(slight spoilers for Lain) My favorite part of Lain is her multiple selves. I have always felt as if I had multiple selves. I guess it started as I became aware of how others perceived me. I was something strange, an alien, but I did not internally feel that way. When gossip was added to the equation, it became even creepier.

I don't know why, but I feel slightly uncomfortable with the idea that behind your back people are forming this whole self for you that has nothing to do with you. That people are not reacting to you, but this different self they have created for you inside their heads. To me, it feels like someone who looks like you is roaming around the country and doing despicable acts, and everyone thinks that it is you.

It is like the alter lain here. This horrible diseased personage that can not be killed. The worst part is that the truth will not dissuade others from believing what they want to believe; the sounds of their own minds drown you out. Somehow the need for a scapegoat, for blood, for ritual slaughter of the enemy, real or imagined, overwhelms the truth.

I hope I'm just making this all up.