Shadows After Dark is the seventh storyline group in the main canon of EGS. It opened on August 2nd, 2004, and closed on November 4th, 2004, for a total of 32 comics. It includes the following storylines:
- Sleepy Time: Dreams of the main characters on the night after Painted Black.
- Second Life: On the same night, due to Nioi's magic nose beep to age her soul, Ellen dreams about the early childhood of another Ellen in another universe, of which the alternate Ellen's first school day with Second Life Kaoli and an alternate of Tedd is shown. After she wakes up she talks about the dream with Elliot.
- The Child Left Behind: A mysterious person talks about Damien's death at a tomb and mentions that he wanted to kill Damien to avenge the dead person.
- Ref Alert: Principal Verrückt sees Susan and Tedd fighting and comes up with an idea (later revealed to be a school uniform policy for Moperville North High School).
Sleepy Time[]
This storyline consisted entirely of the dreams of all the main characters except Ellen on the night following the Painted Black story arc (between the 2 and 3 of March).
Sarah's dream was about Hedge capturing Elliot. In her dream, Hedge appeared as a group of normal-sized non-anthropomorphic hedgehogs with sunglasses, and Elliot as a normal-sized mostly non-anthropomorphic cat with his human hairstyle. Elliot meowed for help as the hedgehogs menaced him by hissing, then attacked while growling. Sarah kicked, hit and otherwise beat up the hedgehogs while Elliot looked on in admiration. Finally Sarah hugged kitty Elliot in her arms, while he purred.[1]
In Nanase's dream, she found herself underwater wearing the clothes her mother made her wear, and struggled for the surface. She apparently lost the strength to go on and sank, only to be rescued when Ellen, in the form of a mermaid, caught her.[2] After a presumed kiss (or perhaps a resuscitating breath), Nanase's clothes dissolved, her legs turned into a mermaid's tail, and the two swam away together.[3]
In Elliot's dream, he was sitting on a comfy chair in a bathrobe, like a 50's-style dad. Ellen approached hand-in-hand with T.C. and claimed that he was her boyfriend. Both were also in 50's-style clothing. Elliot voiced his incredulity, and Ellen called for her mother (who was Tedd in the dream). Elliot then achieved lucidity in the dream through his response to Tedd pointing out the illogicality of his being Ellen's mother rather than Elliot.[4] Elliot then conformed the dream to reality in terms of the relationships he saw fit: he replaced T.C. with Nanase, changed Tedd's relationship to be with Grace instead of him, and made plans to turn Susan into a guy and find a suitable guy for Justin, considering them to be a potential couple. He then proceeded to become "Super Elliot" and hung out with Sarah, who was Super Elliot's reporter girlfriend.[5]
Susan dreamt of her father's affair with another woman. The faces of her father and the blond woman were blacked out throughout the dream. Susan's father warned her not to tell her mother;[6] later, she did so anyway when her mother returned from a visit to her sister, who had been injured.[7]
Justin's dream consisted of his experience of being rejected as one of those who went to save Elliot in the Painted Black story arc. The dream played out in the style of The Lord of the Rings, with Justin as a hobbit, wishing he could help Ellen, Nanase, and Grace (as Aragorn, Gandalf, and Legolas, respectively) as they go to save Elliot. Ellen turned him down, saying he would only be in the way, that he is dead weight, that Elliot would not want him to save him anyway, and to go back to trivial things.[8] Susan and Tedd, also hobbits, attempted to comfort him, telling him that people like them are not meant for adventure. When Justin gave them a counterexample, Susan pointed out that he still had to compete with Sarah (who was an elf in the dream) for Elliot's attention, and he had no chance there.[9]
Tedd's dream began all black, with Tedd feeling alone and short. Suddenly, a grave was revealed to him, his right arm gained a black glove up to his upper arm, and he gained a cape. All the while, he aged from young child to adult. Then a shadowy figure speaking in Uryuomoco appeared in front of him.[10] The black glove turned into a substance that was tar-like in appearance, then into a gauntlet which he then fired a blast from. All the while, Tedd's appearance continued to change, to that of Lord Tedd. Then Tedd woke up with a start, looked at Grace, and lay awake looking worried.[11]
Finally, Grace's dream started with her in her half-squirrel form without clothes sitting on a hill in a hilly landscape. The sky darkened and she turned around to face the horned skull[12] which had frightened her in dreams before(Shade,[13] Catnip and Sister). This time, she stared it down and it crumbled to dust.[12] Then, amongst clouds, she confronted a creature which appeared to be a lespuko and growled at her. She hugged it,[14] its expression changed to one of saddened calm, and its horns morphed away. It disappeared, and Grace looked sadly at the empty landscape of her dream.[15]
Second Life[]
This storyline consisted entirely of the dreams of Ellen on the night following the Painted Black story arc and the events soon after she woke up on Sunday, March 3.
Ellen's dream began with her dream-self as a young child on her first day of school. Mrs. Dunkel appeared, cautioned her and reminded her about details involving the bus. Ellen asked if she would come with her but her mother said no and reassured her. The bus driver was a seyunolu. Ellen was nervous.[16] Upon boarding the bus Ellen encountered both humans and seyunolus who don't want her to sit beside them. Finally, a skunk seyunolu named Kaoli let her sit beside her[17] and after introducing themselves became fast friends.
Ellen attended class alongside Kaoli and watched a kickball game in which a child who appeared to be Tony played. Ellen then noticed Tedd sitting alone.[18] Recalling how she was before Kaoli befriended her, Ellen struck up a conversation with Tedd encouraging him to play kickball with her and her friends. When he responded that he was no good she assumed he meant he had no skill at kickball and proceeded to grab him and drag him to the kickball pitch.[19] Tedd was initially nervous but succeed in kicking the ball far after encouragement from Ellen and Kaoli.[20] Tedd then revelled in his accomplishment until Ellen persuaded him to take his run. After his run, Ellen congratulated him but he said that he never said he was bad at kickball only that he wasn't any good as a person. At that point Ellen woke up.[21]
Ellen pondered her dream for a moment, then checked herself thoroughly. When she saw Elliot, he remarked that she was finally awake. Alarmed, she asked him how long she had been sleeping. He replied 12 hours but she said it felt like it was 6 years. Ellen then realized that her dreams were the result of Nioi's nose beep[22] (in the storyline Painted Black). Ellen explained to Elliot how in her dream she experienced the first 6 years of her life as if she had been born naturally.[23] She told Elliot her theories about the dreams[24] and decided to go to Tedd to reassure him based on what she experienced interacting with him in the dream. When she did this Tedd was perplexed because he was not the same Tedd as in Ellen's dream.[25]
The Child Left Behind[]
This storyline consisted only of a shadowed person visiting a grave on the night following the Painted Black story arc and speaking to the grave. The figure stated that Damien was dead,[26] that he had trained to avenge the person buried in the grave but Grace did it for him. He also said he did not know Grace but did know that she was a female seyunolu who is part squirrel and a woman of G/grace (this is either intended to mean Grace as in Grace Sciuridae, Grace's mother, or grace as in 'full of grace' and thus a pun on her name), and he intended to find her and thank her.[27]
Red Alert[]
The next day (Monday, March 4) at Moperville North High School, Tedd and Elliot discussed Ellen's actions post-Second-Life-dream toward Tedd. They also discussed Nanase and Grace's time spent reflecting on Grace being created to kill Damien. When Tedd questioned Nanase's introspectiveness Elliot recalled what Nanase told (that she is a lesbian, in the storyline Night Out, Part 3[28]) but decided not to tell Tedd.[29]
When Sarah saw Susan she was wearing a Star Trek shirt. Sarah took this as a warning that she was upset[30] because such shirts are like Susan's security blanket and she is highly irritable when upset. She told Elliot that they had to warn Tedd but Tedd found Susan first.[31] When Tedd unintentionally provoked her with what he saw as friendly teasing, they got in a slap fight that was broken up by the principal.[32] When he learned that fight started because of the shirt he got an idea and ran away in a flurry of activity. After Tedd expressed relief at not being in trouble, Susan said they were "at least out of the frying pan...".[33] After Tedd explained that he thought their friendship is based on teasing, Susan revealed indirectly that she had been dwelling on her dream (in the storyline Sleepy Time). After hearing this, Tedd pledged to support her for at least for the time being and she accepted this pledge of support. Elliot and Sarah thought this was very sweet and said " AWWWW", so Susan asked Tedd help her punish them.[34]
References[]
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-02 ("Sarah's Dream")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-04 ("Nanase's Dream, Part I")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-06 ("Nanase's Dream, Part II")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-09 ("Elliot's Dream, Part I")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-11 ("Elliot's Dream, Part II")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-13 ("Susan's Dream, Part I")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-16 ("Susan's Dream, Part II")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-18 ("Justin's Dream, Part I")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-20 ("Justin's Dream, Part II")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-24 ("Tedd's Dream, Part I")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-26 ("Tedd's Dream, Part II")
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-28 ("Grace's Dream, Part I")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-03-18 ("A Nightmare and a Greeting")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-08-30 ("Grace's Dream, Part II")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-01 ("Grace's Dream, Part III")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-03 ("First Day of School")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-06 ("Kah-oh-lee")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-13 ("Friends, Games and the Child who sat alone")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-15 ("You Will Play! You Will Play NOW!")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-20 ("Viva La Sports Movie Cliché")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-22 ("An Understatement, it's Better to Run, and Young Tedd's Sense og Worth")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-27 ("Rip Van Ellen")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-09-29 ("Messed Up an Freaky Dreams")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-01 ("Dream Analysis and the Revenge of the Strategic Camera Shots")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-04 ("The Proper Reassurance for the Wrong Tedd")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-18 ("Message for the Departed")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-20 ("Partial Credit for the Mysterious Cloaked Figure")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-07-30 ("Tearful Acceptance")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-22 ("Word")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-25 ("Shields Up! Evasive Maneuvers!")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-27 ("Hull Breach!Deompression Imminent!")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-10-29 ("Insert Original Series Duel Music Here")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-11-01 ("A Man With A Mission")
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-11-04 ("Friendship of Mockery")