#but missed the implication of

[mint-fixates]

There's this weird take I've seen floating around on TikTok that Bill doesn't actually care about his family/dimension or Stanford at all; that we're supposed to take everything in TBOB as non-canon basically because he's lying to garner sympathy from reader to make a deal with them. I'm all for having your own interpretations of media, but I just don't think this idea that Bill is a completely heartless unfeeling creature is supported by canon at all. In fact, it kind of feels like the opposite of the point of the book.

Like, yeah, most things Bill says should be taken with a grain of salt because he lies a lot, but he's not actually a very good liar? It's usually pretty easy to clock when he's full of it. But okay, even if we assume every word Bill says while trying to recruit the reader is a lie, there are three major things that this doesn't account for.

Bill is not the only source in the book. The lost Journal 3 pages were written by Stanford, we only know about the interdimensional Taco Bell incident because of an included police transcript, etc.

Even once he's lost any chance of making a deal with the reader to escape, Bill is having a complete breakdown and mentions all the people he so totally doesn't miss for real you guys. Why bother with reverse psychology double-lying for sympathy once his shot at getting the reader on his side is already gone?

Trying to garner the reader's sympathy makes sense to a certain extent, but why go out of his way to make himself look pathetic? Does revealing that he got drunk and cried over his ex in a fast-food drive-through really help his cause if that cause is to convince the reader he's still a powerful being capable of starting the apocalypse again so they can rule with him?

And that's all without even mentioning that, as previously stated, I think the entire point of the book is missed if we're interpreting Bill as having no genuine feelings or attachments. The book ends with Stanford healing from his past by being open about what he went through with his family and accepting their help, while Bill insists he doesn't need anyone and refuses to heal, actively making himself worse in the process. The clear theme imo is that accepting your past and accepting help from people who love you is essential to healing, while denying those things just makes everything worse. If Bill doesn't actually care about his family, his dimension, Stanford, or anything/anyone else, he has no trauma to heal from or regrets to learn from that he's refusing to accept and deal with, and the entire meaning of the book is made moot.

[mintjeru]

"but there is nothing more beautiful and terrifying than innocence."

open for better quality | no reposts

[see-arcane]

Orlok didn't take the same evil host etiquette classes that Dracula did in the Scholomance.

If you’d like to support me or get some art, check out my Ko-Fi.

[tealvenetianmask]

Stolas's Trolly Problem

I've been noticing the all too common "Stolas is a bad dad" takes coming back post-"Mastermind." For the thousandth time, no he's not. But let's engage a little.

The argument goes like this. "Stolas is willing to throw his life away and make Octavia suffer to save his lover. So he's choosing Blitz over his daughter. He doesn't care about her enough."

I invoke the trolly problem. There are all kinds of variations. You're on a bridge over some train tracks. The train is headed for three people tied to the tracks, but you have your hands on a lever that can divert it to hit just one person tied to the tracks instead. What do you do? What if that one person is your loved one? What if the three people are all elderly and have already lived fulfilling lives? What if you have the chance to sacrifice yourself so that no one else has to die? And so on . . .

This is Stolas's variation of the trolly problem:

The train is headed toward a loved one (Blitz) tied to the tracks. Stolas doesn't want to live in a world that doesn't have Blitz in it.

There's no lever, but he's standing on the bridge.

Stolas can save Blitz by jumping from the bridge and throwing himself on the tracks in front of the train. But he'll die (as far as he knows) and he'll harm another loved one, Octavia, who will lose her dad.

Stolas also recognizes that his own actions played a role in Blitz ending up in this situation, so I think a feeling of responsibility nudges him a bit as well in the direction that he chooses.

He's responsible for Via's wellbeing too. *casually tearing my hair out*

Here's the thing about the trolly problem though. THERE'S NO GOOD CHOICE, and certainly no objectively morally correct choice. Otherwise it wouldn't be hard.

Either way, someone Stolas loves deeply gets hurt. Either way, he will not come out unscathed himself. So protect Blitz from death or protect Via from the pain of loss? I think that for him the choice is easy, but both options are objectively horrible.

And getting furious with him for making the wrong choice is missing that point.

I saw this awesome non-fandom comic yesterday that points out a major flaw in the trolly problem, and uses it as a metaphor for systemic oppression. You should all read it. Essentially, it's this: WHY. THE. FUCK. Are we debating the morality of saving one person or another when we should be asking WHO IS OUT THERE TYING PEOPLE TO FUCKING TRAIN TRACKS?

Which I think is at least part of the point of "Mastermind." We focus on Stolas's choice, but everyone in that courtroom who sentenced Blitz to death had a choice too . . . one where no one had to suffer at all.

[glsneeg-enthusiast]

the dog that weeps after it kills is no better than the dog that doesnt. my guilt will not purify me

[zipsunz]

yet… the path to the truth is closer to your most precious room than ever before. will you be able to bury it this time?

[lizardkingeliot]

I had taken seven thousand souls by then. But Lestat was the only one that felt like murder. Semantics, surely, but it's how I felt. He came by invitation. My distraction from the monochromatic landscape. The gray of an obliterated road, the gray-brown of a charred and bullet-ridden city.

[krakensdottir]

A scene I wanted to address, because I think we need to, because there is some understandable concern over this.

So, Aziraphale's first taste of human food... he goes pretty nuts. He eats it as fast as he can get it down. He can barely stop to breathe. And I can see why that evokes the Greedy Fat Person trope for some.

Given that Gaiman is no fan of fatphobia, I'm pretty sure that's not the intent. But I won't lean on that. I'll go further, and explain what that scene evoked for me, and see if it makes sense to anyone else.

(To preface, I'm a fat person with blood sugar problems who DOES eat like a starving animal and has 0 shame about it. So I'm not just Not Seeing It because of skinny privilege etc. To get that out of the way.)

So first off, of course, it's his first EVER attempt at eating human food. The absolute lack of moderation could be explained by that alone. But I think it's significant that it's specifically meat.

Those who are familiar with the Old Testament know what I mean when I say that God is carnivorous. It's the entire reason he was a bitch to Cain and not to Abel. The Abrahamic god was one of many at the time that accepted burnt animal offerings, before later revisions attempted to wave that away because oops, it sounds too pagan. Flesh of livestock was a common and expected offering, and burning it assured that the smell and smoke and 'essence' would rise to the heavens.

With that in mind, consider what the taste of meat would do to an angel. What it might awaken in them, the first of God's creations?

Maybe it's the monster-lover in me, but I didn't see a fat man gobbling food. I saw an inhuman ancient entity of immense power that only disguises itself as a man, briefly succumbing to a primal and Earthly urge. It wasn't comical to me. It was almost frightening, in a very intentional way. Rarely do we see through the human guise in this series, see just how eldritch these ethereal beings really are, especially Aziraphale. But here he is, ripping almost uncontrollably into the flesh of another life-form with ominous music and thunder overlying the whole scene, and a demon staring at him with intense satisfaction and fascination throughout.

That's what I took from it. If I had to guess, I'd say that's closer to the intent. Again, partly from knowing the author, but also from the way the scene is shot. We're watching an angel partake in literal pleasures of the flesh for the first time, taking formerly living matter into his body. I can totally vibe with Crowley's reaction, tbh.

[potatobugz]

hi echo zane i love you echo zane

@swiftpaw3

[oceanwaves-mp3]

something missing.

unfiltered version under the cut!

[p0kern1ght]

end of bgc blue team, when sister was still around and everything was still slapstick and - plainly put - it just hadnt gotten that hard to be a blue yet......i miss her. i miss you s5 blue team.

[flimsy-spine]

you put two gay bitches in a room together and they don't shut up about their boyfriends

[caeslxys]

i'm sure people have already thought about it, but. if laudna's thoughts are musical to imogen...could they sound like a lullaby to their potential telepathic kid...with bonus implications if you've read what doesn't break!

I see your "laudna's mind acts as a lullaby to their telepathic baby" and raise you "imogen sings the melody she hears in laudna's mind as a lullaby to their non-telepathic baby"

[gayofthefae]

As far as tiny proof they like to argue instead of the big stuff to debunk, like the lip looks, sure, maybe an accident, but what I can't get over is this:

That is such a specific character choice. An eyes-open kiss. As an actor, even, you have to actively choose to override your instinct to close your eyes. A lip look is one thing - I look at people's lips to read them to help with audio processing difficulties. Sometimes people are just examining your facial expression. There are lots of passive, alternate reasons to do lots of things.

But Finn Wolfhard had to override his eyes' instinct to close in order to do this. That is a very specific, highly motivated choice that needs strong justification. It is either directed specifically or he knows this about Mike strongly enough to not fear an exchange of 'hey, why the fuck are you doing that?' 'he's gay to me' 'what? don't do things like that'

It is Finn Wolfhard's place to interpret, not headcanon characters. So either he made this choice based off of the confirmed knowledge that Mike's feelings inform it or he was specifically asked to do it.

Either way, keeping your eyes open in a kiss is in no way a passive thing to do. And in no way a hesitant, throw away, or experimental acting choice in a scene. It has to be specific, justified, and highly confident to even try in the first place.

But he did this every take. Maybe even instinctively closed his eyes one take and they had to call cut and shoot it again.

[yaralulu]

so what you’re saying is that lucien spent the night at the manor. probably with tamlin. is that what we’re saying. is this what’s happening. because i think that’s what happening.

i was checking some details for my recent fic and acofas fr the craziest book ever bc sorry let me get this straight: lucien visits tamlin for solstice (per invitation), he stays the night, wakes up the next morning before tamlin to hunt them food so they could eat, when he comes back tamlin essentially kicks him out and not long after he packs up his stuff and dumps it at his doorstep.

what is this.

[loveinhawkins]

“Why are you whistling?” Eddie asks after he’s heard Steve do it for the fourth time.

“Huh?”

Eddie imitates him; it’s not like Steve is just casually following a tune in his head—it sounds deliberate. Encouraging whistles, one right after the other, in groups of three. Like a… like a call to something.

“Oh.” Steve chuckles slightly, gestures vaguely to the trees around them—to the evening fog that’s settling in, clinging to the branches. They’ll be nearing Lover’s Lake soon, surely. “Guess ‘cause of, uh… it’s just… a habit.” He smiles as if to himself. “In case of… dogs. So they come to me first.”

Eddie shakes his head. “Dogs. Right. Do I need a translator around you all?”

Steve’s smile grows. “Maybe. Not gonna spill all our secrets just like that, Munson. Gotta respect, um…” He clicks his fingers. “Narrative tension.”

Eddie snorts. “Fine. I’ll get the full story outta you yet, Harrington. Just you wait.”

“Mm-hmm. It’s a good one.”

“Why?”

Steve shrugs, but Eddie follows where his eyes linger: Lucas, Max. Dustin.

“Uh, I guess… it wasn’t really the beginning of… everything. But, um, it kinda was one. A beginning, I mean—for me, anyway.” He huffs, seems to hear himself. “Sorry. That was cryptic as hell and I wasn’t even… Hey, man, lemme know if you find a translator, think I need one for me, too.”

Eddie smiles. “Sure.”

But even as they’re walking towards uncertainty, even though Eddie knows there’s so many little stories he’s missing, all tangled up in the big one…

He finds that he can understand a lot about Steve without needing words.

There’s a tautness to his body as he walks, like even when seemingly relaxed, he’s always ready to run. Like there’s an unbreakable string pulling right from the centre of him, and Eddie already knows that it’ll lead straight to the kids.

Three whistles in the dark.

So they come to me first.

Eddie’s growing certain that this story in its entirety won’t exactly put his mind at ease. But for some reason, as they walk side-by-side, his heartbeat slows, like he’s finally calm enough to feel something other than fear.

Something close to fondness.

Maybe.

I don’t need a translator, Steve Harrington. Turns out I can read you pretty damn well.