Relationship Questions
Feb. 14th, 2025 06:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scott_sanfordHappy Valentine's Day!
A certain situation has been brewing for a while and various characters want to talk about it. Is this really what some people think it is?
See also As Foretold by Prophecy, which has a second part.
“Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur.”
Jenny Everywhere's friends have
Relationship Questions
by Scott Sanford; 14 Feb 2025
Psykha & Tiny
In a realm unknown to mortals there existed an eldritch being sometimes manifesting as a pillar of spheres engulfed in a network of neural matter, alien to the expectations of humans.
This sanity-straining being floated within a white void that would have revealed little to mortal senses. In the middle distance were five geometric shapes, also featureless and bright white – a tetrahedron, a cube, an octahedron, a dodecahedron, and an icosahedron. By the standards of the inhabitant this counted as a messy room, but they were expecting no visitors who were not family.
How long this continued was irrelevant, for time had not yet arrived.
And then he did.
“You have called me,” stated the new arrival.
“Greetings. You are always welcome in my realm. It is pleasant that you have visited.”
“When the idea of visiting you arrived in my mind it was obvious that you desired my presence.”
“Yes, it is so.” The first eldritch being performed an act that might as well be transcribed as a shrug. “I have my reasons. I have invited you here regarding a family matter. I am concerned for the Everytime, your uncle’s flesh child.”
“Sophie? I visited her roughly a quarter million seconds ago in the realm where she and her father dwell. She was healthy and happy. She has begun dexitroboping, you know.”
“Yes, I know, your uncle keeps me informed of such things. That does not concern me. It is that her later self has been shifting back to this era.”
“You notice her time shifting?”, asked the Embodiment of Time.
“Not as you would, but she interacts with mortals in this era. What they know I can know.”
“Of course, yes.”
“I am concerned. She has come back repeatedly and visited a particular universe. She is even concerning herself with individual mortals!”
“Ah, yes,” he agreed. “I am aware of that.”
“This concerns me. What concern should she have with any mortal?”
“Remember that her mother is a mortal, sort of,” he pointed out.
“Jenny Everywhere is as infinite as any truly cosmic being; she only manifests into mortal bodies.”
“That is also a valid view,” he allowed.
“How is it you already know of this?”
“We do talk, you know. Next week I am having a talk with teenage Sophie about her most recent trip to that universe. I could speak of that, but I do not know if contemplating her time with mortals will bring you pleasure.”
“I wish to know. I am concerned the Hybrid Child will fall to cavorting with mortals and indulging in unspeakable pleasures of the flesh!
The Embodiment of Time twined his tentacles together briefly – a more elaborate gesture for him than most beings – and very accurately reproduced the sound of a human sigh.
“Are you certain you wish to hear of this?”, he asked.
“That I wish to hear of it, yes. That I will enjoy the knowledge, no. Tell me.”
“As you wish. Your suspicions are correct; Sophie is returning back about fifteen years to visit a specific spacetime locale. She has found a mortal there that amuses her. Upon her last visit they indulged in many pleasures of the flesh.”
“WHAT?”
“It may shock you but is true,” he confirmed. “They spent hours at an amusement area near a body of water. While there they operated recreational gaming mechanisms. They walked together through an entertainment district despite having no particular destination. They ingested unhealthy but tasty substances. They observed mortal humans swarming through the area. They also observed the local animals. They even rode impractical transportation vehicles, merely for the amusement of doing so.”
“This is as bad as I imagined!”
“It was not an intellectually rewarding experience but Sophie found it stimulating and enjoyable.”
“I must speak to Sophie about this!”
“The aspect of Sophie in question is usually well in our relative future. Keep in mind that you do not need to say or do anything for another half a billion seconds, over a decade.”
“Ah… You are correct. I will have to speak to her father about this as well. He should know what his youngling will be doing in her future. Does he even know that the Everytime has found a pet human?”
“Do you expect him to disapprove? To change these events? She would notice if they un-happened.”
“Perhaps neither one is possible. My brother’s hybrid spawn would not exist if not for his proclivity for cavorting with the flesh. My niece takes after her father!”
“And also her mother.”
“Truly!”
Sophie & Laura
One day in New Flaversham, the city’s mostinfamous illustrious mad scientist was happily tinkering away when a visitor shifted into her laboratory.
“Hey, Laura!”, the newcomer chirped casually. “Got a minute?”
“Hello, Sophie.” She looked up from her chaotic work table and saw a very familiar looking teenager. Having seen the girl only yesterday as a toddler in her mother’s arms, she asked the time shifter, “If I said no, would you give me a few more minutes?”
“Yeah, probably. If I gave you too many all at once Dad would want to know why. Do you need some?”
“Not right now, but I was curious. I might want some later. You and your father are fascinating specimens, I mean people,” she quickly corrected herself.
“And you’re a mad scientist,” Sophie observed, not taking offense.
“A very good one, yes, thank you.”
“I, um…” Sophie paused, uncharacteristically awkward for a moment. “I kind of wanted to ask you about that, sort of. Not the science part, but the being a mad scientist part.”
“Do tell,” Laura said, putting down a bizarre tool and focusing on the young lady.
Sophie took a breath and blurted out, “It sounds silly, but a few universes over there’s this boy, and he’s a mad scientist too, and I don’t know what to do because some of the people there say they think he likes me!”
“Are you wondering if he tolerates your presence or that he actually wants to see you?”
“The last one. I mean, he does, and I like hanging around with him, but... He’s nice and all, but if he likes me how do I know?”
“You said he’s a mad scientist. What has he invented for you?”
“Nothing!”, Sophie claimed quickly, then hesitated and admitted, “Well… This one time he built a booby trap to blow up a void ship…”
“That’s excellent!”, Laura exclaimed happily. “Explosives are always a good conversation starter. You should have seen some of the things I blew up for your mother, before I blew them up. You see, Sophie? He does like you!”
“He does not!”, Sophie protested, her hair erupting into a halo of nervous locks. “I mean...”
“Oh, it’s like that, is it? You’re the right age, I suppose…”
“No, it isn’t! Is it?”
“You’re going to have to figure out for yourself how you feel; I can’t tell you that,” said the older woman. “But I hope you’ll let me know later; it’s important to keep proper records, and to keep back up copies someplace outside the expected blast radius.”
“Never mind me, how do I know how he feels?”
“Oh, if he likes you that way, you’ll know. Ask your mother about some of the things we got up to when we were younger. On second thought, don’t ask your mother. She might tell you.” She laughed to herself, then returned to the present’s question.
“If he's interested in you that way it should be obvious. He won’t be able to resist a little light flirting, just to test the waters. Has he dug a pit trap where he expects you to shift in? That’s a great starter trap, and you can use the holes for other things later.”
“Um,” said Sophie, who was learning things she had never needed to know about the state of Laura’s back yard.
“Lasers are handy for everything, he may have lasers around already,” Laura continued, warming to the subject. “He should be careful with anything that explodes, especially in a city; the neighbors get cranky, every time, even when I tell them I know what I’m doing. Or robots? Robots are good. You’d get a fun workout fighting robots.”
“But half my friends are robots,” Sophie objected.
“Oh, I was just saying. But building robots for you to fight is for later, once you have an ongoing relationship; nobody does that on the first date.”
“I don’t think I understand how dating works,” Sophie said, on the off chance that Laura was listening.
“Of course if he’s really serious he might build an implacable killer robot that looks like you, to seek out and destroy your enemies…” Laura laughed a little and stepped away to nervously throw a tarp over a partially finished humanoid metal endoskeleton laid out on a nearby workbench. “But I’m sure I’m getting ahead of myself. You’re still young yet. You’ll figure out if the boy is interested.”
“How about, you know, just asking?”
Laura gave her a blank look.
“I don’t understand. Where’s the fun in that?”
Read other Jenny Everywhere stories
The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.
A certain situation has been brewing for a while and various characters want to talk about it. Is this really what some people think it is?
See also As Foretold by Prophecy, which has a second part.
Relationship Questions
by Scott Sanford; 14 Feb 2025
In a realm unknown to mortals there existed an eldritch being sometimes manifesting as a pillar of spheres engulfed in a network of neural matter, alien to the expectations of humans.
This sanity-straining being floated within a white void that would have revealed little to mortal senses. In the middle distance were five geometric shapes, also featureless and bright white – a tetrahedron, a cube, an octahedron, a dodecahedron, and an icosahedron. By the standards of the inhabitant this counted as a messy room, but they were expecting no visitors who were not family.
How long this continued was irrelevant, for time had not yet arrived.
And then he did.
“You have called me,” stated the new arrival.
“Greetings. You are always welcome in my realm. It is pleasant that you have visited.”
“When the idea of visiting you arrived in my mind it was obvious that you desired my presence.”
“Yes, it is so.” The first eldritch being performed an act that might as well be transcribed as a shrug. “I have my reasons. I have invited you here regarding a family matter. I am concerned for the Everytime, your uncle’s flesh child.”
“Sophie? I visited her roughly a quarter million seconds ago in the realm where she and her father dwell. She was healthy and happy. She has begun dexitroboping, you know.”
“Yes, I know, your uncle keeps me informed of such things. That does not concern me. It is that her later self has been shifting back to this era.”
“You notice her time shifting?”, asked the Embodiment of Time.
“Not as you would, but she interacts with mortals in this era. What they know I can know.”
“Of course, yes.”
“I am concerned. She has come back repeatedly and visited a particular universe. She is even concerning herself with individual mortals!”
“Ah, yes,” he agreed. “I am aware of that.”
“This concerns me. What concern should she have with any mortal?”
“Remember that her mother is a mortal, sort of,” he pointed out.
“Jenny Everywhere is as infinite as any truly cosmic being; she only manifests into mortal bodies.”
“That is also a valid view,” he allowed.
“How is it you already know of this?”
“We do talk, you know. Next week I am having a talk with teenage Sophie about her most recent trip to that universe. I could speak of that, but I do not know if contemplating her time with mortals will bring you pleasure.”
“I wish to know. I am concerned the Hybrid Child will fall to cavorting with mortals and indulging in unspeakable pleasures of the flesh!
The Embodiment of Time twined his tentacles together briefly – a more elaborate gesture for him than most beings – and very accurately reproduced the sound of a human sigh.
“Are you certain you wish to hear of this?”, he asked.
“That I wish to hear of it, yes. That I will enjoy the knowledge, no. Tell me.”
“As you wish. Your suspicions are correct; Sophie is returning back about fifteen years to visit a specific spacetime locale. She has found a mortal there that amuses her. Upon her last visit they indulged in many pleasures of the flesh.”
“WHAT?”
“It may shock you but is true,” he confirmed. “They spent hours at an amusement area near a body of water. While there they operated recreational gaming mechanisms. They walked together through an entertainment district despite having no particular destination. They ingested unhealthy but tasty substances. They observed mortal humans swarming through the area. They also observed the local animals. They even rode impractical transportation vehicles, merely for the amusement of doing so.”
“This is as bad as I imagined!”
“It was not an intellectually rewarding experience but Sophie found it stimulating and enjoyable.”
“I must speak to Sophie about this!”
“The aspect of Sophie in question is usually well in our relative future. Keep in mind that you do not need to say or do anything for another half a billion seconds, over a decade.”
“Ah… You are correct. I will have to speak to her father about this as well. He should know what his youngling will be doing in her future. Does he even know that the Everytime has found a pet human?”
“Do you expect him to disapprove? To change these events? She would notice if they un-happened.”
“Perhaps neither one is possible. My brother’s hybrid spawn would not exist if not for his proclivity for cavorting with the flesh. My niece takes after her father!”
“And also her mother.”
“Truly!”
One day in New Flaversham, the city’s most
“Hey, Laura!”, the newcomer chirped casually. “Got a minute?”
“Hello, Sophie.” She looked up from her chaotic work table and saw a very familiar looking teenager. Having seen the girl only yesterday as a toddler in her mother’s arms, she asked the time shifter, “If I said no, would you give me a few more minutes?”
“Yeah, probably. If I gave you too many all at once Dad would want to know why. Do you need some?”
“Not right now, but I was curious. I might want some later. You and your father are fascinating specimens, I mean people,” she quickly corrected herself.
“And you’re a mad scientist,” Sophie observed, not taking offense.
“A very good one, yes, thank you.”
“I, um…” Sophie paused, uncharacteristically awkward for a moment. “I kind of wanted to ask you about that, sort of. Not the science part, but the being a mad scientist part.”
“Do tell,” Laura said, putting down a bizarre tool and focusing on the young lady.
Sophie took a breath and blurted out, “It sounds silly, but a few universes over there’s this boy, and he’s a mad scientist too, and I don’t know what to do because some of the people there say they think he likes me!”
“Are you wondering if he tolerates your presence or that he actually wants to see you?”
“The last one. I mean, he does, and I like hanging around with him, but... He’s nice and all, but if he likes me how do I know?”
“You said he’s a mad scientist. What has he invented for you?”
“Nothing!”, Sophie claimed quickly, then hesitated and admitted, “Well… This one time he built a booby trap to blow up a void ship…”
“That’s excellent!”, Laura exclaimed happily. “Explosives are always a good conversation starter. You should have seen some of the things I blew up for your mother, before I blew them up. You see, Sophie? He does like you!”
“He does not!”, Sophie protested, her hair erupting into a halo of nervous locks. “I mean...”
“Oh, it’s like that, is it? You’re the right age, I suppose…”
“No, it isn’t! Is it?”
“You’re going to have to figure out for yourself how you feel; I can’t tell you that,” said the older woman. “But I hope you’ll let me know later; it’s important to keep proper records, and to keep back up copies someplace outside the expected blast radius.”
“Never mind me, how do I know how he feels?”
“Oh, if he likes you that way, you’ll know. Ask your mother about some of the things we got up to when we were younger. On second thought, don’t ask your mother. She might tell you.” She laughed to herself, then returned to the present’s question.
“If he's interested in you that way it should be obvious. He won’t be able to resist a little light flirting, just to test the waters. Has he dug a pit trap where he expects you to shift in? That’s a great starter trap, and you can use the holes for other things later.”
“Um,” said Sophie, who was learning things she had never needed to know about the state of Laura’s back yard.
“Lasers are handy for everything, he may have lasers around already,” Laura continued, warming to the subject. “He should be careful with anything that explodes, especially in a city; the neighbors get cranky, every time, even when I tell them I know what I’m doing. Or robots? Robots are good. You’d get a fun workout fighting robots.”
“But half my friends are robots,” Sophie objected.
“Oh, I was just saying. But building robots for you to fight is for later, once you have an ongoing relationship; nobody does that on the first date.”
“I don’t think I understand how dating works,” Sophie said, on the off chance that Laura was listening.
“Of course if he’s really serious he might build an implacable killer robot that looks like you, to seek out and destroy your enemies…” Laura laughed a little and stepped away to nervously throw a tarp over a partially finished humanoid metal endoskeleton laid out on a nearby workbench. “But I’m sure I’m getting ahead of myself. You’re still young yet. You’ll figure out if the boy is interested.”
“How about, you know, just asking?”
Laura gave her a blank look.
“I don’t understand. Where’s the fun in that?”
The character of Sophie Everytime, created by Aristide Twain, is available for use by anyone. All rights reversed.
The character of Laura Drake was created by Jeanne Morningstar and is available for use by anyone. This specific incarnation of Laura Drake is drawn from the writings of Aristide Twain.
The characters of Lord Thymon the Green and Squire Psykha were created by Aristide Twain and was used by kind permission
Eric Whittaker, Professor Awesome, was created by me and other authors are welcome to borrow him; just get him back in one piece.
