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c0zmo-writes · 3 months ago

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WE ARE SO BACK! Chapter fifteen of Time’s Arrow, “But my heart is like a claw machine, It’s only function is to reach, It can't hold on to anything”, is here! Make sure to read the content warnings before proceeding!

Here are the extras!

- The lyrics for this chapter are from “Claw Machine” by Sloppy Jane, from the “I Saw The TV Glow” soundtrack! This song works well for both LoopJuice and Corpsejuice. I wanted to tie the ‘TV Glow themes back in again, and to reflect how Beej still holds a negative image of himself and his ability to hold onto relationships. Hopefully, that image changes soon, wink wink! Also this song fucks. It goes so hard. The whole soundtrack for that movie does.

- “Beetlejuice just laid there, mostly paralyzed, staring up at the strange glowing shapes dotting his ceiling.” - the ‘laying there, mostly paralyzed’ phrasing was inspired by a similar line in “The Bed Song” by Amanda Palmer (who I don’t condone the actions of, of course). Mostly meant to parallel how Beej is stuck in a place where he could easily get out with help. Like the ending of the song, “I would have told you, if you’d only asked me”.

- “He let out a little “grrk” of surprise as he was squeezed.” - inspired by Crowley from “Good Omens” and his weird noises, but also a comic panel of Toonjuice making this same sound that I am having trouble locating.

- “He was still in his sleepwear, which was quite unusual for him. He usually changed as soon as he woke up, even before his coffee.” - Charles rushed to check on Beetlejuice as soon as he woke up. Also, as evidenced by chapter 13, his whole sleep routine has been thrown off due to his worry over his adopted son.

- “The bottle of turpentine tasted horrendous. It fought it’s way down, causing the demon to shiver and grimace. It burned their throat like crazy. But it did it’s job.” - last bit of unhealthy coping mechanisms before deep healing!! Also, inspired by that scene in “The Lighthouse” where they drink turpentine mixed with honey, because I wanted to sprinkle in a bunch of references to other Willem Dafoe works.

- “Hello, pet.” - SORRY I LIED BEFORE. I PROMISE THIS IS THE LAST TIME FOR SURE HE SHOWS UP IN THIS PARTICULAR FIC.

- “ “You defile beautiful things, Betelgeuse.” They let out an involuntary whimper as cold, clawed hands gripped their chin. “You will ruin this one, too. Like you ruin everything you touch. And once it’s soiled by your rot and filth, you will come crawling back to me.” ” - This dialogue and Beetlejuice’s whole thing about “rot” was inspired very heavily by the character Stede Bonnet in “Our Flag Means Death”. “You defile beautiful things” is a direct quote a villain says to him at some point. As Loopjuice has become something I use as a mirror, I wanted to include this because I have also had something extremely similar said to me. It goes along with the whole theme of “rot” and whether or not one is “too broken”, or even “broken” to begin with. (It pains me that Stede never got an end to his character arc. I would’ve loved to see a character I related to so deeply get closure.)

- “That is when they woke up. Rather violently so. All of the struggle and panic being trapped inside their useless body exploded out, and they threw themself backwards with a loud, pathetic, fearful cry. They had been laying their head on the front counter of the store. They fell backwards out of the chair and landed square on their ass.” - this was heavily inspired by the scene in “Hereditary” where Peter snaps out of the control of a demon after it made him slam his head on his desk. It really stuck with me!

- “You can’t get away that easy, pet. I will shadow you forever.” - I didn’t realize until after I’d written and then re-read it, but this line is accidentally taken from “Fear Street Part Three: 1666”. However, the line is said to a villain, and is about how he will never escape the truth. I also wanted to highlight that Cyrus is not gone. He has hurt Beej, and left him with mental and physical scars. He will still try to hurt him, and his presence will continue to haunt Beej for a good while. This was meant to reflect the unfortunate reality most abuse victims face.

- “Bela had a ridiculous and… familiar white cowboy hat sitting suspiciously high above her head, no doubt held up by her striped horns.” - She borrowed the hat from Lydia! It’s the hat Beej wears the end of the musical. She meant to give it back to her, but keeps forgetting.

- “The black dress she seemed to wear nearly every day…” - Bela has dozens of the same articles of clothing, due to her only liking a limited number of fabrics and fits. Autism, yay!

- “Her usually lavender hair was now tinted a strange, sickly shade of green.” - again, Bela’s mood ring hair has different meanings for different colors than Beej’s does!

- “Yeah! I can’t wait to get elbow-deep in some real ribcages, man.” - inspired by something I said when I was in school for forensic science, right before an autopsy. I got in trouble for it lol

- “(They gently reminded him they were waiting for Lydia to walk home with them when he asked why they were lingering.)” - Beej will, unfortunately, likely always need some gentle reminders about a few things. His memory is forever altered. But, thankfully, his loved ones are patient and understanding.

- “Lydia came in shortly after, face red as she panted.” - she ran to see them!

- “Ash filled the stagnant air of the walk home with excited jabbering about their harebrained ‘Adam is definitely alive and totally an apprentice’ theories. (Beetlejuice couldn’t quite remember what they were talking about, but they faintly knew it was probably bullshit.)” - Ash still has ‘Sawtism’, like yours truly! She's talking about, of course, the theory / AU of Adam from the first movie being alive and well. Beej can’t remember what they’re talking about, but he has instinctual sibling urges to contradict them.

- “ “No more bombshell secrets, right?” He shrugged, then swiftly nodded when she narrowed her eyes. “Yeah! Yeah. None that I’m, like, aware of.” ” - ;)

- “He sat slouched next to Beetlejuice, not yet used to the new height the disguise had added on. Truly, it wasn’t that much different from original Adam, at a glance. Just another nerdy white guy with brown hair, glasses, and a horrible, plaid-clad fashion sense.” … “Slowly but surely, a disguise melted on. Her hair became dark and even curlier, and her horns and deer-like ears vanished, along with her other demonic attributes. Her features became sharper. By the time she opened her eyes, Barbara looked like an entirely different human person.” - Their disguises are based off of how they looked in the 1988 movie!

- Kerry Davis - a mixture of the names of her Broadway actor, Kerry Butler, and her original movie actor, Geena Davis.

- Beej’s advice - Based heavily off of something I read from the actor Michael Sheen, when he was asked for acting advice. It really stuck with me. I think of it often and usually use this method in my writing.

- “Beetlejuice was afraid what he’d dig up. What ugly truths, what raw, still-bleeding painful memories? What hideous realities about himself? What if it really was all his fault? What if he couldn’t be helped? What if he was broken beyond repair?” - Meant to reflect common fears a lot of traumatized people have when thinking about therapy. I had pretty similar thoughts. None of them are true, of course!

- “(The old owner, of course. He’d dug up the man’s bones from where they were buried out back, out of curiosity long ago, only to find a second, much older body buried alongside him. Beetlejuice had covered them back up shortly after. The smell of the man’s sick and impending death stuck around for years after his passing.)” - this is meant to be a reference to Bill and Frank from “The Last of Us”, because. Y’know. ;)

- “A voice, low and drawling and twinged with delight, large teeth glinting in the darkness.” - Heyyyy Wolf!! He, of course, is based on Wolf Jackson from “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”. His voice and face is Willem Dafoe’s, who I ADORE. Ask any of my friends, I am obsessed with this man. I tried my best to portray the way he talks, laughs, and his mannerisms from a few different roles, but I’m worried it doesn’t come through properly! I originally was going to make an OC for the therapist character, which I’ve had planned for a while, but once I saw the new movie I JUMPED at the chance to write my best friend Willem.

- “I’ve heard so much about you from many a demon.” - yeah, several demons were either traumatized by Beej or holds a grudge against him, lol

- “His laugh was sudden and jarring, barked out with some sort of manic humor.” - based on the way Willem laughs, but also Wolf Jackson himself. Very jarring!

- “Mr. Juice” - I didn’t really want him to call Beej the same nickname as Charles did, but the use of it in the movie was just too funny and tempting. Also, Charles has mostly moved on from that nickname, so Wolf can have it, lol.

- “You gotta build it, slow and steady, like domesticating a wild animal.” - this is advice one receives when working with wild animals, but especially wolves and wolf dogs. Once you lose their trust, it’s gone forever. This is a lowkey call back to Beej comparing his experience as a demon to being a wolf dog.

- “You were definitely a human, weren’t you? Born-demons know better than to compare us to animals.” - Beej has a bit of societal prejudice towards demons who were born human that he hasn’t really addressed within himself.

- Wolf’s whole deal - demons are volatile creatures. They are not used to therapy, it’s a brand new idea for them. Wolf hides his name and appearance for his own safety, and to avoid other demons seeking him out to gain information on his patients. He genuinely cares for his patients, and most of demon-kind, but he understands that they are not suited for full emotional honesty and the like.

- “Still is, poor thing.” - a lowkey reference to “Poor Things”, another movie Willem Dafoe is in! Don’t look it up, minors.

- “He heard a pen click, somewhere. “Care to tell me about it?” ” - I was originally going to have a few of their therapy sessions be shown within the fic, being long and wordy and all that. But I realized I’m not a therapist, and I don’t really know what would be said, aside from what I’ve been told in similar sessions. I don’t want to pretend to be an expert, and honestly? Having all of Beej’s extensive healing be “on screen” would be exhausting and a slog to read.

Tag list: @raineisinkless @c0zmo-writes @musical-fiend @katslitterbox

(Want to be tagged in updates to LoopJuice / other fics? Let me know!)

#BLUE!!! ANOTHER INCREDIBLE CHAPTER!!!!!!#it was amazing seeing all these characters again #especially Deb. I adore Deb.#beetlejuice #beetlejuice fanfic

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