Thread 149881074

Sandy is very interesting edition

Website: https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/
Booru: https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/candybooru/
Previous thread: >>149849215

>>149881074 (OP)
Sandy is showing growth and she should probably get it checked out

>>149881074 (OP)
Wow, has she been blabbering for hours? I mean she's making time for Mike but not letting him speak. She's clearly mind-numbingly bored with her own life too. Maybe if she let her boyfriend vent they could exchange life advice.

>>149881091
>i myself hollowed out this plastic doll and am in love with the reset button but a slight change in her habits is something worth getting worked up about

how is lucy going to get involved this time

>>149881074 (OP)
Looks like Taeshi is trying to establish some sort of narrative link between Sandy's words and Mike's current situation, but I just cannot be bothered to parse it. Partly because Sandy's prattling is about as gripping as a slip and slide and partly because Taeshi is a bullshit peddler.

>>149881200
By teleporting in with a soapbox tucked under her arm.

>bcb becomes insanely popular
>gets a kids restaurant chain
>some kid gets told at least his mother fucking loved him
>throws himself in the mouth of the Mike animatronic during the stage reenactment of December
>dead on the spot
>restaurant closes for investigation
>you get hired to work as the night guard
>see Mike doing pic related through a security camera after it heard you tell your doctor you thought you had a parasite in your colon over the phone
What do?

>>149881270
>bcb becomes insanely popular
That will only happen because of a widespread epidemic of lead in the water, so the rest of the scenario will not happen thanks to the ensuing societal collapse. The premise prematurely aborts itself.

>>149881074 (OP)
is Veronica going to create Pottery by having Sandy reveal her attraction died years ago and she was only using Mike as a way get her mom off her back (parasitic), causing Mike to an hero?

>>149881404
Do you really think that Taeshi would write Mike attempting suicide over Sandy when he wouldn't do so because of Lucy? No no no no, if Mike tries to kill himself, it has to be over Worst Cat. Someone else will have to pull the trigger on Lucy's behalf, though. Can't have the fursona sullying her pure white furry hands after all.

They haven't uploaded the preview panel yet. If I don't get my 1/4 of a panel to speculate over I might have to end it all.

>>149881091
This all seems to be working for the Mike haters just fine but it seems like it shouldn't. Him getting back with Sandy was so forced that even Mike himself has no idea why he did it. Where do you get the energy to jeer at him for not realizing he was wrong when he did realize that and is being forced by the hand of god to continue being wrong anyway?

I am going to go insane why couldn't Taeshi just make this straightforward about who knew and who didn't before this panel?! The timeline is all over the place and character development happens offscreen, plus I have irrefutable proof that Lani never told the class that Lucy almost died so where did THEY get that information? And how would Madison get that information? Was she just lying here? Did Taeshi forget that nobody was told about this suicide attempt?

>>149881532
The patrons seem routinely unaware that this has been a pattern for some time now. It's usually some variant of "Mike is FINALLY starting to realize that [ancient obvious plot point]."

>>149881638
Here's a video topic for you: When was the last time Taeshi gave a clear fuck about consistency in this comic?

>>149881091
>I want people to stop hating my character too much, they don't understand the nuance
>Also I'm going to talk about him like I'm constantly berating him, as a joke of course, I'm sure they'll understand that and not take it as a cue to take a hostile approach to him

>>149881719
Sounds like Taeshi is declaring it's open season on Mike and is green lighting the hate. Which means that reprisals for loudly hating Mike will be handed out before the chapter's end.

>>149881676
I dunno but there have been a lot of issues with continuity lately. The last page was supposedly supposed to have a SNES on it before it was removed, also Sue was originally running in Rain Check despite being in crutches, pretty much all of Behind Closed Doors bungles what happens in the chapters that are supposed to come directly after it.

Maybe she's just distracted with trying to find somewhere new to live, idk.

>>149881091
>>149881719
Suitcase needs to tell Taeshi to stop commenting on her posts like this.

>>149881758
See that's the thing, shes constantly doing half assed irony on the author comments and expects you to know which ones are just jokes, which ones are actual information about the comic and when she's just being a shithead, and people both here and in the cult will cite said texts as evidence when convenient

>>149881767
Maybe she just does not give a fuck because no criticism is allowed to reach her ears anymore. At least when she still hung out on the discord, Taeshi couldn't help but notice when her own readers puzzled over a blatant narrative fuckup.

The only thing that can save Mike now is his sister

>>149881809
Taeshi expected viewers to read her mind even way back when the comic was still kind of okay. She'd get real fucking mad whenever people didn't understand what she was going for, from page to page. Obviously her brain is wired differently than most others given her BPD, but there is no sign that she has ever internalized that fact.

>>149881091
>Taeshi's not going to preview the next page because she genuinely thinks it's a surprise Mike is looking at Lucy

>>149881944
I'd sooner believe it's pure laziness or a website screwup. The same thing happened when they were traveling more than once.

>>149881074 (OP)
So she cut back on modeling and is eating more? is she gonna be thicker when she shows up to visit mike or something?

>>149882207
>Turns out Sandy blimped out and that's why Francis rejected her and she had to go crying back to Mike.
I would forgive almost everything if that was the case.

>>149882207
>Sandy shows up in person for the big Valentine's Day date
>all those calories went to her chest
>Lucy is infuriated that she is the smaller one

>>149882207
She cut back on it but seems her mom finally got to her what with needing to work to feel well and dismissing her friends activities as frivolous, so it's not much different from the Sandy that got pissed at Mike for having an actual childhood

>>149882304
>Sandy has gone in one big circle
Maybe she is a real BCB character after all.

>>149881532
It’s Odysseus anon’s posthumous vengeance, blinding us all like Polyphemus of legend.

>>149882329
>>149882587
More like Sandy IS one big circle

>>149882286
>Lucy pissed that Sandy has a bigger chest than her.
>Daisy shattered because Sandy got being thicker to work for her better than she did.

Sheer fucking Aura

>>149883017
I really do wish that Taeshi would allow Lucy to truly suffer at Sandy's hand but it will never happen. It's all haha jokes are funny but when push comes to shove it's all nooooo I can't let my fursona-I mean this particular character be in pain for longer than five seconds at a time. The rest of the cast can get fucked of course.

>>149881944
He seems to be looking at David and James.
I guess it is supposed to mean he feels like he missed out on the opportunity to get together with James, when in reality he just dodged a bullet to be honest.

Or he is just missing some more general, physical form of love, or it's a bit of a 'grass is greener' situation, and he is just bothered by Sandy's babbling... who knows.

>>149881767
Ur a manchild

>>149883528
McCain...

>>149883528
>that picture in the post
Is that McCain? Wasn't he a dog?

nice james btw

>>149883548
Pretending that any brainpower is put into this comic anymore, by its writer....

>Mike would be annoyed by his insipid girlfriend who cannot seem to talk about anything but herself (ignoring that she's been shown taking an active interest in Mike's affairs post-EF)
>James was the perfect fit for him but because they are not dating has refocused his adoration on David the obnoxious retard which I'm sure is just fantastic for Mike's self-worth and self-image
>has to watch other people share the kind of bond he used to have with Lucy, forgetting of course all the abuse and how fucking impossible to deal with she could be for no good reason

I guess Mike is finally realizing that he has nothing in common with Sandy

>>149881638
Watching this guy lose his autistic hyperfixation and see how actual dogwater this repeating webcomic is genuinely hilarious.

You can get redeemed if you make a video about how BCB is absolute shit and don't waste your time on it.
If you aren't ascared of false DMCAs and fake legal threats Suitcase no doubtedly will hound you with.


>>149881901
Geniunely Im not sure you can blame BPD anymore. Taeshi has some kind of autisitic/schizo delulus that give her memory problems or has severe brain damage to forgor so much.

I dont think she views her webcomic as a linear story, just in segments broke down into tiny numbered chapters she can always hit reset on whenever they are over.

>>149881944
Probably. She's that retarded.

>>149881965
Nah, Taeshi only gets this psycho when she is about to do some Mike x Lucy bullshittery that gets her bean going. Which means Suitcase and her are gonna be on high-alert and extra insane this chapter ala TheEF Sperg-Fest.

>>149883700
>>149883750
Imagine if James was canonically a girl and the david thing still happened

>>149881074 (OP)
Did it to himself.

>>149883884
To be honest, considering how fast James moved on from Mike to David, and for the reason he did, I have my doubts his feelings were genuine, despite it looking like that at first... so I have my doubts if he really was a perfect fit. Who knows, he might've dumped Mike anyway, which would be even worse for Mike's psyche.

>>149884009
Yup, this sort of connects with what I said in >>149884020.
Although I guess Mike is bi, so James being a girl or not maybe wouldn't make that much of a difference.

>>149884020
NTA but if it was any other writer then I could believe James was planned to be this way from the jump. But because it's taeshi and the circimstances surrounding Mike and his reception, I really cannot help but think that originally James was supposed to be legit but she couldn't help her Dramatism impulse.

It's similar to how Lucy just pops up for no reason in the mall outing because why the hell not?

>>149883928
Seems to me that Mike already recognized that, given he was changing his own habits and behaviors to better suit her tastes. He probably told himself these were worthwhile sacrifices, mostly because Sandy made him feel defective for daring to enjoying video games and the like. But back then he was surviving off the odd scrap of attention here or there, at least according to the narrative, and had not yet tasted the sweet fruits of a completely positive relationship i.e. James.

On a side note, Mike really should have next to no interest in being friends with Lucy anymore, at least not outside of pure desperation. James, despite his own glaring issues, does not come front loaded with the metric ton of bullshit that Lucy brings to the table wherever she goes. She might be better than Sandy, but not by much. Even Paulo might have a leg up on her.

>>149884020
That's generally what I was getting at with the comment about Mike's self-worth/image. Remember how he got so pissed at Lucy for immediately jumping ship to the next available boy once he was out of the picture? It made any protestations of love extremely suspect because Mike kept having every reason in the world to think Lucy only saw him as a replaceable security blanket. Now more or less the same thing has gone down with James. He's allegedly been infatuated with Mike for months now, moved schools just to be near him (I may be misremembering that plot point), lovebombed gray cat to hell and back, and then the moment that Mike asks to stay friends, James hyperfocuses on someone who isn't even a real character. If all that attention and emotional building-up can swivel on a dime to target someone else, leaving Mike high and dry...well, then, was there ever anything to it? What's so special about Mike? Nothing, that's what. He got replaced by fucking DAVID. He's completely interchangeable and thus worthless.

>>149883929
>Geniunely Im not sure you can blame BPD anymore
It's BPD augmented by a progressive isolation from any and all outside critique. When that happens, the only standards left are those she sets herself. The writing quality took a real nosedive when Lucy came back and I am convinced this is because Taeshi could not resist the sheer catharsis of having Lucy girlboss her way over and through every obstacle. And her audience loved it! More masturbatory dogshit, they begged. Because sure, Taeshi might have been jacking off, but they were jacking off right there with her. When she botched a plot detail, they would brainstorm up excuses for why their favorite story was actually perfectly fine and definitely not a haphazard power fantasy written by an impulsive unstable womanchild who hates doing basic research and was never that smart to begin with. Her standards naturally slipped further and further. But then sometimes Taeshi would fuck up so hard that even her cult gave pause and asked questions. So she left her own discord and only ever interacts through social media, zealously gatekept by Suitcase. It is no surprise that the comic has since fallen off a fucking cliff, because its quality is now 100% dependent on Taeshi's personal integrity and that is something she just does not have.

Preview finally dropped

Looks like we're still in the montage

>>149885156
How many pages must we suffer?

>>149881638
It's worse than you think, Fannelguy. Remember, there have been at least two conversations (pic related and one with Sue in "It's All in the Mind") where Lucy mentions "what happened..." and the person she's talking to goes "What do you mean, you just got transferred by your parents, right?".

If you insist on extending benefit of the doubt that the comic WILL break, you could pretend they were trying to extra-gently nudge Lucy to open up, knowing that if they spook or embarrass Lucy she'll yell and/or hit them. But that would mean that everyone was simultaneously thinking "I'll try to talk to Lucy without letting her know I know she tried to kill herself.", and Lucy never got talked to or asked about by anyone who wasn't already doing that.

>>149885156
Looks like his mom couldn't find Haley again so Mike has to watch the little one too.

>>149881767
Fannelguy, I like that you're an actual effortposter, but you need to let go of the hope that there's some rhyme or reason to BCB. Taeshi doesn't know what the fuck she's doing; she comes up with a chapter or a page she likes, then brute-forces it without thinking about how it fits in to the rest of the story, whether it contradicts established information and characterization, or how to set it up.

It's not all sunk cost. It's still fun to pick apart, mock, and overanalyze a dumb messy story, and we've had some good shitposts, fanworks, and memes. But it's time to accept that the comic has already crashed with no survivors - it's too late to pull up and stick the landing.

>>149885553
Man, I hope Taeshi doesn't ruin her character just to be able to hit Mike a bit harder, I won't be surprised if now she hated his brother because they pay him more consideration than her

>>149885711
Best ship

i have a fetish for Mike suffering
the less narratively justified his misery is, the better
the less any other characters care, the better
i am not invested in any other characters
i don't care how or why it happens
i just want to see this cat boy in pain
his dreams crushed, his life destroyed
reduced to a hollow shell forever

is that unreasonable of me, anons?

>>149885711
>I won't be surprised if now she hated his brother because they pay him more consideration than her
>she hates Mike cause parents like him more for not ditching the youngest child.
Mike is the "golden" child anyhow. Not like he would say no to his mother.

Supersized Sandy

>>149885711
>In two chapters Mike went from a normal kid with a functioning family
>To a guy with a deadbeat father, a psycho overbearing mother and a sister who is apparently always partying
I get Haley's only 15 but it was endearing how much she loved Chris and taeshis already ruined it

>>149885711
>>149886791
No character will be spared. The more often Taeshi writes them, the worse they will get. We've seen it with the beta squad, we're seeing it with Sue. It is the inevitable consequence. And if it's all in service of turning up the torture dial yet further for poor ol' Mike? Oh you can bet Taeshi will not hesitate. There is blood in the water, now. I don't think it's a coincidence that Mike's family went from white bread milquetoast to dysfunctional as Taeshi prepared the torment nexus that is this chapter.

>>149886791
Anyone with related to Mike isn't allowed to be happy, anon. It also makes Lucy more of a stupid bitch for jumping. No idea why she dragged the family into this.

>>149885798
>I won't be surprised if now she hated his brother because they pay him more consideration than her
No, that's too logical. Another happenstance, another false signal in the sea of static. Taeshi will only ever pick the absolute dumbest reason.

>>149887061
>Anyone with related to Mike isn't allowed to be happy
Mark my words, Mike will be forced to do something that absolutely destroys all the adoration Chris feels for him, because that is the last source of unconditional love he has within the family.

>>149887148
How though? I can't see a way that happens unless taeshi make Mike have a meltdown at the resturant.

>>149887223
>How though?
We will never be able to guess the unmitigated horseshit that Taeshi will pull to make this plot happen. But I'll take a stab at it anyway: Chris discovers that Mike is "the reason" why "Wucy" tried to kill herself, something the entire family will ostracize him over. The caveat is that I fear that is entirely too logical.

>>149887223
>Chris keeps bothering Mike for his attention while he's on the phone with Sandy
>Mike snaps and spergs out making Chris cry

Is this comic worth reading?

It ends with Mike jerking off to cuck porn again

>>149887561
Fuck no, go read- you know what never mind, I don’t want that Alt guy finding the one thing I cherish most and ruining it.

>>149887955
He only seems to like bottom tier stuff so I think you're good.

>>149884223
Yeah... I get why the guy feels like shit. That shit with James was a low blow, no way around it. Also completely ruined James as a character for me.

I mean, I get that he might be a carefree kind of guy, but it is still weird to have a guy who was allegedly head over heels for someone so much to just dump it all immediately and chase the first tail that shows up. Gives the impression that he is kind of a frivolous person.

>>149887561
Do not read this comic.

>>149888704
I am absolutely certain the entire James redirect has pretty much been Taeshi jumping up and down screeching "SEE? THAT'S HOW IT FEELS. THAT'S HOW LUCY FEELS!" Because the circumstances are irrelevant; all that matters is that Mike made Lucy unhappy and must be punished for it. Deeply, and forever.

This chapter was after Date Night when James already moved on to David, so what the fuck happened between this chapter and now to make Mike go from being still obsessed and looking Sandy up as a hobby to now being disinterested at Sandy even talking to him

>>149888975
Taeshi will have convinced herself that whatever she wrote in between suffices as a reasonable transition. I've followed some of the long rambling explanations which she's bothered to post here or there and that pattern has become abundantly clear. Factor in that Taeshi's view of her own characters is routinely at odds with their portrayal or just plain common sense, and you can see how trying to parse what the fuck she's been smoking is an exercise in futility.

>>149888898
Yeah I agree... it was most likely just a setup for this very chapter we are currently reading, as a matter of fact.

Also, yeah James could've gotten over Mike and moved on and all, but the whole thing was executed horribly. It is something that should've taken some time, showing him feeling sad over it, and then with time, he'd slowly get closer to someone else (anyone but David, that is).

>>149887955
>I don’t want that Alt guy finding the one thing I cherish most and ruining it.
Where is he today anyway?

>>149889174
Adding to this, if I had to bullshit up some excuse so Taeshi could copy my homework in hopes of passing as a sane person, it's because Mike's other options finally bottomed out. The fact that Mike called Paulo his "best friend" shows that he's really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Lucy's off the table, Daisy...has never been explained away as an option because Taeshi is a moron who cannot write. Unfortunately, all Paulo cares about is Mike's dick and his schedule just filled up a whole lot of standing beside Daisy and assuring us that is VERY romantic, so cross him off the list. Okay, still not the end of the world, Mike is still got a shot with James, right? Haha, nope! Sorry you stupid fucking gray cat, he's all in on Team David and if he's not ignoring you, James will be making jokes at your expense. So that leaves...oh dear. Just Sandy. She's gone from Mike's over-the-phone tamagotchi he feeds and waters when not focusing on real life people to the only one still paying him any attention. What joy.

Of course, Taeshi lampshaded the fact that Mike will not look literally anywhere else for alternatives but did nothing to follow through because she is a hack with delusions of wit.

>>149885783
>is that unreasonable of me, anons?
Yes, but I cannot judge, for I feel the same way about Daisy.

It brings me indecent joy and pleasure to see Daisy be crushed in arguments despite being right, or being pathetically jealous over other girls, or thirsting for boys who she knows are too good for her.
It it viscerally exciting to see Daisy give up and accept her place, to surrender hope that she will ever be anything but a distant last pick romantically and sexually, to agree in her words AND in her heart that she is worthless.
It is great fun to see her double down, to try to pretty herself up, to be slutty and aggressive enough that some boy, any boy, will take her, only to be confronted by the fact that both her body and her heart are too ugly to win anyone over.
I am filled with amusement at the dramatic irony of knowing that her strategy means that the boys she attracts will not think of her as a girlfriend, but only as an easy lay-up/fallback-option at best, and a weird offputting stalker at worst.

I like to imagine Daisy going to college, already depressed over her social prospects, and try to make up for lost time with anyone who will take her. She burns out spectacularly as she fails her classes, ruins her reputation, and destroys her own self-esteem with boy after girl after boy, party after party, drink after drink. In the end she ends up more of a social pariah than she ever was before, the med school's most infamously desperate degenerate.

>>149887951
Mike specifically looks up girls that look like Sandy

>>149889185
It was a very obvious rug pull and, much like what you said, if James had just kept hanging out with Mike then gradually been pulled into David's orbit...well it still would have been incredibly retarded because who the fuck would fall in love with David? But I'm sure that he would have been looked upon as this sad little victim of a creator who had no further use for him. He'd have tried, you know? Gone out with some dignity while ultimately leaving Mike no less alone. And I think that Mike would have felt hurt but also understood and accepted the change.

But that's not nearly hurtful enough.

>>149887453
>Chris discovers that Mike is "the reason" why "Wucy" tried to kill herself, something the entire family will ostracize him over. The caveat is that I fear that is entirely too logical.
No one cares about Lucy's suicide; it's common knowledge now. Plus, would Chris care?

>>149890231
Because only the table knows about Mike's involvement, while Chris knows and loves Lucy. It would still be a very stupid contrived development, with completely unnecessary retcons that added nothing, but that's Taeshi for you.

>>149890298
>Because only the table knows about Mike's involvement,
And their older friends apparently, how much do the adults besides Lucys parents actually know anyway? I ask cause its been a while since we got their pov on the Lucy and Mike shit. Lucy's suicide will always be a narrative mistake.

>>149889842
my man
you get it

>>149890415
It doesn't matter because Taeshi will write whatever the hell she wants. That's why I'm saying my scenario is too logical. Consequences are built upon established facts. Cause and effect. But the narrative of BCB is approaching a fluid state and so all Taeshi creates is moment-to-moment bullshit as the mood strikes her.

I don't think that Lucy's suicide in of itself was a mistake. It's how Taeshi's handled it (and really, everything else about the comic) that is the real bungle job.

>>149890568
>I don't think that Lucy's suicide in of itself was a mistake. It's how Taeshi's handled it (and really, everything else about the comic) that is the real bungle job.
Fair, but I view it as a mistake since any issue Mike had with Lucy will always be lumped in with Lucy attempting suicide, smothering the issue. Years of build-up and issues can be brushed aside at any time, despite the reasons why it got that bad in the first place.

It's hard for me to even talk about Lucy's issues with her other friend,s cause Sue and paulo have demonstrated they were her friends priror to December in many different ways, and Paulo made it clear he cared about Lucy for more than just her tits. I wish Lucy was canonically mentally ill.

Plus, in any other comic, it would be a Gullitoine over Mike's head. Removing the suicide and almost nothing changes. Hell, you could have just had Lucy stop eating, and it would have had a similar effect, but it would just be the continuing downward she had been on prior.

>>149890757
>any issue Mike had with Lucy will always be lumped in with Lucy attempting suicide
The easy counter to that is that Lucy does not lack self-actualization (in theory; BCB cannot make up its mind whether she is the fragile little victim who must be carried everywhere lest her poor little ankles shatter like glass, or a raging invincible girlboss who don't need no man). She is the one who ignored everyone's advice or attempts to help her. She's the one who kept obsessing over Mike even though he was plainly fed up with her. She's the one who abused him for years, apologized literally one single time, and moped around hoping the situation would magically solve itself. She put nigh zero effort into reconciling until the very end.

You say that in any other comic, Mike would have the suicide dangling over his head forever. I challenge that assertion. If this were a better written story, in which characters actually evolved, Lucy would woman the fuck up and tell Mike what she did is not on him. Because that's, you know, the truth. The reason we feel the consequences of the suicide are inescapable is because BCB keeps implicitly treating Mike as the villain. He feels immense guilt, was blamed for it by those in the know, and is never offered a hint of resolution from anyone familiar with the deets. And Lucy herself? We all know full well that she's a cowardly little blame-shifter who would absolutely treat it like an endless well of ammunition. But that's BCB as is, and that's Lucy as she will always be, not what she could have been with yesterdecade's Taeshi still at the helm.

>>149891167
>If this were a better written story, in which characters actually evolved, Lucy would woman the fuck up and tell Mike what she did is not on him. Because that's, you know, the truth. The reason we feel the consequences of the suicide are inescapable is because BCB keeps implicitly treating Mike as the villain. He feels immense guilt, was blamed for it by those in the know, and is never offered a hint of resolution from anyone familiar with the deets. And Lucy herself? We all know full well that she's a cowardly little blame-shifter who would absolutely treat it like an endless well of ammunition. But that's BCB as is, and that's Lucy as she will always be, not what she could have been with yesterdecade's Taeshi still at the helm.
Well said.

>>149885711
Haley should kiss Mike, disrupting Sandy's blabber

Is this worth reading? A good comic or no?

>>149890568
>>149890757
I'm willing to agree with anon that Lucy's suicide was itself a mistake; writing a suicide attempt and it's aftermath properly is difficult, and Taeshi is clearly not up to it. Also, it totally burnt out Mike and Lucy's dynamic, and so much was wrapped around that maypole that a bunch of plot threads got put on total hold until Lucy came back. The Paulo Show (guest starring Abbey and Daisy) was a valiant attempt to shift narrative focus to characters who hadn't burnt out their arc, but since Paulo's main motive was still Lucy, things quickly started skipping, resetting, and stalling out in her absence.

>>149891167
Lucy forgiving/hashing things out with Mike would have been unrealistic, but it was still a mistake to use her as (effectively) a black box mystery when she came back, rather than actually showing or explaining her time away, motives, or feelings. And it would have been easy to absolve Mike of responsibility without having Lucy forgive him: just have her yell "Stop fucking saying Mike did it, Mike doesn't control me! I make my own bad decisions!" when she gets pissy about Jordan or her friends being all overprotective.

>>149890231
You know, reading this made me think hoe Lucy is going to come into this equation is that Mike's mom gets Lucy to help babysit Chris because Mike can barely do it. Mike goes up to his room or something because Sandy told him to water the bonsai tree and then Mike comes back down and Lucy is there with Chris and they both look gobsmacked at each other because Lucy thought Mike was away studying at the library because that what he usually done. (Mike's mom not saying he was going to be there for her to help is because.. uh she was too busy to explain further.)
>>149894084
I'd argue that it merely being a black box of "what happened to Lucy" while out for the year isn't implictly a bad idea. You could of had the comic hard focus of Mike (or even Sue) and either treat Lucy like a symbol of guilt or distance, where they (and the audience) have to piece together exactly what happened while still maintaining distance. You'd get to see the grape vine and rumors of the school reach Mike's (or others) ears with the dramatic irony of them knowing whats true or not. Imagine a page where Paulo heard that she gone because she got pregnant, would he confront/tell her after been given the cold shoulder?
Even the Lucy showing up at the arcade could have been interesting if James struck up a convo with her where she eventually said her Aunt didn't let her play anything because of so-and-so. Wow! Answers and hints!
I'm basically saying right now it's a mystery that's saying "this doesn't matter. No one cares, and if you do care, here's a stupid dream that's actually not about this."

>>149895644 Is that Lucy holding the device for Sandy?