Un Coléoptère Dans La Neitherworld
Now, it's Chapter 4! XD I believe this is the first fanfic where I have just been on a roll with updates. Then again, it is also the first story where I story-webbed the beginning to the end. Usually I just wing it and see where it takes me XDDD This is a life lesson that I learned sooo late. I mean, I was taught about storywebs in what, 2nd or 3rd grade, and up till now I always thought they were a waste of time but no, they're actually helpful! Anywho, I'm going to shut up now and start writing XD
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A bit of time had passed and Beetlejuice and Lydia sat down on the couch in her living room. He proceeded to tell her a lot of things and she began to understand him. Beetlejuice told her so much; from what the Central Neitherworld was like to his love of bugs. There was so much more to tell. He hadn't been able to talk seriously with another person since…well, he couldn't remember! It was then that he began telling her all about how he had been imprisoned. Beetlejuice told her about how his practical jokes and pranks landed him in jail and how had eluded the law so many times that everyone in the Central Neitherworld just wanted him gone for good. Also, had he not escaped, he would be Sandworm chow right about now.
"That's just awful…" Lydia spoke up, after hearing his tale. "You don't seem like sucha bad guy to me..."
"Haha, maybe that's cause you just don't know me that well…" He laughed.
Hearing that comment, Lydia smirked, "I'm guessing maybe you want me to turn you in, then…"
Beetlejuice jumped, standing on the couch "No, no, no, no! I'll be good, honest!"
Lydia lifted her arms up and down, gesturing for him to sit, "Relax, Beetlejuice. I'm only kidding!"
He slumped down on the couch with a mopey look on his face, "Let's face it, Lyds. I'm a bad apple…" With that he changed into a large, rotting apple with a sad look on his face.
Lydia jumped a little but then relaxed. It was going to take a while to get used to his visual puns. She stared at him as he changed back. Beetlejuice was a bad guy. He was a con artist, a prankster, and a blight on his community. But there was something else…Maybe she was just crazy…I mean, she had just met him so how would she know? But still, she could feel something else about him. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Maybe, he just needed a friend. She could do that, Lydia thought with a smile. The girl stood up and walked in front of him. He looked up at her with an eyebrow raised.
"I know just what you need!" She grabbed his hand, "Come on"
She pulled and he stood up, following her lead. Lydia took him upstairs. As they reached the top step, she glanced back at him. She put a finger to her lip and whispered, "Shhh!" Beetlejuice blinked and tiptoed with her until they were at the hallway's dead end. Lydia glanced upward and saw a dangling string. She yanked on it and down came a staircase.
"Follow me" She whispered as she began climbing the stairs.
He just shrugged and climbed behind her. After a minute or two, they found themselves in a large room.
Beetlejuice was amazed as they walked around. "It's so dusty and nasty up here…" he cringed but then a smile flew across his face, "It feels like home!"
Lydia giggled, "Glad you like it!"
"So, why'd you bring me up here, Babes?" Beetlejuice inquired.
Lydia walked toward a trunk, "Well, it wasn't to enjoy the view.." She kneeled before the brown and gold trunk and tried to lift it. It was stuck. She groaned slightly as she tried pushing it open. When she finally managed to; she fell back with a sigh. Lydia stood and dusted herself off, before turning around to look at Beetlejuice.
"If you don't want people to find you, you're going to need a disguise…Something that won't give you away…I can only do so much. Some of father's old clothes oughta do the trick!" With that she turned around and dove halfway into the trunk and began throwing things behind her, most of them landing on Beetlejuice. She pulled out a white mask and turned around with a smile. Her face fell as she noticed Beetlejuice now covered with the clothing. "Oooh…sorry…" Lydia laughed nervously.
"People have always said I was 'Clothes' minded…" Beetlejuice joked with a laugh.
"Let me help you out…" Lydia said as he walked over to him and pushed all the extra clothes off of him. "Now, take off your coat..."
He nodded and did so. After that, she gestured him over to a mirror behind the trunk. Beetlejuice looked at himself in the mirror. Just then, Lydia took the mask she had found and placed it over his eyes and nose. Beetlejuice examined himself. He leaned closer to the mirror, looked left, right, up and down, "Heeey, this looks nice!"
"That'll hide your features so no one will recognize you…" Lydia told him.
Beetlejuice gave a look, "It's a crime to hide such an ugly face!"
Lydia gave a laugh, "I guess it's a price you're going to have to pay…" It amused her how everything about Beetlejuice was backwards. He could take any insult as a compliment and a lot of compliments as insults. He was so weird…but she liked that!
"Okay…so…" Lydia said as she went back in the trunk, "Now we need to find you some different clothes…"
He stayed standing in front of the mirror as she brought him over a few things. She removed his dark grey hat and tried a few others on him. The first was a fluffy pink hat that seemed to have boa-like feathers on it. They both made a disgusted face and she tore it off his head. She replaced it with a black top hat but even that was too much; definitely a no. Lydia found a normal looking hat, not too frilly and not too absurd. It was a creamy white and as she put it on his head it just fit. They both smiled and said "perfect" in unison,
"Hold on…" Lydia said as she took a hair tie and a brush. She removed the white hat and began brushing his hair, causing a few bugs to jump out. He managed to grab one as it was falling midair and all you could hear was a loud CRUNCH! Lydia cringed a little but continued combing through his greasy hair. Once finished, she tied it back and he looked great; very sophisticated. No one would recognize him now! She placed the hat back on, "Freaktastic…"
"Okay…for wardrobe…" Lydia spoke again but Beetlejuice piped up, raising and waving his hand as if he were in a classroom.
"Ooooh! Let me! Pleeeeease?" He begged.
"Okaaay…" Lydia smiled and gestured towards the trunk and not even a second after, he dove past her and into the chest, rummaging.
"I want this one…No, this one…Yuck! Who would wear that? Hmm…maybe this one…" Lydia heard him say, a little muffled under all the clothes. "Aha!" Beetlejuice yelled as he popped out, scaring her a little. "This one! Can I wear this one?" He was holding up a dark green vest that had gold trim and curly designs on the fabric, "It reminds me of my armpit hair…" he continued with admiration. "Plus, the green reminds me of vomit…"
Lydia put a hand to her face " I'm gonna remind you of vomit, in a second…"
He changed into a trashcan and appeared in front of her, smiling, "Don't hold back, now!"
Lydia threw her hands and yelled, "Oh, Beetlejuice!"
He laughed as he changed back but now wearing the vest, "Heheheh, sometime I 'can' be so 'trashy'"
His puns just made her laugh and she had to admit, he did look good in the vest despite his reasons for choosing it. She glanced at the trunk again, looking for a jacket. He couldn't wear his tattered old one. As she was looking, one just caught her eye. "Oh, this is so you!" She exclaimed as she pulled it out.
"Whoa!" Beetlejuice smiled wide, "Now, that's something I could really get into!"
In a flash of light, he was now wearing the coat she'd suggested. It had black and white stripes, just like his pants and had long coat tails that reached his feet. With that, Lydia closed the trunk and he sat on it, looking in the mirror once again with a smirk on his face.
"Sharp!" Lydia said as she dusted off his shoulders.
"You bet I am!" Beetlejuice commented, turning his head into a nail and she giggled.
Just then, being so close to Beetlejuice, she was able to smell him. Ugh! What a horrible smell! It smelled like he hadn't bathed in decades. She plugged her nose and began to speak with a nasally voice, "Uh, Beetlejuice…?"
"Yeah, Babes…?" Beetlejuice asked, still smiling in the mirror as he messed with the brim of his hat.
"When's the last time you had a bath…?" She asked with half-closed eyes, still plugging her nose.
"Yeeeeuck! That musta been…" He looked upward, trying to remember the date, "Oh…I dunno….500 years ago…give or take…"
Lydia's eyes widened and she blinked a couple times. How could one go so long without bathing? But then she remembered something. He had been in jail this whole time. Poor Beetlejuice, she thought. They probably didn't let him bathe. She shouldn't judge him so harshly. Instead, she decided she should help him.
Lydia smiled and said, "Uh…I'll be right back…"
Beetlejuice merely acknowledged her. He was far too busy examining himself in his new outfit to notice anything else.
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Lydia left the attic and went back down the hallway. She opened he parents' bedroom door. Thankfully, they were still asleep. She closed it quietly and then went another door up; the bathroom. She walked inside, glancing at the mirror slightly as she passed it. Lydia knelt by the tub and turned on the faucet. She felt the water's temperature as it poured down; making sure it wasn't too hot or too cold. Once the tub was filled, she turned it off. She stood up and left the bathroom. Lydia went back down the hall and climbed the stairs.
She tried to whisper but still let him hear her, "Hey, Beej! Get down here!"'
After a few seconds, he came down. Well, floated down really. He smiled at her, "What's up? Haha, besides me, I mean…" He land on the floor and put his hands on his sides.
"I have a special surprise for you! Something I think will make you feel a lot better" Lydia told him and then walked off in the other direction
"Another one?" Beetlejuice asked excited, "Gee, I don't know what to say…" He followed her as she opened a door for him and she followed close behind, closing the door.
Beetlejuice looked around, "Uh…" He looked back at her with confusion. "This looks like a bathroom, hehe…"
"Uh-huh…" She nodded.
Beetlejuice tugged on his collar and then scratched his head. Then he smiled and glanced at the toilet, "Oh! Did someone forget to flush…?"
Lydia got an unimpressed look on her face, "No, Beetlejuice…" She regained her usual expression after a moment or two and waved towards the tub, "It's this tub! I figured you would feel a lot better from all those years in prison after you take a bath!"
His eyes almost exploded, "WHAAAAT?"
"You heard me! Now come on," Lydia encouraged.
"Uhhh…no thanks, Babes…Maybe some other time…" He laughed nervously, "You see, baths aren't really my thing…You know how some people don't like dogs? Well. I don't like baths! …Dogs, either for that matter, actually…"
"That's hardly the same thing…" Lydia replied.
Beetlejuice slowly turned around with a nervous look and put his hand on the doorknob, "So, uh, I'll just be seeing—" Before he could finish, he felt Lydia grab him violently, "WAH!"
"Get in there, now! The water'll be cold soon!" She said.
"No! No! I don't wanna!" Beetlejuice protested.
"But…errr" she tugged on him more; trying to pull him near the water, "This is for your own…GOOD!"
"What about my own 'bad'? Can't we promote that instead!" He complained.
"That's just the prison talking. Once you're clean…you will remember what it was like to bathe…before prison!" Lydia persuaded.
"What?" Beetlejuice stopped, "But I never bathed before prison either!"
"You said you hadn't bathed for 500 years!" Lydia reminded.
"I was only in the slammer for 100 years!" He explained.
"Oh..But—EEEEYAH!" Lydia shrieked as the two of them slipped and landed inside the tub with a giant splash.
Beetlejuice came up for air with another splash, "Aaaaah!" He freaked, "Cleeeeeeean water! It buuuuurns!" All of a sudden, his head caught on fire and he screamed again before dunking his head to put it out.
He came up again and both he and Lydia were sitting in the tub side by side. She looked a tad dizzy and her eyes were half closed, "You..uh, really don't like baths, do you…?"
Dizzy as well, Beetlejuice barely shook his head and said "…Uh-uh…"
"Mmkay…" Lydia said, blankly staring forward, "..I'll remember that…"
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And so that is Chapter 4. Hope that managed to amuse ya. XD Just the idea of that bath scene makes me giggle. I sorta want that drawn. Anywho, more soon! Hope you guys liked this.