Misunderstandings (short story): Difference between revisions

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| hero(es)= [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]]
| hero(es)= [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]]
| villain(s)=
| villain(s)=
| featuring= [[Kim (Parallax)|Kim]]<br>[[Professor Awesome|Eric]]<br>[[Eric's mother]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Judy (Misunderstandings)|Judy]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms|The Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[David Lowe]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>“[[Tintin|Belgian reporter kid]]”<br><small>(mentioned)</small>
| featuring= [[Kim (Parallax)|Kim]]<br>[[Professor Awesome#Kim and Jenny's neighbour|Eric]]<br>[[Eric's mother]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Judy (Misunderstandings)|Judy]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms|The Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[David Lowe]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>“[[Tintin|Belgian reporter kid]]”<br><small>(mentioned)</small>
| setting= [[Universe (Parallax)|Unnamed universe]]
| setting= [[Universe (Parallax)|Unnamed universe]]
| crossovers =
| crossovers =
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== Contents ==
== Contents ==
===Plot ===
===Plot ===
After coming home from school, [[Professor Awesome|Eric]] drops in on [[Kim (Parallax)|Kim]] and [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]], feeling “cranky” after getting in a row with a girl in his class, [[Judy (Misunderstandings)|Judy]], which [[Eric's mother|his mother]] didn't understand. Assuming that she is dealing with Eric's first romantic disappointment, Kim begins to try and give him advice on how to deal with rejection, disappoint or heartbreak, with questionable input from Jenny (whose past experiences include a guy she liked having turned out to be [[Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms|the Lost Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms]] and a [[Tintin|cute Belgian kid]] having no awareness of her romantic overtures). When they finally let him get a word in edgewise, however, Eric makes it clear there was never anything of the sort between him and Judy, and they are simply rivals due to her wanting to do a robotics project, despite not being a “mad scientist” in the same way as Eric. Contrite, Kim promises to stay off the subject now and offers to help Eric with his maths homework.
After coming home from school, [[Professor Awesome#Kim and Jenny's neighbour|Eric]] drops in on [[Kim (Parallax)|Kim]] and [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]], feeling “cranky” after getting in a row with a girl in his class, [[Judy (Misunderstandings)|Judy]], which [[Eric's mother|his mother]] didn't understand. Assuming that she is dealing with Eric's first romantic disappointment, Kim begins to try and give him advice on how to deal with rejection, disappoint or heartbreak, with questionable input from Jenny (whose past experiences include a guy she liked having turned out to be [[Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms|the Lost Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms]] and a [[Tintin|cute Belgian kid]] having no awareness of her romantic overtures). When they finally let him get a word in edgewise, however, Eric makes it clear there was never anything of the sort between him and Judy, and they are simply rivals due to her wanting to do a robotics project, despite not being a “mad scientist” in the same way as Eric. Contrite, Kim promises to stay off the subject now and offers to help Eric with his maths homework.


===Worldbuilding===
===Worldbuilding===
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* A “long time ago”, Kim “lived with a lot of other women”, during which time she learned that not all women were interested in relationships with other women (something she conveys through the improbable euphemism “Some women are happy to stay up late perusing a map of [[Tasmania]] – and some aren’t”).
* A “long time ago”, Kim “lived with a lot of other women”, during which time she learned that not all women were interested in relationships with other women (something she conveys through the improbable euphemism “Some women are happy to stay up late perusing a map of [[Tasmania]] – and some aren’t”).
* The [[Mole Person|Mole People]] invaded “last winter”, but concentrated their efforts on Jenny's apartment building. Kim reveals that this was because they were after the [[Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms|lizard prince]] that Jenny had been unwittingly dating.
* The [[Mole Person|Mole People]] invaded “last winter”, but concentrated their efforts on Jenny's apartment building. Kim reveals that this was because they were after the [[Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms|lizard prince]] that Jenny had been unwittingly dating.
* [[David Lowe|David]] apparently has a cautionary tale he could tell [[Professor Awesome|Eric]] about the perils of building a girlfriend for oneself, but it is “not Kim's story to tell” and something which Eric would possibly best wait until he's older before hearing about.
* [[David Lowe|David]] apparently has a cautionary tale he could tell [[Professor Awesome#Kim and Jenny's neighbour|Eric]] about the perils of building a girlfriend for oneself, but it is “not Kim's story to tell” and something which Eric would possibly best wait until he's older before hearing about.
* Jenny once had a crush on a “[[Tintin|Belgian reporter kid]]” with a “goofy cowlick”, but “got nowhere” trying to make him reciprocate or even realise her feelings, as he was “completely clueless about women”.
* Jenny once had a crush on a “[[Tintin|Belgian reporter kid]]” with a “goofy cowlick”, but “got nowhere” trying to make him reciprocate or even realise her feelings, as he was “completely clueless about women”.



Revision as of 17:53, 21 May 2022

Misunderstandings was a Jenny Everywhere short story written by Scott Sanford in 2022. It was released on Valentine's Day.

Contents

Plot

After coming home from school, Eric drops in on Kim and Jenny Everywhere, feeling “cranky” after getting in a row with a girl in his class, Judy, which his mother didn't understand. Assuming that she is dealing with Eric's first romantic disappointment, Kim begins to try and give him advice on how to deal with rejection, disappoint or heartbreak, with questionable input from Jenny (whose past experiences include a guy she liked having turned out to be the Lost Prince of the Lizard Kingdoms and a cute Belgian kid having no awareness of her romantic overtures). When they finally let him get a word in edgewise, however, Eric makes it clear there was never anything of the sort between him and Judy, and they are simply rivals due to her wanting to do a robotics project, despite not being a “mad scientist” in the same way as Eric. Contrite, Kim promises to stay off the subject now and offers to help Eric with his maths homework.

Worldbuilding

Jenny Everywhere

Universes

Other

  • The book Understanding Teleportation has been sitting on Jenny and Kim's coffee table for “several weeks”: Jenny is refusing to read it.
  • A “long time ago”, Kim “lived with a lot of other women”, during which time she learned that not all women were interested in relationships with other women (something she conveys through the improbable euphemism “Some women are happy to stay up late perusing a map of Tasmania – and some aren’t”).
  • The Mole People invaded “last winter”, but concentrated their efforts on Jenny's apartment building. Kim reveals that this was because they were after the lizard prince that Jenny had been unwittingly dating.
  • David apparently has a cautionary tale he could tell Eric about the perils of building a girlfriend for oneself, but it is “not Kim's story to tell” and something which Eric would possibly best wait until he's older before hearing about.
  • Jenny once had a crush on a “Belgian reporter kid” with a “goofy cowlick”, but “got nowhere” trying to make him reciprocate or even realise her feelings, as he was “completely clueless about women”.

Continuity

  • The story mentions a past acquaintance between Jenny and a character heavily implied to be Tintin. Jenny was herself compared to Tintin in the original character profile by Steven Wintle.

Behind the scenes

Background

After releasing the story on Dreamwidth in 2022, Scott Sanford appended some commentary to the story:

Happy Valentine's Day! Who better than Jenny Everywhere to give you advice on your love life? Pretty much anyone, apparently.


…the lost heir to the Lizard Kingdoms…
What? Okay, I get it that this was a problem but Lizard Kingdoms? Mole People? Jenny, what did you get yourself into this time?

Later on, look up a thing called the secretary problem.
Kim over-simplifies the situation but Eric’s smart enough to see that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem

…some women are happy to stay up late perusing a map of Tasmania…
It seems Kim listens to Amanda Palmer songs. She also uses an unusual euphemism which hopefully flew by without being understood.

…remember that European reporter kid?
Oh, yeah, him. For some reason it strikes me as hilarious to imagine Jenny Everywhere hitting on the Belgian kid with the goofy cowlick and getting nowhere. I envision her as getting progressively less subtle about her interests and him remaining clueless… I’d never be able to write it, but I like that I’m able to slip this in as a thing that happened to her already.

Scott Sanford


Read online

The story is available on the author's Dreamwidth website.