST (Post Stasis Time)

“Yeah, it’s super exciting times! Two non-Terran AI, a Woolean, and a Tritian, finally interacting with us. There’s even been talks of some of the Woolean governments starting to formalize diplomatic relations with the Alliance. Exciting stuff!”

The avian uplift spoke with a measure of excitement, the ex-parrot’s feathers moving with a passion as they spoke about recent events, eyes glinting with excitement as she swung the glass of liquid around before taking a swig of the alcoholic beverage.

The bar was a small thing, more of a place to stay and drink in-between your travels, a tiny little room of bare steel chairs and tables, all lit by dim fluorescent lighting. It didn’t even have a bartender, just a little synthesizer which could create a variety of drinks. Sure, an aficionado of mixology would claim that synthesized drinks just don’t taste the same, but anyone coming to an establishment such as this wasn’t looking for a high class experience.

It was mostly about company while you waited for your ship to fuel on this small Terran owned space station.

“A Tritian? A Woolean I could understand, since they are less aggressive, but a Tritian? How do you get one of those without them trying to kill you?”

The second voice of the three figures sitting at the bar was an unnatural one, tinted with the digital origin of its speaker. The figure was bipedal, but not of an organic nature; instead a 7ft machine of metal, tubes, and wires making it look like something that had (...)

I have seen the extremely restrictive off-boarding agreement that contains nondisclosure and non-disparagement provisions former OpenAI employees are subject to. It forbids them, for the rest of their lives, from criticizing their former employer. Even acknowledging that the NDA exists is a violation of it.

If a departing employee declines to sign the document, or if they violate it, they can lose all vested equity they earned during their time at the company, which is likely worth millions of dollars.

— Kelsey Piper