Visit from Hippiah

Characters: Pepper Mentor (as yet unnamed, aged 16-17).

Scene 1

Panel 1: (Outside Pepper's house.)

Mentor: Wow, it seems much smaller on the outside.

Panel 2: (Inside Pepper's house. We see Pepper and The Mentor are sitting down at the table, drinking tea. Pepper's studying books are off to the side of them in a semi-neat pile, as though she just cleared them off).

Pepper: Thank you for coming on short notice, Mentor. Mentor: I'm glad you invited me here. I've missed you.

Panel 3: (Close-up of Pepper's face)

Pepper: It's rare for my godmothers to be out. I should be studying by I wanted to see you.

Panel 4: (Close-up of the Mentor sipping tea, smirking)

Mentor: Hippiah has been quiet since you became a witch of Chaosah.

Scene 2

Panel 5: (Close-up of Pepper looking agitated and bemused)

Pepper: Hey now, Hippiah just wasn't ready for me and my talents.

Panel 6: (Pull back Pepper looking at the Mentor speaking. The Mentor is smiling, almost purring, while talking.In the corner we see a flashboack. One of Pepper's instructors is holding a coffee mug. From the top we see a violent thrust into the face of the instructor, obscuing all but the hair and hat of the instructor's head.

Mentor: Like the time when you created coffee beans that ground and brewed themselves? Pepper: I needed more time to get the ratios right.

Panel 7 (Close-up of over the Mentor's shoulder of Pepper rolling her eyes). We see a flashback of several folks following Pepper's lead while chasing a running vegetable (a carrot perhaps?)

Mentor: Or the time when you created self-harvesting vegetables? Peppper: I didn't expect them to run away like that.

Panel 8: Pull back to Pepper and the Mentor, side view. Pepper is beginning to wilt a bit while the Mentor appears to be having fun recounting these tales. We see a flashback of some surly looking vegetables with their arms crossed standing guard in a garden.

Pepper: What about the squirrel-deterring (en.: squirrel-proof) vegetables that I created? Mentor: Well, that one was so successful that nobody has been able to get close enough to the vegetables to pick them.

Scene 3

Panel 9: Pepper is looking crestfallen. The mentor puts her tea on the saucer and takes on a more compassionate look

Mentor: Look Pepper, Hippiah is not about the grandiose changes you wanted to make.

Panel 10: Close-up of the Mentor

Mentor: A true witch of Hippiah nurtures growth and doesn't hurry progress.

Panel 11: Pull back to The Mentor leaning in over the table reassuringly. Pepper is slouched over, dejected.

Mentor: You're an excellent witch, Pepper, but Hippiah moves too slowly for you. We all knew it.

Panel 12: Close-up of The Mentor brom below, her arm outstretched in a fist.

Mentor: When those crones from Chaosah came looking for their heir we knew that you would be a better fit with Chaosah than Hippiah.

Panel 13: Side-view of The Mentor, getting closer to Pepper

Mentor: And while sending you with those crones wasn't my idea I knew it was time for you to make your own path.

Panel 14: Side view. The Mentor gets up and looks out the window. Pepper is still seated, but looking at her.

Mentor: When we were at the orphanage I told you that you were special. That you would change Hereva.

Panel 15: Focus on the Mentor, looking dead straight at Pepper.

Mentor: I still believe that Pepper. And I think you do too.

Panel 16: Focus on the eyes of The Mentor.

Mentor And you will become a true witch of Hereva.

Panel 17: Pull back on The Mentor from below. She flips her hands, eyes closed, smirking

Mentor: But I know you'll do it your own way.

Panel 18: Pepper, looking grateful for the company and the pep-talk.

Pepper: Thank you, Mentor. I always knew you believed in me.

Panel 19: The mentor sits down and drinks her tea. She looks calm.

Mentor: You have to grow into yourself, Pepper. Hippiah knows you can't rush these things.

Panel 20 Side view. Pepper sheepishly points at the mentor as if she is afraid to hear the answer. The mentor looks like she is trying not to roll her eyes. Flashback to a man in a suit, mayor sash draped across, with a moustache and beard clearly frazzled looking like Wil-E-Coyote after being detonated with dynamite.

Pepper: So what about the ... Mentor: ...blueberries? You're still banned from City Hall.

FIN