A gamma point of view that's actually believable. Wow, I do not remember the last time I read a gamma viewpoint that resembled what would happen in real life.
Way to leave us hanging! I am enjoying this so much more than I thought I would (I haven’t read a lot of fantasy). Thank you for this very entertaining story.
Love the name MCI. It makes me think of that 1990s phone company that my parents used after moving to the US to call their relatively back in Europe, at $3+ per minute rates.
Would be funny if the guy was a still a skinwalker.
A gamma would never be able to admit to being played.
This teller confesses though that he doesn't know just how much is and isn't delusion. There's still quite a bit of wriggle room. The dog's body wasn't found, of course a probable explanation is the 'cleanup crew' was just himself.
The company supposedly exists, but... A question of how much of the dialogue we get from other characters is even real?
"A gamma would never be able to admit to being played."
Someone with comedic talent knows when to make a joke at their own expense. If you're crazy enough to be a joke, a comedian plays along with it. If you think I'm funny, stupid, something you laugh at, and I'm unable to look at it from another point of view, yours, then I'm dumber than if I could.
In the questioning, during 'Are you absolutely crazy?!', you prove yourself to be insane if you deny it. If you're hostile, argumentative, and offended during someone else's inquiry, you confirm it. People with status can survive being made fun of. They play the clown, when everything and everyone around them shows how you're a joke right now.
A gamma could admit to getting played, he just wouldn't accept any responsibility for it. He'd work out a story where he was the victim and someone else was at fault for him getting played.
There's a bit of contact between this story and one from the VDai sim a few days ago involving a "Professor Alistair Graves—balding, nicotine-stained, and perpetually haunted by..." The sim story wasn't edited, though I made up the title based on its output. https://forrestbishop.substack.com/p/tem-waves-the-library-of-forgotten
The funny thing is that it's not possible to be sure whether there really are monsters in that world or Horace is delusional.
A gamma point of view that's actually believable. Wow, I do not remember the last time I read a gamma viewpoint that resembled what would happen in real life.
Getting Lovecraft vibes from his Gamma spiral. Suppose he is the monster in the mirror. Sanity check time?
Unreliable narrators can be fun.
Way to leave us hanging! I am enjoying this so much more than I thought I would (I haven’t read a lot of fantasy). Thank you for this very entertaining story.
I'm starting to wonder if his employer is imaginary too, or at least not what they're purported to be.
Take the 5th. You're not going to
"explain" your way out of something
this serious.
Is MCI in-house counselor his mommy? How pissed is she?
I now have so much anticipation for where this story is going.
"I wasn't stalking her. I was protecting her."
Noooo! Agghh!
Love the name MCI. It makes me think of that 1990s phone company that my parents used after moving to the US to call their relatively back in Europe, at $3+ per minute rates.
Dawson...teeth...doesn't Horace realize they are everywhere?
“I really should have kept my mouth shut, waited for the company lawyer. But dammit, my honor had been impugned! My competence had been questioned!”
He is the secret monster killing king, after all. Who are they to question him?
He is delusional, question is, how delusional?
Would be funny if the guy was a still a skinwalker.
A gamma would never be able to admit to being played.
This teller confesses though that he doesn't know just how much is and isn't delusion. There's still quite a bit of wriggle room. The dog's body wasn't found, of course a probable explanation is the 'cleanup crew' was just himself.
The company supposedly exists, but... A question of how much of the dialogue we get from other characters is even real?
One thing is however not remotely in doubt.
Horace is a massive gamma.
"A gamma would never be able to admit to being played."
Someone with comedic talent knows when to make a joke at their own expense. If you're crazy enough to be a joke, a comedian plays along with it. If you think I'm funny, stupid, something you laugh at, and I'm unable to look at it from another point of view, yours, then I'm dumber than if I could.
In the questioning, during 'Are you absolutely crazy?!', you prove yourself to be insane if you deny it. If you're hostile, argumentative, and offended during someone else's inquiry, you confirm it. People with status can survive being made fun of. They play the clown, when everything and everyone around them shows how you're a joke right now.
"He is delusional, question is, how delusional?"
Agreed, that is the question and that is what is driving the suspense. This is fast becoming a book club.
A gamma could admit to getting played, he just wouldn't accept any responsibility for it. He'd work out a story where he was the victim and someone else was at fault for him getting played.
That's the second line of defense, 'if I was played, it was only because of X! In reality I am still the secret king!'
Yeah, this is getting into A Beautiful Mind territory.
There's a bit of contact between this story and one from the VDai sim a few days ago involving a "Professor Alistair Graves—balding, nicotine-stained, and perpetually haunted by..." The sim story wasn't edited, though I made up the title based on its output. https://forrestbishop.substack.com/p/tem-waves-the-library-of-forgotten
I look forward to reading this every week
It started out funny, but now I'm getting concerned. Just like a real life gamma encounter.