Pre-shard Ashton would have posted up and waited for everyone else to get through before boarding the bridge. Post-shard Ashton knows he doesn't have to do everything himself, knows how bad things would go if he sticks around long enough to get mind-controlled, and steps through. (They also yeet Orym through first chance they get because they know he's gonna have the same instinct). That's fucking growth.
orym’s motivations slowly diverging from the original group intent but most of the group following him uncertainly anyway because historically he’s been their heart, their leader.
orym losing himself in something vaguely shaped like a mission and shedding all of his soft layers to accomplish it even when the mission isn’t clear.
orym becoming a Whatever It Takes unstoppable force posited against laudna’s But Not My Girl immovable object.
oh we’re on the moon now, boys. ohhhhh, we are in it now.
“So as you're holding the hammer waiting for this, you hear the rotation as you turn around. The rest of you watch. It goes by so fast. All you see is this slight jerk from Ashton and there's this hole on the side of his waist. You barely even shift from it. As you flex, you watch it close itself slightly.”-Matt
listen. listen to me. i love bell's hells. but the way they try to plan leads to so much indecision and hesitation and sometimes you just gotta take the plunge and be feral like the m9 y'know? i know it's a recon mission but i think it would be fun to be a little insane.