I'd post an AZ GIF here, but that joke's kinda run its course, so, for what it's worth:
It's been 3,000 years.
On to the speculation! \o/
As Cynthia walked upstairs, she heard the phone ring. She walked down the stairs and grabbed it. It's Mom!
"Hi, Mom." She said. She figured Dr. Sick had called her.
"Cynthia! I was so worried about you!" Cynthia's mother, Lynette called. Cynthia felt better knowing that her Mom had heard. "I can't make it home, though. There's a car accident blocking the road. It looks pretty bad."
Well, I guess I'm by myself for a few more days. "...oh. Okay, Mom. See you then."
"Bye Cynthia. If you don't feel like it, you don't have to go to school tomorrow." Lynette hung up. That's good, at any rate. I really should go to school, though. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was around 9:00 PM. Wow, I was out of it for a long time. I guess I'll just end this day here. She walked upstairs and promptly fell asleep.
This first segment isn't of particular note, except that we get to find out Cynthia's mom's name, and that she won't be home for another few days. I don't
think there's much to theorize on here, though.
Meanwhile, at Mariana's house...
Mariana was in the attic of her house. Her parents didn't know where she was, and they wouldn't have cared if they did. As far as they knew, there wasn't an attic in their house. And that's what made it a great spot to do what needed to be done. She had on her glasses, and had set up a tool kit at a small desk, with the golden pocket watch. "Now, let's see why he wanted this watch so badly..." She grabbed a tool and began deassembling the watch, writing down each part and where it went so she could rebuild it once she was done. She sighed. From the amount of parts, she figured it would take several hours of long work. She settled down and continued tinkering...
Mariana kept tinkering. She thought she was getting close to the centre of the strangely machinery-heavy watch. She hadn't been expecting this many pieces. What could it be hiding? She removed a gear. "Oh my!"
Ah, now
this is interesting. There are a few things we can learn from this passage alone, and a few more we can learn from rereading the earlier chapters.
- Mariana's parents don't seem to care much what she gets up to. This is rather curious, considering Mariana's basically the perfect student.
- Mariana is very skilled with mechanics. This could be relevant again later on, so putting a note here.
- "He" wants a watch very badly. I'm assuming "he" is either the shadow or Fox (as Skyleaf predicted after the last chapter). I think it's Fox, as he's the one Mariana was contacting after having stolen the watch in the last chapter.
- There's something at the center of the watch that is likely the reason for Fox wanting it. What could it be? No idea.
Elise was running down the road after her tennis game. She was looking for Mariana's house, but it occurred to her that she had no idea where Mariana's house was. She knew where Dylan's house was, so she ran that way. She saw Dylan in the window of his bedroom, vaulted the fence, and began knocking on the window. Dylan noticed her and opened it. "...Elise? What are you doing here?" He was bewildered. She had caught him in the act of getting ready to go to sleep.
"Dylan! This is important! Do you know where Mariana lives?" Elise asked. It came off more like shouting than she would have liked, but she was scared from what she had heard. She needed to be fast.
"What's going on? Why are you out here?" Dylan asked. He was stammering slightly, shy as usual and confused.
"I heard something. Mariana's in danger." Elise said, growing impatient. "Do you know where her house is?"
Dylan was taken aback. "Yeah, it's seven houses down the road. Can you fill me in?"
"I don't really know myself. but this is bigger than us. Bigger than all of us. Thank you." She leaned in and kissed Dylan before sprinting off.
Dylan was struck dumb. After a few seconds, he closed the window and went to bed.
Well,
that's certainly one way to advance the plot.
It was already implied that Mariana was in danger; she was kinda getting in over her head in all this shadowy business. But how in Order's name does
Elise know about it?
Let's see. She was on the road after her tennis game. She didn't know about the danger before the game, but she certainly does now. So what did she learn at the game?
Fox does seem to like bashing people over the head with racquets. Perhaps he showed up at the game and tried to knock Elise unconscious in order to steal something of hers? Perhaps there's something each of the six have that Fox needs for some reason, and Mariana's his next target? But how did Elise figure that out? I don't know. What are everyone else's thoughts on it?
And, Elise being Elise, she kisses Dylan at the end, throwing a wrench into the relationship we've been working since the beginning to achieve. *sigh*
Next Elise passage:
Elise was running down the road. Dylan and Cynthia were sleeping. Tom and Harrison were playing a video game. Mariana was tinkering with a watch. A feeling of silence washed over them, gone as quickly as it had started. Dylan woke up with a start. Elise stopped dead in her tracks. Tom and Harrison looked at eachother nervously. Mariana stood up suddenly, her glasses falling off her face. Cynthia slept on, tired and blissfully unaware.
After the feeling passed, Elise felt calm for some reason. Petals from the nearby cherry tree blew around her. She knew it was too late to stop what was coming, and she knew she couldn't make it in time to warn Mariana. She had failed her friend, and possibly several more people. But she was calm. Calm as something approached behind her. As she knew it was going to take her, she simply said "I'm ready." she felt tired. Her hand let go of her back as something came around her and dragged her away. She couldn't help but wonder where she was going and when she would return, but she knew she wouldn't be alone for long.
Hm. I'd be inclined to say the feeling of silence came from Mariana's discovery of whatever was inside the watch, but she discovered it
after Elise was taken. I'm hesitant to predict that this is Pokémon-related, as my prediction regarding Greninja fell flat on its face, but it
does look rather a lot like Aromatherapy. Who would have used it, or why, I don't know. But a feeling of silence followed by calm, with swirling cherry blossoms, is too reminiscent of Aromatherapy to ignore.
Now, what took Elise? I rather think it was the shadow. Not Fox, but the shadowy figure, which I don't believe are the same person. Not sure why. Just a gut instinct.
So where is it taking her? I think Cynthia's dreams aren't inside her own head, but rather in an alternate world or reality or something. I also think that's where the shadow is taking Elise.
Why do I think that?
The shadow appears in Cynthia's dream sequence. TGK confirmed to me over Skype that this dream sequence isn't one of the ones we can get by choosing a character during the day, as per one of my previous predictions. It's directly tied to the plot.
The biggest clue we get as to the identities of the people with the lances are the colors of said lances. In the first sequence, Cynthia's own is
blue, and the shadow's is
red.
In the second, there are two more people, both seemingly allies. One has a lance of
honey-gold, and one of
violet.
In the third, the allies appear again, along with three more. One has a
blue lance, one has a brown, and one a "perfect blue".
So. Six people against the shadow, hm? How many main characters are there?
But let's see if we can do one better. Who's who, in the dream sequence? There are six people, yes, and they're likely the main characters, but which character is which figure?
Remember those descriptions TGK posted before even writing Chapter 1? The ones that somehow told @Miyami~~ that Tom x Harrison was going to happen? The ones that give us accurate physical details as to the appearance of each character?
Look at the eye colors. Dylan has amber, or honey-gold eyes. Elise has pale violet eyes. Harrison has blue eyes. Tom has brown. And while Mariana is said to have lapis-black eyes, not blue ones, the last lance is described as being "perfect and beautiful." Rather like how Mariana is described, yes?
One problem, of course. Cynthia, in the dream, has a blue lance, while her eyes are green. And yet ...
[4/3/16 12:01:35 PM] TGK: back
[4/3/16 12:01:46 PM] TGK: it’s a dream
[4/3/16 12:02:04 PM] TGK: have your dreams ever been super accurate?
[4/3/16 12:02:05 PM] TGK:
That looks like close enough to confirmation to me. Thoughts?
Now, the most important part. The placing of a vote.
Either Cynthia goes to school, where she'll see both Dylan and Elise (and possibly get into an interesting confrontation) or she stays home, where, left to her own devices, might open up the paper.
As TGK put it:
[4/3/16 12:11:11 PM] TGK: obligatory reminder that Dylan x anyone but Cynthia is impossible, but sure :U
So I can wait for that to happen. Let's get the paper opened. \o/
##VOTE(B): STAY HOME
