Jennifer Robinson


 * And tell them from me that Healing Sex is not legitimate medical procedure.
 * &mdash;Jenni during the 2008 Mary Sue Invasion

Jennifer Robinson is a nurse in the Department of Fictional Psychology. She is written by Neshomeh.

Appearance
Jenni uses the form of a human woman. Up until 2012 HST, she didn't bother aging beyond her apparent 28 years, but started once her adopted son got old enough to notice. She has hunter-green eyes and brown hair that she usually keeps braided; when let loose, it reaches the bottom of her shoulder-blades. She is five foot seven, with long limbs and a body made fit by a job that routinely involves restraining people larger and angrier than herself.

She tends to wear blue jeans and t-shirt, preferring bold primary colors (red, blue, green), often with FicPsych's white jacket with the exclamation point on the shoulder over top. She is also often seen with a mug of tea or klah, or the means for making one, in hand.

Jenni appeared on Page Three of Issue Eight of the Multiverse Monitor, not wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt, which just goes to show that she has absolutely no shame.

In General
Most noticeably, Jenni is someone with a need to tend others. She is friendly with just about everyone, but she takes a special shine to anybody who seems ill-used, tragic, or broken. If encouraged at all, and sometimes even in spite of being outright told to stop meddling, she will go out of her way to discover the causes thereof and try to heal them. In the past, this led to borderline-Sue tendencies, but now it mostly just leads to Nume snarking at her.

When not striving to cure the ills of the multiverse, Jenni is easy-going, compassionate, and witty. She enjoys bantering with her more acerbic friends, co-workers, and clients, and tends to see the best in everyone, but she won't put up with stupidity or anyone hassling her friends. She is not violent and very rarely resorts to physical force to accomplish anything, but she is not above manipulation if she thinks it'll benefit the subject thereof.

She is apt to love (and although she doesn't believe in Magical Healing Sex, she is a proponent of its more mundane benefits), but a long, checkered track record makes her cautious about expressing it. As noted above, she has no shame whatsoever, but she does wish to avoid pointlessly making anyone else uncomfortable. While to her mind it is perfectly natural to love any number of people, most of them don't want to share, so she finds herself more alone than not to prevent conflicts. She eschews alcohol precisely to avoid a state of lowered inhibitions that would inevitably end with her snogging somebody who might later regret it. (Well, most of the time.) She is not Luxury, though it is safe to assume they "know" each other and get along like a house on fire.

Despite her outer appearance as a young woman, Jenni carries all the memories and experience of her past lives. She can be persuaded to talk about them, but it takes some doing. She tries to live as much like any other person as possible, which precludes even having past lives in most cases, and she isn't interested in burdening anyone else with her sordid history. The irony of this has repeatedly been pointed out to her, but so far she isn't budging.

Therapy Style
Jenni mostly works with recruits and agents, since she finds it difficult to resist trying to "fix" canon characters who need to be broken for their stories to work.

Her style of therapy relies heavily on keeping the subject talking long enough to reveal clues about what's bothering them and what they need. She is an intent, patient listener, and skilled at responding just so, providing both assurance that she is paying attention and encouragement to go on. This involves asking lots of questions, conversational and seemingly innocuous if she's being subtle, startlingly blunt if she isn't. Whatever works is fine with her. Lifetimes of practice at reading body language and interpreting word choice allows her to take educated guesses about how to proceed very quickly, the better to nudge people along the road to catharsis and recovery.

Her method also relies on plying people with tea or other comforting beverages. Even if the subject turns her down, she might make something for herself just to utilize the aroma, since scents are powerful triggers for emotions and memory. She has a cupboard full of various teas and a section of her desk especially reserved for brewing and serving them.

She believes in the power of physical contact and sneaks in a hand or arm touch when she can get away with it. If the subject is not opposed, hugs and backrubs are readily available.

She is also a healer, and can handle minor to moderate injuries that would sap time the Medical Department could be spending on more serious issues. She is slightly proprietary of anyone who comes into the department, partly because medical treatment is a time-sensitive business, and partly because that's just how she is. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, after all.

Relationships with Other Agents
Jenni's original friends in the PPC, from back in the day when she had more time to hang around in the Lounge, have mostly moved on, but they included Lupeias, Sanguine, 'Fer, Ginger, Reria, and Hawkelf. Circumstances conspired to bring her very close to seductive blonde Agent Reria indeed. She might still have the borrowed leather outfit somewhere, too.

She maintains a friendly professional relationship with her co-workers in FicPsych. She is probably closest to Nurses Mirrad and Elms, and she's taken young intern Alex under her wing. Head Nurse Suzine is a little too clinical for her preference, and Suzine also gets to tell her what to do, which doesn't always sit well. Dr. Freedenberg does, too, but he's a nice old gentleman while he does it. She has met DIA officer Brian McMaolin, at the time a DAVD agent, during his visits to the department, but it isn't known how well they know each other outside that professional capacity.

She has something resembling a friendship with Agent Supernumerary going back almost as far as his recruitment. They joined at about the same time, so she knows as much about him as anybody in the PPC, which is not much. She finds his cast-iron defensive shell an irresistible challenge, and she takes the fact that they're still on speaking terms as a free pass to continue probing him for hints about what really goes on in his head. The one thing she is certain of is that he's a better person than he likes people to think.

Nume's partner, Ilraen, is a friend. She was assigned to him when his recruiters brought him to FicPsych, and they've kept in touch since. She regards him almost as a furry blue son and her door is always open to him if he has questions or concerns. He tends to approach her with emotional issues and stickier biological questions that Nume refuses to discuss. Ilraen is also friends with her adopted son, Henry, which she happily encourages.

Jenni has been less successful keeping in touch with Agent Derik, whom she recruited, since he was put on duty. However, since she is the only other active agent with a Pernese background, and thus the only one with any sort of real appreciation of his difficulties (not to mention a stash of klah), they find each other for a chat every once in a while.

Most recently, she has discovered Agent Suicide, whose uncomplicated nature coupled with slightly mangled good looks and an interestingly screwed up backstory makes him appealing on multiple levels. This could be the start of a beautiful... let's say friendship with benefits.

Pre-PPC
Like many PPC agents, Jenni began life as a fan character. She did a fair amount of continuum-hopping in her day, having participated in stories or role-plays concerning Middle-earth, Hogwarts, Pern, and the Phantom of the Opera in addition to a variety of Generic Fantasylands. She spent most of her time in AUs, so her interaction with canon characters was limited to a particular few. Thus, she considers Pern a second home, but she has History of an angsty nature with Severus Snape, the Phantom, and the Lone Power.

All this moving about the multiverse has its explanation in her true identity as an ethereal being from an energy plane she refers to as the Void, which underlies, represents, and supplies the physical side of her home 'verse (and possibly all 'verses). This part of her nature comes with certain supernatural powers, which she is not allowed to use under most circumstances and in fact prefers most others not to know about. She is compelled into physical form by her drive to heal, and also because she enjoys being human. She experimented with other forms in the past, but she likes her current one best. She is aware that she is a character&mdash;at least from one perspective&mdash;but it doesn't much bother her, even if things do get a bit meta at times.

Recruitment
Jenni brought herself to the PPC when she perceived that her tendency to meddle in canon was largely frowned upon. (It may or may not have been partly her author's idea, too.) Her need to fix people led her to the Department of Fictional Psychology, though she was forced to accept a massive personal paradigm shift when it was made plain that she was to stop at undoing the damage caused by badfic. "Fixing" any damage caused by canon is not allowed.

PPC Career
She began as an assistant to the active nurses at the time, gradually learning the ropes and being assessed by her superiors. She had more free time back then, and she spent a lot of it in the PPC Lounge. She will tell stories about the things that happened in the Lounge in those days. Ask her about the Fey Wine Incident sometime.

Since earning her flash patch, Jenni has worked with agents and canons, but focuses mostly on agents, since there's less risk of lapsing into old habits that way. Despite her protests that she does not lust like a common Sue, the FicPsych staff learned pretty quickly that she was not to be trusted around certain canons and have contrived to keep her away from them on the job.

She lives in her quarters in the department: Section 31, room C-14. When she isn't busy, she visits friends and past home continua&mdash;particularly Pern, since it's the only way to keep herself supplied with the indigenous hot beverage, klah. Occasionally she also pitches in with the non-lethal departments, such as Implausible Crossovers, where her skill with a neuralyzer is an asset.

During the Macrovirus Emergency and subsequent Mary Sue Invasion, Jenni helped to keep FicPsych pasted together and to organize the final defense of the Medical Department. She was also called upon to use her telepathic abilities to ascertain the motives and capabilities of mirror!Honesah, who led a controlled force of Daleks to victory against the invading Sues.

In 2009, Jenni adopted Henry, the uncanonical and highly improbable offspring of Severus Snape and Harry Potter. She denies that this has anything to do with her History. Of course not. She will attest that she has had trouble getting pregnant in the past, however, and in fact has only managed it once in her many lives. The exact reasons for this are unclear.

Appearances

 * 2003-2004
 * Arrives in HQ and joins the Department of Fictional Psychology.
 * Meets Agent Supernumerary in the course of work and, for reasons known best to herself, declares herself his friend.
 * 2005
 * "Woodsprite of the North" (Lord of the Rings), Agents Dafydd Illian and Selene Windflower (DOGA)
 * On loan for the mass exorcism of Alumia the Woodsprite from Arda. Yes, the whole planet.
 * 2006
 * "Introducing Ilraen" (FicPsych)
 * Helps a new recruit with a tragic lack of personality, and not in a metaphorical sense.
 * 2007
 * Pulls some strings to help arrange for Ilraen to be partnered with Nume, whose previous partner had gone missing.
 * "Operation: Neuralyze!" (interlude)
 * On loan to help neuralyze a Borg cube in the Assimilation Crisis.
 * 2008
 * "Harry Potter and the Dragonriders of Pern" (HP x DRoP), with Agents Ilraen and Supernumerary (DIC)
 * Teams up with Nume and Ilraen to help them with a Pern crossover.
 * Takes part in the defense of FicPsych and Medical during the March Macrovirus Epidemic and April Sue Invasion. (Note: where continuity errors arise, "Gestalt Therapy" is the accurate version of these events as far as Jenni is concerned.)
 * "Gestalt Therapy" (FicPsych) - Does her part for FicPsych (when not sent elsewhere).
 * "PPC-HQ, Nouvelle Calédonie" (interlude) - Called away to, um, "interview" Mirror!Honesah during the epidemic.
 * "Mary-Sue Invasion" (RP) - Leads the defense of the Medical Department.
 * "The Youngest Goddess and a PPC Emergency," Part One, Part Two (Narnia), Agents Lunac and Liadan (DMS)
 * Helps Agents Lunac and Liadan exorcise Robecca from the land of Narnia. Yep, all of it.
 * 2009
 * Probably involved in the gender-bender incident, but doesn't particularly mind.
 * Adopts Henry.
 * 2010
 * "DIA: Introductions" (interlude)
 * Spotted with Agent Lee in Rudi's Pub. So much so that Lee's partner felt the need to break them up.
 * 2011
 * "Henry's Birthday" (RP)
 * Celebrates Henry's second birthday with friends in the Really Very Tiny Auditorium, February 5.
 * "Ring Child" (Lord of the Rings x Harry Potter), Agents Ilraen and Nume (DIC) with Agents Diocletian and Suicide (DMS)
 * Encountered in FicPsych by the agents upon their return to HQ. Develops a mutual attraction with Suicide, not entirely in spite of the fact that he was concussed at the time.
 * "PPC Bleepka Bar" (RP)
 * Not long after "Ring Child," manages a most satisfactory first date with Suicide, despite an awkward start.
 * "Stephanie's Birthday" (RP)
 * Attends Stephanie Fielding's sixth birthday party on September 6, with Henry.
 * 2012
 * Posts her first entry in a public journal, referring to this and this.
 * "AHAIRQL: Team Physical Therapy"
 * In which the Kudzu prompts the nurses to get involved with the All-HQ Australian Indoor-Rules Quiddich League.
 * 2019
 * "Ten Years Hence: Henry"
 * In which Henry is ten and life in HQ is complicated.