#Apple's next major event

[mixedworld]

[delusionalmultifandomwriter]

Photosynthesis (fluff)

Luke Castellan x gn!demeter!reader fluff

Prompt: It's spring clean at Camp Halfblood and Luke wants to bath in sun with you

I feel like i haven't posted in forever because i was busy grinding Stardew Valley. But im back so enjoy!!

Spring at Camp Halfblood was always an event. It was time for a deep clean of all cabins and the big house, sweeping the arena and taking care of all the minor things before the majority of the campers arrived for the summer.

As the counselor of the Demeter cabin it was your job to supervise the campers that took care off the strawberry fields. They had to be in top shape before the next season.

Today was one of the first sunny days of the year, even though with the wind it was still a little cold. You were shooing some campers around, most of them being your siblings but Luke also spotted some satyrs and a few unclaimed kids. Castor and Pollux both leaned over rows of strawberries, parting the plants and placing the spare ones into buckets gently.

"Connor, Travis, put that worm down!" You shouted across the strawberry field. The two raven-haired boys where running across the field, stepping on some plants and pestering the other kids with some worms they found in the dirt.

Luke smiled at you as he approached you, taking in the sight of you. You were wearing the orange camp halfblood tshirt, blue jeans and green flipflops. You were giving the siblings a killer gaze which left Luke laughing. He approached you quickly and wrapped his arms around you.

"You need to teach your kids some manners." You growled unhappy. Luke kept you in a tight hug and rocked you around a little. "And you need to take a breath." He mocked, pocking your forehead and rubbing over the angry wrinkles on your forehead.

You huffed and bumped your head into Luke's shoulder before you raised your head and kissed him gently. Luke smiled into the kiss and rubbed his thumbs over your hips.

"You look very pretty today." He whispered. "The spring gives you a nice glow." You smiled in return and couldn't help but to blush a tiny but. "I'm so glad the winter is over." You groaned into his chest. The winter always left you feeling dull and empty.

Luke rubbed your back up and down. "Agreed. I hate seeing you so sad because of it. Now you are blooming again, that's way better." He laughed slightly and you could feel the laugh vibrating in his chest. You grinned up at him but suddenly, there was a distant scream and two laughs. "Oh for heaven's sake." You grumbled angrily and pulled away from Luke.

You jumped over a few strawberry plants and stormed over towards the source of the scream.

Connor and Travis where hiding behind the Athena cabin, a metal bucket with some worms in the between them. Annabeth Chase, one of the younger Athena girls, was ducking away as they threw worms at her.

You growled angrily and raised your hand. One of the closer apple trees bowed down its branches and picked up the two boys by their hoods.

"Whoa, oh no." Travis shouted as he was lifted a few feet into the air. "And what excatly are you two doing here?" You ask sternly but cracked a smile as you saw Annabeth giggling in the distance.

"We were spreading the worm colony." Travis argued quickly. "That's right. So all plants have enough worms and become pretty." Connor added.

You rolled your eyes and let the tree hold them a little higher over the ground. "I am very sure that Annabeth is pretty enough and doesn't need the assistance of some worms." You argued.

Luke appeared behind you and stopped next to you, standing tall with crossed arms and a smirk. "Luke, help! They're being mean." Connor said, suddenly very whiny and you had to hold back a laugh. Luke chuckled and nodded.

"Mhh, sure. Very, very mean. The most evil person we will ever meet." He joked and patted your hair.

"Can you please let us down?" Travis asked with big, innocent eyes. "No." You said unrelenting. "Please!!" They now whined in unison.

"Come on." Luke patted your back encouraging. You rolled your eyes annoyed. "No."

"What if you get a kiss for it?" Luke suggested mischievously. Connor and Travis groaned dramatically. You smirked at Luke. "You know what... it's a deal."

Luke smiled and leaned closer to you, kissing you gently which caused the siblings to make fake gagging noises. Luke pulled away and leaned his forehead against yours.

"You get another kiss if you let them go now." He whispered. You grumbled unhappy but dropped the Stolls on the floor. They both quickly got up and headed off in a swift pace, turning their heads a few times anxiously which made you laugh.

Luke wrapped his arms around your waist and rested his head on your shoulder. He let out a pleased sigh and peppered your neck with a few kisses which caused you to giggle. "Brats." You mumbled and leaned back into Luke's embrace.

Luke chuckled. "Don't let them ruin your day. Instead i wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the beach with me and do some photosynthesis?"

You burst out laughing. "You know im not a plant?" You chuckled and turned around to hug Luke tightly. "But i would love to lay in the sun with you."

Luke smiled and hugged you back tightly. "Awesome. See? It's photosynthesis."

You rolled your eyes but smiled widely. "Whatever you say, love."

[writing-house-of-m]

Endgame

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Summary: The group talks about the fight against Thanos

A/N: Three for three! I hope this one makes up for the angst posted yesterday 😊 For those who care, here is the request. Comments, reblogs and likes are much appreciated!

Prompt: "That was the night I nearly lost you."

It is the end of another party. This time, one thrown in celebration of successfully defeating Thanos once and for all.

It didn't matter where you were hiding Vision from him, Thanos kept finding him. So, when a plan was formed to hide Vision in Wakanda, everyone was ready to make it the last stand. It was a good thing Strange and Wong were able to gather so many people.

Most of those who helped in the final battle were still here, dotted around in the lounge area.

Everyone was exchanging stories about their version of events. All of you were in agreement about being in awe when Carol destroyed a ship single handedly.

You wouldn't have believed Bucky when he spoke about the raccoon he was fighting alongside if you didn't see the creature with your own eyes. You along with Thor and Peter had to corroborate his story. Especially to Tony who was sceptical.

Okoye spoke about the relief she felt at seeing the King again after he was thrown across the field. King T'Challa commented, saying the experience was not one of his finest moments making everyone laugh.

There were no major casualties and no deaths so it felt easy to joke about such things. You can only imagine what it would have felt like to fail such a risky plan.

It was Wanda's turn to speak, "That was the night I nearly lost you," she says, looking at you and squeezing your knee as she leans more into your side.

You and Wanda had each other's backs the whole time, fighting alongside one another. You have always worked well together. Finishing off enemies for the other left and right.

"I left your side for like, a second," you scoff, cinching your eyebrows, everyone laughing and looking amused at the scene.

Knowing Wanda could hold her own you left her so you could help Scott who was covered with aliens, like an apple overthrown by ants. Because she didn't notice you leave, too busy 'kicking names and taking ass,' as Mantis put it, Wanda was worried you were hurt. That was until she heard you compare Scott to Godzilla through her comms.

"I know, but I thought you were hurt," Wanda pouts.

You smile at her antics and begin to lean in to kiss her saying she is being ridiculous but you are cut short with all the jeers you hear from everyone in the room.

"No one needs to see that, lovebirds," you hear Natasha's disgust, loud and clear.

The conversation swiftly moves on to Thor talking about his new axe, Stormbreaker, and all the things it can do. Your attention is turned to Wanda as his voice drones on in the background.

"Hey," you whisper to get Wanda to look at you. When her green eyes meet yours you think of how lucky you are to be able to call her yours.

"You know I'm never gonna die, right? I still need to marry you," you say quietly while grinning.

Wanda smacks your chest, her grin matching yours. Before her next action she quickly looks around the room. You don't have time to ask what she is doing because in the next second her lips are on yours but gone just as fast.

"That's all good and well but you have to propose first," she says, centimetres from your lips.

You want to rebuttal but your attention is sucked back into the discussion around you when Scott says your name, recounting his events on almost being drowned alive by 'smelly aliens'. Hope, who is sitting beside him, shakes her head giggling at his explanation.

Conversations and drinks keep flowing long into the night.

Steve makes a heartfelt speech about everyone doing a good job in keeping the people on this planet safe. He goes on to say everyone who showed up for the fight has given everyone on Earth and even life beyond the stars a chance to appreciate their loved ones and live another day.

You always wondered what the endgame of this superhero life would be for you. But it's this. You're holding it in your arms and are surrounded by it.

The next step in your life is to make Wanda your wife, which you will do as soon as you perfect the proposal you have been planning. Together you will build a real life together and your friends will be there to witness it all.

Resting your head against Wanda's, your mind drifts to a normal life filled with white picket fences, crying babies, school pick ups and drop offs, regular home cooked meals. The stress of PTA meetings, bake sales, sports tryouts, college options. It all has you smiling to yourself.

You can't wait.

[vitaminseetarot]

PAC: Lunar Eclipse - General Messages

Sup y'all, I'm back for the second round of my PAC marathon happening before the end of October! I wanted to pull some guidance from this lunar eclipse season, especially since it's felt very energetically heavy since the last full moon. All three piles are going through some stage of great transformation taking place -- just in time for Scorpio season.

To assist me, I've consulted three red dragons, known in the deck as Watcher dragons, to help you choose your reading. I like Universal Dragon oracle as an "energy" deck by embodying the traits each dragon represents through meditation practice, and these red dragons specialize in guiding through important life transitions. If you prefer to choose intuitively by color, I've also added three gemstones for your piles below:

Pile 1, Knowledge Dragon + Cherry Quartz Pile 2, Awakening Dragon + Lepidolite Pile 3, Emergence Dragon + Lapis Lazuli

Pile 1: Knowledge Dragon + Cherry Quartz

Supermoon, 21. Venus, 5. Heart Healing, Alcalb: Poison and Medicine, 4 of Cups, 2 of Wands, VI Lovers, King of Pentacles, XX Judgement

Please be gentle with yourself at this time, pile 1. You're in need of a soothing kind of support. This could be a turbulent time to deal with purging out any negativity from your past. You may get reminders of some old issues which return out of nowhere to grab your attention. Even if occasional, you may need to remind yourself that you will be okay.

Be open with giving yourself comfort, or letting others baby you a little bit when you're feeling down. The King of Pentacles could be you or someone else, but this is the profile of somebody who is generous and aims to please. Embodying Venusian energy, this King wants you to feel at rest and does not mind offering tasty fruit or a warm blanket to cheer you up. Sitting next to the Four of Cups, it may be emphasizing that you need to allow yourself the chance to receive this care.

If your issue is related to a partnership, going out and spending time with friends or even on your own may be a better way to take it easy, instead of trying to work out anything now. This is not the exact time or place to be settling out bigger issues in your relationships unless it's urgent. They'll show up on their own time anyway. This reading wants to focus on maintaining your emotional well being. If this is not relationship but involves a situation in the present, then step away as much as you can and be as kind and patient with yourself as possible.

The key here is to maintain self awareness when these strong emotions move through you, that's what the Knowledge dragon wants you to know. "Knowing is half the battle." There may be a strong pull to making the kind of choices that can lead to major growth in your life path, but although new events and alliance are waiting ahead of you, the lunar eclipse is a golden opportunity to just purge and completely release whatever trauma based feelings are trying to hold you back.

You could be particularly affected by the phases and placements of the moon. Check your natal chart to see and compare the transiting moon with yours, see how the moon makes contact with other planets as it moves through each of the signs. If you're interested in brushing up your studies, whether astronomy or astrology, this is a very good time to glean a lot more insight than normal. It's easier to learn lessons when you're in a state of ease.

(extra note: I see multiple fruits in your pile: the apple stained glass, cherry quartz, pomegranate, and the berries the blue jays are holding. Fruits can be a reference to eating healthy snacks, or an emphasis on romance. These mood swings may feel intense, but they will yield fruit for you. Please take it how it resonates for you.)

Pile 2: Awakening Dragon + Lepidolite

Full Moon Sagittarius, 15. Retrograde, 6. Freedom, Aldebaran: Destruction and Rejection, Knight of Wands, 6 of Cups, 8 of Wands, 9 of Swords, 8 of Swords

Hey pile 2, you picked one of my favorite cards in this dragon deck! I love how the light in the tree hollow resembles a portal. The energy of the Retrograde card looks to be the very opposite: all the colors of nature are drained, and all that's left are structures of near perfect symmetry and order. It's almost like you're the figure in the Retrograde card who's actually looking back and choosing to leave behind the old structure for the new and unknown with nervous enthusiasm., but not without wistfulness.

This is something you've likely sensed would happen and now that the predicted situation is at hand, things must change quickly to adjust. It reminds me of movies where the character is watching something like a building fall or a ship sink, but they have an escape pod where they can be safe with family. In these movies, the character always takes another look back to remember all the good and bad times that made it so special. The character wants to stay in that space forever until the others shout "c'mon! Hurry up!"

It's understandable that when we sense a big change is underway, we take time out to appreciate the good times had. There's a difference, though, between simply being nostalgic by enjoying memories, and the fear based resistance of walking towards whatever lies ahead. You may have recently gone through a deep shadow work period where some of your anxieties were brought to light and dealt with. You're nearing the end of this difficult cycle, however, so give yourself the chance to breathe a little before moving on.

When the next chapter comes, it may happen rather quickly. That's why the Six of Cups and Lepidolite want you to take a step back just a little and heal your more gentle, imaginative, fun loving side. Read an old comic book or bake cookies, surround yourself with familiar things. This will allow you to be more flexible and resilient about encountering anything that comes next, instead of feeling worn out.

You're at a place now where you're ready to let go of an old cycle, one that kept you feeling a little stuck in the dark. Some balance is needed. Enjoying pieces of the past does not mean getting mired in it and unable to progress. If anything, sometimes it's necessary to take a step back to move two steps forward, like when we watch a movie twice and see new things we hadn't noticed during the first watch. Bring the best from the past with you. When the time is right, don't be afraid to not run, not walk, but to step carefully into the portal.

Pile 3: Emergence Dragon + Lapis Lazuli

South Node, 8. Scorpio, 2. Understanding, Atlas: Guidance and Discovery, XX Judgement, VII Chariot, 4 of Wands, Knight of Swords, XV Devil

Overwhelmingly, pile 3, I'm seeing that you're getting the green light to go ahead and embark on your next path. Notice all the teal color in your oracle cards? It's a popular color in hospitals as it provides a gentle contrast to healing that could be painful and frightening for patients. I initially imagined someone wading through a dark sewer only to approach the light of the other side. In the Understanding card, you can see that the hooded figure is walking over the stream and not in it. It's as if the bridge appeared out of nowhere. And the water looks pure and flowing smooth.

Something in your external world may be pushing you along to your next journey, whether or not you're entirely ready. What is it you would like to do, or where is it you would like to go next? I feel with the Judgement card, it's talking about a specific issue or event in your life. It's less a case of throwing darts to see what will stick and more of following the path that aligns with your true self. Your life is leading you to your life path with two thumbs up.

It's as if Judgement as a card represented an intersection, where many roads of various directions diverge into one area. You must put your turn signal on and indicate where you plan to proceed next. The sooner you can get clear on which road to take, the faster your next chapter will roll out. Just make sure you're using the right signal.

The biggest hurdle to overcome will be the ever present comfort zone. A comfort zone is not something to be fought. It's a necessary part of keeping up with the body and mind. Imagine constantly taking in novel material? That's what babies do, and they speak in gurgles 'cause they can hardly stand that everything is so new! It can be overwhelming.

People aren't always meant to push themselves to miserable exhaustion like Atlas just because a life of being more relaxed and certain seems boring and less fulfilling. But at the same time, we must learn to expand past what we know and love to something fresh and exciting. Whatever goal you're seeking to start or resolve, the light is green and you have the right of way. Spend time getting clear on your choices. But don't hold back anymore!

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2023, @VitaminseeTarot ™

[cialovesklopp]

𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐑 -> 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆?

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 — after the release of her latest album, amara imani has everyone questioning who she declared her love to

𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 — @aechii @locedes @lorarri

masterlist

If you haven’t listened to amara imani’s newest album, “mon amour” yet, then truly … WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?

the so-called princess of pop and r&b came back nearly two years after her career and image took a major hit and released a whole new album, with more to come, to declare her undying love to her new beau.

even though the album is only a few days old, it has already climbed the charts and positioned itself on the top. after beyoncé, amara imani is the second black woman to have her entire album in the top of the charts after only a few days. and in addition to that, she broke the record of most streams in one day on spotify and apple music. it seems that everybody wants to be part of her new lovestory.

the nigerian singer wrote fourteen astonishing love ballads about love and the feeling of experiencing it and even added two more (streets, best part ft. h.e.r & daniel caesar) after the successful numbers of her album.

but the question we’ve all been asking ourselves is of course: WHO IS SHE DECLARING HER LOVE TO? we are truly dying to know who the new man is who was able to make amara imani write an entire love album for. after all, we can count on our hands how many songs ex-boyfriend evan henderson had gotten during their relationship (and not all of those were about positive things).

the singer has confirmed that there is a new man present in her life with posts, where the singer is seen with a love struck expression on her face as well as talking in about him on jimmy fallon about her new relationship but has not revealed his identity yet. imani was also spotted with a new ring on her finger, which must have certainly been a present from her new boyfriend but has not been seen with him yet in public.

but even without knowing who her new beau is, we can all be assured that he loves her if he was the inspiration for mon amour. after listening to pov and lover, i’m sure we can all agree that we all want to be loved like that.

whether amara imani has planned a world tour is unsure yet, after the events of her last one but one thing is undebatable — again, amara imani has exceeded our expectation with her love ballad album. we desperately hope to hear an announcement or confirmation soon, so we can all thank the man who made amara imani write such a beautiful masterpiece.

𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚.𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢

liked by liyah_clark, harrystyles and 23.046.851

amara.imani thank u so much for allowing me to place myself next to beyoncé in history. this is truly incredible and i am thanking everyone for their support, no matter where — streets and best part OUT NOW, hope you enjoy

view all 94.502 comments

username when i say streets has become my new anthem, I MEAN IT

username FR CAUSE THAT SONG HAS NO RIGHT TO BE THAT GOOD

graceywood so proud of how the covers turned out, especially that second one 😏

amara.imani i’ll tell him that he did a good job

username NAH AMARA DOES NOT PLAY, SHE SERVED

username but also her with daniel caesar >>>> THAT SONG HAD ME IN MY FEELS

username i felt single the whole time because no one will probably ever love me like that

liyah_clark again another slayyyy, proud of you 🫶🏾

amara.imani did you force everyone to listen to it again?

charles_leclerc yes she did

maxverstappen1 THAT’S A LIE, liyah never forced us to listen, it’s all charles and his fangirling

danielricciardo you’re saying that as if you didn’t memorize the whole six minutes of rocket

username daniel exposing max for having exposed charles, THIS IS EVERYTHING

username the way i’m smiling because my two world are colliding

jkeey4 amazing song amara, another one of my faves

amara.imani thank you so much jules 🫶🏾

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚.𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢

liked by liyah_clark, graceywood and 22.195.304 others

amara.imani karma is the guy on the screen, coming straight home to me

view all 69.241 comments

username MADAM 💀

graceywood who is that fine lady, is she single?

amara.imani sadly she is taken

username taylor x amara, a combo i never knew i needed

username bi panic immediately incoming

username you open this app and see your wife with another man 🥲

username not my queen with a m*n

liyah_clark wonder who that is 👀

charles_leclerc 👀

antogriezmann 👀

username PLEASE TELL US WHATS GOING ON

username YESS PLEASE WE ALL WANNA KNOW WHO IT IS

pierregasly stop acting dumb, we all know who it is

liyah_clark isn’t that top mine?

amara.imani maybe…

liyah_clark just wait till i get my hands on your pink louboutins

username amara, please come home, the kids miss you

username it’s useless, she’s already gone

k.mbappé posted in his story 2h ago

amara.imani reacted to your story

amara.imani is that your version of a soft launch?

k.mbappé i just spent ten minutes googling what that even is

amara.imani omg i’m dating an idiot

k.mbappé a very handsome idiot

amara.imani an idiot that is about to be single

𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

[mlembug]

is poland a good place to be trans?

in australia, it seems pretty good for now.

In general, no. I am handling pretty well mostly because I went through most of the bullshit already, I live in a fairly liberal city, and I work in IT, but I have no vision for the future if I get burned out. I estimate like 90-95% of Polish trans girls have it worse than me.

In terms of recent events, we got rid of PiS recently so there is some win in terms of politics, so at least the most egregious corruption is out, but the other party has been promising improvements for LGBT folk a few times in the past and never did them, the only difference is that the leftists form a coalition with them and another party. Too bad the leftists have the least seats in Sejm out of the three parties, but it's still okay, in that the situation doesn't get worse over the next 4 years than it already is. The worrying part is that there are a few people trying to form the spearhead of the anti-trans movement here, but they're yet a minor drop in comparison to the problems Catholic church and regular right-wingers cause for marginalized people.

The following is a breakdown of how living in Poland while trans is like.

(A quick rundown on "cost of living": Minimal salary: 3221.98zł post taxes; Median salary (estimated): 4692zł post taxes. Renting a room: around 1000zł (plus utilities). Renting a flat: 2000zł and up. Loaf of bread: 2.50-5zł. Apples (1kg): 3-5zł. A beer (0.5l) in a supermarket: 4zł. A beer (0.5l) in a bar: 15zł. A large pizza (40cm): 40-50zł. A new video game or any Nintendo game: 250zł.)

Gender marker change: You sue your own parents for this. This process is significantly less annoying than it was 10 years ago in that the number of documents included is like half as much as it was back then and also you don't have to sue your adult children anymore if you have them, but it still implies outing yourself to your parents and them seeing your medical documentation you're sending as evidence (oh god why). The less the parents meddle the better for you. Your hope is that them putting in time, money and effort to meddle is not worth it, and honestly, even regular garden variety transphobic parents don't do much beside denying during a testimony. Otherwise prepare for years-long legal battle that will exhaust both of you. A judge can also decide to appoint an "expert" to judge the medical documentation, and make it more annoying. Very vague optimistic estimate (no external "expert", which honestly is not a given and cases with no external expert started happening recently) of procuring the documentation (psychiatrist opinion, sexologist opinion, lawsuit costs, that fucking stupid MMPI-2 test) puts it at around 3000zł. No same-sex marriage in Poland means that if you're married you have to divorce before attempting gender marker change process. Changing your gender marker means also your national identity number changes because gender is encoded in one of the digits.

The good part is that you don't have to get sterilized as part of gender marker changed, and no surgeries are required. The bad part is that you can't get sterilized without a gender marker change. Either do it outside of Poland or sue your parents. Also, HRT is required for gender marker change.

Name change without gender marker change: Significantly limited due to vast majority of Polish names being heavily gendered, and you can't assign yourself a name considered feminine. Without gender marker change your best bet is non-Polish names and names that are ambiguously gendered. Some surnames are gendered so if you have one you will likely want to change it to a non-gendered one. You likely also have to provide justification and hope for a friendly clerk.

Double mastectomy: With gender marker changed you can get it for free, though whether it's good enough I have no idea. Otherwise 10000-20000zł.

Hysterectomy: Can't get one without gender marker change. With gender marker changed it's funded by public healthcare.

Vaginoplasty: Can't get one without gender marker change. Out of pocket. 50000-60000zł.

Laser hair depilation: Out of pocket. 300zł per session.

Access to HRT: Wild wild west, no regulations means doctors have their own criteria on what exactly do you need to get HRT. One endocrinologist will write a prescription when you ask for it, on the first visit, another will gatekeep you forever. Obviously do your research. A visit to the endocrinologist will cost 200-300zł.

Fem-HRT:

Estrofem (estradiol pills) 28 pills x 2mg costs 16.23zł. Public healthcare lowers that to 4.87zł. Androcur (cyproterone acetate) 50 pills x 50mg costs 91,69 zł. Public healthcare lowers that to 27.51zł. Divigel (estradiol gel) 28 packs x 1mg costs 41.25zł. Public healthcare lowers that to 24.88zł. No injections, all Polish trans girls go to Czech Republic for these, where Neofollin (estradiol valerate) 5 vials x 5mg costs 115.37 CZK, twice as much as when I bought them in November 2022.

Masc-HRT:

Omnadren 250 (testosterone injection, more specifically, testosterone propionate (30 mg) + testosterone phenylpropionate (60 mg) + testosterone isocaproate (60 mg) + testosterone caproate (100 mg)) 5 vials cost 88.14 zł. Testosteronum Prolongatum (testerone injection, more specifically, testosterone enanthate (100mg)) 5 vials costs 91zł. Nebido (testosterone injection, more specifically testosterone undecylenate (1000mg)) 1 vial costs 520zł.

Access to blockers: Also wild wild west, but I know nothing about how it is because I know no one who is on them. Probably sucks.

Society: more liberal in the west Poland and more conservative in the east Poland (the so called "Poland A and Poland B split")

Systemic discrimination: If you're a trans man after gender marker change and for whatever reason you birthed a baby, you're in legal limbo because you can't be written as neither as father nor mother on birth certificate. The one case I know of ended up resolved by giving up the child for adoption. Bottom line is that pretty much everything sucks aside from HRT access in case you're an adult, which is actually quite decent in comparison.

[wally-news-12-official]

"HELLO MULTIVERSE!"

"Not so loud, Wally."

"Well, this ought to be a bundle of fun!!"

Hello, Tumblr! I'm Ace (you may recognize me from another blog, @ask-multiverse-traveler-acey), and welcome to my AU blog:

In this universe, Wally - or, rather, the Wallys, plural - are your local multiverse news reporters!

They (and by they I mean the unquantifiable number of Wally clones) report on major events, happenings, or new Wally or Welcome Home AUs, along with their faithful news anchor and head honcho First, and of course, their beloved news station Home!

Join these little goobers as they travel the multiverse for their next biggest story!

This AU doesn't really have an overarching story or plot or anything like that! This was simply made for fun! However it does have a bit of ✨lore✨ that I'll occasionally drop! @:)

BLOG RULES

Absolutely NO inappropriate or NSFW asks, normal or media. This is a SFW blog. Also keep your asks respectful. I won't answer rude or mean asks!

I am okay with shipping asks or romantic asks/simping, just be appropriate!

Please do not trace, steal, or repost any art on this blog!!

This blog may contain disturbing content or artwork, such as: scopophobia, eye contact/imagery, flashing lights, bright colors, eyestrain, light/moderate gore, derealization. Because of this, this blog is 13+ ONLY.

Please don't bring any kind of drama or harassment into this space! I don't want or need it. If it's something serious DM me.

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MEET THE CREW!

Wally Darling(s):

Your resident and reliable reporters, cameramen, boom operators…literally anything and everything. If your AU has something going down, he’ll be there with his camera and his apple microphone to get the latest scoop!

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Home (Humanoid)

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"We hope to hear from you, dear viewers!"

[jean-vi]

Lie To Me | Levi x Reader

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader Inspiration:  “Chizu ni nai basho e yume wo hasete / Shiharau no wa Risiko der Freiheit” - Jiyuu No Daishou by Linked Horizon Summary: Facing the female titan, you find yourself in a sticky position. Genre: Angst, Fluff (?) Warnings: Major Character Injury, Spoilers for Season 1 of SNK, Most events that occur in this work do not actually occur in the season, but the context is a spoiler. WC: 4.3K A/N: I have been writing fanfic on here for a while under @tae-cup but this is my first AOT Fic. I hope it reads well :) Other: Masterlist

Part 2

    You didn’t think you’d ever get used to riding horses for hours at a time. You understood, fundamentally, that they kept you alive when you were outside the walls, but at the same time, you really did not enjoy the constant jolting. It was truly a beautiful day to be outside, no doubt about it, but maybe this was…a little too outside for comfort. The walls had been your home for many years until you joined the Scout regiment. To be completely honest, it had been a bit of a rash choice, a sort of rebellion against the Military Police that terrorized your family. 

    Your hands gripped the reins with uncertainty. The first time you’d left the walls, all those years ago, you’d been excited. The world felt fresh and new. Now the sky felt like a rotten apple and the people were all the same: excited or nervous recruits and down-trodden experienced soldiers alike. One person caught your eye though. 

    You looked up from the reins to view the people in front of you. Squad Levi. You were a relatively new addition. You were the newest member until the nuisance known as Eren Jaeger joined. It wasn’t that he was particularly annoying, although sometimes his shouting and monologues about freedom did grate on your ears, it was more that he injured himself a lot. You understood the basic fundamentals of his abilities, like being able to heal considerably quicker than a normal human, and regrowing whole limbs wasn’t out of the question either. Being the designated medic, not by choice, you had made a name for yourself by chasing after any squad members who had the slightest ailment. Eren Jaeger? Well, he had lots of them, and it was considerably more draining. 

    The others had laughed and thanked Eren for keeping you off their backs. That was only a few weeks ago. Now, here you were. There was always a grimness to the air on these missions. The usually lively squad was dead silent. The beating hooves of the horses pierced the air. It was too quiet, too calm. 

    Your eyes roved from person to person. You were taking the rear with Eren in front of you. He was just a kid, but he had the stare of someone much older. Next was Petra. She was always a good friend to you. Her smiles and determination brought light into this serious squad. You finally rested your eyes on Captain Levi. 

    At this moment in time, you were having trouble remembering why you were chosen for this team. Still, he had trust in you and so you would have faith in him in return. It was a mutual sort of arrangement. Going into the Scout regiment, you had known some basic first aid. It was a skill taught by your mother. After hearing about your unwavering interest in the Scout Regiment, she had insisted on teaching you the basics. 

    “You can’t stop me.” You hissed. 

    “I know.” Your mother sagged in defeat. “I know you have this–this anger deep inside. I just don’t want you to go into this mess unprepared.” She took your hand and held it firmly. “Let me teach you what I know. I may only be a midwife and I may not be of use to you, but I want you to be of use to others.” 

    You sat down at the dining table and waited as she fetched her bag of tools. 

“And another thing, sweetie,” she whispered as she drew out the needle and thread, “make yourself important, irreplaceable.” 

    A red flare went off, somewhere to your right. A return green flare to your left. 

    “Captain.” Eld called out and the Captain glanced at the flares. 

    “Petra, fire the flare.” He said simply. 

    “Yes, Captain!” The woman responded quickly and sent off the green flare. 

    Well, things were getting interesting. There was already a titan so close. It was a little unnerving. You’d seen scouting missions fall apart before and you really did want this to be the exception. Defeat after defeat. The wounds dragged on. Another set of hoofs joined the marching beat. 

    “Captain Levi, a message!” The new girl shouted as she sidled up to the right of your squad. You observed her carefully. She seemed shaken, but not harmed. The girl was sweating and her hands were gripping the reins too hard to be considered relaxed. 

    “Report.” The Captain commanded. 

    “The right side scouting squads have been decimated! There are huge casualties!” The girl cried. 

    Levi seemed to think for a moment before nodding in the direction of Petra. 

    “Petra, pass on the message.” He commanded. “And thank you for the report.” He addressed the girl who nodded and fell back, racing towards the right. You saw it now; flares screeching into the sky, puffing black smoke. 

    “An abnormal this far in?” You wondered aloud and you had been with the team long enough to see the tell-tale signs of distress. Still, Levi remained a statue-like figure. His head barely turned in the direction of the flares. 

    “The formation has fallen apart. We have no choice but to divert to a more advantageous position.” Levi responded after a short pause. You then sense the shake of the new recruit ahead.

    You considered yourself pretty straight-laced and a person who was rather blunt. However, you didn’t exactly lack human compassion, which you speculated that the Captain in front did. It wasn’t that he didn’t care for human life, it was evident that he did based on his role in the regiment, but he didn’t react much to anything. This stone cold expression of his definitely paid off when you asked for his help in the medical ward. 

    “Hey.” You pulled up next to Eren. His face was downcast and his eyebrows were sinched together. “We’ll find your friends.” 

    It was a promise that was more than likely false. You had wanted to say that they would be alright, but that was certainly a lie. Eren’s expression was that of a boy who was already imagining his friends dead. You didn’t want to see those thoughts come to fruition, they were children after all, but this world was cruel in the worst ways. 

    “I told you to stop saying things like that.” Levi spoke and there was something in his vocal fry that made your heart quicken. 

    “I know, but remember what I said?” 

    The man thought for a moment and then dipped his head. “Continue.” 

    A few weeks earlier

    Levi had always been a good steady hand and a calming presence. It was probably what first drew you to asking him to assist you after missions. You felt a little guilty asking an already exhausted man to continue to work, but he had agreed. He was rather apathetic but he worked diligently. 

    “You told that man that he would be okay.” Levi seemed perplexed, truly, as he looked towards the corpse on the ground. “You shouldn’t lie to the dying, so why?”

    “I don’t know.” Was your first response. It was something you seemed to say often with the man, but this time you took a moment to ponder his question fully. “I guess when a person is forced to deal with death and the inevitable pain, they need to be told lies to keep themselves sane.” Then you took a deep breath. “In less metaphorical terms, in order to keep them on our side until the end, they need to feel secure.”

    Your hands were shaky after long missions or stressful days with lots of patients. The day was just winding down now and it was another heartbreaking loss. Less and less soldiers seemed to come back alive and intact lately. It was mentally and physically draining to care for the wounded, but for some reason, Levi kept coming back. He would hand you the needle and thread and when your eyelids began to droop, he’d finish the job for you. It wasn’t in any gentle or particularly caring way. He’d take the needle and thread, as if commanding you to sleep. But you never could sleep. You’d drift in and out of consciousness sitting on the ground nearby. Tonight was one of those nights. 

    “Get some sleep.” He said quietly as he finished and fixed your rough stitching job. It had been hurried because the soldier was bleeding quickly. Now, the table was covered in blood and you couldn’t stand looking at his disfigured body any longer. You’d saved his life, but he’d never walk again. 

    “I can’t sleep on nights like these.” You responded gruffly. You were stubborn and Levi shared this trait. 

    “I know that, but you need to be able to properly treat people tomorrow. They need your best mind.” 

    You paused and then frowned, shutting your eyes in thought. “So you save the lives of humanity by getting four hours of sleep, right?” 

    “I am here to save myself and only myself. I can get by on four hours. You, on the other hand, are stupidly trying to save the lives of all these dying soldiers. It is a pursuit that will lead you nowhere.” He snipped the thread and set his hands down on the table with a heavy sigh. You ignored his scorn for your current occupation and decided to rest your head against the cold stone.  

    “You say you’re only here to save yourself, and yet you have so little regard for your own life?” You said softly, on your way to dreamland. You heard the soft fabric of his clothes rustle and you felt his gaze slip to your face. The glance was fleeting and warm, but he remained focused on the task at hand.

    “There are some people I can not bring back. I should have died with them years ago, and although they want me to lay them to rest, I will continue to cruelly live on in their name. It is purely selfish.” He responded. 

    You thought on his words for a moment. Levi seemed the opposite of selfish to you. 

    “Some would call that selfless.” You shrugged before the night took you away.

    “My friends.” He was muttering to himself. 

    “Eren.” You tilted your head down to look him in the eyes. “Don’t worry. We will find them.” You’d probably be finding their bodies and even that would be a miracle. With how close the titan had reached, you doubted a bunch of recruits would be able to stand a chance. “And if they’re injured, you know I’ll fix them right up.” You assured further. 

    The boy looked away and you took that as your cue to fall back. Still, even if he didn’t fully believe your lie either, it was something to convince himself of. Captain Levi spared you a glance. You went back to dreaming. You day dreamed about what your life could have been like. You imagined a world where titans no longer terrorized humanity. Would you have still chosen the path of medicine if it weren’t needed for your survival? Would you have…fallen in love? Maybe a doctor or a nurse you worked with? Maybe a stranger you’d met at the market? What did all this daydreaming do you anyway. It wasn’t going to change the situation. 

    “Captain, I hear something.” Oluo shouted. 

    Levi looked behind him and, of course, everyone else followed suit. There was a thud, but it was faint and seemed so far away. In the distance, behind, was a tiny dot. It was moving at an alarming rate, though. 

    “Is that–” You started.

    “ –the abnormal?” Petra finished as you both stared in horror. 

     The Captain gave away nothing. 

    “We continue riding forward.” He insisted and you usually trusted the man but this was absurd. The forest was out of the way and more of a barrier than anything else. It just made no sense. Then it hit you. The useless ODM gear currently strapped to you would become a lethal weapon in the forest. 

    “Understood.” You replied, but you truly did understand this time. 

    “Captain! We could have saved them!” Eren screamed as the soldiers zipping through the trees were swatted out of the sky. This titan really was terrifying. You’d never seen one that looked like it before. Despite being at the back of the formation, you remained vigilant in looking straight ahead. You probably trusted a self-appointed “selfish” man far too much. 

    Eren’s exclamations were becoming more desperate. 

    “There’s another dead.” The boy cried and it did tug at the heart strings. 

    “Eren,” You began, “I work with the dead all day, every day.” You felt the listening ears of your teammates, even Levi, especially Levi. “I know their deaths were violent, but they were quick.” You continued and you heard another crunch. God, you were really sick of people dying. You could feel your eyes wetting as the slaughter continued behind you, but you refused to let tears fall. With a steely determination, you stared straight ahead. “It is much better than suffering a slow, painful, death later on a table in a strange room.” 

    “I agree.” Levi added and your eyes fell on the back of his head. He was so calm and reserved in a time where even Eld was nervous. “Cover your ears.” 

    You had just enough time to register his words and mindlessly react. 

    Bang!

    For some reason, you saw him watching you as the world exploded in light. 

    “Did we really capture it?” You asked, waiting for anyone to answer. 

     “It would appear that way.” Petra murmured. 

    “You guys leave, switch to ODM gear.” Levi instructed. “Get Eren to HQ as fast as possible.” 

    “Yes, Sir!” You all replied in unison. You unstrapped the small medical bag from your horse and wrapped it around your shoulders. 

    The Captain disappeared from sight. You switched to your ODM gear, flying from tree to tree. Everything was moving so quickly and the green of the forest hid most of the sunlight. However, a movement caught your eye. 

    “The traitor.” You heard Eren hiss. That’s when you saw them. The Scout Regiment logo felt wrong to be displayed on a traitor to humanity. 

    “Move! Move! They’re closing in!” Eld shouted and you began to weave through the trees. 

     “Gunther!” Petra screamed and you knew. You knew what happened. Fuck. You didn’t want to see the body of a person you just saw yesterday, but you needed to. You looked back and you acknowledged him. He hung lifelessly, swinging like a pendulum. 

     “Go! Go! Go!” Eld continued and you followed. It wasn’t your business for heroics. 

     Then, a flash of yellow light, like lightning striking. You couldn’t hold back a surprised scream now. Shielding your eyes, you felt your hair sizzle and the air pop. Then, like something out of your worst nightmares, the titan was there. She was fast and agile. Her movements were unlike any other titan you’d seen or killed, but you supposed this was unlike any other mission you’d been on. 

     “I’ll kill her, once and for all.” Eren screamed to Eld as he raised his hand to his mouth. 

    “Stop!” Your eyes widened and you felt breathless. “Please, just let us handle it. We’re the best, after all.” You tried to reason with him. 

     “Trust us.” Petra nodded. 

    Eren looked from you to your squad to the titan. The titan was closing in and you didn’t have much time left. 

    “Trust us.” You pleaded. If Eren transformed, it put so much at risk. You couldn’t risk him getting taken. 

    “Okay.” He finally said and you all breathed a collective sigh of relief. He turned and zipped ahead. “I trust you.”

    You watched his figure fading into the distance as you and the others began your assault. Eld moved in to distract. The wind was rushing in your ears as you positioned yourself on a tree. You didn’t have quite the kill count as the others, but you understood the basics. Petra and Oluo sliced into the titan’s eyes, causing the monster to stumble back into the tree. 

    “It’s protecting its nape!” You shouted and you flew in to join the fray. You hooked onto its ligaments and began slicing. The tendons in the arms were gone and the shield on her nape dropped. You hesitated to celebrate as the others looked on in victory. They wanted the killing blow. 

    After seeing and hearing the cries of all those soldiers she’d killed, you wanted to slaughter her too. You could feel their pain fueling you to push on, even as your gut began to sink. It was just too easy. 

    “Strike the neck, now!” Eld yelled his war cry and you hooked onto her nape to join him. The female titan lunged. You pulled back with a scream, but Eld was already bit in two. Blood began to stain the grass. No. 

    “Eld!” You screeched. You watched as his body fell. No medical miracle could bring that back to life. You frantically turned to the others. “We need to regroup!” 

    “It’s–It’s impossible.” Petra was muttering as she flew away from the titan. “It’s only been 30 seconds or so. That’s just not–” 

    “Petra!” Oluo warned, but it was too late. Blood splattered on a tree. 

    “No, no, no.” You whispered as you retreated. 

    “I’ll kill you.” Oluo went in for the exposed nape. Your eyes widened. 

    “Wait! Stop!” You shouted, but it didn’t matter. You’d never seen a human kicked that hard or that far, but Oluo was gone on impact, you knew that from the sickening crunch. There was no way. All of squad Levi? Gone? 

    You landed on the grass. You felt numb as you stared into the face of the titan. Falling to your knees, you looked up to the sky, past where her form blocked the sun. Maybe, in this giant forest, it wouldn’t be such a bad place to die. You’d be with your comrades. You dropped your medical bag and accepted this fate. The female titan stared down at you and then her hand was wrapped around your body. Her grip was so tight, you felt your bones cracking like sticks and now you screamed in agony. 

    “You killed them!” You were a mess. Tears were running down your face and now you couldn’t breathe. You came face to face with the female titan. Her hair covered her blind eye. 

    A blinding light and Eren had abandoned the plan. You felt the pressure on your body ease up and then suddenly, you were falling. You had no time to grapple to any trees. You just plummeted to the ground. 

     The air left your lungs and every breath, every movement, every shake of the ground, hurt. On a scale of 1 to 10? This was a 10. The two titans were fighting and their rumbling moved farther away. You almost wanted to thank Eren. Now, you’d be able to die in peace. 

    Captain Levi. 

    The whole squad was wiped out in one go. You didn’t have it in you to sit up, so you lay with your back tucked between the grasses. It wasn’t long after the explosion of light that you noticed a familiar figure flying through the trees. 

    Levi had come to a stop above Petra’s body. You were in blinding pain, but you needed to get his attention before he left. 

    “Captain.” You choked out, but for some reason, he heard you. He turned to you and jumped down from the tree. His feet landed softly next to you and he didn’t hesitate to kneel beside your body. His rough, but nimble, hands circled yours. The Captain could have said any number of things, but chose these:

    “Do you want to be saved?” It was simple. He was giving you the option to die peacefully with your comrades or be saved. You usually couldn’t read Captain Levi very well, but when you looked at his face, finally, you were taken aback. 

    Anger. His mouth, set in an ever-present line, was now tilted into a frown. His eyebrows were pushed together ever so slightly and his eyelids dropped into a killer gaze. You had wondered at his emotional capacity for years now, but with this single gaze, you understood him. You understood how he needed to protect himself from the death that surrounded him. You refused to be another comrade that he’d be haunted by at night. Looking at the sky, you realized you had a long life ahead of you. Now was not your time to die. 

    You had your answer, and it was for, just as he said, purely selfish reasons. You couldn’t muster the energy to move or speak, but your eyes slid over to your fallen medical bag. And now Levi had his answer too. You wanted to say you saw him breathe a sigh of relief, but it was probably an illusion. 

    “Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.” He parroted your blissful lie as he grabbed the bandages from the bag.

    You found the nerve to speak with that comment. “Maybe you were right. Lies don’t help the dying much. We know it’s over.” 

    “You are not ‘the dying.’” He bit back with a deadly tone. You didn’t flinch. Instead, you wanted to laugh. He finished the wrapping and sat back. “I don’t know what else to do.” He finally admitted. 

    Your gaze moved to the treetops. Everything was fading and going in and out of darkness. 

    “Nothing else you can do.” You mustered. “I’m probably bleeding internally. I’ll die before leaving this forest.” 

    “You will not.” The man said quietly and when he stood, he stared down at you with an incredulous expression. “Why do you accept your death so easily? You will survive and you will live until you are old. Do you hear me, idiot?” 

    You smiled as your eyes slid closed. “I hear you, Captain.” 

    A Few Days Later

    The last remaining member of Squad Levi. You lifted your hand gingerly and stared at the wrappings. They were clean, fresh. That must be good. You watched the dust particles filtering through the sunlight streaming in. A roof. That was a good sign. You were in a bed. Also a good sign.

    “Don’t move.” A harsh voice commanded, but your lips pulled into an easy smile. 

    “Captain, I wasn’t aware you cared so much.” 

    “Do you know how hard it is to deal with all those injured scouts when you get yourself injured?” Levi was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room. His legs were stretched out lazily as he reclined, one hand nursing a steaming teacup. “Don’t do it again.” He took a sip. 

    “Yes, sir.” You grumbled and dropped your hand. The man got up and moved to the side of the bed, where you could see him better. 

    “We are now the only members of the Special Operations team.” 

     You tilted your head back and stared at the wooden beams. What were their last thoughts? Last sight? Probably the forest floor and trees the size of castles. That forest was littered with bodies now. It felt like a terrible nightmare. 

     “I am hardly special enough for any ‘Special Operations.’” You countered. “Why do you even want me on the team?” 

    He gave you a blank stare, which was a common occurrence. “Because you were on it before and you’re alive and breathing.” Levi reasoned. 

    “I think I should switch to being a medical helper instead, full time.” 

    “Why are you arguing with me, idiot?” He frowned. “You are a part of Squad Levi still and you always will be. That’s how it works here.” 

    “I could just get myself thrown out.” You chuckled. 

    “And I’d just argue that you stay, like last time.” 

    The conversation fell silent. Then you shifted to look out the window. “I care for this team, a lot, but there is no team left.” You sighed. “I guess that only leaves me to care for you, Captain.” 

    You heard his footsteps and he was now in front of the window, just staring at you. His usually intimidating gaze was gone. 

    “I wouldn’t have saved you if I didn’t care either.” He stated simply and leaned against the window sill. The light fell so perfectly on his face, highlighting the curve of his mouth, the sharpness of his eyes. 

    “I would have saved you, too.” You added. 

    “You would save everyone if you could.”

    “And you wouldn’t?” 

    “I save people I think I can save.” He shrugged. His grip tightened on the edge of the window. “I don’t know why I saved you. I was sure you were going to die, and maybe I should have let you.” 

    You pressed your lips together. “I’m still glad you lied to me. I will be truthful in saying that I asked you to save me for purely selfish reasons.” 

    “I guess we have that in common.” The Captain crossed his arms. Your eyes widened and he tilted his head. “Did I say something amiss?” 

    “No I–” You stopped yourself. “I just didn’t realize you cared.” 

    “If I didn’t care, why would I spend all those nights with you, fixing up the worst injuries I’ve seen?” 

    “Because you care about…human life?” 

    “Because I care about you, idiot.” He said roughly and moved to your bedside. The man took your hand in his and it was eerily reminiscent of the forest. You could almost smell the dirt. 

    “Maybe I care about you too.” You finally said and he dropped your hand. His face fell back into its usual stone-cold expression. His only acknowledgement was a dip in his head.

    “Get some rest.” He said bluntly and headed for the door.

    “You as well, Captain.” 

    He let his hand brush against the door frame for a moment and then left. A fleeting ghost. A vision. You wished you could hold onto his hand for a just a bit longer. It was nice to be in good company. 

To be continued...?

[zstargalaxy]

lol how about eevee or hisuian zorua or even alolan vulpix with twst guys of your choice

Interesting choices! And very large range of possibility!

I will be doing one for now but i might do the rest one at a time so we'll just see ;)

Today will be the Alolan Vulpix x Pomeifiore students.

Also, if anyone is gonna request a next scenario or anything at all, pls put of what type of relationship you would like to see the boys with the Pokemon MC or any extra details you might wanna see.

For this one, it will be romantic.

TWISTED WONDERLAND x POKEMON

POMEIFIORE x Alolan Vulpix MC

👑VIL SCHOENHEIT 👑

Such grace, such beauty, such elegance...

Vil is contemplated of whether he should admire you for your unbelievable beauty or despise you for how you naturally flaunt your beauty without even knowing that you gain a fan base among NRC students and outside.

(Which included Rook)

He was taken back when the mirror assigned you for he's dorm despite you being a girl yet wasnt all that shock.

Afterall, Pomeifiore is base after the Beautiful Queen after all.

Yet he cant get that lingering jealousy that he had over you.

ESPECIELY HOW YOU TEACH THE BABY POTATO HOW TO DO A PERFECT POSTURE AND DO GOOD MANNERS WITHOUT HIM COMPLAINING!? COME ON!!

Everytime he asked Mira on he's phone on who is the most beautiful one of all, it would sometimes result in he's long time rival, Neige LeBlanche, or even YOU

He was somehow both relief and displeased at your not participatingship at the VDC event but he let it slide...for now.

He always glances at you and what you were doing (being he's usual self)

But he cant get this...weird feeling he is getting from whenever he is around you.

Especielly seeing Neige being so close to you.

He cant just stand it!!

After the whole overblot accident, Vil learns to appreciate you more and learn that you werent even aiming for he's dream that was for him alone (even though it sounds abit ridiculous)

Infact! You two started dating (after the events of Chapter 6)

Whenever you two go have an outing for your date, you both decided somewhere secluded and private to not get any of their fans on you both.

Though, obviously, Vil understands and keep their relationship a secrat to not get any prying eyes on them or a crowds of people ruining their date whenever they go out.

You even decided to bedazzle him an small uet elegant ice dance for him. Just for him.

You are definetly he's muse for inspiration.

To love.

 🏹 ROOK HUNT  🏹

Quelle beauté! merveilleux! superbe! Were among the many compliments that Rook can come up upon seeing you at first glance.

No beastman has ever caught he's eye like you had and he is head over heals at how beautiful and majestic you are.

And dont get him started when he saw your ice moves and small dance from afar.

He is enchanted!

You were kinda freaked out whenever he stalks you like a hunter aiming gor the fox's fur.

During one time, you even use powder snow on him during one of he's stalkings and Vil wasnt happy about that.

Rook was sad upon hearing you are not participating for this year's VDC event but he truly understands and let you do what you want to do.

During the training of VDC, You and Rook kinda got closer and kinda band togather when you two saw how Vil acted very strangely.

You two secrately discuss and even gave theories on Vil's attitude until the day of the competition.

Rook was right about it when Vil tried to Poison Neige with an Apple juice.

After the whole Overblot incident, you two became even closer than before.

And could you believe it? You two are togather.

Though abit creeped out by he's stalking, you slowlu came to understand that it was him showing fascination and love.

The majority of the beastman even supported your relationship!

(Though its probably because Rook is mostly putting he's attantion on you)

🍎EPEL FELMIER🍎

Amazing

Epel cant deny that the small show that you provided with your ice moves was something he had never seen before.

And when he saw you fought? Ultimate respect.

You two bonded immediately when you both want out for fresh air from the atmosphere of the Dorm that they unfortunately been assigned to.

Chatted, Joke around and even told one another about yoursalves and what you had expected from your first years in NRC.

Epel expected to be in Savannaclaw while you didnt expect to enter at all.

Yet as time flies by, you two kinda appreciate being in Pomeifiore for it had brought you two togather.

You two even became sparring partners in secrat.

You had taught him how to defence and offense during this sessions and had taught him a valuable lesson about how both of your looks can be a big disadvantage in battles.

Like how the opponent may look at you being weak and punny but you have used that as a way to suprise him and attack him.

Epel immediately falls in love with you.

And after the whole mess (Both Overblot and VDC), you two offically became a couple.

Oh yeah!

One time when Epel's family had sent him apples, you had made your famous homemade Malasadas with the apples as the filling.

When the small boy had received a letter as response from he's package of Malasadas to he's family, all it had said from he's Gram Gram is...

MARRY THAT GIRL.

{BONUS}

"The quiet falling snow from the skies!

Crystals of water.... Constantly shimmering!

Blanketing the world with their frosty Z-Power!

Together with my fiery spirit, rise up into the vast sky once again!!!

Subzero Slammer!"

You had used your z-move during Vil's Overblot.

And everyone was SHOCK!

If you hadnt explain to anyone of what creature you are or where you had origanated, anyone would may somehow mistaken it as your Unique Magic.

The amount of ice and power that they had all seen was both mesmerizing and frightening for it had easily defeated Overblot Vil all at once.

After that mess, everyone immediately came to you about your "Unique Magic"

When you explain to them about it, they didnt such an item exists in the first place until you fully told them about who you are.

About where you come from, that you are from another dimension, a different species, Pokemon, etc.

They took it all in at wonder and shook at the new information that they now have.

They all swore to keep it a secrat from any outsiders.

The Pomefiore trio pledge on that.

After all, they wouldn't want to lose their precious little fox now do they?

[husbandomail]

December 4: company Christmas party

For such an accomplished musician, Piers really hates crowds.

Well, context is important; there’s a vast difference between being on-stage away from it all, watching the mosh pit and people teaching their pokemon to wave glowsticks in a pattern, and being at a League-sponsored Christmas party. Needless to say, he would rather be on stage.

Piers adjusts the collar of his suit for what feels like the millionth time tonight. Every year he manages to avoid the League’s kick-off ceremony, rarely ever having to venture beyond the safety of Spikemuth’s neon walls— but when his newly-appointed Gym Leader sister begs him to attend the League's end-of-year party, even he can’t say no. And that’s how he’s ended up with the rest of the Galarian League trainers at the top of Rose Tower. The building has been renovated since that incident with the Chairman last season— the very top of the tower has been set up for an evening as luxurious as you’d expect from the well-respected Gym Leaders of the region. Long tables full of food from various regions; live music at one end of the room, when Piers’ band had been politely turned down when they offered to perform; banners and lights that reflected picture-perfect in the polished window glass. Trainers from the major and minor Leagues. Their plus-ones. Marnie and Morpeko doing their best to hold conversations with new people, something that makes her older brother proud.

All night, Piers has managed to avoid proper interaction; it’s especially difficult avoiding Leon, because the former Champion is heading the event, and his energy remains boundless. The single cup of apple cider in Piers’ hands has acted as his shield every time Leon— or anyone else, actually— looks like they have something to say. Unfortunately, that well runs dry eventually; Piers tips his cup for another sip, only to realize that nothing’s there. He sighs to himself and ducks around one of the dessert tables to find the drinks again.

The bowl of cider is nearly empty, but the bright-red punch in the next bowl is less appealing. Before Piers can pour himself another defensive glass, someone else’s hand snatches the ladle just out of his grasp.

“You don’t look like you’re having too much fun, Piers.” You never greet him properly, and he never minds. You scoop some cider into his mug before filling your own again.

He shrugs and raises his glass in acknowledgement. “Miss Champ,” he nods at you, “This really ain’t my speed, but Marnie asked.”

You shift to stand next to him, shoulders brushing against each other, his presence comforting in this room full of people you only somewhat know. Piers is more relaxed now that you’re here to keep quiet company, but he can’t help feeling smothered in his formal suit and such a structured event.

It seems like you share his nervous energy, because you nudge his arm, careful not to spill his drink on his jacket. You grin up at him. “Let’s ditch, this is boring.”

“This is a League event, and you’re the Champion,” he chides, ever the voice of reason. That only lasts a moment, though— of course Piers, of all people, appreciates a rebellious streak. He grins back down at you. “I was wonderin’ if you’d ever ask.”

[ezeverse-nextgen]

pasted from my deviantart babeyy

After the sisterhooves social episode, Big mac started to quickly realize that orchard blossom was  a lot more than just a fun one time persona. Less than a month later she came out to her younger sisters as trans and was accepted with overjoyed and open arms! She officially changed her name but still goes by Big Mac as a nickname since she finds it to be moreso a term of endearment from her family rather than a deadname. She is much more talkative and participates in the social with both of her sisters yearly now! Her friendship with cheerilee had been long standing and after coming out they started spending even more time together as cheerilee's younger sister Jasmine Leaf was also a trans woman, it gave blossom a space to speak to someone she felt truly understood her. Troubleshoes and Sugarbelle came to ponyville around the same time, sugarbelle to work at sugarcube corner for confectionaries and clyde for his traveling roadside show. Sugarbelle and Mac had met before, not unlike their canon show counterparts, but the whole incident with featherbangs never happened. A friendship sparked between them and not too long after sugarbelle, cheerilee, and orchard blossom were inseparable. On one of their days out they stumbled across Clyde about to leave town and move onto the next, asking him if they could see his show before he left, to which he obliged. All 4 ponies genuinely enjoyed themselves and after finding out that clyde was essentially homeless, Blossom offered him to stay at sweet apple acres for a while to rest up outside of the small caravan he pulled (that he couldn't even fit into). What was supposed to be a week turned into a month as all 4 became thick as thieves, n eventually decided to be in a platonic polycule! They all wanted kids but never really had interest in romantic relationships, so they decided on each other and to raise their family as friends. Sugarplum came first, with carolina not too far after. Cortland was the youngest n is planned to be the last of the family's kids. All of the kids understand their parent's relationship n the entire family couldn't be happier. 

Name: Carolina Cherry Nicknames: Carrie (most common), Sunshine (Blossom) Parents: Orchard blossom and Troubleshoes Clyde Siblings: Summer Sugarplum, Cortland  Body type: big and s t u r d y girlie Species: Earth pony-shire horse Special Talent: Soul Music Singer Voice Claim: Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Carolina was the second kid to be born to her family, even if it was only by a year. She was a huge baby and by the time Orchard Blossom was 6 months pregnant she could barely stand! From birth her parents could tell she was going to be a very big pony n boy was that an understatement, by the time she was in elementary school she was about the size of a full grown mare give or take a couple inches. In her adulthood she's about the same height as her pa clyde, though she insists she's 3 millimeters taller (she may be!). Despite her threateningly large stature, Carolina is the definition of a gentle giant. She spends a good majority of her time volunteering for events like the grand galloping gala and the summer sun festival, putting on free shows in ponyville, and giving free lessons to any foals who are interested! Carrie is an extremely talented singer and is well known throughout equestria! She often gets personally invited by the princesses to attend special events as the entertainment alongside huge names like songbird serenade, they insist on paying her but she refuses every time. With a voice on vinyl you'd expect Carrie to live in the spotlight, when she's quite the opposite; She much prefers to stay on the farm and work with her family, tending to her one, giant cherry tree that is a beautiful sight to behold come springtime. She planted it as a filly and, being an earth pony, it grew incredibly fast under her care. Everypony in ponyville eagerly awaits the harvest in which Carolina makes the most delicious cherry Jam that can be found in Equestria! Carrie's best friend since fillyhood is Tender Morning, after her visit to sweet apple acres (see- Destiny is but a suggestion) the two quickly bonded over a love of music and all things glittery! They have a few duet songs on vinyl in which morning sings under her pseudonym "thunderbird". Morning doesn't want anypony knowing she's the other voice to the duet, and the name helps as it causes ponies to assume that thunderbird is a Pegasus. Carolina happily keeps her best friend's secret and whenever asked she cheekily says, "I wish I knew!"  She's very close to her sibling Summer Sugarplum. Most ponies assume they're the younger sibling due to the height difference, and Carrie is quick to correct them. Summer defended Carolina often in their schoolfoal days, she was often bullied for her height once other foals realized she wouldn't fight back. Ponies quickly realized that despite being shorter than average, Summer was a force to be reckoned with and got suspended on multiple occasions for physically fighting others for bullying their sister. Despite the drastic difference in size Carolina and Summer still wrestle over who will do the dishes that day. 

Name: Summer Sugarplum Nicknames:Summer, Sugar, tiny (Tshoes) Parents: Cheerilee and Sugar belle Body type: Short mare with an average build Species: earth pony Special talent: Flower Baker Voice claim: Maggie Heath

Summer Sugarplum was the first born to their parents even if it wasn't by much. Cheerilee and Sugar belle offered to have the first baby as they were less likely to have complications throughout the pregnancy. After spending a few months pregnant Sugar belle popped out Summer! They were a preemie baby and scared their parents a little with how small they were, but the doctors assured the parents that their filly was just fine. Sugar was quite the firecracker in her young years, much to the surprise of her parents. She'd always been exceptionally calm but the moment ponies started picking on their younger sister it was like they were a completely different pony. Upon graduating Elementary however, Their docile and friendly nature returned. They came out as nonbinary somewhere around age 12 and is happy with both she and they pronouns. They love their family to bits and are planned to be the next in line to take over sweet apple acres after applejack once honeybee made it very clear she wasn't interested. Summer is a flower baker, finding ways to incorporate normal and exotic flowers into their pastries and coming up with original recipes that have won them multiple awards. She's close with pinkie's family for this reason and considered them to be a second family of sorts, being overjoyed when her younger brother and pinkie's son poprocks were born on the same day. They always go out of their way to check on family members and even makes it a point to attend as many of whiplash's shows as she can despite being an earth pony. Summer was actually the first pony that Honeybee Harvest confided in about her feelings regarding herself and her family, which is why they offered to take up being sweet apple acre's future matriarch instead. Honeybee is extremely grateful and Sugarplum is the only one of her cousins she is particularly close with. 

Name: Cortland Apple Nicknames: Cory, Quinn, Lil mac (general apple fam) Parents: Sugarbelle, Cheerilee, Orchard Blossom, and troubleshoes body type: Just a little guy species: earth pony special talent: ???

Cortland is the last of the group's kids, and sequentially the biological kid of all four! Through some trial and error, and help from Twilight, the family managed to combine all 4 of their DNA into one foal (which Cheerilee happily carried). Then came Cortland "lil Mac" apple! Cory is adored by everyone he meets with his sweet and eager-to-please personality, many members of the Apple family remark that he's a lot like his late grandpa bright mac. He's only a foal and doesn't have his cutie mark yet, which doesn't bug him one bit! He and his best friend Pop Rocks, who he happens to share a birthday with, plan on finding out what their cutie marks are together, whenever it may happen! Cortland is often mistaken for a filly due to his long hair n bright eyes but he doesn't much mind it. He loves interacting with every member of his family in every way he can, helping Sugarbelle at the bakery, cleaning up cheerilee's classroom, helping Blossom in the orchard, Attending his big sister's shows, the world is Cortland's oyster and he is determined to crack it open!! 

[fereldanwench]

CP77 2.0 & Phantom Liberty Spoilers

Since we're only a few days from game patch 2.0 dropping, and there's barely a week left to wait for Phantom Liberty, I just wanted to let folks know how I'll be handling spoilers for filtering purposes and whatnot. ♡

The only spoiler tag I'll be using is #pl spoilers. I'll be using this tag for both my posts and for reblogs, and it'll cover content from both patch 2.0 and Phantom Liberty.

I usually record my thoughts here as I play through games, and I suspect this time will be no different. Most rambling will go under a cut, especially if I'm talking about major story/character events.

I'm starting a totally fresh game, so Phantom Liberty content (aside from, like, gifsets of the trailers and official announcements) probably won't appear here until the end of next week at the earliest.

I'm also going to be filtering out all possible spoiler tags I can think of before patch 2.0 drops, and I likely won't be going into the main Cyberpunk tags until I've finished this run, just to be safe.

How to Filter Tags & Content

And for anyone who's unfamiliar with Tumblr's native content filters, here's some extra info on how to use them:

There are two ways to filter content:

Filtered Tags: This option hides posts that have been tagged with specific hashtags; e.g. #pl spoilers.

Filtered Post Content: This option hides posts that contain your specific keyword or phrase anywhere in the post (sometimes even catches it in reblogs), not just the tags.

If you're really spoiler-averse, I'd recommend using both options to account for all major varieties of spoiler tags, the game name, and character names; e.g. put "solomon reed" in both the filtered tag and filtered post content sections.

To add or remove filters:

If you're on desktop: 1) Click on "Settings" on the left sidebar. 2) Scroll down until you see "Filtered Tags" and "Filtered Post Content." 3) Click the little pencil icon to expand the lists.

If you're on mobile: (I'm on Android, but I'm assuming Apple is similar) 1) Tap on the person icon at the bottom right. This will bring you to your blog. 2) On your blog page, tap on the cog icon at the top right to bring you to your account page. 3) Then tap on "Account settings" and scroll down to "Content you see." 4) You'll have your list of both Filtered Tags and Filtered Content here.

[rinbowaman]

My Roommate's Ex - Chapter 1

Hey loves, so I started to dig up my original drafts of this sequel by the same name, just finished re-editing the main characters names to HeeseungxReader pairing. There wont be as many chapters as MGR, and its less poetic and more storytelling. This chapter doesn't have any sexual intercourse, but does have some level of adult only events. There is ALOT of fluff in this one, so I hope you all enjoy. If you hadn't read My Girlfriends Roommate first, I suggest you do, and while I do encourage you to read all 12 chapters, if you feel the absolute need to skip, I would recommend you at least read chapters 8-12 and not skip any of those because they play a major role leading up to the good stuff.

Pairings: Heeseung and you of course. <3

Warnings: Not really for this one, just the mentioning of naked bodies next to each other and that's pretty much it.

Summary: Nah-uh! Y'all should know by now I don't like summaries, at least for short chapters/series. As stated before, Heeseung is a stud (still a stud) and you are (still) the most beautiful damn creature he's ever laid eyes on. Ya feel me?

Read on and enjoy. I'll be posting more chapters either later tonight or tomorrow morning. Okay byeeeee!

Your eyes flutter open, greeted by the darkness in the room. You can’t recall exactly when or how you fell asleep, all could remember, were the events that took place right before you passed out.

The subtleness of movement in your body commissioned you to feel something wrapped around your waist. You looked down, briefly forgetting that the room was pitch black, having no idea what the time was or how long you had been asleep, it came to light that Etha-no, Heeseung fell asleep with you. Next to you.

You mobilize your figure and commit to a half turn, easily allowing for you to lean your head towards the opposing direction behind, you hadn’t realized just how close he was next to you until the tip of your nose is suddenly met with his Adam’s Apple. Your body must of went entirely numb as you didn’t realize that your whole backside was entrenched to his front. Your eyes adjust to the darkness, expanding the limits of your senses as you not only feel his body, but you were able to somewhat make out the lining of his silhouette.

You saw his lengthy arm loosely resting on the indentation of your waistline, right before it meets the curve of your hips; while his other was bent at the elbow as he laid his head on it, asleep. His breathing was hard, slow, and long. He sounded peacefully exhausted as each exhale rushed the air out through his nostrils, grazing your forehead as you laid still with the tip of your nose planted against the hard lump on his neck.

You sigh as the urge within you wanted to give him soft kisses. Your body would slightly shake whenever you remembered the sensation you last felt, admitted by the man who lays beside you, boldly naked just as you were. No wonder you had knocked out without immediately remembering anything, the intense level of the orgasmic high still lingered in your mind as you felt a rush of deep love rising from your chest, tingling you to feel the desire of wanting to do it all over again. Every bit of it, to include the intense pain that introduced the pleasure.

Your bodies felt warm and soft, almost like silk, even smoother than your satin pillow. The motions of his chest as he breathed ranged in the re-expansion of his muscles to kiss your back as he took in each inhale. The coolness of his scent, cedar pine and mint, was still present as you continued to breathe through your nose, right against his neck. Succumbing to its hypnotizing effect, you rubbed the tip against the protrusion of his apple in very faint circles, enjoying the scent spiraling into you as you breathed it all in.

It must have been a sensitive spot for him, he slightly awoke upon receiving your gesture of affection. Yet he wasn’t entirely awake, it seemed he dabbed into consciousness for a split second as he dug his face into your hair and tightened his arm around your waist, bringing you in closer, shoving your face to the side and upwards so that your lips were met with range of smooth skin underneath his jaw. The flat surface begged for kisses, it was warm and not a stubble or blemish was in sight. You grazed over it with soft and tiny kisses as you reached your hand over to greet the extremity that was around your waist, rubbing your hand up and down along his wrist and forearm.

How ironic that it would take only one night for you to feel the immense pleasure of love, joy, and healing, when a man you had been with for months couldn’t make you feel even just a sliver of this blistering sensation. You really didn’t want to wake him, if possible, you would have stayed in that exact moment forever. But you didn’t want to risk Vicky coming in and see the evidence of what transpired on the other side of the evening. You didn’t care about her knowing, it was just the manner of how to relay it to her.

You weren’t sure what made you feel this way, but your instinct told you that Vicky still had some sense of fondness for Heeseung, and you’re not entirely sure how she’ll take the news even if you were to tell her in the best possible way you can think of, if that was even a thing.

Sleeping with your roommate’s…your friend’s boyfriend or ex boyfriend, reminding yourself that you hadn’t received any confirmation on the status of their current standing. For all you knew, they could have still been dating, just managing a break period.

You felt your heart soaring from nerves as you began rolling all the possibilities of Vicky and Heeseung’s situation. You wanted to keep him but not in the manner where you stole him from someone, after all, there is always a right way and a wrong way to do things. You put your mind at ease by coming to a mental pause, reminding yourself that you have yet to hear of Heeseung’s side of the story, or Vicky’s for that matter. The sudden realization hit you upon remembering she had never told you anything. Instead, she had just suddenly appeared at the party with her body fully embraced by Gabe prior to suffering the harassment of him and his indecent friend.

Stroking his forearm, the scented oils of his cologne become enriched at the slight friction of you dragging your fingers up and down the length of it. Feeling the light massage on his skin, Heeseung wakes up, unleashing an exhausting groan as he breathes in the floral scent of your hair. He hugs you tightly and admits the same gesture you were giving to him, dragging his fingers on to the center of your chest, encircling traces around the fullness of your breasts.

“I didn’t want to wake you. But we need to get dressed, in case if Vicky comes back.” You whispered softly against his neck as you lowered your kisses from under his chin, tracing the distance your face had traveled with the brush of your parted lips grazing against him.

You’ve become inebriated at the feel, the scent, and the movement of him. Groaning once more, he lets out just one word in the most pleasant tone, it was a combination of tired and fresh.

“Sure.”

The sudden flow of his arm that was embracing you reaches over to the bedside table to check the time, he leans in hovering over your cradled figure as his reach becomes fully extended. Noticing that he was enclosing you into his chest, he looks down at you, his hand remains attached to the table, placed directly on top of your phone.

He leans his face in and kisses you passionately, your naked bodies generating more heat as they rub against one another. He became so enveloped into kissing you that he had forgotten to retract his arm and stopped moving altogether. Instead, he focused on keeping the kiss alive by maneuvering his tongue in circular motion around yours, reopening your mouth every time you attempted to bring it to a pause.

As his arm remained still, you raised your hand and attempted to reach the phone yourself, not realizing until the last second that it was too far, and your arms are not nearly as long as his. He feels you reach your arm out and your fingers tapping and feeling around the beveled edge of the table, barely touching the screen of your phone. While keeping the kiss going, he pushes the phone further away instead of dragging it towards you, enjoying the feel of you struggling as the tip of your fingers begin to spider crawl along his wrists, trying to link with his bracelet so that you could pull him back in, along with your phone that remained planted underneath his palm.

You both feel the stretch of your smiles as your lips remained pressed together. Your tongues retract back into your mouths as you both chuckle, releasing a mixture of his deep pitch and your light one to fill the room. He drags the phone to your hand, finally. He places the device in both your hands and interlock your fingers together as he brings your arms back in.

Your smile never breaks as you look over to the side, squinting at the sudden brightness of your screen, you read the time on display. The clock read 3:37am, you figured that Vicky stayed out as usual, and would be back mid-morning. You figured she must have left with Gabe right after the incident and stayed with him all throughout the night.

You and Heeseung enjoyed more kisses before finally getting out of bed, cleaning up, and getting dressed. Not yet wanting to part away from you, he asks you to come for a drive with him. You accepted delightfully as you didn’t feel like staying inside the dorm or waiting up for Vicky.

He asked where you wanted to go and you looked at him intently for a moment, your lips formulate an alluring smile as your eyes twinkled at the sight of him before you shifted your gaze.

Looking down at your phone in hand, your memory relives the very moment when Heeseung read the email and shut the screen to black. Thinking about it brought you a feeling that you hadn’t felt before, a carefree one. You placed the phone on the edge of the table, and with your fingers barely touching it, you scooted it to the very same spot it had been at all night. A hard swallow travels down your throat, you blinked a couple of times before turning your head back to him, crossed your arms as you voiced your answer.

“Take me anywhere and everywhere. If I’m touching you and away from everything else, that’s all I care about.” You ended your sentence with a resounding smile, your eyes reflecting an emotion that communicated to him.

The hand that was playing and twirling his keys around suddenly dropped to his side after hearing your words. He stared right back into your eyes, his smile quickly disappears, he doesn't move, just simply stands there for a few seconds, as a couple of deep breathes seeped through the parted distance between his lips. His eyes were just a tad bit glossy, but not because of tears or the urge to cry, it was because he became overwhelmed by a powerful feeling, and it came so suddenly that it made his chest fall into his stomach.

Shifting his stance to lean inward he licked his lips, extended his hand to you, and spoke out. Even though his words were just a thread away from being a whisper, a very faint trace of his tone was present, it was broken, yet soft and tender.

“Come here.”

You walked over and took his hand, the moment you had done so, a familiar rush of force pulls you in. You’ve felt it once before when you had first met, it was when he pulled you away from Gabe. Pulling you so fast and so strongly, he displayed accurate timing and swiftness in his reflexes as he releases your hand, reaches around, and places it firmly on your lower back, all in the midst of you being pulled. Chest to chest, your bodies are like fitted pieces of a puzzle.

The tilt of his face allowed you’re your faces to be much closer to one another, with your noses placed on each other’s cheeks and your lips touching. He took one split second in pausing all movement before kissing you with more passion than any man was willing to give.

He took you for a long drive, taking every opportunity to glance your way with a smile as he kept one hand on the wheel, while the other would sneak over to hold yours. Wherever he was taking you, it was unfamiliar and beautiful. You leaned forward from your seat with your eyes growing wider, your mouth slowly opening upon seeing the amazing view through the windshield.

It was a long farm road that was surrounded by rows of large sycamore trees, perfectly paralleled with each other as they sided the path. Along with the trees, the road was also decorated by large bushes of blue and purple hydrangeas, all in full bloom. The spacing in between each trunk permitted you to view a wide bright green pasture filled with grazing cows and horses, the sight caused a small chuckle as you recall your father’s fondness for cows, and your mothers for horses.

The view was breathtaking. It reminded you of a landscape oil painting your father had hanged up in his study, it had the same sycamore trees and a bright green pasture with cottage houses and a field of lavender. The small gold plate on the bottom titled the painting as “Terre de Nice” by Andres Anroullie, a historic painter who grew up in the countryside of Nice, France; he painted that piece as a tribute to his homeland while he studied abroad, according to your father.

Thanks to Andres Anroullie’s talent, you grew up with a deep fondness for art, and ever since you first saw it, you would sneak into your father’s study to stare at it every day, feeling a sense that you had belonged there.

Noticing you enjoying the scenery and remarking the hydrangeas, Heeseung rolled down the windows, allowing the summer air to flow through, bringing in the loose petals from the flowers decorating the road.

He lowered the speed of the car to 5-10 mph, giving you all the time in the world to enjoy the setting as you stuck your hand out and let the soothing air flow through your fingers. The air was lukewarm as it was still very early in the morning, the sun was barely rising.

“Where are we?” Your voice was breathless, and your eyes never veered away from the view.

You smiled wondrously as you fell in love with the setting, it brought you back to a one of the more calming moments of your childhood.

He turned to face you and was about to answer but stopped. Losing his breath, his heart skipped a beat causing a soreness in his chest, he wasn’t prepared for it but was eternally grateful for what he saw.

The view of your smile dressing your beautiful face, and the slow flowing of air through the open windows causing a collaboration of blue and purple petals to dance in circles against your open palm as you raised it to your face, blowing at them as if you were blowing a kiss. Your hair surrounded you, and just like the petals, it danced in fluid motion from the traveling air.

He heard of the nickname they gave to you at the college, even before he met you, he recalled being informed by his peers that his girlfriend’s roommate was a goddess. Meeting you the first time made him understood why they called you that, but seeing you now made him believe in it. You were ethereal.

Finally able to regain some level of composure as he swapped one hand out with the other on the stirring wheel, resting his elbow on the base of the window, leaning into it as he rested his hand over his mouth and cleared his throat. When he was able to get over the soreness in his chest, he finally answered.

“It’s a place called Terre de Nice.”

You stopped blowing the petals and looked at him, what he just said did more than just surprised you, you were speechless. He remained facing the road, taking a moment to avoid looking at you so he could calm down from feeling overly flustered and dazed.

“Terre de Nice?” You repeated very softly, making sure you heard correctly, which he confirmed that you did as he responded once more.

“Yeah, named after the city in France, it means Land of Nice.”

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Wednesday....

SpaceTime 20240327 Series 27 Episode 38

Scientists captures the end of the planet formation process for the first time

Astronomers are seeing the final stages of planetary formation and the clearing of protoplanetary dust in a newly formed system for the first time.

Comet 12P Pons Brooks -- the Devil Comet is on its way

A Mount Everest-sized comet making its first visit to the inner solar system in more than 70 years could be visible to the naked eye over the next few weeks.

Could fine dust particles have killed the dinosaurs

A new study claims that fine dust particles thrown up by the Chicxulub asteroid impact led to the mass extinction event which wiped out 75 percent of all life on Earth including all the non-avian dinosaurs

The Science Report

Gene editing has been used to eliminate all traces of HIV.

Australia's grey-headed flying-foxes numbers remaining stable

The new lithium-sulphur batteries capable of being charged in less than five minutes.

Alex on Tech Nvidia’s new H100 super chip.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

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SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. Later, Gary became part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and was one of its first presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[studentofetherium]

@previous anon: FUCK YOU

Serial Experiments Lain (stylized as serial experiments lain) is a Japanese anime television series created and co-produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura. Animated by Triangle Staff and featuring original character designs by Yoshitoshi ABe, the series was broadcast for 13 episodes on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from July to September 1998. The series follows Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl in suburban Japan, and her relation to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the internet.

Lain features surreal and avant-garde imagery and explores philosophical topics such as reality, identity, and communication.[3] The series incorporates creative influences from computer history, cyberpunk, and conspiracy theory. Critics and fans have praised Lain for its originality, visuals, atmosphere, themes, and its dark depiction of a world fraught with paranoia, social alienation, and reliance on technology considered insightful of 21st century life. It received the Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 1998. Contents1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Production 3.1 Writing 3.2 Character design 3.3 Themes 3.4 Apple computers 4 Broadcast and release history 4.1 Episode list 5 Reception 6 Related media 6.1 Art books 6.2 Soundtracks 6.3 Video game 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

Plot

Lain Iwakura, a junior high school girl, lives in suburban Japan with her middle-class family, consisting of her inexpressive older sister Mika, her emotionally distant mother, and her computer-obsessed father; Lain herself is somewhat awkward, introverted, and socially isolated from most of her school peers. The status-quo of her life becomes upturned by a series of bizarre incidents that start to take place after she learns that girls from her school have received an e-mail from a dead student, Chisa Yomoda, and she pulls out her old computer in order to check for the same message. Lain finds Chisa telling her via email that she is not dead but has merely "abandoned her physical self" and is alive deep within the virtual realm of the Wired itself, where she claims she has found "God" there. From this point, Lain is caught up in a series of cryptic and surreal events that see her delving deeper into the mystery of the network in a narrative that explores themes of consciousness, perception, and the nature of reality.

"The Wired" is a virtual realm that contains and supports the very sum of all human communication and networks, created with the telegraph, televisions, and telephone services, and expanded with the Internet, cyberspace, and subsequent networks. The series assumes that the Wired could be linked to a system that enables unconscious communication between people and machines without physical interface. The storyline introduces such a system with the Schumann resonances, a property of the Earth's magnetic field that theoretically allows for unhindered long-distance communications. If such a link were created, the network would become equivalent to Reality as the general consensus of all perceptions and knowledge. The increasingly thin invisible line between what is real and what is virtual/digital begins to slowly shatter.

Masami Eiri is introduced as the project director on Protocol Seven (the next-generation Internet protocol in the series' time-frame) for major computer company Tachibana General Laboratories. He had secretly included code of his very own creation to give himself absolute control of the Wired through the wireless system described above. He then "uploaded" his own consciousness into the Wired and "died" a few days after, leaving only his physical self behind. These details are unveiled around the middle of the series, but this is the point where the story begins. Masami later explains that Lain is the artifact by which the wall between the virtual and material worlds is to fall, and that he needs her to go into the Wired and "abandon the flesh", as he did, to achieve his plan. The series sees him trying to convince her through interventions, using the promise of unconditional love, romantic seduction and charm, and even, when all else fails, threats and force.

In the meantime, the anime follows a complex game of hide-and-seek between the "Knights of the Eastern Calculus" (based on the Knights of the Lambda Calculus), hackers whom Masami claims are "believers that enable him to be a God in the Wired", and Tachibana General Laboratories, who try to regain control of Protocol Seven. In the end, the viewer sees Lain realizing, after much introspection, that she has absolute control over everyone's mind and over reality itself. Her dialogue with different versions of herself shows how she feels shunned from the material world, and how she is afraid to live in the Wired, where she has the possibilities and responsibilities of an almighty goddess. The last scenes feature her erasing everything connected to herself from everyone else's memories of her and everything else that has happened since the premiere. She is last seen, unchanged, encountering her oldest and closest friend Alice once again, who is now married. Lain promises herself that she and Alice will surely meet again anytime as Lain can literally go and be anywhere she desires between both worlds. Characters

Lain Iwakura (岩倉 玲音, Iwakura Rein) Voiced by: Kaori Shimizu (Japanese); Bridget Hoffman4 The titular character of the series. Lain is a fourteen-year-old girl who uncovers her true nature through the series. She is first depicted as a shy junior high school student with few friends or interests. She later grows multiple bolder personalities, both in the physical world and the Wired, and starts making more friends. As the series progresses, she eventually comes to discover that she is, in reality, merely an autonomous, sentient computer program in the physical and corporeal form of a human being, designed to sever the invisible barrier between the Wired and the real world. In the end, Lain is challenged to accept herself as a de facto goddess for the Wired, having become an omnipotent and omnipresent virtual being with worshippers of her own, as well as an ability to exist beyond the borders of devices, time, or space.

Masami Eiri (英利 政美, Eiri Masami) Voiced by: Shō Hayami (Japanese); Kirk Thornton4 The key designer of Protocol Seven. While working for Tachibana General Laboratories, he illicitly included codes enabling him to control the whole protocol at will and embedded his own mind and will into the seventh protocol. Because of this, he was fired by Tachibana General Laboratories, and was found dead not long after. He believes that the only way for humans to evolve even further and develop even greater abilities is to absolve themselves of their physical and human limitations, and to live as virtual entities—or avatars—in the Wired for eternity. He claims to have been Lain's creator all along, but was in truth standing in for another as an acting god, who was waiting for the Wired to reach its more evolved current state: Lain herself. According to another Lain, however, he has never truly existed all along and would not have had any self-obsessed ideas about being God if he had.

Yasuo Iwakura (岩倉 康男, Iwakura Yasuo) Voiced by: Ryūsuke Ōbayashi (Japanese); Barry Stigler4 Lain's father. Passionate about computers and electronic communication, he works with Masami Eiri at Tachibana General Laboratories. He subtly pushes Lain, his "youngest daughter", towards the Wired and monitors her development until she becomes more and more aware of herself and of her raison d'être. He eventually leaves Lain, telling her that although he did not enjoy playing house, he genuinely loved and cared for her as a real father would. Despite Yasuo's eagerness to lure Lain into the Wired, he warns her not to get overly involved in it or to confuse it with the real world. Miho Iwakura (岩倉 美穂, Iwakura Miho)

Voiced by: Rei Igarashi (Japanese); Dari Lallou Mackenzie4 Lain's mother. Although she dotes on her husband, she is indifferent towards both her kids. Like her husband, she ends up leaving Lain. She is a computer scientist. Alice Mizuki (瑞城 ありす, Mizuki Arisu) Voiced by: Yōko Asada (Japanese); Emily Brown4 Lain's classmate and only true friend throughout the series. She is very sincere and has no discernable quirks. She is the first to attempt to help Lain socialize; she takes her out to a nightclub. From then on, she tries her best to look after Lain. Alice, along with her two best friends Julie and Reika, were taken by Chiaki Konaka from his previous work, Alice in Cyberland. Mika Iwakura (岩倉 美香, Iwakura Mika)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese); Patricia Ja Lee4 Lain's older sister, an apathetic sixteen-year-old high school student. She seems to enjoy mocking Lain's behavior and interests. Mika is considered by Anime Revolution to be the only normal member of Lain's family:[5] she sees her boyfriend in love hotels, is on a diet, and shops in Shibuya. At a certain point in the series, she becomes heavily traumatized by violent hallucinations; while Lain begins freely delving into the Wired, Mika is taken there by her proximity to Lain, and she gets stuck between the real world and the Wired.[6] Taro (タロウ, Tarō)

Voiced by: Keito Takimoto (Japanese); Brianne Siddall4 A young boy of about Lain's age. He occasionally works for the Knights to bring forth "the one truth". Despite this, he has not yet been made a member, and knows nothing of their true intentions. Taro loves VR games and hangs out all day at Cyberia with his friends, Myu-Myu and Masayuki. He uses special technology, such as custom Handi Navi and video goggles. Taro takes pride in his internet anonymity, and he asks Lain for a date with her Wired self in exchange for information. Office Worker Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba A top executive from Tachibana General Laboratories. He has a personal agenda, which he carries out with the help of the Men in Black. He looks forward to the arrival of a real God through the Wired, and is the man behind the Knights' mass assassination. There are many things he does not know about Lain, but he would rather ask questions about her than disclose his agenda. Men in Black Karl Haushoffer (カール・ハウスホッファ, Kāru Hausuhoffa), Voiced by: Jouji Nakata Lin Suixi (Chinese: 林随錫; pinyin: Lín Suíxī), Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki The Men in Black work for the above "Office Worker" in tracking down and murdering all of the members of the Knights. They are not told the true plan, but they know that Masami Eiri is somehow involved, despite having been "killed." They see no need for an almighty, all-powerful God—let alone Lain—in the Wired. Chisa Yomoda (四方田 千砂, Yomoda Chisa)

Voiced by: Sumi Mutoh (Japanese); Lia Sargent4 A teenage girl who committed suicide at the beginning of the series. After her death, she e-mails Lain, Julie, and a few other kids, saying that she is still alive in the Wired, leading to the series events. Reika Yamamoto (山本 麗華, Yamamoto Reika) Voiced by: Chiharu Tezuka (Japanese); Lenore Zann4 One of Alice's friends from school. She does not seem to care for Lain, since she harasses her quite a lot. She is more serious than Julie, and also somewhat meaner. Julie Kato (加藤 樹莉, Katō Juri)

Voiced by: Manabi Mizuno (Japanese); Gracie Moore4 Another friend of Alice. She also harasses Lain, but not as severely as Reika does. She is sometimes insensitive to other people's feelings. Masayuki (マサユキ) Voiced by: Sora Fujima (Japanese); Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English) Taro's best friend. He is usually seen hanging out with Taro and Myu-Myu. Myu-Myu (ミューミュウ, Myūmyuu)

Voiced by: Yuki Yamamoto (Japanese); Sandy Fox (English) A young girl who hangs out with Taro and Masayuki at Cyberia Café. She has feelings for Taro, so she gets jealous when he flirts with Lain. Narrator Voiced by: Takashi Taniguchi (Japanese); Paul St. Peter (English)

Production

Serial Experiments Lain was conceived, as a series, to be original to the point of it being considered "an enormous risk" by its producer Yasuyuki Ueda.[7]

Producer Ueda had to answer repeated queries about a statement made in an Animerica interview.[6][8][9] The controversial statement said Lain was "a sort of cultural war against American culture and the American sense of values we [Japan] adopted after World War II".[10] He later explained in numerous interviews that he created Lain with a set of values he took as distinctly Japanese; he hoped Americans would not understand the series as the Japanese would. This would lead to a "war of ideas" over the meaning of the anime, hopefully culminating in new communication between the two cultures. When he discovered that the American audience held the same views on the series as the Japanese, he was disappointed.[9]

The Lain franchise was originally conceived to connect across forms of media (anime, video games, manga). Producer Yasuyuki Ueda said in an interview, "the approach I took for this project was to communicate the essence of the work by the total sum of many media products". The scenario for the video game was written first, and the video game was produced at the same time as the anime series, though the series was released first. A dōjinshi titled "The Nightmare of Fabrication" was produced by Yoshitoshi ABe and released in Japanese in the artbook An Omnipresence in Wired. Ueda and Konaka declared in an interview that the idea of a multimedia project was not unusual in Japan, as opposed to the contents of Lain, and the way they are exposed.[11]

Writing

The authors were asked in interviews if they had been influenced by Neon Genesis Evangelion, in the themes and graphic design. This was strictly denied by writer Chiaki J. Konaka in an interview, arguing that he had not even seen Evangelion until he finished the fourth episode of Lain. Being primarily a horror movie writer, his stated influences are Godard (especially for using typography on screen), The Exorcist, Hell House, and Dan Curtis's House of Dark Shadows. Alice's name, like the names of her two friends Julie and Reika, came from a previous production from Konaka, Alice in Cyberland, which in turn was largely influenced by Alice in Wonderland. As the series developed, Konaka was "surprised" by how close Alice's character became to the original Wonderland character.[12] A young girl in a white shift sits with her back to us in the dark, focusing her attention on many glowing computer screens which surround her. Lain's custom computer features holographic displays and liquid carbon dioxide cooling.

Vannevar Bush (and memex), John C. Lilly, Timothy Leary and his eight-circuit model of consciousness, Ted Nelson and Project Xanadu are cited as precursors to the Wired.[11] Douglas Rushkoff and his book Cyberia were originally to be cited as such,[6] and in Lain Cyberia became the name of a nightclub populated with hackers and techno-punk teenagers. Likewise, the series' deus ex machina lies in the conjunction of the Schumann resonances and Jung's collective unconscious (the authors chose this term over Kabbalah and Akashic Record).[10] Majestic 12 and the Roswell UFO incident are used as examples of how a hoax might still affect history, even after having been exposed as such, by creating sub-cultures.[10] This links again to Vannevar Bush, the alleged "brains" of MJ12. Two of the literary references in Lain are quoted through Lain's father: he first logs onto a website with the password "Think Bule Count One Tow" [sic] ("Think Blue, Count Two" is an Instrumentality of Man story featuring virtual persons projected as real ones in people's minds);[13] and his saying that "madeleines would be good with the tea" in the last episode makes Lain "perhaps the only cartoon to allude to Proust".

[14][15] Character design

A young girl in a white shift kneels facing us with scissors in her hand, and hanks of her own hair on the ground, leaving one forelock uncut. The background is blue. ABe came up with Lain's hair by imagining Lain cutting it herself and making a ponytail of what was left.[8] This was later included in his An Omnipresence in Wired artbook.[16]

Yoshitoshi ABe confesses to have never read manga as a child, as it was "off-limits" in his household.[17] His major influences are "nature and everything around him".[6] Specifically speaking about Lain's character, ABe was inspired by Kenji Tsuruta, Akihiro Yamada, Range Murata and Yukinobu Hoshino.[8] In a broader view, he has been influenced in his style and technique by Japanese artists Kyosuke Chinai and Toshio Tabuchi.[6]

The character design of Lain was not ABe's sole responsibility. Her distinctive left forelock for instance was a demand from Yasuyuki Ueda. The goal was to produce asymmetry to reflect Lain's unstable and disconcerting nature.[18] It was designed as a mystical symbol, as it is supposed to prevent voices and spirits from being heard by the left ear.[8] The bear pajamas she wears were a demand from character animation director Takahiro Kishida. Though bears are a trademark of the Konaka brothers, Chiaki Konaka first opposed the idea.[12] Director Nakamura then explained how the bear motif could be used as a shield for confrontations with her family. It is a key element of the design of the shy "real world" Lain (see "mental illness" under Themes).[12] When she first goes to the Cyberia nightclub, she wears a bear hat for similar reasons.[18] Retrospectively, Konaka said that Lain's pajamas became a major factor in drawing fans of moe characterization to the series, and remarked that "such items may also be important when making anime".[12]

ABe's original design was generally more complicated than what finally appeared on screen. As an example, the X-shaped hairclip was to be an interlocking pattern of gold links. The links would open with a snap, or rotate around an axis until the moment the " X " became a " = ". This was not used as there is no scene where Lain takes her hairclip off.[19] Themes

Serial Experiments Lain is not a conventionally linear story, being described as "an alternative anime, with modern themes and realization".[20] Themes range from theological to psychological and are dealt with in a number of ways: from classical dialogue to image-only introspection, passing by direct interrogation of imaginary characters.

Communication, in its wider sense, is one of the main themes of the series,[21] not only as opposed to loneliness, but also as a subject in itself. Writer Konaka said he wanted to directly "communicate human feelings". Director Nakamura wanted to show the audience — and particularly viewers between 14 and 15—"the multidimensional wavelength of the existential self: the relationship between self and the world".[11]

Loneliness, if only as representing a lack of communication, is recurrent through Lain.[22] Lain herself (according to Anime Jump) is "almost painfully introverted with no friends to speak of at school, a snotty, condescending sister, a strangely apathetic mother, and a father who seems to want to care but is just too damn busy to give her much of his time".[23] Friendships turn on the first rumor;[22][24] and the only insert song of the series is named Kodoku no shigunaru, literally "signal of loneliness".[25] A series of drawings depicting the different personalities of Lain—the first shows shy body language, the second shows bolder body language, and the third grins in an unhinged fashion. The different personalities of Lain have their names written using different scripts.

Mental illness, especially dissociative identity disorder, is a significant theme in Lain:[19] the main character is constantly confronted with alter-egos, to the point where writer Chiaki Konaka and Lain's voice actress Kaori Shimizu had to agree on subdividing the character's dialogues between three different orthographs.[19] The three names designate distinct "versions" of Lain: the real-world, "childish" Lain has a shy attitude and bear pajamas. The "advanced" Lain, her Wired personality, is bold and questioning. Finally, the "evil" Lain is sly and devious, and does everything she can to harm Lain or the ones close to her.[12] As a writing convention, the authors spelled their respective names in kanji, katakana, and roman characters (see picture).[26]

Reality never has the pretense of objectivity in Lain.[27] Acceptations of the term are battling throughout the series, such as the "natural" reality, defined through normal dialogue between individuals; the material reality; and the tyrannic reality, enforced by one person onto the minds of others.[22] A key debate to all interpretations of the series is to decide whether matter flows from thought, or the opposite.[22][28] The production staff carefully avoided "the so-called God's Eye Viewpoint" to make clear the "limited field of vision" of the world of Lain.[27]

Theology plays its part in the development of the story too. Lain has been viewed as a questioning of the possibility of an infinite spirit in a finite body.[29] From self-realization as a goddess to deicide,[14] religion (the title of a layer) is an inherent part of Lain's background.[29] Apple computers

Lain contains extensive references to Apple computers, as the brand was used at the time by most of the creative staff, such as writers, producers, and the graphical team.[12] As an example, the title at the beginning of each episode is announced by the Apple computer speech synthesis program PlainTalk, using the voice "Whisper", e.g. say -v Whisper "Weird: Layer zero one". Tachibana Industries, the company that creates the NAVI computers, is a reference to Apple computers: the tachibana orange is a Japanese variety of mandarin orange. NAVI is the abbreviation of Knowledge Navigator, and the HandiNAVI is based on the Apple Newton, one of the world's first PDAs. The NAVIs are seen to run "Copland OS Enterprise" (this reference to Copland was an initiative of Konaka, a declared Apple fan),[12] and Lain's and Alice's NAVIs closely resembles the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh and the iMac respectively. The HandiNAVI programming language, as seen on the seventh episode, is a dialect of Lisp; the Newton also used a Lisp dialect (NewtonScript). The program being typed by Lain can be found in the CMU AI repository;[30] it is a simple implementation of Conway's Game of Life in Common Lisp.

During a series of disconnected images, an iMac and the Think Different advertising slogan appears for a short time, while the Whisper voice says it.[31] This was an unsolicited insertion from the graphic team, also Mac-enthusiasts.[12] Other subtle allusions can be found: "Close the world, Open the nExt" is the slogan for the Serial Experiments Lain video game. NeXT was the company that produced NeXTSTEP, which later evolved into Mac OS X after Apple bought NeXT. Another example is "To Be Continued." at the end of episodes 1–12, with a blue "B" and a red "e" on "Be"; this matches the original logo of Be Inc., a company founded by ex-Apple employees and NeXT's main competitor in its time.[32] Broadcast and release history

Serial Experiments Lain was first aired on TV Tokyo and its affiliates on July 6, 1998, and concluded on September 28, 1998, with the thirteenth and final episode. The series consists of 13 episodes (referred to in the series as "Layers") of 24 minutes each, except for the sixth episode, Kids (23 minutes 14 seconds). In Japan, the episodes were released in LD, VHS, and DVD with a total of five volumes. A DVD compilation named "Serial Experiments Lain DVD-BOX Яesurrection" was released along with a promo DVD called "LPR-309" in 2000.[33] As this box set is now discontinued, a rerelease was made in 2005 called "Serial Experiments Lain TV-BOX". A 4-volume DVD box set was released in the US by Pioneer/Geneon. A Blu-ray release of the anime was made in December 2009 called "Serial Experiments Lain Blu-ray Box| RESTORE".[34][35][36][37] The anime series returned to US television on October 15, 2012, on the Funimation Channel.[38] The series' opening theme, "Duvet", was written and performed by Jasmine Rodgers and the British band Bôa. The ending theme, "Distant Scream" (遠い叫び, Tōi Sakebi), was written and composed by Reichi Nakaido.

The anime series was licensed in North America by Pioneer Entertainment (later Geneon USA) on VHS and DVD in 1999. However, the company closed its USA division in December 2007 and the series went out-of-print as a result.[39] However, at Anime Expo 2010, North American distributor Funimation announced that it had obtained the license to the series and re-released it in 2012.[40]

Episode list

No. Title Directed by Original air date

1 "Weird" Ryūtarō Nakamura July 6, 1998 A high school girl commits suicide by jumping off a rooftop late at night. A week later, students are getting emails from the girl, named Chisa Yomoda, which claim that she only gave up her body, but is actually still alive inside the virtual world known as the Wired, saying that there is a God that exists there. After getting one of these emails, introverted fourteen-year-old Lain Iwakura becomes much more interested in computers and asks her techie father, Yasuo Iwakura, for a new NAVI computer system. When she returns to school the following day, the blackboard writes a subliminal message, inviting her to come to the Wired as soon as she can, revealed to be written by Chisa herself.

2 "Girls" Ryūtarō Nakamura July 13, 1998 At Cyberia, a hardcore techno club, a man buys a nanomachine drug called Accela. On the way to school the next day, Alice Mizuki, along with her friends Julie and Reika, tell Lain they saw her during their first visit to Cyberia, but with a far more vigorous and forceful personality. Lain has her father set up her NAVI computer system at home later that evening. After some persuasion, Lain decides to join Alice at Cyberia that night to prove that she was not there before. However, Lain becomes involved with a shooting in the club by the same man under the influence of Accela. She approaches the man, saying that everyone is connected in the Wired no matter where they are. This leads the man to shoot himself out of psychological shock and trauma.

3 "Psyche" Jōhei Matsuura July 20, 1998 The following day, Lain is scolded by her cold mother, Miho Iwakura, for waking up too late. When she leaves the house, she believes she is being spied on when she sees a black car parked near her house. Furthermore, she hears a voice calling out to her when she enters the train, telling her that she is not alone. Her life is thrown into further disarray when she is anonymously sent a mysterious computer chip. She asks her father what it is, but he says he does not know. When she goes to see Taro, with his friends Myu-Myu and Masayuki, at Cyberia, he recalls seeing Lain on the Wired once, noting her Wired personality being the complete opposite of her restrained real world personality. Mika Iwakura, Lain's older sister, comes home the next day, only to see Lain not acting herself as she starts to modify and upgrade her NAVI computer system.

4 "Religion" Akihiko Nishiyama July 27, 1998 Rumors are flying around school and on the Wired in regards to numerous senior students of various high schools committing suicide, with each of the deceased being addicted to the online action game known as PHANTOMa. Interested, Lain investigates only to discover that the game was glitched with a tag game for kids, in which a little girl scares the students to their deaths. Moreover, she finds out that the deaths were most likely caused by the elite secretive hacker group known as the Knights of the Eastern Calculus. Later at night, she senses the Men in Black, who had been spying on her earlier. When she tells the two to go away, a sound wave penetrates through her window, causing the two to fall back and drive away in their black car.

5 "Distortion" Masahiko Murata August 3, 1998 Amidst the events surrounding Tokyo having its traffic information transmission system hacked to cause deliberate accidents, Lain experiences a series of hallucinations that teach her the nature of the Wired in relation to the real world, by means of inanimate objects in her room and eventually her parents. In the meantime, Mika is driven to terror from the Knights repeatedly communicating in unusual ways for her to "fulfill the prophecy."

6 "KIDS" Ryūtarō Nakamura August 10, 1998 At night, when Yasuo checks on Lain, he sees a dramatic change in her room arrangement and the upgrades on her NAVI computer system, which worries him. As Lain hangs out with Alice, along with Julie and Reika, in the district, she notices that children are looking up into the sky and raising their arms, only to realize that they are looking at an image of herself that appears in the sky. Lain searches for the reason behind the strange happenings and finds Professor Hodgeson, the creator of KIDS, an experiment that started fifteen years ago that tried to gather psi energy from children and store it, though the result of the project destroyed the children. Now it seems that the Knights have gotten hold of the project's schematics. When the Men in Black return, Lain goes outside to see them. The coolant system in her room bursts, leading the Men in Black to confirm that the Knights planted a parasite bomb there.

7 "SOCIETY" Jōhei Matsuura August 17, 1998 As Lain gets more and more involved in the Wired world, albeit at home and at school, Alice starts to worry about her closing up again. It is reported that the Knights cracked the firewall of the information control center of the Wired. As the activity of the Knights begins to surface, the network is in search for Lain. The Men in Black ask Lain to follow them to an office in the Tachibana General Laboratories, where the Office Worker in charge of the Men in Black, after her help of fixing his computer, shows Lain a projection of herself in the Wired taking out one of the members of the Knights. After the Office Worker deduces that Lain in the real world and in the Wired are one and the same, he questions her about her origins. However, she breaks down for not knowing, altering her timid personality to that of a more serious one before she shoves her way out of the room. 8 "RUMORS" Shigeru Ueda August 24, 1998 Lain's family has been acting weird lately, much to her surprise. Upon further investigation, Lain disbelieves that she is omnipresent in the Wired, while she is merely a body, more or less a projection of herself, in the real world. A rumor is spread in the Wired about Alice having sexual fantasies about a male teacher, and a second one says that Lain has spread the first. To cope with the distress of rejection, Lain acts directly on reality for the first time, finding out that she can "delete" the event of the rumors. A lookalike duplicate of herself with its own distinct personality starts appearing more frequently, which leads her to question her own existence.

9 "PROTOCOL" Akihiko Nishiyama August 31, 1998 Throughout the episode, background information is being shown from "archives". Information regarding the Roswell UFO incident, the Majestic 12, which was formed by President Harry S. Truman, engineer Vannevar Bush, who developed what is called memex, physician John C. Lilly, who conducted experiments with dolphin communication, pioneer Ted Nelson, who founded Project Xanadu, and the Schumann resonances are all mentioned, explaining how the human consciousness can be communicated through a network without the use of a device. It is also noted that a man named Masami Eiri has suddenly committed suicide. During that time, Lain gets a computer microchip from J.J., the disc jockey from Cyberia. She then asks Taro on a "date" and takes him to her home, where she asks him about the microchip. After becoming frightened, he admits it is a computer code made to disrupt human memory, and it was made by the Knights. Although he defends them, he admits not knowing much about them. He later kisses Lain before leaving. 10 "LOVE" Masahiko Murata September 7, 1998 As both are seen to have switched bodies, Eiri introduces himself to Lain as the creator of Protocol Seven, saying that Lain no longer needs to have a body in order to be alive. As she, back in her own body, comes home, Yasuo says his farewell after realizing she knows the truth behind her existence. Eiri is considered the God of the Wired because he explained that he is worshiped by the Knights. Knowing this, Lain deals with the Knights once and for all by leaking a list of all of its members onto the Wired, leaving a trail of murder by the Men in Black and suicide in its wake. Even with the Knights gone, Eiri still claims he is the God of the Wired, since he says that the real Lain exists in the Wired, not the real world.

11 "Infornography" Jōhei Matsuura September 14, 1998 Lain lies exhausted in her room, and wakes up to find herself all wrapped in electrical cords. After a really long and complicated memory flashback, seen throughout the series, Eiri appears in her room and congratulates her, for having succeeded in downloading her NAVI into her own brain to see and hear all that is happening. However, he warns her about her "hardware capacity," and that she is merely a sentient and autonomous software computer program with a physical body in the form of a teenage human girl. Lain later appears to Alice in her room to make things right with her again concerning the false rumors. Lain declares that anything is possible now, as devices are no longer needed anymore to enter the Wired freely. The next day, nobody seems to remember the rumored incidents and Lain smiles at Alice's complicity.

12 "Landscape" Ryūtarō Nakamura September 21, 1998 Lain witnesses the frontier between the physical and the Wired worlds finally beginning to collapse. The Men in Black are approached by their Officer Worker, who gives them a final "payment" for their services, telling them to leave town away from any power lines or satellite coverage. After he leaves, both Men in Black suffer death from an image of Lain etched in their retinas. Alice enters Lain's eerie house and goes inside her room. Lain explains that she is actually a computerized program designed to destroy the barrier between the two worlds. Lain is still affixed on the fact that humans no longer need a physical body to stay alive, but Alice shows that her heartbeat proves otherwise. Suddenly, Eiri, first unseen to Alice, appears behind Lain, assuming she needs to be "debugged". Lain argues that Eiri was just an "acting god", for she is the true Goddess of the Wired. Eiri retaliates by transforming into a monstrous form to attain the vastly limitless power and strength that she possesses, but Lain manages to crush Eiri with her electrical equipment, wiping him out for good.

13 "Ego" Ryūtarō Nakamura September 28, 1998

Lain's attempts to protect her from Eiri's attack result in traumatizing Alice, Lain's only true friend; in order to fix this, Lain decides to do a "factory reset" on her life, deleting herself from everyone's memory. Distraught from doing so, Lain is determined to discover her true form and identity and takes radical action. She is confronted by her separate bolder self of the Wired, who reminds her that the Wired is not an upper layer of the real world. Her bolder Wired self then assures her that she is the true Goddess of the Wired, saying she is an omnipotent and omnipresent virtual being that can go and be anywhere she desires and merely watch the real world from afar. After causing her bolder self to disappear, Lain sees her father. Alice, now older with a spouse, spots Lain standing on an overpass, having some déjà vu about Lain but not recognizing who she is. Alice says goodbye and that she may run into Lain again someday. Lain asserts that this is true, since she is everywhere at once. Reception A suburban scene on a sunny day, showing houses and telegraph poles, but the shadows contain unnatural red splotches. Lain's neighborhood. The "blood pools" represent the Wired's presence "beneath the surface" of reality.[6]

Serial Experiments Lain was first broadcast in Tokyo at 1:15 a.m. JST. The word "weird" appears almost systematically in English language reviews of the series,[23][41][42][43][44] or the alternatives "bizarre",[45] and "atypical",[46] due mostly to the freedoms taken with the animation and its unusual science fiction themes, and due to its philosophical and psychological context. Critics responded positively to these thematic and stylistic characteristics, and it was awarded an Excellence Prize by the 1998 Japan Media Arts Festival for "its willingness to question the meaning of contemporary life" and the "extraordinarily philosophical and deep questions" it asks.[47]

According to Christian Nutt from Newtype USA, the main attraction to the series is its keen view on "the interlocking problems of identity and technology". Nutt saluted Abe's "crisp, clean character design" and the "perfect soundtrack" in his 2005 review of series, saying that "Serial Experiments Lain might not yet be considered a true classic, but it's a fascinating evolutionary leap that helped change the future of anime."[48] Anime Jump gave it 4.5/5,[23] and Anime on DVD gave it A+ on all criteria for volume 1 and 2, and a mix of A and A+ for volume 3 and 4.[42] Lain was subject to commentary in the literary and academic worlds. The Asian Horror Encyclopedia calls it "an outstanding psycho-horror anime about the psychic and spiritual influence of the Internet".[49] It notes that the red spots present in all the shadows look like blood pools (see picture). It notes the death of a girl in a train accident is "a source of much ghost lore in the twentieth century", more so in Tokyo.

The Anime Essentials anthology by Gilles Poitras describes it as a "complex and somehow existential" anime that "pushed the envelope" of anime diversity in the 1990s, alongside the much better known Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop.[50] Professor Susan J. Napier, in her 2003 reading to the American Philosophical Society called The Problem of Existence in Japanese Animation (published 2005), compared Serial Experiments Lain to Ghost in the Shell and Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.[51] According to her, the main characters of the two other works cross barriers; they can cross back to our world, but Lain cannot. Napier asks whether there is something to which Lain should return, "between an empty 'real' and a dark 'virtual'".[52] Mike Toole of Anime News Network named Serial Experiments Lain as one of the most important anime of the 1990s.[53]

Despite the positive feedback the television series had received, Anime Academy gave the series a 75%, partly due to the "lifeless" setting it had.[54] Michael Poirier of EX magazine stated that the last three episodes fail to resolve the questions in other DVD volumes.[55] Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network noted that the English dub was decent, but that the show relied so little on dialogue that it hardly mattered.[56] Related media

Art booksAn Omnipresence In Wired: Hardbound, 128 pages in 96 colors with Japanese text. It features a chapter for each layer (episode) and concept sketches. It also features a short color manga titled "The Nightmare of Fabrication". It was published in 1998 by Triangle Staff/SR-12W/Pioneer LDC. (ISBN&nbsp;4-7897-1343-1) Yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations ab# rebuild an omnipresence in Wired: Hardbound, 148 pages. A remake of "An Omnipresence In Wired" with new art, added text by Chiaki J. Konaka, and a section entitled "ABe's EYE in color of things" (a compilation of his photos of the world). It was published in Japan on October 1, 2005, by Wanimagazine (ISBN&nbsp;4-89829-487-1), and in America as a softcover version translated into English on June 27, 2006, by Digital Manga Publishing (ISBN&nbsp;1-56970-899-1). Visual Experiments Lain: Paperback, 80 full-color pages with Japanese text. It has details on the creation, design, and storyline of the series. It was published in 1998 by Triangle Staff/Pioneer LDC. (ISBN&nbsp;4-7897-1342-3) Scenario Experiments Lain: Paperback, 335 pages. By "chiaki j. konaka" (uncapitalized in original). It contains collected scripts with notes and small excerpted storyboards. It was published in 1998 in Japan.(ISBN&nbsp;4-7897-1320-2)

Soundtracks

The first original soundtrack, Serial Experiments Lain Soundtrack, features music by Reichi Nakaido: the ending theme and part of the television series' score, alongside other songs inspired by the series. The second, Serial Experiments Lain Soundtrack: Cyberia Mix, features electronica songs inspired by the television series, including a remix of the opening theme "Duvet" by DJ Wasei. The third, lain BOOTLEG, consists of the ambient score of the series across forty-five tracks. BOOTLEG also contains a second mixed-mode data and audio disc, containing a clock program and a game, as well as an extended version of the first disc – nearly double the length – across 57 tracks in 128 kbit/s MP3 format, and sound effects from the series in WAV format. Because the word bootleg appears in its title, it is easily confused with the Sonmay counterfeit edition of itself, which only contains the first disc in an edited format. All three soundtrack albums were released by Pioneer Records.

The series' opening theme, "Duvet", was written and performed in English by the British rock band Bôa. The band released the song as a single and as part of the EP Tall Snake, which features both an acoustic version and DJ Wasei's remix from Cyberia Mix. Video game Main article: Serial Experiments Lain (video game)

On November 26, 1998, Pioneer LDC released a video game with the same name as the anime for the PlayStation.[57] It was designed by Konaka and Yasuyuki, and made to be a "network simulator" in which the player would navigate to explore Lain's story.[12] The creators themselves did not call it a game, but "Psycho-Stretch-Ware",[12] and it has been described as being a kind of graphic novel: the gameplay is limited to unlocking pieces of information, and then reading/viewing/listening to them, with little or no puzzle needed to unlock.[58] Lain distances itself even more from classical games by the random order in which information is collected.[12] The aim of the authors was to let the player get the feeling that there are myriads of informations that they would have to sort through, and that they would have to do with less than what exists to understand.[12] As with the anime, the creative team's main goal was to let the player "feel" Lain, and "to understand her problems, and to love her".[11] A guidebook to the game called Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide (ISBN 4-07-310083-1) was released the same month by MediaWorks.[59] See alsoNoosphere

References

"Serial Experiments Lain BD/DVD Box Delayed 4 Months". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2018. "FRUiTS October (No.15_1st/Oct./1998)". Cornell Japanese Animation Society. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2019.

Napier, Susan J. (November 2002). "When the Machines Stop: Fantasy, Reality, and Terminal Identity in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain". Science Fiction Studies. 29 (88): 418–435. ISSN 0091-7729. Archived from the original on June 11, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2007. "Serial Experiments Lain (1999 TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on January 31, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2022. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information. "[SEL] Character Profiles". Anime Revolution. Archived from the original on March 23, 2007. Retrieved December 30, 2006. "Otakon Lain Panel Discussion with Yasuyuki Ueda and Yoshitoshi ABe". August 5, 2000. Archived from the original on October 26, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006.

Scipion, Johan (March 1, 2003). "Abe Yoshitoshi et Ueda Yasuyuki". AnimeLand (in French). Anime Manga Presse. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2006. The Anime Colony (August 7, 2000). "Online Lain Chat with Yasuyuki Ueda and Yoshitoshi ABe". Archived from the original on October 24, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006.

"Anime Jump!: Lain Men:Yasuyuki Ueda". Archived from the original on August 4, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2006. Animerica, (Vol. 7 No. 9, p. 29) Animerica, (Vol. 7 No. 9, p. 28) "Serial Experiments Lain". HK Magazine. Hong Kong: Asia City Publishing (14). April 2000. in "HK Interview". Chiaki J. Konaka. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2010. and "HK Interview". Chiaki J. Konaka. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2010. Serial Experiments Lain, "Layer 01: WEIRD"

"Movie Gazette: "Serial Experiments Lain Volume : Reset" Review". Archived from the original on May 21, 2006. Retrieved October 11, 2006. Yasuo: "I will bring madeleines next time. They will taste good with the tea." Serial Experiments Lain, Episode 13, "Ego". Lain has just erased herself from her friends' memories, while for Proust the taste of madeleines triggers memories of his childhood. ABe, Yoshitoshi (1998). "Hair cut 01-04". An Omnipresence In Wired (in Japanese). Pioneer LDC. ISBN 978-4-7897-1343-6. "Anime Jump!: Lain Men: Yoshitoshi ABe". 2000. Archived from the original on May 10, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006. FRUiTS Magazine No. 15, October 1998.

Manga Max magazine, September 1999, p. 22, "Unreal to Real" Benkyo! Magazine, March 1999, p.16, "In My Humble Opinion" "T.H.E.M.Anime Review of Serial Experiments Lain". Archived from the original on October 11, 2006. Retrieved November 24, 2006. "DVDoutsider Review of Serial Experiments Lain". Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2006. Toole, Mike (October 16, 2003). "Anime Jump!: Serial Experiments Lain Review". Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Serial Experiments Lain, Layer 08: RUMORS "List of Serial Experiments Lain songs". Archived from the original on January 13, 2007. Retrieved December 7, 2006. ABe, Yoshitoshi (1998). Visual Experiments Lain. Triangle Staff/Pioneer LDC. ISBN 978-4-7897-1342-9., page 42 Manga Max Magazine, September 1999, p. 21, "God's Eye View" Serial Experiments Lain, Layer 06: KIDS: "your physical body exists only to confirm your existence".

Study on Lain, Buffy, and Attack of the clones by Felicity J. Coleman, lecturer at the University of Melbourne. From the Internet Archive. "Conway's Game of Life". Carnegie Mellon University. Archived from the original on July 22, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009. Serial Experiments Lain, Layer 11: INFORNOGRAPHY. "Be, Inc". Archived from the original on November 28, 2003. Retrieved November 27, 2006. "Serial Experiments Lain – Release". Archived from the original on February 16, 2010. Retrieved September 16, 2009. "Serial Experiments Lain Blu-ray Box RESTORE". ImageShack. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015. "serial experiments lain Blu-ray LABO プロデューサーの制作日記". Archived from the original on December 26, 2010. Retrieved September 16, 2009. "Playlog.jp Blog". Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2009.

"Lain on BD announced – Wakachan Thread". Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2009. "FUNimation Week 43 of 2012". Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. "Geneon USA To Cancel DVD Sales, Distribution By Friday". Anime News Network. September 26, 2007. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2010. "Funi Adds Live Action Moyashimon Live Action, More". Anime News Network. July 2, 2010. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010. Bitel, Anton. "Movie Gazette: 'Serial Experiments Lain Volume 2: Knights' Review". Movie Gazette. Archived from the original on August 21, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006. Robinson, Tasha. "Sci-Fi Weekly: Serial Experiments Lain Review". Archived from the original on July 20, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006.

Beveridge, Chris (July 13, 1999). "Serial Experiments Lain Vol. #1". Mania.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2006. Southworth, Wayne. "The Spinning Image: "Serial Experiments Lain Volume 4: Reset" Review". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2006. Silver, Aaron. "Anime News Network: Serial Experiments Lain DVD Vol. 1–4 Review". Archived from the original on March 25, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006. Lai, Tony. "DVD.net: "Lain: Volume 1 – Navi" Review". Archived from the original on September 20, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006. Japan Media Arts Plaza (1998). "1998 (2nd) Japan Media Arts Festival: Excellence Prize – serial experiments lain". Archived from the original on April 26, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2006.From the Internet Archive. Nutt, Christian (January 2005). "Serial Experiments Lain DVD Box Set: Lost in the Wired". Newtype USA. 4 (1): 179. Bush, Laurence C. (October 2001). Asian Horror Encyclopedia. Writers Club Press. ISBN 978-0-595-20181-5., page 162. Poitras, Gilles (December 2001). Anime Essentials. Stone Bridge Press, LLC. ISBN 978-1-880656-53-2., page 28.

Napier, Susan J., Dr. (March 2005). "The Problem of Existence in Japanese Animation". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 149 (1): 72–79. JSTOR 4598910. Napier 2005, p. 78 Toole, Mike (June 5, 2011). "Evangel-a-like – The Mike Toole Show". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 10, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015. "Serial Experiments: Lain". March 16, 2002. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2015. "Serial Experiments Lain – Buried Treasure". May 11, 2000. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2015. "Serial Experiments Lain – Buried Treasure". November 20, 2008. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2015. "Serial Experiments Lain". Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2010. "Games Are Fun: "Review – Serial Experiments Lain – Japan"". April 25, 2003. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved November 10, 2006.シリアルエクスペリメンツレイン公式ガイド [Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide] (in Japanese). ASIN&nbsp;4073100831.

Further readingBitel, Anton. "Movie Gazette: 'Serial Experiments Lain Volume 3: Deus' Review". Movie Gazette. Archived from the original on May 21, 2006. Retrieved October 11, 2006. Horn, Carl Gustav. "Serial Experiments Lain". Viz Communications. Archived from the original on February 19, 2001. Retrieved September 25, 2010. Moure, Dani. "Serial Experiments Lain Vol. #2". Mania.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2010. Moure, Dani. "Serial Experiments Lain Vol. #3". Mania.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2010. Napier, Susan J. (2005) Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation ISBN&nbsp;978-1-4039-7052-7 Prévost, Adèle-Elise; Musebasement (2008)

"Manga: The Signal of Noise" Mechademia 3 pp.&nbsp;173–188 ISSN&nbsp;1934-2489 Prindle, Tamae Kobayashi (2015). "Nakamura Ryûtarô's Anime, Serial Experiments, Lain (1998)". Asian Studies. 3 (1): 53–81. doi:10.4312/as.2015.3.1.53-81. ISSN&nbsp;2350-4226. Sevakis, Justin (November 20, 2008). "Buried Treasure: Serial Experiments Lain". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 25, 2010. Jackson, C. (2012). "Topologies of Identity in Serial Experiments Lain". Mechademia. 7: 191–201. doi:10.1353/mec.2012.0013. S2CID&nbsp;119423011.

External links Wikiquote has quotations related to Serial Experiments Lain. Look up Appendix:Serial Experiments Lain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

this is definitely the new weirdest anon ive gotten

[aceofswcrds]

[ victoria pedretti, cis-female, she/her ] — whoa! MARY MARGARET WILKINS just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for THREE YEARS, working as a BARISTA at the KITTY AND BREW. that can’t be easy, especially at only 25 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit MELANCHOLIC and SHY , but i know them to be GENTLE and WELCOMING. whatever. i guess i’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to BROOKLYN!

tw: religious trauma, homophobia, bullying, anxiety attacks.

mary is your typical textbook georgian peach... which is almost funny, because she was, indeed, born and raised in peach county, georgia. she is the baby of the family, with two elder brothers who are ten and thirteen years older than her. the wilkinses had always been a tightly-knit family, and mary had spent a lot of the time not only with her parents & her brothers, but also her grandparents — on her father's side. she never knew or met her maternal grandfathers... or the rest of her mother's family, come to think of it.

she was raised in a strict christian household and, for the longest time, it was the only life mary really knew about. she struggled making friends growing up, but it didn't really bother her as much, as she was fairly introverted and would much rather stay at home reading while the other kids played. she got along well with plenty of older teens and adults at the local bible study evenings, and, at the time, that was enough.

when mary was eleven years old, she experienced her first anxiety attack when a couple of kids from her school lured her into the local corn field and scared the living daylight out of her. ever since that event, she has a phobia of being alone: whether it's in her own house, at work, at school, or somewhere outdoors.

mary left home to pursue higher education in the big apple, with a promise to her family that she will be returning as soon as her education is finished. however, the closer she is from graduating, the more she wants to stay... which is scaring her more than she would like to admit. after all, she had never broken a promise made before, especially to her family.

while in university, she had discovered a lot of things that she has been sheltered from her entire life and is finally surrounding herself with likeminded people and friends. some of those discoveries were happier than others. her orientation falling in the category of self-discovery that genuinely scares her, because, knowing her family, they would not approve of having a gay daughter.

she is deeply closeted about her orientation, pushing it into the furthest corner of her mind and, every day, is desperately trying to "pray the gay away", because the alternative frightens her and causes the anxiety to spike more than she would like to. how dare she disappoint the people that raised her and sacrificed so much to give her the best life she could have?

today she is juggling between two majors in the nyu (theology & elementary education) and her part-time job as a barista in a cat café called kitty and brew. for the last month she has been living in a studio apartment that she shares with her boyfriend. the two had met at the university and mary moved in from an on-campus housing to his apartment after six months of dating.

mary's entire life has been based on lies from her family, disguised and wrapped in bible verses, and unknowingly she had brought those lies with her, paving her road with more and more falsehoods, which is slowly beginning to crumble upon her shoulders... but she shakes those thoughts off and keeps on going, because she can't afford to break. in truth, she isn't certain that if she would recover if it were to happen.