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JaM: Chapter 16
🕑 Added 2023-03-08 21:13:34 +0000 UTCI'm really glad I waited to finish this out properly. I hope you enjoy!
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9:45 AM – Morning Classes
Spring had breathed life into the city of Ardenthill, and nowhere more than the carefully tended landscaping of the ABDU campus. Wildflowers budded cheekily from patches of dirt and between flagstones. Their fragile beauty heralded of a riot of color that was ready to burst from the newly cleaned flowerbeds at any moment. Coaxed out by the first truly warm breeze in months; students, birds, and squirrels frolicked on the fresh green grass of the school’s many lawns. The air was perfumed with promise, but Jenna Michalski noticed not an iota of it.
Since early morning her thoughts had been consumed by a communication she had come to refer to as The Email. It felt ridiculous to let something as simple as an email monopolize her thoughts, but The Email wasn’t a mere electronic letter any more than the global financial network was a mere collection of ones and zeroes. Between saying goodbye to her early-rising fiancé, and being re-awoken by her babysitter, Jenna had checked her phone. The Email had been waiting, wiping out any chance of Jenna returning to sleep. She’d lain in bed, reading it over and over, until Niusha came to the room to get her ready for the day. The Email’s most important paragraph burned into Jenna’s mind until it all but imposed itself on her vision.
“I would like to discuss the possibility of having you present your paper on Barnette’s Conjecture at the Princeton-IMB symposium in the coming fall. If possible, it would be best to discuss this in person. In three weeks we are giving a conference on Algebraic Topology where you could present a preliminary analysis of your paper. I think that would be an excellent time to meet and discuss your results, if you are available.”
The invitation was incredible enough on its own, especially since it was followed by an offer to help Jenna secure travel arrangements and lodging – something not usually afforded to students, let alone undergraduates. It was the signature at the bottom of The Email that converted it from an exciting communication into something worthy of its own proper noun. The sender was Avdotya Okounkova, which was not a name any of Jenna’s friends or family would have recognized. In the world of Mathematics, that name echoed more loudly than the school bell that set Jenna unconsciously hurrying to her first class.
As a Fields Medalist with twenty years of impressive mathematical results following her already impressive achievement, Okounkova had left marks on diverse topics in Mathematics that would endure forever. Respected and renowned, the Princeton professor had achieved the dream that Dr. Sienna had woken when Jenna had published her first paper with her advisor’s help. Jenna was still overwhelmed to have been addressed in a direct email by someone with Okounkova’s prestige as if she was a colleague, or a peer…
No, not a peer. Okounkova doesn’t have many peers. Jenna leaned hard against the smooth stone wall outside her morning classroom, pushing until her shoulder ached. The discomfort grounded her to the real world – the world where Jenna was a college student and technically a teenager for another year. But she knows my name. She read my paper! I wish there was a way to talk to her about it that didn’t involve speaking in front of a group of Mathematicians.
Jenna’s hand rattled on the classroom doorway as she pulled it open. Muscle memory carried her to her usual desk – where she stared forward with no more awareness of her surroundings than she’d had of the squirrels and flowers.
~~~~*~~~~
From the first look at Monserrat’s face, Jenna knew she had no chance of hiding her inner turmoil from her fiancé. She was no less distracted at lunch than she’d been in the morning, though Monchi was resplendent enough to break through Jenna’s visual fog. Spring’s first warm day had Monserrat in a super-cropped hoodie and tank top – both black – over pure white drawstring pants. The stylish simplicity of the outfit let her fiancé’s athletic beauty shine like a gemstone set in jewelry.
“What’s up, Jenna-bear?” Monserrat pulled Jenna onto her lap and crushed her close. There was nothing in the world like a Monserrat hug, to be held like Jenna had been gone for years, even if they’d been parted for a single class period.
“I had an amazing offer in my email this morning. From a professor at Princeton, a famous one. She wants me to come to her conference in a few weeks to discuss and present my paper – so that I can do a more formal presentation at Princeton’s biggest maths conference next fall.”
“Woah, that’s incredible! I’m so excited for you!” Monserrat beamed at Jenna with an incandescent smile. “You’re taking her up on it, right?”
“I don’t know – I should talk to Bridget, uh, Dr. Sienna first. I’d be presenting my paper to more than just Dr. Okounkova if I went, and if I go I’m pretty much agreeing to present at the big conference.”
“I don’t see a downside. This is a big deal, right? I mean, how many graduate students even get this kind of offer, let alone undergrads?”
“None. Students don’t get personalized offers like this.” Jenna found herself fidgeting and laid her head on Monserrat’s shoulder. “I don’t know if I can speak in front of a bunch of maths graduates and doctorates.”
“What’s got you worried? Presenting papers is part of the maths gig, right?”
“If I stay in academia, yeah.” Jenna folded her arms up to her chest and curled against Monserrat. “But not so soon and – and…”
“And what?”
“What if I was just – Little? There’s no reason I couldn’t keep studying math on my own and correspond with people. I’d only have to go to conferences if I got a job in maths.”
“Huh.” Monserrat was as nonplussed as Jenna expected her fiancé to be by her suggestion. What she didn’t expect was Monserrat’s response, “Yeah, go for it – if that’s what you really want.”
“Really?!” Jenna sat up, as irritated as she was shocked. “You don’t care if your wife is – is some useless, jobless…”
“Hey! Jenna-bear, it was your suggestion.” Monserrat shook her head ruefully. “Honey, I love you, and I want you to be happy. Money probably isn’t going to be an issue. My business is taking off and my degree will be in engineering – engineers have a negative unemployment rate. I don’t think you’d have to bring in money for our household to work.”
“You’d really be fine if I didn’t contribute to our household?”
“Contribute how? With money?” Monserrat shrugged. “Like I said, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be super necessary. I’m sure you’ll contribute in other ways, and your maths will contribute to the world. That’s amazing.”
“You were supposed to say no to that.” Jenna flopped against Monserrat.
“Well, I didn’t.” Monserrat unpacked Jenna’s lunch and handed her the sandwich Niusha had packed. “Did you really think that our lesbian polycule with potential ABDL lifestyle kink needed to have a typical middle-class two incomes thing going on?”
“There’s no need to be a smarty-pants about it.” Jenna chuckled in spite of herself and took a bite of her sandwich. Hummus and goat-cheese, with a riot of delicious sliced vegetables on rustic bread finished the job Monserrat had started with healing Jenna’s mood.
“There’s always a need to be a smarty pants.” Monserrat laughed as well and tucked into her signature chicken Caesar salad. After almost a year of collegiate physical training, Monserrat’s favorite lunch had become more chicken than salad. Not that Jenna was complaining about her fiancé’s gorgeous muscles.
“Don’t think I missed the part about you being Little full time.” Monserrat patted Jenna’s rear. “Or that you have a diaper on.”
“It’s for Brooke.” Jenna wiggled into a better position on Monserrat’s lap, as if that would somehow hide the fact that she was wearing a full diaper. Come to think of it, she hadn’t given a thought to her clothes for the day. Looking down, she saw that Niusha had dressed her in a knee-length green skirt and a blue blouse with flower buttons. She was grateful for the cream colored cotton shawl her babysitter had added for its warmth, though she wondered why she was dressed so fancy. I didn’t mention The Email to Niusha – did I?
“That’s sweet of you, but you should have carried it in your bag instead of on your butt.”
“You’re a butt today!” Jenna playfully slapped Monserrat’s shoulder. “I mean, to show her, so that she can decide if she really wants me to be Little when she comes over with Bowser.”
“I figured.” Monserrat smirked. “You’re still dodging the topic.”
Jenna sighed. “I don’t know, okay? Dr. Okounkova’s email was – so much. I’ve seen the Princeton-IMB conference videos online. I’d be up on a stage in a banquet hall. But if I can’t do that then, what would I do? So I tried to imagine what else I’d want to do besides work in Academia and…”
“And the first thing that came to mind was being my Little girl?”
“Plus working on maths – but without scary speeches.”
“Well – that’s something you can have, if you want it.”
“I said I don’t know.”
“I’m not expecting you to decide right now.” Monserrat kissed Jenna gently.
“Thanks for being patient with your crazy fiancé.”
“Only until weekend after next, then I get to be patient with my crazy wife.”
Jenna excitedly swallowed a mouthful of sandwich, uncaring of the gulp of air that went down with it. “Everybody can make it?”
“Wendy was the last holdout. We’re good to have our elopement.” Monserrat grinned and kissed Jenna again as the smaller girl came in for a kiss with a squeal.
~~~~*~~~~
1:00 PM – Emergency Advisor Meeting
“But – Bridget, I’m nineteen. It’s the middle of a school day.” Jenna stared wide-eyed at her advisor over the glass of champagne she’d been handed.
“Hush, literally no one will care about that. You don’t have to drink the whole thing, but you do have to be toasted.” Dr. Sienna raised her glass with her eyes shining proudly. “To Jenna Michalski, someday soon to be Dr. Michalski, eventual winner of who knows how many awards.”
“To uh – me.” Jenna sipped the champagne and wrinkled her nose. The taste of alcohol had not improved from the two other tentative sips she’d had so far in her life. She set the glass down on Dr. Sienna’s desk next to the copy of her paper that Bridget had insisted on printing out and binding for her.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and you earned it. I can’t express how excited I am for you.”
“I get that, Bridget, I really do. It’s just that – I’m not sure if I can present at a symposium. Even if I don’t freeze up, I’m a terrible speaker.”
“I have three answers to that.” Bridget downed the rest of her glass and sat on the edge of her desk. “The first is that as someone who’s sat through a lot of symposiums – being a terrible speaker will put you in very good company.”
Jenna had to giggle a little at that, though she still wasn’t comforted. Being one among many bad speakers, at a symposium full of critical mathematicians, didn’t sound like a good time.
“Second, you know your result inside and out. I think you’ll find it easier to talk about than you expect. Third, I can help you refine your speech and practice it until you can get through it by rote, no matter how terrified you are.”
Oh goody, that way I can let my mouth run and really concentrate on the crippling fear I’m feeling. “I’ll think about it, okay?”
“Think about it? Jenna, please don’t pass this up. You are brilliant, your result is exceptional, but you’re not the only brilliant young person in mathematics. Dr. Okounkova will respect your wishes if you turn her offer down – she’ll respect them so much that she’ll send her next invite to some other brilliant young mind.”
“I know but, every time I think about giving a speech to grad students, maths doctors, all those people dressed up fancy – my stomach gets sick.”
“Like anything else, it gets easier with time. You can do this, Jenna. I believe in you completely.” Bridget put her hand maternally on Jenna’s shoulder. “I’ll do absolutely anything to help you, including driving you to Princeton and tying you to a pole so you don’t fall over.”
Anything to help – except let me not do it. “Thanks Bridget. I think I’m still freaking out. I haven’t even responded to the email yet.”
“You should do that right away. No, don’t get scared.” Bridget shook her head. “I’m not saying you should accept everything and set up travel arrangements right now. Just acknowledge that you got her email, thank her, and say you’d be happy to discuss what she proposed in the email.”
“Oh, okay, that doesn’t sound too bad.”
“You don’t have to do it right this second, but you really, really should reply to her today.”
“I’ll try. I promise I’m excited. I haven’t been able to think about anything else since I got that email.” Jenna swiped her phone open and pulled The Email up. It was just as intimidating as ever. She closed her email just as quickly.
“Of course you’re overwhelmed, anyone would be. I’m a little overwhelmed and I’m just your advisor.” Under Bridget’s warm gaze, anything seemed possible, even a nightmare like presenting at the symposium. It was a lot like the comfort she’d greedily soaked up from Niusha that morning.
~~~~*~~~~
Jenna’s morning babysitter, otherwise known as a lovely Iranian woman named Niusha, was surprised to find Jenna wide awake and staring at her phone. Her confidant stride stopped at the door and her voice was hesitant as she said, “Morning Jenna, do you want to skip me getting you ready today?”
Rolling over and casting a soulful gaze at Niusha, Jenna shook her head. “No, please, I really need it today.”
“Is something the matter?” Niusha stepped lithely over to the bed and took a seat.
“I got an email – I can’t talk about it – but I’m really stressed out. I need a diaper for school today too.”
“We can do that. Are you Jenna or Jenny right now?” Soothingly, Niusha slipped a hand under Jenna’s PJ top and stroked her belly.
“I should – should…” Jenny whimpered. “Usha, I have too many feelings. Can I be a baby for a bit?”
“Always, pretty Little Jenny.” Niusha leaned down and kissed Jenny tenderly on the lips. “How much of a baby is my girl this morning? Should I take you to the potty, or change you here?”
The hot wet that blossomed in Jenny’s diaper was a surprise – a decision she didn’t know she’d made until it had already happened. She took Niusha’s lovely pert breast in her hand and squeezed it gently through her babysitter’s thin tee. Niusha took the hint and slipped into bed with Jenny. While their mouths met, their legs wound around each other slowly. Though things never progressed to a peak, Jenny wasn’t left frustrated when Niusha broke their embrace to change her diaper. Her heart and body were humming with soft excitement that kept her warm down to her toes.
Along with the tender care with which Niusha wiped, powdered, and diapered Jenny, that feeling kept the stress of The Email off Jenny’s shoulders until she was out the door. Even then, her anxiety stayed away in favor of a disconnected feeling of floating between possibilities. Silver-clad as always in Jenny’s mind’s eye, Niusha’s image and the memory of her love wrapped Jenny like protective angel’s wings.
~~~~*~~~~
3:20 PM – Maths Department Lounge
The comfortably-shabby maths department lounge shifted to a Dutch angle and dropped Jenna’s stomach. As Dr. Hodge recounted his symposium horror stories, Jenna felt Niusha’s wings shatter and fall to the threadbare carpet. With pedagogical interest he hadn’t shown since she turned him down as an advisor, the maths department Dean had taken a seat at Jenna’s table as soon as he’d heard her news.
“The entire time I couldn’t stop pronouncing congruent as con-grunt. It was horrifying, but I was too nervous to stop myself.” He laughed, shaking his head. “At least I didn’t wet myself like the poor student after me did. I think she left Maths life entirely after that.”
“That really happened?”
“I think every year at a big symposium one of the more nervous presenters has some kind of biological meltdown.” Dr. Hodge nodded. “Throwing up is the most common, but in twenty five years I’ve seen it all.”
“I’d leave maths too if that happened to me.”
“It’s no shame to be nervous, or to hold off on presenting until you feel you’re better prepared.” Dr. Hodge looked pleased with himself. “You’ve got years and years to work yourself up to presenting. It might not be a bad idea to take a communications class or two on it as well.”
“So you think I shouldn’t do it?”
“Why put yourself in that position? I can see how stressed you are.” Dr. Hodge stood up and patted Jenna on the back. “Let Dr. Okounkova know that you’re not ready, she’ll understand. Just make sure to thank her for being so generous with her time.”
“O-okay, thanks Dr. Hodge.”
“No problem, I don’t want to see you become a nervous wreck, or end up barking-mad in a cabin like the Unabomber.” With a mirthless laugh, the Dean left Jenna to stew in her anxieties in the lounge.
Will I be a failure if I turn this down? None of her girlfriends would call her a failure. Even at her most self-loathing, Jenna was sure of that. Falling back on the memory of a previous day’s coffee date with Rachel was proof enough of that.
~~~~*~~~~
On a recent day when the last stubborn ice crystals had not yet been banished from the shade of campus buildings, Rachel had suggested coffee in The Grove. The bowl-like field surrounded by ancient oaks was a place out of the wind where they could still enjoy nature. Given even a hint of warmth, The Grove would be crawling with students, to say nothing of days when a festival was on at the small amphitheater. Rachel and Jenna had the place to themselves on their chilly day.
“So when do I get to babysit you again?” Rachel sat on a small blanket ant tucked Jenna into her side.
“I don’t know, any time you want.”
“Clearly not, or I’d get to do it a lot more than I am.” Rachel took a long pull on her steaming coffee. “Niusha gets you in the mornings and Monchi gets you at night.”
“You really like it?” Jenna sipped at her latte, trying to spare her tongue from the coffee’s boiling heat while still getting it down for its precious warmth.
“I’d get jealous sometimes of how sweet you and Monchi are. Not to a toxic level, more wistful, I guess. Then you and I got physical – and after that I got to participate in your ABDL stuff.” Rachel squeezed Jenna around her waist. “I’m not trying to push in on your relationship with Monchi and I never would. This way I get to experience some of that amazing Jenna sweetness – it’s pretty great!”
“I love you.” Jenna leaned in and planted a kiss on Rachel’s cheek. “I guess we have to set up times? We see each other on campus a lot.”
“You’d be okay with being babysat on campus?”
“I mean – it depends on what you mean.” Jenna blushed. “I’m wearing a pullup a lot of days, you could check up on me.”
“Does my baby girl need me to check if she’s had an accident?”
“I didn’t, though!”
“If you’re wearing pullups can you really be trusted to know that?”
“Wachel!”
“Okay, this is cute. I could do with a little shot of Jenny in my day.” Rachel giggled, then tugged at the waistband of Jenny’s jeans. “Hmm, it’s hard to tell if you’re wet from here, but you didn’t poop for sure.”
“I would never!” Jenny stared at Rachel with her jaw hanging loose.
“Honestly? I don’t think it’d bother me. I’m not saying you should do it, but it’d be fine if it’s you.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Sure I do. Come here.” Rachel pulled Jenny into her lap, snuggling her close. “I’m your babysitter, so listen. When I say that I’ll take care of you, I mean it.”
“I love you so much.” Between her coffee and clinging to Rachel for dear life, Jenny couldn’t keep tears from spilling onto her cheeks.
“I love you too.” Rachel nuzzled Jenny’s cheek. “I’m going to check your pullup properly.”
Knowing that Rachel would have checked to see if they were still alone, Jenny gave a quick glance around anyway. She nodded nervously, gasping as Rachel’s hand slipped down the front of her jeans, wiggling between her padding and skin. A tingle shot up Jenny’s spin as Rachel’s fingers curled to cup her kitty.
“Wachel – that’s – you’ve already checked me, you can move your hand.”
“Move it how? Like this?” Rachel’s hand rubbed in a gentle circle, sending a warm flush out across Jenny’s skin.
“Wachel, no, oh god, I can’t do that – here.”
“I know. I’m teasing you.” Rachel kissed Jenny deeply, sliding her hand out of the Little girl’s pants in a move that left Jenny at once relieved and disappointed.
“Now I’m all – all…”
“Warm?” Rachel smirked. “I told you I’d keep you warm if you came out here for coffee with me.”
“That’s not how you’re supposed to do it!”
“Babysitter knows best. You’re my girl and I’ll take care of you my way.”
“I’m really your girl?”
“You better believe it. Little or Big, I love you.”
~~~~*~~~~
4:05 PM – Brooke’s Apartment
“Come here Bowser! Come to Auntie Jenna!” Jenna squealed in delight to have the brown puppy charge over to her, she picked him up and whirled him around. His body was still covered in rolls of puppy-fat, but the little beast was getting bigger and heavier every day it seemed.
“Auntie Jenna now, huh?” Brooke grinned, putting a fresh towel on the sill of her studio apartment’s leaky window.
“You know I think of you like a sister.” Jenna snuggled Bowser to her chin, laughing when he burped and nuzzled her with his wet nose.
“I – didn’t know that. I mean, I know we’re close, but you’ve never said those words before.” Brooke was drawn as if by a magnet to join the puppy and Jenna cuddles.
“Well, you know I’m not good with words at least.” Jenna bonked her head gently against Brooke’s at her friend’s nod. “I’m getting better though, at least with sweet stuff like that.”
“Is that the magic your fiancé is working on you?” As Bowser’s wiggles became wild thrashing, Brooke took him out of Jenna’s arms and put him on the floor. A quick kick at a ball had the puppy racing frantically across the scuffed hardwood floor.
“Maybe, but I think the, um, being Little thing has more to do with it.”
“Oh yeah, are we still doing that day after tomorrow?”
“If you want. I brought – well – I’m wearing – I thought you might want to see before you commit to coming over, in case you get uncomfortable.”
“I think I almost parsed that sentence. I’ve seen one of your pullups on you before, if that’s what you’re talking about.”
“No, it’s the real thing – I’m wearing a diaper.”
“Cool! Come on, skirt up, I want to see!”
“Brooke!”
“Jenna, we sat on the playground and ate grass together, you cannot bullshit me.” Brooke put her hands on her hips. “I know you’re wearing it to show me, so let’s see it!”
“No fair.” Blushing like mad, Jenna gathered up her skirt at her sides. While she was fumbling with the fabric, Brooke gave Bowser’s ball another kick, sending the puppy on a mad dash. She turned her eyes back to Jenna just in time to see the skirt hem lift and reveal an alphabet-block-print diaper.
“Holy cute!” Brooke wasted no time, crouching down and patting Jenna’s diaper. “Weird though, it’s dry.”
“Hey! I don’t – well I don’t always…”
“You told me you did once, and I’m just teasing.” Brooke tugged Jenna’s skirt out of her hands and smoothed it for her. “Well, did I pass?”
“It’s not just seeing me in one, it’s – I’m different when I’m Little.”
“You keep teasing me with that, I can’t wait to see it.”
“I can’t do it now though, can we switch topics?”
“Sure, what’s the big news you said you had?” Brooke threw a trio of balls toward the kitchenette and took a seat on the couch while Bowser barked happily at the chaos.
“I got an email from a famous mathematician.” Jenna sat, nervously scrunched up on the couch. “She wants me to come present my paper at Princeton – and then present it again at a huge symposium next fall.”
“Woah – that’s a huge W.” Wide eyed and excited, Brooke’s enthusiasm had her bouncing in her seat. Jenna was fidgeting too, trying to keep the nervous pit in her belly under control.
“It’s terrifying though. The symposium part, though I’m nervous about meeting Dr. Okounkova too.”
“Okay, but this is huge, and you’ll have to learn to present stuff someday anyway, right?”
“It doesn’t have to be now. Dr. Hodge thinks I should turn her down and wait.”
“Honey, he hates you. He’s trying to sabotage you. What did your advisor say?”
“She poured me a glass of champagne.”
“See?!”
“But, what if I freak out and can’t give the speech, or worse, I get so nervous I puke on stage?”
Brooke shrugged. “So what?”
“I’m still a rock star?” Jenna weakly quoted Brooke’s favorite song.
“Exactly!” Brooke laughed. “One way or another you’ll have to figure out how to be on stage if you’re going to be famous maths girl.”
“What if – I wasn’t? What if I kept doing math but just – didn’t have a job.”
“How would that work?”
“Monchi said – I didn’t even ask – she said she’d support me. I mean, she makes enough to do that now and she doesn’t have a degree yet.”
“No wonder you’ve been texting anxiously all day. This is huge stuff you’re thinking about.”
“But – what do you think? Am I crazy to even think about that?”
“I don’t know about crazy. It’s not like it’s shameful to be – I guess you’d be a housewife?”
“Well uh, when I think about it I imagine being – Little.”
“Like a lifestyle thing?” Brooke laughed. “Okay, you were all worried about telling me you had a diaper on, but you had this bombshell to drop on me?”
“I’m sorry! I suck at conversations.”
“You kinda do.” Brooke grinned and scooted across the couch to hug Jenna. “I don’t know if I can give you advice about this. You’re talking about huge, life-path kind of stuff. It has to be your decision.”
“There’s no way you don’t have an opinion, though.” Jenna sighed.
“Oh, if I were you, I’d at least TRY the symposium. It’s not like you couldn’t fade away and be a Little maths girl if it went horribly, right?”
“I guess that’s true.”
“See? It’s your safety valve. If the symposium explodes, you go with plan b.”
“Safety valves are supposed to prevent explosions.”
“Not this one.” Brooke stuck her tongue out. “Besides, you haven’t even come up with the real question yet.”
“What’s that?”
“Are you going to wear a diaper on stage?”
“You’re lucky you have a puppy. I wouldn’t come over for this kind of abuse otherwise.”
“Uh huh. That’s how my deal with Bowser works. I provide the balls and the kibble, he shields me from my bad behavior.”
Jenna leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “I’ll try the symposium. I think you’re right.”
“I’m always right.”
“Not even in a Nth Dimensional space, bestie. Nice try.”
~~~~*~~~~
The cares of the day melted away along with her adult persona as Jenna let herself become Jenny in her fiancé’s arms. Academic pressures, life plans, and all other responsibilities gave way to stuffies and a pacifier between Jenny’s lips. Swaddled in a blanket while Navi changed her out of a slightly-damp diaper, Jenny was in bliss. Her Jenna side was satisfied as well, because on her laptop there was an email sitting proudly in her Sent folder.
“Thank you Dr. Okounkova. I would love to meet you and talk about my result. I’m nervous at presenting in front of people, but I can do my best to prepare for the conference before I arrive. Thank you again for this great opportunity.”
Even better, there was an answering email glowing on the laptop’s screen. “Wonderful! It’s natural to be nervous when you are not used to presenting. The sooner conference is small, and I will introduce you to ensure a friendly crowd. I will have the department secretary send you plane tickets and I will meet you personally at the airport in Trenton. Please feel free to mail me again if you have any questions.”
Navi had spun Jenny around in delight when she read Dr. Okounkova’s reply. They’d already been playing when the response came in – because it was Jenny, not Jenna, who sent her acceptance to the renowned mathematician.
Comments
Monchi was supposed to say no to crazy plans like that. Now Jenna is stuck with the fact that being full time Little is a real possibility. Scary stuff for such an anxious girl. 😝
Jenna checked Jenny's reply and was happy with it. Happy that she let her more gregarious Jenny side write it too. I agree that it'll be good for Jenna to get to present her paper, but who's going to do it, Jenna or Jenny? 😲
Paul Bennett
I find it interesting how vested I can get in fictional characters I suppose that is a testament to how well they are written. That being said, I am very glad that Jenna has accepted the invitation to present her thesis, at a symposium. I feel that she would have regretted not doing it down the line and would have had a life of what ifs and all that jazz. Even though she would have had Monchi and the rest of her lesbian polycule to assuage those feelings they would have still been there. I also feel that Dr. Hoge was feeding into Jenna's fears in order to jeopardize her career in academia. I am glad that Jenna listened to her support system instead of him. Finally, I hope Jenny's reply doesn't cause an issue. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Great chapter Sol. I am already looking forward to reading more.
Great chapter as usual. Nice happy ending. I was hoping Jenna would decide to go present her paper. From an ABDL perspective Jenna took a big step as well. She was really willing to become Jenny full time and let Monchi support her. I know she was just scared when she said it be she didn’t used to entertain that thought. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
