Hmm the comment in the code ("lena dating route") makes it seem like this is intentional, but at the same time i really feel like this is accident with variable mix-up, because not only the check gets passed without any actual Lena dating taking place, it makes absolutely no sense for Holly to come to Ian, hat in hand, about her Lena crush, when Lena and Ian are simply friends with benefits. It also doesn't make any real sense in this situation for Ian to have options to act as if either Holly or Lena was obliged to tell him about is as soon as it happened. It also makes little sense for the whole supposed "pure trinity" to just kind of form out of nowhere when two out of three people involved are fucking around with potentially all that moves and have very little to no romantic development between them.
PilotLara sorry to bother you, but could you maybe check with EK if it is intentional that it is possible for "holly trinity" to form when Ian isn't dating (as in, actually dating) neither Lena nor Holly? Because these bits in chapter_12b:
Python:
if lena_go_holly == 5 and ian_lena_dating:
were perhaps supposed to be checking
ian_lena_couple
instead of the fuck buddies "dating" variable..? It's pretty easy to forget here that this "dating" isn't actually dating, especially in this context when
ian_holly_dating
exists and
is a flag for "real" relationship.
edit: looking further, this issue extends to chapter_12c where Ian and Lena can have a morning talk about Holly and the trinity (as the check only hinges on
lena_go_holly == 5
), and the way the whole thing is written really makes no sense in scenario where Ian and Lena are just fuckbuddies -- the whole conversation completely ignores this possibility and is hard-coded to proceed as if Lena and Ian are in love with each other ("I'm afraid to hurt either of you. You've both become the most important people in my life, and I don't want to lose you..." etc) even though Lena and Ian at this point never "upgraded" their relationship from FWB status --that would normally occur later in this chapter but the trinity talk at the beach in the evening actually blocks that-- and there's possibility that they don't have any actual love flags set for each other. It similarly makes no sense for Ian in this context to have any say whether Lena and Holly are "allowed" to have a relationship or whether they should stop, or even act as if he's entitled to have any say regarding that, when Ian and Lena are simply hooking up and Ian is just one of potentially many Lena's sex outlets.