I'm suggesting that companions that I'm not prioritizing should go and do other things. Maybe I can find them out in the world doing that thing and have them join me again later. Maybe they died trying to do the thing they wanted to do and I find their body in the road and now I can't recruit them anymore - the price I pay because we had different priorities. If there are tons of potential companions out there, I have no issue with some of them dying or vanishing on their own path because I neglected them. Maybe some of the NPCs will sit patiently and wait, or can be convinced that my plan will work better in the long run and their moment to shine is coming. Maybe some of them are content to sit for a while, but I have to work to keep them there. Maybe I can send them off on some side-task while I'm doing the main thing.
There are lots of possibilities here. Lots of type-A characters with things to do, sitting quietly at my camp for days on end because a complete stranger asked them to makes no sense.
