Yes that’s right.
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IN-PERSON SAM!!!
Sorry, I got excited.
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Very happy for all the Sam lovers! Personally, I’m not looking forward to explaining why the MC is exchanging all those smirks and meaningful gazes with the hot exchange student living next door and why she is the first one my gaze finds in the crowd after winning the match. Poor Sam.
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Thanks!
I am personally even more excited for the possible second opportunity to see Sam in person in sunny California, the Sun, Sea, Sam getaway. But this is nice too. Wonder if we get to see Sam interact with Max and Mike.
G who? Sorry my mc only has eyes for Sam…and okay maybe a little for Tobin, but while Tobin is tempting my mc will ultimately stick with Sam. First boy wins I guess, or maybe second boy wins since my mc only realized his true feelings for Sam during that stupid truth or dare game with Mike. 
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that’s funny you release it publicly part 1 Really close to my birthday but congrats. I already know it’s gonna be amazing 
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HEHHE!! Hugs definitely in the next chapter (pt. 2).
OH NO this sounds really tragic. Especially since Sam’s likely to be sitting right next to that aforementioned hot exchange student for most of the match.
Ah yes! I’m excited to write that as well.
Max definitely yes. Mike I am not so sure at the moment.
HAHA I guess if Sam ever does get to meet Mike, he could expose MC and what MC said at the truth or dare.
@love4tae AWW that’s awesome!! Happy birthday to you (soon!)
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Hiya everyone!
Just a quick update that the draft of Pt. 1 has been sent to beta-testers (as of 6 Sep. I was a little late)!! So the early-release date for Pt. 1 is now confirmed: 16 Sep (to give the beta-testers some time to get back with feedback, and some time for me to edit!)
In the meantime while collating feedback and editing, I will also be writing / working on Pt. 2!
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Help me I want to romance everyone now 
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Decent article on the dark(er) side of tennis:
Which has the bulwark wondering (point 3) why there are so few young champions today. Well maybe our mc’s and probably Rayyan too could change that, eh?
The new England bit just helped me narrow down my headcanon of where Sam and by extension the mc could be from…settled on Pittsfield Massachusetts, relatively small population, plenty of green space and crucially seems to have both good indoor tennis and a country club with outdoor/summer tennis facilities. Of course being from the same town and having largely grown up together the most of what Sam has in local knowledge the mc also knows, Sam knows maybe a little more than my mc because his interests are so extremely varied but not that much. 
Which brings me to another point, with the location of the mc’s school being upstate NY it may be just as much fun to go out in the city Hollywood uses as New York’s stand-in often enough but is technically in Canada, aka Toronto which is likely a bit closer too.
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Fr, bro reminds me of Shep Owens from NBA 2k23
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This is some excellent sleuthing work! 
I could definitely see Pittsfield being MC’s hometown.
Hehe I was definitely thinking of writing a quick scene of MC visiting NYC or upstate NY trip (e.g. one of the towns along the Hudson river, like Beacon or New Paltz) at some point in the IF, just for funsies. And for G romancers, maybe an epilogue trip to Quebec to hang with their mom?
Edit: Ah posted too early, meant to also say that the article on match fixing is fascinating and really points to the unfair advantage that higher income players have when attempting to break through from top 400 to world-class level (e.g. top 50) i.e. in being able to fund themselves to compete / fly to various locations until they get enough money doing sponsor deals etc. to break even)
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The MC’s hometown is around an 8 hour drive away from Cargill, in New York - would Massachusetts be far away enough? I’m not American so I don’t have a good grasp of the distances, sorry
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The result of a boring return trip from Brussels by train and a bit of messing around with google maps and streetview.
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Feeling slightly embarrased, I saw this quote and it took me far longer than i’d have liked to figure out where it had come from. But in my defence i’m not exactly in tumblr’s target demo.
It does kind of nuke my headcannon that MC/Sam are from somewhere like Annapolis or Ocean City though. (I also totally forgot that the car ride was 8 hours, my bad )
Not a huge disaster as we’re spending most of our time in Upstate New York anyway. (Unless i’ve imagined that too)
Speaking of - I’m now imagining a scene where someone floats a group outing with the team and all the side characters out to Watkins Glen State Park and theres just a smash cut to Sam and maybe Addie being all super hyped about going to the Racetrack instead
…apparently, I need a hobby for inbetween updates @burninglights 
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Actually I’d totally see this as making sense as well. Tumblr does have my more… immediate thoughts on something but in the end I feel like the only “official canon” is what comes out in the WIP/IF itself.
And on that note… upon some further thought I think Imma revise the 8 hour radius to something like 5 hours. I think that makes a lot more sense / is closer to what I imagine haha.
This is absolutely adorable and so on brand 
Hahaha, the best time to be doing some headcanon-ing. I used to write my fanfic chapters on my flights back home.
It absolutely would hahaah in fact a little too near. Which is why I think a 5 hour drive radius seems a bit closer to what I’m imagining for MC and Sam
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CT:OS Update 7
Hi all, the early release on ko-fi is out now!!<3!! 
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You can always chalk up extra driving time to dad taking a scenic route and avoiding the main highways for a bit. Which is gonna be my headcanon. It even makes sense for how the dad is presented in story they have a job that consumes much of their time and haven’t been around as much as they might have wanted for various reasons, so I can see them trying to make the most of that one day and that certainly could include a scenic detour to get little more time with their kid out of it.
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Do I have to start from beginning to play the new update?
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I think saves might be broken each time an update is posted on dashingdon, yeah.
Aww, that’s really cute (and a little sad)—love the idea of dad trying to squeeze out as much time as they can before sending their kid off to college by taking scenic byways…
MC: “Wait. Didn’t google maps say to go straight?”
Dad: “Uhh, nahhhh, google’s not always right.”
(1 hour later)
MC: “Are we lost, by any chance?”
Dad, knowing exactly what he’s doing: “No, of course not!”
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“I know EXACTLY where we are. I’m just slightly uncertain about where eveyrthing else is…”
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