#but like. ashton and imogen really do Not get each other in a lot of ways. cad and jester were very opposite in a lot of ways

[shorthaltsjester]

taliesin and laura remain truly so fantastic at making characters who… don’t necessarily have something extremely and inherently in common but do have experiences that were caused by similar sources and that lead them to have quite different opinions/ideas about things but in ways that are typically very reconcilable? which is a lot of qualifiers but it’s a through line of vex/percy with nobility, jester & cad with loneliness (and also god stuff but in a different post maybe someday i’ll talk about how actually their god stuff is intensely related to their different experiences of loneliness), and now imogen & ashton with being left behind.

like vex was this character who technically had a claim to nobility due to her blood but at the same time was burdened because of that same claim. and percy who was born into and raised by nobility but that nobility ended up making his family the targets of a massacre. and then vex who lets down her walls and Do I Look Like I Come From Money? and percy giving her the title grand mistress of the grey hunt because it has nothing to do with blood, or his love for her, or anything aside from the fact that it’s something she can prove herself worthy of simply by virtue of who she Is, not who someone makes her. and percy and vex’s conversation about forgiveness and it’s necessity for growth as probably two of the characters most inclined to hold grudges.

and caduceus clay who gets left behind with nothing but his Belief while his family goes off into the world. and jester lavorre who gets shut inside with no company except her Belief as her mother protects her from the world. and they both get the burden of loneliness and the understanding of love’s nonmalicious imperfection. and caduceus having a panic attack on a ship and jester telling him that the world is a lot bigger than his cemetery and that means he has to break out of his comfort zone to find his path. and caduceus telling jester that he doesn’t think she gets as much credit as she ought to and she deserves more pastries. and jester thanking caduceus for showing her how cool it is to actually heal people and caduceus asking if she wants to use his shield while he doesn’t need it.

and ashton who was left broken and dying on the ground and was given inescapable pain as their means of survival. and imogen who was left behind by the only person who could provide true understanding of the pain she’d one day come to feel. and ashton who’s a barbarian, who wields their rage casually and unapologetically and who sees the Shittiness of the world but is unrelenting in his version of optimism. and imogen who is weighed down by pessimism she doesn’t Want to have but hasn’t cracked how to undo and who doesn’t admit her anger until it comes up again and again and again and carries it like a burden or like guilt, who we only see really Grasp and feel Confidence about her anger being something good in front of others when she has those conversations with ashton. and like. ashton who looks at imogen and sees a superhero. imogen venturing through ashton’s mind and holding his bleeding and exhausted head and saying i’m sorry. i’m sorry. and imogen who looks at ashton and sees someone special. and fucking “we got him killed.” and “no, we didn’t. don’t you dare. […] we are not what fucking killed that man. […] we are his eventual victory. we are his fucking revenge.” and “i’ll be his revenge.” and “i have no fucking doubt.”

and in general rp wise they both tend to make some of my favourite characters (also typically the ones i find most frustrating) because they both tend to make flaws that are easy to hate and they make those flaws very central to their characters but i think that’s also what makes their character interactions so deeply compelling because so frequently it’s like. yes yes these two characters have like. a helix of things they have in common but also things they deeply disagree on but they’re going to spider-man point at the things that are the same and they’re going to honour their differences while doing so. and it’s just. i always enjoy it so much and i was psyched when i heard about an imogen and ashton side pit stop in last nights episode and i was not let down when i watched the episode today.

[utilitycaster]

I think this is the last I have to say about it, certainly not until new episodes air, but the thing about What The Fuck Is Up With That is that it's emblematic of the issues Bells Hells have - and to be honest I suspect always might have - regarding trust. It's a party game. It's a fun way to get surface-level answers. It's an infodump. It's telling not showing. It's not a bad thing, but you don't build trust, actually, by providing every piece of information! In fact, sometimes, it's good to keep your inside thoughts inside! You build trust with other people through your actions: through keeping your word, through proving your ability to do what they expect of you. Perhaps this is a personal experience and not a universal tenet, but people who share everything about themselves right away and people who end up being genuinely reliable and close and trustworthy are often two nearly entirely separate camps.

This also does once again feel like something with an interesting echo within the fandom. Earlier on in the campaign, before the introduction of 4-Sided Dive, I received a lot of questions about whether it would be helpful if we had something like Talks and my response was usually "no, the issue is that I know everything about the backstory and not actually much anyone's motivations; I have a factual list of personal history and I'm looking for a sense of someone's personality." This still comes up occasionally when I talk about Laudna, whose motivations remain hazy much of the time; we have a quite detailed outline of her history but it is missing the only things that actually matter. We know what. We don't know why. Bells Hells knows so much what about each other and they still struggle, even now, with "why".

And when it comes to why, telling people is nice, but it's very easy to lie about motivations. Indeed, that's why Imogen ends up fooled by her mother; she knows what Liliana did but assumed there was a deeper why than there ended up being; that Liliana wasn't simply seduced by the idea that Predathos would free her and Imogen from the burden of their powers but was also working as a force for good within the Vanguard and wouldn't hurt so many people. The revelation that the "why" really was that simple was ultimately why Imogen felt betrayed. Knowing more details about Liliana doesn't help.

Chetney ends up being the illustrative exception here, if that helps. He arrived late to the party. He never played What The Fuck Is Up With That. He even told them what he was there for (looking for Gurge) and lied about the "why" (werewolf reasons) initially. He to this day keeps secrets. But he's open about keeping secrets. That caginess allows him to be one of the party members most people trust on a fundamental level. They don't trust him to be kind, or generous per se; they don't even trust him to not hurt them. But they trust him to not hurt them intentionally, since he's repeatedly shown he will take steps to avoid this. He is cagey and uncooperative during most of the honesty exercise, but when he finally says something, it isn't a judgement - it is an explanation of his own behavior. When he declines to share his deal with Morri, he still reassures them that he did not do anything that would fall to them - and that's honest, and that's what matters, that he made a deal for himself and himself alone. Compare with Orym, who hides even the fact he made the deal, or Ashton a couple days ago, who hid their true plans with the shard. On the surface, Chetney is the one hiding something - but he is honest that he hides things. If Chetney's secret comes out? It won't change the party's understanding of his trustworthiness; it will just change some of the facts. If Orym's comes out or when Ashton's was revealed? That's a huge change in the party's understanding of their motivations.

Honesty in this party has been a game from the start, and as the exercises show, it still mostly is. A panopticon is, unsurprisingly, not a great way to make people trust each other; a little open hiding and actions over words are in order. I don't think that's necessarily a problem, in that I think Bells Hells share, if not a vast overreaching goal, an agreement regarding their pretty significant task. But I think any deeper trust is yet to be actually tested, tried, and forged.

[longlivedelusion]

An Interview with Jester Lavorre of the Mighty Nein

Warnings: cursing, mentions of sexual endeavors, mentions of death, and spoilers up until C3 Ep111.

A/N: Well this idea forced itself upon my brain after @chiakery made this request:

Jester's commentary on BH couples as she talks with Beau/Fjord/Sprinkle or just straight up goes to people in question, no filter (just like we love her) making them blush like mad/speak in innuendo with her/whatever feels right.

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, I'm sorry 😭 but this idea just took a hold of me and I knew I had to run with it. I hope you enjoy it anyways! I'll be including a part two with headcanon reactions from each couple.

I felt like after saving the world in a very public way, the Mighty Nein won't be able to stay as low-key as they used to be. But still weren't as like publicized as probably VM or BH. So I feel like Jester did this interview because she personally just loved this publication and wanted to be a part of it. So she found a way around that loll enjoy!

Hello everyone! Today I will be sharing an interview we just had with a very special guest: Jester Lavorre, Saviour of Exandria, Slayers of the Mind Weave, and Sapphire of the 5 Seas.

We're so lucky here at The Knowsy Cat to have an exclusive interview with one of the elusive members of the Mighty Nein. Known to avoid media and any sort of public attention, we were fortunate to have received an acceptance for an interview with Ms. Lavorre, soon to be Mrs. Tusktooth, an inside scoop we received from the woman herself.

But you can read more about that below.

The following is a full transcript from that conversation:

Ms. Lavorre! Thank you so much for agreeing to an interview with us. Your group is a hard one to catch on anyone's radar it seems. Any reason for that?

Well, first of all it's soon to be Mrs. Tusktooth thank you very much. But you can just call me Jester.

Congratulations! Is Mr. Tusktooth a part of your group or someone from back home perhaps? I don't recognize the name from any of our files.

Oh he's very very handsome and very sweet. And you can call him Captain Tusktooth, he has his own ship you know.

A Captain! Well, what a fine catch it seems. Then is he not of the Mighty Nein then, but simply a Captain of a ship?

Well why couldn't he be both?

Oh, I don't mean to offend! I'm just asking for clarification is all.

You know, so many people don't know I'm a First Mate of the ship! They just know me as the Savior of Exandria blah blah, but I do a lot of the pulling of anchors, and opening the sails, you know ship stuff. I'm very very strong. Like this one time, I had to carry this huuge minotaur named Braius out of a battle, and like he was super big you know? And I lifted him over my shoulders no problem!

Braius? Do you mean Braius Doomseed, Nascent Might of the Platinum's Call?

Yeah, yeah! That's him. Great artist, you should really check out his work. He draws some sexy stuff, if you know what I mean.

Oh we've seen it! He's become a pretty renown artist in Zadash it seems. Do you still talk to any of the Bells Hells, fellow saviors of Exandria?

Oh all the time! Like there's this girl Fearne who's a super hot fae, and I mean SUPER hot. She's made of fire and like can get really big, it's craazy. I talk to her all the time, she's so funny. Or I talk to the creepy spider lady, but usually through her girlfriend who I guess is kind of whatever. She does mind stuff too but like boring mind stuff.

Do you mean Imogen Temult and Laudna? Are they an item?

The BIGGEST item. They're like attached at the hip and constantly fucking. It's a bit awkward at first you know, having just met and everyone was sleeping like right next door to eachother. But the end of the world can make people do crazy stuff so who am I to judge!

How about Ms. Calloway? Is she currently involved with anyone?

I mean, she's kind of together with Ashton who's totally her other half you know? They got this hot, Titan thing going on. But she always tells me she's all about spreading her legs to fly, so they have an "open relationship." Like she had a threesome with the old wolf man from her group and his ex one time and they did some wild shit together let me tell you, [redacted for explicit content].

Wow! I-I did not expect such... Explicit details. And this was former member Chetney Pock O'Pea, High Hunter and Lupine Paragon?

Yeah, it was like really sad of course that he died but we all knew it was gonna happen. And he died like real hero stuff, fucked shit up for Ludinus that's for sure. But Orym is still super sad about it, I think it might've been his dad or something I don't know. But he's also such a softie, even though he's totally only showing his super softie side to Dorian.

Dorian Storm, the Heir to the Silken Squall? The union between he and Orym of the Air Ashari was all we could talk about for weeks! Were they involved then, during the Red Divide?

Oh my gosh, they were sooo in love with each other when we first met, but apparently they had like not even kissed yet! I remember I woke up at 3am cause someone was snoring super loud, and I was like "ugh, I'm soo bored, I can't sleep now" so I got up and drew in my journal a while but then the Traveler was like "go do some funny stuff!" So I decided to draw dicks on some people's faces and went to the room across from me and there they were! Snuggling each other! It was soooo sweet, so I was going to draw matching dicks on them you know? To make it romantic, of course. But then Orym opened his eyes and gave me a very scary look so I didn't. I ended up drawing them on the wolf man instead. But the next morning the two of them came out all shy and awkward, and Dorian was turning purple from blushing so hard. But then Braius came around with the literal most beautiful painting I have ever seen! Of Orym! Can you believe it? And Dorian was like freaked out, so he grabbed Orym's hand, stood in front of the painting to cover it and declared his love for Orym to the whole group. He was all like "I'm in love with Orym so like back off okay" and Braius totally did after that.

So there was a love triangle between the three of them?

I mean, Braius kind of hit on everyone back then so it wasn't a super weird thing. But Dorian was very not into it, which I totally get you know. I'm very protective of my Tusktooth and he's very hot so obviously everyone would want him. Dorian's the same.

So Braius Doomseed is a man about town then?

Well I heard he had a thing going on with Fearne and Ashton, but he also had a thing going on with Fearne's Nana which is like, okay a bit weird even for me. But now I think he settled down with an old flame of his.

Talking about marriage, any details you can share about your nuptials with Mr. Tusktooth?

Well it's going to be in this really big fancy estate with like 3 ballrooms and 30 bedrooms, so we can invite a lot of our friends you know. And I'm going to have a cupcake cake that's in the shape of me and his face, maybe like a blueberry cupcake or chocolate, or both. And then my mom is going to have a dress made for me that's like from this really famous designer, which they used to make all of my mom's dresses so I know it'll be really good.

That sounds incredible. We hope you'll maybe share some photos with us in the future?

Maybe!

Well, thank you for your time Jester. It's been an absolute pleasure. Anything else you want to tell our audience before we go?

I know gods are like super weird for everyone right now, but The Traveler is a really cool guy who's kind of like a god, but not. He's very powerful and nice and he likes to have a lot of fun. Here, I have a pamphlet you can share with your readers!

Unfortunately at this time, the pamphlet was not able to be printed along with this issue.

[towards-toramunda]

What bothers me most about 'Orym is the reason Laudna killed Bor'dor' is iirc in the episode Marisha pretty clearly states Laudna didn't even really notice the nod? She didn't notice much of anything because she was fixated on that one objective, and nothing was going to get in her way. But of course, it still becomes 'Ashton and Orym were horrible for not stopping her.'

Yeah tbh I’ve seen a lot of people bring up that in 4sd Marisha said she was looking to orym and Ashton and Liam said that he wasn’t gonna let bordor leave that scene alive and he knew in that moment she might bring Delilah back but that Orym thought they might need Delilah for this fight and… Like… yes we can acknowledge the enabling, but I’ve seen so many people act like enabling someone to do something he would’ve done either way makes Orym an irredeemable person. I truly believe that the nod didn’t change anything and she would’ve killed bordor regardless. I remember while I was watching the episode thinking the nod felt almost like an act of tragic kindness in the moment. Like Liam/Orym could see how hurt and emotional Marisha/Laudna was in this moment and nodded to let her know that “its okay. I agree with you.” Almost as a way to attempt to lift the burden from her and let her know that she wasn’t alone despite how awful the situation was.

I think it’d be interesting for the story if Laudna was gonna kill him either way but was so traumatized by it all that she began viewing Orym’s nod as “the reason she did it” so she could deflect accountability for it all, BUT I really think she was gonna do it either way.

And like… everyone angry that “he is the reason she leaned back into her addiction” I mean since then Laudna and Imogen have talked about leaning into their dark side with each other and harnessing that power for the mission and nobody in the fandom seems angry at either of them for enabling each other. It feels hypocritical to be so upset with orym still after all this time because he… nodded in agreement with her killing a guy he was going to kill either way and thought they might need Delilah. (For the record I’m messy and I like drama so I’m always gonna support PCs enabling other PCs to do morally questionable things for the sake of the story like Imogen and laudna are doing with each other and like Orym did with the nod. Like yeah push that big red button what’s it gonna do? I’m curious and like messy stories)

[zeephyre]

CR3 EPISODE 98 SPOILERS

???????????? im not sure where to start or end.

lets just start with how incredibly beautiful the cast looked at the live show. and how much i enjoyed seeing both brennan and aabria present (we will get to brennan again in a second)

as far as the actual episode, i think this episode is both one of the best episodes and one of my favourite episodes. dominox's visions were brutal but it was really interesting seeing how the hells handled them. chetney and dorian seemed the most affected, and honestly chetney's was the most mindfuck-y, but the way that ashton and imogen just got to the root of the manipulation, trying to reach out to dominox.... *chefs kiss*

i loved the mystery of this episode... smth abt how creepy dominox is and bells hells going back and forth on what they should do with it/him/her. dominox manifesting as a little girl was so??? creepy but also the greatest shit ever, i found it so compelling and far scarier than the big scary demon form. something something the corruption of innocence something something

it is really fucked up to give ashton that fcg vision just after sam got back to the table... like that was just twisting the knife deeper and deeper.

we NEED to lock braius up or something, i thought fearne was the most horny poly pc with chetney but GOD he really locked tf in as soon as he took bells hells in. in all seriousness i cannot wait for more braius (in like....a fucking MONTH I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE). interested in whatever the fuck he's got going on with dorian, ashton and fearne... will need him to flirt with chetney cause we didnt get around to it.

speaking of fearne... teven saying they're bound together and expressing desire to have her join him in the hells... love toxic romance idc. also him saying he's bound to a lot of people and then fearne saying SHE IS TOO??? can y;all stop the ship wars now please how much more explicit can fearne get about being poly and not wanting or needing to CHOOSE. hell... ashton literally keeps flriting with other dudes, i.e: essek, and now braius. HERE'S HOW POLY HELLS CAN FINALLY BECOME REAL.

bells hells morality in question is always my favourite bit at the table becausse like... they're good people, i guess but really they care more about each other than other people. (and then theres orym who is just a little guy with trauma... he'll match our freak eventually)

LUDINUS APPEARANCE WAS SO INCREDIBLY INSANE LIKE HE WAS WAY TOO CASUAL ABOUT IT AND THAT WAS SO FUNNY TO ME. GOD. AM I IN LOVE WITH LUDA??? (a little yeah). tag teaming dominox with ludinus is literally the greatest shit ever i am so SO sorry keyleth i know we were supposed to kill him on sight or whatever (and they did attack him immediately) but i want to ask him my silly little questions.

i have never thought that ludinus was... wrong, idealogically, as the discourse can have us going in circles, i mostly just dont like people who murder hundreds for their own agendas. however comma i do love a motivated hot old man with religious trauma.

whatever the hell ludinus found... if it shifts bells hells' reality to the point they join him (unlikely but not totally impossible) i will lose my fucking mind. regardless i WANT ludinus to do what he said he said he wanted to do -- show exandria what the gods want BURIED.

brennan... brennan please reveal your secrets to me. please. pleas.e nwow. pleae brewnan. im begging,

anyway, is it thursday yet (AFTER TWO WEEKS GOD WTF)

[astralleywright]

d'ya think maybe people are mad about the bh characters this aggressively because it's really fucking hard to make fluffy domestic aus of this campaign or use basic character tropes with them or

OKAY HI ANON YEAH. YEAH I THINK THAT'S PART OF IT. you kind of mention two things in your question; the fluffy aspect and the tropes - and I think both are part of it.

The fluff thing is like, I DO think you can make easy fluffy domestic aus with these characters, because that's what many of these characters ultimately want! The material is there, in baking and craft nights and burlesque shows! But I think people take the fact that the Hells' health/relationships/status are not following a straight upwards progression the way VM and M9's (apparently?) did to mean that the Hells are Doomed to Fail, because in no story have things gotten worse before they got better, culminating in a lowest point before rising to victory. And a lot of people attribute this far too heavily to some personal, inherent failings of the Hells as opposed to their position in this story, because the Fundamental Attribution Error is always getting people's asses.

Which folds into the part abt tropes, because I don't want to say the Hells are, on the whole, more complicated characters than VM or the M9, because I don't believe that's true. But they're definitely more difficult to break down into simple archetypes or fanfic tags, and even if you could, they're not widely appealing ones; they're NPC descriptions. Or the ease of understanding implied by them being tropes is constantly challenged by the story itself; the Hells love each other, are meaningful to each other like a Found Family, but they're still fraught with conflict. Imogen is both Refusing the Call and Accepting the Call and just trying to listen in on it, from a distance. Imodna are Slow Burn Best Friends to Lovers, but its not happily ever after when they get together. Ashton is a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold, but its often their heart of gold that compels them to act like a jerk in the first place. So if someone is trying to (or wants to be able to) rely on tropes to understand most of the Hells, it is probably leaving them in a lurch, and people love to get mad at things they don't understand. (Especially when that thing they don't understand keeps fucking up and doing bad shit).

[sicklyseraphnsuch]

Honestly, Im a little disappointed that it wasn't messier. Im disappointed that there wasnt more shouting. That Lauda was providing most of the pushing and everyone else was just kinda... rolling over? I wanted an argument that would have brought the roof down on them 🙄

the reason theres so much constant tension in this party is that they all havent tried hard enough to punch each other in the face - like really smash.

to be totally serious tho, remember when Chetney told Ashton to gtfo and thats what broke the tension? someone finally getting the guts to be mean and to push hard on someone else's reckless bullshit?

the fact that theres no such equivalent here? the fact that chetney hasnt intervened on that level? thats whats keeping this tension.

on one hand, the way some of the party treat laudna is so fucking patronizing, its actively painful - Ashton whispering to Laudna for an apology? wtf? the way they acted like she was a misbehaving toddler set my teeth on edge. Then Imogen... Buddy, pal, you just watched your mother regurgitate Ludinus's lies like they were stone cold facts and youre out here accepting the same thing from Laudna without a second glance. You know she has a problem! You know she's not the most reliable narrator! You know she fails insight checks against herself all the time!!!

Ashton and Imogen both needed to treat Laudna like a threat in that moment bc she attacked someone without provocation during a rest when they were trusting her to not do that and it was clearly premeditated because she covered herself in darkness. The fact that they dont demonstrates that neither are taking her capabilities seriously enough. The fact that they arent addressing the threat she presents - to others and herself - is allowing her to continue hurting herself and others.

Whereas, Fearne is complicit in it all because shes so conflict averse. She was never gonna be the one to hold Laudna over the fire.

Chetney and Orym would have. Orym was trying to but literally only Dorian backed him up. And Dorian doesnt know fuck about all. He joined them two days ago. Hes got no fucking clue whats happening!! Oryms the only one really pointing out the fact that he was attacked unprovoked

and sure laudna was aiming for the sheathe, but thats splitting hairs... i believe we removed targeting each armor piece somewhere in dnd 3.5 or something lol - if youre targeting a piece on someone, the usual call Matt makes is to give this a higher DC. Matt making Marisha roll arcana makes sense bc yes you can control wither and blooms "chosen target", but when the target is attached to something else, and moreover the target is a thing - not a creature like the spell says RAW... it makes sense that a failed arcana check would lead to that failure

for all intents and purposes, laudna was aiming for orym. she didnt mean to hurt him but again, shes operating under the influence (and yes I do mean that connotation). a lot of people do shit they dont mean under the influence. but they still gotta do the repairs when they come back to their senses. harm was still done. Orym attacking laudna bc he was hurt and blinded is also fucking reasonable. he didnt fucking know it was her in the first place.

for laudna to say that orym hurt her when she attacked him - that was grade A manipulation

and heres the thing too, when someone is acting under the influence, people usually call it out. they say stuff like "youre drunk" or "youre high" to acknowledge that hey, this isnt you but also this isnt acceptable either. no one breathed a fucking word about delilah until the very very end. they all treated laudna like she was in a reasonable state of mind, and she wasnt. they werent meeting her where she was at and so they failed to reach her

now to orym... did they all agree that the sword was oryms? bc that was a discussion they did not have... chetney made a one off comment about how theyll need permission for it (possibly implying orym but never explicitly stated)... was the idea that orym gets it because he got hurt first? that wouldve been stupid for sure

to dorian's point, hey its just a sword. swords hurt people. what youre gonna look at every sword with magic geometry and expect to see it cuddling puppies? swords are made to hurt. even when its defending. it can parry but if you need a shield get a shield. sure, this was otohan's sword but the sword is not sentient (laudna girl you need to insight check your patron pls). otohan hurt her not the sword. and to allow her to consume it was more leaning into her trauma - its not setting a good precedent for future healthy coping mechanisms basically

that said, dorian cant just say that without acknowledging the depth of laudnas trauma. the sword actively triggered her. this does reek of a PTSD episode where she went running to a soothing influence. to simply say its just a sword without paying respect to laudna's hurt is also incredibly dismissive - well aimed as it was.

chetney is sus. thats it. thats the take. i dont believe this old man when he said he trusts laudna. i think hes plotting

tl;dr - everyone tried to help laudna, no one tried to stop her which might be the only way to help her now. she needs someone to hold her back and call out when shes under the influence again.

[randoimago]

Hi there! Could you please do headcanons on what it’d be like to be in a polyamorous relationship with Laudna/Imogen and Ashton/Fearne? Thank you!

Fandom: Critical Role

Character(s): Laudna, Imogen, Ashton, Fearne

Note(s): I did some platonic poly headcanons for Laudna/Imogen so I'll do my best to add some more romantic ones here!

Ashton/Fearne

You have emotionally stupid Ashton and "does whatever the fuck I want" Fearne. It's a very chaotic relationship. Fearne has no hesitations with telling you what she wants, when she wants. She'll drag you both to the bedroom as soon as you and Ashton agree. Ashton, however, somehow still doesn't understand how he can have two partners that genuinely care about him.

So many pillows get used when all of you try to cuddle or spend time together. Fearne enjoys having soft, comfy things around, but it's also because of Ashton's pain. He really does want to give you two the love you deserve, but his chronic pain is a bitch. Which is why there's always soft pillows around to hopefully help ease him a bit.

You're not allowed to have anything. As soon as you do, Fearne "borrows" it and then Ashton "borrows" it from her. And then it just becomes a thing of sharing with your two partners. Of course, they will stop messing around or teasing if you actually say something.

Laudna/Imogen

With everything going on, they can't give you as much love as they wish they could. There's longing looks and fleeting touches between you three, but there's just too much happening for cuddling or spending the nights together.

But you know they love you (and each other) with how quickly everyone jumps to each other's defense. Laudna is happy to be scary when protecting you two or chasing off someone else coming in to flirt. Imogen enjoys doing her slightly off-putting telepathic thing to throw people off, too.

There is a lot of patience and secrets in this relationship, unfortunately. As much as you three love each other, Laudna doesn't always talk about her discussions with Delilah and Imogen keeps her conflicting feelings regarding her birth and mother to herself. They just don't want to put that much weight on you or each other and it's just secrets upon secrets.

Taglist:

@unhelpfulnpc

[aeoris4lovers]

i think ashton’s got a big storm coming when we switch teams. and by that, i mean i think they’re about to get aggressively cared about, whether they like it or not.

i have a feeling that he probably won’t be doing so hot after the end of 51 — this is, what, the third time he’s had the experience of something going wrong and then waking up (mostly) alone? i can’t imagine those parallels would be lost on him, and taliesin said some stuff on 4sd tonight that seemed to suggest that ashton is going to be pretty solidly in “it’s happening again” mode.

and who are they with? orym and laudna. you know, two of the people in the party voted most likely to ignore their own problems by focusing on someone else’s (along with fcg, of course). orym is for sure having lots of bad feelings about not being able to stop otohan again and finding out his family died for what was essentially a test run, and when he’s not doing great, his main coping mechanism is to just focus on worrying about someone else instead. and laudna is definitely super worried about imogen and freaked out by not having her there, and i think she needs someone else to focus on and take care of now that she can’t give that attention to imogen. and god only knows they won’t be able to let that out on each other because then they’d actually have to think about their own shit.

so what are they going to do when they see that their other friend is having a certified bad time? they’re going to make that their problem and ashton is going to experience the full force of his two designated helper friends who not only genuinely care about him, but also really need someone to care about so they don’t totally lose their minds. and that’ll only be amplified if my other suspicion is right and that team starts delving into ashton’s backstory, because i have a feeling that’ll be...a bit rough.

i don’t know, i’d just really like to see ashton get a healthy dose of “everything is fucked but these people do in fact give a shit about you and they’re going to be so annoyingly insistent about it that even you can’t deny it.” i think it’d do them some good, and i think laudna and orym are arguably in the best position out of anyone in the party to give it.

the hells have been slowly chipping away at ashton’s walls for a while and it’ll take a long time for them to get all the way through, but i’d like to think the split gives orym and laudna a shot at making a really good dent.

[willowbirds]

fearnie :)

I’m going to assume this is for that character ask thing. If it isn’t? Well you’re about to get infodumped my lovely Anon! (This is what happens when you ask about my blorbos)

First impression

Absolutely loved the Ashley got to play full time in a campaign, and was really excited to see what she had in store for Fearne especially since I hadn’t watched EXU: Prime.

Impression now

I am SO GLAD Fearne is the character Ashley is playing full time! There are so many intercity to her character and she has now live a life of a mortal and not a fey. It is so interesting how this world has affected her. For better or for worse.

Favorite moment(s)

Similar to Imogen, I don’t know how I would choose. Fearne has so many funny moments that they tend to outshine her more soft or serious ones. For humorous, probably when she found out that Imogen was afraid of heights and started swaying the cart whenever they were on it. For serious, I absolutely loved her most recent speech. Honestly take any of her more serious moments and I will probably say it’s my favourite.

Idea for a story

Well there is currently my Cyberpunk fic I’m working on and even though I don’t go too in depth with this version of Fearne, I still explore her a lot more. Even though I absolutely adore her, she is quite hard to write for me. I do have an idea where both Fearne and Imogen were raised by Nana Morri, but that will have to be explored at a later date.

Unpopular opinion (Again, I don’t know if this is unpopular, but I’m gonna say it anyway)

Okay! This is gonna be long. People need to stop acting like Fearne (and by extension, Ashley) has no agency. People keep saying how the rest of the party forces things on her and believe she hasn’t made her own decisions which is completely untrue. The shard incident comes to mind where people thought that Ashton (by extension, Taliesin) forced Fearne/Ashley to give him the shard even though BOTH PLAYERS said in a 4-Sided Dive that they thought the shard was supposed to go to Ashton. This then leads to some people thinking that Fearne was forced to take the shard because Fearne was adamant on not taking it but got worn down and gave in. Again, Ashley thought it was supposed to go to Ashton so she played Fearne as not wanting to take it because she didn’t want to steal Ashton’s backstory thing. She eventually took it because she thought, might as well, and look how excited she was to get that new sheet! If she had no agency she wouldn’t be playing with this group, and if she felt like the wasn’t making her own choices she would let them know off screen BECAUSE THEY ARE ADULTS THAT HAVE PLAYED TOGETHER FOR A DECADE!! I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw people saying that the cast is forcing monogamy on Fearne. Tal was clearly on board with the idea of Braius asking out Ashton and Braius asked if Fearne and Ashton were a thing because he sees the world in Black and White (According to Sam on 4SD) and there for likely views the world in monogamy. LEST WE FORGET THAT LAURA BAILEY PITCHED THE WITCH THRUPLE AT A COMIC CON PANEL HERSELF!!

TL;DR: Stop saying that a grown woman doesn’t have agency over her own character.

Favourite relationship

Imogen and Fearne honestly. Their shared connection to ruidus aside, these two care about each other so damn much. I know I ship them (and since Laura pitched the Witch Thruple I think she does too) but I think currently in canon they see each other as sisters. Again, mentioning the serious moments that I love with Fearne, the amount of protectiveness she has for Imogen is only beat by Laudna. The fact that she gets nervous when the Nightmare King says that Imogen is special and asks what they would do to her if they got her, the way she casts earth bind on her while she’s in her dream because she doesn’t want her to go away, her scream of desperation as she tries to wake her up, Ollie’s vision of seeing an older Fearne reaching towards a burning red light (I know it’s not an Imogearne moment, BUT IF YOU SQWINT-). Anyway, Imogearne for life :)

(This is not to diminish any of her other relationships. They are all so important to Fearne’s character, but my witchy shipper brain took over)

Favourite headcanon

If you’ve seen my blog then you might be aware of my Blue Blooded Fey headcanon. This is obviously my favourite, but I’ll add a few others for funsies.

Blue blood, ambidextrous, tooth gap, small fangs, glowing ember tipped ears (after she got the shard), warm to the touch (even warmer after getting the shard)

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Critical Role: Bells Hells episode 49

That was such a good episode, I know that the characters were stressed being on board the sky ship, eating up time as the Apogee Solstice creeps ever forward but it was such a great moment for the characters to unwind a bit and talk. I always love their planning stuff despite how many people gripe about it on the chat and reddit, I love their thought process and the way they try to mitigate the damage they do.

I already love Laudna but IMO she was in fine form this episode, finally cracking Ashton open and getting that long awaited talk out of the way. I can see why the dynamic of Keyleth and Percy work so well in C1 and I wish its something they can show more in the animated series. *crossing fingers for season 3 of TLOVM!

It does feel like its a dynamic Taliesin and Marisha want to recreate in a different flavor with Ashton and Laudna, and they're doing so successfully. I love how Ashton and Laudna talk, and call each other's bullshit out but this episode especially, Laudna is showing off the wisdom she learned in 30 hard earned years she's lived.

Orym's also successfully reaching out to people with Dorian and I love how we're getting hints of things in EXU Prime that in their end, things are also very dicey. Opal getting dark???

I am so into that and Fearne's immediate concern is apparent. But also, Marisha knowing the details of the EXU Prime plot is so juicy!

The gang accomplished so much recruiting Ira, finally telling some more people in authority or approximate authority about how dire the situations are. Telling Pike, even though she can't do things, maybe? Possibly? Apparently, things on Tal'dorei are also very dicey, so Whitestone might have its own problems with the Ziggurat.

I'm going to heap more praise towards Laudna because of the interrogative sort of femme fatale honey pot play she did with Ira, getting Ira to talk more about it, tagged teamed with Fearne at the end.

Speaking of, Fearne is very much still ambivalent towards her parents, sure she's nice to them but as she told Nana Morri, her parents feel more like strangers than people related to her.

Also, Thank Goodness, the team's finally equipped but I need Dani to remind the cast that they still have residuum and the bracers of defense!

I feel like there's gonna be some Mad Max shenanigans that's going to happen on the Apogee Solstice, and its going to be heart pounding and epic and so great.

FCG also learned some things about himself, about how he is not alone and Devaxian also stressed how from this point on he is gifted with a chance to own his own future. A future of his own making. (A theme that will be repeated a lot!).

And then there's that moment when Imogen meets with Liliana again and, and, and I am VINDICATED!!! LILIANA IS A TRUE BELIEVER. She might even be Ludinus's real right hand and not Otohan which would be DELICIOUS.

I love that Liliana tried to get Imogen on her side and Imogen genuinely considered it because the vision she painted was tempting, for someone like Imogen who was tormented by her powers that's a siren call.

But of course, Fearne and Orym was around in the dream and they played it as silent observers instead of actively interacting with the dream space like how the others did it. It does feel like Fearne and Orym are still at heart, a unit. In a similar but different way to Laudna and Imogen. I love the talk they had about Imogen, about the possibility of Imogen turning because of her mother. Orym and Fearne will do what's necessary to stop things from happening and it's really fascinating how that will go.

Laura's face was interesting the whole time too.

And then, and then just when the group thinks its hopeless they get a possible help and distraction of the big army with Keyleth coming in, sounding exhausted and heart sick but still willing to help to put Ashari volunteers to help. I hope the group remembers to warn Keyleth about the antimagic that's going to happen.

I feel like Keyleth and the Air Ashari can act as distraction while the Bells Hells, as a strike team can go and take down the Malleus Key. Everyone in the cast looked happy at this development, except for Marisha who looked worried and had her Thinking Face on.

Near the end, Imogen talks to Orym and asked how he can go on after everyone he lost and they have a heartfelt talk. Orym tells Imogen that he believes in her but Imogen is not convinced but doesn't try to read his mind to know if this is true. Instead, at long last, after many episodes.

Imogen goes back to the room she shares with Laudna and finally talks to her. Whatever impetus it was: her fear, uncertainty, or the realization that she shares some similarities with her father and that's the reluctance to talk.

Laudna asks if Imogen is okay, and automatically, Imogen answers she is. Laudna gently tells Imogen she didn't need to lie to Laudna about 'being fine'. And so Imogen opens the conversation with admitting that she's been afraid of really talking to Laudna after she was resurrected, that she had something to tell Laudna.

Laudna asks Imogen what it is she wanted to say but Imogen hesitates and then says something about her fear and god I love how Laudna approached her talk with Imogen. I love that Laudna went about it with understanding because, of course, who more than Laudna hasn't thought what would have happened if life had been different.

Laudna had thirty years to think similar thoughts, to wish a different life than the one she had. She candidly told Ashton she made Patê so she won't lose her mind wandering alone.

But through everything Laudna lived through she is very cognizant too the reason she met Imogen and the other Bells Hells was because of who she is and became. And I think Marisha has her answer to Aabria's question from the 4 Sided Dive a long time ago -- there is a part of her that is a little grateful for Delilah or whatever patron that made her a Hollow One, that she has this powers now and ability to be spooky. Things she enjoys.

It's a little messed up and complicated.

I also love that while Laudna didn't hear Imogen's promise about how Laudna will always have a choice, Laudna unknowingly echoed back Imogen's words. Imogen has a choice. She will always have a choice and having the ability to choose is a power all its own. Its not something gods can take away.

Honestly, I love how Laudna is talking to Imogen from a place of understanding and I think more than anything, this helped Imogen solidify her grasp of why they're fighting. It's not just because its wrong and kill other people. All morally right reasons why they need to stop Ludinus and his group.

It's because every individual deserves a right to choose. And that love also means loving every part of a person, especially the weird parts of them.

Imogen might have lost her nerve to tell Laudna she loved her, loved her, romantic stylez and Laudna might slowly be waking into the part of herself that can access it. But its plain as day they love each other and I'm okay to wait on how long and slow this will cook, but also saying things like:

"I feel so comfortable and bonded with you. We transcend words in our relationship.

"You'll always have me."

"I'll always be there to support you whatever choice you make.

"You're my tether."

"That tether goes beyond this realm and this life."

C'MON. Those words are my ship Kryptonite! If I hadn't already shipped them, this would have definitely tip the scales! And I feel very well fed tonight!

God I love them. I love the Bells Hells.

[utilitycaster]

Do you think that Laura and Marisha are deliberately making their relationship somewhat toxic and unsustainable or do you think they see the relationship as healthy? It is just so different from all of the other relationships they have been a part of and not really in a good way. Would love to get your perspective on it if you have one

I am honestly unsure. I would like to say it's deliberate. Prior to it becoming canon, in fact, I, and a lot of other people who were less than enthused by Imogen and Laudna's romance and weren't entirely sold from the start, made the case that we expected they would be talking to each other and would put together a compelling story, not the dull fluff so common in fanon. While whether it's compelling is a subjective judgment, we know for a fact they didn't talk to each other. We know for a fact Marisha was surprised by the question of "Can I kiss you," and Laura was surprised by the answer. We know from a 4SD not long after (4SD #16, Kiss and Tell) that several episodes later they still hadn't talked. We know that Marisha perceives Laudna as holding Imogen back (and that Laudna perceives herself as doing so) from the Rose City Q&A. We know that from 4SD #20 (Episode Twenty) that Laura doesn't like conflict in narrative and Marisha does, and that Laura was thrown by Laudna's regression following Ashton's attempt to absorb the shard (4SD #19, Shard Candy).

I don't know if it's deliberate or not; I don't have any extra insight that isn't public knowledge any fan can easily access. But man, it doesn't feel like these are two actors on the same page about what's going on.

I've touched on this before but mostly in tags or whisper posts but I've always felt ill at ease with a number of for lack of a better term "fandom-approved opinions" and one of the ones that has baffled me the most is this idea that Marisha and Laura have exceptional chemistry. I watched Campaign 1 knowing the endgame ships but deliberately avoiding the fandom, and Vex and Keyleth did not even once occur to me as a thing. I watched the first year of Campaign 2 without a ton of fandom interaction because I was avoiding additional C1 spoilers and it seemed crystal clear that the obvious ship was Beau and Yasha; it felt like Beau and Jester only even had enough potential for me to multiship it as my general "whomever Jester picks" for like, 30 episodes. And yet people - people who didn't even ship either of the above ships and in some cases disliked them- would just say "oh man I can't wait until we get to a campaign where we can finally explore Marisha and Laura's incredible chemistry!" and it's like. I feel like I'm the kid in the Emperor's New Clothes on this! I understand that chemistry is to an extent a matter of taste and subjectivity, but it just increasingly feels like people looked at two campaigns of tables where Ashley was frequently absent and said "well, if I want an F/F ship that's between two of the women in the cast, I guess this is what I have to work with" and repeated to themselves that a flat pamplemousse La Croix was a Piña Colada until they started to believe it. I mean if someone wants to explain it to me in good faith I suppose be my guest and I will try to take it in, but it feels like people just treat this as incontrovertible fact and if you doubt it they're like "don't you have eyes" and it's like, well, pretend I don't. Explain like I'm eyeless and five because I have never understood this. They both have more chemistry with every single other cast member; it's not all romantic but man, I didn't even buy Laudna and Imogen as platonic best friends of two years. I have never had this problem with any other pre-existing character relationships Marisha and Laura have played, platonic or otherwise. It's literally just them. I just never feel like they're quite on the same page.

Back to the relationship between Imogen and Laudna onscreen, this was easily the best conversation since the start of the gnarlrock fight, and it is my hope it doesn't fizzle out the way that did. You can't keep kissing Laudna whenever she fears she's lost forever to Delilah, Imogen. Or you can, but that won't fix the problem. Again: are you disgusted? Do you feel betrayed? If you're not, why did you say that? If you are, how will you move past it? Do you want to be with someone who never feels like they're good enough for you? Laudna, do you want to be with someone who, no matter what they say, you feel you're holding back?

Early in the campaign, my feeling was that of our current situation, switched - Imogen felt her powers were a burden and a curse and Laudna kept referring to them and to her glowingly. It's just...ships passing in the night, no pun intended here. I hope it's on purpose and whatever comes from it is a good story - and either a tragedy or a happy story could be a good one. But I have a nagging sensation that Laudna wants out but is afraid to say no, and Imogen is afraid to let go, and I honestly don't know if the actors have realized this impasse and how the characters might resolve it, one way or another, besides the insufficient bandaid of a kiss whenever the conversation gets too uncomfortable.

[centaurianthropology]

Given how things are shaping up in C3 I have some thoughts about what might happen next (moon scouting aside). It’s clear that the Hells are given power-ups similar but different to the Vestiges of Divergence quests in VM. And honestly, I totally understand how the shard ended up with Ashton rather than Fearne. From an in-character perspective (and even from a player perspective), of course it went to them. The shard appeared at the end of what has essentially been Ashton’s backstory quest, which has been all about titans. Ashton is about titans and dunamancy. Fearne is about fae and a touch of infernal. So when people insist she get the titan shard just because they’re both fire-based? The shard that appeared right at the end of Ashton’s quest for information about himself? Yeah, I’d want to give it to him too, concentrating titan power into Ashton.

And that leads me to my real thoughts about what happens next: essentially the Hells, or at least several of them, have doubled down on what originally gave them power. Ashton has doubled down on titans, Laudna on Delilah (and I think we’ll get a full quest of that later).

I think that the moon scouting mission will double as something of Imogen’s continued backstory quest (a lot of the early part of the campaign started it, but this, I hope, will focus on Leliana). I think we’ll probably gain some moon object for her to absorb and power her up with moon stuff. And that’s another thing about the way this is shaping up: they are embracing the most dangerous parts of themselves, the parts that could kill them or turn them evil. That’s what each of them will have to grapple with (and why I’m thrilled it was Ashton who got the fire shard, because that puts them on a collision course with repeating the choices their father made, and really coming to terms with what being Hishari means. From a storytelling perspective, this is by far the cooler choice).

I have an idea that Laudna could literally absorb Delilah in a way that Delilah is no longer in control. Laudna becoming her own patron is the best possible end to cutting her puppet strings, and that would be a fascinating way to do it: stealing all the power and the last bit of essence of the woman who murdered her. There is something of a darkness there, with the end of a vengeance storyline, which will be juicy.

Fearne would have two options: doubling down on being Fey by obtaining something from another spelunk in the Feywild, or going to the hells and retrieving something infernal. I think the infernal route is likely the real Dark Fearne route, while the fey route likely puts her on the path to becoming Archfey, which could be a very interesting end for her character (and likely one Ashley would be intrigued by, to become the new Grandma Morri).

Chetney is likely going to delve either into something Catha-related (other moon, whoo!) or something nature-related. I think going white moon to Imogen’s red moon would be cool, and would really focus in on controlling his werewolf side.

FCG is likely going to have to go Aeorian. They could go divine, but I think Aeorian would be juicier. Delving into their past and the person they used to be before they lost their memories is something I’ve been excited for, and even though they’re already coming to the conclusion, realizing that what makes them themselves is their choices now, not a thousand years ago, will be very cool. We might even see a different side to FCG come out and be in conflict with his current self (something else I’m expecting in a lot of these storylines).

And finally there’s Orym, the little guy. He’s actually the hardest to define how to give a power-up to, because so much of his story is about not having that. All his friends are magical powerhouses, and he’s a little dude with a sword. So I actually am hoping that Orym either goes for another nature-based Wildmother powerup (making him the one with divine powers), or one of entirely humanity-based power, possibly by teaming up with someone like Percy, who was also never divine.

Anyway, this all may get proven wrong (and a lot of the finer details almost certainly will!), but this is sort of the trajectory I see in the next leg of their journey: getting their own legendary power-ups, but those power-ups forcing them to confront their past and the possible futures. And because they’re incorporating them into their very beings, those confrontations are both inevitable and necessary.

[seasinkarnadine]

Thanks @luckyfirerabbit​!

“Alright c’mon baby, bring papa the big money, big money–” Chetney tosses his dice. “YE-ES! Take that you little shit!” He thrusts a gnarled finger at the poor dealer. 

“Be nice, now,” Orym scolds gently.

“Oh, this one’s hot! Hey, is this table free?” A young elven man squeezes in at Imogen’s side as Chetney scoops up his winnings. 

“I was here first!” A woman nearly knocks into Imogen trying to secure her own seat.

“Watch it!�� Someone else snaps, even as their elbow nudges against Imogen’s. The contact sends static slithering up her forearm.

“Fuck off,” she snarls. “There’s other tables.”

“Lady all the other tables are full, and you’ve been here for an hour.” What? No–oh. So they are. So they have been. The crowd’s really picked up at the Lakecap Skyport since she last looked up. That’s–that’s a lot of people. 

“You okay?” Orym’s voice is gentle but it still manages to cut through the hum of the crowd.

“Mmhmm.” She nods with what she hopes is conviction. Her chest is tight. She inhales deeply tin an attempt to loosen it up some. Maybe it’s the alcohol. She’s had two more of those “lavender martini” things that Ashton brought. Her head’s certainly buzzing. She raises a hand to press against her temple. Orym’s saying something.

“Yes, feel free. We’re heading up.” 

“What? No! There was– oh. Oh! Okay. Yes, ah, um, keep the table warm for us, we’ll be back in the morning!” Chetney adjusts his vest with an air of self importance.

“Wait, what? No.” They think they’re being subtle, do they? “I’m fine! Let’s go play that card game–what was it? Stork of the Storm?” She slides off of her seat and bumps into a half-orc whose drink nearly sloshes out of his hand.

“Hey!”

“S-sorry,” she stammers. It feels like her whole side is staticky from the contact. A burst of nausea rolls over her. She clamps it down and grits her teeth. The Stuck of the–Stork— Storm game. With the cards. It’s over in the corner. Gods where even IS the corner? There!

‘Fewer people, see?’ She points it out to Orym and Chetney. ‘See? I’ll be fine.’

‘It’s getting kind of late. I’m ready to go to bed. I think the others are wrapping up.’ 

‘I’ll just tell em to meet us at that table, it’s fine,’ Imogen replies. She won’t let them stop having fun on her account. Not even if her head is screaming with each word sent. There’s all kinds of voices pressing in on her. Needles, needles, ice picks, knives. One foot in front of the other, Temult.

“‘Scuse me,” she murmurs as she pushes past a dark haired man.

“You’re excused!” If her head were in better condition she might psychic lance his rude ass. No, no–no harming civilians, Imogen. She’s still heading for the corner table. Right? The world’s going a little blurry around the edges. The world tilts. 

Someone’s yelling. What? My drink all over–arrested for being drunk and disorderly–Skycap shouldn’t let so many people–Please dice please dice please dice— That woman is absolutely wasted–If I roll once more I’m sure it’ll turn out– Should I call security –PERFECT ROLL!--Kind of behavior— intolerable—

Stop, stop, stop. Quiet. Can you not yell? I can hear you just fine, you don’t have to–

‘Imogen.’ The thrum of a cello slides right through the clamor. She knows that voice. She’d know that voice anywhere.

‘Laud?’ She swallows. ‘Where are you?’ There’s a dozen faces in the crowd all directed at her but they won’t stay still. It feels like someone’s stabbing her eyes. 

‘Can you open your eyes?’

‘Light’s too bright.’

‘Okay. Can you feel me?’ There’s a pressure against her palm. Something cold, even through the leather. The string quartet of Laudna’s mind swells and the nails-on-chalkboard of the crowd fades.

‘Yeah. Yeah.’ She squeezes. The leather squeaks. ‘Chetney wanted to…we were gonna play cards.’ It wasn’t supposed to go like this.

‘Tomorrow, hmm? We’re all a bit tired. Let me take you to bed.’

‘You gotta–’ she hiccups. ‘You gotta buy a lady dinner, first.’ She feels Laudna’s mirth through their connection more than anything else. Imogen thinks maybe she laughs, too.

‘How about breakfast?’

‘Yeah. Breakfast sounds nice.’ She keeps her eyes shut, trusting Laudna to guide her through the crowd. They can always play cards tomorrow.

[deramin2]

Bell's Hells as imposters:

Chetney

Travis would have so much fun. Chetney is always a bit of a wild card and Travis said on 4-Sided Dive that he loves to play by listening to his intrusive thoughts. This could be his ultimate form. Just sew chaos. Travis and Marisha have also recently come out of Candela Obscura dealing with a similar situation. I think they should get a turn at it.

Laudna

Absolutely juicy with their existing fears about Delilah. This is Laudna's nightmare scenario. She's so scared all the time about being untrustworthy but also desperately wants to be trusted and loved. Especially since one of her truths is that she doesn't know where she ends and Delilah begins. And Imogen's truth was that she's disgusted that Delilah is always watching them. (Don't unpack how you actively watch everyone else, Imogen, and took off the circlet deliberately to keep doing that.) Marisha would go absolutely ham with this. Sometimes a highly responsible woman who people rely on all the time just wants to go a little apeshit.

Fresh Cut Grass

Losing control and hurting their friends is something FCG has struggled with that's really fucked up their life and the lives of their (former) friends. They're scared that they can't be trusted, and they never can be. So this just plays right into their insecurities. What happens when their friends really can't trust them. Sam is really good at playing close to the chest. If FCG is the imposter, he's likely to sabotage them in subtle ways they won't recognize until it's too late. He may get things thrown at him (again), and he would enjoy it.

Fearne

Fearne is an agent of chaos on a good day. I think it will be very hard for the group to tell what side she's on no matter what. When she feels threatened she acts more in her own self-interest anyway. Especially when she doesn't know who else she can trust. I'm really looking forward to her either way. I think Ashley deserves to actively work against her friends, as a treat. Ashley didn't get a chance to fight the party as Yasha while she was at the table, so I think she deserves the opportunity.

Imogen

Let's be real, everyone is worried that with the moon stuff Imogen will turn on them. Either because she willingly sides with her mom in a desperate bid for approval, or because the pull of Predathos takes over. Bell's Hells are likely to be highly suspicious of her either way. Imogen's been under a lot of pressure for a while to prove she is still on their side. If she's the imposter she's likely to keep doing that, but also be working against them for real. I think Laura would have a lot of fun really leaning into this.

Imogen and Laudna being the two traitors together would be very fun because they're like 50% of each other's impulse control and it would be entertaining to see them against the world for real.

Orym

Orym is the person the group trusts the most, and who supports and believes in the goodness of the group the most. He also has contingency plans for everyone (hey Batman). I would love to see Orym get to totally snap without undermining the hope and aspiration built into the character. Plus Liam loves horror and fucked up stories and I think we'd get some phenomenal drama out of it. It would be fun to watch Orym hunt them for sport.

Ashton

Ashton probably trusts himself the least out of the group right now and his fuck-up is why they're here in the first place. They were told to their face that their friends don't trust them and that they seem in it for themselves. So I think it would be very entertaining to work through that by leaning all the way into it. Taliesin has fought the party before and it was very fun. *Slaps Ashton's back* This genasi can fit so much angst in him.

Conclusion

Everyone at the table would have a really fun time getting to work against their friends in a safe controlled environment. This is Bell's Hell's worst fear that they've been working very hard to try and prevent. They're scared of each of them turning for different reasons. This is definitely a hag's challenge. This will be so much juicy drama and angst for Nana Mori to feed off of. Whoever pulls the traitor cards is going to be a fun combo. This might break them, but hopefully it will also build them back up.

They're so afraid they can only save the world if all of them are on board and are terrified of failure. This actually lets them test it with lower stakes.

Maybe? We don't actually know what the penalty for failure is because FCG willingly had his memory of the deal erased. They haven't failed an exercise yet. So it could be that nothing happens. Or it could be that if they win all three challenges, she messes with time in exactly the way they want. But if they fail she works against them in a way that makes it more dramatic for her. Is she more a hag with a certain nature, or is she Fearne's grandmother with will protect her from all harm? We'll find out!

[wordstrings]

Understanding Harmony

Critical Role: Bell’s Hells. Ashton and Imogen take a watch after the events of episodes 33–38. Written for @feather-aesthetic for the Squealing Santa 2k22 fic exchange. Prompt: playful/bonding situations. Words: 1,500

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“I just…” Imogen’s voice hitches with a tiny, incredulous laugh that lilts and wilts into something almost sad. “Just can’t believe she’s back.”

Ashton stares into the fire for another moment before dropping their eyes to the twig they’ve been fiddling with between their knees. 

“Crazy, huh?” they say, for lack of anything more intelligent to add. 

Imogen twists her fingers into a loose fold of her skirt. The fabric tightens across her hands, a smart pair to the tension still visibly lingering in her body. 

“It’s not supposed to happen. Bringin’ someone back from the dead. Though, I guess, for Laudna… maybe it’s not so strange. I don’t know.”

“No, it’s weird,” Ashton assures her. The nubby end of one toothpick-thin branch snaps under their thumb. They roll the broken bit between their fingers. The tiny splintered end is sharp. 

“I never… never would’ve thought I’d see somethin’ like that. That I’d be part of that. Y’know? Heck, I just thought I’d be spending the rest of my life staring at fields and feeling alone. It’s just… a lot,” she finishes quietly. 

“Being alone isn’t so bad.” Saying it is almost habit. It’s true enough. 

The firelight catches in the glance Imogen darts their way. “Feeling alone, though. It’s different when you don’t really have a choice.” 

Ashton shrugs. “Not much different, in my experience.”

There’s a gentle scoff in Imogen’s voice when she says, “Then why’re you stickin’ around with us, huh?”

“Because Letters needs people.” It’s just as quick to surface, just as habitual. 

“But you don’t.”

Ashton knows a jab, even in the dark. The retort is already in their throat, clambering on the back of their tongue. But they swallow it, because Imogen isn’t coming after them, not really. They don’t have a ready-made alternative response, though, so they focus on the splintered nub, trying to crush it between their fingertips. It’s too small and just digs in, a tiny hard granule of dead wood.

A soft glow leans toward their mind but doesn’t quite enter. Ashton braces internally anyway.

“They’re pretty important to you,” Imogen says aloud, instead.

Having someone important is dangerous. That’s how stupid decisions get made. Case in point: letting a complete stranger put them all under so they can go fight the spirit of a necromancer in order to yank a not-quite-living, not-quite-not woman out of a tree-shaped manifestation of her trauma, or some shit. 

But then Ashton is caught completely off-kilter when Imogen continues: “What the fuck is up with that?”

Ah, fuck them, but it works. They crack a laugh.

Imogen laughs quietly along, too. It’s something shared, and it evaporates the murk that’s been crowding Ashton’s throat. 

“Somebody’s gotta look out for ‘em,” they say with half a smile. “Otherwise Letters would end up trusting some pack of fools hell-bent on getting dead for each other out of some poorly-advised sense of integrity.”

“Out of all of us, I think FCG is the only one with integrity, sometimes.” Imogen’s grin has seemed to soften her, as well. “They take good care of us. So do you, y’know. You both make a good team.”

Ashton does their best to skirt the compliment, but there’s still some warmth that surges up unattributable to the campfire. Riposte. “Can’t talk about a ‘team’ without looking at you two.” They tip their chin toward the sleeping form that is Laudna, with an empty gap at her side for only as long as Imogen’s on watch. “Closest I’ve ever seen two folks who aren’t in each other’s pants.”

Imogen huffs softly. She rubs her forearm with one distracted hand. “Lotta people don’t get it. That’s fine, I guess. But she just… she saw me when nobody else really did. She knew what it was like. Keeping away from people, feeling like connections were impossible. Laudna was the first new person I got physically close enough to touch in… god, in years. That kinda messes you up after a while, doesn’t it?”

It’s said rhetorically, but her tone clearly expects agreement, and Ashton isn’t inclined to agree. Being messed up: sure. One hundred percent, all day every day. Being messed up because nobody’s holding your hand, or lying close while you sleep, or filling some sort of sappy hug quota: nah. 

They settle for responding with a noncommittal grunt. 

“It was the simplest thing,” Imogen continues, smiling wistfully down at her hands. “Just touching my elbow to draw my attention to a flower. Handing me an acorn cap or a dead worm or whatever she was decorating her next little doll with. Her hands were always a bit cold but it was still soothing when she’d hum to me, like this.”

Imogen side-leans in just a bit, and it’s a testament to how far Ashton has relaxed with this group – for good or for ill – that they don’t duck away from her approaching hand. Her fingers alight on the back of their neck, gentle as a songbird, as she begins to hum a folksy, unhurried tune.

The touch on their nape drifts back and forth with the cadence of the song. Ashton doesn’t recognize the melody, but it’s easy to imagine it tells a story of land remembered or beauty witnessed. Imogen’s fingertips are… fine. Ashton wouldn’t call them soothing. Wouldn’t really call them anything. Their skin doesn’t register much of anything duller than a slap, so the fire-heated warmth and pressure of her hand is barely notable. But, they suppose, it could be nice – for a person whose body is not constantly, quietly ringing with the ache of pain. It’s yet one more luxury that Ashton is not permitted to experience. It would feel unfair, if they weren’t just used to it.

Imogen’s humming trots up and down in scale as she reaches some chorus line. Her fingers shift, tapping nails in staccato on the back of Ashton’s neck with the time.

Ashton’s shoulders pull slightly inward. Okay, they can feel that a bit more than the softness of fingertips. Kind of itchy.

Doesn’t seem like Imogen is paying any close mind, though. She’s gazing into the campfire again, her head canted gently in unseeing reminiscence. The chorus ends and her fingers fall back into drifting touches with the next wordless verse.

This is so foreign. 

Not hanging out with a group, or even having a low conversation in the night; it’s this kind of interaction, this connection, with someone who’s sharing something beyond job-related banter or a clipped story. Apparently Ashton is going to be treated to a full song with tactile accompaniment for no reason except Imogen wanting to give it.

The second verse ends. The chorus picks up again.

Shit, that really does itch when she does that with her fingernails. But, like, a shivery itchiness. It makes Ashton’s belly clench up a little. Especially when the nail tips drag short little lines in a wave pattern up and down their nape. An involuntary shudder trembles through Ashton’s neck and shoulders, but what’s so remarkable is that they don’t want it to stop. 

Imogen must notice, because her humming bobs with a light chuckle. But she doesn’t stop the song. She carries into a third verse, this time keeping her nails gliding. 

Ashton would feel teased, except for that glow leaning against their mind again. It still doesn’t push in. Rather, it rests against the doorframe, watching kindly from just outside; a sentinel, careful and attentive. 

This is so, so foreign.

But fuck it feels… good. And that’s a revelation as much as everything else about this interplay. Ashton’s not thinking about the ever-present, spine-deep ache in their body. Not thinking about when the enjoyment might be soured. Just listening to a friend’s gentle music while fingernails dust sparks of static across their skin.

The hummed song dances off its by-now predictable path into a melodic bridge. Imogen’s nails skitter up and down with the notes, out in wider arcs and spirals, tapping and scraping along Ashton’s scarred, calloused skin, and it’s just– fucking hell, it tickles. 

Ashton can’t help the way they hunch even further at that realization. They’re fracturing into laughter before they have any hope of getting a grip on themself.

Imogen’s mental glow warms. It’s okay. It’s okay to sit here and snicker, to crane up one shoulder and then the other in conflicted attempts at protection, to grin and squint and squeeze their fists between their knees and just feel something good for once.

It’s okay.

The tune winds its way back to the notes Ashton now knows by heart, turning reflective and peaceful. Imogen’s humming slows, as do her fingers. She caresses long, gentle lines with the edges of her nails. Ashton’s eyes fall closed, though they still chuckle and shiver through their sighs. 

Maybe this is soothing, after all.