diff --git a/src/ludus/base.cljc b/src/ludus/base.cljc
index dbe7021..7601496 100644
--- a/src/ludus/base.cljc
+++ b/src/ludus/base.cljc
@@ -85,18 +85,23 @@
                      (println (stringify-args args))
                      :ok)})
 
+(def refs (atom {})) ;; atom not volatile!, maybe we'll be multithreaded someday
+
 (def deref- {:name "deref"
              ::data/type ::data/clj
              :body (fn [ref]
                      (if (::data/ref ref)
-                       (deref (::data/value ref))
+                       (get @refs (::data/name ref))
                        (throw (ex-info "Cannot deref something that is not a ref" {}))))})
 
 (def set!- {:name "set!"
             ::data/type ::data/clj
             :body (fn [ref value]
                     (if (::data/ref ref)
-                      (reset! (::data/value ref) value)
+                      (do 
+                        (swap! refs assoc (::data/name ref) value)
+                        (reset! (::data/value ref) value)
+                        value)
                       (throw (ex-info "Cannot set! something that is not a ref" {}))))})
 
 (def show {:name "show"
diff --git a/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc b/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc
index bac3602..ef572fd 100644
--- a/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc
+++ b/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc
@@ -673,6 +673,7 @@
     (let [value (interpret-ast expr ctx)
           box (atom value)
           ref {::data/ref true ::data/value box ::data/name name}]
+      (swap! base/refs assoc name value)
       (vswap! ctx update-ctx {name ref})
       ref)))
 
diff --git a/src/ludus/node.cljc b/src/ludus/node.cljc
index 82f06a0..f20837f 100644
--- a/src/ludus/node.cljc
+++ b/src/ludus/node.cljc
@@ -39,11 +39,12 @@
          user_result (i/interpret-safe source user_parsed {} testing?)
          result_str (show/show user_result)
          test_results @i/test-results
+         state @base/refs
          post_scanned (s/scan pre/postlude "postlude")
          post_tokens (:tokens post_scanned)
          post_parsed (p/apply-parser g/script post_tokens)
          post_result (i/interpret-safe source post_parsed {} false)
-         ludus_result (assoc post_result :result result_str :test test_results)
+         ludus_result (assoc post_result :result result_str :test test_results :state state)
          clj_result (ld->clj ludus_result)
          ]
      (cond