can you say my name again

As IF, this story is completely linear and has no choices. Reviews on IFDB are mixed. How someone responds to this story will depend on their tolerance for linear, kinetic IF, and whether they could connect to it on some level.

I liked this story for a personal reason, which is that I knew a trans girl who had to leave her home as a teenager like Pisti does.

That girl is dead now.

I wasn't close enough to her to help. I only learned she left in the first place because the school we went to called my family, asking if I knew where she might be and if she had told me anything about her plans. She hadn't. There were a lot of things unclear to me, at the time, that I only realized in retrospect once she died and I could piece together a narrative from what I remembered. There are things I'll never know about what she went through that haunt me.

Even if she had asked me for help, I couldn't have provided her with a place to live, the way Laina can. I wonder to what extent this story is wish fulfillment. Or fantasy. The fantasy that at your lowest point, there actually will be someone out there who can provide for you, who will love you and give you a place to live. Unlike real life, where there's nothing. Where people just die and you can't do anything about it.

I find a lot to relate to in Laina, who's seen her share of this world and become tired of it.

Meanwhile, I just sit at home all day. It's not like I want to go anywhere. I've had my fair share of trying to go out like that. It got boring real fast. It's way more fun just not going anywhere. Never ever.

But when she meets Pisti, they warm up to each other and quickly fall in love. This story is about two people who need each other, find each other, love each other despite their issues, and develop a relationship that solves both their problems. It's what we want to have happened instead of what actually happened.

"I'm so happy I ended up meeting you."

"Me too! I feel like these past few days have been a dream or something. Too good to be true."

The writing isn't perfect, but people who dismiss this story out of hand may want to consider why so many others liked it.

"Pisti... I enjoy spending time with you so much. I don't know how I can ever function without you anymore-" Wait, shit. I probably shouldn't be over sharing like this... Laina, at least try to keep it cool--

"You don't need to worry about that, 'cause I'm not leaving. I enjoy it just as much as you do."

I really enjoyed this! I was so drawn into the story. I loved the descriptions of anxiety/depression, so sadly but beautifully accurate. Watching the relationship develop was so cute. Most of all, I love that it was all about trans characters. <3

It's just a dialogue-heavy short story through which you click.

There isn't much to be said that hasn't already been said before, but I'll try my best.
First off, there is zero interactivity. You might as well go out and read a fucking book. Second off, awful color scheme. If you're gonna make us read us read this, please be considerate and choose a color scheme that is easy on the eyes. I get that it's a glitch aesthetic, but bright pinks, greens and purples mixed with black is an awful choice. The art is pretty bad too, with some noticeable anatomy errors.
The writing isn't even good. The main characters'personalities can be boiled down to "teehee aren't i so quirky and depressed? uwu". The characters being trans aren't explored in any meaningful way other to get tumblr brownie points.
TL;DR glorified porn disguising itself as something meaningful. Also shouldn't be classified as IF due to the lack of interactivity