Chapter twenty of “Living” in the Present Tense, “Shadows settle on the place that you left, Our minds are troubled by the emptiness”, is here!
I’m baaaaack! Capitalism cannot keep this guy down!! (Sorry it’s short…)
Extras below! Make sure to read the warning attached to the chapter!
- This chapter’s title is from “Youth” by Daughter! One of my favorite songs in middle school. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory! Did anyone else see that “Gravity Falls” pmv of that song way back when? It rules.
- Charles and Delia - FOR CLARITY! They are not super old!!! Just in their mid to late 50s. They are aging naturally and are fine, just showing signs of it. It’s just freaking Beetlejuice out. Also, Delia only resisted being called “Grandma D” because she worried it aged her, she definitely views herself as the Beetlandlings grandma!
- Ash - it was never explicitly stated in this fic, but Larry didn’t fully revive Ash. They couldn’t put all of them back together. They will only last about 40 years after the accident, and they will never fully be back to themself. But they’re making the most of it!
- “The love they shared often seemed to be what made the world go ‘round.” - this is a reference to a line in “Epic I” from “Hadestown”, because I can’t help myself! The original line is, “Hades and Persephone, Remember how it used to be, Their love that made the world go ‘round?”
- “… purring to soothe themselves and each other…” - cats purr not just when they’re happy, but also to self-soothe when they’re nervous! So do the Beetlandlings!
- “… about where the blood on his hands had come from.” - it’s all his own! He broke quite a few of his nails off clawing at the wall.
- “They’d just… they’d lost their most important people, too.” - a little sad hint that Beetlejuice views himself as somewhat of a lesser parent compared to Barbara and Adam.
- “They could barely handle losing their beloved pet possum, how could they manage without any of their parents?” - it’s not directly going to be fully discussed, but Ragamuffin’s death hit the Beetlandlings hard. Death is a foreign concept to creatures like them, and seeing it first hand is very different and way more heavy-hitting than having it explained to them.
- “Funcle Ash” - being nonbinary makes it hard to refer to someone when the relationship term is usually gendered, so they call them “funcle” as a silly compromise.
- “He grimaces, and her demeanor becomes just a smidge more stern rather than gentle and concerned.” - Lydia was so ready for him to be up to his old bullshit, and knew her being a bit stern could help. But he was too far gone for any sort of method to help, unfortunately.
- “Ash had put on a fun comedy slasher for the kids, and given them each devices to play… was that Tetris?” - the movie is “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil”, because it’s fun and lighthearted while still gorey and silly enough to keep the young demons’ attention! Also, it’s been proven that playing Tetris after a traumatic event can reduce the occurrence of intrusive memories / flashbacks! Ash was really hoping they could somewhat soften the blow of what happened that way.
Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox @canada-dryeyes
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Chapter twenty-one of “Living” in the Present Tense, “And is there a moment where it all makes sense?, When saying goodbye doesn’t feel like the end?”, is here! Woof. More pain.
Extras below!
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Amen” by Amber Run! Such a good song about grief. Mostly meant to reflect how lost Beej feels, and how he’s in denial that the Maitlands are actually gone. (Are they? Who knows!)
- “He wakes, rises.” - this is a lowkey reference to The Lady of the Lake from “The Haunting of Bly Manor”. The narration repeats something along the lines of, “She would wake, she would walk, she would forget.” The character’s grief and unwillingness to let go of her life before was a huge inspiration for his behavior in this chapter and onwards. Here’s a link to a scene with her that makes me cry!
- “Beetlejuice was thrilled when some of his favorite books were added to all of their curriculums.” - imagine you’re like “ugh gotta read this fuckass book” and you bring it home and your dad is like “GREAT GATSBY YAAAAYYYY”
- “Laika loves hikes.” - she always has! Ever since she was tiny :)) throwback to when she ate a leaf the first time they took her outside lol
- “Comet has rehearsal every week day evening.” - Comet is a thespian!!! They have an unnatural charm more than most demons, their voice and performances are enthralling to humans. They just like to be on stage hehe
- Wes - the first introduction to a character that is very important to Sawyer. You guys don’t even know how much I daydream about their interactions. It’s insane.
- “He had questions about human society, about their healthcare.” - fun little secret for the people reading this. Sawyer will eventually become a doctor!
- “On the outside, he was fuckin’ nailing it.” - wanted to emphasize that, despite how unraveled he appears in his narration, on the outside everyone (except Lydia) thinks he’s taking this shockingly well.
- “He sat at the kitchen table and stared, unseeing, at the wall.” - lowkey reference to a Mitski song because I love her, and I’m listening to that song a lot for one of my other fics. It’s from “Last Words of a Shooting Star”, and it goes, “They’ll never know how I’d stared at the dark in that room, With no thoughts like a blood-sniffing shark”.
- “We watched some fun, strange movie from the 1980’s.” - it was “Ghostbusters”! What a bad choice for this situation lol
- “Their horns… their horns were cut? Beetlejuice squinted hard. Their expression was weighed down by sorrow. Almost all of their jewelry was missing, including the crown. When had their horns been cut?” - the taking of their jewelry, and especially the cutting of their horns, indicates a significant loss of status or a severe attack from another demon. As we know from Beej, cutting off a demon’s horns is painful and, as he doesn’t know, is quite demoralizing. Perhaps one day we’ll know what happened to them.
- “How long had they been missing their glasses? Did they have them the last time he saw them?” - they don’t need their glasses, as previously stated. They wore them for the aesthetic. But still. Where’d they go?
- “Yes, he’d met Larry’s mother and twin brother before they were extinguished, of course.” - LORE DROP LOL. I was honestly not going to include anything else about them until Larry’s POV chapter, but they are just so important to who Larry is as a character that I couldn’t not have a little section briefly discussing them. So, yes, Larry had an identical twin brother and a mother whom they loved dearly.
- “He did remember that both of the little bear demons were nearly identical. But one had brown fur, while the other had white fur.” - as I just mentioned, Larry and their twin were identical. You can imagine just how devastating it was for them to lose him. I’ve mentioned in DMs to friends, and will in Larry’s POV, that sometimes they stare into mirrors and try to imagine what their brother would’ve looked like if he’d gotten to grow up too.
- “ “When my tail was long.” Larry clenched their fists at their sides. “When I could still… purr. Before I’d even met my other mother. When I was one half of a whole.” ” - the tail thing is a two-pronged thing. First of all, it’s a reference to the myth of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, to explain why those bears have long tails and real bears don’t. As mentioned in-text, Larry’s mother who passed was feline. A black leopard, to be precise. The only trait they inherited from her was a long, feline tail. They also had the ability to purr, like every other demon. It will be explained more later, but Larry’s other mother cut their tail and clipped their vocal chords after she took them in. Once again, this is all a glimpse into what made Larry the way they are.
- “The dead-eyed, barely moving little thing who had lost all motivation and light. The one he had to drag along with him as they scavenged.” - after the loss of their mother and brother, Larry’s other mom took them in. She tried to fix them up to be the perfect little child to show off, but they were too caught up in their grief and too imperfect in her eyes. So she tossed them out to fend for themself, where they met Beej again and became proper friends.
- “They had gored him with their horns the last time he tried to bring it up.” - mind you, this was right after it happened. Beej never tried to bring it up again. That was when they were like 10 years old.
- “They hold on to anything and everything at the end…” - this is a reference to one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite games, “Night in the Woods”. “At the end of everything, hold onto anything.” Larry vehemently rejects this, and any idea of processing or caring. Until recently, that is.
- “Catch me, I’m falling. Part of him is always agonizing. Part of him misses them so much it feels like he’s lost a limb. That part of him is still crying, please, I’m sinking.” - some references to a song from “Next To Normal”, since that musical influenced this Act somewhat, and Act Three VERY HEAVILY. The song is “Make Up Your Mind / Catch Me I’m Falling (Reprise)”. The lyrics are intercut with other lines of dialogue, but the ones I’m referring are “Catch me, I’m falling / Sinking and sprawling / Maybe I’ll let myself fall”.
Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox @canada-dryeyes
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The final chapter of Time’s Arrow, chapter seventeen, “You Can Always Come Home”, is here! Woof. I cried a lot. Please make sure to read the warnings and proceed with caution!
Here are the extras, along with an afterword!
- This is the first and probably only LoopJuice chapter to not have lyrics for the title! Instead, it’s from a song title. “You Can Always Come Home” by Toby Fox. It’s meant to be Beetlejuice to Lydia, as well as myself to the reader. You can always return to this fic, if it brings you comfort. It will always be here for you. I highly recommend listening to this song while reading.
- “Beetlejuice was unlike the majority of the demons inhabiting the Netherworld, in a multitude of ways.” - Did you catch that this whole introduction is a reworking of the opening of Time is a Flat Circle?
- “The once-brown roots of his hair was now peppered with grey, and a white streak grew in stark contrast with his constantly fluorescent pink and green tips in a spot at the front.” - his hair is somewhat permanently switching between pink and green, aside from the white and grey, since he is mostly always feeling loved and happy.
- “(And himself, somewhat. It was a slow process, and some days all he wanted to do was give up on the bastard, but he was learning. Learning to care about himself, more and more, bit by bit.)” - it’s a tough road, but it’s one that’s certainly worth it.
- “Their paws were hot, and the fur on them was patchy.” - Larry was rubbing their hands together due to anxiety, and rubbed some of their fur off.
- “But he was fading.” - this is closely based on my own personal experience, with memory issues and other chronic health issues. Perhaps the very end of my life will be sad, and so will Beej’s, but that doesn’t mean he can’t “live” in the present, and enjoy what it has to offer.
- “Now you two get to marry this creepy old guy!” - thank you @raineisinkless for the joke idea <33
- “After all, time’s arrow marches on.” - roll credits! /ref. I actually got this fic’s title from the episode of the same name from “BoJack Horseman”, if you hadn’t picked up on it by now.
- “( And so do you. )” - It can be hard to believe sometimes, but you do. You really do.
Afterword (sorry, I get pretty personal here)
Hello!
I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for making it here, to an end of my ridiculously self indulgent and long winded Beetlejuice fanfic. It’s quite funny, when you think about it. Just how much watching one musical spiraled into… this! For myself, for you.
This fic series and it’s reception reignited a passion for writing I had let fade out as I marched on into adulthood and all the dreadful responsibilities and horrors it entails. Writing this, reading the comments, seeing the fanart, and the reactions, my goodness. It was invigorating, it was draining, it was wonderful and agonizing and spectacular. I thought I’d have to leave it behind in my adolescence, but now I can’t wait to continue writing.
This is not the end of Loopjuice! Far from it. However, this will be the end for the majority of you, I expect. I did my best to leave it open ended for part 3, while also being a satisfying conclusion if anyone wants to hop off here. I completely understand if you do. Hell, I wasn’t sure about even posting part 3 until a month or so ago! It will be mostly a slice of life, with the usual angst and agony sprinkled in. I understand if that is not for you.
This story was a labor of love. Also, I’m fairly certain anyone can tell, even without looking at the extras or chapter notes, that it is very personal to me. LoopJuice very much became a mirror as time went on (heheh). As an audhd (autism and adhd) nonbinary polyamorous person with sensory issues, severe mommy issues (thank you mom for being my own personal Juno and inspiring scenes in this fic /sarc), hearing loss, separation anxiety, etc etc etc, it was really an outlet of sorts. Hell, LoopJuice and I have the same scar from the same cause! (Kinda. His is on his ear, mine’s on the back of my head.) I’ve been hit by more cars than him, though.
I was touched to see others connecting with some of his struggles. And I was honestly very moved to see people sympathizing with him. At first, I intended him to be morally reprehensible. I thought I was. But seeing readers understanding and still caring, it… woof, that was crazy for me! To be completely honest? LoopJuice is ahead of me in terms of character development. He’s already on the ‘accepting help’, ‘accepting you are loved and cared for without an exchange’, and ‘learning to love yourself’ phases, but I’m not quite there yet. (Here’s to hoping I will be, someday.)
This story, in the end, I wanted to be about love and hope, and found family.
And, well, of course, a stupid green-haired demon.
I tried to make the ending to be unambiguously happy, but it came out bittersweet. For that, I apologize, but that is how it must be. I have very similar memory issues to LoopJuice. I often forget my own birthday, or a conversation that was had not long ago, or a family member’s face. It’s scary. And I am chronically ill. One day, long before most of my loved ones, I will ‘fade away’. And I have made peace with that. And so, LoopJuice, in a similar situation, has too. It’s in the distant future for myself and for him, so why fret about what you can’t change in the future? You have to enjoy the present, and all it has to offer.
This story is important to me, and I’m happy it’s touched a few people’s hearts. It feels like it took a part of me with it when I made it, but not quite in the bad way. Like a piece of me is out there, causing laughter and tears and fuzzy feelings.
I guess all of this is to say; thank you, and farewell to those who won’t continue on with this story and other, and I love you. You deserve love and warmth, and you will get there one day. If this fucked up demon can, so can you.
Thank you so much for reading. I really hope you enjoyed.
Time for me to get some rest, before I’m back to it with Part Three: “Living” in the Present Tense!
(As well as my summer camp AU, and my book, eventually!)
Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox
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Songs for this chapter:
“Army Dreamers in 29edo” by Deister Orchestra ; “L’amore dice Ciao (Main Titles) - Remastered” by Armando Trovajoli ; “Love Story” by The Newton Brothers ; “You Can Always Come Home” by Toby Fox ; “In Our Bedroom After The War” by Stars ; “Will You Remember?” by The Cranberries ; “It’s You, It’s Me, It’s Us” by Reinaeiry ; “Remember Me (Lullaby)” from Coco ; “Pilvet liikkuu, minä en” by Yona ; “Love Like You (feat. Rebecca Sugar)” from Steven Universe ; “Everything Stays (feat. Olivia Olson)” from Adventure Time ; “That Distant Shore (feat. Jennifer Paz)” from Steven Universe ; “Strawberry Blond” by Mitski ; “Pink in the Night” by Mitski ; “Ready Now” by dodie ; “Samson” by Regina Spektor
Chapter fifteen of “Living” in the Present Tense, “I’m dedicating every day to you, Domestic life was never quite my style”, is here!! I’m baaaaack! (audience booing)
Extras below!!
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Dear Theodosia” from “Hamilton”! Bitch I straight up could not help myself. ITS SO LOOPJUICE ITS CRAZY….
- “Adam and Barbara both paused in their cooing and fawning…” - heheheh
- “ “I just wanna make a good first impression on her. I really fumbled it with everyone else.” “That’s not…” Barbara hesitated and trailed off, pursing her lips. “.. entirely true!” ” - he really did fumble first impressions with every single character in canon and in this fic.
- “… holding a fresh-smelling book open in front of them both as she read aloud.” - Lydia had the book made specifically so she could read it and gift it to Laika. Because she’s insane
- “My Immortal” - this is what Lydia was reading to Laika. If you don’t know what “My Immortal” is, congratulations! You’re missing out on high art and have also made me feel extremely old. Here’s a video about it. And another.
- “She could sleep through ear-piercing screaming and splattering gore, or awkward pauses and loud theme songs, or faux-futuristic gunfire and crashing cars, or any other sort of noises from what her family put on TV.” - horror movies from Beetlejuice, workplace comedies from Barbara, and futuristic movies like “The Terminator” from Adam!
- “exquisitely stupid” … “perfectly splendid” - callbacks to these phrases being used in previous chapters! References to “Nope” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor”, respectively.
- “(Worrying was the Maitland-Deetz-Shoggoths’ specialty.)” - between time skips, Beetlejuice changed his last name and added “Deetz”, at Charles’ insistence!
- “It wasn’t until Barbara paused to take a picture of the four of them that they noticed she was heartily chomping down on it.” - based on this tiktok I saw. It makes me laugh so fucking hard. Also I used to do that. I had to go to urgent care so many times
- “… observing her play with the block toys Adam had made for her.” - WOODWORKING FOR HIS DAUGHTER…
- “(Like poor Pluto’s tail, for example. The little tyke learned how to hiss from the older cat before she even began to babble. She seemed to have misunderstood it as a friendly noise.)” - Pluto is not grumpy!! She’s very patient with Laika. She has only hissed a few times to establish boundaries, and Laika is a baby and doesn’t get that it’s an angry noise. She’s just like “oh I should make that noise instead of grabbing you? Sick!” Also, based on something my friend’s niece did.
- “And the poor dear loved to be spoken to. To engage in mock conversations.” - heheheh. “Dear”.
- “- with a bite force of over 1,100 psi! Can you believe it?” - he’s yapping about hyenas! He’s educating her on her own teeth
- “A place where the family usually participated in silent parallel play.” - Barbara gardening while her two autistic husbands do their own things near her is a funny mental image to me. Added points when the rest of the family members are added in. Barbara, Adam, Beetlejuice, Charles, Delia, Ash, and Laika doing their own thing in the same space lol
- “They seemed to be enjoying the chilly, quiet afternoon together.” - he’s mostly recovered from his trauma surrounding cold :)))
- “He smiled softly when she giggled at his cold touch.” - his fingers are still cold from the ritual years ago, but Laika doesn’t mind! She associates it with her dad, and she loves her dad
- “Try… try saying the opposite of what your mother used to say to you.” - advice I’ve received from my own therapist! Not about kids, though, I don’t got any of those. Barbara’s words were based on things her father said to her, Beetlejuice’s from his mother. Both are based on things my own mother said to me!
- “… Beetlejuice accidentally bonked the top of Laika’s head with his elbow. It was a gentle, harmless little accident.” - based on something that happened to me. I am so super freaked about the idea of hurting others like my mom did lol
- “He’d been reaching up to grab the peanut butter jar for an afternoon snack…” - I do this! With a spoon. Beetlejuice uses his tongue. It drives his spouses crazy.
- “The demon’s stomach was a black hole nowadays.” - HE’S HEALING!!!
- “Just a little “ghuh”, quickly shaking her head.” - based on my own reaction to hitting my head lol
- “It took months of convincing for him to engage in any sort of play with Laika, even though she yearned for it. Barbara and Adam themselves could only handle so much biting and rabbit-kicking to their arms from her themselves.” - she gets zoomies and loves to roughhouse!! She learned it partially from the cats, hence the arm biting and rabbit-kicking.
- “Larry had said most demon children were fairly self-sufficient by an extremely young age…” - that’s because most of them are dumped by the time they’re three
- “Beetlejuice received quite the intense chewing-out when her first actual word had been “shit”.” - based (yet again) on a story from my own childhood! My first word was “fuck”. I’m not joking.
- “ “Hope you like i- where’d you go.” Beetlejuice returned to find the nine month-old had vanished.” - both a reference to an iconic line from the movie and a hilarous tiktok I saw using that audio.
- “… over to the stairs leading to the second floor to gnaw on the spindles of the rail.” - based both on Sunny Baudelaire from “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” and something I did in my childhood. I was a biter! I got kicked out of twelve daycares.
- “Laika, with her golden curls and crooked smile, her fawn spots and little hooves, her honey brown eyes and the mischievous glint within them, filled their un-lives with so much light and warmth.” - wanted to highlight a few of the traits she got from each of her parents! Beetlejuice’s crooked smile and mischievous nature, brown eyes and deer features from Adam, and the hair and bright demeanor osmosis-ed from Barbara.
Tag list: @rainybeetles @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox @canada-dryeyes
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Chapter eleven of “Living” in the Present Tense, “But tell me you love me, come back and haunt me”, is here! I’M ALIVE I’M ALIVE I AM SO ALIVE (/ref)
Extras below!
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “The Scientist" by Coldplay! It’s meant to be from Lydia to Ash. Y’know, y’know.
- The list - all actual names being considered! Knowers know which name(s) are actually being used.
- “‘So help me, Eileen, stop chewing on the couch!’” - thank you to @c0zmo-writes for helping me pick this name. I was struggle bus-ing.
- “ “‘Temperance’? What kinda name is that?” “A very strong, empowering one!” Barbara said defensively. ” - Barbara picked this name from the main character of the show “Bones”, Temperance “Bones” Brennan! She wants their kid to have a strong female figure to look up to. This is also what made Beetlejuice suggest the name “Bones”.
- “… until they were close to sure it was the kindest, most softest way to say…” - this is a reference to the song “Just Take My Wallet” by Jack Stauber! The lyrics go, “What’s the softest way to say, You took away my friend, my buddy?, What’s the kindest way to say, You took away my friend?”.
- “The gravity of it was not yet known to her, but the weight of it all was already settling on her shoulders. (She’d be buried by it soon enough.)” - this is a reference to “Never Love an Anchor” by The Crane Wives! The lyrics go, “There is love that doesn’t have a place to rest, But it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulders”.
- “Her partner, separated or not, torn to pieces in the river, hair cascading like grass in the wind in it’s current, pale, hollow face upturned and gazing glassily up into the dark as it bobbed on the surface.” - this is meant to evoke this painting of Ophelia.
- “That familiar prying weight on his mind, gently knocking on it’s door before coming in anyways, came upon him all too suddenly.” - this is a reference to this joke. For levity!
- “For the third time in Lydia’s life, her world crumbled down around her. At least this time, Beetlejuice could be there for her.” - the first time being when her mom died, the second being when Beetlejuice got dragged to the Netherworld by Cyrus.
- “As much as he’d sometimes dreamt of being there for Lydia and Charles in the wake of Emily’s passing, of comforting them and helping them reconcile their feelings before things got to the mess they’d become…” - that last part is a reference to “Dead Mom”!
- “Wait for me?” - a reference to “Hadestown”, but also I straight up said what was in the letter in Ash’s POV chapter! Kinda.
- “No fuckin’ way.” - they told her about Cyrus being dead right before this. They then said “but he was super chill about it, and then the next night he came in all guilty about something else!!” That then lead to this.
- Ragamuffin - SURPRISE!! Beetlejuice has another possum in his care now :)) he found him next to his mother after she’d been run over, and brought him back home and begged them to let him keep him. At first Barbara said no, but basically Adam went “Barbara we have to let him keep it or he will cry forever”.
Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox
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Chapter ten of “Living” in the Present Tense, “And for a moment I forget, Just how dark and cold it gets” // “I’ll swear that I loved you” is here! YEEHAW!
Make sure to read the warnings attached to the chapter!
Extras below!
- The first set of lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “All I’ve Ever Known” from “Hadestown”! The whole song is so beetlands. With them, he forgets how sometimes not-life sucks! The second set is from “Little Soldiers” by The Crane Wives! It’s meant to reflect one of the thoughts Beetlejuice has towards Cyrus. He loved him at some point, despite it all. He’s not sure if Cyrus ever felt the same.
- “No more roughhousing with Deb when she came to visit, although she and Bela didn’t come for their usual game night that week.” - wonder why that is! I hope she’s okay.
- “His powers were getting weaker, lately.” - hmm. That’s probably fine and normal, right?
- “He wielded his cane in his free hand, his bad leg flaring up horribly since….” - since he fell off the bridge and broke his leg again.
- “Oh, fffff… fiddlesticks!” - Beetlejuice’s foul language almost rubbed off on Adam here!
- “He tried phasing through, first, briefly pondering why his partners weren’t trying to do the same at the front door.” - because 1. they’re out in the open where breathers could see 2. as Adam says later, they still need those keys to open the cash register and lock up later!
- “He landed on the (recently replaced) couch…” - replaced for gross reasons mentioned in Time’s Arrow!
- “Figured I’d clean up and replace the window while you two set up shop!” - he didn’t think about how he’d replace the window. My guy sucks at planning sometimes
- “She whirled around, snapping her fingers before pointing down at the ground. “Ah-ah! Stay!” They obediently sat their ass back down, squeaking out a little “yes ma’am”. ” - inspired by the “down boy!” meme that went around recently!
- “… a nice soundtrack, scored by “Talking Heads”, “Brian Eno”, and “The Smashing Pumpkins”. ” - again, some of my best friend’s favorite artists!
- “(Beetlejuice could sympathize, if it was anyone else. Having your head get cut off fuckin’ sucked.)” - hmm. Wonder who did that to him?
- “His eyes narrowed a little, then softened. His lips tried and failed to curl into their usual charming smile. Cyrus uselessly opened his mouth, his tongue shaping words he didn’t have the oxygen to pronounce. He made a “p” sound, then a long, weak groan.” - he was trying to manipulate him, call him “pet”. Sucks to suck!
- Sirius - notice how his name isn’t bolded after he’s burned. :))
- “He’d thought long and hard during sleepless nights like this about what he’d say to Sirius if he ever saw him again. He’d fantasized about putting him in his place for years by then, about making sure he never hurt anyone else. But now? The words didn’t come.” - the unfortunate reality of facing down an abuser. There’s not really real “gotcha” moments, no “horrible person exposed, everyone clapped”. Usually you just trip over your words and falter.
- ““Pulled Up”’s starting notes weren’t enough to drown out their ensuing exclamations of confusion and panic.” - great Talking Heads song! You should give it a listen.
Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox
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Chapter 9 of Time’s Arrow, “I am selfish, I am broken, I am cruel, I am all the things they might have said to you” is here! Woof. Sorry everyone. Happy Beetlejuice 2 premiere! :,)
THIS CHAPTER IS PARTICULARLY ROUGH. PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING.
Extras below!
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title is from “Never Love An Anchor” by The Crane Wives.
- “The next ten months moved at the speed of a dream.” - A call back to a line from Time is a Flat Circle, which itself is a reference to “Asteroid City”! Gotcha again!
- “They read ‘Flowers for Algernon’, ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’, and… some sort of Jane Austen novels.” - I wonder if those stories are thematically relevant to this chapter?
- “He had no idea what to do about his fur anyhow. It had never grown in that long and thick before, how was he supposed to know it would do that?” - It was growing properly because he was finally happy and healthy enough for it to do so!
- “She was tall. Well, at least taller than him. Damnit.” - Bela is 5’9”! She is on the shorter side for demons. Beej is just especially small, since he was malnourished.
- “Her roots were black, the rest of her hair cascaded down to her shoulders in similar curls to his own, colored with a gentle lavender hue.” - Bela’s resting hair color is purple instead of green like Beej!
- “She had an orange-jeweled nose ring.” - Bela and Deb have matching nose rings, since exchanging jewelry is how demons court each other!
- “Shades of a gentle maroon red flickered through Bela’s hair.” - Bela has different colors for her emotions than Beej does!
- “Most were “whales”, stolen away in malevolent Deals to forever be a supply for the demon they were tied to. Slowly withering away to nothing.” - this is inspired by “Doctor Sleep”, because I’m a huge Mike Flanagan fiend.
- “They were all strange, all lacked the innate ability to socially adapt that the other demons thrived off of.” - Autism can run in a family, and it sure does run in the Shoggoth family!
- “He didn’t know why she was upset, but he knew it was up to him to make it better. (Why else was he here?)” - Still partially believes his only purpose is to make others happy, or they wouldn’t want him around.
- “… she hesitated, still firmly grasping the bright green fleece blanket he’d summoned from his room around her shoulders.” - The same blanket Charles got Beej for his room!
- “ “I watched this movie last night, since I couldn’t fall asleep. It was..” their voice caught in their throat, and their breath hitched. Beetlejuice slowly rose from his chair, setting the ice pack on the counter. “… lotta.. big feelings about it, huh?” They rapidly nodded, wrapping their arms around themself. “I don’t… I can’t keep living the way I do.” ” - Ash watched “I Saw The TV Glow”, which is a horror movie about being trans. It gutted me the first time I saw it. Ash had a similar visceral reaction, and it made her rethink how she is living. It also informs a lot of this chapter’s theming, but it is not required viewing for this fic. It is very, very difficult to watch for neurodivergent queers.
- “The living need attention too, Ash. It’s okay.” - This line is partially taken from “Dead Girls” by Penelope Scott, which is a very important song on Ash’s playlist.
- “You feel like you’ll die if you stay there. Or… worse.” - An “I Saw The TV Glow” reference. There’s quite a few in here.
- “Thank you, Beetlejuice.” - the first time they’ve called him by his actual name!
- Anyone spot more Time is a Flat Circle parallels?
- “It was then that Beetlejuice got hit by his first car.” - This is mostly a joke about how I, the author, have been hit by 4 cars. I feel like Beej would be similarly unlucky.
- “… it’s like being a wolf dog.” - This is based on how I’ve explained what it was like to grow up in my household.
- “Memories washed away like chalk on the sidewalk.” - Another “I Saw The TV Glow” reference.
- “Adam and Barbara celebrated their birthdays, which landed a couple days apart from each other, by smelling wine and watching ‘Lord of the Rings’ together. Beetlejuice was invited to join them.” - Based on something Adam made Beej he would promise to do in an earlier chapter!
- “June was full of beautiful sunsets he watched with his family.” - This was, like the previous thing, also listed among the reasons Beej should keep “living” in a previous chapter.
- “At the end of the month, walking to school and the store with Lydia, Beetlejuice realized with horror that Lydia was taller than him. Like, at least half a foot taller.” - Lydia is 5’7” now, he’s just being dramatic.
- “(How could no one see it? He felt so happy, but still he felt pieces of him slowly dying and rotting away. How could no one see that he was rotten? That he was dying?)” - This is partially another “I Saw The TV Glow” reference, and a reference to the ending of the song “you smell of dead flowers” by vslush and cliesel
- “August came like a thief in the night.” - A callback to Time is a Flat Circle! Which is itself an Edgar Allen Poe reference.
- “… they say old man Hirsch signed up for it right before he went missing.” - Yes he is named after Alex Hirsch, creator of “Gravity Falls”. Love ya Alex!
- “ “I managed to talk him down from another viewing of ‘Pride and Prejudice’!” (Another? What was that? They’d seen it before?)” - This is meant to alert the reader that something is very wrong, as “Pride and Prejudice” was brought up before by Beetlejuice himself.
- “Beetlejuice scratched at their left arm. The scars had started to fade.” - He was resorting to self-regulating self harm less enough that his arm was healing before this point.
- “I… I couldn’t.. I didn’t have enough energy to resist the Seal w-.. without a cult.” - Beetlejuice was tricking people to sign up for his cult under the guise of a “Loyalty Program”.
- “Why have they been going missing, then?” … “They swore they were choking on the taste of blood, bile rising in their throat as they felt their flesh between their teeth.” - Beetlejuice ate a few members of his cult. That’s why there’s missing persons in the town.
- “Someone’s hand gripped the back of their shirt, trying to pull them out of the kitchen. Panic spiked within them. Beetlejuice felt the blow to the back of their head, the horrible stabbing agony in their chest. That familiar, terrifying sensation they’d felt over and over and over and- ”- Beetlejuice had flashbacks to being killed during the loop over and over because Charles touched his old wound and it scared him, hence why he lashed out.
- “There’s still time. There has to be.” - Yet another “I Saw The TV Glow” reference.
- “ “Hello, pet.” Time’s up.” - Meant to envoke a terrifying line in “Yo, Girl” from Heathers the musical.
- “I’ll make you wish you could die!” - This line was originally going to be a more blatant reference to a line that Circus Baby from the FNAF series says often, “You won’t die, but you’ll wish you could.”
- “You always bounce ba- ” - Meant to be a reference to this scene from “Adventure Time” which I’ve… never seen…
- “Beetlejuice was distantly aware that Cyrus brought his claws up to his mouth to lick some of the blood off of them. “Choke on it,” they sputtered, although they weren’t sure if Cyrus could understand them through all of the blood that bubbled out of their mouth.” - Meant to be a reference to the horrific death of Captain Rhodes from “Day of the Dead”!
- “Beetlejuice wheezed out a last croak as Cyrus once again gripped their hoof and continued dragging them towards the portal.” - This is meant to evoke the gut-wrenching opening scene of “Scream”. Specifically, the part where Ghostface is dragging Casey away, and she is wheezing out her last breaths, which her parents can hear over the phone. The music in that scene never fails to make me cry. (I cried my eyes out rewatching that scene and imagining it playing when the Maitlands see the basement, but that’s not how things will happen…)
- “I’m sorry I was the one you loved.” - From “I’m Your Man” by Mitski.
