#me posting the first half early was truly the most 'DONT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN' vibes ive experienced in a while

[sparring-spirals]

follow up to this because i misclicked and posted early and have now committed to just splitting it. tl;dr: ashton imogen rage/crisis mode that also operates as a form of catharsis.

Also AGAIN, disclaimer, just so much speculation and assumptions, chock full of it, etc etc.

Okay so an interesting DIFFERENCE, I was thinking about is that I think Ashton is- more experienced, with both expending his rage in this way, and conversely- dragging himself out of it, or at least needing to keep a handle on it. Even if mostly in the context of "uggHhHHhH okay, Business Contacts Still Needed", I can think of at least two or three times now where Ashton was pissed, angry as hell (not always without reason), but- would still provide some level of restraint in his reactions, even belatedly. Even if only for business, because it might be absolutely necessary for future situations. (Ep 24, after That Whole Debacle, comes to mind first, of course, but even with Evon! Everything with Jiana. Even earlier, after battles. Spitting mad.)

And Imogen- its not the exact same, definitely not. There are differences in the levels of reasoning for her crisis mode, a very predominant "everything else shuts down and we Have To Fix This" mentality. I think its probably less of an intentional indulgence the way Ashton's one feels like it is.

But there's enough overlap there that makes it interesting- the way that Imogen almost doesn't fully grasp her actions till after, something aaaaalmost akin to letting go and coming back to herself after. And the way that the autopilot can-sometimes- serve as a release, the way it is a solution but also creates its own problems to be resolved after. Ashton, induldging in rage but also generally cognizant of the consequences, even if he bears them willingly. Ashton, telling Imogen: you're scarier than me.

And like. Cmon. Cmon. *gestures at both Imogen and Ashton* right???

#i lost the bit at the end bc i mostly want to link this to the other and bc i dont want to say anything TOO definitive #w/o a lot more time to think about it. but. DOES THE GIST OF IT MAKE SENSE. idk #critical role #cr spoilers #c3e24 #ashton #imogen temult #character meta #migraine buddies #my meta #speculation #me posting the first half early was truly the most 'DONT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN' vibes ive experienced in a while #whoops #anyway sorry! i hope this made sense! #ashton meta #imogen meta #kind of