Dang now I'm gonna wanna work on my Beetlejuice character a little bit... he's like, the main self insert I have that's literally just for a found family type thing and that makes me happy!! I really should work on him more
I can't remember if I ever actually talked about him here so like in case you're interested... (since this is a kind of angsty character, TW this time for death, suicide, self harm, etc.)
I talk about my self inserts' lore in the third person a lot just because it's like, a story that didn't actually happen to me, but they do still represent/are me. I'm just adding this disclaimer 'cause in this one my name is Echo but I do talk about him in third person
He's a ghost, he was about fourteen when he died
He... jumped out of a moving car... because it was just kind of a horrible random impulse, the details are shady, and he was able to get out of civil service
Beetlejuice was initially very annoyed by this (back when he was Juno's assistant), thus they have a strained relationship and they bicker a lot
Beej calls him by the nickname Roadkill
He generally haunts the highway he died on, sometimes going into passing cars if he's bored, it's like his version of television
But then he meets Lydia this way - startles her at first because she sees him, which then in turn startles him (that's never happened to him before) and he leaves
Long story short once Lydia meets/befriends the Maitlands she realizes the random apparition that suddenly appeared in the car must've been a ghost, and she goes back to talk to him, and ends up inviting him to live with them and that's how he ends up staying there
The Maitlands become like his adoptive parents!!
So like my version is kinda a mixture/my own adaptation, so Beetlejuice is kinda more like the cartoon version where he and Lydia eventually become friends, and he's still mischievous and causes trouble for the Deetzes of course but he's also happy because he's less alone, because he has Lydia (NOT in a shippy way, they are only friends)
Echo hates Beetlejuice because he's annoying and because of Beej previously being an asshole, even though now Beej doesn't care as much about the civil service workaround he's still kind of a jerk, however Echo tries to tolerate him just because he knows that he's Lydia's friend
So... this to me is where it gets angsty.. so look away if you want? Echo.... really struggles with denial. He won't admit to himself that what he did was commit suicide. It's part of why he hates Beetlejuice so much, because Beetlejuice knows the truth and is constantly reminding him of it
Echo had a little brother, he was asleep next to him in the car on the day Echo died. Echo misses him immensely and can never see him again, which is very painful for him. He has no idea how his family is faring or what kind of pain he caused them, which is part of what he has to learn to accept - that he probably hurt them a great deal and that he can never make amends for that
I imagine this is part of why he becomes so close with Lydia, she's like a little sister
So a big important part of the arc I'm going for here is Echo having to accept a lot of harsh truths and move on, and it's not easy for him, but it helps to have Lydia and the Maitlands by his side supporting him and helping him
The role Beetlejuice plays in his story is more the anti-hero kind of, than the villain. In the end Beetlejuice is the one that forces Echo to admit what he's done, which sounds more like a very close friend than an enemy, but of course he's definitely a bit of an asshole about it so...
My concepts for this self insert were to kind of confront some of my suicidal ideation from when I was younger that I never really resolved, I just kinda buried it. Echo has to face the fact that he's responsible for his life ending, and he's responsible for the suffering that caused. He can't see his brother again, he can't see his family again, and he can't apologise. But it's not all angst even if it seems that way, because while learning to accept these things and live (well, metaphorically) with them, he's also found people who care about him, the Maitlands and Lydia. I imagine when he is able to accept these hard truths he even becomes actual friends with Beetlejuice. So... yeah. I know this is all pretty dark and stuff but this is actually one of my favorite of my lores, because it feels... like I'm resolving those feelings I never dealt with, y'know? It feels therapeutic.