after seeing many misconceptions on the ages of the characters and also the general lack of knowledge on relevant key events, I thought I'd create a timeline!

A comprehensive breakdown of important dates in Repo! The Genetic Opera:

1993: Rotti Largo was born (July 14th)

2006: On April 5th, the first ever death for NOS (Neuro-Overstimulation Syndrome) was recorded. GeneCo was then founded later that month in Milan, Italy by Giuseppe Largo and Dr. Michael Whatley who eventually discovered a treatment using an experimental drug called Zydrate and genetic manipulation.

2011: Marni was born (No date)

2016: Nathan was born (No date)

2017: Blind Mag was born (July 5th)

2019: Luigi Largo was born (November 20th)

2024: Pavi Largo was born (September 29th)

2025: By this point, The Genetic Opera, an interactive TV show, was sponsored by GeneCo to promote designer organs and keep the public "status-conscious" in order to continue boosting profits.

2032: Carmela Largo/Amber Sweet was born (August 23rd)

2035: Graverobber was born (No date)

2036: Marni brings Mag to meet Rotti Largo

2039: Shilo Wallace was born (August 27th), Marni Wallace dies, Nathan becomes a repo man

2040: Mag's eye transplants (March 21st)

2048: Blind Mag's Corpus Crusade tour

2053: Tao of Mag, a charity concert event held for blindness

2056: Rotti signs his last will and testament, declaring Shilo as the sole heir of his estate (August 7th). The events of the film take place on November 7th - Nathan, Rotti, and Mag die. Shilo presumably goes missing. Amber takes over GeneCo at a later unspecified date.

Some common misconceptions cleared up by the timeline:

Mag did not receive her eyes at 19, the date listed on her repossession chart says otherwise

Marni and Mag have a relatively large age gap. At the time in which Marni brought Mag to meet Rotti, she was already 25, and Mag was only 19. I personally like to think that Marni was a singing mentor of some sort (since in Chase the Morning we see that Mag has a memory of Marni singing), and perhaps worked with disabled people and this is how they met!

The age difference between Shilo and Graves is only 4 years!

Mag and Luigi only have a two year age difference. Her being under GeneCo's thumb since she was 19 and Luigi was 17 is probably why they have a relationship.

On that topic, Nathan is only 3 years older than Luigi, there's no way him or Mag could have "baby sat" the Largos as children if they're all approximately the same age (excluding Amber, but considering Nathan had his own daughter to raise and was a repoman and Mag was a world class opera singer I still doubt that would be the case)

This one doesn't have a specific date, but I felt it should be added regardless: Pavi's face disfigurement seemingly happened very recent to events of Repo! We see several times within the film that there are posters and billboards of him with his original face, even in the pictures Rotti has he didn't have the scarring yet. The posters say that GeneCo offering face replacements will be happening in 2057. Pavi was the one in charge of that, and he was stealing faces prior to his scarring (as seen in the pictures). We also know from several sources, including Luigi himself, that Pavi's face happened because of a botched surgery. It's safe to assume this was because of the new face replacement campaign that was being offered, and it was within the last year or two before the events in the film.

My bizarre real-person headcanon: Josh Groban and Ben Platt are mortal nemeses. Here's the timeline behind this theory, beginning with the known and branching off into the possible future. 2017: Josh Groban makes his Broadway debut in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet to much critical acclaim. At the Tony Awards, Ben Platt, starring in Dear Evan Hansen, wins Best Actor and Dear Evan Hansen beats Natasha/Pierre for Best Musical. 2023: Josh Groban makes a triumphant return to Broadway, headlining a revival of Sweeney Todd. Surely this will be his year? Nope. Ben Platt's limited run production of Parade transfers to Broadway, making his own triumphant return to Broadway after a hiatus of the same length. Neither wins the Tony Award this year (J. Harrison Ghee does), but Parade wins Best Revival of a Musical over Sweeney Todd. Later in 2023: Josh Groban goes full method and immerses himself in the murderous, vengeful instincts of Sweeney Todd. Revenge against Ben Platt will be his! But he can't be too obvious about it. He's playing the long game. 2028: Surprise! There's a revival of Phantom of the Opera announced! Both Ben Platt and Josh Groban are considered as potential Phantoms. Unknown to anyone, Josh Groban has been perfecting his own Phantom-like skills of appearing and disappearing into thin air, throwing his voice, and murder. Oh yeah, and he plays the pipe organ. He gets the role! But wait, what's this? Hugh Jackman was eaten by a crocodile mere weeks before he was supposed to headline the new Broadway production of The Greatest Showman? Ben Platt heroically steps in to save the day and takes the title role! He wins the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, but not Best New Musical (the critics say, "We love Ben Platt but this show is clearly just a vehicle for Hugh Jackman [RIP].") The Phantom revival wins Best Musical, but something terrible happens at the Tony Awards! There's a technical glitch when the Phantom performance is due to start and they move it to the end of the awards ceremony. But right as everyone's marveling at the artistry of the production at the delayed performance, something Totally Unpredicted happens. The chandelier crashes... INTO BEN PLATT!!! 2030: Ben Platt survives the chandelier attack but he loses his entire memory and has to relearn everything, including how to sing! He can no longer recall the moment that the chandelier crashed into him-- nor the moment that Josh Groban looked at him from the stage and mouthed 'Long live the king!' In a startling and bold act, Ben Platt returns to Broadway in a one man autobiographical show about living with amnesia and relearning to perform. He wins the Best Actor Tony Award! Josh Groban is away doing Phantom in Europe. 2040: There's a high profile immersive revival of Les Miserables on Broadway! The producers consider both Ben Platt and Josh Groban for Jean Valjean. But Josh Groban gives off such an in intense murderous energy when they find him in the same room as Ben Platt that they get a brilliant idea and offer him the role of Javert and Platt as Valjean. The production is a hit. The tension between Platt and Groban is off the charts. When it's time for the Tony Awards, both are nominated for Best Actor in a Musical (ala Colm Wilkinson and Terrence Mann in the original Broadway production). On the day of the Tony Awards, an astonishing thing happens: Platt and Groban TIE for the Best Actor in a Musical Award! The crowd goes wild! Everyone is cheering! The theatre... the cheers... it triggers something long-buried in Ben Platt's mind. Suddenly, he remembers the night the chandelier fell on him at the 2028 Tony Awards.... Josh Groban was looking right at him as it happened.... Ben Platt snaps and begins to clobber Josh Groban onstage. In his fit of rage, he doesn't see Josh Groban pull out a gun. Is this finally the end of this age old rivalry? BUT WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? IT'S J. HARRISON GHEE (SNUBBED STAR OF THE REIMAGINED REVIVAL OF LA CAGE AUX FOLLES) WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!! At least, this is what I imagine.

jealousy jealousy

the 100 [ john murphy x reader ]

type: ig angst but it’s not well written enough to ‘hit’

tropes: jealousy, roommates, unspoken but accepted love, best friends to lovers

warnings: violence ( knife fight ), mentions of murder

in which wells jaha is getting help by the only person willing to be around him, who just so happens to john murphy’s unofficial girlfriend, who then has to deal with his idiotic jealousy.

a/n: hii, i’m back! this is based on a request i really really liked but i’m not happy with what i actually wrote so i hope it’s okay to read. i kinda ignored how much of a psychopath murphy was in the first season cause i really couldn’t have justified his actions otherwise and the whole jealousy part wouldn’t have been entertaining AT ALL. so yea, i was struggling a bit ( whilst also blatantly ignoring the timeline, ignore anything that doesn’t match the canon timeline of s1 pls ), but at least i tried right🫣 no pronouns

w.c.: 2040

yours and murphy's relationship was a rather unclear, but at the same time simple one. you weren't officially dating, but during your time on the ark, when you were locked up in your shared cell, where you also met, you definitely did some inappropriate stuff; stuff that friends don't do.

your cell was also the place where the two of you bonded, becoming really really close rather quickly. although he was a very aggressive and irritating person to be around at first, you got used to it and soon he became your favourite person to be around.

now, after months of being roommates and part time lovers, you were finally on the ground, something you'd dreamed of since you first learned about it and therefore were keen on securing your survival. murphy on the other hand, got so bad that even you couldn't deny the fact he was a total asshole and if you didn't know he would never hurt you, you'd be way too scared to share a tent with him, especially alone.

you didn't actively distance yourself but after watching him bully wells, the chancellor's son, countless times for his father's actions, you kind of naturally looked for ways to make some new friends. and as if the universe hated john murphy, you seemed to work really well with wells.

everytime murphy saw you talk or walk around with wells, which honestly happened quite a lot, it fueled his hatred against home even more and made him want to stay away from you too.

you didn't mind not being associated with the provocative behaviour of john murphy and the way he tyrannized the other delinquents, however, it was a very different story when it came to going to bed and waiting for him until you physically couldn't keep your eyes open any longer, leading to you and him barely ever meeting and getting a chance to talk, despite sharing a tent.

yes, murphy was an asshole, that was totally not up for debate, BUT he was also the cell mate you had for the past few months; one who you loved deeply.

you were sitting by the dropship, wells next to you, watching your hands closely.

"see, it's really important that you wrap everything tightly, like super tight, since you don't want your arrow to fall apart in the air, alright?", you explained and made sure he understood. you were teaching him how to make an arrow from scratch and although you weren't an earth skills expert, you definitely knew more than wells, who didn't get the chance to attend earth skills class back on the ark. and you could probably count the people who at least tolerated wells on one hand, you included.

"okay and, sorry", he paused, scrunching his nose and forehead as he stared at the arrow-to-be in front of him, "how do i make sure the tip is sharp and everything? i just don't get it, sorry. i don't wanna waste your time y/n.”

you smiled, appreciating his consideration, but clearly declining his indirect offer for you to do something else. there wasn't anything else for you to do and he also wasn't wasting your time, he was just learning and you really liked teaching him; it helped you understand better as well.

"wells, c'mon. i'm choosing to be here, you didn't force me and i don't think it would be okay to produce less arrows, that literally get us food, just cause i'm bored of you", you said, smiling at him, "not.. not that i am bored of you, but you know what i mean!"

he grinned before nodding. honestly, there wasn't anything wrong with wells at all and you truly didn't understand how your fellow delinquents could treat him they way they did. especially murphy.

speaking of the devil, murphy was brutally staring at you and oh boy was he jealous.

he didn’t want to approach you, as he was lowkey trying to avoid starting anything right in front of you, let alone with you. he wasn’t blind and therefore noticed how much more distant you and him were ever since arriving on earth so he was trying to avoid any additional conflicts between you.

when you looked up, your eyes meeting his for a quick moment, leading to you sending a small smile his way, he almost forgot about all his anger and jealousy towards wells. that was until you looked back at the boy in front of you and started smiling hard at the almost perfect arrow he had just put together.

murphy was gonna make wells pay, hard. he just had to catch him away from you, something that was way harder to arrange than he’d like it to be.

“don’t you see you can’t control this?!”, wells voice echoed through the woods as you nervously made your way back. you were wandering around outside of camp, always keeping close to the dropship as you knew you could get los easily. the initial reason you decided to turn around was the cheering delinquents and something inside of you just had you thinking that murphy must have had something to do with it.

“wait”, you heard bellamy yell, making the noise die down for a moment. it calmed your nerves as you were standing at the back of the group, trying to be as tall as possible to see what was going on. “fair fight”, bellamy said before you could hear something metallic fall to the ground.

anxiety increasing again, you tried to push yourself through the delinquents that were proudly chanting for murder meanwhile you had to pray for a miracle; one that ensured that murphy wasn’t part of this.

“this is for my father”, you could make out murphy’s voice fairly quickly right as you were able to watch him attack wells with a knife. a gasp escaped your throat when wells defended himself with ease, pushing murphy to the ground and holding a knife to his throat.

“stop it! are you insane?!”, your feet were moving before you could think about your actions, bringing you right where wells and murphy were standing.

wells dropped his hand. murphy looked at you with fear and regret. he didn’t regret attacking wells, but he didn’t want you to see him like this. however, one had to admit that he hadn’t been trying very hard.

“y/n..”

“no, shut up john. i am so beyond done with your shit. yours too!”, you pointed a finger at bellamy who just rolled his eyes at your tone.

“if this is who you want to be, fine. go ahead and be a dickhead, john. you disgust me”, you mumbled angry words right into his face before storming off.

despite it being really challenging, you decided to ignore murphy for now. you couldn’t believe that he would do something as reckless as getting into a knife fight with wells! of course wells wasn’t innocent either, but it was clear who the aggressor must have been, even without having been there the entire time.

it was kind of embarrassing that you couldn’t even deny the high possible of john murphy, the boy you had lowkey caught feelings for, murdering an innocent boy for fun.

truly messed up, making murphy more and more deserving of the silent treatment you were giving him. at first he had stayed away from you until you didn’t even come to the tent at night, secretly having had asked a girl named harper to stay in hers.

so when you kept ignoring murphy the day after the incident, it angered him so much that he immediately stormed into your tent when he watched you enter it from afar.

“what the fuck y/n”, he said, his voice laced with irritation as he stared at you. his blue eyes piercing yours.

despite being intimidated, you stayed stubborn and didn’t give him any attention. he hadn’t deserved it yet.

“oh i see, you’re ignoring me? are you being serious? for what, scaring the chancellor’s son a bit? you know damn well i wouldn’t have done anything”, he said, rolling his eyes and waited for a reaction. this time you looked at him critically before ignoring him again.

“wait, you do know that, right?”, murphy’s voice softened a bit. he moved so that he could observe not only your body language, but also your eyes. this made you lower your gaze.

soon after, you felt two hands touching your skin. they were cold but the touch was warm, hot even. murphy moved your face so that you were looking at him and he immediately noticed your worried expression. he instantly understood that you actually didn’t know that he wasn’t a cold hearted killer.

“y/n, i wouldn’t have killed him, i swear. yes, i harmed him and i did that on purpose, i’ll be fully honest here, but i was just angry at him”, he explained himself calmly now.

you removed his hands from your face before getting up from the bed you had previously sat on. “what do you mean angry, john? what did wells do to you? you’ve been treating him like absolute shit, are you kidding me, i don’t get it”, you said. you wanted to yell at him but you also tried to hold onto the tiniest bit of privacy you had behind the ‘walls’ of your tent.

murphy slightly rolled his eyes and shook his head, then sat down on the bed and took off his shoes.

he is trying to escape the conversation!

it annoyed you that he had the audacity to ignore your question after everything he had done up until this point.

“what is WRONG with you, john. talk to me already!”, this time, he basically had you begging. again, unbelievable.

he tried to let as much time pass as possible before linking his hands, putting his arms behind his head and looking up. he sighed and licked his lips, trying to find the right words. “i was.. kinda jealous.”

you couldn’t help but stare at him and ultimately break out in laughter. this was absolutely pathetic.

“you were gonna kill someone out of jealousy? are you INSANE MURPHY?!”, you didn’t even try to keep your voice down, he deserved this.

“y/n, i know that it was wrong alright. but i already told you that i wouldn’t have killed him”, murphy was annoyed and you could clearly hear it in his voice. he however, could clearly see that you weren’t just going to let him disrespect you like that. he sighed again.

“do you want me to apologize?”, he asked quietly, his voice barely louder than a whisper. murphy moved his head so that he could look at you and when a slight grin appeared on your face, he let himself fall back into the sleeping bag.

of course you’d want him to apologize.

“yea, to wells”, you said, ruining his mood entirely.

“WHAT?! you gotta be insane. do you know how embarass”, your expression made him halt in the middle of the sentence, the stubbornness you radiated even caused him to groan. “okay.” you truly had him wrapped around your finger.

“good, john”, you said and walked over to him. “y’know what, this is an amazing sign for you to be better in general because from what i’ve noticed, you’ve been pure hell for most people in this camp”, you admitted, knowing he wouldn’t be mad at you for your honesty.

this, once again, caused murphy to roll his eyes at you. he shook his head slightly, not wanting to talk about his own behaviour anymore, he held one arm out to you, inviting you into the bed with him.

you hesitated for a short second, but quickly got down next to him.

“ugh come here”, murphy said and pulled you into his side.

sharing a bed or cuddling wasn’t a new thing to you two, but it made your heart jump, in a very very good way, everytime it happened.

you repositioned your head until you found a position comfortable enough to stay in and took a long breathe in.

after a moment of silence you began giggling.

“so, jealous huh?”

(yesterday i received an ask, which prompted me to write the following response. the asker has apologised for sending it and i took it down to prevent anyone from laying into them, but present is anonymously below because i like my response and want you to see it)

"Based on the fun new revelation that the world is ending before I graduate, is it even worth it to try prepping or should we all just get ready to jump into traffic come 2025?"

okay, there is, A LOT to unpack here. i'm gonna do my best to respond to this helpfully, the way i am facing it: confronting it, emotionally processing it, pragmatically preparing, and holding on to a sort of grim, dark hope.

we're talking about climate collapse and the latest IPCC report here right? first off, it's not a new revelation. maybe it is for you personally, but for humanity as a whole, we've known about the inevitable outcomes of emissions damaging the climate since like the 70's. i found out about it myself in primary school in the mid 90's, when it was still called the greenhouse effect, and i then spent 20 years on and off in various roles of support for climate activism, when i had the spoons. if you're young and just finding out about it now i know it's probably overwhelming, and especially sucks the later you've been born into this mess… but i'm pointing out that it's not new, to underline the point that it's also not sudden. yeah it's getting worse, but it's been getting worse for generations, and will keep getting worse for generations.

it's not a meteor, or a volcano. it's a creeping steady decline of habitability with sputters and bursts of natural disaster; there is no timeline or event or threshold at which the world ends here.

that 2025 "deadline" from this year's IPCC synthesis report, for instance; it's not a date that the world ends. honestly, in some ways, it's kinda meaningless. what it is, as i understand it, is that all the data says that if we want to limit global average temperature rises to 1.5C by end of century - which we do, because even 2C would be catastrophic - we need emissions to peak by 2025 and then rapidly decline. it's a vastly oversimplified agregate of incredibly complex data reduced down to the point of absurdity in a desperate attempt by scientists to get corporations to allow governments to take action to limit corporations. it's a deadline for government action to limit effects by 2100. the year will come, and pass, and the world will go on. probably with emissions still going up, probably with targets shifted again and 2C accepted as the next half hearted goal that will also be missed, but life will go on.

no end of the world. life will go on. into the 2030's, into the 2040's, into the 2100's, life will go on. it'll be hotter and colder, wetter and drier, more storms and bushfires, less food and fertile land, but life will go on. populations will starve, land will become uninhabitable, life will go on. when you hear about "the end of the world" from climate collapse, it's not a hard apocalypse that kills us all off or whatever. it's the slow creep of nature getting more harsh, and the way we do things much harder.

if you look at the serious reports from scientists and militaries, the language you see isn't "end of the world", it's "end of modern societies". that's what's really at risk: the fragile infrastructure that holds up the ruling classes of rich nations and has us all scurrying around to make it work. mass scale power grids, international supply chains and just in time logistics, silicon wafer production, year-round plastic wrapped preserved passionfruit chunks grown in thailand, packed in argentina, sold in france, profits to america, money stored on a computer in the cayman islands. i can't sugarcoat it and say that's all that's at stake; people are definitely going to starve and drown and die of exposure; but that already happens every day in most of the world, right now. there are a million rohingya at the border of bangladesh, locals fleeing khartoum as the west airlifts out is nationals, people whose civilisations were crushed under the boots of empires and land destroyed to create the farmland and factories that are killing the planet. life for them goes on.

i mean, i get it. seeing the impending collapse of your society, everything you've known for your whole life being willfully destroyed, it's fucking devastating. we want to keep sitting here on comfortable couches with our gold and cobalt plated supercomputers sharing cat gifs on the hellsite. we don't want to have our civilisation taken away from us and be forced into brutal struggle to survive. it's going to fucking suck, it will be awful, and it will be (and already is) most destructive to the people who are already the worst off, which just sucks even more… and maybe your life is already bad enough that you don't think you can handle it getting worse. i mean, i've been suicidal since i was 14 and i've been through trauma and medical torture you wouldn't believe since then. i get it. you're scared, terrified even. existentially threatened. you don't know what you can handle and maybe you donn't wanna find out.

but here's the thing: the ONLY sensible thing you can do, now and going forwards, is prepare for it.

you wanna kill yourself when it gets hard? let's say sure, i agree with that. what's the threshold then, what's the limit? when will you kill yourself? the power grid going down? sewerage backing up? supply chains failing and being unable to buy food? from the comfort of the developed world, those all feel like exit points i can imagine many people taking as their out… but how long does it have to last before you know it's carbon-monoxide-party time? a month of no power, no flush, no food? a week, a few months, or a year? because it won't start that way.

it's not a meteor or volcano, it's a slow slide. some powerlines sagged so there's rolling blackouts every now and then, a few hours or a day at a time. pipes backed up a bit so pressure is reduced for a week until repairs are done. fires and plague have closed roads so shelves are bare and stores are limiting purchases on essentials this month. there will be bumps along the road before there will be any sort of definitive cliff where you can say "this is it, now is the time to kill myself". these bumps are already happening.

i really hope you can agree, it'd be absurd to be such a fatalistic doomer that you kill yourself instantly at the first blackout, dry tap, or closed grocery store; when you can't know if it'll be back up in a few hours or tomorrow or next week. these small disruptions are already happening right now, directly as a result of climate collapse, but we're still here, still living. if we're going to talk about suicide as a pragmatic option, you need a threshold, and wherever you set it, you'll have to get through what comes before. "i'll kill myself after a month with no grid" still means you gotta be ready for a week without it. you gotta prepare, even if you plan to not survive.

and i know it's overwhelming, i know. to look around and think about what is essential to keep you going, what you can sacrifice, how you can make it through. but you're not going to be doing it alone, everyone around you is going to be doing it with you. we're all going to be struggling through it, and based on how communities have responded in the last few years to a string of once-in-a-lifetime disasters here in my home of climate-fucked australia, i am certain that when the climate collapses around a group of people, they will form a community and help each other, no matter how selfish and mean of a country bogan (translation: redneck) they are. people will help each other; people already are helping each other.

because yeah, climate collapse will probably destroy modern civilisation… but so what? it's a neoliberal capitalist hellscape quickly plunging us into technologically enforced eternal authoritarianism… and like, not to be an accelerationist or anything, but here's that dark hope i mentioned: i'm kinda relieved by the thought that the infrastructure that enables it won't last this century. that climate collapse will force us out of these horrors, and back into real, interdependent community.

so do what you can to prepare, how you can, to make the little disruptions more bearable and comfortable. there's plenty of resources still available for off grid life, camping, home agriculture, and general self sufficiency out there on the still-existant internet, and more people are getting into it all the time - not just what you imagine when you hear "prepper". any skill you can develop, anything you can do to prepare, even if it's as simple as keeping extra shelf stable food and a jug of clean water around, anything you can do will help you materially and more importantly, mentally.

having some jerry cans of water and a small solar setup has been amazing for my mental health and anxiety! and as much as i'm putting material and energy into preperations, i'm also putting them into comfort, maybe even hedonism. collecting some cool lego, got some fancy synths i didn't need, making fucked up noise music with them. enjoying the sound of the neighbours' chickens, looking forward to the day "the world ends" and i can free-range my own on the council's nature strip and share the eggs with the pottery lady down the street. once you're prepared to survive a week of grid down, maybe you'll realise a month, a year, isn't so unbearable. maybe it starts to feel nice?

because i've been there, the suicidal grief. 2018 was absolutely the worst year of my life and i was sure i'd die being tortured in hospital, and coming out of that, in 2019, both the IPCC and ADF released incredibly bleak reports on climate collapse outcomes, and it all sank in. all the spare spoons i'd sunk into helping when i could, all the decades of scientists desperately warning, it all failed. the final warnings have been coming for years, with no change in course, it's happening. and i faced the realisation that my decades were limited, my time of comfort short, and i started despairing and grieving. i turned to what support systems i had, and they failed me. when my psych asked what i was so anxious about and i started explaining the climate reports, he tensed up and started asking diagnostic questions for dilusional psychosis. i went home and cried, i was sleeping on the couch in the junk storage room of my sharehouse because i'd let my own room fill up with so much trash that there was a distinctly organic smell of growth choking the whole place out. i was fucking done, my heart and body broken, there didn't seem to be any point in anything, not without a future. it's the closest i've been to killing myself since leaving home…

so i said, fuck it. i've got a tiny pool of cash from welfare backpay, and i bought a synth i wanted. it fucking rocked, and brought me so much joy, so i bought another, and another. no future to save for, anyway. i made some cool music, i never saw that psych again, i gave up on my drive for revenge on doctors and finding answers about my fucked up nervous system, why bother when the world is ending? and i made music. i can kill myself later maybe. i started loving myself more, because what's the point starving to death hating myself? i made music and got confident and cleaned my fucking room, bought a new mattress. i met a girl and took a chance and we fucked real good and i fell in love again. i moved out somewhere new and quieter and left a home of over a decade behind me, left parts of my identity behind me, moving forward and growing for the better. i have a family now, the first family that has ever loved me without expecting anything in return, and i love them with all my heart. i listen to the chickens, and watch leaves float down the storm water drain, and make cool music. yesterday i listened to a 14 minute track i made 6 months ago and almost cried, because nobody can make music that is so perfect for my tastes except me, and i brought it into existence. on the weekend i'm gonna set up the solar panel to keep the backup battery topped up, i use it to charge my phone and laptop, which the kids would call solarpunk and i'd call cool as fuck to have a solar powered laptop.

in 2019 i stared into the void and realised there is no real future for me, for human civilisation as we know it, and i grieved and processed… i almost killed myself, but i didn't, and the years since have been the best of my life, no question.

so, no. don't kill yourself, now or in 2025 or at any point until you can't handle the torture anymore. "graduation" sounds young, real young, even if it's tertiary. i'm creeping towards 40, and the age that "graduation" conjures makes me think that you've got a hell of a lot of potential left in you, for fun and stupidity, and growing up, and finding love and heartbreak, and your version of wierd-arse synth music.

so go out there, prepare, and enjoy.

…

…..and for the love of all the false goddesses of the void, never, NEVER EVER again contact a random fucking blog on tumblr and ask if you should kill yourself. holy fuck buddy. the amount of pressure you put me under to deliver an emmaculately worded response that somehow talks you down from the ledge without lying, is way, way too much fucking pressure. i really hope you were being stupidly hyperbolic, but even then, Eris Fucking Kallisti Herself In Absurdist Pagan Blasphemy, so incredibly unacceptable to say to a stranger. i think you need a therapist, even if they do think you're catastrophising, because like. shit dude. this is abso-fucking-lutely not okay!

now go. prepare and enjoy.

Transition timeline

2015: Came out 2016, may: hrt (private) 2016, june: gp referral 2026: first appointment with newly formed Office for Gender Regulation and Treatment 2028: served six months in prison for unlicensed nonconformity 2031: second prison term for possession of class b hormones with intent to distribute 2034: granted early parole for good behaviour (fucking the guards) 2034: published my first zine 2035: incarcerated again for breach of parole (going outside without a bra) 2040: escaped from prison during the battle of London during a failed leninist coup 2040: published my second zine from exile in Belgium 2041: released my first studio album featuring a synth 2045: returned to England to fight in the second English revolution 2046: killed by a cop while trying to fix my gas mask 2047: awarded posthumous grs for services in the gender wars by the peoples revolutionary council

So! This is a prime opportunity to call hlvrai fans to my thoughts for hl2vrai, with my extended knowledge of the half life LORE

So, we were told half life 2 took place in 2020 in the main timeline, for hlvrai, that’s when the black mesa incident happened-

Hlvrai 1 - 2020

Gordon has been gone for 20 years, he kinda fucked off and didn’t listen to Dr coomer’s request- shame on gordo’s

According to coomer it’s 2040 now, so the 20 years of Gordo gone has passed.

Coomer seems to be recently arriving in city 17, probably to join bubby in the teleport lab

Tommy has been hired into the family business, so he’s probably gonna be our greeter for hl2vrai, like Gman waking up Gordon in half life 2

No clue where benrey is, so he might be gone still, unless Wayne’s pulling a “shit I stole from popular au’s” thing and making benrey possess Barney Calhoun /hj

Alyx and Breen are gonna be important, and I think Kleiner and Eli might be too, given that. But we’ll see come next year

We pray for Holly’s Wi-Fi when it comes out, however

Batman Beyond Series Timeline

NOTE: I created this timeline based on the idea that Terry doesn't become Batman until the second half of his sophomore year and then I just sort of pieced everything together from there and it worked out pretty well for the most part. If I've messed anything up though, please let me know. I've included some further explanations for my decisions about this timeline as well as some thoughts about how this timeline effects the series after the read more. Also it might be helpful as you read this to have the episode list on hand.

Between January and May of 2039, during the second half of Terry’s sophomore year, he becomes Batman. This time spans from “Rebirth” to “Earth Mover” with Terry becoming Batman before Spring but after he turns 16. This puts his birthday between January and, at the latest, March, assuming the Spring Fling in “Golem” happens right before Spring break. This means that Spring break of 2039 occurs between “Golem” and “Meltdown”.

Summer break 2039 occurs between mid-late May to mid-late August over the time span of “Joyride” to “Lost Soul”

The first half of Terry’s junior year begins in mid-late August of 2039 and ends sometime in late December. This time spans from “Hidden Agenda” to “Final Cut” with Winter break occurring between “Final Cut” and “The Last Resort”.

The beginning of the second half of Terry’s junior year starts sometime in January 2040 until Spring break. During this time, Terry would have turned 17. This time spans from “The Last Resort” to “Zeta”. Spring break occurs after “Zeta” and ends right around the time of “Plague”. The rest of Terry’s junior year occurs in the time span of “April Moon” to “Ace in the Hole” (approx.  mid-late March to mid-late May) with “King’s Ransom” occurring either right before or right after the beginning of Summer break.

Summer of 2040 occurs from mid-late May to mid-late August. “Return of the Joker” happens sometime after “King’s Ransom” but before “Untouchable” with “Untouchable” being the last Summer episode before the new school year.

The first half of Terry’s senior year begins in mid-late August of 2040 and ends in late December. This time spans from “Inqueling” to “Unmasked”. “Out of the Past” occurs in late October. From “Out of the Past to “Unmasked”, the rest of the season takes place between November and early December. The crossover episode with “The Zeta Project”, “Shadows”, has to occur immediately after “Countdown” in either late November or early December with “Unmasked” happening shortly after that.

The “Static Shock” crossover episode “Future Shock” occurs after “Unmasked”, either right before or right after the beginning of Winter break of 2040 in late December.

The "Justice League: Unlimited" episode "Epilogue" occurs 15 years after "Rebirth" when Terry is 31.

1. The Zeta Problem

(a) In the animated series “The Zeta Project”, we’re told that Zeta (see "Going Rogue" section) broke from his programming and went on the run in early August of 2041. This timeline assumes that that date is incorrect along with any other timeline discrepancies caused by that show. “Zeta” can’t be in August if “Plague” is in March.

2. Assumptions and Explanations

(a) I know some people think that Terry’s exchange with the security guard outside Blight’s office in “Rebrith” (“little early for Halloween”/”just in time for Fall”) means that episode occurs in Fall of 2039, but sometimes a joke is just a joke and it makes more sense for the Spring Fling to occur in “Golem” two episodes later if Terry became Batman only a couple of months at most before that dance.

(b) Max likely discovers Terry is Batman towards the beginning of junior year, around late August to early September at most. I and others place this episode in Fall because a poster for a Homecoming Dance is featured in one scene and those usually happen at the beginning of the school year. I think the GAT is probably a General Aptitude Test given at the beginning of each new school year to determine where students are at academically before finalizing class schedules.

(c) In the episode “Revenant”, Terry’s reference to Willie getting out in time for junior prom after two more months in juvie could be read as “just in time for junior prom [at the end of the school year]” not that they’re necessarily two months away from the end of junior year. With Spring break happening nine episodes later, a lot more time than two months would have to pass for Willie to get out just barely in time for junior prom.

(d) The episode “Eyewitness” most likely occurs in November of 2039 since Sam Young is up for re-election as district attorney.

(e) The reason I set “Out of the Past” in late October of 2040 is because in at least one other Batman cartoon, "The Batman" (2004), Bruce's birthday is in October (see "Trivia" section). If you do a quick google search, there's like three other birthdays/months listed for Bruce across the DC multiverse so I just went with the one that was most convenient to my timeline and I make no apologies.

(f) I tend to think that “The Call” had to occur during Thanksgiving break because I can’t imagine Mary would have let Bruce send Terry to Metropolis if he wasn't on break, but that’s just an assumption.

(g) I believe Terry’s training with Kairi began around the start of his senior year and continued through until part 2 of “Curse of the Kobra”. I believe the events we see through most of part 1 of “Curse of the Kobra” occurred over the same span of time that passes between “Inqueling” and “Betrayal”. Mostly I believe this is the case because Terry’s training probably would have taken months and thinking of it this way makes the timline a bit tidier.  

(h) I set “Future Shock” right after “Unmasked” because KOBRA has a new leader (Zander is gone) and I kept it in December on the timeline because Terry looks dressed for cold weather.

(i) In the "Justice League: Unlimited" episode "Epilogue", Terry says that he was 16 when he became Batman. Some people think that means he didn't become Batman until the beginning of his junior year, but it's just as possible he became Batman during the second half of sophomore year if he has a birthday between January to March at the absolute latest (see my first bullet point for why). We know "Epilogue" occurs 15 years after "Rebirth" because Dana says she and Terry have been dating for 15 years and we know they likely didn't start dating until just before "Rebirth" when they were 16.

3. Rebirth Recontextualized

(a) Assuming “Big Time” occurs in September to early October of 2040 and we know Charlie Bigelow spent two years in jail, than he and Terry must have gone to prison sometime in September to early October of 2038. This would’ve been during the first half of Terry’s sophomore year and explains why in “Rebirth” he’s been split up from Matt (his parents think he’s a bad influence) and why things are so tense between him and Warren. If Terry was arrested in September/early October and did 3 months then he might not have gotten out of juvie until around late December/winter break, right before the series starts during the second half of his sophomore year. It seems that between his release and becoming Batman is when he and Dana got together since Mary talks like she doesn’t really know her in “Rebirth”. He’s basically just a couple months out of juvie when he becomes Batman.

(b) The first comic featuring Batman was published in March of 1939, so “Batman Beyond” starting around the same time of year in 2039 is really satisfying. As it happened, it was fairly easy to fit a timeline around that start time without too much finagling.

Unfinished Timeline for an Untitled Setting

Critique and advice is more than welcome, though please be nice about it. Goes up to about 2081 rn, though I plan to get at least another 50 years further in before I get to the time I want the bulk of the setting to be set in.

Timeline:

2022: First controlled break-even fusion reaction, followed by first controlled net-gain fusion reaction.

2025-2026: Increasing unrest in USA leads to mass riots outside the white-house. Sweeping reforms after growing revolts threaten to become a major armed rebellion. NASA miraculously left untouched, general increase in standard of living. Economic crisis narrowly averted.

2027: First nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) tested in orbit by NASA and DARPA. GPT-style language modeling declared “dead end” for self-aware AI.

2030: First Lunar base established under NASA Artemis program. Suez Canal temporarily blocked by a poorly driven cargo ship again. Evergreen Shipping goes bankrupt.

2034: Lunar Gateway established under joint NASA, ESA, JAXA, DLR, ASI, and CNSA. Lunar helium-3 mining declared officially nonviable. Radial detonation engines become standard for lower ascent stages, SpaceX Starship, NASA SLS, and Roscosmos Soyuz phased out. Drop in launch prices.

2034-2036: Additional modules added to the Lunar Gateway from SpaceX, KARI, ISRO, and Roscosmos. Lunar Gateway Collaborative Group (LGCG) established consisting of all current contributors to the station.

2036: First commercial fusion energy plant reaches full operation in France under ITER. Mass production of Tritium begins. First fully private space station under SpaceX. Asteroid mining corporations begin formation. Establishment of Nigerian Organization for the Development of Space (NODS). Ecuador experiences communist revolution.

2036-2037: First manned martian mission under LGCG, first human footsteps on another planetary body.

2037: Elon Musk assassinated. New SpaceX leadership declares plans for space elevator. North Korea collapses, Korean peninsula unified under South Korean leadership, becoming simply Korea. Indian nuclear stockpile secretly surpasses 50000 Gt. First baby born on the moon.

2040: Artemis base becomes semi-self sufficient, producing it’s own food and air from hydroponics, and water from mined lunar ice. Lunar LH2 and hydrolox production begins. Lunar population passes 100.

2040-2042: First commercial fusion power plants established in the US, UK, Australia, Korea, and Japan.

2042: A joint US Government and SpaceX black operation destabilizes Ecuador, leading to a corporate takeover of the territory.

2044: Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand form West Pacific Trade Organization (WPTO). Construction of the base of SpaceX’s planned space elevator begins off the coast of Ecuador.

2047: LCC completed at CERN. Mission for permanent martian base declared. Major economic crisis in China, intervention from several megacorps results in a decrease in Chinese government power and increase in corporate control in the region. SpaceX space elevator counterweight construction begins in geostationary orbit.

2048: Major revolution in quantum mechanics brought on by new data from the LCC. Lunar population passes 250.

2050: China splits into 4 corporate states, Amazon Corporate Territory (ACT) with its capitol in Chongqing, Samsung Independent State (SIS) with its capitol in Shanghai, Territory for Electronic Developments (TED) made up of Apple and Microsoft with its capitol in Yinchuan, and the Chinese Corporate Union (CCU) made up of several formerly state-owned corporations with their capitol in Wuhan and possession of the Three Gorges Dam. Beijing becomes an independent city-state controlled by the former Chinese government, retaining control over the CNSA. Massive revolution in battery energy density. Permanent martian base established by LGCG.

2051: Breakthrough in photon manipulation, beamed energy and solar collection becomes increasingly viable. Many asteroid mining corps branch into solar power, notably Binghamton Vacuum Mining Solutions (BVMS). Lunar population passes 500.

2052: Martian population surpasses 100.

2053: Martian base reaches semi-self sustainability.

2055: All 4 Chinese corporate states and the Beijing city state form the Chinese Federation for Space Exploration (CFSE), supplanting the old CNSA. Lunar Gateway module renamed and LGCG roster amended accordingly. SpaceX space elevator cable completed, first test cart sent to GEO. WPTO begins construction of a space elevator in the Banda Sea.

2056: SpaceX space elevator declared complete, commercial operation begins.

2057: BVMS surpasses $1T in net worth, becomes primary supplier of energy for the Artemis Lunar Base. Lunar Population surpasses 1k, massive migratory population surge begins following influx of energy from BVMS. Martian population surpasses 250. First fusion reactor in Ecuador.

2058: WPTO space elevator counterweight begins construction in GEO.

2060: First fusion reactors in Nigeria and India. First large-scale solar collector on Earth constructed in New York operated by BVMS. Large population surge in Binghamton NY. Lunar population surpasses 5k. Martian space station established. Regulations for GEO development established.

2061: First lunar-built spacecraft flown. Secondary lunar settlement founded by CFSE. Massive influx of funds for the WPTO space elevator from the CFSE, GEO counterweight construction begun. Lunar Gateway population surpasses 100. First fusion reactor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Congo space agency (DRCSA) founded.

2064: WPTO space elevator cable completed, declared complete and opened to commercial operation.

2065: BVME establishes unmanned Mercurian base. CFSE settlement population surpasses 100. Martian population surpasses 500. Lunar Gateway population surpasses 200.

2066: Mass expansion of Artemis Base life support systems using BVMS produced automated construction equipment. Aerostat scientific outpost established by LGCG.

2067: Microbial life discovered on Venus. Venus outpost (and LGCG) acquires substantial funding boost. Artemis base population surpasses 2.5k and begins to plateau.

2069: Unmanned mission to Europa announced by LGCG, plans to use BVMS automated platforms to drill into subsurface ocean established. Martian base purchases automated construction equipment from BVMS, massive population boon ensues. CFSE settlement population surpasses 750. Lunar gateway population surpasses 500. Martian base population surpasses 500. BVME becomes the largest corporate entity in the system.

2070: BVMS performs feasibility study on gas giant aerostat mining platforms.

2071: Study of Venusian lifeforms disproves Earth-Venus panspermia.

2073: BVMS tests laser-sail propulsion on small unmanned craft.

2075: LGCG Europa mission discovers multicellular aquatic life in Europa’s subsurface ocean. Plans for a dedicated research base drafted.

2076: Multi-corporate base established on Ceres to facilitate further asteroid belt mining. BVMS intentionally excluded from this project.

(System effectively split into quarters: Past Venus under BVMS, Between Venus and Mars under LGCG, belt under Multi-corporate mining control, outer system unclaimed.)

2077: GEO-Lunar cycler niche mostly filled by Intraplanetary Transport Services corp (ITS).

2080: Permanent scientific base established at the Europa Breach Point (EBP) with mostly automated systems and a small (5 human) management and maintenance crew.

2081: Panspermia further disproved by study of Europan life. Massive object detected in Jupiter’s lower atmosphere. BVMS begins mission to establish a mining aerostat on Saturn, utilizing laser sail propulsion to transport equipment.

(Saturn Aerostat site intended for use in the further colonization of the outer solar system and the Uranus planetary system itself. Atomic Rockets page)

BurritoWitch’s Batman Timeline

i was bored so I made a timeline for Batman and the Batfam. Alfred is immortal send tweet.  1970: Bruce Wayne is born

1973: Selina Kyle is born

1978: Thomas and Martha Wayne are killed

1982: Barbara Gordon is born

1986: Dick Grayson is born

1988: Jason Todd is born

1988: Cassandra Cain is born

1990: Bruce Wayne becomes Batman

1990: Stephanie Brown is born

1991: Tim Drake is born

1991: Harper Row is born

1994: The Flying Grayson die

1994: Dick Grayson is adopted

1995: Dick Grayson becomes Robin

1996: Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl

2000: Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing

2000: Cullen Row is born

2001: Jason Todd is adopted

2001: Jason Todd becomes Robin

2002: Barabara Gordon is paralyzed

2002: Duke Thomas is born

2003: Damian Wayne is born

2005: Jason Todd dies :(

2006: Tim Drake becomes Robin

2007: Cassandra Cain is adopted

2007: Cassandra Cain becomes Batgirl

2009: Stephanie Brown becomes Robin

2009: Stephanie Brown dies

2010: Jason Todd becomes Red Hood

2010: Stephanie Brown comes back

2011: Harper Row becomes BlueBird

2012: Damian Wayne shows up

2014: Bruce Wayne dies

2014: Dick Grayson becomes Batman

2014: Damian Wayne becomes Robin

2014: Stephanie Brown becomes Batgirl

2014: Tim Drake becomes Red Robin

2014: Cassandra Cain becomes Black Bat

2016: Bruce comes back

2017: Duke Thomas is adopted

2018: Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle get married

2022: Helena Wayne is born

2030: Bruce Wayne retires

2035: Carrie Kelly is born

2037: Helena Wayne becomes Huntress

2040: Terry Mcginnis is born

2042: Bruce severs contact with family

2046: Matt Mcginnis is born

2048: Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement

2048: Carrie Kelly is adopted

2048: Carrie Kelly becomes Robin

2057: Terry Mcginnis becomes Batman

2057: Bruce Wayne retires

2058: Carrie Kelly becomes Batgirl

2059: Bruce Wayne dies

2060: Matt Mcginnis becomes Robin 

hi! super appreciate the work you do here esp the timeline and I was wondering what the process behind that was? like sources for specific dates and stuff

Thank you! I'm really happy to see people so interested in Repo! lore. 🙏

Onto the timeline, the birthdays are pretty well known, so that's a given. There are some slight discrepancies in dates (specifically Shilo's birthday), but I'm guessing that's just because of how often the plot was changed. I just worked it out so that the math lined up.

For the other information, that is kinda an amalgamation of information from both the official GeneCo website (film canon) and the stage play site. The information on NOS and the founding of GeneCo is film canon, there's also a few instances on magazine/newspaper shots in the film itself with a bit of info on that. The information on The Genetic Opera is old stage play canon, but I felt that could be added as there's hardly any film lore on it. Plus, it doesn't mess up the overall timeline.

I do eventually plan on making a masterpost of all my important links, I'll probably do that sometime this week, so stay tuned for that!

Source screenshots:

The Largo's birthdays:

Shilo's birthday - however 2040 as her birth year would not work considering she is said to be 17 and the film takes place in 2056. If she were born in 2040 she would only be 16 which is why I had her year listed as 2039 on the timeline:

Blind Mag's tour dates from the GeneCo site:

NOS dates from the GeneCo site and the stage play site (the stageplay site's section is broken so I had to highlight and copy and paste the text to discord in order to see it):

The Genetic Opera (also copy and pasted from the broken stage play site):

Lastly, the date of Mag's final concert from the GeneCo site and the date Rotti's will was signed (I had to transcribe very carefully from a low quality image of the will prop used in the film, once again you can see they messed up the date being listed as 2057, hence why I listed him signing the will as 2056 instead.):

This is the timeline of a stardust arcade for you all. This time not hidden under an entire explanation.

2030- Security breach comes out and nearly sentient animatronics are created.

2031-

2032-

2033- Nova is probably created around this time. This year or older is when Eclipse and Jack-o-Moon are created.

2034-

2035- Lots of animatronics start to act very sentient. But are still not considered as such since they thrive in certain programmed professions.

2036- Pluto is probably created around this time.

2037- Black Star Is probably created around this time.

2038- Animatronics from this era and ahead are considered sentient to the ones who started the revolution.

2039- Blood Moon is probably created.

2040- Animatronics are clearly sentient. Revolution starts. Sun and Moon are probably created around this time.

2041-

2042-

2043- Revolution ends. Animatronics gain basic rights. Planet is probably created.

2044-

2045- Current year.

what is the thing you're hyperfixating on that there are no tumblr posts about? :3

i'm afraid this answer is not going to be very satisfying it's simply an alternate universe combination of two preexisting media properties developed with one (1) other person and taken so autistically goddamn far its worldbuilding arguably threatens to outgrow the bounds of either of its precedents, so, you know, the usual. in this case the two media properties are mo dao zu shi and julian may's milieu trilogy. we have on record a full timeline of approx seventy years from the year 2040 (when wei wuxian is born) to 2107 (the date to which we have postponed the metapsychic rebellion); some of these years are charted to the individual months. everybody's immortal. there's a polycule. the main family tree is non-euclidean in the sense that it needs to be charted on a sphere. microsoft excel has been resorted to

Headcanon: Your Wedding Without Luke

(Definitely not edited)

I promised myself I would never write an angsty headcanon, but here we are... I swear someone's going to riot because of this, but we're going to write it anyways. (I'm so sorry Luke stans...)

Here we go though. For context, someone made an Instagram reel where an "unconventional" practice is to leave a seat open for the deceased... I think you know where I'm going with this, so let's just get to the story. Hope you enjoy this one!

For the timeline, let's skip to a few years ahead of the game (since we all know Luke's timeline). I think we should just assume the year 2040 and you're Rosa just to be safe.

⭐⭐⭐

Staring at yourself in the mirror, your nervous heart pounds against your chest. While your fingers play with the fabric of the skirt, your mind can't help but wander to your current situation: you're getting married. Although you knew that you wanted to get married from a young age, it feels surreal that you finally found someone to spend the rest of your life with, but it isn't the way that you imagined.

The knock at the door pulls you away from your thoughts, and Kiki's head appears behind the door. You give her a small smile before she enters.

"How are you feeling?" she asks quietly as she carefully shuts the door behind her. Trying to compose yourself from your thoughts, you sigh before answering her.

"Nervous, but who isn't nervous on their wedding day, right?" you honestly answer her as she approaches you with an expression that seems to say "fair enough." You notice how the bridesmaid dress suits her well and smile at her. "You look great in your dress by the way," you comment, and she responds with a helpless smile and shaking head.

"Not as great as you," she responds back as she sits on the couch behind you, playing with the hem of her dress. With the silence that overcomes the room, your mind wanders back to those thoughts, and you decide to voice them, knowing that Kiki would reassure you

"Do you," your voice falters for a moment before continuing, "think that it is right for me to do this?" Biting the inside of your lip and glancing behind you, Kiki looks at you with a slightly sad smile, knowing exactly what you meant to ask. With a heavy sigh, she stands up and grabs your hands, gripping them tightly in an attempt to boost your confidence.

"I think this is the right thing," she answers quietly and carefully, trying to respect your thoughts and feelings. Your mind immediately thinks back to your promise to him before everything happened, and you try to bite back your tears, trying not to ruin the meticulous makeup on your face. If I go, I want you to be happy; I want you to find someone else who can make you smile a lot, alright? Those words in your mind repeat as Kiki continues speaking. "I understand that it's hard because you miss him so much, but I think he would want to see your smiles than to see you crying in pain," she continues, trying to keep it together. "As much as you want him, you know that you need to move on."

"I know I have moved on though; I have someone I'm about to marry," you reason mostly to yourself, "but I still love him." Your voice reduces to a whisper, admitting your feelings. The tears slowly well up in your eyes, and Kiki immediately reaches for a tissue to dry them up for you. Silence returns to the room as you feel like you're betraying him.

"You know," Kiki responds as she continues to dry your tears, "it's possible to love more than one guy. You're marrying someone who accepts you even though you're struggling; he knows that you love him even though you feel like you're betraying your first love." Your mind can't process Kiki's words as you're trying to regain your composure. Her hands continue to dry your eyes as she continues to explain, "If it makes you feel better, no one is going to blame you for betraying him; they want you to be happy. You're going to miss him, but there's nothing wrong with missing someone you've known all your life, alright?" Her words finally process in your mind, sniffling as you contain the sadness in your heart.

"You really think so?" your shaky voice whispers, the words barely able to come out of your throat. Kiki's confident nod eases some of the conflicting feelings in your heart, and you're finally feel the air moving in and out of your chest as if you weren't breathing in the first place. With shaky breaths, Kiki gives you a soft smile, cleaning up the last of your tears before squeezing your hands again.

"It's time," a voice at the door calls, and Kiki acknowledges them before looking back at you.

"Ready?" she asks with a barely audible tone. You only have enough courage to muster a nod before Kiki walks with you to the aisle.

The first part of the ceremony blurs by your mind before you finally come back to your senses. Your eyes nervously look at the aisle in front of you as your father looks his arm with yours.

"Don't worry," he whispers. "You're doing great sweetie." Hearing the aisle music you planned previously, you manage to look up, swallowing the nervousness in your throat. However, your eyes catch something in the corner. You initially blink, thinking your vision is starting to fail you at a young age, but he's still there. At the empty seat you left in the front room, a suited male stands in front of it, and your eyes immediately tear up when you recognize the figure. Everything's the same from your memories of him: his warm smile, the sturdiness of his shoulders, and even his eye smile. The warmness of his aura brings tears to your eyes as you realize that you're learning to let him go; even though he's gone, he'll always support you if that means you putting him aside in your mind.

Walking down the aisle, you can feel your future husband's gaze on you, knowing that the pain you feel can only fade and that he'll support you anyways. However, you also feel your first love watching you like a guardian angel, taking in how you finally found another person to make you happy like he did. Although the music plays around you, you hear his voice telling you that it's okay that this is happening and how happy he is that you found someone else that loves you.

Reaching the altar, you somehow find the raging feelings in your heart calming down, the nervousness slowly dissipating from your body. You know that you'll miss him no matter what. You know that your heart will always long for him, but your heart eases knowing that he loves and supports you. As you take your future husband's hand and squeeze his, you know that this is what he would've wanted. You can only be honest with yourself in your thoughts before the officiant starts talking.

"I love you, Luke. I always will."

⭐⭐⭐

Oh man. I was tearing up writing this to be honest, but we'll find out who really started bawling. (Hue hue.) Either way, I hope you liked this one, and I'll see you in the next one!

Campaigns focusing on temperature goals have not had any success. At the end of the day, numbers like 1.5, 2, 2.3, these are small numbers. They represent global devastation. But the abstract numbers themselves are small. Humans think in terms of 10 fingers. Just 2 fingers instead of 10 fingers is small. Not bad. Not severe. A politician can't successfully campaign on a number like 1.7 or 2. The human mind isn't alarmed by small numbers like that.

We should instead focus on concrete timelines for dismantling the fossil fuel industry. Focus on dates. 2025. 2030. These dates are just around the corner. They're now, basically. That's urgency. That should be the focus. Dates invite people to make connections to real world situations. When you think about the climate and 2025, you might think "oh, I graduate college in 2025." Or you might think "oh, 2024 US presidential election." When your local politicians lobby for a new airport by 2040, you'll think "that doesn't make sense." Dates provide a connection between necessary climate action and everything else going on in the world

A friend of mine came to me a week ago with this peculiar idea of an alt history where the Soviets cloned the M16 instead of adopting the AK-74. She acknowledges the entire premise is silly but it's for fun so who cares. Basically, she was looking for input on what changes they'd make too it.

We went back and forth a fair bit. She did take my input seriously and conceded certain points, namely there was no way the Soviets would keep the bolt release and would want to incorporate the dovetail rail on the side to make use of their preexisting scopes. That being said, there were a fair few she didn't agree with at all so i decided to say fuck it and design both her final design and then my own take.

Her rifle is the TKB-174, the Dzyubenko Proposal from the Tula Arsenal. My take is the TKB-175, the Vendal Proposal from Ishevsk.

In general i feel she was...overly optimistic about the Soviets material realities or willingness to change. I didn't color them because I didn't feel like it, but her 174 variant features full polymer furniture.

In the 70s.

Look, I'm aware of the Soviets use of polymers. i know about the green border guard AKMs, but those were limited and uncommon. If the Soviets were capable of mass production of polymer furniture for their mainline rifles in the 1970s, don't you think the AK-74 would have had it? It wasn't even some kind of trad disinterest in polymer because muh wood. They attempted a program to add as many Bakelite parts to the AK in the 50s or 60s to make it lighter, going so far as to make the dust cover plastic! This ultimately failed of course, Bakelite is fairly fragile, but It's the whole reason the AKM and 74 had Bakelite pistol grips!

So the 175 has wood furniture. The reality is it wouldn't be till the 80s till we'd start seeing mass produced polymer furniture in that lovely plum color.

She made an attempt to maintain the Soviet manual of arms, particularly for reloading, by moving the latch of the AR's T shaped charging handle to the right side. (Soviet reloading technique was to do everything with the right hand.) This feels contrived and like it wouldn't really do much, so i just made the 175 into a weird cludge of an AK into an ARs form factor.

Her lower is aluminum. I don't think the Soviets would bother with aluminum due to cost and not caring much about the weight. So my lower is stamped metal.

Basically, she's conceived a largely straight forward AR-15 clone with some Slavic flair. I've conceived a rifle that's attempting to be as cheap as possible while being an AK with extra steps.

I'm not sure if this was part of a larger project of hers or just a thought experiment, but to make this somewhat useful to me i have made these kind of canon to Følslava.

Within Følslavas lore, these were developed and proposed alongside the AK-74. Dzyubenkos 174 was rejected due to high per unit cost, being too radical a change as well as not wanting to use an American design, and concerns over the Direct impingement gas system in cold climates. Vendals 175 was rejected for just being kind of weird and ugly and not offering anything an AK couldn't do. The timeline proceeded as normal from here with the adoption of the AK-74.

the 174 and 175 were filed away in the arsenals archives and largely forgotten about for a few decades. They would eventually be brought to the publics attention in the 2040s, when a prominent firearms historian and online video maker was granted access to these archives and made a series on these strange curiosities.

WIP Posted: How Do You Measure a Year in the Life?

Chapter 1: rise up singin'. July-October. The year of 2040-2041.

A year ago from this posting, I put up the first chapter of Kiss My Lipstick on. There was no way I could've imagined it becoming this sprawling universe that I would rejoice in, that would literally change my brain chemistry. It only happened because of you, dear reader. You have given me such joy and kindness over this year and fed my creative furnace.

This story is not the end of Leda Verse. I have prompts left to fill, aus of the aus (to begin and finish) and maybe even some mainverse stories left to write. It is though, the end of the timeline for mainverse. I made a promise that no one in Leda Verse would ever die and I stick firm to that. There is a major medical episode or two in this story, but everyone is alive from start to finish. Where it ends though, is the end of the line. The story after June 2041 is a gentle mist, a sea spray, spreading over the camera lens and obscuring our vision.

Dear reader, if you'll have it, I give you a gentle kiss on the forehead for making it all this way with me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.