New Time Is A Flat Circle Chapter Is Up, Which Means More Details Under The Cut! The Universe Set Out

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.

Here is the sandworm I crocheted for my bestie as a thank you for seeing Beetlejuice the musical with me despite not being a musical or Beetlejuice fan! Also our matching bracelets hehe

(Yes, I wore a full suit to the performance)

I just saw Longlegs twice in 24 hours. Am crocheting a sandworm. Received my MatPat retirement figurine in the mail today. Staring longingly at my framed mini painting of Venom.

I think there may be things wrong with me aside from The Obvious

I’ve never been to a wedding before, is dancing required??? /gen

How many references to Greek mythology in a Beetlejuice fanfic is too many

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: