fay_e: Text: I am not afraid to keep on living (not afraid to live)
Wednesday, January 1st, 2025 07:54 pm
This is the Dec edition of prompts from #TimeTravelAuthors on bsky, where my answers are about my crossover fic, a question of time (AO3 link). The numbers are the days in Dec.



Dec 1: Story introduction

"a question of time" is the result when I decided my fave time traveller, Akemi Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, should meet my other fave time traveller, Dave Strider from Homestuck.

Dec 3 to 7 responses )


Dec 9: Celebrations

While I have written a few birthday celebrations in my main fic "a question of time", I like Christmas so much I wrote a Christmas side story set in the same verse, Orange Crush in a Japanese Xmas set (AO3 link).

Here's a snippet from the side story that refers to Christmas and time manipulation.

“Merry Christmas!” she chirruped, reintroducing English and an overdose of the Christmas spirit to the scene, then planted a big wet kiss on his cheek.

He suppressed his first instinct to squeak and made sure he found his voice before saying in English, “Pretty sure those under the mistletoe are supposed to get kisses, not give kisses.”

“I didn’t know that! They don’t seem to know that, too!”

Despite seeing Dave getting kissed, Sakura let Jade plant a kiss on her cheek, too. Sakura came away with a black kiss mark and a drumstick that she’d sneaked out of the KFC bucket that was tucked in Jade’s arm.

He switched back to Japanese to remind Sakura, “I said I’d give you some, can’t you wait?”

Sakura took a huge bite of her drumstick and wiped at the crumbs and the lipstick mark on her cheek. “Chicken is best when it’s hot. And you should fix your face too.”

He was about to do just that when Homura brought on the black, grey and white Christmas of her time stop. He turned to her with a smirk. “That eager to clean – are you trying to one up Sakura in her chicken heist?”

The monochrome didn’t extend to Homura, which was why he could see the red in her cheeks as she tried to pry the bucket of chicken free without bringing Jade into her time stop. “Having an object to shield with would be – easier than trying to dissuade Harley-san.”

Dec 11 to 29 )
fay_e: Text: It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart (speak right to my heart)
Monday, December 23rd, 2024 10:31 am
I still want to do the fic commentary for a question of time (AO3 link), but it's such a major undertaking.

Instead, I've been doing bite-sized prompts from #TimeTravelAuthors on bsky, so I decided to collate the answers in this post.

This is the November edition, I'll back up the December edition another day. The numbers are the days in November.



Nov 1: Story introduction

"a question of time" is a crossover fanfic featuring my two fave time travellers: Akemi Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Dave Strider from Homestuck.

Homura thought she had lost her time travel powers thanks to her best friend's wish. Dave's arrival makes Homura rethink her assumptions.

Nov 3 to 13 responses )

Nov 15: Anyone running out of time?

SPOILERS )

Nov 17: Time Travel Direction

Dave Strider uses modified turntables to time travel, so he can both travel forward and backwards in time, and even pause in "time stop".

Here's a snippet of Dave describing the process:
Dave wasn't the kind to go bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. But it was his turn to infuse enough of his power to add his own glow, the light coincidentally taking the shapes of familiar gears. That was how he knew he could send his records spinning.

Instead of time catching on his timetables during a rewind, fast forwarding felt more like a slide, like a skateboard going down a ramp until enough of a time differential had built and speed started to come into things. As long as the board felt like it was under their feet, it should be fine.


Nov 19 to 27 responses )

Nov 29 was the same promo as the top.

Prompts fully updated! Hope you enjoyed reading!
fay_e: Text: how she rocks in keds and tube socks (rocks keds and tube socks)
Monday, June 10th, 2024 06:41 pm
One last thing before we dive into the fic - I hate writing summaries.

But I think I did a good job with this summary:

(Homestuck-Madoka Magica crossover) On an Earth that seems reset to pre-SBURB normalcy, Dave Strider transfers to Mitakihara. There he finds the magical girl system, more universe breaking powers, and an Akemi Homura all too eager to fix her time abilities with his...


It gets the key elements in - a supposedly pre-SBURB Earth that has a Mitakihara and a Homura, so that Dave can meet her. But how did they get there? You'll have to read the fic.

Which you can do too, with commentary! In this part, I'll be swapping the fic commentary to be in blockquotes, with the main fic as the actual text.

If you prefer to read the version of "a question of time" without commentary, it is here on AO3.

Here's the commentary laden version )

Next chapter to be commented on!

In the meantime, you can check out the previous Part 3. Or go all the way to the start at Part 1? Or check out the tags below!
fay_e: Text: and I'll be your downfall (be your downfall)
Friday, May 24th, 2024 01:35 pm
Did you know that a question of time (link goes to the fic on AO3) was supposed to be entirely in Bro Strider's POV?

I blame this on coming across the kancho entry of Gaijin Smash while I was mainlining Homestuck. As I was reading, I had the undeniable thought in my head - if Bro Strider was a JET teacher, he would be immune to all this.

The idea just stuck in my head and wouldn't leave, and then grew an entire verse. I didn't know much about Japanese schools, but I could steal Mitakihara schools right? I could even get some DaveHomu in!

Snippets from drafts under cut )

And now that you have all the backstory, I can start on the fic commentary proper! Link to that coming soon. In the meantime, check the other parts via links or the tags.

Part 2 || Part 4
fay_e: Text: I'm the morning rain (morning rain)
Saturday, May 4th, 2024 12:29 pm
It's been 13 years and an epic fic since I watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica, so it's time to revisit the series. Specifically how the years since and writing this fic has shifted my view of the series.

At that particular point in my life, I had grown tired enough of most media that I needed spoilers for the entire series before I would even start. I couldn't take the emotional toil of having a comfort series turn out not to be so comforting at all. I thought I would be pretty safe with PMMM. It was only 12 episodes and I already knew the major plot twists (including episode 3).

I also had a gateway character in Akemi Homura, and she made it to the end of the series, so I would be fine. Since I don't talk about it often enough - gateway characters for me are my entry point into any media. I need to have stakes in a particular character before I dive in. Homura was everything that spoilers promised and more.

Spoilers about PMMM  )

But then we come to the problem of Dirk Strider. And of Bro Strider. Check that out in Part 3 below.

Part 1 || Part 3
fay_e: Text: though our instincts say that we should turn and run (instincts turn and run)
Saturday, April 13th, 2024 02:44 pm
Homestuck's 413 is today and it's almost 13 years to the day that I started watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica. So I thought it was finally time to do the director commentaries on my fic (link goes to AO3) a question of time featuring the crossover pairing of Akemi Homura/Dave Strider. Yes I write their names that way because the way their names are presented in their individual series trumps consistency.

Which is somehow related to the theme of this first part that will not quote the fic yet, despite being a director's commentary! But I think a bit of backstory is needed.

Specifically that my advice is not to get into a series through a fic featuring a crack crossover pairing.

Come down a rabbit hole with me )

Continued in Part 2 and more!!!

Or check out the fic commentary tag.