#there's an actual Thu'um translator-

[paradoxrealm]

A Return Worth Waiting For...~

The Charm was stone cold when Moon picked it up, the only change being a slightly brighter glow to it when he made contact with it. It seems safe for him to touch at least. Astel slowly moved her hands away from her chest to get a look at them, wincing at the pain and how ugly the burns looked. They were pretty gnarly to say the least... It really did look as though her hands got wrapped in hot razor wire...

She eyed the gel with slight suspicion, still not liking the whole vibe that hung heavy in the air. She wanted to trust him... She really did... But everything here just felt... wrong... All of it felt so very wrong...

"...What's wrong, 'stel? ...Why not let him help patch us up?"

"...It's not that I won't let him, Midnight... It's just... ...I want to trust him, Midnight... ...I really do... ...But I'm having a hard time with it because of how the Reality Check changed him... ...He's still treating us like prey... ...He's still trying to take us for fools... ...Using us as a means to an end... ...I just want my friend back... ...He hasn't looked at me the same since the Reality Check... ...and I'm worried he won't ever be able to look at me the same again..."

"...'stel..."

...His memories are still fairly hazy, but... did she really used to think of him so fondly...? ...Was he really a friend to her before? She... sounded genuinely heartbroken...

But now that he could listen in, some things were beginning to make sense... Even now she was still side-eyeing him like he were a mountain lion waiting for her to turn her back...

...Thankfully, Midnight came in to the rescue.

"...A-Actually, 'stel, hang on there's something I wanna try. ...It's something Papa used to do when I was little. ...May I?"

"...Uh, sure. Go ahead, Midnight."

...Actually Moon, Midnight wants to try something.

In just a moment the Beldam watches as Astel's buttons turned a fiery orange as Midnight took control for just a brief moment, the shadow looking down at her damaged hands. With a deep breath, she gently blew on her burns, her own breath slowly turning to swirling grains of ethereal blue sand that coated and soothed her burns. It... almost seemed to form a protective layer, keeping the burns clean, protected, and soothed. Once she was done, Midnight scooted back to the backseat, leaving Astel to wrap properly wrap her hands with bandaging she had summoned from her old first-aid kit (which she hasn't touched in CENTURIES, to the point the case actually had a layer of dust that she had to blow off first).

...Hey...~ ...Not bad.~

"...That should do until Mikearu can heal it for us when we get home.~"

...Hm...~ ...Thank you though, Moon.~

She sighed as she pushed herself back to her feet, taking a moment to examine her bandaged hands.

...Well. Considering how my last glimpse went down... I'd say that's rather ill advised... ...Not unless you want to take a crack at it instead?~

Hey at least she was trying to make the situation a tad lighter with some humor, Astel giving a wry smile with a slight shrug.

...No... ...No, I... saw something after my scrying backfired. I saw... images. Places... Th-The order didn't make any sense to me there was the apartments in the overworld, then the tulip garden, a-and then the forest, then the well! But- But then it came right back to the house here in the Other World- I-I-It didn't make sense! Kul wahlaan zu'u bo wah saan dii hahdrim voth daar mey!! UGHHH-

She threw her head into her hands, groaning at the headache this puzzle has brought. The Universe just LOVES giving her the ol' one-two brain K.O doesn't it...

Also- Hang on was that last bit Dov Speech-?? Wait... Why did Moon knoe that? HOW did he know that??? He... can almost hear the translation of it in his head. Something about the universe's tomfoolery driving her insane, or something like that? It was something along those lines, though not a direct translation. But... somehow he knew what she meant. Being inside her head is going to be a lot more than he thought isn't it...

But as they spoke... there was a sort of soft "rattle" almost. That's what it sounded like at least. What was that anyway...? Eh... It was probably nothing. But then again... It... sounded like it was coming from the living room?

——————

He gave a tight smile at the magic covering her hands, almost looking insulted that she decided to tend to it herself. “If you decide you want that to be taken care of a touch more thoroughly,” he motioned vaguely to her hands “you need only to ask, dear.” The jar was set back where he got it as he pocketed the charm. He opened his mouth to point out that the scrying only went wrong when she tried to look into his world, cut off by the rattling. “…… Did you hear that?” He had already turned on his heels, walking towards the front room with deceptively light steps.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Do you think Rishi Sunak could hold himself as PM if he gets the position after Liz Truss? Just given what a mess the current situation is. I'm honestly wondering how anyone of the Tories could want to become PM right now, it sounds like political suicide. It's like taking over responsibility for a dumpster fire while half your party tries to sabotage your efforts of controlling it.

Tbh I'm not sure anyone can at this point. It would actually be in the best interests of the Tory party right now to just call a GE and then focus on rebuilding themselves for next time - there is literally no hope of them winning right now. Last week I saw a poll that put them at SEVENTEEN PERCENT approval. That's the lowest they've ever been. They've completely disintegrated, like they were hit with a three-word Thu'um with Dragonborn Force. They are atoms. Blasted into their own shadows.

The Sunday Times, of all papers, is calling for both Rishi Sunak to take over AND A GENERAL ELECTION SO LABOUR CAN STEP IN. That is a major Tory paper, and their official stance is "Rishi is the best option for a viable stop gap but the whole party needs to be fired into the sun."

Meanwhile, the Sunday Mail yesterday tried to inject hope by running a story claiming they're trying to get Ben Wallace to stage a coup and oust Liz. Here is their headline:

Here is the problem:

Some MPs are worried because while Ben Wallace is popular within the Tory party, the public don't know who he is.

And that front page doesn't help.

Because that's not Ben Wallace.

In another YouGov poll for the Times, not a single political group, age group, area of the country, gender, or other demographic said that Liz Truss was the right choice for PM. And while present dissatisfaction polling results obviously won't directly translate into election results, because a lot of people will poll their fury but when push comes to shove will still vote for the party with gritted teeth, it's nonetheless true that we have not seen a Predicted Election Graph like this in recent memory:

So we're back to the big question: how fast can we get a GE? Because it no longer matters who sits in the hot seat. The party is done.

[kob131]

If there's one thing I can point to as to show why I'd say Skyrim isn't as shallow as everyone says it is-

It's the naming convention of the Nords and Dragons.

In the Elder Scrolls, Nord names follow one of two rhythms to them.

[First name] [Last name Pt.1]-[Last name Pt.2]

[First name] the [Title]

This seems like generic boastfulness just to make them sound badass.

... Until you get to The Fallen quest from the main game. There, you learn the name of the Dragon you intend to capture, Ohdaviing. Where you learn that the names of the dragons can be broken down into three parts, as they are Words of Power meant to be used with the Thu'um to challenge others.

Sound familiar? It should- Dragon names follow the same structure as Nord names. ... Or rather, Nord names are structured like dragon names because the Nords famously were oppressed by the dragons in the Merethic Era. So what happened is that Nords likely structured their naming convention like their dragon overlords. And the seemingly generic boastfulness of the names make far more sense as the name of dragons are meant to sound intimidating (like Ohdaviing translating to 'Winged Snow Hunter') and the Nord's history of battlelust also makes sense given that the dragons are obsessed with proving their superiority and pride.

In other words, the Nord's culture, while seemingly just a generic Viking ripoff, is actually heavily influenced by the dragons and make a lot of sense in that context. Which you wouldn't get if Skyrim was oh so shallow.