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| caption1=
| caption1=
| other_titles=
| other_titles=
| hero(es)= [[Jenny Over-There]]
| hero(es)= [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]]
| featuring= [[The Man in Grey]]<br>[[Dynamite Thor]]<br>[[Metal O'Maniac]]<br>[[Talbot Molossus]]<br>[[The Hydrant]]<br>[[Gilbert Gottfried]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Wayne Bruce]]<br>[[Batman]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Iron Lady]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Nihilist]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Aryan Eagle]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Volksstrum]]<br>[[Doctor Know-It-All]]<br>[[Doctor No]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Doctor]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Doctor Omega]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Doctor's TARDIS]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Man in Black]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[0000-8888888]]<br>[[Captain Omega]]<br>[[Stardust the Super-Wizard]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[George Wilson]]<br>[[Jay Gatsby]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small>
| featuring= [[The Man in Grey (925th Universe)|The Man in Grey]]<br>[[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]]<br>[[Metal O'Maniac]]<br>[[Talbot Molossus]]<br>[[The Hydrant]]<br>[[Gilbert Gottfried]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Wayne Bruce]]<br>[[Batman]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Iron Lady]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Nihilist]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Aryan Eagle]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Volksstrum]]<br>[[Doctor Know-It-All (925th Universe)|Doctor Know-It-All]]<br>[[Doctor No]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Doctor]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Doctor Omega]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Doctor's TARDIS]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Man in Black]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[0000-8888888]]<br>[[Captain Omega]]<br>[[Stardust the Super-Wizard (925th Universe)|Stardust the Super-Wizard]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[George Wilson]]<br>[[Jay Gatsby]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dynamite Thor's friend (Open Sourcing)|Dynamite Thor's friend]]<br><small>(2024 edition; mentioned)</small><br>[[Pixie Pristine]]<br><small>(2024 edition; mentioned)</small><br>[[The Dart]]<br><small>(2024 edition; mentioned)</small><br>[[The Spider Queen]]<br><small>(2024 edition; mentioned)</small><br>[[Electro (Fox universe)|Electro]]<br><small>(2024 edition; mentioned)</small>
| setting= [[M.F.S. office]], [[925th Universe]]
| setting= [[M.F.S. office]], [[925th Universe]]
| length= 3478 words
| length= 3,478 words<br><small>(original edition)</small><br>5,184 words<br><small>(2024 edition)</small>
| writer(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]]
| writer(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]]
| artist(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]]
| artist(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]]
| series=
| series=
| dates= May 13th, 2022
| dates= May 13th, 2022<br>July 12th, 2024<br><small>(updated edition)</small>
| original_link= [https://archiveofourown.org/works/38095315]
| original_link= [https://archiveofourown.org/works/38965554]<br>[https://ninetwofiveuniverse.wordpress.com/2024/07/08/open-sourcing/]
| seriesnav=  
| seriesnav= ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' stories
}}'''''Open Sourcing''''' was a short story written by [[Callum Phillpott]]. The second in Phillpott's ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' series, it continued the story of their creations [[Jenny Over-There]] and [[the Man in Grey]], and featured appearances by multiple other public-domain and open-source characters.
| previous= ''[[The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There (short story)|The Tribulations of Jenny Everywhere]]''
| next= ''[[A Series of Queer Events (short story)|A Series of Queer Events]]''
}}'''''Open Sourcing''''' was a short story written by [[Callum Phillpott]]. The second in Phillpott's ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' series, it continued the story of their creations [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]] and [[The Man in Grey (925th Universe)|the Man in Grey]], and featured appearances by multiple other public-domain and open-source characters.
 
In 2024, a heavily updated version was published on the official ''Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe'' website.  


==Contents==
==Contents==
===Plot===
===Plot===
One morning, [[Jenny Over-There]] reports to the [[M.F.S. office]] for what she expected to be a routine day at the office, only to find her desk and the [[Red Interdimensional Telephone]] gone, and [[the Man in Grey]] waiting for her. He explains that normal operations of the [[Multidimensional Finders Service]] are suspended for the day so that Jenny can help him interview new candidates interested in joining the Service. As they settle in the interview room, the first candidate shows himself in the person of [[Dynamite Thor]], but the Man in Grey rejects him on the basis that he was formerly [[copyright]]ed and he only wants candidates who are, in this [[Fourth Wall Awareness|metafictional]] sense, “open-source”.
One morning, [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]] reports to the [[M.F.S. office]] for what she expected to be a routine day at the office, only to find her desk and the [[Red Interdimensional Telephone]] gone, and [[The Man in Grey (925th Universe)|the Man in Grey]] waiting for her. He explains that normal operations of the [[Multidimensional Finders Service (925th Universe)|Multidimensional Finders Service]] are suspended for the day so that Jenny can help him interview new candidates interested in joining the Service. As they settle in the interview room, the first candidate shows himself in the person of [[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]], but the Man in Grey rejects him on the basis that he was formerly [[copyright]]ed and he only wants candidates who are, in this [[Fourth Wall Awareness|metafictional]] sense, “open-source”.


The first serious candidate is a man made of metal called [[Metal O'Maniac]], who casually confesses to having set his previous place of work on fire due to them not paying him enough, making both nervous. He is followed by the pair of best friends [[Talbot Molossus]] and [[the Hydrant]]; despite Talbot's urbane and professional demeanour, Jenny and the Man in Grey find it exceedingly difficult to take them seriously due to their looking respectively like a humanoid dog and a humanoid fire hydrant. An hour and a half in, a man who looks suspiciously like a version of [[Batman]] walks in, and ends up biting the Man in Grey on the shoulder when he accuses him of being Bruce Wayne rather than his actual identity of [[Wayne Bruce]].
The first serious candidate is a man made of metal called [[Metal O'Maniac]], who casually confesses to having set his previous place of work on fire due to them not paying him enough, making both nervous. He is followed by the pair of best friends [[Talbot Molossus]] and [[the Hydrant]]; despite Talbot's urbane and professional demeanour, Jenny and the Man in Grey find it exceedingly difficult to take them seriously due to their looking respectively like a humanoid dog and a humanoid fire hydrant. An hour and a half in, a man who looks suspiciously like a version of [[Batman]] walks in, and ends up biting the Man in Grey on the shoulder when he accuses him of being Bruce Wayne rather than his actual identity of [[Wayne Bruce]].


As the Man in Grey nurses his wound, he discusses the possibility of dropping some of the less promising names from the interview list. She persuades him to drop the surprisingly numerous “patriotic” heroes such as [[the Iron Lady]], and also points out to him that a distressing number of names on the list are [[Nazi]] supervillains. Next up is [[Doctor Know-It-All]], about whom they have concerns due to his fairly blatant resemblance to [[the Doctor|“the time-traveller guy”]], but Know-It-All blackmails the Man in Grey into provisionally accepting him by pointing out his knowledge that the Man in Grey is himself suspiciously similar to [[The Man in Black|someone else]].
As the Man in Grey nurses his wound, he discusses the possibility of dropping some of the less promising names from the interview list. She persuades him to drop the surprisingly numerous “patriotic” heroes such as [[the Iron Lady]], and also points out to him that a distressing number of names on the list are [[Nazi]] supervillains. Next up is [[Doctor Know-It-All (925th Universe)|Doctor Know-It-All]], about whom they have concerns due to his fairly blatant resemblance to [[the Doctor|“the time-traveller guy”]], but Know-It-All blackmails the Man in Grey into provisionally accepting him by pointing out his knowledge that the Man in Grey is himself suspiciously similar to [[The Man in Black|someone else]].


After finally interviewing a qualified candidate in the form of [[0000-8888888]], they are slated to meet with [[Captain Omega]], but the real Captain Omega has been impersonated by [[Dynamite Thor]], who isn't giving up. When the real Captain Omega bursts in to confront Thor, Thor throws a “smoke grenade” to escape stealthily, but the grenade turns out to actually just be an actual grenade. Although everyone makes it out alright (Captain Omega wears protective armour as part of his costume, the Man in Grey leapt out the window in time, and Jenny used the M.F.S. [[teleportation ray]] to transport herself to safety), this brings an end to the interviews for the day.
After finally interviewing a qualified candidate in the form of [[0000-8888888]], they are slated to meet with [[Captain Omega]], but the real Captain Omega has been impersonated by [[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]], who isn't giving up. When the real Captain Omega bursts in to confront Thor, Thor throws a “smoke grenade” to escape stealthily, but the grenade turns out to actually just be an actual grenade. Although everyone makes it out alright (Captain Omega wears protective armour as part of his costume, the Man in Grey leapt out the window in time, and Jenny used the M.F.S. [[teleportation ray]] to transport herself to safety), this brings an end to the interviews for the day.


Eventually, the Man in Grey announces that he's settled on hiring Talbot, Fred, 0000-8888888, and Doctor Know — but also reveals to a disappointed Jenny that they are going to staff a new M.F.S. location in [[Scotland]], not in the Welsh officer with her. However, after the new hires leave to party about their successful interviews, the Man in Grey asks Jenny what she would think of hiring an intern to help the Welsh office run more smoothly. She ends up recommending Dynamite Thor for the position, feeling bad for him. The next day, he starts work, bringing Jenny tea (albeit having made the kettle explode) while she's taking a call from [[George Wilson|a man]] trying to find a [[Jay Gatsby|Mr Gatsby]].
Eventually, the Man in Grey announces that he's settled on hiring Talbot, Fred, 0000-8888888, and Doctor Know — but also reveals to a disappointed Jenny that they are going to staff a new M.F.S. location in [[Scotland]], not in the Welsh officer with her. However, after the new hires leave to party about their successful interviews, the Man in Grey asks Jenny what she would think of hiring an intern to help the Welsh office run more smoothly. She ends up recommending Dynamite Thor for the position, feeling bad for him. The next day, he starts work, bringing Jenny tea (albeit having made the kettle explode) while she's taking a call from [[George Wilson|a man]] trying to find a [[Jay Gatsby|Mr Gatsby]].
Line 30: Line 34:
===Worldbuilding===
===Worldbuilding===
====Universes====
====Universes====
* This story takes place in [[925th Universe|the home universe]] of [[Jenny Over-There]].
* This story takes place in [[925th Universe|the home universe]] of [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]].
* [[Dynamite Thor]] was previously “bound to the [[Fox universe]]”.
* [[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]] was previously “bound to the [[Fox universe]]”.


====Other====
====Other====
* The [[M.F.S. office]] is located “in the middle of [[Wales]]”.
* The [[M.F.S. office]] is located “in the middle of [[Wales]]”.
* Jenny demands: “Where the [[Hell]] is my desk?”.
* Jenny demands: “Where the [[Hell]] is my desk?”.
* [[The Man in Grey]] answers “the [[Great Higher-Up]]s”. He casually considers both himself and the Great Higher-Ups to be evil.
* [[The Man in Grey (925th Universe)|The Man in Grey]] answers “the [[Great Higher-Up]]s”. He casually considers both himself and the Great Higher-Ups to be evil.
* The Man in Grey reads ''[[Necronomics for Dummies]]''.
* The Man in Grey reads ''[[Necronomics for Dummies]]''.
* Jenny Over-There was about to burn down the [[SatNav]] factory when it coincidentally exploded, giving her her special powers.
* Jenny Over-There was about to burn down the [[SatNav]] factory when it coincidentally exploded, giving her her special powers.
* [[Talbot Molossus|Talbot]] is not from [[Earth]], but has been living there for a while.
* [[Talbot Molossus|Talbot]] is not from [[Earth]], but has been living there for a while.
* [[Jenny Over-There]] thinks that [[the Hydrant]] sounds a little like [[Gilbert Gottfried]].
* [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]] thinks that [[the Hydrant]] sounds a little like [[Gilbert Gottfried]].
* [[Doctor Know-It-All]] describes himself as “sorcerer supreme, mayor of [[Knowheresville]], home of the finest knowers in the known knowing universe”.
* [[Doctor Know-It-All (925th Universe)|Doctor Know-It-All]] describes himself as “sorcerer supreme, mayor of [[Knowheresville]], home of the finest knowers in the known knowing universe”.
* Jenny owns a [[teleportation ray]].
* Jenny owns a [[teleportation ray]].
* Multiple superhero teams rejected [[Dynamite Thor]], including the [[Super Besties]], even though the Besties allowed [[Stardust the Super-Wizard]] in.
* Multiple superhero teams rejected [[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]], including the [[Super Besties]], even though the Besties allowed [[Stardust the Super-Wizard (925th Universe)|Stardust the Super-Wizard]] in.


===Continuity===
===Continuity===
* This story acts as a sequel to the original [[Jenny Over-There]] story, [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There (short story)|The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There]]''.
* This story acts as a sequel to the original [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]] story, [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There (short story)|The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There]]''.
* The [[teleportation ray]] was mentioned in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Family Business (short story)|Family Business]]''.
* [[Tetra-None Hepta-Oct (925th Universe)|Tetra-None Hepta-Oct]] would belatedly learn of [[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]]'s actual hiring in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Annals of the Jen: One Year of Jenny Over-There (novel)|Annals of the Jen: One Year of Jenny Over-There]]''.  


==Behind the scenes==
==Behind the scenes==
Line 53: Line 59:
{{quotebox|A big thank you to the Public Domain Superheroes Wiki for making the finding of obscure Open Source characters way easier on my part. All characters mentioned can be found on there (except Batman, he's copyrighted).|Callum Phillpott}}
{{quotebox|A big thank you to the Public Domain Superheroes Wiki for making the finding of obscure Open Source characters way easier on my part. All characters mentioned can be found on there (except Batman, he's copyrighted).|Callum Phillpott}}


The updated, illustrated version published on the official ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' website on July 12th, 2024 expanded the wordcount by over one thousand and five hundred words. The most significant of these edits are:
* In the opening scene, an aside is added in which [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]] thinks to herself that [[the Man in Grey (925th Universe)|the Man in Grey]] reminds her “of a cheap [[Halloween]] decoration. One that maybe should’ve seen a psychiatrist a decade ago”. The latter phrase humorously alludes to [[The Man in Grey (short story)|the Man in Grey's official bio]] published as part of the ''Character Index'' of the newly-launched website at the same time as the updated version, in which it was revealed that the Man in Grey had indeed spent the 1994-2006 period having “an existential crisis”.
* Jenny reacts less angrily to the disappearance of her desk, taking the Man in Grey's nonsense in stride. She now agrees to help with the interviews not just for a generic offer of money, but in exchange for a promise that she'll get her own office.
* The Man in Grey reveals that he fulfilled Jenny's position for about a month under his prior boss, before “she” was fired and the [[Great Higher-Up]]s promoted him in her place.
* It is confirmed that the grey “interview room” which serves as the setting for most of the story is the same room in which Jenny went through her own job interview for the [[M.F.S.]]. Its description is subtly changed to the window only being “tinted” grey, rather than outright occluded with a grey paint-over as in the original.
* In recognition of the importance the character would ultimately take on in the series, [[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]]'s first scene in this story is significantly expanded, now including more back-and-forth. The mention of “the [[Fox universe]]” is changed to “the [[Foxverse]]” (the term used in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Lovie Dovie Stuff (short story)|Lovie Dovie Stuff]]''), with Thor explaining that he can travel back and forth between it and the [[925th Universe]] thanks to having “[[Dynamite Thor's friend (Open Sourcing)|a friend]] back there with a multidimensional thingamajig”. When called down on the fact that he is not an open-source character, Thor, though confessing that he isn't particularly good with “the metaphysical stuff”, tries to argue his case, explaining before he is interrupted that “[[Fox Features Syndicate]] never registered or renewed the copyright, so —”.
* The conversation with [[Metal O'Maniac]] is expanded, with O'Maniac now being more reluctant to admit he burned down his previous place of work.
* The aside mentioning that Jenny had been thinking about setting fire to the [[The Abandoned, Possibly Haunted SatNav Factory|SatNav factory]] on the day it “coincidentally blew up” is omitted.
* [[Talbot Molossus]]'s outfit is described as resembling a “Royal Officer” rather than a “British royal”. Jenny guesses that he is in his 20s.
* [[Wayne Bruce]] now insists on keeping the lights dimmed while he is being interviewed, and, when he tackles the Man in Grey, tries to bite down on his neck — implying he is a [[vampire]]-like being. The last few lines of the scene make it clearer that, precisely due to the dimmed lights, Jenny and the Man in Grey genuinely believed him to be [[Batman]], rather than simply dismissing him for being too Batman-like.
* While recovering from being bitten by Bruce, the Man in Grey ruminates that “in many ways, this form was severely limiting, but it was the one he had”.
* Jenny and the Man in Grey now have a bit of back-and-forth about the fact that [[the Iron Lady]] is friends with a version of [[Pixie Pristine]], who went unmentioned in the original version, though this association is part of the two characters' actual open-source blurbs.
* Jenny now notices that [[Volksstrum]] is a [[Nazi]] not because he is wearing an Iron Cross on his chest in his file picture, but because he wrote his name out as "VolkSStrum".
* Jenny extorts extra money from the Man in Grey for going through the list in-between applicants and crossing out all the obvious Nazis; agreeing without much fuss, the Man in Grey ends up handing her an arbitrary amount of banknotes from his wallet without counting them out.
* Similar to Thor's, [[Doctor Know (925th Universe)|Doctor Know]]'s introduction scene is significantly expanded. He boasts of having “lived a thousand lives and journeyed to a thousand wolds”. The Man in Grey loses his cool and, snatching up the Doctor's incriminating picture of [[the Man in Black]], “tears it up like a deranged [[goblin]]”, only for the Doctor to use magic to repair it, then add that it was irrelevant anyway because he has several backup copies in his archives. He also taunts the Man in Grey by saying he might tell the [[Great Higher-Up]]s about the Man's involvement with “[[War in Heaven|the War—]]” before he is interrupted by the Man in Grey agreeing to his terms.
* There is more focus on the [[Teleportation Gun]], which is stated to be “one use only”, ostensibly retroactively explaining why it never reappeared in the series (although this introduces an apparent contradiction with [[PROSE]]: ''[[Family Business (short story)|Family Business]]'' where Jenny implies that she tried to use it again when she was abducted by [[Jenny Nowhere (925th Universe)|Jenny Nowhere]]; this contradiction was resolved with a further edit on July 24th which broke the Fourth Wall by claiming the Gun could only be used “once per series”). Instead of using it on herself to escape the explosion within the building, she aims it at “Captain Omega” and his grenade, and ''they'' explode outdoors, just outside the window. This is bad news for the Man in Grey, who had still tried to escape by climbing out the window, although he suffers no serious injury.
* [[0000-8888888]]'s spelled-out name of [[Tetra-None Hepta-Oct]] is mentioned, unlike the original, briefer scene in which only the numerical form was presented. She give more detail on her background, noting that she recently left [[Cyclock homeworld (925th Universe)|her homeworld]] for unspecified reasons; features of human culture to which she still has trouble acclimatising include “living in linear time” (“I keep forgetting that seconds happen consecutively, and that time passes whenever I speak”) as well as “the gender thing”, which Tetra states doesn't exist among the [[Cyclock (925th Universe)|Cyclock]]s, with [[time signature]]s being the closest concept. Tetra expresses willingness to use she/her pronouns “for now”, but to “give them all a try” over time.
* Jenny's conversation with Dynamite Thor towards the end of the story now takes place in the small personal office given to her by the Man in Grey as promised, rather than in the waiting room outside the interview room.
* Their heart-to-heart is significantly expanded, with Jenny sharing her feelings of loneliness and dissociation from reality, while Peter describes the failure of his superheroic career at somewhat greater length, mentioning that he has become redundant in his home universe thanks to the prevalence of other heroes such as [[the Dart]], [[the Spider Queen]], and [[Electro (Fox universe)|Electro]].


===Read online===
===Read online===
''Open Sourcing'' was released [https://archiveofourown.org/works/38965554 on Archive Of Our Own], where it is still available.
''Open Sourcing'' was released [https://archiveofourown.org/works/38965554 on Archive Of Our Own], where it is still available. The updated version is [https://ninetwofiveuniverse.wordpress.com/2024/07/08/open-sourcing/ available] on the official ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' website.  


[[Category:Stories]]
[[Category:Stories]]
Line 69: Line 94:
[[Category:Featuring the Doctor]]
[[Category:Featuring the Doctor]]
[[Category:Installments of Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]
[[Category:Installments of Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]
[[Category:Featuring Dynamite Thor]]
[[Category:Featuring Batman]]
[[Category:Featuring Pixie Pristine]]

Latest revision as of 02:43, 24 July 2024

Open Sourcing was a short story written by Callum Phillpott. The second in Phillpott's Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe series, it continued the story of their creations Jenny Over-There and the Man in Grey, and featured appearances by multiple other public-domain and open-source characters.

In 2024, a heavily updated version was published on the official Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe website.

Contents

Plot

One morning, Jenny Over-There reports to the M.F.S. office for what she expected to be a routine day at the office, only to find her desk and the Red Interdimensional Telephone gone, and the Man in Grey waiting for her. He explains that normal operations of the Multidimensional Finders Service are suspended for the day so that Jenny can help him interview new candidates interested in joining the Service. As they settle in the interview room, the first candidate shows himself in the person of Dynamite Thor, but the Man in Grey rejects him on the basis that he was formerly copyrighted and he only wants candidates who are, in this metafictional sense, “open-source”.

The first serious candidate is a man made of metal called Metal O'Maniac, who casually confesses to having set his previous place of work on fire due to them not paying him enough, making both nervous. He is followed by the pair of best friends Talbot Molossus and the Hydrant; despite Talbot's urbane and professional demeanour, Jenny and the Man in Grey find it exceedingly difficult to take them seriously due to their looking respectively like a humanoid dog and a humanoid fire hydrant. An hour and a half in, a man who looks suspiciously like a version of Batman walks in, and ends up biting the Man in Grey on the shoulder when he accuses him of being Bruce Wayne rather than his actual identity of Wayne Bruce.

As the Man in Grey nurses his wound, he discusses the possibility of dropping some of the less promising names from the interview list. She persuades him to drop the surprisingly numerous “patriotic” heroes such as the Iron Lady, and also points out to him that a distressing number of names on the list are Nazi supervillains. Next up is Doctor Know-It-All, about whom they have concerns due to his fairly blatant resemblance to “the time-traveller guy”, but Know-It-All blackmails the Man in Grey into provisionally accepting him by pointing out his knowledge that the Man in Grey is himself suspiciously similar to someone else.

After finally interviewing a qualified candidate in the form of 0000-8888888, they are slated to meet with Captain Omega, but the real Captain Omega has been impersonated by Dynamite Thor, who isn't giving up. When the real Captain Omega bursts in to confront Thor, Thor throws a “smoke grenade” to escape stealthily, but the grenade turns out to actually just be an actual grenade. Although everyone makes it out alright (Captain Omega wears protective armour as part of his costume, the Man in Grey leapt out the window in time, and Jenny used the M.F.S. teleportation ray to transport herself to safety), this brings an end to the interviews for the day.

Eventually, the Man in Grey announces that he's settled on hiring Talbot, Fred, 0000-8888888, and Doctor Know — but also reveals to a disappointed Jenny that they are going to staff a new M.F.S. location in Scotland, not in the Welsh officer with her. However, after the new hires leave to party about their successful interviews, the Man in Grey asks Jenny what she would think of hiring an intern to help the Welsh office run more smoothly. She ends up recommending Dynamite Thor for the position, feeling bad for him. The next day, he starts work, bringing Jenny tea (albeit having made the kettle explode) while she's taking a call from a man trying to find a Mr Gatsby.

Worldbuilding

Universes

Other

Continuity

Behind the scenes

Background

In addition to the miscellaneous variants of the Paragraph required for the various open-source characters used, Callum Phillpott's author-notes read:

A big thank you to the Public Domain Superheroes Wiki for making the finding of obscure Open Source characters way easier on my part. All characters mentioned can be found on there (except Batman, he's copyrighted).
Callum Phillpott


The updated, illustrated version published on the official Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe website on July 12th, 2024 expanded the wordcount by over one thousand and five hundred words. The most significant of these edits are:

  • In the opening scene, an aside is added in which Jenny Over-There thinks to herself that the Man in Grey reminds her “of a cheap Halloween decoration. One that maybe should’ve seen a psychiatrist a decade ago”. The latter phrase humorously alludes to the Man in Grey's official bio published as part of the Character Index of the newly-launched website at the same time as the updated version, in which it was revealed that the Man in Grey had indeed spent the 1994-2006 period having “an existential crisis”.
  • Jenny reacts less angrily to the disappearance of her desk, taking the Man in Grey's nonsense in stride. She now agrees to help with the interviews not just for a generic offer of money, but in exchange for a promise that she'll get her own office.
  • The Man in Grey reveals that he fulfilled Jenny's position for about a month under his prior boss, before “she” was fired and the Great Higher-Ups promoted him in her place.
  • It is confirmed that the grey “interview room” which serves as the setting for most of the story is the same room in which Jenny went through her own job interview for the M.F.S.. Its description is subtly changed to the window only being “tinted” grey, rather than outright occluded with a grey paint-over as in the original.
  • In recognition of the importance the character would ultimately take on in the series, Dynamite Thor's first scene in this story is significantly expanded, now including more back-and-forth. The mention of “the Fox universe” is changed to “the Foxverse” (the term used in PROSE: Lovie Dovie Stuff), with Thor explaining that he can travel back and forth between it and the 925th Universe thanks to having “a friend back there with a multidimensional thingamajig”. When called down on the fact that he is not an open-source character, Thor, though confessing that he isn't particularly good with “the metaphysical stuff”, tries to argue his case, explaining before he is interrupted that “Fox Features Syndicate never registered or renewed the copyright, so —”.
  • The conversation with Metal O'Maniac is expanded, with O'Maniac now being more reluctant to admit he burned down his previous place of work.
  • The aside mentioning that Jenny had been thinking about setting fire to the SatNav factory on the day it “coincidentally blew up” is omitted.
  • Talbot Molossus's outfit is described as resembling a “Royal Officer” rather than a “British royal”. Jenny guesses that he is in his 20s.
  • Wayne Bruce now insists on keeping the lights dimmed while he is being interviewed, and, when he tackles the Man in Grey, tries to bite down on his neck — implying he is a vampire-like being. The last few lines of the scene make it clearer that, precisely due to the dimmed lights, Jenny and the Man in Grey genuinely believed him to be Batman, rather than simply dismissing him for being too Batman-like.
  • While recovering from being bitten by Bruce, the Man in Grey ruminates that “in many ways, this form was severely limiting, but it was the one he had”.
  • Jenny and the Man in Grey now have a bit of back-and-forth about the fact that the Iron Lady is friends with a version of Pixie Pristine, who went unmentioned in the original version, though this association is part of the two characters' actual open-source blurbs.
  • Jenny now notices that Volksstrum is a Nazi not because he is wearing an Iron Cross on his chest in his file picture, but because he wrote his name out as "VolkSStrum".
  • Jenny extorts extra money from the Man in Grey for going through the list in-between applicants and crossing out all the obvious Nazis; agreeing without much fuss, the Man in Grey ends up handing her an arbitrary amount of banknotes from his wallet without counting them out.
  • Similar to Thor's, Doctor Know's introduction scene is significantly expanded. He boasts of having “lived a thousand lives and journeyed to a thousand wolds”. The Man in Grey loses his cool and, snatching up the Doctor's incriminating picture of the Man in Black, “tears it up like a deranged goblin”, only for the Doctor to use magic to repair it, then add that it was irrelevant anyway because he has several backup copies in his archives. He also taunts the Man in Grey by saying he might tell the Great Higher-Ups about the Man's involvement with “the War—” before he is interrupted by the Man in Grey agreeing to his terms.
  • There is more focus on the Teleportation Gun, which is stated to be “one use only”, ostensibly retroactively explaining why it never reappeared in the series (although this introduces an apparent contradiction with PROSE: Family Business where Jenny implies that she tried to use it again when she was abducted by Jenny Nowhere; this contradiction was resolved with a further edit on July 24th which broke the Fourth Wall by claiming the Gun could only be used “once per series”). Instead of using it on herself to escape the explosion within the building, she aims it at “Captain Omega” and his grenade, and they explode outdoors, just outside the window. This is bad news for the Man in Grey, who had still tried to escape by climbing out the window, although he suffers no serious injury.
  • 0000-8888888's spelled-out name of Tetra-None Hepta-Oct is mentioned, unlike the original, briefer scene in which only the numerical form was presented. She give more detail on her background, noting that she recently left her homeworld for unspecified reasons; features of human culture to which she still has trouble acclimatising include “living in linear time” (“I keep forgetting that seconds happen consecutively, and that time passes whenever I speak”) as well as “the gender thing”, which Tetra states doesn't exist among the Cyclocks, with time signatures being the closest concept. Tetra expresses willingness to use she/her pronouns “for now”, but to “give them all a try” over time.
  • Jenny's conversation with Dynamite Thor towards the end of the story now takes place in the small personal office given to her by the Man in Grey as promised, rather than in the waiting room outside the interview room.
  • Their heart-to-heart is significantly expanded, with Jenny sharing her feelings of loneliness and dissociation from reality, while Peter describes the failure of his superheroic career at somewhat greater length, mentioning that he has become redundant in his home universe thanks to the prevalence of other heroes such as the Dart, the Spider Queen, and Electro.

Read online

Open Sourcing was released on Archive Of Our Own, where it is still available. The updated version is available on the official Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe website.