cast of characters

  • ‘CASSANDRA GOTH’

eldest daughter of the wealthy Goths

  • ‘SIMEON SILVERSWEATER’

receptionist at FUTURESIM, formerly Sage of Practical Magic

  • ‘ERI O’LANNA’

new apprentice at FUTURESIM

// OPEN VISUAL :

FUTURESIM LABS

CASSANDRA GOTH is a Junior Tinkerer at FUTURESIM. A middling achiever at university, she flitted through some minor employments before her father’s connections were able to land her a job at the local laboratory.

Young adulthood has been a difficult ride; the past year has seen her mother die unexpectedly with her father committing suicide soon after. Her little brother now in the care of a family friend, she has been throwing herself into her work to distract herself from the sudden family changes. In fact, her coworkers might not have much to say about CASSANDRA’s handling of the tragedy – they might not have noticed any change in the quiet girl at all – had the suicide not lit up the local papers, desperate to characterize Mortimer Goth as a gloomy Romeo.

Today CASSANDRA has a distraction. She’s made quick friends with the receptionist, a certain SIMEON SILVERSWEATER. She doesn’t know about spellcasters, and thus doesn’t know about the Sage’s former employment.

CASSANDRA

DID YOU SEE THERE’S A NEW GIRL?

SIMEON is absorbed in his email client. It’s difficult for CASSANDRA to know whether it’s genuine or not – she seems not to care and talks to him without winning his eye-contact.

SIMEON

YEAH. ERI?

CASSANDRA

HER HAIR IS BLUE. BLUE!! IF I KNEW WE WERE ALLOWED TO HAVE DYED HAIR…!

SIMEON

IS THAT YOUR NATURAL COLOR?

CASSANDRA

IT IS. BUT I HAD BLUE HAIR WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL. I LOVED IT –

SIMEON

GO FOR IT!

CASSANDRA pauses for a moment, as if considering it.

CASSANDRA

WELL IT WAS JUST THE TIPS. IT WAS KIND OF A PAIN TO MAINTAIN. ANYWAY I GOTTA GET GOING.

CASSANDRA leaves the receptionist’s station to head back into the lab.