The Man in Grey (925th Universe)
The Man in Grey was a mysterious figure, active in at least one universe. He was behind the “Multidimensional Finders Service”, having tracked down Jenny Over-There to put her powers to good use as part of the Service.
Description
Physical appearance
The Man in Grey's principle physical characteristic was the gray robes he wore. (PROSE: The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There)
Personality
The Man in Grey freely referred to himself as “evil”. Jenny Over-There thought of him as rude, and he was easily frustrated. His liking for the colour grey extended beyond his wardrobe, with him entire painting the M.F.S. office in this same shade. (PROSE: Open Sourcing)
Biography
Origins
The Man in Grey answered to a group he referred to as the Great Higher-Ups. Like himself, he considered them to be “evil”.
The Man in Grey possessed an unclear but clearly significant relationship with the similar-looking entity known as the Man in Black. He found their visible resemblance an embarrassment, however, and was willing to go to significant lengths to ensure it was not made public. He had some awareness of the Man in Black's activities, reacting meaningfully to the mention of the name of “Fred”, although it was not clear whether this was second-hand knowledge or if he had access to the Man in Black's memories.
Setting up the M.F.S.
After discovering that a young woman had gained the ability to sense the location of anything and anyone across the Multiverse, the Man in Grey tracked her down and offered her a job as the sole employee of a “Multidimensional Finders Service”, answering phone-calls on the Red Interdimensional Telephone from across the Multiverse, helping people who needed help finding something or someone. He offered her a salary of £5000, leading to her accepting. In addition to the “R.I.T.”, he also bought an office for her to use. With his funds running short by this point, he was only able to afford a fairly cheap toaster for the office. (PROSE: The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There)
New hires
One day, the Man in Grey was informed by the Great Higher-Ups that they wanted him to set up a second branch of the M.F.S. in Scotland to add to the office in Wales where Jenny Over-There worked. Furthermore, they wanted all applicants to be free of “a certain legal tether”. The Man in Grey worked into the night getting a list of possible candidates together, eventually taking shortcuts and ended up with a final list full of heroes obviously unqualified for the job of finding things, as well a few villains and a distressing number of literal Nazis. He interviewed the lot of them, in succession, on the next day with Jenny, having temporarily closed up the Welsh office for business, disconnecting the Red Interdimensional Telephone, for the purpose.
The interview process ended early when Dynamite Thor activated a real grenade inside the office, although no one was injured, with the Man in Grey (for his part) making out the window in time. He eventually settled on the roster of Talbot Molossus, the Hydrant, 0000-88888888 and Doctor Know-It-All. Additionally, however, being frustrated by the difficulty of finding the coffee machine, he suggested to Jenny that they hire an intern for the Welsh office. Jenny, feeling sorry for the hapless Thor, suggested him for the part. (PROSE: Open Sourcing)
Behind the scenes
Genesis
The Man in Grey was introduced in 2022 in The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There, an April Fools' Day story by Callum Phillpott which also introduced Jenny Over-There. Phillpott's rendition of “the Paragraph” released Jenny Over-There as an open-source character in her own right under similar conditions to Jenny Everywhere and other recurring characters, and also said of the Man in Grey:[1]
| You can also just use the Man in Grey if you want, I won't get on your case about that, he's public domain now. |
| —Callum Phillpott |
The character's mystery and descriptor made him reminiscent of Phillpott's earlier creation, the Man in Black from their Doctor Who universe novel Cyber-Hunt. This was addressed directly in Open Sourcing.
Notes & References
| Open-source elements making up the core Jenny Everywhere mythos | ||||||||||||
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