#and “Ashton is an Asshole”

[lutheban]

None of them are equivalent to eachother but you get the point

[blorbologist]

We've had a thousand and one 'de Rolos adopt Caleb/Beau/Laudna/Molly/Veth/whoever' AUs, time for 'Percy finds Prism rummaging around his library like a raccoon through garbage' AU!

EDIT: started writing this enjoy

[dumpster-fire-sapphic-failgirl]

I do think it’s funny that shortly after all of the Hells were finally convinced that Imogen and Laudna weren’t officially together was when they kissed

I’ve seen a lot of posts talking about how Chet or Ashton(?!?) would be confused about that being a meaningful change in their relationship

But that ignores the fact that Chet is insightful as fuck when he wants to be. He’s seen the pining. He’s seen the confusion and angst. He’s got the most experience with the widest range of relationships of the group. He fuckin knows.

Orym knows gay angst and repressed feelings and tagged imogen and their lack of a romantic relationship since she shouted in his head back at the Taste of Tal’dorei.

FCG and Fearne especially have been pushing together their faces like barbie dolls and shouting “Now kiss!” since something like ep18.

And Ashton. Ashton’s the only one that’s really seen Laudna’s side of this. They’ve been the one that has seen her angst. Her confusion. Her self loathing and her not thinking she was good enough for Imogen in the long term. They told her to take what she wanted on the way to the store in the sandstorm. They were the voice of support and reason and hope the entire time the teams were split. They told her specifically to spend time with Imogen bc they knew she needed it.

Ashton might toss out something glib like “it’s not a big deal when wives kiss you two” but under their breath it’s gonna be something like “fuckin finally”

[aeoris4lovers]

i love how ashton met percy and keyleth, canon besties, and ended up absolutely hating percy’s guts but thinking keyleth is the coolest person in all of exandria

[towards-toramunda]

Ashton “I will crush fate under my boot” Greymoore after feeling that he and Fearne were both fated to find the shard together and seeing everyone assume that Fearne taking the other shard means they’ll be in a relationship now would absolutely pull the “sister” card thats so true to character for them idk why people are shocked by this

[utilitycaster]

You know what's interesting to me? For all people keep claiming at every juncture that perhaps Bells Hells will come around on the gods and see the harm they do (which, as discussed extensively, is, half the time, simply not intervening) not only have they never done so, but also they never quite cross the line into saying the party should join the Ruby Vanguard or aid them - and indeed, they defend against it - so what does this achieve? It feels like they're asking for a story in which the party stands idly by, which isn't much of a story nor, if I may connect this briefly to the real world, a political stance anyone should be proud of.

That's honestly the frustration with the gods and the "what if the Vanguard has a point" conversations in-game. What do we do then? Do we allow the organization that will murder anyone for pretty much any reason that loosely ties into their goals run rampant? The group that (perhaps unwittingly, but then again, Otohan's blades had that poison) disrupted magic world-wide, and caused people who had the misfortune to live at nexus points to be teleported (most, as commoners, without means of return). While also fomenting worldwide unrest?

Those were the arguments before the trip to Ruidus; with the reveal of the Vanguard's goals to invade Exandria, the situation becomes even more dire. Do you let the Imperium take over the planet?

And do the arguments against the gods even hold up? If Ludinus is so angry at them for the Calamity, what does it say that he destroyed Western Wildemount's first post-Calamity society for entirely selfish means? (What does it say about the validity of vengeance as a motivator?) What does it say that Laudna told Imogen she could always just live in a cottage quietly without issue before the solstice even happened? (Would this still be true if the Imperium controls the world?) What does it say that when faced with a furious, grieving party and the daughter she keeps telling herself was her reason for all of this, Liliana can't provide an answer to the question of what the gods have done other than that their followers will retaliate...for, you know, the Vanguard's endless list of murders. (That is how the Vanguard and Imperium tend to think, huh? "How dare your face get in the way of my boot; how dare you hit me back when I strike you.") She can't even provide a positive answer - why is Predathos better - other than "I feel it", even though Imogen and Fearne know firsthand that Predathos can provide artificial feelings of elation. Given all the harm Ludinus has done in pursuit, why isn't the conclusion "the gods should have crashed Aeor in such a way that the tech was unrecoverable?"

Even as early as the first real discussion on what the party should do, the fandom always stopped short of saying "no, Imogen's right, they should join up with the people who killed half the party," it was always "no, she didn't really mean it, she just was trying to connect with her mother." Well, she's connected with her mother, and at this point the party doesn't even care about the gods particularly (their only divinely-connected party member having died to prevent the Vanguard from killing all of them). So they will stop the Vanguard; as Ashton says, the means are unforgiveable. As Laudna says, it's not safe to bet on Predathos's apathy. As Imogen says, she's done running; the voice that she used to think of as a lifeline belongs to someone she doesn't trust. So I guess my question is: if they're stopping the people who are trying to kill the gods (and defense of the gods isn't remotely their personal motivation)...do you think the next phase of the campaign is Bells Hells personally killing the gods? Reconstructing the Aeor tech and hoping none of their allies notice? How does this end? Does your ideology ever get enacted? Or is this entirely moot and pointless and the story ends with Bells Hells saying "well, I'm really glad we stopped the people who [insert list of Vanguard atrocities from above]; none of us follow the gods or plan to, but honestly, the status quo we return to is preferable to whatever nightmare Ludinus had concocted in his violent quest for power and revenge"?

[lunarrolls]

shoutout to one of my favorite dynamics in the hells: ashton and chetney constantly antagonizing each other as a love language. it is truly the funniest shit. they know that neither of them will take any of it to heart so they just go full asshole mode on each other forever but also they have some of the most genuine moments together, like ashton being the one who knocks chetney out of his superwolf spirit form through addressing him like an equal and later admitting to orym that they care a lot about what happens to chetney specifically. it’s just really fun to watch and see the genuine core of their friendship

[jadedgenasi]

Nobody in bells hells has the right to criticize Ashton for taking the shard ever again. Imogen least of all, if she fucking survives.

[gwynbleiddyn]

even though it hurts, even though it scars, love me when it storms, love me when i fall, every time it breaks, every time it's torn / love me like i'm not made of stone--

something about broken-hearted barbs and choosing to love as much as they hurt really gets me in the honey nut feelios

[moonsarts]

So uh, THAT happened-

[thematronofravens]

just saw someone on the cr subreddit say that people not liking ashton just don’t understand chronic pain/are ableist and…yikes

[topaz-mutiny]

Second ramble is shorter because it's a comment about Ashton and Shady Sally.

It's actually hilarious that Bells Hells never met any of the Nobodies until this point in their journey together. Until after their first visit to Bassuras.

Shady Sally tells Ashton to their face, now, that he would do the same thing the Nobodies did to him and leave. That they'd abandon someone who was "pretty fucking broken".

It's hilarious because Ashton already went through that opportunity during the Otohan fight. Fearne died. Orym died. One of the last things any one still alive saw was Laudna viciously impaled on a sword.

Pretty fucking broken.

Ashton threw that punch because he already knows what he would do because he DID it, and instead of continuing the plan to run and scatter, they turned around and started running back for Bells Hells.

Because you don't fucking abandon people, pretty fucking broken or not.

[dadrielle]

Christ I block so many people to avoid Imogen discourse and still it gets through, and it is *always* the same stupid pattern of people poorly interpreting what Imogen did/said to -> cast aspersions on her dedication to the cause/say she's going evil -> saying Imogen fans can't hack any critique of her when they get mad that people are saying she said or did something she didn't.

This is so BORING y'all can we talk about what actually happened and Imogen's actual issues and not this constant rehashing of the same ideas that are not even accurate to the show, like *goddamn*

[astralleywright]

okay finally watching the beginning of the shard scene thst i missed (i only saw the part where they exploded and got kicked in the face). man ashton's arm just fell off. starting to think this was a bad idea

[defyingthefates]

Well I feel... weird. It's abundantly clear that the shard was meant for Fearne. And I'm really sad we're not gonna see how that would have panned out. This *should* have killed Ashton, it was reckless, it was Ashton blatantly disregarding his importance to his friends and how much it would hurt them if he died. It doesn't feel like it should be rewarded. Matt may yet build in some double-edged caveats into whatever comes of this. But the decisions made were all very in character. Fearne is afraid of bearing the weight of that responsibility and Ashton, much like a good three quarters of the party, seems all too eager to throw their life away as a martyr for their friends.

Certainly this will have interesting effects on party dynamics. I think Ashton just lost a lot of trust with the party for pulling this stunt. And they very well might have fractured whatever was building between them and Fearne, maybe not irreparably, but its gonna take a long while to heal. Ashton put Fearne in an unfair spot and she is rightly furious at him. I suspect under that anger she probably also feels guilty for letting him go through with it and perhaps guilty for being too afraid to take the power for herself. I hope, if nothing else, that we will see interesting character development with Fearne come from the emotional aftermath. And perhaps the other martyr-happy party members will get a clue too. *cough*ImogenLaudnaOrymFCG*cough*

Anyway the party is going to murder Ashton for this and he's gonna deserve it. That kick was deserved and more, sorry bud.

[jackass-jones]

Something about the way Ashton Frey has horrible self worth issues and constantly feels like he’s a bad friend and letting everyone down by existing wrong but also the way he shows his affection for his friends is by bothering them by invading their personal space crashing on their couch without asking first using stupid nicknames no one likes and like, they genuinely do get annoyed with him for this! But he lacks the social awareness to know where he’s gone wrong and just assumes he’s this horrible presence who inevitably ruins everything for everyone. It’s like he knows he’s annoying but doesn’t know WHY or how to make it stop. Good shit