Hedgehog’s Dilema - A metaphor about the challenges of human intimacy. It describes a scenario where a group of hedgehogs are sheltering together from a winter storm, and want to move in close to share body heat. They must remain apart, though, so they don’t hurt each other with their spines. Though they all want a close, personal relationship, this can’t occur, for reasons they can’t avoid.
Chapter seven of Catabasis, my Beetlejuice / Severance AU!
Big thanks to @st4rbreaker and @mastersprogram for helping me find the motivation to return to writing Catabasis and other fics! <33
Extras below!
- The title refers to Betel, of course. He be personifying that metaphor every day.
- “The elevator dinged, causing Adam to jump. Barbara’s grip on Betel tightened, and the arm around his shoulders shot out to grip at the fabric of Adam’s jacket.” - Barbara was ready to throw hands for her boys here. If that had been literally anyone else, she would’ve beat them up. I’m only half joking.
- “She relaxed when Charles stepped through, looking weary. His eyes were red, his face a little puffy.” - Outie Charles has been crying almost daily before work for the past week.
- “He lit up like a lamp when he laid eyes on them.” - one of two instances in this chapter of characters comparing something to an artificial light when the common phrase refers to the sun. Because they don’t know what the sun is like!
- “Though his skin was starting to itch and burn the longer they held the hug, Adam was certain he would miss it and all other touches if they were to cease.” - autism means touch makes my body feel weird. But also I want to hug everyone all the time always. I gave Adam this dilemma also
- “His stupid, grating, gravely voice was like MDE to Adam’s ears.” - Get it? Because Adam doesn’t know music outside of the MDEs?
- “Betel barked out a cackle, rubbing his cheek against Adam’s closest arm in a strange, affectionate way that made the brunet’s heart race.” - like the way a cat rubs it’s cheek on you. My fucking weirdo <33
- “Betel’s hands gripped at his desk so hard they shook, his strangely sharp, now unpainted nails digging into the surface. “This time, I’m really gonna do it.” ” - number one. His nails aren’t painted anymore because his outie hasn’t seen Lydia in a week. Number two. That line is based off perhaps my favorite Severance meme ever.
- “I’m sorry, what is he going to do?” - based on an older coworker’s confused response to me saying the exact same thing lol
- “Adam tapped on the surface of the table, causing Betel to look in his direction with an inquisitive noise.” - kinda like a cat trill! Also Adam has this fool trained.
- “You’re only twenty-five?” - this is significant because, as previously mentioned, Betel has worked at Walton for ten years. Meaning he’s been working on the severed floor since he was fifteen.
- “Yes, I-… well, I don’t condone this delinquency, but I also would prefer things go as smoothly as possible for my-… my friends.” - he almost said “kids” but friends is a big step too!!
- “It was hard to look at her directly sometimes. The same way it hurt to look directly at the fluorescent lights all around them.” - the other instance. Since Betel has never seen the sun, the best he can compare Barbara (or Adam) to is a fluorescent light.
- “Betel paused at his desk, slowly lifting his right hand. His head moved before his wide, glassy eyes to gaze curiously at it. “Wh- no. Your other hand.” ” - based on a scene from “The Lighthouse” that cracks me up every time.
- “He made his way swiftly for the door to the small room, movements quick and uncharacteristically skittish.” - he’s afraid of Betel now because of the biting incident
- “… and some sort of had made of a soft, knitted material.” - it’s a beanie, but he doesn’t know what that is lol
- “Control yourself.” - while most of Outie Betel’s speech is an altered version of the one Outie Helly makes in a similar scene, this line is lifted from “The Substance”. I feel like Elisabeth and Sue’s relationship really fits how Outie and Innie Betel feel about each other.
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Hedonic treadmill - the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative life changes.
Chapter two of Catabasis, my Beetlejuice Severance AU!
- The title for this chapter is “Hedonic treadmill”, defined above! It’s referring to how Barbara just has to kinda just… live like this now. Also, other things!
- “As usual, his own lunch is a plain turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise sandwich…” - fun fact! I had to google what’s usually on a turkey sandwich for this because I only eat fuckass weird ones
- Adam’s lunch - autism meal to the max. Sounds fucking delectable. Now I’m hungry
- “One of him, and Adam, and Betel, and… He feels a strange melancholy pull in his chest at the sight of it. He decides, then and there, to discard of them. He plucks them from his, Adam, and Betel’s desks.” - Outie Charles got severed to avoid having to face his emotions towards his dead wife. It makes sense his innie would react the same way to missing someone.
- “He is wearing what he always wears, with the exception of his tie, which is a lighter shade of green than the day previous.” - he’s not wearing the exact same outfit, he just owns a ton of the same shirts and pants. He only changes up the tie color a little.
- “His cheeks, nose, and fingers are tinted red. He’s lightly shivering. “The heating must be broken upstairs,” ” - they have an idea of what winter is, kinda. But they don’t understand it. They rationalize the cold as “the heat being broken upstairs” and not “the world itself is chilly as shit”. Because they’ve never been outside!
- “ “So, like… is it tomorrow?” She said, before either man could speak again. “From yesterday’s perspective,” Charles softly quips…” - Charles’ response is a reference to a line in “Midsommar”, because it always cracks me up.
- Ackerman file - based on the name of the original movie’s cinematographer, Thomas E. Ackerman!
- “He’s rather close, his body only a few inches from hers. She could tilt her head ever-so-slightly one way and end up resting it on his shoulder. She can smell something sharp, but not unpleasant on him. It’s… something familiar, she thinks. Something that whispers in the dark of her new mind, something that cannot be traced back to any specific memory or idea. Just the ghost of one.” - one’s sense of smell has the strongest connection to memories of any of the senses.
- “Charles and Adam’s shoulders both relax, and Barbara even hears the latter sigh in relief.” - they are a bit traumatized by how many coworkers were fired overnight, and were worried it happened to Betel.
- “Just like how I blame your outie for the red eyes. He must be allergic to somethin’ outside.” - Charles’ eyes are often red due to him frequently crying in his car before going in to work.
- Elfman file - based on the name of the original movie’s composer, Danny Elfman! That guy fuckin’ rules.
- “You fit into this team like a chip of painted glass in a splendid moo-saic!” - yeah she mispronounced mosaic.
- “And one thing to know about me is that my favorite color is red.” - hmm. I wonder if any characters have red strongly associated with them, aside from fuckass Juno… hmmmmmm….
- “… she grows herbs in her spare time, and she has a sensitivity to gluten.” - based on Kerry Butler’s own herb growing habits, and then a line from the musical about “over glutinous food”!
- “… she is the third tallest person in your office.” - Betel is the shortest! And Adam is maybe half an inch taller than Barbara.
- “The melon bar doesn’t even have watermelon.” … “… as she goes to take a little bite of one of the melon balls. (An orange-ish one. It’s.. fine.)” - based on my own opinions on the melon bar from the show. I know there’s no watermelon for color coding purposes, and because it would be out of season in winter, when the show takes place, but STILL! The other melons fucking suck. Also, catch how Betel knows what watermelon is?
- “ “Has he tried this?” She chuckles when Betel shakes his head…” - in all their years working together, Betel has yet to convince Adam to try the apple slices. Until now!
- “Betel turns a little from where he’s sat on Adam’s desk…” - just wanted to highlight that he’s sitting on Adam’s desk lol
- “He doesn’t hear Barbara teasing Adam about how many incentive rewards he’s accrued on his desk.” - Adam is very, very good at his job. Yay autism!
- “He jolts when Ms. Schlimmer places a hand on his shoulder.” … “Charles stutters a little, face hot. He looks down at his keyboard.” - the innies don’t get a lot of touch. It’s taboo in workplaces, like in the real world. So they usually get very flustered when someone does touch them, especially without warning.
- “ “… still thinking about what Betel said?” “… sure, yes. I am.” ” - he’s not. He’s worried about him.
- “You’ve earned it, with all the changes and, um… y'know!" - the “y’know” is “dealing with Betel”.
- “Were those supposed to be… trees? Charles didn’t know they could be so pointy.” - my guy has never seen a pine tree before
- Wellness office - listen. I know it’s funky. It’s based on how it looks in the show, okay?
- “A photo of your outie was once in the newspaper.” - she didn’t say it was for… fun reasons!
- Bird song - outie Charles does birdwatching, as the movie version of him does!
- Mrs. Abramovitz - yeah it’s Juno, or Mrs. Sidney. This name comes from her original Broadway actor, Jill Abramovitz! No she’s not severed, she’s just lying and using a fake name.
- “I didn’t spend a single red dime of your supply, Mr. Deetz.” - this is a reference to a line in “Knives Out”, because Juno would talk like that.
- “He’d never admit it, but part of him had grown fond of Betel.” - heheh. Get it? Because his innie is secretly fond of Betel? And his innie is a part of him?
- “Just a touch of consumption.” … “‘Touch of consumption’. What year is it, 1836? Who even-… what even is that?” - this is all a reference to a scene from “Weapons”. I will not elaborate for spoiler reasons.
- “His heart stutters as she stares him down with her amber eyes.” - “Her” being her mom.
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