LoopJuice Extras - Tumblr Posts

Hey! Here are some fun notes and details from my Beetlejuice timeloop fanfic, Time is a Flat Circle. I wanted to put these somewhere because most of them won’t be acknowledged in the text.

Chapter one:

- The title of the chapter is a line from the song “The Heroine” by Unwoman, and is very literal in how it applies to Beetlejuice, obviously. He has to go through all of the emotions of the loop over and over again. The rest of the song is about an actress lamenting how she has the sympathies of the audience, but that someone who promised to come see her show never did. I feel like this is prevalent for our rancid little fella!

- There is a few mentions of his right ear in particular; “His constantly swiveling ears irritated his mother to no end. (There was always a faint ringing in his right ear, at the edge of his awareness. The notch in that ear still aches sometimes.)” “… by a flick to his left ear. (He always makes sure to sit with his left side facing Lydia because of this.)” This is referencing an injury he sustained in his younger years due to his mother, which likely will not come up in story. There is a notch in his ear due to it being cut, and he has partial hearing loss on his right side. He tilts his head to both imitate human body language and to better amplify his limited hearing, since he usually doesn’t have his swiveling, pointed ears to help him when he’s fully disguised.

- “His anchoress from another mess” was an idea from one of my dear friends, I do not take credit for this great line

- “A photo album sits on a vanity in the corner, faintly scented with a faux-floral chemical smell that makes Lydia’s eyes get misty whenever she catches the scent.” This is referencing a perfume that belonged to Lydia’s mom that still stick to the photo album. The smell is very faint to humans, but fairly strong to Beetlejuice.

- “If he squinted, Beetlejuice could read ‘New York’, but not much else.” - Beej has a hard time reading, his eyes weren’t built for that. Glasses would help. He also never really took the time to learn how to read modern English. If he could read it, he’d see that it’s a university sweatshirt, which belonged to Lydia’s mom!

- “… that Top Dollar fella’s voice has got me all hot and bothered,” - he is referencing a character played by Michael Wincott, who has a wonderful and hypnotic deep voice. I imagine BJ also has a ‘crush’ on Tony Todd’s character for similar reasons - envy. He would love for his voice to sound like theirs, rather than how raggedy his own is.

- “on a mountain of odd little round plush creatures,” These are a mixture of squishmallows and various strange gothic looking plushies, mostly gifted to Lydia from an aunt who wasn’t sure what else to get her. BJ has obviously never seen a squishmallow before.

- “Excitedly clacking his teeth,” this is one of BJ’s most common stims, as well as mine. It makes an audible noise that can be unsettling.

- “Triangle, Happy Death Day, Palm Springs, Edge of Tomorrow, Coherence, on and on the list went. Even a few episodes of some random shows.” these are all movies (and some TV show episodes) I watched for reference for this fic on time loops. Of course I made Beej suffer through the same homework, lol

Chapter two:

- The title is from “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” by David Lynch, which is from the movie Eraserhead! The movie itself is rather dark, and the song comes at a moment that the main character is considering that maybe heaven would be better than his current situation. For Beetlejuice, this pertains to how he is trying to convince himself that this is as close to happy as he’ll get, and that everything is indeed fine, even though it isn’t.

- “it was always delightful to wake with the sun only to choose to roll over and sleep a bit more.” This either comes from that snake part of him or that cat-like part of him, but my guy loves to sunbathe. He cannot see well in sunlight, but he enjoys how it feels!

- “Lydia had grabbed him by the right ear and scolded him. “Give them space, Beej,” she said firmly. “We’re going to have a little chat about boundaries soon, you really- Beetlejuice? What’s wrong?” She had released his ear with an oddly tender look replacing her scowl, her gaze drifting above his eyeline. “Your hair-“” - It’s because of the aforementioned injury and the trauma surrounding it :)

- “Lydia, at the Maitlands’ insistence, would order something somewhat healthy. (Usually Italian.)” Beetlejuice considers pizza healthy. It is likely the closest he gets to eating a vegetable for now.

- “they would order an absurd amount of cookies and, of course, shirk the payment by having one of his clones pretend to be a dead body they were feasting on. Halfway through their large pizza/cookie/cake monstrosity (isn’t human ingenuity a marvel?),” his is a reference to insomnia cookie and their spectacular pizza cookies. I am obsessed.

- “the gothic teen decides that they simply must watch one of her favorite films; Coraline.” like many weird girls (shout out to my sister), Coraline is a comfort movie for Lydia. Aside from the pajama pants, she also has a plush of the cat, a poster, and a replica of the doll from the film.

- “this odd little breather film always made his chest tight and his nerves fraught. He had no clue why.” BJ doesn’t understand, but the movie is triggering to him due to the similarities between the Other Mother and Juno.

- “With a jaunty slide whistle type-noise that he knew would bring an amused smirk to Lydia’s lips, Beetlejuice sprouted a third arm from his side and extended it towards the stairs.” This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the silly sound effects and visual effects used in the show pertaining to Beetlejuice and extra or disembodied limbs.

- “He also didn’t have any siblings, to his knowledge.” Hm. Interesting!

- “Most loops, his body is still thrumming with a strange electricity that he can’t quite explain. It stems from where she gripped his hands, spreading throughout his whole body. Although he enjoys the contact, most often it’s just too much for any more.” This is overstimulation due to the contact. He likes it, but he is not used to it, so his mind overreacts.

- “The eyeliner really made his golden eyes pop, and the purple lipstick made his grin look even more sinister.” BJ is no makeup expert, so he doesn’t catch that Lydia bases the look she applies on Frank-N-Furter’s makeup.

- I set Rocky Horror Picture Show as a backdrop to Lydia’s coming out as a lesbian (and possibly more) as a sort of fun nod to how pivotal the film was to my own gender identity journey!

- “what brought on this amazin’ revelation? Any lucky ladies in particular catch your fancy?” There were indeed some “lucky ladies” who brought this on, but they are fictional: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and Ellen Ripley from Alien!

- “Lydia gasps, stepping away from the clone to inspect it. “He-… it’s you?”” All of the clones use it/its pronouns!

- “He had no say in what his clones looked like, he found, so he had long since stopped trying.” that is not entirely true - he can influence what they look like with a lot of concentration, but our dear demon severely lacks in that department.

- “The clone flutters it’s eyelashes and puts a hand on it’s cheek, waving its other hand in a sort of bashful ‘oh, stop!’ motion.” This is one of the two ways I react to compliments as well. (The other is saying “shut up” then immediately apologizing)

- “A red poncho with a spider-web pattern,” This is, of course, a reference to Lydia’s outfit in the cartoon!

- “a “mermaid style” black dress after a particular television character,” This dress is based on Morticia Addams, obviously

- “a fetching light pink dress covered in little red flowers and finished with a bright pink belt.” this is a nod to her dress in the film!

- “He had no idea why she asked, and similarly not a Scooby-Doo what it meant himself.” This is a silly way of saying “a clue”. More people (in person) are stumped by this than you’d think!

- “As Beetlejuice pulls the good ol’ fashioned midwestern special, slapping his thighs and going “welp” to signal it’s time for him to go,” shout out to my coworker for the phrasing of “good ol’ fashioned midwestern special” when he called me out for doing this.

- “Every part of the second day, especially the latter half, is especially draining to him. He’s not sure why, but he often chooses to blame it on his liberal use of his powers…” It is the use of his powers, but also the physical contact, socialization, and abundance of stimuli.

Chapter three:

- This title is from “Dinner Is Not Over” by Jack Stauber, my favorite musician! It actually promotes suicide prevention. The song talks about having many experiences, including a brush with death. The idea of death is very tempting to the person singing, but he says it’s “for desert” and he can “have it when dinner is done”. (Basically, yes death is tempting, but there’s so much more to your life to experience and look forward to.) It’s a hauntingly beautiful song, while also being uplifting and catchy! The lyric for the title in particular refers to how Beetlejuice’s own constant brushes with death and eternal rest is seeming more and more desirable with each passing loop, but he keeps going for Lydia and the Maitlands.

- “You’re Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth. There’s no fixing that. You were born rotten and broken, and that’s all you’ll ever be.” This is a reference to a scene in BoJack Horseman that hit me really deep. Beatrice, the main character’s mother, tells him, “You were born broken. That's your birthright. ... You're BoJack Horseman. There's no cure for that." I feel like Beatrice and Juno have quite a bit in common, and I wanted to nod to it to help give the reader a better understanding of the demoness in this short scene. She really influences Beetlejuice’s actions, so I think getting a read on her is important.

- “Barbara opens it moments later, all smiles and cheery greetings. It fades very quickly when she realizes who it is, but he often likes to imagine it’s for him.” Barbara thought it was Lydia coming to her senses about the whole situation.

- “Beetlejuice clacks his teeth together out of excitement before he can help it. (He’s probably imagining it, but he swears sometimes he can see Barbara smile then.)” The first hints at Barbara finding him endearing. Most would find the clacking off-putting, but she likes strange men. I cannot judge. My type is weird too.

- “Got a good couple shots of your graves. Real well loved and placed, if you ask me.” This is inspired by Adam talking about how he wishes he could see their graves in the movie.

- “He began to scratch at the counter through his jacket sleeve to, once again, ground himself with the pain.” Another stim taken straight from me. Unfortunately, I absentmindedly scratch harshly at my skin sometimes when very anxious or overstimulated. Sometimes it breaks skin, but it mostly just irritates it. Beej has sharp as fuck claws, so he accidentally does more than break skin much more often.

- “… Beetlejuice flinched as he heard one of the clones hit the ground with a ridiculous ‘splat’ noise. He forced the nonplussed smile back onto his face and ignored the dull ache in his legs. He’d clean it up later.” This will come up later, but BJ feels what his clones feel, just way less intense.

- “Several large, round ‘terracotta’ pots (he had read they were real good for plants) lined the other two edges of the roof.” He got these both because he read they're good for plants and because he knows (well, thinks) Barbara appreciates good pottery.

- “I mean, that you had those little plants in the window of your kitchen,” “Like how he knew Barbara would sing to the plants to help them grow.”, “I, uh… I got a buncha stuff for a ‘salad garden’, since you were trying to start one up before.” These are all references to similar things that Barbara’s original broadway actor, Kerry Butler did in her dressing room! She seems like a real sweetie.

- “Tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, par-… pars-…” Beetlejuice is trying to say parsley, but he’s never heard of that herb before. Unlike Alex Brightman, he does not Know His Herbs.

- ““These are marguerite daisies,” She finally said, soft but just loud enough to stop his endless word vomit.” Daisies represent friendship, joy, and well wishes. BJ didn’t purposefully pick flowers with those meanings, but I did!

- “Who would want to hug a wretched, rotten little beast like him?” The phase “wretched, rotten little beast” is from the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, which I am obsessed with.

- “She smelled faintly of perfume and blood and the iced tea she drank just before she died.” “Aftershave stung at his nose, followed swiftly by the faint scent of blood, but he found he didn’t mind it too much.” Only Beetlejuice can smell the blood and the iced tea. Everyone can smell the perfume and aftershave.

- “He’d sometimes spend the time rooting through the garage fridge for soda cans, then play a game he called ‘who can knock out the most teeth with an exploding soda can?’ with three of his clones.” This is based on a game I played with my friends once when I was eight. I won. Do not recommend.

- Although he is using her as a segway to get Lydia to talk about her mom, BJ did actually have a beloved pet possum named Rabies. (And he did get rabies.) He found her abandoned by her mother, and she often clung to his back and ate the bugs in his hair. He took great care of her until she died of natural causes. He does genuinely miss her, and kept her skull as a way to remember her.

- “Beetlejuice had to bite back the ugly jealousy bubbling up in his throat. He would’ve loved to have a mother like Emily Deetz, instead of the horrible demoness Juno. Maybe in another lifetime.” This is a cheeky reference to the wonderful fic that inspired me to write LoopJuice, moonbunnyblues’s Lawrence “BJ” Deetz AU! Give it a read, it’s a work of art.

- ““Oh yeah, I’m in my prime, kiddo. This is what a real professional bio-exorcist looks like.” “… if you say so.”” she doesn’t believe him here, but at this point she doesn’t know him well enough to care to ask further questions.

- “Can I touch it?” Lydia was not allowed to touch it.

- “Fuck. He had rolled his sleeve up for dramatic effect. He had completely forgotten about the counter.” He had rolled his sleeves up to make a comment about how he did “all the work around here and got no thanks”.

- “It was astounding to see the array of things you could have brought right to your doorstep. Holy water was one of those things.” I looked this up. You really can order holy water on amazon!

Chapter four:

- This title is from “Deviltown” by Cavetown, specifically V.2 because that is my favorite version. It’s about growing up in a tumultuous home, specifically being a child of divorce. The cyclical and downtrodden nature of the song reflects BJ’s outlook at this point in the story, but the title line specifically refers to how his pain is being lessened by no longer being alone in his suffering.

- “He reminded her of the infuriating type of people that made the couple stop attending those improv classes last year; someone who just didn’t know when to stop, when to turn it off.” This is a cheeky reference to how I view the original film’s Beetlejuice. I will say no more on that subject.

- “Beetlejuice kept his distance, always remaining out of arm’s reach. If anyone besides Lydia got too close, he seemed to find an excuse to sidle away again.” He avoids contact from anyone but his BFFF (and the double thank you hug) at this point because it’s overstimulating.

- “Barbara thinks she remembers him flinching at the screams of terror he claimed to love.” Even his favorite sound is too overstimulating at this point.

- “It honestly reminded her of the times she had seen Adam go through burnout.” I WONDER WHY

- “reaching out to pull the demon waiting on the other side through it by the forearm. Beetlejuice, obviously startled, wrenched his arm away and- did he just hiss at them?” , “desperately grasping at Beetlejuice’s arm and pulling it from Adam’s now limp grasp to check the number again. 91,250. She must have grabbed him too harshly, as the demon sucked in a breath through his teeth and yanked his arm away from her.” They both unknowingly caused immense pain to the scratches around the counter.

- “Now, though, after only a few seconds, he became wheezy, the laughter tapering off into a rather wet sounding coughing fit. Beetlejuice slammed a fist against his chest with a hollow ‘thump’ sound a few times until the coughing subsided.” He is still somewhat recovering from Juno breaking his ribs. He likely will never be fully healed from it.

- “She’d learnt about this method from one of her and Adam’s true crime documentary nights.” Barbara enjoys them, Adam finds them macabre but irresistible.

- “He was holding it with his right hand, but his grip was off, like he wasn’t quite used to using that hand. Maybe he is just really out of practice? What do demons even really need to write?” Beej is left handed, but using his right hand. I wonder why! (He also is just generally out of practice and doesn’t have good handwriting anyways.)

- Beetlejuice struggles with the math because I also had to struggle with the math.

- “Beetlejuice hesitantly nodded, glancing at the door out of the attic before continuing to stare up at Barbara.” He is considering bolting here. He thinks the Maitlands are mad at him.

- “Going through the motions again and again, suffering the heartache and real physical pain.” Another cheeky reference, this time to the title of the first chapter.

- “Eventually, he let out a little growl of frustration. (A literal growl. It reminded Barbara of a small dog trying it’s best to be intimidating.)” I’d describe his growl as between a dog’s and a cat’s. Throaty, not very intimidating unless he really means it. Then it’s more like that of a Rottweiler.

Chapter five:

- This title is from “So Long” by Tokyo Elvis. I can’t find much online about the song, but it has that good cyclical feeling I look for in songs for this fic. This line specifically refers to how Beetlejuice is trying to hold on to the fleeting joy he finds among the routine of the loop, but he can’t hold on to it forever.

- “It would be an understatement to call Adam Maitland a nervous wreck. He was more like a bundle of nerves fumbling around in a bipedal visage of a man.” This is taken from how Overly Sarcastic Productions described H.P. Lovecraft in their video about the nasty man. I thought it was very fitting for Adam!

- “Beetlejuice seemed pretty preoccupied with the task of staring blankly at the ground and cracking all of his fingers one by one over and over again.” Another unsettling stim I share with Beej <3

- “Beetlejuice is quiet at first. His eyes dart from Adam’s to Barbara’s, then to various different spots in the attic. Eventually, he lets out an exasperated sigh, leaning heavily back onto the couch. The navy blue of his hair and suit phases back to the same indigo from before in the blink of an eye. “I don’t have a Scooby-Doo, A-Dog,” he groans. He dramatically rests his left wrist against his forehead. The strange phrasing and sudden change in energy threw Adam off quite a bit. He floundered somewhat, trying to process as the demon continued to speak. “Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Probably even better.”” On goes the mask! He’s totally a great liar. I’m sure this won’t bite him in the ass later.

- “ “Well, it obviously has to do with you, right?” Beetlejuice’s eyes snapped back open to stare him down.” He got real worried that Adam caught on here.

- “summoning other demons,” I wonder if this will come back later!

- “No matter how… persuasive I was, you humans always gave me the boot.” He is too proud to admit he was begging on his knees.

- “Follow the script.” “The… hold on now, ‘the script’? What are you talking about?” Barbara and Adam don’t capitalize the same things as Beej because they don’t categorize things the way he does.

- “The demon put a hand over where his heart would be.” Adam is unaware, but Beej does have a heart! It just doesn’t really work.

- “Beetlejuice held his arms out at his sides in exasperation.” This pose was specifically meant to emulate Mae Borowski from Night in the Woods, since she and Beetlejuice are both “total trash mammals”.

- “Sure it does. And I’m a Tony award winner.” This is, of course, a joke about his original Broadway actor being a Tony award winner. And a way of the text sorta telling Beej that he’s wrong, and his pain does matter.

- “Beetlejuice let out a snarl that actually caused a primal sort of fear to grip at Adam’s psyche.” There’s the Rottweiler growl! Any shows of aggression from a demon causes the human brain to go all “ahhh danger run away”.

- “I’m Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth, I’m a fuckin’ demon … I’m a rotten, irredeemable monster…” Hmmm, I wonder where we heard this from before?

- “… vanished in a puff of green smoke. (The weird little trick actually worked this time.)” This is a reference to Beetlejuice having a malfunctioning smokebomb in the Broadway show.

- “He pretended to be fatally wounded when Lydia chucked an amethyst at his chest…” Amethysts represent sincerity and promote friendship! At least according to my friend who has a million crystals.

- “Beetlejuice scooped Lydia up into his arms bridal style…” Hehe.

And here’s a few fun comments I left on the doc containing the fic for myself:

New ‘Time is a Flat Circle’ chapter is up, which means more details under the cut! The universe set out to kill me before I finished this chapter but it was unsuccessful

Chapter six:

- This chapter’s title is a continuation of the lyrics from the first chapter, which is again from “The Heroine” by Unwoman. Beetlejuice actually has to start facing and feeling all of the emotions and hurt from the loops!

- “She didn’t even get a “I sure hope it does!” To her “Road work ahead?”.” Lydia is, of course, referencing one of my favorite vines here. She forced Beetlejuice to watch a compilation right away so he could understand more of her jokes.

- “It had a strange metal lining she was sure wasn’t there before.” … “Yeah. Iron impedes ghosts. Duh.” This is all based on info that was told to me about an odd door in my great grandmother’s house that was lined with iron. A family member told me it was to keep ghosts out, and that “iron stops ghosts, obviously”.

- “Sweaters from Aunt Kerry” A fun little nod to Barbara’s original actor, Kerry Butler!

- “… as she stepped on something soft, squishy, and uneven,” This was his tail! That’s probably why he yelled so loud.

- Another note: I forgot to point out something that will not really be directly addressed from chapter five! “Adam heard a rythmic thumping noise from the demon that he wasn’t quite sure of the origin of.” This is from BJ’s tail hitting the ground repeatedly, like a cat’s does when it’s angry. I’m sure he’s glad it was too dark for them to see it!

- “Lydia! My best friend, my pal!” And “Lydia, my homeboy, my rotten soldier,” Are a reference to a line from What We Do in the Shadows that I quote way too often.

- “The pair of them stood out like horseshoe crabs in a freshwater environment,” This is a line from my favorite youtube series, Bigtop Burger. Check it out if you like dead little freaks like Beetlejuice.

- “The plain white shirt that said “human babies are mysterious and I don’t trust them” and the bright red long-sleeve that read “God won’t let me die”” Based on real thrifted clothing I’ve seen posted online and really, really want

- “He was even absentmindedly chewing on one of the plastic tags.” Haha, I do that.

- “hammer space” Is honestly a bit more accurate than ‘pocket dimension’, since he uses it mostly for comedic effect.

- Beetlejuice wants to watch Edward Scissorhands because he likes to see movies that make “monsters” sympathetic. He wants to watch The Princess Bride because he wants to see a happy ending.

- “a black leather notebook. She had many like it, and like all the rest, this one was unused. (They’re just too perfect to start using, y’know?).” This is taken straight from what many of my more artistically inclined friends do. The journals are only collecting dust, bestie!! Use them!!

- “Ah. He wants me where he can see me. Probably all screwed up from his mom and stuff.” As my notes so eloquently put it, “WRONG GIRLIE HE HAS PTSD FROM THE STABBING”.

- “He was cut off as Barbara grabbed him by his tie and tugged it to force him to look her in the eye.” Barbara discovered one of his tells for lying! She will exploit it ;)

- “… her Dead Mom could never pick between ‘Annabel Lee’ and ‘The Masque of Red Death’.” These are two of my absolute favorites! They are just so romantically macabre, I sometimes read Annabel Lee out loud to my cat to calm him down. Emily did the same for Lydia!

- “fleece tie blankets she had made for a charity drive. When asked by Beetlejuice why she still had them, she sheepishly replied that she kept forgetting to drop them off until it was too late to do so.” Based on something my favorite elementary school teacher did.

- “but it was perfectly splendid.” This is a reference to The Haunting of Bly Manor. Mike Flanagan’s work greatly influences my writing, so I wanted to put in a little nod to his most amazingly heart-wrenching series. <3

- “She was a sucker for a happy ending.” This is a reference to the Heathers musical, where a character expresses a similar sentiment towards the movie. Shout out to that soundtrack for getting me into musicals in the first place!

- “… he leaned down and bumped his head against Lydia’s shoulder. The impact was hard enough to make her stumble..” I do this quite frequently. I do not mean to knock people off balance, but I usually do! It is the easiest way for me to express affection without having to touch someone with my hands. It is less overwhelming for Beej in that way too!

- “I promise, I’ll do better for you, I’ll be better!” Haha what a fun callback that doesn’t have any implications about Beetlejuice’s mental state

- “I’ve always wanted to make a blood pact!” Me too. But don’t try this at home.

- “I, Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth,” He is only able to say his own name when it’s a part of a pact or contract! That sucks.

Chapter seven of Time is a Flat Circle is up and boy oh boy is it a doozy! Here are the extras for this chapter! <3

- This chapter’s title is from “Nobody” by Mitski. She was my rock throughout writing this chapter. If I had less self restraint, the entirety of both of the LoopJuice playlists would be all Mitski. I feel like this song, and the line I chose for the title in particular, really reflect what our sweet little demon wants deep down.

- “Christ on a fuckin’ bike” is taken straight from a coworker’s vernacular.

- “When did I teach him how to summon new clothes?” He did! It was mentioned in passing in a previous chapter that he showed both Adam and Barbara how to conjure new clothes. This is to show how shoddy his memory has gotten.

- “‘Beebleboose’” is, of course, a reference to everyone’s favorite sad puppet show. Also, he can’t even type out his own name due to the curse.

- “.. that erotic Colonel Sanders romance novel..” this is a real thing, unfortunately.

- “The idea of eating brought the bitter taste of bile to the back of his mouth.” One unfortunate possible side affect of burnout is an aversion to food. Everything suddenly seems disgusting, and just the idea of eating sickens you.

- “His lips remained still. It felt as if his whole mouth was coated in cotton.” This is sign of overstimulation I personally experience quite regularly. Your mouth just refuses to work!

- On that same note - a side effect of persistent autistic burnout is significant memory loss and/or brain fog. Hence why Beej forgot (and still continues to sometimes) that the humans can now remember everything.

- “Can I touch you, Bug?” Always ask permission before touching someone who you believe to be having some sort of panic attack or meltdown. Barbara knows to do this due to her experience with Adam!

- “Look at those chompers!” Indeed! Beetlejuice’s teeth are based on that of a spotted hyena, like Adam theorizes later. They have a specialized premolar that can break bone. Here is a pic for reference!

- “How come your tears are black?” It’s actually because they’re mixed with soot from the hellfire in his chest! Beetlejuice’s tears smell like a campfire.

- “Sometimes he still felt like roadkill again.” He has yet to be hit by a car, but he has been trampled by horses.

- “He was a bit taken aback at how curly and.. fluffy his hair had gotten.” They have hair that naturally curls, it’s just been so long since it was clean enough for them to see it. After this point, Beetlejuice’s hair is curly and voluminous! That’s why the other characters find it hard to resist playing with.

- “.. odd rumbling sensation..” Beetlejuice doesn’t know what purring is, or that they do it. They just find the noise embarrassing.

- Adam had a hyperfixation on animals at large when he was young, and spent his free time as a wee tot rereading books of animal facts. This is why he is so knowledgeable and enthused about BJ’s animalistic traits.

- “I met a real foxy witch in a swamp who had an alligator familiar once.” This is a reference to the webcomic Muted, which is about queer witches in New Orleans. Give it a read!

- “C’mon Beej, don’t be like that! You’re, like, the Mike to their Debbie and Dave!” “… what?” “You’re the Gonzo to their Kermit and Miss Piggy!” These are references to my (and Lydia’s) favorite throuple ships in media, besides Beetlands. Mike, Debbie, and Dave are from “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”, and Gonzo, Kermit, and Miss Piggy are, of course, from The Muppets.

- Beetlejuice’s frantic shrimp pocketing is based on another character I deeply relate to, Eleanor Shellstrop from “The Good Place”.

- “‘who in this wide world does not know the great B-” This line is a reference to the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, specifically the song “Pretty Women”. I cannot stop the musical references unfortunately

- Ms. Keaton is supposed to be the old woman who tries to bring a pie to the Deetz family in the musical, but her name is, of course, a reference to Michael Keaton, the original actor for Beetlejuice in the Tim Burton film.

- On the surgeries Beetlejuice mentioned - he has gotten top surgery! He is very proud of his top surgery scars. They are not the scars he mentioned being ashamed of in a previous chapter.

- As stated, Lydia is a demigirl! She uses she/they pronouns, and Beetlejuice is nonbinary and uses he/they/it pronouns.

- On the head bumping - Lydia picked it up shortly after Beetlejuice first did it to her. It’s how cats and Beetlejuice show affection. Barbara and Adam are slowly starting to adopt it over time as well.

- Beetlejuice’s horns are, like Adam theorizes, based on a sheep’s. Here is a little sketch of how they used to look, and how they look now! (Also, a peek at his ears. I’m not entirely happy how they came out in the drawing, so this may change.)

- The tail!! Here is a rough drawing of how it looks.

- It is not scaled like a snake, but rather like a possum’s tail. It is prehensile, meaning it can grip things and even support his weight if he used it to hang upside down. It reaches down to about his ankles. The tip shakes like a rattlesnake’s (no noise, though) when he’s nervous or deep in thought, or just as a self-soothing thing. This is based on what my own cat’s tail does when he’s nervous!

- The ear-piercing scene is meant to evoke a similar one in “The Parent Trap”, since it is a sibling bonding scene I really enjoy and find very affective.

- On the demons of their past - each demon’s name is based on a star, like Beetlejuice’s own. They are unafraid to envoke Rigel’s name because he is dead. Deb and Cyrus are nicknames based on their true names, like Beetlejuice and Betelgeuse. I am excited to have Deb and Cyrus to show up in Part 2!

- Beetlejuice’s first marriage was by choice to someone he knew. Their second marriage was an arranged political union.

- Deb is a trans woman!

- “I’ll talk more, just cut it out with the weird… teary eyes!” Not even demons are immune to puppy-dog eyes.

- Beetlejuice’s favorite meal was a bone broth made from meal scraps and various herbs.

- “Chari-sard” Adam was comparing Beetlejuice to a Charizard. Both the demon and the Pokémon have flames that are connected to their life force, and they will die if it ever goes out.

- The whole scene describing Beetlejuice’s favorite meal is based on a similar scene in “Isle of Dogs”, where a stray dog describes the only time he was ever adopted before. He bit a member of his new family so hard he had to be hospitalized, and he doesn’t know why he did it. He says he thinks maybe he was scared. The grandmother of the family brought him a bowl of chili while he was locked in the garden shed, which he says he likes to imagine was for him. He escaped after that and went back to being a stray. This scene strikes a chord with me, and reminds me very deeply of Beetlejuice. He doesn’t understand why he lashes out. He doesn’t want to. He’s not a violent demon. He’s just… scared. (Highly recommend “Isle of Dogs” if you enjoy this fic! It, along with Wes Anderson’s other films, really resonate with me and my experience as an autistic/neurodivergent person. There will be references to “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Asteroid City”, as they also greatly influenced how I think and write.)

- Barbara enjoys cooking, as she has a very perceptive palette and likes to experiment. Adam is more adept at baking, because he likes to follow instructions.

- The “shrimps is bugs” hoodie is a real one that one of my good friends has. He is studying etymology.

- “Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious-” this is based off of a popular gag in “Parks and Rec”, one of my favorite shows. (And Adam and Barbara’s! The millennials in my life love a good workplace comedy.)

- “Why couldn’t he just he just grip the spoon the same way he had with his left hand?” Beetlejuice is unaware that dominant and nondominant hands are a thing.

- Like my beloved millennial dad figure, Adam has a deep love for a random movie from the 80’s. I feel like every dad’s got one. His is, of course, “The Terminator”. Arnold Schwarzenegger was his bisexual awakening. All of the factoids he shares about the film are true!

- Finally, the legs! Like his horns, Beetlejuice’s legs resemble that of a sheep’s own back legs. His hooves are cloven, like stated, and his fur is black with brown undertones, like a black cat, or this sheep below! The fur doesn’t grow out much due to stress, but he used to have to shear it often by himself as a child. He probably will have to start doing so again the healthier and happier he gets!

- Nurse Ratched is a villainous nurse from pop culture. Research her with caution, as she does some rather heinous things. Barbara likes true crime!

- A “Texas Switch” is a technique used in filming, and is used in “The Terminator”. My favorite example is in “A Quiet Place Part Two”!

- “Odd, reattached limbs had never healed that quickly before.” That is because they are getting proper care!

- “To distract from the odd little sound they involuntarily made, (seriously, what was that? A chirp?)” It was a trill! Or as I call it, a ‘mrrp’. Some people call it the “cat activation noise”.

- “Some strange show about people working for the government” this is, of course, “Parks and Rec”!

- And that’s it, nothing else happened in this chapter and it ended happily :) (The flashbacks BJ had while having a panic attack are from his mother, Rigel, and Lydia stabbing him, obviously. Yes, all of them stabbing him in some way.)

The last chapter of Time is a Flat Circle is up! So sorry in advance. (No I’m not.) Be sure to read the trigger warnings and tread carefully! This one is a doozy!

Here are the details for this specific chapter! Time is a Flat Circle as a whole will have a “post mortem” itself before Part 2 comes out. If you have any questions you’d like answered, send them my way!

- The lyrics from this chapter’s title is from “This Woman’s Work” by Kate Bush! Heavily inspired by a scene using a song in “Our Flag Means Death”, I listened to this song endlessly while writing this chapter. I believe it fits it so well for obvious reasons.

- “His senses weren’t overly reactive, recently. It was easier to spend more time outside, or among the humans’ excited chatter. It was nice. It made them feel… not peace, but a lack of unease.” - he is experiencing overstimulation less and less due to the humans helping him have access to accommodations!

- “(where the hell even was “Miskatonic University”?)” - This is a reference to H.P. Lovecraft’s work, since it inspired Beetlejuice’s last name, but also more to the movie “Re-Animator”! It kicks a lot of ass if you can stomach it. Check the trigger warnings before watching. Highly regarded in the trans autistic community.

- Beej’s favorite pizza toppings being pepperoni and mushrooms is a reference to That Beautiful Sound!

- “one of the “fidgets” she was particularly fond of; a singular key of a keyboard.” - This is based on my favorite fidget!

- “Can you even blush?” - He can!

- “ the gaudy floral wallpaper.” … “the tackily patterned yellow wallpaper. (How repellent. How dull.)” - The appearance of the wallpaper and the way Beetlejuice describes it is taken straight from one of my absolute favorite horror short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman!

- “I promised I’d get you all out of this, and ‘m a… thing of my word.” - Taken straight from my own vernacular. I’m not a man or a woman of my word, so I say “thing” as a joke!

- “Hot damn!” - this is a reference to one of my favorite “Brooklyn-99” cold opens.

- The TV show Barbara and Lydia start while the boys are busy with the model is “The Fall of the House of Usher”, which is one of my absolute favorite shows ever. It is an amalgamation of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories! Lydia would go nuts, I think.

- As Adam states, Beetlejuice has very sensitive eyes! They’re built for darkness, so they don’t know how to handle an abundance of light properly. Also, the sensory nightmare of ‘sun in your eyes’ sucks.

- “Gardening with Barbara was like a short dream conjured up from a summer afternoon nap.” - Although altered, this comparison is taken straight from my absolute favorite story Stephen King has ever written: “Laurie”. It is phenomenal. Highly recommend you listen to MrCreepyPasta’s reading of it.

- The soup Beetlejuice helped make was loaded potato soup! One of my favorites.

- “It should be a comfort, shouldn’t it? No one else got a chance like this, to have the precious moments mapped out, to have their time left set in stone.” - This is taken straight from my own thoughts. As someone with many chronic illnesses and a projected shortened lifespan, this is something I often tell myself.

- “after he’d wrapped her up in blankets and tossed her onto her bed.” - Fun sibling activities! My older brother used to love to wrap me up tightly and toss me across the room onto my bed. I also loved it.

- “I don’t keep anything strong on me after Adam freaked out about my flask.” - My version of Adam has trauma related to alcoholism/substance abuse. Beej took his concerns seriously and stashed away most of his ’goods’.

- “ “There is no… other side for me.” He gently squeezed her hand. “This is it.” ” - This is, of course, one of the hardest lines ever written, from “BoJack Horseman”. Made me bawl my eyes out when I first heard it, and I bawled again writing it into my fic.

- The various smells!

- Black tea and perfume - this has already been addressed! Beetlejuice mentioned how Barbara smells like iced tea and perfume a few times before.

- Isopropyl alcohol and tung oil - aftershave and woodworking materials!

- Vinegar-y chemicals and formaldehyde - Lydia has traces of photo-treatment chemicals on her. And she likes taxidermy things.

- Beetlejuice’s reaction to being called sweet is a direct mirror of my own. I have no idea how to respond to being called kind and such and act all grumpy.

- On the “diagnosed” conversation - everyone but Beetlejuice knows that that’s about. Lydia has been diagnosed with a few things as well! Perhaps we will get into it in Part 2?

- “The evening passed at the speed of a dream. Dinner, dishes, laughter. Pajamas, blankets, rounds of Clue and tossed game pieces.” - This is meant to parody General Gibson’s speech in “Asteroid City”. Specifically when he says, “twenty years passed at the speed of a dream. A wife, a son, a daughter, a poodle.” This movie literally altered my brain chemistry, no hyperbole. It will be referenced again.

- “Eric is returning to his grave.” - This is meant to be foreshadowing for Beej’s plan!

- “Lydia suggested they watch “The Exorcist”. Despite the Maitlands being terrified of the film, they stuck around to watch it. But the humans did not make it to the ending. They fell asleep huddled together, all pressed up against the demon’s sides. “God damn you, take me!” It wasn’t so funny this time around.” - This has a few layers; it’s referring to how movie Beetlejuice has seen “The Exorcist” 167 times, and says it gets funnier every time. The scene that is being quoted is when the priest character, Karras, tells the demon to take him instead of the girl it’s possessing. He then jumps out the window to kill the demon along with himself. For obvious reasons, this is not quite as funny to Beej anymore. (And, I mean, it’s about an exorcism. And he is dreading an upcoming exorcism. Not fun!)

- “How exquisitely stupid. How perfectly splendid.” - These are both references to two of my favorite pieces of horror media. The first is from “Nope”, the second is from “The Haunting of Bly Manor”.

- “They tried, desperately, to hold it all within their grasp, to savor it, to hold it close. But it’s hopeless. The last day with their BFFF passes like sand through his fingers.” - This is meant to be a reference to “So Long” by Tokyo Elvis, which was the song for one of the previous chapters!

- “7pm arrives like a thief in the night, sure and swift and inevitable.” - the phrase “like a thief in the night” is from “The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. Lydia’s love of the poet is rubbing off on him!

- “He empties out their belongings from his hammer space and leaves them in tidy piles in the basement.” - this is a reference to a line from Mitski’s “The Last Words of a Shooting Star”, which was almost the song for this chapter. The lyrics it references are “And I am relieved that I'd left my room tidy, They'll think of me kindly, When they come for my things”

- The scene where Lydia calls Beetlejuice “BugBeverage” is meant to parallel the goodbye hug they exchanged at the end of the musical, just somewhat reversed!

- “Of all the billions of breathers that coulda seen me and said my name, I’m so glad it was you.” - this is meant to be a homage to a very impactful scene in “Fantastic Mr. Fox”. Shout out to all my fellow autistics that this movie made cry.

- “W-Wiggog Y-” - This is a cheeky reference to Wiggly from the Hatchetfield Universe! I have my own Tickle-Me-Wiggly!

- “I bid you, full foul in your fury, to smother this profane blight with your icy cull,” - This is a rephrasing of one of the best monologues ever from the best movie of all time, “The Lighthouse”. (I have seen it 103 times. I am not joking.) The original lines were, “rise from the depths full foul in his fury!” And “smother this young mouth with pungent slime”

- “His feet shifted, teeter-toter- Deep breath, it’s time.” - Taken from “The View from Halfway Down”, a poem read on “BoJack Horseman” from the same episode as the other quote in this chapter. It is a haunting, distressing poem from the perspective of someone who has jumped off a bridge to commit suicide, but regrets it halfway down. I thought it was extremely thematically relevant here.

- “Morning Frost.” - Morning Frost is a creation of my own. It’s a play on the ‘Morningstar’, or Lucifer, the original demon. The original head honcho of the Netherworld. Not much is known about them by Beej, so we are too for now! The only way to kill a creature born of hellfire is to freeze out that fire.

- “Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves.” - This is taken from a similar scene in “Slay The Princess”, one of my favorite games ever!! A horrific timeloop, a twisted romance. I won’t spoil anything, but the character saying this is doing so to keep his body from shutting down, like Beetlejuice. I say this to myself over and over again sometimes when I’m having a panic attack and it’s helped!

- “They hope it’ll lull them safely into a gentle goodnight.” - this is a reference to a famous poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas.

- The feeling of warmth returning is a bad thing, which is why Adam freaks out more when he notices! One of the last stages of hypothermia is feeling incredibly warm and stopping shaking. There’s also disorientation and confusion, hence why Beej can’t talk or think quite straight after this point.

- A fun little lesson on treating hypothermia from the Deetz-Maitlands! Warm the neck and core with blankets, get heated blankets if possible, and give them warm, sweet beverages. Starting to shake again is a great sign.

- “… he couldn’t let them see him as he was) and stepped forward to greet the pair, shaking on his humanoid illusions and Ghost with the Most persona.” - Beeltejuice is afraid that he can’t take anything back now. He wants to make a good impression on Charles and Delia. Sucks to suck, buddy!

If you’ve made it this far, wow… thank you! This monster of a fic wouldn’t be possible without the serotonin boost every like, comment, and FANART (still can’t believe that one) sent my way. Thank you so much. Can’t wait for Part 2! I will add hints and teasers for what’s to come in the Post Mortem. I’m going to keep working on my crochet sandworm now.

Part 2 of LoopJuice is here! Chapter one of Time’s Arrow is out now. Please read the warnings and tread with caution! And sorry in advance. I got a little too poetic with this one. (The Post Mortem has been pushed back until after or midway through Time’s Arrow is completed, since it’ll touch on a lot of things that haven’t yet been fully expanded upon.)

As always, here are some extras! Also a bit of outright explanation, since I know this chapter might be a bit hard.

Chapter One:

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart” by Mitski! The song itself fits more with Time is a Flat Circle (andoneofthelastchaptersofthisfic), but the selected line specifically is meant to refer how to Beetlejuice is unknowingly reflecting on his deep yearning to be seen and heard and understood, and how it impacted his relationships and his self worth.

- “And Beetlejuice was in the deepest, dreamiest slumber of his unlife.” - This is referencing one of the most haunting scenes from “Asteroid City”. It’s meant to hint at the revelation Beetlejuice has in this chapter, which is similar to “you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep.”

- “Ty takoy malen’kiy! Gde tvoi roditeli?” - Suprise! The old lady was Russian. Beetlejuice’s mother dumped him somewhere in Russia. Sorry for the Google Translate use, but she says “You are so small! Where are your parents?” She was very concerned about how scrawny and cold he was. As she should’ve been.

- “A strange, scruffy little creature was clung to his back, licking the side of his face and rubbing it’s soft nose against his neck.” - Rabies is doing something called “slubbing”, which is how opossums show affection!

- “Maybe I think you’ll need to replace me. How? No one else was like her. No one else was like him. Maybe I think you’ll need to try. I’m not coming back, Beetlejuice.” - Another “Asteroid City” quote. (Sorry, I cannot stop… that scene makes me tear up everytime I watch it.) Rabies isn’t actually speaking to them, obviously, it is just their hazy, grief-stricken mind imagining it. Telling them what they thought they needed to hear.

- “She clings to their back as they ride an old sled down the house’s stairs.” - Lydia made Beetlejuice watch “Home Alone” at some point during their time stuck in the loop. It gave them the idea to ride a sled down the stairs, like Kevin did in the film. It did not go well.

- “ “It can’t rain all the time.” She is near. The scent of formaldehyde is at the edge of their senses. She’s put their favorite movie on. How thoughtful. How sweet.” - Lydia watched “The Crow” while sitting with Beetlejuice in hopes that the sounds of their favorite movie would maybe convince them to wake up. Also, because she missed them, and that movie makes her think of them.

- Annabell Lee - Of course, Lydia is reading out Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabell Lee” to Beetlejuice as they sleep. It was one of her mother’s favorites, and she holds it very near and dear to her heart. So she decided to share it with Beetlejuice, to show that she cares.

- “Sometimes, sometimes they still think they still hear her, still feel the luminance of her smile.” - SORRY ANOTHER ASTEROID CITY REFERENCE. That Wes Anderson-esque awkward dialogue has a death grip on my brain. Also, the scene it is from is thematically relevant.

- “Silly Goose.” - Deb calls Beetlejuice “Goose”, since she often mispronounced “Betelgeuse” as “Bet-El-Goose”. And she likes to call him a silly goose.

- “ “What do you want, Goose?” They suppose they want what everyone wants. Power, a partner. Kids, someday, maybe.” - The phrasing and response is a reference to “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals”. (Also perhaps children will come up again later? Who knows! ;) )

- “ “It was fun while it lasted.” She was the sun, chasing away his shadows and bathing him with her overwhelming, scorching radiance. She was fire, singeing his hair as he warmed himself with her glow. She was light. He shone only with the light she cast. She was everything.” - This part has two huge inspirations. First, “The Moon Will Sing” by The Crane Wives. Specifically, how the singer loved someone “like the sun”, and how they “Bore the shadows that you made, With no light of my own”. This song greatly embodies Deb and Beej’s relationship, and how it was very one-sided and draining for him. He basked in the limited attention and affection she showed, and allowed his own needs and wants to be pushed aside in favor of Deb’s. Secondly, that one scene from “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake”. The exchange “You were a wonderful experience.” “You were everything.” literally brings me to my knees. I wanted to try to evoke similar emotions with Beetlejuice’s thoughts, but I know it doesn’t even come close to the original, lol.

- “He’s cold again. He feels a shiver wrack his body, a highborn wind chilling-” - A “highborn wind” is a reference to “Annabell Lee”! The poetry continues to rub off on Beej.

- “How could you?” “How couldn’t I?” - Yep, you guessed it. Another “Asteroid City” reference. Like the original scene, it’s an exchange between an abuser and the spouse he abused.

- Yes, Beetlejuice murdered his husband. Not on his own, and it wasn’t his plan, but he straight up led that fool to his death. There will be more on that later.

- “He is cruel. He is gentle. He makes him laugh.” … “(It was so easy, so salty and gross - )” - These are both references to lines from songs that I listened to when writing Beej and Cyrus’ interactions. The first is “Cop Car” by Mitski, and the second is “Gross” by Penelope Scott. The former really embodies parts of this chapter as a whole, and the latter is literally perfect for BJ and Cyrus’ relationship.

- “Like all the tales and tragedies. He is Ariadne, he is Medea, he is Loki, he is the Crescent Moon, he is Grettir, he is - ” - Beetlejuice retreated into literature, for a time. (Now he’s mostly illiterate.) He, like everyone, felt a kinship with a lot of the characters he read about. Ariadne is the woman who helped Theseus kill the Minotaur, but he abandoned her on an island. Medea was the wife of Jason, and helped him achieve all of his great accomplishments, but he betrayed their marriage. (And she killed their children in retaliation.) Loki was often the scapegoat of the Asgardians, cleaning up after their messes and sometimes taking blame he didn’t deserve. The Crescent Moon was torn in half by a witch, and kept slowly dying despite the Sun Maiden’s best efforts to keep him alive. Grettir’s tale is insane. My special interest used to be mythology, especially Norse and Greek! Go look more into these tales, they are all so intriguing. Overly Sarcastic Productions does a great job summarizing a few of them!

- “He was the sacrificial lamb raised to slaughter, the scapegoat fed milk and honey and led away into the woods.” - Now you can see why, thematically, Beetlejuice’s features are specifically from a sheep!

- “Orpheus’ voice calls to him. (Or was it Eurydice?)” - Sorry not sorry, more Greek mythology! Beetlejuice is unsure if Adam and Barbara are leading him to the light, or if he is the one dooming them to the underworld.

- “Five humans, two dead and three living, huddled together. They are happy. They are home. What need do they have for the demon exiting stage left? (Well, no, not stage left. More to the center.)” - Obviously, this is a reference to the last song of the musical, and the way Beetlejuice leaves. And just a smidgeon of 4th wall breaking from Beej!

- “… we need to talk. About.. him.” - I won’t elaborate, I just wanted to draw attention to this line! :)

- “He doesn’t fit into the couple. He doesn’t fit into the family at all, into their home. He is a mismatched piece of a puzzle that never existed, he is something wrong. Something that doesn’t fit anywhere.” - This is a phenomenon I’ve heard a lot of autistic and/or queer people talk about experiencing. The feeling that something is just wrong, that you are wrong, that you don’t fit in anywhere. You want to be seen, but you’re scared of what they’ll see.

- “He is an intruder in the Garden.” - The ‘Garden’ is meant to be a reference to the Garden of Eden. Beetlejuice feels like he doesn’t deserve what he sees as a perfect paradise.

- “Oh, wait until you see the daisies. They’re beautiful.” - Barbara is still taking great care of the garden.

- “He is a vile cloud of poisonous miasma. He is a foul, mangy hound. He is a monstrous serpent. He contaminates the air and wilts the flowers with his presence alone.” - More dog imagery, and a direct reference to him feeling like the Serpent. Y’know, THE Serpent. The one that tempted humanity and ruined Eden. THE DEVIL from THE BIBLE.

- “Soft petals and sharp thorns. Purple and yellow and green and orange and red. Love and warmth and comfort.” - Each of the colors represent one of the Deetz-Maitlands family members!

- “I will ruin you. I know that you mean so well- ” - The Crane Wives, my beloved. This is from another Beetlejuice-coded song, “Tongues & Teeth” by The Crane Wives.

- “The rot spreads. He desperately tries to stop it with bloodied claws- The blood is everywhere. It flows from his ear, his wrist, his side- The wound on the back of his head, the metal in his chest, it bubbles up in his lungs and flows from his mouth. Sulfur and iron chokes out the magnificent aroma of the Garden.” - Beetlejuice feels like his trauma has tainted him. Like it will ruin the Deetz-Maitlands if he gets too close to them, if he shows them all of him, the ‘bad’ included.

- “No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its seal - the redness and the horror of blood.” Lydia is reading “The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe at an inopportune time.

- “ “The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Her voice is so faint now, yet still she reads. What is it now? Must be new. He’s never heard that one before.” - Lydia is reading “Paradise Lost”! Wow, great thematic timing, Lyds!

- “She’d never shown him warmth, or care, or love- nothing a mother ought to do. Just hatred. Just cold.” - I swear, this wasn’t meant to be a Warriors reference. It was just meant to connect to the theme of warmth, I SWEAR

- “But rain is washing the blood away. The smoke clears. The flowers are still there. They still call to him.” - Another The Crane Wives reference, this time low key. “Curses” by The Crane Wives is INSANELY Beetlejuice-coded.

- “Colors cascaded through it. Forest, violet, indigo, sanguine, ivory, slate.” - Obviously, this is visually referencing his mood-ring hair!

- “There were myths about him. Stories, cautionary tales, urban legends. He made breathers tremble in their villages and beds and skyscrapers.” - Yet another Mike Flanagan reference. “Doctor Sleep”, you will always be famous to me…

- “Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish, Now are visions ne’er to vanish; From thy spirit shall they pass, No more - like dew-drop from the grass.” - Some more great thematic timing from Lydia! She is reading “Spirits of the Dead” by Edgar Allen Poe.

- “He didn’t mind being torn apart by the hounds if it meant he got that glorious peek into joy.” - Some more Greek mythology… this time he’s referring to Actaeon, the man who was ripped apart by his own hounds after Artemis turned him into a stag. His crime? Peeping (on accident in some tellings but intentionally in others) on her while she bathed. Beetlejuice still, on some level, sees himself as a vile voyeur of the Deetz-Maitlands happy-ever-after.

- “He would take any sort of treatment if it meant they wouldn’t prematurely leave him alone again. He would trim his claws, pull his teeth, cut his horns-” - Yikes, still got that “beat me, just don’t leave me” mindset.

- “A cat is laid on his chest, it’s paws tucked under itself. It’s fur is black and long, blurring into the darkness as Beetlejuice’s eyes struggle to adjust. One golden eye glows at him, wide and curious.” - Say hello to Pluto! I have yet to see any fanfics that bring up the cat Delia talked about adopting, so I decided to do my own take on them! She is named after a cat in “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe. (Gasp! Is Delia a Poe fan?) She did not lose her eye to a crazy guy like in the original story, she lost it due to an infection.

- “It steps closer, causing the demon to let out a grunt as one paw is planted firmly on his left pec. Ow.” - This is based on my own beloved black cat always somehow managing to step right on a boob. Every time.

- “With a third trill, the cat steps closer, settling down on the side of the demon’s neck. It rubs it’s cheek against the side of his head.” … “It even gripped at his face with a paw when he tried to lean away.” - this is something that my other cat loves to do. It is sweet, but ouch. My jugular.

- “Trash mammals” is, once again, a “Night in the Woods” reference!

- “But now, this lithe little scraggly black cat was licking his face with it’s coarse tongue, doing it’s damndest to groom his scruff.” - Some cats love facial hair! No idea why, but people with beards are usually a cat’s favorite in their families.

- “His mouth hurt so bad, and a brief curious search with his tongue revealed he was missing two teeth - a canine and an incisor. They would grow back, but damn.” - He bit Juno so hard that he lost two of his teeth!

- “Beetlejuice let out a ‘HWAUGH’ noise…” Please imagine it sounds like this.

Confused about the metaphors and symbolism? Worry not, I will do my best to explain!

- Warmth - warmth is a running theme throughout LoopJuice as a whole. As Beetlejuice says, his mother had “.. never shown him warmth, or care, or love- nothing a mother ought to do. Just hatred. Just cold.” Unlike other demons, Beetlejuice’s extremities are cold, and he doesn’t feel the full benefits of the hellfire within him. (Thanks a lot, dad.) He is both always physically cold and emotionally starved of care and warm gestures. He is always desperately searching for that missing warmth. He finds it in Deb, but it is not real warmth; she is a wildfire, burning him up and leaving nothing behind. Rigel was cruel to him and never cared for him. Cyrus was cold in a way that made it feel like warmth, like the last stages of hypothermia. (There will be more on him in later chapters, so I will not give too much away here.) Beetlejuice finally finds real, genuine care in Lydia and The Maitlands, and later Delia and Charles.

- Rot - Beetlejuice feels like he is tainted, ruined by the things that happened to him. By who he is. He is his mother’s child, and she’s horrible. Bad things happened to him, and he is worried that the echoing pain will reach others. Juno’s words really got to him - he believes he was born broken and wrong. But he wasn’t, of course! His trauma and pain do not define him. Who his mother is doesn’t define him either. That’s when he sees that it was never rot, it was just moss. It was just him, all of him. The good, the bad, the hurt. He decides whether it is actually going to cause harm, he has to help it flourish and be good.

- Animals - Beej does not see himself as a person. No, not a human, a person. Someone with morals and thoughts and feelings. He often compares himself to animals, because that is the closest he can currently get to describing how he feels.

- Flowers - compared to the lifespan of a demon, the lives of humans are short. To Beetlejuice, humanity is beautiful like a rose; it is pretty partially because it is fleeting, impermanent. Flowers are beautiful because they die. At first, he felt the same way about humans. But now that he has gotten so close to a few of them, he sees more than that. “Soft petals, sharp thorns.” A “magnificent aroma”.

(Here is a picture of my darling son, as a thank you for reading this far. His name is Pumpkin!)

Here is the official chronological playlist for LoopJuice! I can’t link the ones I made because they have my name attached to them, so I suppose typing it out is the next best thing! It goes chapter by chapter and even goes through to the end of Time’s Arrow, so uh. Spoilers I guess for the vibes beyond the current chapter! (And for the possible Part 3)

Time is a Flat Circle:

Chapter One; “Go through the emotions again and again” (The Heroine by Unwoman)

- Rain by Jack Stauber // Hansel by Sodikken // Friends In Low Places by Worthikids // Soft Fuzzy Man by Lemon Demon // Eighth Wonder by Lemon Demon // Charlie’s Inferno by That Handsome Devil // Nothing Man by Sodikken // Mirror Man by Jack Stauber // Is Anyone There by Jack Stauber // Buttercup by Jack Stauber // taixu by lasah/sasakure.UK

Chapter Two; “In heaven, everything is fine” (In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) by David Lynch)

- In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) by David Lynch // A Human’s Touch by TWRP and McKenna Rae // Look Who’s Inside Again by Bo Burnham // Burn Him Down! By Kitsch Club // The Sword of Damocles from Rocky Horror Show

Chapter Three; “I’ve tasted dying and it tasted good!” (Dinner Is Not Over by Jack Stauber)

- Mama’s Boy by Dominic Fike // The Wolf Song by Amanda Palmer // Loved by FEiN // Class of 2013 by Mitski // You’re at the Party by Lemon Demon // Hard Sell by The Crane Wives // Home by Cavetown // Sweet Hibiscus Tea by Penelope Scott // Any Day Now by Bo Burnham // Dinner Is Not Over by Jack Stauber

Chapter Four; “Falling doesn’t feel so bad when I know you’re falling this way too” (Deviltown (V2) by Cavetown)

- Oh Klahoma by Jack Stauber // The Moss by Cosmo Sheldrake // Devil Town (V2) by Cavetown

Chapter Five; “Try to hold the breeze within your fingertips, it’s hopeless” (So Long by Tokyo Elvis)

- So Long by Tokyo Elvis // A Mask of My Own Face by Lemon Demon

Chapter Six; “And this time I actually feel them” (The Heroine by Unwoman)

- I Guess by Mitski // Pale Machine by bo en // My Time by bo en // There’s Something Happening by Jack Stauber // Fighter by Jack Stauber // Choice by Jack Stauber // I Deserve to Bleed by Sushi Soucy // Poor George by James Supercave

Chapter Seven; “And I don’t want your pity, I just want somebody near me” (Nobody by Mitski)

- Curses by The Crane Wives // Nobody by Mitski // Shapes by Alec Holowka // Icarus by Bastille // A Sadness Runs Through Him by The Hoosiers

Chapter Eight; “I know you have a little life in you yet, I know you have a lot of strength left” (This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush)

- I’m Your Man by Mitski // Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart by Mitski // Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths // Last Words of a Shooting Star by Mitski // Pearl Diver by Mitski // Coyotes (alternate vocals) by Modest Mouse // Goodbye by Bo Burnham // Never Love an Anchor by The Crane Wives //I Am Damaged from Heathers // This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush // Skeleton Song by Kate Nash // What If Tomorrow Comes from Black Friday

Time’s Arrow:

Chapter One; “There’s some kind of burning inside me, It’s kept me from falling apart” (Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart by Mitski)

- Leopard by Jack Stauber // Dog Nightmare by Jack Stauber // Good Kid from The Lightning Thief musical // Abbey by Mitski // Cop Car by Mitski // The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives // Francis Forever by Mitski // you smell of dead flowers by vslush, cover by Cliesel // Tongues & Teeth by The Crane Wives

Chapter Two; “Digging like you can bury something that cannot die, We could wash the dirt off our hands now”

- Mt. Washington by Local Natives // I Bet on Losing Dogs by Mitski // Dead Weight by Jack Stauber // Bug Like an Angel by Mitski

Chapter Three:

- Darren by Jack Stauber // Everything Stays from Adventure Time // Lemon Boy by Cavetown // Ghosting by Mother Mother // Parrot by Stepdad // Snail by Cavetown

BEYOND CURRENT POINT:

- Moonsickness by Penelope Scott // Today Today by Jack Stauber

- I’d Rather Sleep by Kero Kero Bonito // Ain’t It Fun by Paramore // Furniture by Owen Pallett // My Alcoholic Friends by The Dresden Dolls // Hey, Little Songbird from Hadestown // butch 4 butch by Rio Romeo // Harness Your Hopes (Sped Up) by Pavement // Me and My Husband by Mitski // Yr the Best! By carpetgarden // maggot belly by awfultune // Racehorse: Get Married! By Jordaan Mason // No Children by The Mountain Goats // Gross by Penelope Scott // Loving Man by The Little Stevies // Feel Better by Penelope Scott // Good Luck, Babe! By Chappell Roan // All 2 U from Helluva Boss // Woke Up from Adventure Time

- She by Dodie // Just Some Guy from Dead End: Paranormal Park // Green by Cavetown // Jealous by Eyedress // Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng // Sweet Tooth by Cavetown // Sunflower by Post Malone // Hidden In the Sand by Tally Hall // Washing Machine Heart by Mitski // When He Sees Me from Waitress // I Won’t Say (I’m in Love) from Hercules // She Wants Me (To Be Loved) by The Happy Fits // Strawberry Blond by Mitski // Linger by The Cranberries // I’d Like To Walk Around In Your Mind by Vashti Bunyan // Dear Arkansas Daughter by Lady Lamb // From Eden by Hozier // The Good In Me by Jon Bellion // Like Real People Do by Hozier // In The Middle by dodie // Ultimately by khai dreams // Samson by Regina Spektor // Monster from Adventure Time // Love Like You from Steven Universe

- Two Time by Jack Stauber // Estranger by Jack Stauber // That Distant Shore from Steven Universe // Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine // Love Love Love by The Mountain Goats // Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine // Bugbear by Chloe Moriondo // Lost by Amanda Palmer // Die Anywhere Else from Night in the Woods // Putting The Dog To Sleep by The Antlers // Zombie by The Cranberries // A Deer Mistaking Candles for Headlights by Crywank // Fading Kitten Syndrome by Roar // Neighborhood #2 (Laika) by Arcade Fire // Cheeseburger Family by Jack Stauber // Lonely from Bee and Puppycat // What Did You Do by Jack Stauber // Our Word from 36 Questions // Just Take My Wallet by Jack Stauber // Lima Bean Man by Jack Stauber // Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush // Love Will by Jack Stauber // That’s Not How The Story Goes from A Series of Unfortunate Events // The End by Jack Stauber

Chapter two of Time’s Arrow is out! I’m so tired. Please read the warnings carefully! As always, here are the fun extras!

Chapter two:

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Mt. Washington” by Local Natives. Both literally relevant and thematically relevant! I am too tired to dive in here. I plan on maybe doing a deepdive on a bunch of the songs for LoopJuice at a later date, if anyone is interested.

- “It was only when she told him that secret phrase that he finally seemed to accept it all. During one of their many repeats of the same discussion during that year they were in the loop, Lydia had asked him for a code, for something she could say that would convince him without question.” - PRO TIP; always have a time loop code! It’ll save you a lot of trouble. Me and my coworkers have one.

- “Of all of the business majors I’ve met in my time, you have to be, by far, the least fashionable. But you’re also the cutest.” - She was a goth English major. He was a business major. Can I make it anymore obvious? /ref. My own little version for how Emily and Charles met! There may be more on it later.

- “Explaining over and over about the time loop, the Netherworld, Juno, Beetlejuice. What he was, what happened, what it all meant.” - To clarify, they did not spill all of Beetlejuice’s beans! They left quite a few things up to him to decide if he wanted to share.

- “Something tugged deep inside her in a particular direction. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she trusted it. She had to.” … “(Somehow, some way, deep down inside, a voice whispered in her ear. An invisible thread tugged in a particular direction. She would pull at that thread later. More important matters were at hand.)” - Hmmmm! I wonder if this will come back and/or be important.

- “Of course, the moment he’d woken up, he’d jumped out a window and gone God/Satan knows where.” - Like with Beetlejuice, Lydia is having her BFFF’s lingo rub off on her as well!

- “Careful when you lift your eyes, for you may just be met with the edge of the blade that swings over your head.” - TO CLARIFY: the bold is Beetlejuice’s thoughts. He’s still kinda fuzzy from his long sleep, so he’s still being weirdly poetic. He is referencing the sword of Damocles here.

- “Her suspicions were further confirmed when she could hear the demon’s absentminded humming as she drew closer. (What was it now? It had been some pop song Barbara had sung while they cooked together for months now. It was a different melody.)” - Barbara was singing “California Girls” by Katy Perry while cooking with Beetlejuice one time, and it got stuck in his head. One of his stims is repeatedly humming certain tunes to himself! It won’t be mentioned, but here he is humming “You Always Hurt The One You Love” like Ruby Lane in the “Fear Street” trilogy.

- “The demon let out a loud ‘mrrrp’” - Yes, once again, Beetlejuice makes a cat activation noise on occasion!

- “(His fingertips and ears still had that horrible dull purple-blue shading to them. Would that ever go away? She was worried it wouldn’t.)” - Yes, this piece of fanart called it! Some of the coloration from the Frost is permanent. I’m still impressed! <3

- “Oh, how horrendous it would’ve been to lose you. How much joy and light the world would’ve lost. It would’ve been a tragedy unlike any other.” - This is from both Beej and Lydia at once, since they both almost lost the other to suicide.

- “But oh, the words were so hard. Especially as they chewed their lip and stared into his confused, glowing yellow eyes. Why was it so hard?” - TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS IS HARD… Lydia is no expert and neither am I!

- “… it’s… y’know. Moss!” - Moss! Yeah, he was avoiding confronting emotions and his loved ones, but also… moss!

- “Pluto. Her name is Pluto.” …“… really? That’s a little on the nose.” - This is a bit of a callout on myself. It is a bit too on the nose.

- “Pluto’s purr is nice and smooth, like a car engine. Yours sounds like a fifty-year old lawn mower that’s fueled by sugar water as it’s driving over the wettest, muddiest lawn in the world.” - Beetlejuice’s purr is all fucked up like his voice, of course.

- “(She already had a list of name ideas. Gomez, Lisa, Wybie, Lenore, etc.)” - of course, these are all ideas from some of Lydia’s favorite stories. Gomez from “The Addams Family”, Lisa from “Lisa Frankenstein”, Wybie from “Coraline”, and Lenore from Edgar Allen Poe’s “Lenore”.

- “Idiots.” - Yeah, Lyds. That’s how we all feel, bestie.

- “(Lydia could swear she felt her arm burning under the bandages, under her sleeve.)” - I WONDER IF THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER

- “ “Teeth grow back. (Lydia caught sight of a doubtful look on Adam’s face.) …” - While, yes, human teeth does not come back, Beetlejuice’s teeth do!

- “Lydia tightened her grip on Pluto, staring at the ghost intensely in a way she hoped was encouraging.” - Autism to autism communication… I will simply stare at you and hope you feel the good vibes I am attempting to send

- “ “I’m serious. You stood up to your abuser for us, Beetlejuice. That must’ve been very hard.” The demon sat very still, aside from his eyes gently flicking between Barbara’s own. Slowly, the pink washed away to a navy blue. ” - This is the first time someone has ever acknowledged to Beetlejuice, out loud, that his mother is an abuser. It causes a lot of emotions, of course.

- “It’s real late, and I know you three are probably bushed, so I’ll just head down to-” - Beetlejuice wanted to back down to the basement to hide from all of the humans.

- “I… don’t know. I guess I… thought she might have meant well, at some point.” - this is a sentiment a lot of people abused by their parents express, me included. It’s hard to let go of all of the things they have said to you, because they must have meant well, right? They’re your parent. Unfortunately, that often isn’t true.

- “ “It doesn’t change the fact that she does and says things that hurt you, and continues to hurt you. That… discredits most things she says.” The demon bit their lip with a light nod, their eyes darting about. “Y-yeah,” they eventually mumbled. “Th-… that’s… true, I guess.” ” - I HAVE THIS REACTION TO PEOPLE ACKNOWLEDGING MY PAIN. What the heck. Why are brains so awkward?? ‘Okay i guess that’s true thanks’ is a real sentence I’ve said to my therapist so many times. Ugh.

- “Sucks to suck, buddy.” - this is a phrase I say often. I’ve had people be confused about it, so I suppose it’s not that common?

- Beetlejuice and food - this is a bit of a warning now, BJ’s relationship with food is not very healthy and it will continue to decline from here. Food aversion is an unfortunate possible side effect of burnout, stress, overstimulation, etc.

- Barbara’s explanation - If you look back, you can see how suspicious Barbara was of Beetlejuice’s plan from the moment they brought it up. She was doing some plotting of her own!

- Call of the void - this is a genuine phenomenon some people experience, although this is obviously not the only cause of Lydia’s attempt. Just a fitting name for it.

- “Lydia could tell, then, that she certainly had a heart.” - this is a reference to Penelope Scott’s “Feel Better”, which is a song that fits both Lydia and Beetlejuice imo!

- Oop the poem

- This poem is sort of… non-diegetic. Like stated before, the bold is Beetlejuice, the italics is Lydia. It is meant to reflect their thoughts in this scene and chapter in general, it is meant to be read both as a conversation and as disconnected thoughts they are separately having. Do you ever have such good emotional development that you psychically write a poem with your bestie?

- “Just for a moment, your life could be just what you wanted.” … “Just for once, just for a moment.” - this is a reference to the song “Just for Once” from “Nerdy Prudes Must Die”, because that song goes SO HARD and is very thematically relevant here.

- “You give your all, and you get so much given back.” - this is a reference to “When He Sees Me” from “Waitress”, because, again, it goes so hard and is so relevant.

- “At the end of everything, hold on to anything.” - This is a reference to “Night in the Woods”. I’ve said it before, Beetlejuice and Mae Borowski have a lot in common.

- “The things you do for love come back to you one by one.” - this is a reference to “Love Love Love” by The Mountain Goats. It is one of the gentler songs on the LoopJuice playlists, and reflects more feelings of acceptance and uneasy peace.

- “… it burns out bright and blinding like a dying star.” - Hmm. Perhaps this is foreshadowing? Nah, that’d be crazy.

- “No one is gone, the love they felt and received does not fade. It is simply held in those they loved, or redistributed once more.” - Lydia is, of course, talking about her mother. I know it’s obvious, I just wanted to make sure it is highlighted. Since this story is mostly from Beetlejuice’s POV, we don’t get to really see the other characters’ emotional developments clearly, so I try to highlight them as often as I can.

- “She.. understood? I know less about Barbara than I thought.” - Barbara lore hints! Put a pin in this.

- All the little reasons for Beetlejuice to stick around - it’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received. Make it to your next sunset, make it to this new movie premiere. You have to taste this new food, see this sight. Start with little things, little reasons to stick around and enjoy life.

- “(Lydia felt like perhaps she shouldn’t be seeing this.)” … “I definitely feel like I shouldn’t be here for this.” - you ever witness your ghost parents and your demon brother having a romantically charged moment? Lydia certainly wishes she didn’t.

- “Oh! Don’t forget all the skirts and dresses I wanted to go through with you in the basement!” - I PROMISE WE WILL GET SKIRT AND DRESS FITS FOR BEEJ LATER

- “… will you?” ... “Will I what?” … “Give yourself a chance. Stick around.” - this is another reference to Stephen King’s “Laurie”. I love it to bits.

- “Well, except for his tail. It was quivering. (Lydia had only seen it do that a handful of times, when Beetlejuice was really excited, like when he was waiting to leap out at an unsuspecting Mormon knocking at the door.)” - sometimes, when cats are very excited, their tails quiver like this! It happens when they’re playful, like about to chomp on the arm of a door-to-door solicitor, or when they’re very happy, like when they receive a little forehead kiss.

- “Barbara and Adam exchanged a look then. They seemed… amused, excited, and - eugh. Those three better sort that shit out soon. It’s basically torture to have to witness it.” - Lydia is with y’all. Do not worry.

- “… I’m not.. the most graceful with exits, you guys know this-” - this is another reference to the failed smoke bomb trick he does in the show!

- “Thank you, love you too, kiddo.” - Adam sounds a little dismissive here because he is concentrating, but Lydia knows that!

- “Adam is switching on the “electric blanket”, Barbara is making some sort of joke as she once more plants a kiss on his forehead. He thinks he hears the word ‘hot’.” - Beetlejuice has no idea what some things are, including electric blankets. He is so lost in the sauce he didn’t hear Barbara call him hot.

- “Who could ever really want you? You wear out your purpose eventually. You overstay your welcome. Sharp, sudden pain washes over him from the old scar in his side. Honestly, Betelgeuse, I don’t know why I’m disappointed. Everyone knows how pathetic you are.” - Callback! And more dialogue/context to this hinted scene. Maybe we will see more of it later!

- “His heart, his own personal heart is broken over and over and over again.” - yet another “Asteroid City” reference! Also reflects a bit how I feel writing at times.

- “He has been emptied out. He is so tired, so drained. His whole body aches, and his mind still thrums.” - All my burnt out besties say… eughhhhh…. Emotional conversations are super draining!

- “It isn’t the start of something. Isn’t it? It isn’t. It isn’t.” - What’s that? By god, it’s “Asteroid City” once again! The context of this scene is two characters discussing whether or not they’re at the start of a new relationship, like how Beej is arguing about the same thing with himself.

- “You are a fox being allowed to stay in the henhouse.” - in a way, he still views himself as an intruder, as something harmful. It takes a while to get rid of harmful thinking, even after coming to the realization that it’s wrong.

- “The sword still swings. The thread is thin.” - another sword of Damocles shout out!

- “The perfect visage of a reformed villain, of a tamed demon.” - He feels a pressure to be good right away, to fit the stereotype of a reformed villain. A lot of those characters are depicted in unrealistic ways! Except Zuko. Zuko is perfect.

- “Don’t be too much. Heavy is the cost.” - this is a partial reference to “Personal” by Stars!

- “Parts of you are already gone.” - This is a partial reference to “Please Eat” by Nichole Dollanganger.

- “If you are not a jester, you are The Fool. Wear the bells well.” - The Fool is capitalized because he is specifically thinking of the tarot card. Also, Fizzaroli reference! That little guy is a strong contender for favorite Alex Brightman character.

- “It’s like they said; don’t stop dancing until the curtain’s down.” - Yet another “BoJack Horseman” reference, and a very poignant one! Beej is, in his mind, a performer on a stage, and he cannot let the audience see him falter.

Chapter three of Time’s Arrow is out, “A mask of my own face, I’d wear that”! Please read the warnings carefully. You’re welcome Beetlelands fans! Also sorry Beetlelands fans. As always, here are the extras!

Chapter Three:

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title is from “A Mask of My Own Face” by Lemon Demon! I feel like this one is perhaps the most self-explanatory of the chapter titles, haha.

- The songs for this chapter are “Darren” by Jack Stauber, “Ghosting” by Mother Mother, “A Mask of My Own Face” by Lemon Demon, “Parrot” by Stepdad, “Snail” by Cavetown, and ESPECIALLY “Stray Italian Greyhound” by Vienna Teng.

- The basement is partially cleared out to prepare for Lydia’s dark room in the basement! And also a special Other Thing.

- “… new rugs to replace the ones he bled all over.” - Yes, Beetlejuice managed to ruin two rugs with his blood. That sucks.

- “His right eye’s vision was still fuzzy. (Perhaps it wouldn’t ever fully come back, like his hearing.)” - Yes, unfortunately it is permanent. He’s hard of hearing on one side, visually impaired on the other. Poor buddy.

- “Thankfully, his teeth had grown back quickly. They were always one of the first parts of him to regenerate anyways. (Much quicker than his organs, that one night. Or his legs. The memory still made him shudder.)” - Yikes, I wonder what or who this is referring to!

- “.. friendly neighborhood reformed demon.” - Yeah, a silly little Spider-Man reference for brevity.

- “(He found he still had no idea how to tie a tie. Thank God/Satan whoever had washed his suit had left it tied.)” - This is sort of a callout on myself. My friend tied my Beetlejuice suit’s tie for me once, and I’ve just left it tied since I can’t tie a tie for the life of me.

- Black onyx - apparently, black onyx represents strength, and is one of the most powerful crystals! At least, according to my friend.

- Lydia dying her hair - Lyds is a natural blonde! She dyes her hair black for Reasons.

- “Can’t keep a good… not-guy down!” - This is both a reference to “Child’s Play” and another fun non-binary joke.

- Adam’s tapping - I and a handful of other neurodivergent people I know do this, gentle tapping to signal we want affection. I have been told it is endearing.

- “I’M SO NORMAL-” - This is something I like to proclaim when I am being Not Normal. Like how Beetlejuice is being Not Normal.

- “He couldn’t tell what either of them were thinking, their expressions were new. It was certainly frustrating.” - Hm! I wonder what expressions Beetlejuice has never seen before on another being.

- The Freeze, Brimstone Flu, Red Moss - these are all demon diseases/illnesses that I made up. They will probably only make minor, silly appearances.

- “(Beetlejuice had to seriously fight the urge to bite her arm.)” - Beej has the urge to out of affection, but holds back due to his sharp teeth and it generally not being socially acceptable.

- “Dial up that smile.” - This is a reference to my other current hyperfixation, “Late Night with the Devil”.

- “Beetlejuice exited the guest bedroom to find Lydia waiting for him just outside, repeatedly kissing Pluto’s forehead as the cat laid contentedly in her arms. She let out a little ‘GAH’ as the door opened, standing up straight.” - CAUGHT BEING SOFT IN 4K

- Lydia, sorting - one of her favorite activities is sorting, as you may have noticed. Sometimes she un-sorts her belongings so she can re-sort them when she is stressed out.

- Lydia, biting - she also bites out of affection/when she is excited. She does not care if it is socially acceptable when she is around Beetlejuice.

- “The teen eagerly motioned for Barbara to come closer, holding up an old, yellowed version of The Wheel of Fortune.” - I wonder if this particular card means anything?

- “Some of them are hand-painted!” - Thank you to the movie “Tarot” for informing me of hand-painted Tarot cards. Also fuck you, because they’re expensive.

- “Some of the decks are incomplete.” .. “That’s what happens when you got a lotta things for a lotta years. Some of it just… goes missin’.”- What a suspicious answer from Beetlejuice. I wonder what he did with those cards?

- “I know you didn’t mean it, but that was rude, Beetlejuice.” … “Wh-rude? It was?” - this is an experience I and a lot of other fellow autistics experience. We have to be informed when we’ve been rude because we truly did not mean to be!

- “… they sat next to each other in silence while they separately sorted through various piles of moss and rocks they’d collected on previous outings in the woods.” - one of the ways these two often hang out is parallel play. I love you parallel play…

- “Lydia forced Beetlejuice to do some strange dance in front of her phone with her. They only understood half of the words she said while explaining it, but it certainly made her happy.” - Yes, Lydia made Beetlejuice do a tiktok dance because it is funny. I don’t know any of them so I can’t give you a specific, so you can imagine the funniest one here.

- “Already, his mouth was watering at the smells of soy sauce and chives wafting out from the kitchen.” - mouth watering is not always a good thing. Sometimes it means a vom is imminent.

- The Great Gatsby - beetlejuice is not stupid (sometimes), he just takes longer to process some things! This is honestly the first time someone has recognized this within him, and he has yet to fully process that. Also I love The Great Gatsby. There are Jay and BJ parallels that only make sense to me.

- Freaky - I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I watched it with my father and it was quite amusing, so I thought it would be funny to have Lydia experience watching this film with a few of her parents.

- Adam and Barbara conspired to have Beetlejuice have his Talk with Charles, by the way. They also, obviously, conspired to cuddle up with him.

- “I’ll be right back,” … “Beetlejuice, that’s violating rule number three!” - Yeah, this is a “Scream” reference. No I am not sorry. Yes it will happen again maybe.

- “Oh no. … Oh no, not now. … Please, not now. … But, of course, some sort of ridiculous “Feeling” had to come along.” - These are pulled from one of the pivotal songs on Time’s Arrow’s playlist, “Stray Italian Greyhound” by Vienna Teng. Please listen to it during That Part of the chapter.

- “Was it love? Were they in love? They couldn’t be. They were a demon, they were unforgivable, they were rotten and broken-” - Part of this is a reference to “Good Omens”, part of this is another callback to his mother’s hurtful words from chapter 3 of Time is a Flat Circle. They really seem to stick with him, huh?

- “The ritual was much harder than Beetlejuice remembered. Perhaps it was their drained energy, but they didn’t remember it burning so much.” - That’s so weird. I wonder what this ritual entailed? Couldn’t have been good. But he got a Book out of it!

- “ “Your humans?” This seemed to pique his interest, as his silhouetted form suddenly drew in much closer. “Have you a coven now, little lamb?” ” - I wonder why Cyrus was so interested in BJ having a coven? Also say hi to my rotten bastard everyone! You will hate him.

- “little lamb” - Cyrus calls BJ this due to his sheep features! Also to demean him. (If you couldn't tell from his other nickname being “pet”.)

- “Tomorrow is another day.” - shameless FNAF 4 reference. FNAF made me who I am. It reprogrammed my brain as a child.

Hey. Hey. This chapter has art for the last scene now, thanks to the wonderful amazing @splasharooni !!! (Hidden below for spoilers) There will also be art for the next chapter!

LOOK AT MY HORRIBLE BASTARD MAN. RAHHH ILY LANE <333

Chapter three of Time’s Arrow is out, “A mask of my own face, I’d wear that”! Please read the warnings carefully. You’re welcome Beetlelands fans! Also sorry Beetlelands fans. As always, here are the extras!

Chapter Three:

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title is from “A Mask of My Own Face” by Lemon Demon! I feel like this one is perhaps the most self-explanatory of the chapter titles, haha.

- The songs for this chapter are “Darren” by Jack Stauber, “Ghosting” by Mother Mother, “A Mask of My Own Face” by Lemon Demon, “Parrot” by Stepdad, “Snail” by Cavetown, and ESPECIALLY “Stray Italian Greyhound” by Vienna Teng.

- The basement is partially cleared out to prepare for Lydia’s dark room in the basement! And also a special Other Thing.

- “… new rugs to replace the ones he bled all over.” - Yes, Beetlejuice managed to ruin two rugs with his blood. That sucks.

- “His right eye’s vision was still fuzzy. (Perhaps it wouldn’t ever fully come back, like his hearing.)” - Yes, unfortunately it is permanent. He’s hard of hearing on one side, visually impaired on the other. Poor buddy.

- “Thankfully, his teeth had grown back quickly. They were always one of the first parts of him to regenerate anyways. (Much quicker than his organs, that one night. Or his legs. The memory still made him shudder.)” - Yikes, I wonder what or who this is referring to!

- “.. friendly neighborhood reformed demon.” - Yeah, a silly little Spider-Man reference for brevity.

- “(He found he still had no idea how to tie a tie. Thank God/Satan whoever had washed his suit had left it tied.)” - This is sort of a callout on myself. My friend tied my Beetlejuice suit’s tie for me once, and I’ve just left it tied since I can’t tie a tie for the life of me.

- Black onyx - apparently, black onyx represents strength, and is one of the most powerful crystals! At least, according to my friend.

- Lydia dying her hair - Lyds is a natural blonde! She dyes her hair black for Reasons.

- “Can’t keep a good… not-guy down!” - This is both a reference to “Child’s Play” and another fun non-binary joke.

- Adam’s tapping - I and a handful of other neurodivergent people I know do this, gentle tapping to signal we want affection. I have been told it is endearing.

- “I’M SO NORMAL-” - This is something I like to proclaim when I am being Not Normal. Like how Beetlejuice is being Not Normal.

- “He couldn’t tell what either of them were thinking, their expressions were new. It was certainly frustrating.” - Hm! I wonder what expressions Beetlejuice has never seen before on another being.

- The Freeze, Brimstone Flu, Red Moss - these are all demon diseases/illnesses that I made up. They will probably only make minor, silly appearances.

- “(Beetlejuice had to seriously fight the urge to bite her arm.)” - Beej has the urge to out of affection, but holds back due to his sharp teeth and it generally not being socially acceptable.

- “Dial up that smile.” - This is a reference to my other current hyperfixation, “Late Night with the Devil”.

- “Beetlejuice exited the guest bedroom to find Lydia waiting for him just outside, repeatedly kissing Pluto’s forehead as the cat laid contentedly in her arms. She let out a little ‘GAH’ as the door opened, standing up straight.” - CAUGHT BEING SOFT IN 4K

- Lydia, sorting - one of her favorite activities is sorting, as you may have noticed. Sometimes she un-sorts her belongings so she can re-sort them when she is stressed out.

- Lydia, biting - she also bites out of affection/when she is excited. She does not care if it is socially acceptable when she is around Beetlejuice.

- “The teen eagerly motioned for Barbara to come closer, holding up an old, yellowed version of The Wheel of Fortune.” - I wonder if this particular card means anything?

- “Some of them are hand-painted!” - Thank you to the movie “Tarot” for informing me of hand-painted Tarot cards. Also fuck you, because they’re expensive.

- “Some of the decks are incomplete.” .. “That’s what happens when you got a lotta things for a lotta years. Some of it just… goes missin’.”- What a suspicious answer from Beetlejuice. I wonder what he did with those cards?

- “I know you didn’t mean it, but that was rude, Beetlejuice.” … “Wh-rude? It was?” - this is an experience I and a lot of other fellow autistics experience. We have to be informed when we’ve been rude because we truly did not mean to be!

- “… they sat next to each other in silence while they separately sorted through various piles of moss and rocks they’d collected on previous outings in the woods.” - one of the ways these two often hang out is parallel play. I love you parallel play…

- “Lydia forced Beetlejuice to do some strange dance in front of her phone with her. They only understood half of the words she said while explaining it, but it certainly made her happy.” - Yes, Lydia made Beetlejuice do a tiktok dance because it is funny. I don’t know any of them so I can’t give you a specific, so you can imagine the funniest one here.

- “Already, his mouth was watering at the smells of soy sauce and chives wafting out from the kitchen.” - mouth watering is not always a good thing. Sometimes it means a vom is imminent.

- The Great Gatsby - beetlejuice is not stupid (sometimes), he just takes longer to process some things! This is honestly the first time someone has recognized this within him, and he has yet to fully process that. Also I love The Great Gatsby. There are Jay and BJ parallels that only make sense to me.

- Freaky - I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I watched it with my father and it was quite amusing, so I thought it would be funny to have Lydia experience watching this film with a few of her parents.

- Adam and Barbara conspired to have Beetlejuice have his Talk with Charles, by the way. They also, obviously, conspired to cuddle up with him.

- “I’ll be right back,” … “Beetlejuice, that’s violating rule number three!” - Yeah, this is a “Scream” reference. No I am not sorry. Yes it will happen again maybe.

- “Oh no. … Oh no, not now. … Please, not now. … But, of course, some sort of ridiculous “Feeling” had to come along.” - These are pulled from one of the pivotal songs on Time’s Arrow’s playlist, “Stray Italian Greyhound” by Vienna Teng. Please listen to it during That Part of the chapter.

- “Was it love? Were they in love? They couldn’t be. They were a demon, they were unforgivable, they were rotten and broken-” - Part of this is a reference to “Good Omens”, part of this is another callback to his mother’s hurtful words from chapter 3 of Time is a Flat Circle. They really seem to stick with him, huh?

- “The ritual was much harder than Beetlejuice remembered. Perhaps it was their drained energy, but they didn’t remember it burning so much.” - That’s so weird. I wonder what this ritual entailed? Couldn’t have been good. But he got a Book out of it!

- “ “Your humans?” This seemed to pique his interest, as his silhouetted form suddenly drew in much closer. “Have you a coven now, little lamb?” ” - I wonder why Cyrus was so interested in BJ having a coven? Also say hi to my rotten bastard everyone! You will hate him.

- “little lamb” - Cyrus calls BJ this due to his sheep features! Also to demean him. (If you couldn't tell from his other nickname being “pet”.)

- “Tomorrow is another day.” - shameless FNAF 4 reference. FNAF made me who I am. It reprogrammed my brain as a child.

Chapter four of Time’s Arrow, “Suddenly, nothing is as it was, Where are you now, Orpheus?” Is out now! Goodnight. Make sure to read the warnings carefully!! This one is a doozy!

As always, extras!

- The lyrics for this title’s chapter are from “Hey, Little Songbird” from ‘Hadestown’! I’m sure we can all connect the dots with this one, hehe.

- “Are ya finally takin’ me out back to give me the Old Yeller treatment?” “Not today.” - based on a real conversation I had with my sister one morning as she dragged me out of bed!

- “He went to hop up out of the bed, squinting at the horrible, pounding migraine that was slowly blossoming in his skull. Christ on a boat, has the room always been this bright?” - It has! He’s just struggling with enhanced sensory issues.

- “sipping from a coffee mug that read ‘Happy Father’s Day from your favorite financial burden’.” - Based on a mug my friend got for their dad!

- “Ah, shit.” … “C’mon, Chuck, conversation is not mandatory.” - To clarify: Beej is not irritated that Charles is trying to speak to him! He just thinks that he feels obligated to talk to him, and that that’s really awkward.

- “Beetlejuice grit his teeth as Charles paused to take a sip of his coffee and swallow louder than he was sure any human ever needed to.” - again, sensory issues! Charles didn’t swallow that loud at all.

- The oatmeal cream pie incident - based on a real incident with my own sister. The same sister as before. Yes, word for word.

- “Goodness! I was worried I’d have to grab my bear mace!” - Based on something my own stepmother said, oh my god.

- “Delia’s ‘organically’ cherry-scented chapstick” - Beej can smell that it’s not actually organic! But he won’t break Delia’s heart by telling her that.

- “… on second thought, Beej, why don’t you stay here?” Lydia finished up tying her boots, hopping to her feet. “Wh- huh? Why?” “I don’t wanna overwhelm the poor cat with too many people at once, y’know?” Beetlejuice frowned a bit. What did I do wrong? “.. I guess.” I would scare the cat, wouldn’t I? I can be less scary.” - Misunderstanding, woo! Beej thinks Lydia thinks he is too scary to go with them to get the kitten, and that she may be embarrassed to be seen with him in public. Lydia understands he is spooked at the idea of being in a car and doesn’t want him to experie nce that while he’s already going through something else.

- “ “Oh! Hey, give me your jacket.” The demon immediately went to remove his jacket…” - Too bad Barbara and Adam were too busy to witness jacket-less Beetlejuice!

- “… clacking his teeth a few times. He halted when Charles raised an eyebrow in his direction.” - Charles isn’t perturbed by this stim, Beej just assumes he is. It’s just an odd noise to hear out of nowhere!

- “ “Sorry, Bug, we… have some cleaning to do in the basement!” Barbara called from… Beetlejuice squinted. Why was she and Adam walking towards the stairs from the garage like that? Were they… sneaking? Don’t they hate the basement?” - I wonder what the Maitlands are doing in the basement?

- “ “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Beetlejuice halted, furrowing his brows. He wasn’t quite sure what she’d meant. Maybe he didn’t say goodbye properly? Did she want more affection? He then slowly stepped back over to Lydia, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead once he reached her. He then turned to bolt towards the stairs once again. Lydia groaned loudly. “No, clean up your mess in the kitchen!” She turned to open the door, shaking her head. “Damn, who raised you?” ” - based on a splendid scene from one of my favorite shows ever, Brooklyn-99.

- “Beetlejuice, totally not enjoying an episode of ‘Jane the Virgin’ with Delia as they sat together on the couch…” - he absolutely was enjoying watching ‘Jane the Virgin’ with his new bestie.

- “Lydia reached into the box and pulled out a scruffy, disheveled little black kitten. He had small white patches on his face, paws, and stomach, and looked like he was born in a dumpster.” - based on my sister’s kitten, Pinto Bean! He is more white than black, and we got him from a farm. He looked like a little garbage baby.

- “ “‘Percy’?” “Yeah, he came with that name. Apparently they were themed? I’ll probably change it.” ” - The whole litter was, unfortunately, named after the Weasley family from (ugh) Harry Potter. Also, yes, he is partially based on Lydia’s cat from the animated series!

- “ “Why? You are small.” “I’m taller than you!” “Not for long. I’m due for a second growth spurt soon.” ” - Beetlejuice is 5’3”! Lydia is too, but not for long.

- “It reeked of some aromatic herb he couldn’t discern.” - he does not Know His Herbs.

- “You’ll have to send me away to a remote cabin by the sea to ‘clear my mind’, like they did to women back in the day. I’ll go even more insane and rip off all the wallpaper. Maybe set the place on fire.” - another ‘Yellow Wallpaper’ reference!

- “.. either up from the secret project in the basement…” - hmm, once again, I wonder what this is!

- “… while she was taking a break from… Y’know. Downstairs.” - being downstairs for too long freaks the Maitlands out. Y’know. ‘Cause their bodies were down there.

- Lydia’s questions - some of the proper questions to ask while someone is having a meltdown! Never touch or approach someone without permission. Ask if they want to be alone or not.

- “.. I like ‘Frankenstein’ as much as the next guy, but three times? Overkill.” - Based on my experience with ‘The Great Gatsby’. I read it three years in a row. My sister read it two years in a row. I now own five copies of that book.

- “I heard the other class is reading ‘Flowers for Algernon’. And that it totally sucks. Super depressing.” - don’t read ‘Flowers for Algernon’ unless you wanna cry.

- “Barbara nodded a little. “I know how to get blood out of wool. It’s really easy.” ” - both because she likes true crime and ‘cause, y’know, she’s a woman! People with periods know how to get blood stains out.

- “ “M-my hair’s starting to grey. Sometimes, I look in the mirror and I see-” he halted, a shudder wracking through his whole body.” - sometimes, he looks in the mirror and sees his mother. It terrifies him. (Based on personal experience)

- “I’ve never been this tired before. Not since… I was alone, in the loop. I feel like if I let myself lay down, if I stop.. performing, pretending I’m doing great, I’ll… I’ll never wake up again.” - oop. Based on personal experience yet again.

- “ “… Bee, I… it sounds like you’re burnt out.” The demon whirled around to face Adam suddenly, eyes wide. “… b-.. burnt… out?” ” - Beej is terrified here because he thinks Adam means the other meaning we find out about later!

- “ “When we push ourselves too much, sometimes our minds and bodies push back. If you don’t let yourself properly rest and recuperate, your body will make you.” Adam glanced down as he went to wrap Beetlejuice’s arm, but otherwise kept his eyes on his face. “It feels like you’re sick because you are. You haven’t been properly taking care of yourself.” ” - just gonna put this here, for those that need to read it. Your brain is an organ, and can get sick just like any other organ.

- “… excuse me for a moment. I’m about to lose my temper.” - based on a line from ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’.

- The scream - based on the scream from the touring version of the show. You know what I’m talkin’ about.

- “crunching of leaves under his shoes.” - back on his illusion bullshit already

- “Autumn is on it’s way, his mind gently supplies, the thought drifting in slow and sluggish. The cold will come. It is inevitable.” … “Steady now. It will only consume you if you let it. But the cold will come.” - wow, foreshadowing? In my fic? Sure is!

- “I let you in.” - although I’ve heard it in many pieces of media with demons, the most famous use of this phrase is in ‘Talk To Me’.

- The art is once again done by the fabulous @/splasharooni !! Here it is again bc I love it so much <33

- “They stand up straight, trying not to cower as he rises to his full height, towering over them by a good foot, at least.” - Cyrus is 6’4”!

- “his long cigarette holder” - like they had back in the ‘20’s, ‘cause he’s a classy old bitch.

- “If they had held them for too long, Beetlejuice’s felt their own limited warmth be slowly but surely sapped away. But now, he was… warm. Goosebumps chased up their arm as he gently turned their hand over, inspecting their purple-ish-blue-hued fingers with his cool gaze.” - I wonder if this has any thematic implications.

- “ “.. couldn’t leave... the house that breather lived in.” They briefly chewed on the inside of their cheek. Careful. Careful.” … “The mark burned into Lydia’s arm, although they are very careful not to say her name, or who she is.” - Demons work by Fae rules, Beej has to be careful not to let their names slip in front of them!

- “Beetlejuice sees hints of starlight through the canopy. They wonder if the sky is clear enough for them to locate their own star. Or Cyrus’. Or-” - Each demon’s true name is based on a star! Like how Beetlejuice’s name is actually Betelgeuse, Cyrus’ name isn’t actually Cyrus.

- “His gaze is gentle and understanding and… alluring. (Was he really that bad? A voice whispers in the fog.)” - YES HE IS. GET A JOB. LEAVE MY BOY ALONE.

- Burning Out / Extinguished - when a demon is killed/dies, these are the terms used to refer to it. ‘Burning Out’ means their internal flame is dying due to any variety of circumstances.

- Seal vs. Ward - a seal is to keep a demon tied to one place/thing/person, a ward keeps demons away from one place/person/thing!

- “Of course. I’m never outside of her control, am I?” - based on my own personal experience once again. Sometimes, no matter what you do, a part of you is unfortunately always influenced by your abuser.

- “ “I know you don’t… partake, still.” Cyrus looks down at Beetlejuice again, raising an eyebrow mirthfully. “You never could stomach it.” A shudder ran up their spine once more. Beetlejuice cast their eyes down to the ground. “.. no.” The thick, sticky taste of iron stings in the back of their throat. Guilt creeps into their hazy mind.” - by ‘partake’, he means consuming human blood, or even flesh. Beej never had the stomach for it. He had to do it once, and he regrets it.

- “Darling, I only want your time.” - Yes, the perfect Deal. Surely there are no exploitable loopholes.

- “So it is done.” - another ‘Late Night with the Devil’ reference!

- “Unlike then, however, Beetlejuice could see the shape of his tail wagging underneath his skirt.” - I wonder why he’s so excited this time?

- “His right ear panged, and he instinctively reached up to fidget with it, halting when he was met with.. something new, some sort of earring now piercing that lobe. It was cool to the touch.” - yes, Cyrus straight up pierced Beej’s ear without consent. But he got a cool little piece of gold jewelry out of it!

May I ask how did you get your beetlejuice?

Like did you just acumulate headcanons and got him or did you like sit down and tought of things you'd like to add.

Poor guy has like 75 different mental illnesses and counting I love him so much

What a delightful question, thank you!

So it’s sort of a combination of both of those. I thought up the fic idea, then sat down and watched clips of Alex Brightman’s performance (and a few of the others musical BJ actors of course) to try to really get a good handle on the character. I’ve always headcanoned Beetlejuice as autistic because. Look at him. And non-binary because demons probably have a different grasp on gender than us! His mood ring hair color has been charted out since the start, of course. While plotting out the fic in its entirety, including through part 3, I really pondered why he’s Like That. I ended up putting a lot of my personal experiences (coughtraumacough) into him, since I obviously know how to write from the perspective of someone with those experiences, and I really wanted him to feel as real of a (not) person as possible.

I had to figure out demon lore right away, of course, and how that impacted Beetlejuice, because I love LOVE world building/species creation. And I wanted to have there be more to his past, since he’s thousands of years old and probably has a lot of Lore, so I plotted out characters and experiences from his past and made sure to reference them when considering how he reacts and speaks!

The rest really came to me as a wrote, like his horns and legs when I wanted to make sure he was very obviously not human at his core, and to help create a cool thematic through-line of sheep/lambs and wolves and such. Some things were added for jokes, some things were thought up too late to add in, and will probably be added in the post-mortem rewrite!

Thank you again for the question! I also love him so much, and I’m glad you enjoy him!

New chapter of Time’s Arrow, “Good luck, babe! You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling” is up! Everyone say “thank you, concussion.” (Don’t actually. It sucks.) THIS CHAPTER IS PARTICULARLY ROUGH. PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS CAREFULLY AND PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

As always, here are the extras!

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Good Luck, Babe!” By Chappell Roan! I think it is pretty self explanatory, haha.

- The songs for this chapter are “A Deer Mistaking Candles for Headlights” by Crywank, “Racehorse: Get Married!” By Jordaan Mason, “bad idea!” By girl in red, “Gross” by Penelope Scott, “maggot belly” by awfultune, “Lavender” by Penelope Scott, “Personal” by Stars, “Little Soldiers” by The Crane Wives, “Butch 4 Butch” by Rio Romeo, and, of course, “Good Luck, Babe!” By Chappell Roan!

- “ “Go! Class starts in…” he leaned away, squinting hard at the clock on the wall just outside the kitchen. “… some.. amount of time.” “… I need to take you to the optometrist.” The teen opened the door and went to step outside, ignoring the demon’s ‘huh?’.” - Beetlejuice’s eyesight suuuuucks. They’ve never been to an eye doctor, or even heard of one. They really need glasses. Perhaps they will get some soon!

- “The very thought of the feeling of food in his mouth, of the savory and salty tastes and mushy textures overwhelming his senses made his stomach turn. But the tug at his non-functional heart strings at the image of Barbara’s disheartened expression was stronger, more painful.” - Not the best motivation to eat, but honestly, any motivation can be good motivation when you’re having trouble getting yourself to eat!

- “Did anyone see you? You barely pass as human, and you’re a stranger in this town. Did anyone bother you? Are you alright?” “Geez, Chuck, when-” “Where have you been?! Do you know how late it is, young man?” - Get parent-ed, idiot!

- “‘Young man’? I am neither of those.” - This is a cheeky reference to a similar joke in “Good Omens”!

- “… English isn’t my best language.” “What others do you know?” “.. let’s put a pin in that convo, D-Dog. Your energy is distracting in the best way.” “Aww, thank you!” - a little peak at Beej and Delia’s friendship. I will probably expand more on it if I ever write the extra chapters!

- “Charles furrowed his brows. “Where did you get that laptop?” ” … “… where did you get that one?” - He stole them.

- “ “The what?” Charles sat up straight, brows knit in… concern? Beetlejuice wasn’t sure.” - he is not used to parental concern! Get cared about, fool!

- “… ‘Surely the average White River townie will be petrified by your demonic beauty!’” He chuckled to himself. He thought perhaps he imagined Barbara, Adam, and Delia laughing as well. “First of all, thank you, you’re too kind.” ” - A little peep at the smug, braggy little guy he used to be! And yes, they did laugh at his joke in agreement. He just doesn’t want to hear it because he can’t accept love.

- “Semi-tamed curly hair, now brown with irritating grey streaks he couldn’t get rid of. Manic honey-brown eyes instead of yellow serpentine ones, blemishes on his face instead of moss. Skin now pink, but still pale.” - yeah, basically just Alex Brightman, just with brown, curly hair. Surprise!

- “…wrist-length black driving gloves to cover his blackened fingertips.” - This, along with a line later on, is heavily inspired by the character Theo from “The Haunting of Hill House”. See if you can spot it! She similarly is very sensitive, and wears gloves to avoid direct physical contact with others.

- “They hate it. Fuck. Maybe next-day delivery holy water is still an option?” - ABSOLUTELY NOT

- “They look like a substitute teacher.” - Dewey Finn reference! I see a lot of Beetlejuice fans talking about the “School of Rock” musical. I’ve only seen the movie, and I love it. Should I give it a listen?

- “ “They look… nice.” Adam’s cheeks were flushed a dark pink. Barbara let out a delighted giggle as she rubbed her hands over his facial hair. “What a professional little man!” ” - They think he is so handsome. Barbara cannot control her cuteness aggression.

- “Lydia, pumpkin, I don’t want the people of this town thinking of me as a scoundrel. He obviously is too old to be E-.. Emily’s son.” - He’s trying his best to keep Emily relevant and talked about!! It’s just a bit hard still. Also, yeah, no one would really believe the man with greying hair was spawned from Charles and Emily.

- “He hadn’t been opposed to people thinking he was his son.” - he has never been called someone’s son in a positive way! New experience unlocked!

- “He was… happy. Light. Warm. He felt like he could rip apart a car with his teeth.” - like yours truly, Beetlejuice gets the urge to bite and rip things apart with his teeth when he is excited.

- “ “… I’ll tell folks I’m a distant Maitland relative. Maybe a cousin!” Beetlejuice grabbed Lydia’s arm, going to pull her out the door, missing the way Adam and Barbara wrinkled their noses at the word ‘cousin’.” - I wonder why they were so opposed to him being called a cousin? Hmmm.

- “Beetlejuice slides the Book across the counter and holds out a pen. “Have you heard about our Loyalty Program?” ” - what a weird, suspicious insistence he has. I wonder why that ‘Book’ is capitalized. Surely that must be an error? ;)

- “He bolts off, excusing that he needs to go find Percy and put him in ‘extreme air jail’.” - ‘Extreme air jail’ is when he floats off the ground while holding Percy up. Like regular air jail, but extreme.

- “Aftershave. Tung oil. Black tea. Tea-tree oil and nicotine.” - the smells, respectively, are from Charles, Adam, Barbara, and Delia! Delia smells like her vape pen a bit.

- “Lydia released the demon’s hands, slowly stepping behind them. “I’m behind you, alright? I’m gonna take your blindfold off.” ” - Lydia educated herself on his triggers and is careful not to come up behind him/touch his back or chest without letting him know first!

- “The walls had a familiar striped wallpaper applied to them..” - they recreated the striped walls from when Beej took over the house!

- “… pocketed figurines of various horror characters and stupid-looking colorful monsters. (Adam had called them “pokay-men”?)” - Beetlejuice stole a bunch of Pokémon funko pops without knowing anything about them, except that Adam likes them.

- Two “Lisa Frankenstein” references! The poster, as well as the name of a character later.

- “The ceiling was lined with familiar gentle string lights, the bulbs giving off a soft yellow glow.” - gentle lighting for his sensitive eyes, courtesy of Adam and Barbara! He never really turns on the overhead lights.

- “A large, fuzzy, purple rug covered most of the hard concrete floor.” - Delia picked this out for him! She knows how much he loves Floor Time.

- “… seemingly home-made black and white quilt..” - Barbara made it herself!

- “.. and a rotund black cat plush Lydia had ordered off of Amazon and claimed was for herself.” - it is a squishmallow. Beej still has no idea what they are, but Lyds got one just for him!

- “.. even a rocking chair covered in a bright green fleece blanket in the corner-” - Charles picked out that blanket after seeing how much Beetlejuice enjoyed the fleece blanket on the guest bed!

- “Like Dad said, you deserve your own space, big guy.” - ‘Dad’ is capitalized like that because Lydia considers Charles both her and Beej’s dad now.

- “They still aren’t sure what to do, way later that night, as they lie in their very own bed for the first time. They’d never had a space of their own.” - yeah, he’s never had his own bed. Or room. He mostly slept on the floor growing up, sometimes under a stove!

- “.. as he stared up at the multitude of gently glowing green stars plastered on the ceiling.” - Delia heard that his name is based on a star, so she got these and carefully plotted them out to match the real night sky/constellations!

- “ “I was only thirteen, Beetlejuice.” … “I dunno, Sexy. Arson is a pretty mild form of revenge. I was doin’ a lot worse for a lot less at that age.” ” - Beetlejuice had suggested that Adam should’ve set a bully’s backpack on fire.

- “And you don’t wanna put your weapon up against your victim’s back. Makes it real easy for them to just take it from ya.” - This is true! A little bit of self defense advice!

- “Do you get all your mugging tools at Home Depot? God/Satan, you’re butch.” And “My tit!” - These are both “Jennifer’s Body” references. I couldn’t help myself.

- “… red sleeveless sweater, frowning at the blood-stained button-up underneath. “My.. good friend gave me this stupid, tacky sweater vest…” ” - Yeah he dresses like his human disguise like Dewey Finn because of Adam.

- “It was tacky and itchy and smelled like mothballs, but it was still something one of his favorite ghosts had given him.” - Beetlejuice savors every single thing given to him, because no one really ever gave him presents before.

- “Don’t say Barbara, don’t say Barbara- “Ba-.. Bab… Babette.” What the fuck was that? Babette? “Yeah. Babette… ” ” - Of course, the town remembers Adam and Barbara, so he has to call them by other names. ‘Babette’ is what he thought of on the spot.

- Suprise! Ash is Sky the Girl Scout’s sister! Her full name is “Ashlyn Swallows”, but she only wants to go by “Ash”.

- “Fuuuuck.” … “ “.. damn. That… that, uh… poor girl..” Fuck, the Maitlands and Charles and Delia are going to be so mad when they hear about this.” - Asshole Beej, my beloved. He only cares about his own humans, and not at all how he impacts anyone outside his circle.

- “…and a fair wage from my own pocket.” - So the business doesn’t suffer from the absurd amount of money he is going to pay this kid.

- “Beetlejuice’s ear flicked at the sound of her heartbeat quickening, the jewelry clinking irritably.” - Yeah he hates the jewelry, but he had a hard time saying ‘no’ to Cyrus’ gifts.

- “… yeah. I didn’t realize she’d remember, though.” - Hmm. I wonder if anyone else remembers things that occurred during the loop?

- “… and Barbara enjoyed the occasional sniff of his glass.” - Since she can’t drink the wine, Beetlejuice is letting her smell it instead. Not the same, but it’s still nice!

- “Barbara was sat right up next to him on the couch, leaning on his side and keeping an arm loosely around his midsection.” … “They try their best not to melt at Barbara’s touch as she starts to gently scratch at their chin.” … “His ears went back at the delighted little squeak from Barbara, but he relaxed as she wrapped her arms around him and tightly squeezed. “There he is!” Beetlejuice felt his tail quivering as he wrapped one arm around her in turn. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m the most handsome devil you’ve ever seen.” The ghost softly huffed. “It’s true!” ” - Barbara is laying it on THICK. Too bad Beetlejuice’s skull is thicker!

- “.. the demon jumped as Delia leaned in close, scrunching up his nose at the smell of wine on her breath, the sudden increase in all of the sounds of her body functioning. Lungs expanding, blood flowing, joints creaking. It was much harder to ignore when she was that close.” - Beej is constantly overwhelmed by the noises everything makes, especially since he’s not taking care of his sensory needs.

- “The demon slowly let out a breath once Delia leaned back into her place again, his grip on Barbara tightening. Why was it so hard to allow humans to be close?” - BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PAY ATTENTION TO HIS SENSORY NEEDS. And also people suck sometimes.

- “He glanced down at the ghost, hurriedly looking away and taking a swig of his wine when he found her staring up at him with a soft, fond look in her eyes.” - Oh, he’s big stupid. Thankfully, Barbara likes her men just a wee bit stupid.

- “Beetlejuice slurred, finishing off his glass. He went to release Barbara and reach out to refill it, but she gripped onto him tighter.” … “He felt the wine glass be tugged from his grip.” - Barbara decided he had enough, and is gently cutting him off here.

- “(If anything, at least the alcohol was dulling the horrid sounds of the house settling, of the wind blowing and clouds churning, of the distant call of the cicadas. He could no longer feel how tight the stupid dress shirt was, feel his own teeth sitting in his skull. It was nice. Perhaps he should drink more often.)” - unfortunately, a staggering amount of adults with autism use alcoholism to cope with symptoms they have yet to learn how to properly cope with, and to help them better socialize.

- “Just like there’s some stupid part of me that’ll always hope my Ma will turn herself around and start carin’ about me.” - AUGH. The anguish of having abusive parents. Some stupid hard-wired part of your brain is always hopeful they’ll just decide to be good one day.

- “… kids are great like that. They’re made with this…. Hard wired love for their parents.” … “I always thought.. it would be great to take all the love I had saved up for her, all the love she never returned, and… pass it on.” - HE JUST WANTS TO LOVE AND BE LOVED SO BAD OKAY?? I’m not crying you are

- “He titled his head back a bit to look at Adam, in his pajamas, without his glasses, staring the demon down with the most sorrowful expression he’d ever seen on a human being. It hurts worse than the ritual, worse than the glass window, worse than centuries of solitude. This is all you do, Lawrence. You hurt others, and you hurt yourself. His mother’s voice is always in the back of his mind, but it’s so clear now.” - Adam is feeling sympathy and/or empathy, like a normal person, but Beej is taking it as him hurting Adam by being the way that he is.

- “ “B-but they… I could never…” The Maitlands hold him tightly. Barbara gently shushes him, running her fingers through his hair. He didn’t have to finish. She knew. They shared that pain, together. They’d had a long, tearful conversation one night, during their year in the loop. It was the closest he’d ever felt to human, even considering the times he was actually human.” - I will leave this up to interpretation within the confines of Time’s Arrow. I may expand upon it in one of the extra chapters, maybe write out the conversation they had, but for now I will allow readers to come to their own conclusions, since this breaches topics I am currently not fully equipped/educated to write about.

- “ “Maybe you can distribute that love elsewhere.” It wasn’t too bad an idea. But where?” - Delia is suggesting to turn that love inwards, and to maybe also distribute it to Lydia and the Maitlands. But Beej is daft.

- “ “Pink’s a great color on you,” Delia says, patting his cheek before she turns to head back towards the living room. He couldn’t disagree more.” - YOU DESERVE LOVE. CARE IS A GOOD LOOK ON YOU. Oh god he isn’t listening.

- “Sleep finally finds them. They aren’t sure how they made it down into their room, or how they were able to change into a cozy sweatshirt and pair of loose-fitting boxer shorts. But somehow, they did.” - Adam and Barbara carefully and very respectfully helped him change!

- “As they took a wary little sip of the old, undiluted wine,” - Greek wine from waaay back when had to be diluted. Undiluted, it is way too strong and bitter.

- “ “Beetlejuice, when was the last time you drank water?” .. “I had a Dr. Pepper last week.” .. “Who gave you a Dr. Pepper?” “Wh- I’m a grown demon! I can get myself a Dr. Pepper!” Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. He scoffed, looking down at the counter. “Fine. Ash did.” ” - this is both based on a bit from Game Grumps and also a conversation I had with a friend.

- “For that hour before the two of them had to leave, Beetlejuice instead listened. At first it was frantic, confused. Then the conversation was light and breezy. Teasing, joking, excitedly comparing interests. He knew he had to make them meet from the moment Ash mentioned cinematography. Neither of them had many friends other than him, from what he’d heard. And he was sure Ash didn’t consider him a friend regardless. I’m a genius.” - My guy thinks he is the master of meet-cutes. He needs to meet-cut it out and go to therapy. (Next chapter can’t come soon enough…)

- “Their tongue and throat burned with the remains of that horrible sticky, iron taste.” … “Energy, revitalized from this latest sacrifice, buzzed through their whole being..” - Yeah he is accepting sacrifices of human blood from Cyrus’ cult. That is how he is getting the energy and strength to resist the Seal.

- “They desperately grasp Cyrus’ hands. They fumble, head burning and spinning, as they guide his hands to their throat. The demon quirks an eyebrow at them curiously. “Hurt me,” they rasp, their words almost slurring together. “Hurt me like you did before.” ” - DRUNKEN CONSENT IS NOT REAL CONSENT!! Allowing someone to hurt you is not an adequate way to deal with your issues!!

- “As you wish, Pet.” - Sorry I twisted a line from a beloved romance story and made it fucked up. It will not happen again. (It might)

Fun tidbit for making it this far! Here are some TikToks that summarize Ash and Beej’s “friendship”! This, this, and this!

Chapter six of Time’s Arrow, “I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow, I hope it bleeds all day long // You are my sweetest downfall” is here, just in time for my wisdom tooth surgery! Hope y’all are hungry! Especially you, Beetlands fans.

Please read the warnings carefully and proceed with caution. This chapter is pretty rough.

As always, extras!

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “No Children” by The Mountain Goats and “Samson” by Regina Spektor, for the very different vibes happening throughout it! The first bit reflects how Beetlejuice was relying on pain to distract him from his Feelings, the second is him admitting that the Maitlands are his “downfall”. Also both songs slap so hard.

- “Charles insisted on moving his chair to sit close by, “in case you fall”. (Why would he care if Beetlejuice fell?)” - Get absolutely fathered, idiot.

- “They’d pointed out their own star not too long after they’d all settled down, and found they couldn’t take their eyes off of it. Was it really tied to them? Would it go out if they did? Would they go out if it did? They didn’t really have answers. They weren’t educated on all the ins and outs of demon-.. hood. Their mother didn’t quite care to find the time to teach them, and they didn’t care to learn.” - Wow. Interesting stuff to think about!

- “Mhm. Blood ritual. Carve a bunch of markings in the ground, sacrifice an innocent. Sign your name in… the Big Book. Then spill your own blood.” - Yep! There’s one big, all important “Big Book” that has the name of every demon in it. Juno (that’s not her original name in this fic) killed one of her living children as a sacrifice, and then slit her own throat. Fun!

- “.. there is. You get an invite, and you give something up.” - Very interesting. Also brought back up later in the chapter!

- “… “flying dragon” orange sapling pots.” - “Flying dragon” oranges are the most cold-hardy orange trees, according to google!

- “ “I would also like to apologize for what happened to your mother,” Charles says firmly, glancing meaningfully at Lydia. (Beetlejuice follows his gaze to find her and the Maitlands all lightly shaking their heads at the man.)” - THEY TRIED TO WARN HIM

- “Charles is kneeling beside him, face scrunched up with that same look he’s given him so many times before. He knows it’s concern, from seeing it on the other humans, but why would Charles be making it at him?” - PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE BEING FATHERED.

- “Your favorite movie is “Pride and Prejudice”. The 2005 version only, you think the 1995 adaptation didn’t do it justice. You went to Cornell University to study business, and met Lydia’s mom there. Your favorite flowers are red carnations.” - Emily showed him that movie, since she was an English major, and he cried the first time he saw it. He hasn’t watched it since her death. Red carnations mean “my heart aches for you”!

- “Your bisexual awakening was Ms. Honey from “Matilda”. You love ‘true crime’, but you can’t stomach most bloody movies. Except for “Alien” and “Aliens”, ‘cause you like watching Sigourney Weaver kick ass. Adam’s lived with you since you were both 16, but you two didn’t start dating until you were 19.” - Surprise, Barb is bisexual! Who wouldn’t fall for Ms. Honey, honestly? I like to think she admired her extreme kindness and somewhat tried to follow her example. Also Sigorney Weaver is literally my wife, if you care.

- “You’ve seen “The Terminator” 137 times. Your favorite of those weird little monsters is the big blue one called ‘Lapras’. You had a dog when you were real little named ‘Sawyer’, and it’s in your top 5 for baby names because you loved that dog. You couldn’t get another after he passed away because your mom’s boyfriend was allergic to dogs.” - Beej may not know what is being said, but he loves to listen! Also I wonder if readers should store the name ‘Sawyer’ in their memory for later.

- Adam’s talk with Beej - AUGH. Where do I even start? Someone finally explains to our little demon what love is actually about. And the first hint at… gasp! Self love?! Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

- “They feel.. the same way I feel about them. Why? How? … They’ll be here for me until I get better. If… if I ever get better. … I.. need to get better? … Something’s wrong with me. They all know it. (They’ve always known. Everyone can see it.) But what? Will it ever get better? Will they still be waiting for me if I do?” - ARRRRGH… the realization that something is Wrong with you, but you don’t know how to fix it or if it can be fixed, and that those who love you can see it my beloathed… not entirely true, but true in Beej’s mind!

- “The demon clacks his teeth repeatedly, stomping a hoof on the ground firmly once. “This is bullshit.” ” - He stomps his hooves when he’s mad sometimes, like a rabbit. Or a ram preparing to charge.

- “Beetlejuice used one napkin to soak up some of the egg yolk from his plate, quickly shoving it in his mouth before either of the humans have time to notice and protest.” - just wanted to highlight this particularly feral moment.

- “ “Yeah. Sorry, Babs. My bad. My memory is… worse than a goldfish.” “Goldfish’s memory isn’t even that bad. You’re just uniquely forgetful.” ” - goldfish don’t have bad memories!! Stop spreading the falsehood pretty please

- “The demon bared his teeth at her, a gesture which she immediately returned. He was still huffing…” - he also huffs when he’s mad, like a cat does!

- “ “Just… try to be mindful of when important things happen with the business and you, alright? Keep us in the know.” The demon slowly nodded, shifting in his seat. “.. I promise I’ll try.” ” - I think most neurodivergent people have experienced this. The best we can do is try!

- Barbara talking about seeing the doctor - a continuation of the Neurodivergent Experience, and also a reference to a similar scene in Stephen King’s “Laurie”. Because that story fuckin’ rocks.

- “Ash’s hair has been properly bleached and cut into a choppy bob.” - Chloe Price-esque cut, since she’s one of the characters who inspired Ash!

- “Beetlejuice’s has been trimmed back to the length it was after the loop, no longer shaggy and falling into his eyes. The grey is missing completely, the brown pronounced and obviously artificial, if one stares at it too long.” - Yep, his hair has been growing out at an exponential rate since they escaped the loop! So has his fur. I wonder if that will be an issue later.

- “ “Thank you. What have you done to my brother?” “Just gussied him up a little for tonight. And showed him the first three and a half “Saw” movies.” The demon was purring loudly, repeatedly shifting his feet. “Someone’s currently getting scalped.” ” - “SAW” MY BELOVED!!! I got Sawtism. So does Ash. She is doing her best to pass it on to Beetlejuice. He doesn’t really get the storyline, but he likes the blood.

- “ “And… wow. You cut, like… a whole foot off. That’s.. crazy.” Lydia went to fidget with their own hair, ignoring Beetlejuice’s interjection of “so did Larry!”. ” - This likely won’t be relevant, but Beej was present when Polaris cut their hair to the length it is now. A little hint to their past together!

- “ Beetlejuice let out a little groan then. “Oh. Okay. I get it now.” “.. get what?” He patted his sister’s arm sympathetically. “You’ll figure it out soon.” ” - he gets it. He sees it from the other side.

- “ “Oh, Ash, c’mon, you didn’t have to get me anything!” Lydia called after the other teen as she bolted to the back room. “Yeah, but I wanted to!” ” - My own response whenever people say “you didn’t have to”. Yeah, I didn’t, but I wanted to!

- “Beetlejuice waits patiently as Ash presents Lydia with some sort of strange, old camera. Something with the word “Polaroid”.” - Ash used the absurd amount of money Beej has been paying them to get Lydia a nice camera! Beej doesn’t know what it is, and I don’t have the energy to research the proper name for it.

- “ “Hello!” Barbara chirped, repeatedly patting her husband’s arm out of excitement. Beetlejuice let out a weary sort of sigh in the silence that followed. Guess we’ll do it the hard way. … The demon was very careful as they gripped the teen’s arm and bit down on their wrist. Ash yelped as their teeth broke skin, yanking their arm away and holding it close to their chest.” - The bite gave them the ability to see the paranormal! They weren’t gifted like Lydia, so they had to be given that gift. Also, WAS THAT THE BITE O-

- “Ash gripped at her wrist, letting out a little growl of frustration. “What the fuck, man?! Why does it sting so bad?” ” - because they’re venomous!

- “ “… Hope ya got your rabies vaccine, Ash!” Ash blanched, hesitantly allowing Barbara to inspect her wrist. “What?” “Kidding! I don’t have rabies anymore.” ” - Not anymore!

- “… he sees his shaky hands playing rounds of “Mario Party” with all of the humans.” - Beetlejuice sucks at “Mario Party”. They main Bowser, like they do in “Mario Kart”. Lydia mains Shy Guy.

- Isopropyl alcohol - partially based on a scene from “Moral Orel”. Do not watch that show. ALSO, DON’T DRINK ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL!!

- “His voice comes out slow and difficult when he thanks Delia for wiping the frosting off his face.” - GET PROPERLY MOTHERED

- “Lydia opens her presents. Beetlejuice struggles to keep track of them. Some sort of framed… butterfly? No, moth. A framed moth from Delia. … A “forest exploration kit” from Barbara. An old book Beetlejuice had kept in his hammer space, which he recently was told was an original print of “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque”. ” - The moth is a framed, taxidermied Death Head moth! The “exploration kit” is basically just survival/camping stuff. Yeah Beetlejuice had a $100K book in his hammer space.

- “Why is Adam so far from him? He feels some sort of strange, dour sorrow when the ghost sits on the ground rather than next to him, like he and Barbara usually do. His wife sits next to him.” - I wonder if this has anything to do with alcohol related trauma?

- “They watch Lydia’s favorite movie, “Coraline”. Beetlejuice’s head is spinning. “You know that I love you.” He feels sick. “You.. have a really funny way of showing it.” His ears are ringing. It’s deafening.” - He’s watching it for Lydia, but this movie is unfortunately still very triggering for Beetlejuice.

- “ “Yeah. Last month.” He allows the minuscule illusion to slip. “What did you-” Lydia lets out a little gasp, leaning forward closer to the demon. “What happened to your ear?!” Beetlejuice tilts his head so she can better see his right ear. “Had to give up a piece of myself to make up this one. Hurt like a bitch, but it was worth it.” His hands shook horribly as he slowly sliced through the rest of his ear from the notch. Sobs wracked through his body, and he swore he could smell tobacco and brandy. He swore he could hear his mother screaming. But it was worth it for Lydia.” - YEAH CUTTING OFF PART OF THEIR EAR CAUSED A BAD PTSD EPISODE.

- “Beetlejuice carefully thumbed through the Book, past all of the names already written in it. To the page reserved for his coven. For Lydia.” - Hmmm! I wonder what that’s about?

- “He holds it close to his chest, careful not to let it drip onto his… when did he put on pajamas? When the fuck did he get Hello Kitty pajamas? He squinted at Lydia. They were matching? He vaguely recognized the gothic little creature on her pajama pants.” - Ash bought them matching Hello Kitty and Kuromi pajamas, because it’s funny.

- “The room is dim, except for the faint glow of Lydia’s TV. She and Ash had fallen asleep mid-way through some sort of ghost hunting show marathon, bundled up in blankets. They were sat up close together, only held up by each other.” - they fell asleep watching “Buzzfeed Unsolved”.

- “ “I.. I’ll wait for you in the hall. Give you some privacy.” Beetlejuice opened his mouth to ask what she meant, briefly, but shut it again after a few moments in favor of softly thanking her.” - Beetlejuice has no idea why someone would bother to give them privacy.

- “ “Hey, Larry! Long time no see!” They chirped cheerfully. “… Betelgeuse.” They growled, voice low and flat. “You continue to exist.” ” - Based on a scene in “Ready or Not”, one of the funniest horror movies ever.

- “They had not changed in the centuries since they’d seen each other, it seemed. White, fuzzy bear-like ears poked out of their pale, neatly slicked-back hair. A pair of short, plain black horns adorned with a multitude of variously colored rings. Clinical red eyes glaring down at him through a pair of rounded silver glasses, pale brows furrowed and their lip curled in a constant look of neutral displeasure. Their white fur coat, draped over their hulking stature.” - Say hello to Polaris! They are 6’5”. They have albinism, and the features of a polar bear, because their star is from Ursa Minor! Also they have mountain goat horns.

- “Polaris crossed their arms just below sight from the mirror. “I see. Give me a moment.” Beetlejuice shifted his hooves nervously as their aloof crimson gaze scanned his form. “Hmm. Still a clumsy oaf, I see.” They reached up to adjust their glasses.” - Polaris is extremely skilled in healing and such. Yes, they were able to assess what was wrong with Beetlejuice just by looking at them.

- “ “… Pieces of bone lodged in both lungs-” “That happened while I was stuck in a time loop, shouldn’t that have healed?” Polaris let out a growl, much deeper and intimidating than Beetlejuice’s own. “Don’t interrupt me. And no, it doesn’t work like that. Any damage your body sustains in a time loop carries over. Obviously.” “… damn. Like “Happy Death Day”. That explains why my throat still burns sometimes.” ” - YEAH SURPRISE. The damage from the holy water all those times carries over! So did everything else!

- “ “Many little bruises and cuts from… Sirius, it seems. Really now, Betelgeuse, did you not learn your lesson before?” They spoke again before he could hiss at them not to say his name.” - Cyrus’ real name reveal! Not that it was too much of a secret, hehe.

- “ “… That would take me all day, little prince.” Beetlejuice let out an involuntary snarl, stomping a hoof down on the tile floor once. They caught a hint of bright red in their dim reflection. “Don’t fuckin’ call me that.” ” - I wonder what this is about?

- “Polaris flashed him that flat, irritating false smile. They had never properly learned to smile, like Beetlejuice himself, but theirs always seemed more like a grimace. (They were a pair, once. Just briefly. The little demons with big teeth, odd smiles, and poor grasps on any and all social cues, breather or demon. But that was so long ago.)” - They are both extremely autistic, and neither knows how to “smile properly”. They were friends when they were very small, but they had a falling out.

- “I didn’t call you to lecture me, you fuckin’.. Judge Holden lookin’-ass bitch!” - Judge Holden is the main antagonist of “Blood Meridian”, a book I have read quite a few times! He has albinism, like Polaris. DO NOT LOOK HIM UP. PLEASE.

- “ “There. Quite the weight off your chest, no?” Polaris frowned, tapping a finger on their chin. “No, that won’t do at all. I already made that joke after your top surgery, didn’t I?” ” - Polaris did Beetlejuice’s top surgery!

- “ “Th-… thank you, Polaris. That.. I feel much better.” They blinked at him, slightly tilting their head. “Yes, I imagine that’s why you called upon me. To feel better.” They then narrowed their eyes. “Don’t think I’ll do anything else for free just because you thanked me, Betelgeuse. I’m not as soft as you. I just cleared your lungs for free because you amused me.” ” - they do not understand the concept of genuine gratitude.

- “Beetlejuice was.. already feeling better than they had in so long. “.. what will it cost me for you to fix the rest?” But they already knew the answer. “Oh, you know that already, little prince. It’s the same as it has always been.” Polaris grins at him again, curling back their black lips in an offputting manic sort of half-smile, half-grimace. “The cost to remove the Seal that binds you and cure all your ailments is, of course, your most valuable skill: your ability to lie.” Beetlejuice crossed his arms over his chest, gripping at his left forearm. “.. you know I won’t agree to that.” “Of course not. What is the serpent without his silver tongue?” Shame and anger bubbles up in Beetlejuice’s gut. He grits his teeth and sighs. They’re right. You’re nothing but a lying snake. ” - HMMM. I wonder if readers should save this information away for later!!

- “ “If we have no further business, then I will take my leave.” They lifted one gloved hand, presumably to sever the connection, but paused. “.. perhaps consider getting a mobility aid for that leg, Beetlejuice.” Their voice took on an odd sort of wistful twinge. “A cane would suffice, for when it starts to give out on you.” Beetlejuice nodded, giving a half-hearted little smile. “.. thanks, Larry.” ” - Just a little hint at the friendship they used to have many, MANY years ago. A part of Polaris is still strangely fond of Beej.

- “ “About as hard to watch as “Exorcist II: The Heretic”, man.” “… fuck. That bad?” “Maybe even worse.” ” - That movie is one of the worst movies ever. I am not kidding. Watch it if you want to be aware of time passing and death marching closer.

- “ “Aren’t you already dating that… ‘Cyrus’ guy?” “Yeah. ‘M polyamorous, though.” “Oh. Slay.” The demon lifted his head to squint at the teen. ‘Slay’? Before he could ask what the fuck that meant, they spoke again. ” - Beetlejuice has never heard most ridiculous teenage lingo.

- “… god. For a complete doofus, you can be super.. sappy and poetic sometimes. It’s offputting.” - based on something said to me!

- “Lydia caught sight of enormous grey paws under their long skirts, hearing the clicking of their claws on the wooden floor with each step. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, their mind whispered. But that was silly, wasn’t it? Beetlejuice trusted this demon.” - Lydia sees right through Cyrus’ thematic bullshit.

- “His cheeks were still a bright red, the place where Cyrus had placed his lips even having a light tinge of blue to it.” - He got a little bit of frostbite from that kiss.

- “Ash was there as well, sitting on the counter, showing the demon something on her phone that caused them to laugh.” - it was this video.

- “Her green eyes caught the afternoon sun in a beautiful way, reflecting back a golden- fuck, now is not the time for that.” - Lydia’s got her priorities straight! (Well, not straight.) Brothers first, beautiful women second.

- “ “You can’t stand turtlenecks. They’re a sensory hell for you. Why’re you wearing one now?” He’d shook like a chihuahua when Barbara had insisted he try one on in the past. There was no way in hell he’d wear one of his own free will out of the blue. ” - based on my own personal experience with turtlenecks. Why are they literally the worst thing ever?

- “Nearly all of the skin of their neck was bruised a dark purple and blue, from their collarbone nearly to their chin. Just below their Adam’s apple was a line of crudely done stitches holding together what seemed to be a complete decapitation wound.” “Lightly decapitated! My head didn’t come all the way off!” - Yeouch. Just wanted to put all these details together for posterity.

- “ Lydia growled, going to dig through her backpack for her notebook. “No one lays their fuckin’ hands on my brother and gets away with it.” Ash hopped down from the counter and followed her, nodding in agreement. “I’ll get my bat.” ” - Lydia is ready to exorcize a bitch. Ash is ready to bash his fuckin’ kneecaps in.

- “ “I don’t need attack dogs right now, alright? I just…” he hesitated, suddenly looking ashamed. He slumped down into the stool set up behind him. “I want.. someone to be.. here for me.” ” - Sometimes, you don’t need people piling hate on someone who hurt you. You just need them to comfort you.

- “Lydia gently patted his back, speaking to him in as soft a voice as she could muster. “It’ll be alright”, “I’m here”, “You’ll be okay”. She felt the collar of her dress become damp with tears, but she didn’t mind.” - IS THIS FAMILIAR? DOES THIS PARALLEL A SCENE IN TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE?

- “Lydia feels a soft little smile tugging at her lips as Ash goes on, making plans for what snacks to bring and what creeks to look for rocks in. Beetlejuice chimes in, voice still a little hoarse, suggesting his favorite fallen oak tree for bug hunting. She’s struck with how kind she is, in her own way. How she treats her strange monster of a brother with prickly compassion. She feels a strange little fluttering in her chest.” - 👀

- “.. he and Ash had a stick duel that devolved into an impromptu friendly knife fight,” - Based on a scene in “Night in the Woods”!

- “As Beetlejuice gloated and stuck his tongue out at Ash from a branch a good ten feet above hers, his tail securely holding him up, he felt on top of the world.” - PREHENSILE TAIL USAGE!!

- “He didn’t hit his head that bad, he just needed a moment for the color to return to his vision. Had Ash always had four pairs of eyes?” - Sometimes if you hit your head in just the right place, you temporarily (or permanently, if you’re unlucky) lose the ability to see color. Yes I know this from experience.

- “ He shrugged his shoulders when his daughter asked if the other teen could stay the night. “… I suppose, if her parents are alright with that.” Ash waved their hand and scoffed. “They don’t care. They’re in Massachusetts.” The man frowned, exchanging a brief glance with Lydia. “.. I see. Stay as long as you like, Ms. Swallows.” ” - Charles decided right here that Ash was also his child now too. Father of three!

- “While Lydia and Ash went up to play some sort of… dragon killing game, Beetlejuice decided to retire early to his room.” - Poor guy has no idea what “Skyrim” is.

- “Inside were two little drop earrings with a singular gemstone in each, one a soft, sunshine yellow, the other a gentle, opaque jade.” … “Demons exchange jewelry when they’re courting each other, right?” … “We borrowed some books from Lydia. Read up on demon culture. You weren’t getting the signals the human way, so we decided to try the demon way.” - I JUST. I KNOW I WROTE THIS BUT IT GETS ME, OKAY? THEY PUT IN A LOT OF EFFORT FOR HIM

- “ “… oh!” Finally, a connection. “Oh, yeah, totally, I’m down. You can use me for whatever, don’t even gotta ask permission.” They smirked, feeling a few teeth poking out between their lips. “Bondage, choking, couple bonding over my degradation, knife play, I am down for whatever to spice up your-” Barbara and Adam’s faces both became dark shades of red. Ah. I didn’t connect shit. ” - Both a reference to a “Buzzfeed Unsolved” meme and also highlighting the sad way that Beej sees himself as something to be used by others.

- “They finally forced themself to look down at her, a few rouge tears slipping down their cheeks. Her cobalt eyes were filled to the brim with… love. Care. That same Feeling. Beetlejuice quickly turned their head to find that Adam was the same, his beautiful brown eyes staring up at them the same as Barbara’s.” - WE GOT IT!! IT FINALLY CLICKED EVERYONE!!!!

- “ “… may we kiss you?” Barbara asked in a low, soft voice. Yes. Yes. Yes. Holy fuck, YES. “… Beetlejuice?” “Huh? D-did I say yes?” “You didn’t say anything, sweetheart.” “Oh. I meant yes, b-but my mouth didn’t… speak.” ” - YOU ARE NEVER SAFE FROM AN “Asteroid City” REFERENCE.

- “They didn’t get to finish their sentence. Barbara was cupping their face and pressing her lips against theirs before they knew it. It was electrifying. It was divine. She was warm and soft and perfect and- It was over before they knew it, before they could reciprocate. And before they could stammer out any more foolish false starts to a sentence, Adam was holding their face and kissing them gently.” - WE DID IT BOYS. 88,494 WORDS AND THEY FINALLY KISSED.

Sure, here they all are! (Warning for explicit album covers in Limerence and LoopJuice!!!)

Time is a Flat Circle

Time’s Arrow

Ash Swallows

Beetlands

Limerence (Beej and Cyrus)

The giant LoopJuice playlist

Aaaand part 2.5, You and I Will Always Be Back Then (the bad ending to LoopJuice)

And part 3, “Living” in the Present Tense (which I may write for myself bc it is very sappy and fluffy and indulgent) doesn’t quite have a full playlist yet since I don’t know that many happy songs

Also care to share the juice playlist 🤠

(I'll stop spamming your inbox now)

You’re not spamming at all, I love getting asks!

Sure! Which one do you want? The ‘Time is a Flat Circle’ one, the ‘Time’s Arrow’ one, the one specifically for Ash, the one specifically for Beetlands, the one for Beej and Cyrus’ relationship called ‘Limerence’, the one for part 3, the one for part 2.5 (the bad ending), or the massive 13.5 hour one for the whole of LoopJuice I listen to while writing?

I kinda go crazy with making playlists…

Chapter 7 of Time’s Arrow, “I love everybody because I love you! // But I'm a chemical compound, You're just the gun in my mouth” is here!

Memento mori. Unus Annus. /ref

PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS AND PROCEED WITH CAUTION. THIS CHAPTER IS ROUGH.

Details below! (Format is funky because I am on mobile rn. Will be fixed later!)

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Strawberry Blonde” by Mitski and “Gross” by Penelope Scott! The first part is for the majority of the chapter, as it reflects how happy and filled with love Beej is feeling. The other one is for the last scene. :)

- “I wanna remember this moment.” “Every detail. I don’t wanna forget a single one.” - this is inspired by a similar scene in “Parks and Rec”, one of my favorite shows!! Specifically the scene where Ben proposed to Leslie.

- “ “Hm?” Beetlejuice titled their head a little, then pursed their lips as the words processed in their slow, stuttering mind.” - Auditory processing disorder my beloathed. It takes a sec for the info to hit the brain!

- “ “Like, worse than ‘Spiral’.” Beetlejuice gasped, placing a hand on his chest. … “Okay. Now I gotta know. What’s worse than ‘Spiral’?” ” - “Spiral” is the worst of the Saw movies. I will die on this hill. Beetlejuice saw this as the high insult it is.

- “.. I know I’m regaining some weight, but-” - THE RETURN OF THE KING.

- “I’ll have to go back to school. No more online-only.” - Ash straight up lied to the school and said she went with her parents and sister to Massachusetts so she could do all her schooling online.

- “… wanna watch ‘Renfield’?” - “Renfield” is spectacular. Amazing. Showstopping. But someone in Beej’s particular situation should not be watching it for reasons that would be spoilers for that wonderful movie. Go watch it!!!

- The whole dinner cheek kiss thing was planned by Barbara and Adam! They made sure Beetlejuice was okay with telling others first, but he wasn’t sure how to, so they took matters into their own hands!

- “ “I always wondered about you three,” he heard Charles say. He almost thought he heard a twinge of fondness to his voice, but he was certain he must be imagining things. “Good for you all.” ” - Poly ally. He saw their slow burn romance from a million miles away and decided to let them all sort it out on their own. And yes it WAS FONDNESS. Beetlejuice just won’t accept it yet.

- Delia is trying to figure out what prescription glasses to get Beetlejuice on her own, with the help of the Internet! It’s very tough when he doesn’t cooperate.

- “We’ve read two books together now.” … “Or do I just have ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Frankenstein’ memorized?” - Beetlejuice read “Frankenstein”, like Lydia suggested! They loved it.

- Yes that is an actual passage from “The Great Gatsby”. No I am not sorry. Yes it is extremely thematically relevant.

- “They reached up to scratch at an itch on their scalp, clacking their teeth.” - they scratched it like a dog does. They always do!

- The second passage Beetlejuice quotes is from “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. It is one of his (and my own, I almost named myself Gawain) favorite old tales. He has referenced it before, and it comes up quite a few times again! Even later in this chapter. ;) (And yes it is extremely thematically relevant. Sorry not sorry I am hiding the foreshadowing and themes in other stories..)

- “ Delia grinned wide, exchanging some sort of glance with Barbara. “It’s not too much?” The demon lightly shook their head. “Splendid!” ” - I wonder what this is about?

- “I say it’s too bold of a departure, if you ask me.” - This is a reference to Beetlejuice’s first line in the musical! Also a jab at myself. LoopJuice is perhaps too bold a departure from the original source material…

- “Images of kisses pressed to their temple, their cheek, their jaw, memories of sweet words, gentle little pleads and promises flashed through their mind. Pink rose in their chest, warmth burned in their cheeks. They inevitably gave in, of course.” - EASILY WON OVER BY KISSES AND PETS. What a fool! /hj

- “They think perhaps this is the closest they’ve ever felt to being happy. Not just slightly sardonic or glibly nihilistic, but happy. Like real people do.” - Part of this is a reference to the last scene in “BoJack Horseman”, since that show influenced how I write quite a bit. And the last part is a reference to “Like Real People Do” by Hozier, which is on my Beetlands playlist!

- “No, perhaps this was normal, he decided.” - It is not. There are two reasons! 1. Beej’s permanent frostbite damage making him more susceptible to cold 2. Cyrus is straight up lurking here. He is nearby and watching him.

- “It scratched at the back of his mind like a wild hound begging to be let in the house, asking for shelter from the storm. Only to savage the home’s inhabitants. Where had it come from? What storm was it hiding from? Fuck. Where the hell is my head right now?” - Self roast. Sometimes I go too crazy with the poetic descriptions…

- “Beetlejuice briefly wondered if the cold could drive a demon mad. He thought maybe he’d read about it happening to breathers before.” - This is a real thing! He’s specifically thinking about the Donner Party.

- “Less and less of you will be left each day, slowly siphoning out until you are empty.” - sorry not sorry, another “The Fall of the House of Usher” show reference. Mike Flanagan is my bestie.

- “ “Your time.” Beetlejuice clenched their jaw as his words rippled through their mind. Darling, I only want your time. They gasped in shuddering breaths, their ears going back. Give me your time. Fuck.” - took him a while, but he finally caught the obvious loophole! Far too late, unfortunately.

- “Ah, what was that wonderful phrase from the inane little story you enjoyed so much said?” Cyrus’ grin widened impossibly. “One year hence.” - He is referencing “The Green Knight”! This is what the Green Knight says to Gawain to let him know his fate is sealed. Also, note the difference between Barbara showing interest in one of his favorite stories, while Cyrus belittles it.

I got a splendid question in the comments of my fic, so I decided to post my answer here as well! (I cropped out the question/username of the asker in case they didn’t want to be posted)

The question was if I had a voice claim/accent in mind for Cyrus, and I do!

(Also Frank-N-Furter sometimes, as fabulously suggested by another reader)

Here’s a bit of backstory that won’t really be touched on: Cyrus was born a human, not a demon like Beetlejuice. He chose to become a demon. He was alive during the 1800s, which is why his dialect is weird and all over the place. He’s learning the new dialect through dead humans and is covering up his real accent as best he can!

Chapter 8 of Time’s Arrow, “October passed me by just like any month” is up! Enjoy the spooky festivities!! (Because next chapter will not be as fluffy as this one.)

As always, details!

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “October Passed Me By” by girl in red! It’s perhaps the most literal title lyric.

- “Shaking as they poured over their every option, over all of the possibilities laid out before them.” - They have accidentally picked up on some of Cyrus’ speaking patterns.

- “Exhaustion weighed down their limbs, the heaviness of it all threatening to crack their collarbone as it settled down heavily on their shoulders.” - Kinda referencing the song “Sweet Hibiscus Tea” by Penelope Scott. Also “Never Love An Anchor” by The Crane Wives!

- “Beetlejuice?” - The first time he has not called him “Mr. Juice”!

- “The man asked, eyebrows creased in concern as he slowly stepped closer to the demon.” - FINAlLY ACKNOWLEDGING THAT IT IS CONCERN AND CARE! WE DID IT!

- “… as Charles returned with a package of mascot bandaids…” - Pokémon bandaids!

- “(He thought he heard him asking something about grey hair.)” - His hair turns grey when he is overwhelmed / overstimulated / burnt out. Charles does not have the color chart memorized yet.

- “He just wanted to go to sleep.” - By sleep he means hibernate.

- “Beetlejuice didn’t know who bandaged his face, or who gave him a warm mug of cinnamon tea. Someone kissed his temple, a cat jumped in his lap.” - Charles bandaged his face, Delia made him the tea and kissed his temple, and Pluto is in his lap!

- “Someone’s hands were on his shoulders.” - Charles’ hands.

- “He opened his eyes to find Lydia’s shoulders moving with each deep, purposeful breath she took.” - She is sooo super mad and is plotting Cyrus’ demise, but she is trying to hold it in for Beej.

- “He’d avoided discussing Cyrus with them for as long as he could. What they had was wonderful, but it was still new. Unsure. Fragile. He supposed this was as good of a test as any.” - It is not fragile but Beej has never been in like an actually stable relationship so it feels strange.

- “… he swallowed hard, staring down at the mug in his hands. ‘Happy Father’s Day to my favorite financial burden’. Huh. This is Chuck’s.” - Charles doesn’t let others use his favorite mug, but he is making an acception for Beej here.

- “The hands squeezed his shoulders, and someone kissed the top of his head.” - Again, Charles and Delia.

- “They all sat in a semi-comfortable silence, the ghosts’ arms wrapped around his midsection, Adam’s lips in his hair while Barbara rested her cheek on his collarbone.” - The “lips in hair” is from a lyric from “The Bed Song” by Amanda Palmer, one of my favorite sad songs. Wanted to highlight the sweet intimacy of this scene.

- “Barbara and Adam both had to step out of the room separately to take breaks, during which he heard them doing their best to stifle sobs. (They never left him by himself, thankfully.) He was sure he’d never seen the two of them so… angry. Adam’s face turned red, and he quietly clenched his jaw and nodded along. Barbara often stood to pace the room, swiftly returning to her chair after she’d gotten the bursts of rage out of her. He could still feel the rage boiling within them, even as they laid peacefully beside him. He hadn’t had anyone ever… sit and listen and care like that. Reassure him, over and over; “it’s not your fault”, “we’re here for you”. “We love you”. Over and over. They thanked him for sharing with them. They held him as he cried.” - Just kinda wanted to highlight this. The Maitlands are no strangers to trauma and a tough conversation like this, so they are unfortunately well-versed in how to handle them. They are furious, but they are going to rage about it later, when Beej isn’t there. Also, no, he did not tell them about the Deal, so they have no idea about his time limit.

- “Beetlejuice had seen the kitten choke on his own back paw before.” - Based on my friend’s kitten. Little guy is dumb.

- “Don’t talk about my son like that, Shoggoth.” - Based on a strange trait of mine, where I call people by their last names when I’m mad at them.

- “They frowned, tail tip shaking as they lightly tugged at their leg fur. (It was getting quite long, lately. They weren’t sure what to do about it.)” - Wool shearing is on the horizon!!

- “… her face flushing a light pink as Ash leaned in and scooped it up without a problem.” - Lydia has a type. This comes up several times in the chapter. Also, Ash is putting on lots of muscle mass thanks to Barbara’s lunches!

- “ “You were making weird.. pained dad noises with each step!” “Those were… normal noises!” ” - Shout out to my fellow non-dads who make dad noises due to pain.

- “Lydia crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “Do I have to call Barbara? Because I’ll totally call her.” Beetlejuice growled, a noise which his sister readily returned. “… no. I’ll stay put.” ” - The mere threat of telling Barbara is more than enough to convince him.

- “ “Yeah, it sounds like a proper hoot.” He ignored the way both teens raised an eyebrow at his phrasing.” - If I have been judged for using that word, so too will Beej.

- “ “Are we leaving soon? I think I’m going to chew my own arms off if I have to be stuck in this any longer.” Lydia groaned softly. “Not again, please.” She ignored Ash’s soft but disbelieving ‘again?’.” - They have yet to tell Ash the full details of the time loop.

- “Lydia had done their makeup before her own, carefully painting on skeletal features. The two of them were both flushed as she held the other teen’s face and leaned in close. Beetlejuice had to step out to chase Pluto around to escape the tension.” - Lesbians.

- “ “We can have plenty of fun together while they’re at school.” Slowly, he turned his head back to look at his boyfriend with wide eyes. “… oh?” Barbara nodded enthusiastically. “We still have to watch ‘Hocus Pocus’!” “Don’t forget ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’!” Ah. Okay. Not what I had in mind, but still fun, I guess.” - Beej thought they were gonna get freaky, but he is totally happy with not doing it for now.

- “Barbara tutted, quickly walking over to them. “You might think it’s gross now, but you’ll be all ‘gross’ with a lucky lady someday!” Beetlejuice was sure the teen’s face was flushed under all the makeup. “Ohh, you two look so cute! I wish I could pinch your cheeks!” She leaned to kiss Lydia’s forehead, then an astounded Ash’s. “You two be safe and have fun today, alright? We’ll start the festivities as soon as you get home!” ” - MOTHER BARBARA MOMENT!!

- “Barbara made him bacon and eggs.” - As mentioned in a previous chapter, Barbara makes bacon and eggs the particular way Beej likes them!

- “The next movie was some sort of weird animation. The visuals were nice and strange (and oddly familiar, somehow), and the songs were catchy.” - Hehe, it’s because it has the same aesthetic as his original movie.

- “He didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he was woken by the sound of the front door opening.” - Knocked the fuck out by head scratches

- “He swiftly went to get up and phase down through the floor to meet his sister, but was halted by Adam gripping his face and pulling him in for a sudden deep, long kiss. Beetlejuice was reduced to a puddle of pink-haired (and faced) goo in his hands, stammering out false starts to sentences. (He even thanked him. How ridiculous is that?)” - A reference to how Adam tricked Beetlejuice in the musical! Perhaps not the best method to use here, in retrospect. I sure am glad Beej didn’t think on it too hard.

- “… a strange backpack was placed on his back.” - One that looks like Bowser’s shell!

- “She paused to kiss his cheek. (He wished, more than anything, that her lipstick would leave a mark.)” - Sad reminder that they are, indeed, dead.

- “Fuck, when did Lyds get so tall?” - It’s happening! She’s getting taller!!

- “Beetlejuice even somehow managed to squeeze into a storm drain and grab the ankles of an unlucky group of parents following behind their trick-or-treating kids. He’d never heard such a high-pitched wail come out of such a large man before.” - Based on a personal experience.

- “The fun only briefly halted when Lydia noticed a missing person poster that was posted around town for a local old coot. Beetlejuice hurried her along, pushing down the bubbling guilt in his throat. “It’s Connecticut, people go missing all the time!” He had no frame of reference for that, of course, but she seemed to buy it.” - Hmm. Weird! I wonder what this is about?

- “(‘They’ not including Beetlejuice. He wasn’t allowed to hold the knives and gouging tools, but he was allowed to direct Lydia on how he wanted his pumpkin to look. And eat all of the pumpkin guts.)” - Also based on personal experience. I was not allowed to eat the guts.

- “The latter two were in their own versions of the group costume, Charles wearing a green sweater and a fake mustache, Delia wearing a yellow dress and a plastic tiara.” - just wanted to highlight their cute Halloween costumes.

- “She released his tail, wiping her hand off on her pants afterwards. “Can’t have Mrs. D stealing all of your gratitude!” ” - Ash thinks Delia and Charles are already married. Also, she’s wiping her hands off because Beetlejuice’s tail feels weird.

- “ “Hey, I try not to judge you two on your hobbies. Maybe they were measuring me for a coffin!” Ash nodded, stepping back as Beetlejuice got to his hooves. “Yeah, I need practice, and if you’re not gonna let me do an autopsy on him, at least I can - ” ” - Ash plans to work in a morgue!

- “But Ash did a splendid job of distracting him, egging him on with insults about his driving skills. What are they up to? It was hard to pay attention to the stupid, colorful track. He kept falling off, his mind stuck on what Lydia could possibly- ” - Ash and Beej trash talking! Also yeah it’s Rainbow Road.

- “Those twinkling vermillion eyes shone brightly at him, dark skin and pretty freckles glistening gently with demonic power. (Geez, she’d gotten more powerful.) A purple-jeweled nose ring was the only addition to her appearance. Her corkscrew-curly hair was still untamed, matching russet-colored cow-like ears barely poking out from underneath. A tag hung from her left ear, her name inscribed in various scypts. Long, curved horns accented her face. She was tall and broad, hulking over him like always. He weighed nothing to her, like holding a handful of grapes. Russet-furred bovine legs hidden by dark dress pants, a plain black dress-shirt with wide sleeves.” - Say hello to Deb! Here is her description, so it’s all in one place. She is a beautiful buff woman, and she is 6’6”! All demons are tall, Beej is an exception. Also, “He weighed nothing to her, like holding a handful of grapes.” Is a reference to “Brooklyn-99”!

- “Beetlejuice squirmed futilely in her grip, pointing at each of the humans in turn. “Deb, that’s Chuck, (he ignored the man murmuring “Charles, please”) Delia, Ash, my partners Barbara and Adam, and my.. sister Lydia.” ” - notice how he trusts Deb enough to give her their real names?

- “ “She’s quite the talented witch! How long has she been a part of your coven?” Lydia’s face flushed, and she looked down at the floor. “Just, uh… just two months, Miss.” ” - I would act the same way if a giant, beautiful woman complimented my skills.

- Bela is pronounced “bay-la”!

- “ “There’s a two demon limit to this house.” Barbara and Adam exchanged glances as Lydia and Beetlejuice let out twin exasperated groans. “Daaad!” “Don’t ‘dad’ me, missy. Two demons is plenty.” ” - damn that sucks. I wonder if this rule will ever be broken!

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.

The people have spoken! The bad ending to LoopJuice, “You And I Will Always Be Back Then”, is here! Ouch. (I’m so worried this sucks haha)

Please read the warnings/tags before proceeding! Here are the extras, for even more salt in the ouch.

- The song for this part’s title are from “Time Adventure”, specifically the version sung by Rebecca Sugar. PLEASE listen to that version before and/or after reading this for full emotional ouch. The lyrics for the title for about Lydia and Beetlejuice, and how them and their friendship/sibling relationship is in the past now. It will always be back then, but unfortunately not now. The extra lyrics I included in the start-of-work note, “It seems unforgiving when a good thing ends” is meant to reflect how Beetlejuice always felt like it was unfair that he got so little time with his family and happiness. The ones for the end-of-work note, “That’s why you and I will always be best friends”, is because Beej is still stuck living thirty years ago. (Perhaps literally ;) ) In his head, he and Lyds will always be best friends.

- The weird format - This whole work is meant to feel like accidentally listening in on a conversation you’re not supposed to hear, so I limited the physical descriptions and the internal thoughts as much as I could while still keeping it cohesive. I hope it works! I’m really worried it doesn’t and this sucks haha. (Also, the lack of internal POV thoughts helps me make sure there is little to no spoilers for the yet to be published parts of Time’s Arrow!)

- “Thought I’d find you up here.” - This first line, some of the dialogue throughout, and the whole general vibe are meant to embody two scenes from “BoJack Horseman” that really inspired this scene specifically. The last scene in the show, and this exchange from “The View From Halfway Down”. Warnings for talk of substance abuse and suicide attempts in those clips! That show heavily impacted me as a person and also how I write, so it felt fitting to continue to pay it homage. Maybe I do it too much.

- “Her monster” - This is a reference to a spoken line in the musical, where Lydia calls Beetlejuice “my monster”.

- “He was so… different. But so was she.” - Again, this is meant to feel like listening in on a conversation, so I limited the physical descriptions as much as I could. Beej’s brief description comes later, but Lydia does not get one. She has obviously aged, but she looks fantastic. She is wearing mourning clothes, including a veil. She still dyes her hair black, and it is longer than it used to be, but styled up. To Beetlejuice, she is still just his little sister, so he doesn’t have the time to process the changes, hence why it is not mentioned. Again, it isn’t mentioned, but she kept up the witch stuff, just not as intensely as she used to. It’s hard being the only witch in your coven.

- “Thir-… thirty.. thirty years?” - He does not know how much time has passed.

- “I-I wasn’t allowed to visit any sooner-” - I wonder what this means?

- “You… you left me.” - Again, a reference to a line in the musical.

- “She blew smoke in his direction, causing him to step back.” … “She blew smoke in his face once she was close enough, causing him to duck away and cough harshly.” - Yes, Lydia is aware of how triggering this is to him, but right here she is too angry to care. She will feel horrible about it later.

- “Sorry I let my family get attached, sorry I fell for your tricks!” - Lydia feels fully responsible for what happened. She feels like she’s the whole reason Beetlejuice and all of the shenanigans he brought along with him happened to her family.

- “Sorry I trusted a demon.” - This is a callback to something hurtful she said to Beej in Time is a Flat Cirlce. Ouch.

- “His voice was somehow impossibly rougher than she remembered.” … “He inhaled, softly. A wet little gasp.” … “.. wheezing out his words”… “He was wearing a thick black scarf, tightly wrapped around his neck in a way that was undoubtedly uncomfortable.” … “His chuckle was cut short by wet coughs.” … “.. as he took in weak, heaving breaths.” - His neck is still actively bleeding, he is covering it up with that scarf so she isn’t too freaked out. It hinders his ability to speak, hence why his voice is “rougher than she remembered”. It also makes it hard for him to function, hence all the wheezing and wet sounds, since, y’know, he’s bleeding significantly.

- “ “And I’m…” she inhaled deeply, looking out onto the ground far below them. “I’m glad I’m alive, I guess.” ” - Lydia is thinking about what would’ve happened if she had jumped off the roof here, and is genuinely glad she didn’t.

- “ “I’m glad I’m alive, I guess.” “… yeah. I’m glad you’re alive too, Lyds.” “I guess I’m glad you’re not dead-dead.” She took another drag of her cigarette. The demon remained quiet.” - Notice how Beetlejuice does not return the sentiment.

- “But his clothes were stained a dark russet brown, nearly entirely coating his clothing, sticking to his hair and smeared on his face.” - Yeah that is his blood. The weird placement of the blood stains is from being dragged through a pool of it.

- “His earrings were missing.” - Cyrus took the earrings Lydia, Barbara, and Adam gave him.

- “There was a significant gash on his right temple, still slowly dripping out fresh blood.” - This is from his tussle with Cyrus, but it was never really explained! “Beetlejuice felt something hard hit the side of their head before they could hit their mark.” This was Cyrus purposefully ramming his horns into their head!

- “His hair was entirely grey. No brown or green or any sort of rippling shade to be seen.” - Not just the grey that was spreading up from his roots. That was from stress. This is grey because of emotions. We’ve seen his hair go fully grey a few times before.

- “ “Yeah, what’d I tell ya? ‘Great witch’, ‘wonderful, weird goth adult’.” His chuckle was cut short by wet coughs. “… a local legend, scarin’ the kids, I bet.” “… I think I recall you saying I’d be a ‘sarcastic old bitty’. That’s probably more fitting.” ” - This is pulled straight from the ritual scene in Time is a Flat Circle, when Beetlejuice was speculating on what kind of adult Lydia would turn out to be.

- “… yeah, well… I guess some stupid part of me missed you too.” - Beetlejuice often mentioned how “some stupid part” of him wanted his mother to love him, wanted her approval. Lydia remembered that, and shares a somewhat similar sentiment about Beej. (Except she does not view him as an abuser)

- “Barbara and Adam moved on about ten years ago, when I got married.” - By “moved on”, she means beyond the Netherworld, to whatever afterlife lays beyond it. I plotted this before seeing Beetlejuice 2, and accidentally kinda predicted a popular headcanon? Barbara and Adam found fulfillment in helping raise Lydia, and were able to move on when they felt she didn’t need them anymore. Also, she did not marry Ash. It is not mentioned here, but they took the duffel bag and ran away shortly after Beetlejuice’s disappearance. Lydia got back into contact with them many years later, and they are distant friends.

- “The only reason I’m here and not at my own home is for Dad’s memorial service.” - AGAIN, PLANNED THIS BEFORE I SAW BEETLEJUICE 2! Whoops.

- “ “Didn’t even bother to ask about the veil or anything, huh?” “… you did… use to wear veils all the time.” ” - Kinda a cheeky joke about how movie Lydia wore a mourning veil for no reason in the movie. And she slayed.

- “… the Garden’s gone.” - Notice the capital ‘G’? Does the class have any ideas? Anyone notice any callbacks to the ridiculous chapter one of Time’s Arrow?

- “ “…. Are you happy, Lydia?” She seemed taken aback by this. She stammered, briefly, shrugging. “I-… is anyone?” ” - she isn’t happy.

- “ “Humor an old demon.” “… yeah. Okay.” Something weighed heavily on her shoulders, but she couldn’t quite place what. “I’ll tell everyone you said hi. Not to worry about you, that you’re happy, off scaring people and causing trouble like always.” She balled up her fists at her sides until her knuckles turned white. “… and.. I’m… happy. Despite everything.” “.. yeah?” “Yeah. I turned out okay.” His posture slowly relaxed. “I’m glad.” ” - Lydia realizes she can take some weight off of Beetlejuice’s shoulders by lying to him here. She can tell his time is probably limited, thanks to their remaining connection from the Seal and signing her name in his Book. She’s very mad at him, but she still loves him deep down.

- “The humid summer breeze was suddenly much colder.” - This is meant to play on the theme of warmth and love in LoopJuice as a whole.

Chapter 10 of Time’s Arrow, “Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that, Now you're all gone, got your make-up on, and you're not coming back”, is here! Lydia POV time! Sorry it is short… that is for literary purposes.

As always, here are the extras!

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” by Yeule! Haha, get it? Because this chapter’s from the POV of a 17 year-old demigirl? Also, it is meant to reflect their relationship and her mental space throughout it. The dream-like quality of the song is meant to mirror how confused and adrift Lydia feels here.

- The chapter is much shorter because less happens, and adding the next chapter on to this would make the pacing off, and because Lydia’s POV is very different from Beej’s! Also different from how it used to be. She’s older and more put together, and her thoughts are more concise. She takes less time to ponder than Beej does.

- “And she felt like she couldn’t breathe. … Lydia’s throat burned, which she’d assumed at first was from crying. But now it still ached horribly, and it felt like it was constricting.” … “Lydia’s hand drifted up to her throat. So red. Her hand flinched away as she swore she felt something warm and wet, but there was nothing there.” - Lydia’s connection with Beej is making her feel an echo of what he is currently feeling. It only really happens when something major happens to him, so she didn’t feel every car accident and shin-banging. Just the catastrophic things.

- “Normally, she’d go to Beetlejuice on nights she was plagued with nightmares and insomnia. Either he would curl up at the foot of her bed, or she would join him in his own bed in the basement. His presence somehow always chased the nightmares away.” - Because Beetlejuice always uses his demonic powers to will the nightmares away. Bc he’s a good big brother sometimes.

- “The image of her brother, trembling and snarling, just about frothing at the mouth, hunched over with stark-white hair, growling wildly as he turned and lashed out at- ” - A bit of the physical description we missed out on from Beej’s POV! He looked just as wild as he felt.

- “It was surely one of their… ‘episodes’. They’d been having them less and less as time went on, as they grew and healed and adapted to their own traumas and triggers. (Afterwards, she’d realized it was the yelling and touching of his old back wound that had set him off. It was understandable, she supposed, but still… scary. He’d never lashed out like that before.) She and Adam had theorized it was PTSD, but they couldn’t be sure. The idiot wouldn’t see a therapist.” - Beej was learning and healing and growing, but only so much can be done without professional help.

- “… promising she’d whip him up a healing spell as soon as she could gather the ingredients. (Healing wasn’t her sort of spell. She was more interested in scrying, curses, and hexes, but she was certainly willing to try it out for her father.)” - A peep into Lydia’s studies as a witch! One of the things that is regretfully lost in the last few chapters due to Beej’s spiraling POV. He was having trouble holding on to all the details in his mind.

- “She huffed out a laugh, halting to turn her head and cough.” - Lydia is much more polite than Beej. He would just cough in people’s faces.

- “ “Oh dear.” Delia placed a hand on her chest. “I still have my old inhaler. Do you think that would help?” ” - Delia lore! She had childhood asthma.

- “The morning came at a snail’s pace, but in just a breath at the same time. It was staggering.” - Lydia experiencing a little bit of what Beetlejuice usually did. It is rather upsetting, especially since she’s not used to it.

- “Her girlfriend readily offered a sympathetic listening ear, offering to put up signs for the store and then come to the house to be a sort of moral support. (That’s why she l- liked her so much.)” - Another thing that was regretfully lost with Beetlejuice’s POV is the full development of Lydia and Ash’s relationship. I hope to do an extra side chapter on them in the future! Also she almost slipped up and admitted she loves them here.

- “Pluto and Percy were sat staring at the door, their legs tucked under themselves.” - They could tell something was wrong, and were waiting to be let in to go check.

- “ “H-he left a note,” they eventually managed. ” - This is one of two key differences that sets this version aside from the bad ending: Ash found Beej’s note left for them.

- “If you’re reading this, I have to go away for a while. I don’t know if I’ll be able to bounce back this time. Be nice to Chuck and Delia. Give Adam and Barbara a hug. (I know you hate those, but just one for me, alright?)” - Oops! This accidentally referenced Eda’s speech in “Agony of a Witch” from season one of “The Owl House”.

- “ - Beebleboose’ ” - The curse’s lingering effects still won’t let him say or write his own name.

- “ ‘Go away’? What the hell did that mean? If anything, it read like- Lydia gasped, gripping Ash’s arms as she stood up straight.” - Lydia realized it reads like a suicide note here.

- “ “.. she woke up screaming, calling his name.” Her expression softened with concern, brows creased together. “She was clawing at her throat and begging to come see him, but I was worried it was just… one of her fits. Made her wait it out, see if it would pass. But-” “Wait, ‘clawing at her throat’?” She nodded, some sort of dark fear clouding her eyes. “.. yeah. Saying she couldn’t breathe, that.. something was wrong, that she needed to…” she swallowed hard. “That she needed to see Goose, and she… she couldn’t stand to lose another sibling.” ” - Bela watched a lot of the Shoggoth spawn fall prey to other demons. She is similarly connected to Beetlejuice, but she chose to be since she can tell he’s not very smart and she wanted to keep an eye on him. She felt a more extreme version of what Lydia did, and had an anxiety attack thinking he was dead-dead. She is devastated to think she lost the little brother she just gained.

- “Lydia was startled by the sound of Pluto growling. She’d stopped at the base of the stairs and was now frozen there, back arched and fur standing, her one golden eye round and wild.” - Pluto could sense Cyrus’ lingering vibes, and she decided they were rancid.

- “There. A gentler, hazier voice pulled their awareness to the far wall, where a piece of paper was taped to it.” - This is the insight from her scrying pulling her in the right direction.

- “She lifted the hefty cat up, draping him over her shoulders. Fuck, he’s getting huge.” - No longer a runt, he’s a giant boy now!! He has long fur too.

- “She closed her eyes, speaking the ancient words she’d rehearsed over and over again. She pressed her forehead to Percy’s, feeling the boost in power her familiar granted her flowing through her, buzzing and melodic.” - A peep into a scrying ritual! No blood required, thanks to Percy’s help.

- “She was standing in a pool of blood. It nearly covered the entire basement floor.” Cyrus cleaned up after himself. (Aside from one thing, which we will see in the next chapter)

- “ “B-” Lydia dug deep within herself, finding the rooted connection within her. She tugged hard at the thread that connected them, but found it went slack. Like there was nothing on the other end.” - This thread was referenced in the second chapter of Time’s Arrow, where she used it to find Beetlejuice in the woods. It can’t help her now.