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scene 13: lurked and got my feelings hurt
🕑 Added 2023-12-01 23:13:58 +0000 UTC[the scene starts with jessie walking home, in a pretty good mood. She should do something nice (or several things) — better if it's funny — like revive roadkill or unwilt flowers or unsteal candy from a baby or get someone out of a burning building. Could go really over the top and have her rescue a bunch of clowns from a burning pie factory or something.
It could also exhibit one of her powers to show the reader she's beefing herself up… the scene with dad will probably show her super strength, so it could be something like her indestructibility.
After doing Some Good, jessie hops the fence right next to a gate she could have used to the backyard of her family's home. She strides into the house through the backdoor, and sees her mom and dad sitting at the dining table. Emily is standing near them. Her family doesn't have much conflict outside of jessie, so their demeanors are instantly "off" to her. She stops mid-stride (literally still mid-air, she just stops in the air like she's in coyote time), and they are both clearly surprised and leaning back, away from her.]
Emily: Jessie.
Mom: ……Jessie!~
Dad: hi Jessie.
[Jessie looks at them uneasily, and then abruptly whips her arm up to write. While she says "time stops" her mom tries to interrupt her to chide her. Unfortunately, "time stops" is a very short sentence, so… jessie snaps and time stops.
Jessie backs out of the door and closes it; her eyes are bugging out and she's sweating anxiously. Both of her parents are calm, patient people, and she is perturbed seeing them upset.]
Jessie: that's not right... That's definitely not right. [she rolls her neck side to side to crack it nervously, then opens up her notebook] 'The last 10 minutes never happened.'
[She snaps, and then peeks into the dining room again. Time is still stopped, but her parents are at the table, in different positions. They seem more normal, but her mom seems stressed, while looking at a newspaper. Emily is no longer present at all.
Jessie shuts the sliding door and curiously inspects them by circling the table. She looks at the newspaper, which is open to bizarre events that she's probably caused like entire buildings disappearing or fruit suddenly being 5 times bigger. Her dad was in the middle of starting to eat an orange (that is 5 times as big as a normal orange) or something.]
Jessie: …okay, that's normal.
[She adjusts her glasses, and sits on the chair next to her dad (at the far end of the table).]
Jessie: [writing while speaking] 'Jessie's parents can't see oorrr…. [eyes looking up with thought] ..hear her at all, even when she's right there. And time starts to flow again.'
[Jessie snaps.]
Mom: -took care of it. Money evidently won't be a problem anyway.
Dad: [joking] Jessie should just wish away the bills altogether.
[Jessie is like pulling at her eyelids and muttering "why didn't I think of that?"]
Mom: stop..
Dad: [same panel] I know, I know.
Mom: don't encourage her. These new powers of hers are really worrying me, Adam.
Dad: aww.
Mom: we should just act as normally as we can. —like we always have.
Dad: I dunno, I think it's great that she's achieved something. She can feel proud of this.
Mom: [turning to look at him instead of the paper, not angry, but concerned and serious] I'm not talking about how she feels. What I've seen her do with that book could have consequences way beyond our family.
[there is a shot of jessie rolling her eyes with irritation as her mom says this]
Dad: [sympathetic smile and head cock] I don't think it'll be too big a deal.
Mom: it's ALREADY. A big deal.
Dad: you knew what I meant, though, right?
Mom: [leaning back] just don't encourage her. She cares more about your opinion than mine.
Dad: I don't see how that will be possible. She brings it up on her own. I'd either have to ignore it, which she would notice, or, or.. Lie, and put her down.
Mom: Then lie, Adam. It's the lesser of two evils. By a vast margin.
Dad: and hurt my daughter's feelings?
Mom: I'm sure you can find a way to be diplomatic about it. [adam sets down his orange and makes a stressed out huff. Evelyn leans forward, with her elbow on the table] …She's our daughter. We both know what she's like. We both know she's always had a temper. If all it takes for the world to explode is a single sentence, then— oh my GOD, it's like she's carrying the football in her pocket.
Dad: honey…
Mom: [interrupting, kind of like angry whispering through gritted teeth] WHY are you encouraging the football?!
Dad: I'm encouraging. Our. Daughter.
Mom: I'M talking about every single daughter on earth! Including our other daughter!! Don't you think about how often they both squabble?? How dangerous that is for Emily when Jessie has a loaded gun—
Dad: Jessie wouldn't do that.
Mom: Adam, it doesn't even need to be on purpose! Guns fire when no one wants them to every day! And if you think Jessie wouldn't— I mean I'm surprised she doesn't have the house bugged! [jessie's ears fold; she is just barely able to parse the irony of her mom saying this while she's eavesdropping and what it implies about her or her mother's predictions about her. She's folding her ears both at this sentence and the next.] And that I only know because she definitely already would've, I dunno, made my car explode or-
[All 3 of them hear a bedroom door upstairs open and close; it isn't trying to be subtle at all.]
Dad: [murmuring] …I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. Even if I agreed.
Emily: [stopping halfway down the stairs, leaning to see past partition wall] hi. Yeah. It's me. The vibes in here were rancid enough to wake me up.
Mom: Sorry, Em.
Emily: can you like, clear the air? Or do you want me to— wait, you're arguing in front of Jessie?
Dad: what?
Mom: WHAT?! WHERE?
[jessie waves her arms in an X shape to try to tell emily to shut the fuck up, but this is only obvious after she starts talking about jessie. Emily's next line continues while seeing jessie do this.]
Emily: [trailing off] ooohh… I mean-
Mom: Emily, where??
Emily: Sorry Juice, I can't undo it. Unnndo it for me.
Jessie: [huffing in exasperation while writing] 'Time stops.'
[Jessie snaps, and time stops. She stays seated for a moment, and observes her parents. She seems sad or insecure while looking at her dad, and, while still holding the previous emotions, angry as well at her mom. She gets up and leaves from the door she used to come in, writing something on her pad as she goes.]
this scene establishes the basic dynamic jessie's family will have about her powers into act 2. pertaining to a more immediate effect, it compels jessie to try to do something big and unilaterally good: creating world peace.
the first writer, who controls her powers, prevents her from doing this, and the conflict between the two begins to build -- a necessary step to reach the end of act 1.
in the script, jessie's commandments are written in red, but that isn't an option here, so i've bolded them instead.
