Workplace Reunion (short story)
Workplace Reunion was a short story written by Callum Phillpott. The fourth in Phillpott's Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe series, it also served as an epilogue to Family Business, a Jenny Everywhere Day The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids story by Aristide Twain which featured an endorsed guest appearance by Jenny Over-There herself.
In 2024, a lightly- updated version was published on the official Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe website.
Contents
Plot
Jenny Over-There rematerialises in the M.F.S. office, back from her adventure on Nowhere Island. Checking the time, she is pleased to note that she appears to have returned twelve hours after she was kidnapped, meaning she at least dodged an afternoon of boring work. She also notices that she accidentally left the Island with Pixie Pristine's crystal ball still in hand, and guiltily sets it down on her desk. Just at that moment, the Man in Grey enters the office, startling Over-There, who drops the ball.
Instead of shattering, however, it wakes up Dynamite Thor, who it turns out sleeps on a mat on the floor of the office, which is more surprising to Jenny than the confirmation that the Man in Grey, too, actually lives in the building (which she'd always vaguely suspected). The Man in Grey begins to scold Jenny for her unexplained disappearance, prompting her to recount her bizarre kidnapping by Jenny Nowhere, which Thor is sorry to have missed, as if there's one thing he loves, it's rescuing damsels in distress. The Man in Grey breaks off the conversation and agrees to let Jenny go home, provided she cleans up nicely in time for the next day, as they're expecting a very important guest.
Worldbuilding
Universes
- This story takes place in the home universe of Jenny Over-There.
Other
- The M.F.S. office has motion-activated lights.
- Dynamite Thor created the “Thor Signallers” by making grenades even louder.
Continuity
- This story acts as an epilogue to PROSE: Family Business. Jenny Over-There's cardigan is “still covered in the ashen remains of Castle Nowhere”, which actually constitutes a slight discrepancy with Family Business, where it was the mountain on which the Castle stood which was reduced to dust, and not the Castle itself.
- The upcoming visit of the Repairer of Reputations constitutes “the Great Higher-Ups hav[ing] finally responded to [the Man in Grey's] blunders during Pride Month”, referencing the events of PROSE: A Series of Queer Events.
- The Thor Signallers were referenced again in PROSE: Annals of the Jen: One Year of Jenny Over-There and PROSE: Set Up to Blow Up.
Behind the scenes
Background
The end of this story was meant to lead into what was then supposed to be the next Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe story, PROSE: Jenny Over-There and the Repairer of Reputations. The story was ultimately never completed, with the next entry in the series instead being PROSE: A Very Jenny Over-There Christmas. In allusion to this, the only significant change in the updated version of the story that was posted on the newly-created official Jenny Over-There website on July 12th, 2024 was that it ended on a spurious “To be continued” announcement, with the title of Jenny Over-There and the Repairer of Reputations in large print and the outrageous release date of “30th of February, 2875” in very small print.
Read online
Workplace Reunion was released on Archive Of Our Own, where it is still available, and later rereleased in slightly-edited form on the official Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe website.
