Lines out of Bill like "What?! Who told you that? Don't listen to him!" are so valuable because it's important to me that Bill is a little bit of a dumbass. Occasionally he's just stupid.
Yes, he's a very successful manipulator, we can see just how easily he preyed on Dipper's and Mabel's wants and fears, and we get secondhand glimpses of just how sinister his manipulation got with Ford.
But also, in real life, many very successful con artists and cult leaders and the like have been kind of stupid, and the reason they succeed is thanks to the average human's instinct to assume that the person they're talking to is mostly telling the truth.
Bill is a good manipulator but this isn't mutually exclusive with him being sort of a moron. And I think any interpretation of him that doesn't remember he's sort of a moron does him a disservice.
I do think people are forgetting, sometimes willingly, that Aziraphale is JUST as heartbroken over the rejection as Crowley
They did not walk out of there with Crowley destroyed and Aziraphale bummed but getting over it once he was in the elevator. Aziraphale went to Crowley all giddy and excited because he really thought this was finally it, this was finally their chance to be happy, and he sees it as Crowley taking that chance and stomping on it. H wasn’t lying when he said he needed Crowley, he DOES, and now he thinks Crowley chose his hate for heaven over his love for him just as Crowley thinks Aziraphale chose his devotion to god over his devotion to him
It wasn’t as simple as “Aziraphale rejected Crowley” they both think the other rejected them it was essentially the messiest mutual break up you’ve ever seen
They’re both completely heartbroken and do not see the part they played in their own heartbreak. Both thinking THE OTHER caused it. It’s such a mess. It’s SUCH a mess I cannot STAND these two
also chat realised my az gives of big pooh bear vibes so what does pooh bear love the most? thats right a demon who looks like an ageing alt rock singer