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Um.

In January 1972 Yannick Clarke is "six months from retirement." Presumably he wasn't coming up on a, a mandatory retirement, more of a "I've done my 25 years and earned my pension." situation? Either way, Clarke still working in November represents a major life/attitude change, and I'm sorry it happened off-page.

But Styles was good for him.

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Yeah, it's not a "you're done" situation. He's qualified for retirement; what he does with that is up to him.

This will be addressed...the story in real time (once you've caught up) is just about to hit the 1 year anniversary of Callihan's death, so that'll be a significant milestone for Clarke. (though I do agree I probably should have threaded this through earlier)

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Maybe retouch the first couple of chapters and change references to "six months to retirement," to "six months before eligible for retirement." Some countries have mandatory retirement ages, some don't. Seeding in "eligible," will make it less jarring. Otherwise, you have an 11 month time jump in a chapter and that's pretty locked in without a restructure. But "eligible," will lead the reader to "Clarke hasn't tossed it in yet," instead of, "waitaminnit! Wasn't he leaving?"

I'm sure some later chapters I haven't seen yet will have Clarke's self-reflection on this. As you said, the one-year on Callahan's death...

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Bear in mind it's only 1 month after the previous chapter. The opening section here is actually a flashback from Zdan's perspective, out of step with the main Triverse story.

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*Rechecks*

Right, chapter 1 is July, now it's November. We're not even at 6 months yet. My error. Disregard entire thread.

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