[Numbers 1-5 show the sprites I am talking about] [Number 6 is the thumbnail] I wouldn't really say any of this is a theory because I lack the much-needed evidence to really back it up, but here are some things I found interesting, and you might as well! First, when I started playing the first game, I realized pretty quickly that we were in a dream. I ended up looking up what it meant if you're having dreams of being lost. Now I've heard it said that the forest is a childhood place Lio is from, but I'm not 100% sure of that. Mainly because the first thing you see when you play is, "Find a place to stay." If Lio had already known this forest from [Their] childhood, there would be no need to find a place to stay. [They] would already know where to stay. However, since Lio doesn't know where to stay, this implies that they are indeed lost. Dreams of lostness normally occur when someone is avoiding something. It can also occur when someone is uncertain about where they are heading in life [Not always physically]. Now, this could hint that Lio had this dream when she first left the circus. Because during this time, she most likely felt lost without a real sense of direction, as [they] had just left [their] home for something that was less permanent than what [they] had before. Further within this dream, we can see that Thimble has a destain for Lio. We know that during the time of the circus, Lio and Thimble are not on the best of terms with one another. (Look to notes and credits to contuines had to put this part up here due to space issues)
On the topic of Thimble, there are some things I find interesting with their sprite. The first thing that caught my eye when I first saw their design was the stitch on their leg. It doesn't feel like it is only there to further the handmade motif. It feels very deliberate. Could it be that it's a scar? Does Lio have something to do with it? Is that why Thimble hates Lio? I dunno. That's for yall to figure out. Also, Thimble seems to resemble a doll or a puppet, right? ( I hope yall see it too, I promise I'm not crazy ToT) The idea of Thimble being a puppet is really interesting to me. If Thimble is a puppet, that implies someone is controlling them. Now, when I say controlling, I don't mean literally (Which it still could be), I mean mentally through tactics like manipulation. This could be highly plausible due to Thimble missing their eyes. When someone is being manipulated, their view of the world is normally lessened, and whoever is trying to control them does not allow them to hear or see everything. As they don't want them to understand the full picture. When you move your cursor over Thimble, a small animation plays, Thimble's ears flatten, and they seem to become annoyed. If you play the second game, it mentions something very interesting. There is a cipher that states "LILOISYOU" (Thank you, , for figuring that out). This means that Thimble does not only dislike Lio, but also YOU. (which makes me very sad because I love Thimble :( ) I find it interesting that we are somehow within the game but without a physical body, and most of all that Thimble knows we're near. I am also going to assume that Lio knows we are here as well due to a cipher that states "Her name is Lilo!" (Thanks again to all you cipher geniuses out there! I got this one from this thread ) Now, you might be asking, why doesn't Lio interact with us during the game? Well. . . I have no clue! If someone has any ideas, please feel free to share! Did you notice that Lio has two different sprites? One is seen throughout your (most likely) first playthrough. The second one is seen in the second ending. In the second ending, we can clearly see that Lio has [Their] bell! Now this opened a lot of questions for me. The second ending clearly happens within a time skip. I am going to assume this takes place after the circus. However, this also raises another question: does the first part of the dream happen before or after the second dream? I would suggest the latter due to Thimble still disliking Lio and Lilo. When I first saw Luna, I noticed two things: first of all, she lacks pupils. This may indicate she's blind. Secondly, look at her tail. Do you see that nice, pretty fade? Now look back at Lio's sprite. It's the same kind of fade, dark to light. Both cats are also blue and have freckles. I'm not sure if this is stated somewhere, but I think that these two aren't just friends but siblings. Another thing I thought was odd was that in the first game, when Luna writes, it isn't a cipher. It is plaintext. However, in the second game, there is a note from Luna that IS a cipher. When you click on the note (Before interacting with the mirror), it says "Well it's obvious who this is from" indicating that when Luna normally writes, she writes in ciphers. So why does Luna deliberately not write in ciphers? If I were to guess, it'd be for this reason. Something happened at the circus, something that scared Luna so badly she became heavily paranoid. To the point where she thought she had to write in ciphers just to keep this thing from seeing, happening, doing, whatever the case may be. Luna thinks someone or something is watching her. She is afraid. So afraid that she even refuses to write her own name. She has to draw a symbol because she doesn't want this person to know she's writing. I think this same person who is driving Luna into paranoia is also the one controlling Thimble. (I ran out of room, so that's all I can do for now! :D )
