#TimeTravelAuthors 21: "listen"?

*
“Could Peaches be the one misdirecting us?”

Carrie pursed her lips. “I think Peaches has been sincere with me,” she murmured.

Sherlock noticed then how the word ‘sincere’ had indeed been written and underlined twice next to Peaches on the chart paper.

“Thing is," Carrie added, "I can’t rule out the possibility that she’s being duped, or blackmailed. Maybe she was even trying to warn me about that today, and I didn’t listen properly.”

#TimeTravelAuthors 23: Time travel media characters enjoy?

"Back to the Future" (specifically the diagram Doc draws in Part II) has come up twice. There's been some tangential references to "Quantum Leap", and Peaches would likely enjoy it. I forget if I ever had her make a Steins;Gate reference. Those are my big 3.

Honestly I think most of the cast would enjoy a time travel movie night, as escapism, as long as it didn't take itself too seriously.

#TimeTravelAuthors 25: 'glow'?

*
“Could there be energy in that pendant already?” Sherlock suggested. “Maybe it interfaces badly with Carrie.”

“Impossible, as I had no access to dimensional energies until I met my conduit here,” Heather said, gesturing at Carrie. “Merely had my theory on how it could be contained and measured. Also, the pendant should give off a faint glow when charged. Granted, I’ve had zero way to test that.”

#TimeTravelAuthors 27: Author's choice

This month I finally got around to having Amazon fix my author page. So all three "Accidental Time Travelers Collective" volumes are now there, which include my time travel short stories.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gregory-Taylor/author/B0CNYJ96KT

#TimeTravelAuthors Mar 1: Lucky Intro?

Carrie was lucky to survive her first hours at university, as that's when her nemesis attempted to kill her.

Now there's a problem. She doesn't have a nemesis. Not yet. They jumped back in time for that attack.

So who is out to get her? Can she evade the coming attacks, or will she end up creating the very nemesis she's trying to expose?

"Time Untied". Also features quantum locked roommates and a lesbian love triangle, somehow.

#TimeTravelAuthors 3: Characters protecting?

Jenny's somewhat protective of Carrie (for quantum reasons), leading to Sherlock being protective of Jenny. Peaches is protective of the pocketwatch that allows for time travel. Heather is protective of her own motivations.

#TimeTravelAuthors 5: Apologies?

Carrie often apologizes to Jenny over how she can't be saved in the past yet. Sherlock also apologizes to Jenny over his tendency to talk instead of listen (happens less over time). Jenny apologizes to Peaches for assuming she was the target of flirting.

The biggest such scene occurs after Carrie accuses Peaches of being in on the conspiracy against her, realizes she was wrong, and has to apologize. And explain stuff. Which helps set up the love triangle.

#TimeTravelAuthors 7: Quiet?

*
Heather's eyes lit up. “Have you noticed her performing any otherworldly rituals? Be honest, or I’ll assume you have something to hide.”

Jenny froze. “Um. No, no rituals.”

“What about weird habits? Odd jewelry? Posters of magical girls on her wall? If she’s threatened you to keep quiet, know that I can protect you. Okay?”

Jenny wasn’t even sure what connected all those phrases. It was becoming easy to see why Sherlock had warned them about Heather.

#TimeTravelAuthors 9: Explain story's time travel method with emojis.

Well, there's three time travel methods, and I don't know emoji's that well, but I guess we'll try?

1) 👱‍♀️ ⚡🙏
2) ⏱️ ⚡ 💭 🧠
3) 🚘 💰 👍 😵‍💫

#TimeTravelAuthors 11: Leave?

*
“Euh, let’s just say time travel is possible, and leave it at that.”

“Time...” Peaches backpedaled, to collapse onto the edge of her bed. “I’m in a Terminator movie, with my new lesbian friend who is destined to save us all at graduation. Like the Buffy TV show. Pinch me, I’m dreaming.”

Carrie shook her head. Damn, damn. She’d said way too much. “Please, Peaches. It’s nothing that dramatic. Okay?”

Peaches smiled. “Still, please, pinch me, anywhere you like.”

#TimeTravelAuthors 13: Cultures?

No, unless Canadian culture counts, with Thanksgiving in October and such. I don't feel I know enough about other cultures to handle them properly without causing issues.

Granted, Sherlock is brown and Heather is latina, but that's coming from their parents and I didn't make it a plot point.

#TimeTravelAuthors 15: Fun with time travel?

Legit had to look back over my timeline to see if this ever happened. The travel consumes energy, so it's rarely used frivolously.

There was one time that Carrie helped make it seem like someone else had ESP, by mentally time jumping back and feeding them answers. It was part of a larger plot investigating the effect of multiple mental jumps, but they did have some fun with it.

#TimeTravelAuthors 17: Patience?

Jenny has vast reserves of patience, since Carrie being delayed in going back in time to save her results in her quantum state tied to Carrie's life.

Peaches has demonstrated patience with Carrie on a few occasions, though hormones may have helped. Ditto Chartreuse, come to think.

Most of the cast needs patience interacting with Heather, and vice versa.

Sherlock has been patient about romance with Jenny. Finally, Carrie has been a patient.

#TimeTravelAuthors 19: Servants?

Jeeves! Julie's family is rich enough that she has two servants taking care of her house, Jeeves and Mimi. We never actually see the latter, but Jeeves often acts as Julie's father figure, and even briefly gets a point of view narration.

He doesn't appear in the sequel where characters are at university, but is referenced. No other servants in the story that I can think of.

#TimeTravelAuthors 21: march?
*
Heather marched over to bar the way to the door. “Carrie Waterson. You are not leaving this room until you tell me who you’re working for.”

Carrie looked back down at the pocket watch. And this was when she’d wanted a do-over of their conversation… she slid her fingers over the surface of the pocket watch.

Heather stepped backwards and pushed aside the curtains on the nearest window.

“My God, this watch is some sort of time machine,” Carrie gasped.

#TimeTravelAuthors 23: Surprised by?

Aside from how epically long the darn thing has become? Probably the lesbian love triangle.

Peaches was meant to be a counterpoint to Chartreuse, and more a satellite character. But Carrie was receptive to her advances, meaning somehow those three took the romance focus away from Jenny/Sherlock.

#TimeTravelAuthors 25: brief?

*
“Wouldn’t him offing me rule out the descendant thing too? If I die, he’s not born.”

“I considered that. But someone could use genetic material from your body to create him, still technically making him a descendant.”

“Urrrgh, science, of course,” Carrie groaned. She pressed her forehead down onto the edge of the desk, closing her eyes. “So, in brief, you have no answers for me.”

#TimeTravelAuthors 27: Alternate timelines?

There is only one timeline. However, it can get overwritten, and at times events from prior timelines may "bleed through" into the remaining one. "Untied" takes that concept further, allowing for the one timeline to "jump tracks" and become something different.

Any more than that is a spoiler.

#TimeTravelAuthors 29: Eye colours? (spelled with the 'u', thank you)

Carrie's are blue, as I was playing with the "blue eyed blonde protagonist" angle.

Jenny's are green, since many redheads have green eyes... I legit don't think I worked this out for any other characters. (Checks notes) Oh, Chartreuse's are green from T&T. That's all I've got.

#TimeTravelAuthors 31: Choice

With Time & Tied: Escalation having finished on AO3, we are halfway through the entire T&T saga.

"Destruction" has already begun (re)posting, if anyone wanted to check that out.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/82063151/chapters/215945006

Here's hoping I can complete "Untied" before I finish the reposts.

#TimeTravelAuthors Apr 1: Joke intro

*
ASSASSIN: Screwing up your timeline. Knock, knock.

CARRIE: Who's there?

ASSASSIN: Screw.

CARRIE: Screw who?

PEACHES & CHARTREUSE: Me?

#TimeTravelAuthors 3: What kind of caffeinated beverage?

Honestly, they're late teens, and the MC is health conscious, so they shouldn't be drinking that stuff. Plus I don't like drinking that stuff (even tea and soda is done sparingly), so I wouldn't know how to answer even if they did. Sorry Candace.

#TimeTravelAuthors 5: Games?

Some of the friends of the SCs have an evening playing poker off screen, which becomes somewhat relevant later. I legitimately can't think of anything else.

Much like caffeine, I'm not into games in RL, so I guess it doesn't show up in my stories.

#TimeTravelAuthors 7: Time travel taken seriously?

Absolutely. Carrie can experience physical pain if it's done flippantly. Plus Jenny's existence hinges on it, it's part of Heather's ultimate goals, and even the antagonist, who gets creative with it, takes care not to mess with overall temporal causality.

#TimeTravelAuthors 9: Characters admit when wrong?

Carrie not so much, but she'll waffle a lot before making a decision. Can't be wrong if you didn't commit in the first place. Most of the other characters would, except perhaps the antagonist.

#TimeTravelAuthors 11: Point? Can be overused.

*
“You don’t seem to get that you’re not, you know, invincible. You don’t even take precautions, like a proper secret identity.”

“You don’t take precautions when you make mystic predictions,” Carrie pointed out. “Also, people from the future would have already worked out who I am regardless, so what’s the point in hiding?”

“The point is you’re, like, obviously a target here. A focal point,” Chartreuse said. “You need to take care of yourself."

#TimeTravelAuthors 13: Silliest character?

That's difficult. The ones most likely to add levity to a scene are Chartreuse or Peaches, but not in a really "silly" way. Plus underneath the surface they can be damn serious.

I think the best I can offer is April, the somewhat flaky girl on the floor who likes cute things. We don't see her much.

#TimeTravelAuthors 15: sink/sank

*
Sherlock followed that up by dropping in to see Al. Al’s new rumour was that university libraries were slowly sinking, owing to underestimations in terms of the weight of the books they would contain. But just as the duct work rumour hadn’t gone anywhere, he was struggling to piece together enough for this one too.

The two bonded over their absent roommates.

#TimeTravelAuthors 17: Story structure?

When I write time travel, I need it to wrap back on itself. Either to prompt re-reading a concept/scene knowing the twist that's coming, or to revisit a passage with character context gained later on.

This makes it quite difficult to serialize as I go, and yet since I tend to ignore an overarching plan in favour of story "beats", a serial feels like the only way to finally publish a 350,000 word tale.

It's a problem.

#TimeTravelAuthors 19: Authorities?

Heather is the main person the cast go to regarding help/information regarding time travel.

Alternatively, Melanie is the floor supervisor who has had to intercede a few times when students had disagreements.

The only time police or campus security got involved related to a subplot of someone trying to obtain "knockout gas". (They were not amused.)

#TimeTravelAuthors 21: Repost/reply?

April's been busy. Just did some catching up with the tag and tried to reply to a few posts. Huzzah.

#TimeTravelAuthors 23: Characters test time travel?

Mental time travel, absolutely. Much like in the original "Time & Tied" where they had to figure out how the time machine worked (thus not much testing on the physical side now), "Time Untied" means figuring out the pocket watch. Once they determine it only works if a person remains in proximity to it, there's the question of can they change things, and any long term effects/dangers.

#TimeTravelAuthors 25: alert?

*
“Earth to Sherlock? You with us here?”

“Oh, hey,” he greeted, quickly pocketing his device. “You’re early too, huh?”

“Yup.” Jenny smiled. “It’s fine, I just thought it was weird that you walked in and stood there staring at your phone.”

“Yeah, hey, Jenny needs you alert, Sherlock,” Peaches said, a hint of a smile playing across her face. “You need to stop me, in case I jump her or something.”

Jenny’s cheeks got redder. “I did not say that.”

#TimeTravelAuthors 27: Message/Moral?

I don't aim for those. I suppose "You CAN fight fate" is one of the main ones I use in all my time travel stories. Related, "Don't give up" and perhaps "Trust in your friends".

In effect, I lean into the Stockdale Paradox (and have done so since before I knew it had a name).

#TimeTravelAuthors May 1

Carrie has problems. She may die, as she's been targeted by an assassin, and has limited use of her time powers. She may lose her girlfriend, as she's become infatuated with another girl on her floor, and has become muddled about lesbian relationships. And she may not prioritize passing her university classes... which, if we're being honest, was never part of the main plot anyway. Time Untied.

#TimeTravelAuthors 3: Old buildings?

The setting is a university founded in 1848. I haven't looked up which buildings were part of the original campus. Kind of depends on your definition of "old" as well.

#TimeTravelAuthors 5: Favourite snack?

I have Sherlock hide a bag of chips in his dorm room a couple times, so presumably he enjoys those. I don't think it's ever plot relevant. I also think Carrie likes granola bars?

Yeah, I rarely think about what characters are eating.

#TimeTravelAuthors 7: First lines by an unimportant character?

April is rarely seen, and the few times she's mentioned it's as "Sakura's roommate" (where Sakura herself is a minor character). However, April DOES turn up, over 100k words in:

April sat up straight in her chair. “Oh, wait, I missed something. Is Sakura reading peoples' minds, or the cards' minds?” she wondered.

#TimeTravelAuthors 7b: First lines by an unimportant character?

I've discovered I misinterpreted (or rather, differently understood) yesterday's prompt. I picked a minor character and found their first words. All others picked the first dialogue they came across that weren't MC/SC.

It takes over 30k words to reach someone for me, but that'd be Melanie, their campus floor supervisor:

“Hello, Carrie. Jenny. There’s snacks on the table.”