I was tapped to do the Shanna questions, which (apart from helping out with a punchline or two) makes this my first AaA work, so far.

I think “I go to the movies sometimes” is as close as either early version of Shanna will get to admitting her fantasy life isn’t entirely dead. She doesn’t even catch herself and insist she only watches documentaries.

(On the other hand, yes, she subconsciously knows she’s getting “sky gnomes” and “painter warriors” wrong, and your nerd-rage only feeds her.)

“My childhood best friend” is a reference to the recently-mentioned Katherine of FansIn that series, Katherine was one of the few friends Shanna had for a long while, and their bond was the second most important reason she got involved with the Science-Fiction Club and its adventures, the first being their newsworthiness. In this timeline as in that one, the two women drifted somewhat apart as adults, but not so much that they didn’t stay in touch.

“Indefinite leave to bring this story in” is sure a huge show of faith from her boss in this situation, even if I doubt that leave is with full pay.