Hedgehog’s Dilema - A metaphor about the challenges of human intimacy. It describes a scenario where a group of hedgehogs are sheltering together from a winter storm, and want to move in close to share body heat. They must remain apart, though, so they don’t hurt each other with their spines. Though they all want a close, personal relationship, this can’t occur, for reasons they can’t avoid.
Chapter seven of Catabasis, my Beetlejuice / Severance AU!
Big thanks to @st4rbreaker and @mastersprogram for helping me find the motivation to return to writing Catabasis and other fics! <33
Extras below!
- The title refers to Betel, of course. He be personifying that metaphor every day.
- “The elevator dinged, causing Adam to jump. Barbara’s grip on Betel tightened, and the arm around his shoulders shot out to grip at the fabric of Adam’s jacket.” - Barbara was ready to throw hands for her boys here. If that had been literally anyone else, she would’ve beat them up. I’m only half joking.
- “She relaxed when Charles stepped through, looking weary. His eyes were red, his face a little puffy.” - Outie Charles has been crying almost daily before work for the past week.
- “He lit up like a lamp when he laid eyes on them.” - one of two instances in this chapter of characters comparing something to an artificial light when the common phrase refers to the sun. Because they don’t know what the sun is like!
- “Though his skin was starting to itch and burn the longer they held the hug, Adam was certain he would miss it and all other touches if they were to cease.” - autism means touch makes my body feel weird. But also I want to hug everyone all the time always. I gave Adam this dilemma also
- “His stupid, grating, gravely voice was like MDE to Adam’s ears.” - Get it? Because Adam doesn’t know music outside of the MDEs?
- “Betel barked out a cackle, rubbing his cheek against Adam’s closest arm in a strange, affectionate way that made the brunet’s heart race.” - like the way a cat rubs it’s cheek on you. My fucking weirdo <33
- “Betel’s hands gripped at his desk so hard they shook, his strangely sharp, now unpainted nails digging into the surface. “This time, I’m really gonna do it.” ” - number one. His nails aren’t painted anymore because his outie hasn’t seen Lydia in a week. Number two. That line is based off perhaps my favorite Severance meme ever.
- “I’m sorry, what is he going to do?” - based on an older coworker’s confused response to me saying the exact same thing lol
- “Adam tapped on the surface of the table, causing Betel to look in his direction with an inquisitive noise.” - kinda like a cat trill! Also Adam has this fool trained.
- “You’re only twenty-five?” - this is significant because, as previously mentioned, Betel has worked at Walton for ten years. Meaning he’s been working on the severed floor since he was fifteen.
- “Yes, I-… well, I don’t condone this delinquency, but I also would prefer things go as smoothly as possible for my-… my friends.” - he almost said “kids” but friends is a big step too!!
- “It was hard to look at her directly sometimes. The same way it hurt to look directly at the fluorescent lights all around them.” - the other instance. Since Betel has never seen the sun, the best he can compare Barbara (or Adam) to is a fluorescent light.
- “Betel paused at his desk, slowly lifting his right hand. His head moved before his wide, glassy eyes to gaze curiously at it. “Wh- no. Your other hand.” ” - based on a scene from “The Lighthouse” that cracks me up every time.
- “He made his way swiftly for the door to the small room, movements quick and uncharacteristically skittish.” - he’s afraid of Betel now because of the biting incident
- “… and some sort of had made of a soft, knitted material.” - it’s a beanie, but he doesn’t know what that is lol
- “Control yourself.” - while most of Outie Betel’s speech is an altered version of the one Outie Helly makes in a similar scene, this line is lifted from “The Substance”. I feel like Elisabeth and Sue’s relationship really fits how Outie and Innie Betel feel about each other.
Hedonic treadmill - the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative life changes.
Chapter two of Catabasis, my Beetlejuice Severance AU!
- The title for this chapter is “Hedonic treadmill”, defined above! It’s referring to how Barbara just has to kinda just… live like this now. Also, other things!
- “As usual, his own lunch is a plain turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise sandwich…” - fun fact! I had to google what’s usually on a turkey sandwich for this because I only eat fuckass weird ones
- Adam’s lunch - autism meal to the max. Sounds fucking delectable. Now I’m hungry
- “One of him, and Adam, and Betel, and… He feels a strange melancholy pull in his chest at the sight of it. He decides, then and there, to discard of them. He plucks them from his, Adam, and Betel’s desks.” - Outie Charles got severed to avoid having to face his emotions towards his dead wife. It makes sense his innie would react the same way to missing someone.
- “He is wearing what he always wears, with the exception of his tie, which is a lighter shade of green than the day previous.” - he’s not wearing the exact same outfit, he just owns a ton of the same shirts and pants. He only changes up the tie color a little.
- “His cheeks, nose, and fingers are tinted red. He’s lightly shivering. “The heating must be broken upstairs,” ” - they have an idea of what winter is, kinda. But they don’t understand it. They rationalize the cold as “the heat being broken upstairs” and not “the world itself is chilly as shit”. Because they’ve never been outside!
- “ “So, like… is it tomorrow?” She said, before either man could speak again. “From yesterday’s perspective,” Charles softly quips…” - Charles’ response is a reference to a line in “Midsommar”, because it always cracks me up.
- Ackerman file - based on the name of the original movie’s cinematographer, Thomas E. Ackerman!
- “He’s rather close, his body only a few inches from hers. She could tilt her head ever-so-slightly one way and end up resting it on his shoulder. She can smell something sharp, but not unpleasant on him. It’s… something familiar, she thinks. Something that whispers in the dark of her new mind, something that cannot be traced back to any specific memory or idea. Just the ghost of one.” - one’s sense of smell has the strongest connection to memories of any of the senses.
- “Charles and Adam’s shoulders both relax, and Barbara even hears the latter sigh in relief.” - they are a bit traumatized by how many coworkers were fired overnight, and were worried it happened to Betel.
- “Just like how I blame your outie for the red eyes. He must be allergic to somethin’ outside.” - Charles’ eyes are often red due to him frequently crying in his car before going in to work.
- Elfman file - based on the name of the original movie’s composer, Danny Elfman! That guy fuckin’ rules.
- “You fit into this team like a chip of painted glass in a splendid moo-saic!” - yeah she mispronounced mosaic.
- “And one thing to know about me is that my favorite color is red.” - hmm. I wonder if any characters have red strongly associated with them, aside from fuckass Juno… hmmmmmm….
- “… she grows herbs in her spare time, and she has a sensitivity to gluten.” - based on Kerry Butler’s own herb growing habits, and then a line from the musical about “over glutinous food”!
- “… she is the third tallest person in your office.” - Betel is the shortest! And Adam is maybe half an inch taller than Barbara.
- “The melon bar doesn’t even have watermelon.” … “… as she goes to take a little bite of one of the melon balls. (An orange-ish one. It’s.. fine.)” - based on my own opinions on the melon bar from the show. I know there’s no watermelon for color coding purposes, and because it would be out of season in winter, when the show takes place, but STILL! The other melons fucking suck. Also, catch how Betel knows what watermelon is?
- “ “Has he tried this?” She chuckles when Betel shakes his head…” - in all their years working together, Betel has yet to convince Adam to try the apple slices. Until now!
- “Betel turns a little from where he’s sat on Adam’s desk…” - just wanted to highlight that he’s sitting on Adam’s desk lol
- “He doesn’t hear Barbara teasing Adam about how many incentive rewards he’s accrued on his desk.” - Adam is very, very good at his job. Yay autism!
- “He jolts when Ms. Schlimmer places a hand on his shoulder.” … “Charles stutters a little, face hot. He looks down at his keyboard.” - the innies don’t get a lot of touch. It’s taboo in workplaces, like in the real world. So they usually get very flustered when someone does touch them, especially without warning.
- “ “… still thinking about what Betel said?” “… sure, yes. I am.” ” - he’s not. He’s worried about him.
- “You’ve earned it, with all the changes and, um… y'know!" - the “y’know” is “dealing with Betel”.
- “Were those supposed to be… trees? Charles didn’t know they could be so pointy.” - my guy has never seen a pine tree before
- Wellness office - listen. I know it’s funky. It’s based on how it looks in the show, okay?
- “A photo of your outie was once in the newspaper.” - she didn’t say it was for… fun reasons!
- Bird song - outie Charles does birdwatching, as the movie version of him does!
- Mrs. Abramovitz - yeah it’s Juno, or Mrs. Sidney. This name comes from her original Broadway actor, Jill Abramovitz! No she’s not severed, she’s just lying and using a fake name.
- “I didn’t spend a single red dime of your supply, Mr. Deetz.” - this is a reference to a line in “Knives Out”, because Juno would talk like that.
- “He’d never admit it, but part of him had grown fond of Betel.” - heheh. Get it? Because his innie is secretly fond of Betel? And his innie is a part of him?
- “Just a touch of consumption.” … “‘Touch of consumption’. What year is it, 1836? Who even-… what even is that?” - this is all a reference to a scene from “Weapons”. I will not elaborate for spoiler reasons.
- “His heart stutters as she stares him down with her amber eyes.” - “Her” being her mom.
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Eremition - The act of gradually fading from the lives of others, not out of malice but a desire for solitude or renewal.
Chapter six of Catabasis, my Beetlejuice / Severance AU!
Extras below!
- The title for this chapter is defined above! It’s supposed to refer to both Betel and Emily. How their… untimely incidents are swiftly attempted to be swept under the rug by Walton. Also, how Betel would prefer for it to be that way.
- “The elevator dinged.” - this is to signal it is the next day, even though it doesn’t seem like it to Charles.
- New style - the tense is shifting to more closely match the outies, since the innies are gaining perspective and growing!
- “… immediately calling his- his coworker’s name.” - him once again hesitating to call them something more personal.
- “I expect you to compose yourself and remain strong for the rest of your department’s sake. Understood?” - he was really relying on innie Charles dealing with grief the same way outie Charles is lol
- “Walton…. was good. The company did wonderful things, helped so many people.” - me when the propaganda still kinda works
- “Gave him and his- … And his friends…” - HE DID IT! HE SLIPPED UP AND ADMITTED HE CARES FOR THEM! FOOL
- “… out of breath from what was likely a dead sprint from the elevator, based on his reddened face and the time. He usually didn’t reach the department for another five minutes.” - just wanted to highlight how stupid BIG the department is. It normally takes them five whole minutes to walk from their office to the elevator.
- “M-Mr. Dean, he said- oh, Perfect, please say it isn’t true!” - instead of saying “oh God”, someone as devout as Adam sometimes says “oh Perfect”. Weird!
- “Charles could count on two fingers the amount of times he’d been hugged before recent times.” - after Barbara came along, everyone became more touchy and affectionate!
- “When he was restocking the bathrooms, he’d caught sight of how red his own eyes were. (Although, he strangely didn’t remember shedding any tears of his own.)” - his eyes are red because he spent the night trying not to cry at Emily’s photos.
- “So, he held Adam.” - yippee!!! Innie Charles is moving towards breaking the cycle Outie Charles is stuck in!!! Woohoo!!!
- “… all but running towards her coworkers, heels be damned.” - yaaay!! Growth!! She’s mastered those stupid heels!!
- “Why did he leave so much earlier than normal?” - because of the incident!
- Why is Lydia so spooked? - we as the reader are stuck in Charles’ POV, and Lydia got derailed before she could elaborate on the weird shit Mrs. Abramovitz said, so we will never fully know. But! I’ll just say she implied some strange things about Betel, and then Emily, that made Lydia not want to be left alone with her anymore.
- Lydia’s rant - yes, a lot of direct / semi direct quotes from the song “Dead Mom”!
- “She was dressed for fair spring weather, for the gardening she’d been doing at the time.” - hmm. When she was around, it was spring. Now, it seems to be stuck in winter. Hmmmm….
- “She’d been planting thin-branched flowering trees of some sort.” - this mention of a more specific tree, along with how she is described, is meant to directly mirror “Miss Lilith”’s previous scene, and her tree in Wellness.
- “( “Try to enjoy each equally.” )” - this is me, the author, reminding the reader directly of Miss Lilith and the scene of her and Charles in Wellness. Trying to very directly point everyone in the direction of the revelation.
( Notice how I didn’t tag Beetlejuice as a character on this one lol )
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Had a very lovely comment on chapter five of Catabasis, thought I’d share it and my response as an insight into why I wrote the Severance / Beetlejuice AU!
Each fic and story I write is usually deeply personal, a way to reflect or grow or reach out. Catabasis is no different!
There’s some more insight below this “read more”, sorry it gets a wee bit too personal / real lol
When I started conceptualizing the fic as a whole, I was in the midst of this horrid spiral I’m still working my way out of. One where I had truly created for myself an “outie” and an “innie”, but that “innie” sees the light of day more than my “outie”. I moved from a place I could call Home, where I had people who got me and loved me and let me be who I am, all for the first time in my life. Now I’m in a new place, with new people, and I’ve slipped back into that old performance of being this idealized Blue, one who is sociable and kind and as “normal” as they can be. Making friends and being taken seriously despite who I am is hard. Quite literally that Eggman meme where he goes, “I’M BACK IN THE FUCKING BUILDING AGAIN??”.
I’m working on it! It’s slow and steady. Catabasis is a good outlet, creatively and personally.
Capitalism is a horrid beast that tosses us all in this big rock tumbler. If you don’t get worn down, become smooth and shiny and marketable and useful, you get tossed out, or right back in the machine until you’re useful. People are mean, and loud, and money controls the world around us in a rotten, evil way.
It makes you feel like there’s something wrong with you, because you don’t fit into the machine. It hurts you more than it hurts anyone else, and you don’t know why. Makes you think maybe there’s something wrong with you, something rotting and poisonous, something that’s fighting and clawing and desperate to claw its way out of you.
But there’s not! It’s just you. A machine that is meant to encompass all but doesn’t actually fit all is an inherently flawed one, and one we should never measure our own worth based on.
Anyways, y’know. I try to stay silly, despite it all! Mostly thanks to the outlet that is fanfiction and writing in general, and interacting with all the kind people through it.
Sin-eater - a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person.
Chapter three of Catabasis, my Beetlejuice / Severance AU!
- The title for this chapter is defined above! Hmmm. I wonder who it’s referring to….
- Different tense usage - I’ve tried to use past tense for outies and current tense for innies, so there’s a more obvious difference who I’m writing about! Also..
- Writing differences - since the innies, especially Barbara, are so new and young, they don’t have a lot of words to describe their surroundings or feelings! In innie sections, I wanted it to be jarring how much they know and the feelings they can describe. As time goes on, I’ve tried to slowly increase this for the innies, and they will eventually reach a somewhat similar level.
- “They were planning on adding a fairly plain side salad to his lunch, to see how he fares. He likes it well enough, but his sensitive palate is unfortunately prone to sudden distaste at any random moment. He’d decided he could be brave and give it a try.” - Adam has AFRID, as do I! Food is hard, man.
- “It’s almost complete. Just a bit more work. Just a bit more, every day, for the past few years.” - imitating their hesitance to “take the next step” in the musical!
- “You know how my eyes get at night.” - he has vision snow, which gets waaayyyy worse at night. And in the winter!
- “How many times?” - he’s asking how many times they had Betel say he was sorry.
- “I’ll be in the supply closet.” - he sleeps in there. He’s napping his feelings away.
- The weird gap - it’s intentional! Meant to make it feel jarring, how time is moving and how we’re switching perspectives so frequently and suddenly.
- “Who even was the original person the phrase referred to?” - God, but the innies don’t know what that is lol
- “You’re hardly new now.” - she’s been there for almost a month at this point!
- “Perfect’s garden is full of weeds.” - the name of the founder is taken from Eddie Perfect, who wrote the musical! The phrase itself I heard for the first time in “The Long Walk”. Its meaning is important to the fic’s themes!
- The stranger - if you’re a reader of my other fic, this is this universe’s version of Larry!
- “Krelborn’s Plant Emporium” - a reference to the main character from “Little Shop of Horrors”!
- “Betel is not a maiden in need of having his honor defended…” - a reference to a line from “Hamilton”. ‘Cause why not?
- “Adam holds a shaking hand up.” - he’s scared of confrontation but he wants to defend his bestie (crush). Everyone tell him he’s doing a great job
- “ “What did she say?” Adam is quiet, for a brief time.” - she was. Not nice.
- “… and he says he can’t stand the noise either.” - autism / auDHD solidarity.
- “Same way ya looked at the blonde freak.” - this is referring to the yet-to-be-named stranger!
- “Lydia hadn’t… been into literature much lately…” - not since her mom passed.
- “Lydia clenched her jaw…” - a habit she shares with her father, both the innie and outie version of him!
- Tamerlane - one of their cats, named by Emily after an Edgar Allan Poe character!
Monachopsis - The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.
Here’s chapter one of my Beetlejuice Severance AU! It’s a bumpy ride.
- This chapter’s title is defined above, which will be the norm for this fic! It will be words rather than lyrics. This one was picked to reflect how Barbara feels, but also everyone else!
- Writing style - I’m trying out something different here, so sorry if it sucks! I might go back to my usual style if it doesn’t work out. I’m going for more floaty, and objective. Like a TV show!
- First chap - this very closely follows the first episode of the show, down to most of the dialogue, but from here it will branch out from the show!
- Green - instead of blue, green is the color of the company in this fic!
- “ “Connecticut.” The man almost sounds perplexed himself. “Oh… Kay.” ” - Innie Adam has never heard of Connecticut himself, so it threw him off a little.
- Mr. Burton - instead of Mr. Eagan, it’s Mr. Burton! Based off Tim Burton. Because I hate him.
- Walton Industries - a combination of the show’s name for the company, “Lumon”, Tim Burton’s middle name, “Walter”, and his last name, “Burton”!
- “It’s then that Barbara notices just how many anxious glances the man is casting at a little black square in the corner.” - he’s being watched by Mrs. Sidney and Mr. Fenlock through that camera.
- Mrs. Sidney - Juno, of course! Her name here is taken from the last name of her actor in the original film.
- Ms. Schlimmer - my sweetie pie Delia!! She says this last name as her maiden name in the musical, I took note of it when I last saw it.
- Mr. Fenlock - this is Otho, heavily based on his appearance in the movie! God I love movie Otho.
- “She has an accent Barbara doesn’t remember enough about the world to place.” - its New Jersey, I think. At least, that’s what I think musical Juno’s accent is??
- “… based on the eccentric little hand-molded statues decorating it.” - mini versions of Delia’s sculptures from the movie and musical!
- “Barbara falters briefly to cast Adam a glance. Perhaps one of pity, maybe one of satisfaction. He cannot tell.” - ~Autism~
- “She returns the chair to her own desk, then, sitting in it with a little grimace.” - Juno purposefully gave her an uncomfortable chair. To be mean.
- “She reeks of booze and cigarettes in a way that makes Adam’s head spin, but he doesn’t know why.” - ~trauma~
- “There are spaces for fluorescent lights, like what occupies every inch of the ceiling outside the rooms, but these ones have no bulbs. Instead, a standard minimalist-style lamp sits in each corner, casting a warm orange glow into the room. It’s a nice reprieve from the oppressive, agitating lights outside the room.” - take note of this! It will come up later. (Or don’t, I’m not your dad)
- “The third man is leaned far back in the roller chair at his desk, both of which are much more banged-up and weathered than any of the other furniture.” - notice how everything Beetlejuice owns is old and beat up. That sucks!
- “His tie is purple, and is done in a rather unprofessional, messy knot.” - he doesn’t know how to tie a tie…
- “His golden eyes glint with some sort of anger for a moment, but it’s gone in a flash. Once again replaced with nonchalance.” - he’s lowkey pissed at her for hurting his pookie.
- Betel J. - notice how if you say the full thing, it almost sounds like “Beetlejuice”? Almost. I tried.
- “His voice is dripping with disdain, as well as something tired and gentle.” - he care him but he bad at showing it
- Geena D., Elizabeth, Leslie, Danny - based on the names of Barbara’s actor from the original film, Lydia’s original Broadway actor (who split from the show for.. reasons..), Delia’s Broadway actor, and Maxxie Dean’s Broadway actor!
- “She turns in her chair to face Adam. “Do I have a family?” He shrugs again, smiling at her sadly. “You’ll never know.” ” - this is so sad after the revelation near the end of the chapter
- “He pops the ‘p’ sound, standing on his tip-toes to smirk at Charles over their privacy walls.” - he’s so short lol
- “ “C’mon, Barbie. Let’s go party.” “.. I… what?” ” - notice how he’s the only one who’s made or understands a pop culture reference?
- “ “See ya tomorrow, Chuck!” “If my luck continues to be so rotten, I will.” ” - their banter :)))
- “There’s a plastic potted monstera that Barbara can’t help but note is not the correct shade of green in her head. (She doesn’t understand why she cares.)” - she’s a plant girlie at her core, she just can’t remember it
- Dante’s Bar and Grill - based on the “Dante’s Inferno Room” from the original film! This one isn’t a strip club though
- “Adam resolves to gift it to one of his sisters as he touches a curious hand to his temple.” - he does not drink. At all.
- “The exhausted way he speaks, voice low and coarse and unimaginably full of grit, sends chills down Charles’ spine at times. (It’s worse, somehow.)” - that last part is a fourth wall break! Meant to be a reference to a line in the show, about a character sounding worse and more tired outside of work.
- “ “As always, I have no idea.” Charles takes a deep breath, standing up straight as he looks down at the other man. “How was Lydia?” “Oh, an absolute terror. As always.” ” - notice how, despite the innies and outies being completely different people, Beej still parrots Charles in conversation to make fun of him
- “… slapping his hands on his thighs. “Welp! I’ll see myself out.” ” - the Midwest special…
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