What year were cove and mc born in?

[vince]

I was just wondering if it would be possible to figure out by context clues when exactly one of the steps takes place. Considering that one of the things mentioned at some point is mobile phones, when they're 13 but they don't have them, they're still using landlines.

And also that at some point apparently LGBT rights advances and the MCs mums are able to get married I think. I remember something like that in the inbetweens. I was wondering then if it would be possible to sus out exactly when they were born.

I know that same-sex marriage in california was legalised in 2013. And same-sex adoption was legalised in 2003. But maybe the game doesn't go by those rules, it wouldn't surprise me if this is in an alternate universe with better LGBT rights

[vince]

While same-sex adoption was legal in 2003, it's actually important now to note that Elizabeth is 2 years older than the MC, but we don't know their ages when they were adopted, we know they weren't adopted when they were babies though because their real parents died. It's likely they lived with their bio parents for a little while before their deaths. (but not too long to have any memories of them)

Let's say they were both adopted around the age of 2, and that they adopted Elizabeth in 2003, when it was legalised. That would mean the MC and Cove are born in 2003.

If they're born in 2003, at 8 years old they're in the year 2011. 13 is the year 2016 and 18 is the year 2021.

Now this is fairly consistent actually, at 18 they do have smartphones which means they're probably in somewhat recent times. Although perhaps they were actually born in 2002 and the adoptions were when they were a little older.

So yeah based on the legalisation of same-sex adoption I guess that the steps take place in 2011, then 2016, then 2021. Those aren't exact but pretty close.

Of course I'm not sure if it's a possibility that in actuality Noelani and Pamela didn't adopt the MC and Elizabeth as a couple initially, and actually only one of them was a legal parent of each child until the laws caught up and both could be legal parents. If that's the case it could take place earlier.

Anyway yeah I know I asked a question but I ended up speculating and coming up with a possible answer for myself hahaha. I'm interested in hearing other perspectives though.

[vince]

Ok so I looked at the inbetweens and there is possible evidence that suggests perhaps that it does take place earlier.

Because from step 2 to step 3 there's an inbetween that says due to changing laws and public perception our mums can now wear their wedding rings in public.

This makes me think that the year 2013 (the year same-sex marriage was legalised in california) lies between Step 2 and Step 3, and it introduces the possibility that in fact they were born much earlier than 2003. But it doesn't mention actually getting married so maybe it's more about public perception than changing laws. And this would assume that the mums adopted before the year 2003.

Or maybe this is talking about 2015 where it was legalised nationwide. In that case maybe my year marks are only a couple years off, and they did adopt after the legalisation in 2003.

Maybe cove and mc were born in 2001, and noelani and pamela adopted elizabeth at 4 (she was born in 1999). Step 1 takes place in 2009, step 2 in 2014 and step 3 in 2019. This is probably the earliest you could go assuming the kids were adopted after the 2003 legalisation.

So basically the earliest Step 1 can probably be is 2009 I think. The latest it could be is probably around 2012 I wouldn't go much further than that tbh.

[vince]

Oh crap so I just found out Cove's birthday is the 2nd of November. So that means since they're the same age each summer, the 2009 scenario would have at least cove being born in 2000. Idk if the protagonist and cove are both born in the same year but assuming they are, I'd say the minimum year changes for step 1 from 2009 to 2010.

I'm analysing this way too hard lmao

[GB Patch]

These are when the Steps take place!
Step 1: 2006
Step 2: 2011
Step 3: 2016
Step 4: 2021

And Cove was born in 1997, since he's about to turn 9 in 2006.

A part of the story doesn't come across exactly in-game, but Noelani says "I" adopted Lizzie from the Philippines rather than "we" adopted her. Though Lani was with Pamela, they weren't a legal couple at the the time and didn't adopt as a couple. Noelani used a fictional adoption group that worked with her as a "single" woman. Later in life everything was sorted and both ladies became legal adoptive parents. It was just kind of awkward to have her explain those extra steps when ultimately it was only a detour that didn't change the conclusion and a more urgent topic was at hand. However, that's how the adoption worked out in terms of legality at the time. I'm sorry for the confusion.

[Nbb]

It turns out in Step 3 they are 19 years old? (MC and Cove) O_O

[SimplyUnknown]

Originally posted by Nippah:

It turns out in Step 3 they are 19 years old? (MC and Cove) O_O

No, they're 18 in Step 3. Cove and MC are 8 in 2006 so they're 18 in 2016.

[Nbb]

Originally posted by SimplyUnknown:

Originally posted by Nippah:

It turns out in Step 3 they are 19 years old? (MC and Cove) O_O

No, they're 18 in Step 3. Cove and MC are 8 in 2006 so they're 18 in 2016.

Thank you very much

[vince]

Originally posted by GB Patch:

These are when the Steps take place!
Step 1: 2006
Step 2: 2011
Step 3: 2016
Step 4: 2021

And Cove was born in 1997, since he's about to turn 9 in 2006.

A part of the story doesn't come across exactly in-game, but Noelani says "I" adopted Lizzie from the Philippines rather than "we" adopted her. Though Lani was with Pamela, they weren't a legal couple at the the time and didn't adopt as a couple. Noelani used a fictional adoption group that worked with her as a "single" woman. Later in life everything was sorted and both ladies became legal adoptive parents. It was just kind of awkward to have her explain those extra steps when ultimately it was only a detour that didn't change the conclusion and a more urgent topic was at hand. However, that's how the adoption worked out in terms of legality at the time. I'm sorry for the confusion.

Oh thank you very much! That's really helpful. You don't have to apologise, I had fun theorising and thinking of different possibilities.

I thought that maybe one of them could have adopted as a single mother to step around the law which is why I wasn't sure about the 2011 theory. I'm glad to have an answer!

edit: step around the law is the wrong word. it was possible for LGBT couples to end up looking after adopted children perfectly legally, it just wasn't possible to joint adopt, they'd have to adopt as a single parent.

[animeotaku]

This thread was a fun read, and it answered a question I was thinking in step 2 when they were referring to not having phones. With them being 2 years older than me, it makes sense now, since I wasn't able to get a mobile phone (not smart tho) when I was about 10 YO, and it was only because the town we lived in was pretty big (The town itself was made up of about 4 or 5 villages in addition the the central part of itself.) And all of the kids our (mine and my younger brothers) age were in the furthest part of town, which meant we needed an easy and quick way to communicate if we were late, and to periodically check in to check we were fine, I did, however, end up getting a smartphone (This, was a few years into the smartphone craze) at a later date, which i proceeded to lose on the bus the following day.

So the timeline was definitely well thought out.