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Casting Call
![]() A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens Name: Ebenezer Scrooge
Casting Call: Felassan, Jyushimatsu Matsuno, Mira Chambers, Osomatsu Matsuno, Rufus Shinra, Shirou Emiya, Yuri Leclerc
Physical Notes: An older man, stodgy.
Personality Notes: Miserly, greedy, and cold-hearted. After being visited by the spirits, he turns joyful, generous, and kind.
Compulsions: To keep and grow his fortune.
Later, to seek redemption once he's seen the reality of his situation, and to make amends by using his wealth to spread joy.  "A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!" Name: The Cratchit Family
Casting Call: Deuce Spade, Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Ren Amamiya, Sandalphon, Tseng, Yoichi Isagi
Physical Notes: Bob and Mrs. Cratchit are older, in their mid-40s-50s. Their many children can range from 15-30.
Personality Notes: All kind and loving, trying to get by, but know they can rely on one another.
Compulsions: To care for one another. Bob also cares for Scrooge, in his own way, though the rest of the family despises him on some level.  "God bless us every one!" Name: Tiny Tim
Casting Call: Misa Amane, Shen Jiu
Physical Notes: A child, no older than 11. Very thin and small for his age. Crippled and frail.
Personality Notes: Near-angelic, forgiving and loving of everyone, having a good spirit about his frailty.
Compulsions: To keep his family in good spirits, and enjoy the time he has with them.  "I wear the chain I forged in life" Name: Jacob Marley
Casting Call: Angela Ziegler, Ogata Hyakunosuke, Ruggie Bucchi, Yan Qing
Physical Notes: Deceased. A ghost, bound in heavy chains.
Personality Notes: Greedy and cold in life, remoresful in death.
Compulsions: To warn Ebenezer Scrooge about the fate that awaits him, should he continue on his path. To announce the coming of the three subsequent spirits.  "Your welfare! Your reclamation, then. Take heed!" Name: The Ghost of Christmas Past
Casting Call: Aerith Gainsborough, Dirk Strider, Gwendolyn
Physical Notes: A small spirit, whose face glows brightly, simultaneously appearing very young and very old.
Personality Notes: Sprightly, caring, almost childlike, but not childish. Wise beyond their appearance.
Compulsions: To take Ebenezer Scrooge into his past, and show him visions of Christmases before he became so bitter and miserly, a reminder of happiness he once had.  "Come in! and know me better, man!" Name: The Ghost of Christmas Present
Casting Call: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Hua Cheng, V
Physical Notes: A larger than life spirit, wearing an oversized green fur robe.
Personality Notes: Jovial and merry, even while issuing their warning. Their existence spreads joy, and they know and relish in it.
Compulsions: To show Ebenezer Scrooge visions of Christmas merriment in the present, to show that merriment costs nothing and brings joy. To fade away once the season is ended, because his lifespan is short.  "For in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery." Name: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Casting Call: Leona Kingscholar, Lucifer, Shen Qingqiu, Sylvain Jose Gautier, Wei Wuxian
Physical Notes: An ominous spectre, in black robes, with their face hidden. Mute.
Personality Notes: Cold and chilling, frightening by nature, deliberate in action. Forgiving, by virtue of issuing a warning rather than a condemnation.
Compulsions: To show Ebenezer Scrooge visions of what awaits him in the future, should he not change course. That he will die alone and be unmourned. That his belongings will be sold off before his body has even gone cold. Name: Ensemble
Casting Call: Itachi Uchiha, Osamu Dazai, Rorona Zoro, Xie Lian
Physical Notes: Various side and filler characters appearing in short, brief scenes. Can be varied ages, social statuses, and genders. Named Ensemble characters would be Fred, Fezziwig, Belle, Fan, and "The Portly Gentlemen," though this role is not limited to just them.
Personality Notes: Varied - though generally joyful.
Compulsions: To enjoy the Christmas season to the fullest. code @ efryndiel
Scrooge and Marley's
⬡ Common Cast
Characters most likely to originate in Scrooge and Marley's are Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and the Ensemble.
⬡ Literary Description
"The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed."
⬡ For Your Exploration
Characters may explore the counting house in its entirety. It is small, filled with several cubicles where employees can sit and work. There will be one candlestick at each desk, and the bare minimum of supplies. The employees' room will be cold, poorly heated, and rather dark. Scrooge's office will be larger, but just as cold and just as dim.
Ebenezer Scrooge will be compelled to ensure that Bob Cratchit does not make any efforts to further warm the space, should they interact here prior to the visit of the spirits.
After the spirits' visit, the space will be warmer, brighter, like the joy put into Scrooge's heart has spread throughout the workplace.
⬡ “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!”
Prior to the change in Ebenezer Scrooge, his nephew(/niece), "Ensemble Character," comes to invite him to Christmas dinner the following day at their home, with their spouse, "Ensemble Character 2," and to extol the virtues of the season, and of love, on their uncle, who isn't having it at all. Bob Cratchit witnesses the exchange, and is far more pleasant to them than Scrooge.
City Streets
⬡ Common Cast
Characters most likely to originate in the City Streets are anyone human - Ebenezer Scrooge, the Cratchit family, Tiny Tim, and the Ensemble.
⬡ Literary Description
"Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold became intense. In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourers were repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. The water-plug being left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice. The brightness of the shops where holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp heat of the windows, made pale faces ruddy as they passed. Poulterers’ and grocers’ trades became a splendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to impossible to believe that such dull principles as bargain and sale had anything to do."
⬡ For Your Exploration
The streets are cold and foggy, but the air of Christmas permeates the atmosphere. People are, generally, cheerful, shops are done up for the holiday, and there is a general air of celebration from everyone milling about. Carols can be heard, as well as the ringing of bells, in addition to the expected sounds of a Victorian city - horses and their carriages, shouting, the chatter of conversation. It grows dark early in the afternoon, but the daytime highlights the bright, white snow. Children play in the streets and, given the season, even adults are prone to join in on their way to or from some place or another.
Scrooge's Apartment
⬡ Common Cast
Characters most likely to originate in Scrooge's Apartment are Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley, and the Ghosts of Christmas. Ensemble Characters may originate outside, in the morning after the visions.
⬡ Literary Description
"He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again. It was old enough now, and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices."
⬡ For Your Exploration
Scrooge's Apartment is dark and gloomy, comprised of three rooms - a sitting room, lumber room, and bedroom. Darkness is cheap, after all, so each room is only ever lit with a candle, maybe two, and the fire burns so low as to barely ward off any of the winter's chill.
⬡ The Bells
Not long after returning home from work, all the bells in the house will begin to ring, kicking off a great cacophony of noise, briefly, before all falling silent at once, to herald the dragging and clanking of chains, and the arrival of Jacob Marley.
⬡ I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!
After the visitation of the Ghostly Collective, Scrooge will have had a complete change of heart. He'll awaken in bed, fresh from the graveyard. He'll rejoice at having a second chance, he'll throw open the window to the sound of church bells on a bright morning, full of sunshine.
It's Christmas. It's time to begin to make things right.
Your Past
⬡ Common Cast
Characters most likely to originate in Your Past are The Ghost of Christmas Past, Ebenezer Scrooge, and the Ensemble.
⬡ Literary Description
"They walked along the road, Scrooge recognizing every gate, and post, and tree; until a little market-town appeared in the distance, with its bridge, its church, and winding river. Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting towards them with boys upon their backs, who called to other boys in country gigs and carts, driven by farmers. All these boys were in great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad fields were so full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed to hear it!"
⬡ For Your Exploration
The entirety of the little town may be explored, though most of the details will be hazy. Ebenezer Scrooge will recognize it as the town he grew up in. There is snow on the ground, and clearly in the midst of the Christmas holidays. It will be populated with individuals he knew in his youth, though they will be unable to notice or interact with Scrooge or the spirit.
⬡ The School-House
The spirit will show Ebenezer Scrooge visions twice over of his younger self left behind, alone, in the school-house, sitting, without friends, studying. The second vision will bring with it a sight of his younger sister, Fan, who will joyfully bring him home for the holiday.
It's revealed that she was always frail, and has since passed away, but not before having a child, Scrooge's nephew.
⬡ Old Fezziwig's
It will show him, too, a particular warehouse in the large city, after leaving with his sister. He was apprenticed there, and will remember the proprietor fondly. He was a jolly man, and generous. Quite the opposite sort of employer as Scrooge, even closing up early for Christmas, to hold a party with family and employees alike.
The Present
⬡ Common Cast
Characters most likely to originate in The Present are The Ghost of Christmas Present, Ebenezer Scrooge, The Cratchit Family and Tiny Tim, and the Ensemble.
⬡ Literary Description
"The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, contrasting with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground; which last deposit had been ploughed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and waggons; furrows that crossed and re-crossed each other hundreds of times where the great streets branched off; and made intricate channels, hard to trace in the thick yellow mud and icy water. The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts’ content. There was nothing very cheerful in the climate or the town, and yet was there an air of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest summer air and brightest summer sun might have endeavored to diffuse in vain.
For, the people who were shoveling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball—better-natured missile far than many a wordy jest—laughing heartily if it went right and not less heartily if it went wrong. The poulterers’ shops were still half open, and the fruiterers’ were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers’ benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people’s mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squat and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. The very gold and silver fish, set forth among these choice fruits in a bowl, though members of a dull and stagnant-blooded race, appeared to know that there was something going on; and, to a fish, went gasping round and round their little world in slow and passionless excitement.
The Grocers’! oh, the Grocers’! nearly closed, with perhaps two shutters down, or one; but through those gaps such glimpses! It was not alone that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound, or that the twine and roller parted company so briskly, or that the canisters were rattled up and down like juggling tricks, or even that the blended scents of tea and coffee were so grateful to the nose, or even that the raisins were so plentiful and rare, the almonds so extremely white, the sticks of cinnamon so long and straight, the other spices so delicious, the candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the coldest lookers-on feel faint and subsequently bilious. Nor was it that the figs were moist and pulpy, or that the French plums blushed in modest tartness from their highly-decorated boxes, or that everything was good to eat and in its Christmas dress; but the customers were all so hurried and so eager in the hopeful promise of the day, that they tumbled up against each other at the door, crashing their wicker baskets wildly, and left their purchases upon the counter, and came running back to fetch them, and committed hundreds of the like mistakes, in the best humor possible; while the Grocer and his people were so frank and fresh that the polished hearts with which they fastened their aprons behind might have been their own, worn outside for general inspection, and for Christmas daws to peck at if they chose."
⬡ For Your Exploration
The streets will be crowded and seemingly endless, shops open and peddling wares that look especially inviting and delicious, if only because it's Christmas, and there's a certain joy in the air, brought on by the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Present - whether or not you're able to see him. Fights can be staved off with a mere mention of how it's pointless to fight on Christmas, small mistakes are easily forgiven, and even the cold seems to not bite as much as it ought to, for how much snow coats the ground.
At night, the streets will be empty, but windows will be all lit up, and warmth and the sound of merriment will ring out from every household as people gather for dinner and parties with family and friends. These houses will all appear the same on the inside, though the guests' appearances will all vary slightly, and the Ensemble cast could very well have a party of their own.
⬡ The Cratchits'
Sooner or later, the Ghost of Christmas Present will bring Ebenezer Scrooge to the Cratchits' small, four-room house. Mrs. Cratchit will be making dinner, the children will be gathered around, all of them dressed in their holiday best - though, notably, will still appear poor. They're clearly celebrating the day, and each other, despite having little.
Scrooge and the Spirit will stay for the duration of the party, and the spirit will, in time, tell him that Tiny Tim will not live through the year, if their situation does not change, before they leave the family for the night.
Your Future
⬡ Common Cast
Characters most likely to originate in Your Future are The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Ebenezer Scrooge, and the Ensemble.
⬡ Literary Description
"They scarcely seemed to enter the city; for the city rather seemed to spring up about them, and encompass them of its own act. But there they were, in the heart of it; on ’Change, amongst the merchants; who hurried up and down, and chinked the money in their pockets, and conversed in groups, and looked at their watches, and trifled thoughtfully with their great gold seals; and so forth, as Scrooge had seen them often."
//
"A churchyard. Here, then; the wretched man whose name he had now to learn, lay underneath the ground. It was a worthy place. Walled in by houses; overrun by grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation’s death, not life; choked up with too much burying; fat with repleted appetite. A worthy place!"
⬡ For Your Exploration
The setting of the future is a bit more shifting, nebulous. Scrooge may find himself on an ordinary street, surrounding by gossiping businessmen, only to take a few steps further into a dim pawn shop, or an abandoned bedroom with a corpse, or even to the Cratchits' home, with the family solemn and wondering about the state of their future, only to end in an overgrown graveyard with run down, neglected graves. Nothing in this vision is concrete, and only fleeting glimpses are offered here and there. Everyone except Ebenezer Scrooge seems to understand the reality of the situation until the very end.
⬡ Cold, isn’t it?
The Spirit will be at first inclined to show Ebenezer Scrooge visions of wealthy businessmen speaking among themselves in short pleasantries, all mentioning a particular man who has passed in distant terms - an acquaintance, more than a friend.
⬡ I wouldn’t give another sixpence.
From there, the Spirit will bring him to a pawn shop, where three individuals have brought spoils from a dead man's home, that they took while he was still lying there, as he had no friends or family to preserve his things or tend the body. They'll speak ill of the dead as well - how no one cared for him in life, so they might profit off him in death. The pawnbroker, too, will have no qualms with making the exchange, even when one individual presents the deceased bed-curtains, and even the nice shirt that he'd been laid out to be buried in.
⬡ The Neglected Grave
Further, the Spirit will show Ebenezer Scrooge a graveyard, overgrown and barely tended to, to show him who the deceased man was that was being spoken of, that was in a room shown to him just before, with his face covered, that no one mourned.
It is, of course, his own grave.
The reality should strike fear, remorse, and resolve into the man's heart, that he might be a better man in the future, to avert this future, and to do his own part in spreading Christmas to the less fortunate.
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liburuzaina2021-01-31 10:27 pm
