Preludes and Distractions (short story)

Preludes and Distractions was a Jenny Everywhere story written by Creepingmonsterism.

Jenny Everywhere is trying to focus on an exam, but her wandering mind causes her to shift into a universe in which the events of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers really occured and a new "fifth musketeer" is actually that universe's Jenny in disguise. Fighting alongside her friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, she takes on the fearsome Cardinal Dracula- but will she ever remember to shift back into her literature class and finish the exam?

Worldbuilding

Jenny can see what she is doing in other universes at any given time. Thinking too hard about one of those universes can cause her to involuntarily shift into it.
Jenny tried to remain in one universe for as long as possible because she wanted to get into physics and invent faster than light travel by studying the ordinary human way, and completing all of her exams. On one of these exams, on the topic of 19th-century French literature, she received a B.
Jenny can communicate with other versions of herself through universes.

Universes

In one universe, in which The Three Musketeers existed as a book, Jenny took a class on French literature, and believed that she would be able to have great adventures there if she could manage to finish her exams.

In another universe, in which the events of the Three Musketeers occured as written, Jenny, upon arriving in France, disguised herself as a man and became the "fifth musketeer". This universe was not devoid of the supernatural; it was the home of a Mind Flayer called Cardinal Dracula whom the Musketeers fought.
In one universe, into which Jenny peered but did not shift, Jenny had just solved the Riddle of the Omega Sphinx.
In a universe referred to by Jenny as Earth-44, Alexandre Dumas wrote a version of The Three Musketeers in which Cardinal Dracula appeared.

Other

In one universe, Jenny was traveling from China on a ship when it was wrecked by a tornado, leaving her the only survivor. She washed up in France and disguised herself as a male, joining the Three Musketeers.
In one universe, Jenny's father was a merchant who gifted her a wooden bokkeh.
In one universe, Aramis, before learning that Jenny was actually female, found her "strangely attractive".
In one universe, Cardinal Dracula had corrupted the state and the church. He resided in the aptly-named Cathedral of Cardinal Dracula.
In one universe, Cardinal Dracula, a Mind Flayer and an old foe of the Three Musketeers, had the ability to turn into mist, could only be harmed by a wooden stake through the heart, and could transform into a dragon using the Reliquary of Baphomet, for which reason he was referred to as the "Son of the Dragon".
In one universe, Jenny's teacher did not know what a "Mind Flayer" was, but nonetheless informed her that there were none in The Three Musketeers.

Continuity

The Jenny from the universe in which she took an exam later appeared in PROSE: The Last Voyage
Cardinal Dracula would later reappear in PROSE: The Black Void.

Behind the scenes

Read online

Preludes and Distractions was made available on the author's Tumblr blog, being available at this link.