diff --git a/LANGUAGE.md b/LANGUAGE.md
index f5e0ce4..8246c2a 100644
--- a/LANGUAGE.md
+++ b/LANGUAGE.md
@@ -359,8 +359,8 @@ Functions can return a value using a [return line](#lines-that-can-t-have-childr
 
 Functions always have the following variables defined in its namespace by default:
 
-`👁️`: number, number of times the function was executed before
-`🔖`: function reference, last reached checkpoint. `nil` if no checkpoint reached.
+`👁️`: number, number of times the function was executed/resumed before (incremented when reaching the end of the function or a return line)
+`🔖`: function reference, last reached checkpoint. `()` (nil) if no checkpoint reached. (updated when reaching a checkpoint or directly executing a checkpoint)
 
 These variables are persistent, unless the function is scoped.
 
@@ -382,8 +382,8 @@ When executing the parent function after this checkpoint has been reached (using
 
 Checkpoints always have the following variable defined in its namespace by default:
 
-`👁️`: number, number of times the checkpoint was executed before
-`🏁`: number, number of times the checkpoint was reached before (includes times where it was resumed from and executed)
+`👁️`: number, number of times the checkpoint was executed/resumed before (incremented when reaching the end of the function or a return line)
+`🏁`: number, number of times the checkpoint was reached before (incremented when reaching the checkpoint line; not incremented when resuming from/executing the checkpoint directly)
 
 These variables are persistent.
 
@@ -901,7 +901,7 @@ But in the cases when you want to manually set the current checkpoint, you can c
         b
     c
 
-Force run the function starting from checkpoint, will write "b" and "c" and set the current checkpoint to "checkpoint":
+Set the current checkpoint to "checkpoint" and force run the function starting from this checkpoint, will write "b" and "c":
 ~ f.checkpoint
 
 Will correctly resumes from the last set checkpoint, and write "b" and "c":
@@ -921,7 +921,7 @@ You can also only execute the checkpoints' children code only by using a paranth
         b
     c
 
-Run the checkpoint only, will only write "b" and set the current checkpoint to "checkpoint":
+Set the current checkpoint to "checkpoint" and run this checkpoint only, will only write "b":
 ~ f.checkpoint()
 
 And will resume from the checkpoint like before:
diff --git a/anselme.lua b/anselme.lua
index b4bac9b..b3bd91a 100644
--- a/anselme.lua
+++ b/anselme.lua
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ local interpreter_methods = {
 		end
 		if not r then coroutine.yield("error", e) end
 		if self.state.interpreter.current_event then -- flush final events
-			local rf, re = run_line(self.state, { type = "flush_events" })
+			local rf, re = run_line(self.state, { type = "flush events" })
 			if re then coroutine.yield("error", re) end
 			if rf then r = rf end
 		end
@@ -541,6 +541,8 @@ local vm_mt = {
 	-- * `signature`: string, full signature of the function
 	-- * `fn`: function (Lua function or table, see examples in `stdlib/functions.lua`)
 	--
+	-- Alternatively, can also take a table as a sole argument to load several functions: { ["signature"] = fn, ... }
+	--
 	-- Returns this VM.
 	loadfunction = function(self, signature, fn)
 		if type(signature) == "table" then
diff --git a/interpreter/common.lua b/interpreter/common.lua
index be82235..8ab1a5d 100644
--- a/interpreter/common.lua
+++ b/interpreter/common.lua
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ common = {
 			end
 		end
 		-- scoping: since merging means we will re-copy every variable from global state again, we need to simulate this
-		-- behavious for scoped variables (to have consistent references for mutables values in particular), including
+		-- behaviour for scoped variables (to have consistent references for mutables values in particular), including
 		-- scopes that aren't currently active
 		fix_not_modified_references(mt.scoped, copy_cache, modified_tables) -- replace not modified values in scope with original before re-copying to keep consistent references
 		for _, scopes in pairs(mt.scoped) do
diff --git a/interpreter/expression.lua b/interpreter/expression.lua
index 891f063..9d80d24 100644
--- a/interpreter/expression.lua
+++ b/interpreter/expression.lua
@@ -397,8 +397,15 @@ local function eval(state, exp)
 			local fn = selected_variant.variant
 			if fn.type ~= "function" then
 				return nil, ("unknown function type %q"):format(fn.type)
-			-- checkpoint: no args and resume execution
+			-- checkpoint: no args and can resume execution
 			elseif fn.subtype == "checkpoint" then
+				-- set current checkpoint
+				local s, e = set_variable(state, fn.parent_resumable.namespace.."🔖", {
+					type = "function reference",
+					value = { fn.name }
+				})
+				if not s then return nil, e end
+				-- run checkpoint content, eventually resuming
 				local r, e = run(state, fn.child, not paren_call)
 				if not r then return nil, e end
 				return r
@@ -423,8 +430,6 @@ local function eval(state, exp)
 					checkpoint, checkpointe = get_variable(state, fn.namespace.."🔖")
 					if not checkpoint then return nil, checkpointe end
 				end
-				local seen, seene = get_variable(state, fn.namespace.."👁️")
-				if not seen then return nil, seene end
 				-- execute lua functions
 				-- I guess we could technically skip getting & updating the seen and checkpoints vars since they can't be used from Anselme
 				-- but it's also kinda fun to known how many time a function was ran
@@ -501,12 +506,6 @@ local function eval(state, exp)
 					end
 					if not ret then return nil, e end
 				end
-				-- update function vars
-				local s, e = set_variable(state, fn.namespace.."👁️", {
-					type = "number",
-					value = seen.value + 1
-				})
-				if not s then return nil, e end
 				-- for classes: build resulting object
 				if fn.subtype == "class" and ret and ret.type == "nil" then
 					ret = {
diff --git a/interpreter/interpreter.lua b/interpreter/interpreter.lua
index 38b87b8..6f7013e 100644
--- a/interpreter/interpreter.lua
+++ b/interpreter/interpreter.lua
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ run_line = function(state, line)
 				if not iv then return nil, ("%s; at %s"):format(ie, line.source) end
 			end
 		end
-	elseif line.type == "flush_events" then
+	elseif line.type == "flush events" then
 		local v, e = events:flush(state)
 		if not v then return nil, ("%s; in event flush at %s"):format(e, line.source) end
 	elseif line.type == "function" and line.subtype == "checkpoint" then
@@ -151,36 +151,8 @@ run_block = function(state, block, resume_from_there, i, j)
 		end
 		i = i + 1
 	end
-	-- if we are exiting a checkpoint block, mark it as ran and update checkpoint
-	-- (when resuming from a checkpoint, execution is resumed from inside the checkpoint, the line.subtype=="checkpoint" check in run_line is never called)
-	-- (and we want this to be done after executing the checkpoint block anyway)
+	-- if we reach the end of a checkpoint block (we are resuming execution from a checkpoint), merge state
 	if block.parent_line and block.parent_line.type == "function" and block.parent_line.subtype == "checkpoint" then
-		local parent_line = block.parent_line
-		local reached, reachede = get_variable(state, parent_line.namespace.."🏁")
-		if not reached then return nil, reachede end
-		local seen, seene = get_variable(state, parent_line.namespace.."👁️")
-		if not seen then return nil, seene end
-		local checkpoint, checkpointe = get_variable(state, parent_line.parent_resumable.namespace.."🔖")
-		if not checkpoint then return nil, checkpointe end
-		local s, e = set_variable(state, parent_line.namespace.."👁️", {
-			type = "number",
-			value = seen.value + 1
-		})
-		if not s then return nil, e end
-		s, e = set_variable(state, parent_line.namespace.."🏁", {
-			type = "number",
-			value = reached.value + 1
-		})
-		if not s then return nil, e end
-		-- don't update checkpoint if an already more precise checkpoint is set
-		-- (since we will go up the whole checkpoint hierarchy when resuming from a nested checkpoint)
-		if checkpoint.type == "nil" or not checkpoint.value[1]:match("^"..escape(parent_line.name)) then
-			s, e = set_variable(state, parent_line.parent_resumable.namespace.."🔖", {
-				type = "function reference",
-				value = { parent_line.name }
-			})
-			if not s then return nil, e end
-		end
 		merge_state(state)
 	end
 	-- go up hierarchy if asked to resume
diff --git a/notes.txt b/notes.txt
index 41b88c6..71006ac 100644
--- a/notes.txt
+++ b/notes.txt
@@ -83,8 +83,6 @@ TODO: fn/checkpoint/tag: maybe consider them a regular func call that takes chil
      a
      ~ tag.pop()
 
-TODO: perform seen/reached/etc default variable not in interpreter but using parse-time macro
-
 TODO: make language simple enough to be able to reimplement it in, say, nim. Especially the AST interpreter (we could precompile a lot of stuff...)
 
 TODO: test reacheability of script paths + visualization of different branches the script can take. For one of those overarching story visualization thingy.
diff --git a/parser/preparser.lua b/parser/preparser.lua
index e4d6e29..051be01 100644
--- a/parser/preparser.lua
+++ b/parser/preparser.lua
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ local function parse_line(line, state, namespace, parent_resumable, in_scoped)
 				allow_params = false
 				allow_assign = false
 				keep_in_ast = true
+				if not parent_resumable then return nil, ("checkpoint definition line is not in a function; at %s"):format(line.source) end
 				r.parent_resumable = parent_resumable -- store parent resumable function and run checkpoint when line is read
 			else
 				error("unknown function line type")
@@ -248,6 +249,8 @@ local function parse_line(line, state, namespace, parent_resumable, in_scoped)
 			-- custom code injection
 			inject(state, r, "start", line.children, 2)
 			inject(state, r, "end", line.children)
+			-- update 👁️ variable
+			table.insert(line.children, { content = "~👁️+=1", source = line.source })
 			-- define args
 			for _, param in ipairs(r.params) do
 				if not state.variables[param.full_name] then
@@ -336,6 +339,7 @@ local function parse_line(line, state, namespace, parent_resumable, in_scoped)
 		r.expression = ("{%s}"):format(expr)
 	-- return
 	elseif l:match("^%@") then
+		if not parent_resumable then return nil, ("return line is not in a function; at %s"):format(line.source) end
 		r.type = "return"
 		r.child = true
 		local expr = l:match("^%@(.*)$")
@@ -347,13 +351,15 @@ local function parse_line(line, state, namespace, parent_resumable, in_scoped)
 		-- custom code injection
 		if not line.children then line.children = {} end
 		inject(state, parent_resumable, "return", line.children)
+		-- update 👁️ variable
+		table.insert(line.children, { content = "~👁️+=1", source = line.source })
 	-- text
 	elseif l:match("[^%s]") then
 		r.type = "text"
 		r.text = l
 	-- flush events
 	else
-		r.type = "flush_events"
+		r.type = "flush events"
 	end
 	if not r.type then return nil, ("unknown line %s type"):format(line.source) end
 	return r
diff --git a/test/run.lua b/test/run.lua
index e407cb5..7acb9fc 100644
--- a/test/run.lua
+++ b/test/run.lua
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ else
 		-- simple random to get the same result across lua versions
 		local prev = 0
 		local function badrandom(a, b)
-			prev = (15485863 * prev + 11) % 2038074743
+			prev = (4241 * prev + 11) % 6997
 			return a + prev % (b-a+1)
 		end
 		function math.random(a, b)
diff --git a/test/tests/checkpoint reached seen.lua b/test/tests/checkpoint reached seen.lua
index 04a0afd..6093d12 100644
--- a/test/tests/checkpoint reached seen.lua	
+++ b/test/tests/checkpoint reached seen.lua	
@@ -1,18 +1,22 @@
 local _={}
+_[29]={}
+_[28]={}
+_[27]={}
+_[26]={}
 _[25]={}
 _[24]={}
 _[23]={}
 _[22]={}
 _[21]={}
-_[20]={tags=_[25],text="2"}
-_[19]={tags=_[25],text="Reached: "}
-_[18]={tags=_[24],text="1"}
-_[17]={tags=_[24],text="Seen: "}
-_[16]={tags=_[23],text="seen!"}
-_[15]={tags=_[22],text="1"}
-_[14]={tags=_[22],text="Reached: "}
-_[13]={tags=_[21],text="0"}
-_[12]={tags=_[21],text="Seen: "}
+_[20]={text="1",tags=_[29]}
+_[19]={text="Reached: ",tags=_[28]}
+_[18]={text="1",tags=_[27]}
+_[17]={text="Seen: ",tags=_[26]}
+_[16]={text="seen!",tags=_[25]}
+_[15]={text="1",tags=_[24]}
+_[14]={text="Reached: ",tags=_[23]}
+_[13]={text="0",tags=_[22]}
+_[12]={text="Seen: ",tags=_[21]}
 _[11]={_[19],_[20]}
 _[10]={_[17],_[18]}
 _[9]={_[16]}
@@ -27,17 +31,17 @@ _[1]={"text",_[7]}
 return {_[1],_[2],_[3],_[4],_[5],_[6]}
 --[[
 { "text", { {
-      tags = <1>{},
+      tags = {},
       text = "Seen: "
     }, {
-      tags = <table 1>,
+      tags = {},
       text = "0"
     } } }
 { "text", { {
-      tags = <1>{},
+      tags = {},
       text = "Reached: "
     }, {
-      tags = <table 1>,
+      tags = {},
       text = "1"
     } } }
 { "text", { {
@@ -45,18 +49,18 @@ return {_[1],_[2],_[3],_[4],_[5],_[6]}
       text = "seen!"
     } } }
 { "text", { {
-      tags = <1>{},
+      tags = {},
       text = "Seen: "
     }, {
-      tags = <table 1>,
+      tags = {},
       text = "1"
     } } }
 { "text", { {
-      tags = <1>{},
+      tags = {},
       text = "Reached: "
     }, {
-      tags = <table 1>,
-      text = "2"
+      tags = {},
+      text = "1"
     } } }
 { "return" }
 ]]--
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/tests/function random.lua b/test/tests/function random.lua
index 74a21ca..cce621d 100644
--- a/test/tests/function random.lua	
+++ b/test/tests/function random.lua	
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ _[20]={}
 _[19]={}
 _[18]={}
 _[17]={}
-_[16]={tags=_[21],text="c"}
-_[15]={tags=_[20],text="a"}
-_[14]={tags=_[19],text="c"}
-_[13]={tags=_[18],text="b"}
+_[16]={tags=_[21],text="a"}
+_[15]={tags=_[20],text="c"}
+_[14]={tags=_[19],text="b"}
+_[13]={tags=_[18],text="a"}
 _[12]={tags=_[17],text="c"}
 _[11]={_[16]}
 _[10]={_[15]}
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ return {_[1],_[2],_[3],_[4],_[5],_[6]}
       tags = {},
       text = "c"
     } } }
+{ "text", { {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "a"
+    } } }
 { "text", { {
       tags = {},
       text = "b"
@@ -38,9 +42,5 @@ return {_[1],_[2],_[3],_[4],_[5],_[6]}
       tags = {},
       text = "a"
     } } }
-{ "text", { {
-      tags = {},
-      text = "c"
-    } } }
 { "return" }
 ]]--
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/tests/seen checkpoint resume.ans b/test/tests/seen checkpoint resume.ans
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ee996b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/seen checkpoint resume.ans	
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+:$ fn
+	{👁️}
+
+	:! a
+
+	a: {👁️}
+
+~ fn.a
+
+~ fn.a
+
+~ fn.a
diff --git a/test/tests/seen checkpoint resume.lua b/test/tests/seen checkpoint resume.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5bc9aba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/seen checkpoint resume.lua	
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+local _={}
+_[19]={}
+_[18]={}
+_[17]={}
+_[16]={}
+_[15]={}
+_[14]={}
+_[13]={text="2",tags=_[19]}
+_[12]={text="a: ",tags=_[18]}
+_[11]={text="1",tags=_[17]}
+_[10]={text="a: ",tags=_[16]}
+_[9]={text="0",tags=_[15]}
+_[8]={text="a: ",tags=_[14]}
+_[7]={_[12],_[13]}
+_[6]={_[10],_[11]}
+_[5]={_[8],_[9]}
+_[4]={"return"}
+_[3]={"text",_[7]}
+_[2]={"text",_[6]}
+_[1]={"text",_[5]}
+return {_[1],_[2],_[3],_[4]}
+--[[
+{ "text", { {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "a: "
+    }, {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "0"
+    } } }
+{ "text", { {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "a: "
+    }, {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "1"
+    } } }
+{ "text", { {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "a: "
+    }, {
+      tags = {},
+      text = "2"
+    } } }
+{ "return" }
+]]--
\ No newline at end of file