History Fanfic / SayItThrice

* ShoutOut: [[Film/{{Casper}} "Drop dead." "Too late."]]
** When Sam is giving directions, she says to "head down [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Elm Street]] and turn onto [[Creator/WesCraven Craven]] Lane."
** Lydia mentions Music/TheBeeGees.
** At one point, Betelgeuse changes Barbara's outfit into the dress [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Jessica Rabbit]] wore.
** Tucker compares Betelgeuse's DeathGlare to the guy from ''Film/TheShining''.
** In the flashback of Sanduleak and Betelgeuse, the latter remarks that [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Bram Stoker's new book]] reminds him of Sanduleak.
** "[[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLegendOfKorra The morning is evil.]]"

* ShoutOut: Has some occasionally.
** [[Film/TheForceAwakens "So... who talks first? I talk first? You talk first?"]]
** [[Disney/{{Hercules}} "A little dark, a little gloomy, and - hey! As always, full of dead people."]]

** They tend to refer to each other by {{Affectionate Nickname}}s too, since Betelgeuse's name is used as a summons and he is TheNicknamer. He calls her "Lyds" or "Babes." When speaking of her to others, she is "my girl" or "my Lyds," which borders on InsistentTerminology; he rants at Danny (and later the Maitlands) about how she's his only friend and that makes her ''his''. Lydia, for her part, calls him "Beej."

* SecretRelationship: The platonic version. Lydia and Betelgeuse have to keep their growing friendship hidden from everyone, since neither her parents nor the Maitlands will be at ''all'' pleased to know that she's interacting with him.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Lydia manages to do this for [[spoiler:Betelgeuse when he's under the influence of the Gem of Osiris. He's absolutely uncontrollable - but even in this state, he manages to recognize that this is the one person he cannot bring himself to hurt.]]

* SpeakOfTheDevil: Danny and his friends have a lot of trouble learning much about Betelgeuse due to the fact his name can be used to summon him and no one really wants to risk it.

* OneGenderSchool: Lydia's school, Miss Shannon's School for Girls.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Betelgeuse. Scare them a little, sure; but not even as much he would adults and he definitely doesn't harm them. In his own words, "children have to be protected."

** Against her own inclination, Juno is sort of this for Betelgeuse. She even admits she wishes she could just hate him, but there's just enough goodness there that she genuinely cares.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Lydia laments that, while she gets along well enough with some of her new classmates, she's still very much an outsider on account of her unusual experiences and wishes it were possible to meet someone who could understand.

* {{Protectorate}}: Lydia develops into this for Betelgeuse surprisingly quickly, on account of his possessive nature. He first shields her from the verbal abuse of Claire because he can tell that the other girl's words have hurt Lydia, and he doesn't like it when people hurt the things that belong to him. His PapaWolf tendencies come later, and both tropes are fully in play by the time of the main story.

* MythologyGag: Just like in ''Say It Thrice'', there are occasionally reference to elements of the [[WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} cartoon]].
** Though not the same exact character as the girl from the cartoon, the blonde AlphaBitch character is named "Claire."

** [[Disney/{{Hercules}} A little dark, a little gloomy, and - hey! As always, full of dead people."]]

* WhenSheSmiles: A variant; Betelgeuse finds himself wondering what Lydia looks like when she's actually happy.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Whether he's really evil is up for debate, but Betelgeuse definitely doesn't understand altruism. At least, not directed towards ''him''. He can't figure out why Lydia would set him loose for a couple of days when it doesn't benefit her in the least.

** [[Film/TheForceAwakens "So… who talks first? I talk first? You talk first?"]]
* WouldntHurtAChild: Betelgeuse. Scare them a little, sure. But not even as much he would adults and he definitely doesn't harm them. In his own words, "children have to be protected."

** He also doesn't use his power to force women to say "yes" to him. He'll still hit on anything female, but they always have the option to smack him and tell him to get lost.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Whether he's really evil is up for debate, but Betelgeuse definitely doesn't understand altruism. He can't figure out why Lydia would set him loose for a couple of days when it doesn't benefit her in the least.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Betelgeuse. Scare them a little, sure. But not even as much he does adults. In his own words, "children have to be protected."

And while the author claimed there were [[ExactWords no plans for a sequel]], they weren't [[LoopholeAbuse quite done]] with what became the ''Say It'' duology.

A {{prequel}} story, ''Say It Again,'' is currently in the works and can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11869216/1/Say-It-Again here]] or [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6403750/chapters/14660200 here]]. This story examines the bond between Lydia and Betelgeuse in the period between the film and the first story. How do they go from disliking/distrusting one another to regarding each other as best friends?

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Seen particularly in ''Say It Again,'' with Lydia's persistent kindness to Betelgeuse.
* CuriosityCausesConversion: Seen in ''Say It Again''. Betelgeuse can't figure out why Lydia would want to be nice to him, since almost no one ever is; he especially doesn't understand her motives after the almost-wedding. So he decides to stick around and see if he can work out her angle. In the process, he grows genuinely attached.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Betelgeuse. Scare them a little, sure. But not even as much he does adults.

* {{Prequel}}: ''Say It Again''

A prequel story, ''Say It Again,'' is currently in the works and can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11869216/1/Say-It-Again here]] or [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6403750/chapters/14660200 here]]. This story examines the bond between Lydia and Betelgeuse in the period between the film and the first story. How do they go from disliking/distrusting one another to regarding each other as best friends?

!!Tropes found in the ''Say It'' duology include:

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Seen particularly in ''Say It Again,'' with Lydia's persistent kindness to Betelgeuse.

* CuriosityCausesConversion: Seen in ''Say It Again''. Betelgeuse can't figure out why Lydia would want to be nice to him, since almost no one ever is; he especially doesn't understand her motives after the almost-wedding. So he decides to stick around and see if he can work out her angle. In the process, he grows genuinely attached.

* EncyclopediaExposita: A lot of the WorldBuilding and such are delivered in this manner. At the start of chapters are excerpts from sources such as ''[[Film/{{Beetlejuice}} The Handbook for the Recently Deceased, The Living and the Dead,]]'' and even [[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom the scientific journals of Maddie Fenton]].

A prequel story, ''Say It Again,'' is currently in the works and can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11869216/1/Say-It-Again here]] or [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6403750/chapters/14660200 here]]. This story examines the bond between Lydia and Betelgeuse in the period between the film and the first story. How did they go from disliking/distrusting one another to regarding each other as best friends?

!!Tropes Found in the ''Say It'' duology include:

!!Tropes Found in ''Say It Thrice'' include:

* CoolCar: Jazz refers to her family's RV as "the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle," just like it was called a few times in the [[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom cartoon]].

* TalkingInTheirSleep: How Lydia accidentally summons Betelgeuse in the last chapter. [[spoiler:She's having a nightmare that he's never coming back.]]