Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Speedrunning grief straight to the Bargaining stage

Ohhhhh poor baby. I hope she really does break up with him. He needs it if he’s ever gonna heal :( bitter medicine

Oof. wonder if he’s realizing he has no one if Sandy leaves… he’s done it to himself.

Mike please man, it’s about time you realize this has been and still is going nowhere. Save yourself the heartache, understand the situation, be happy for her and let’s move on, aye?

Oh no. Mike, no.

wait if francis is her hairdresser wouldnt he be like? an adult??

Sandy mentioned in Model Girlfriend that he’s an apprentice, so he is likely younger. Might potentially still be in creep age range, we don’t know, but more chance of them being about the same age at least.

From what someone else said he is an intern or on some apprenticeship. So it’s possible he is an adult but there is still room for him to be a teen (or late teen)

watch mike lash out at paulo for telling him to talk to his girlfriend

Phew. Mike. Therapy. Necessary

oh…. oh no….

c’mon buddy just rip off the bandaid

Oof this hurts

Oof poor kid, reality finally crashing in hard.

Love that Vero keeps showing the snow, showing that this really is Mike’s own version of December. I hope he weathers it better than Lucy did though, but he definitely needs the wake up call.

Was it ever established that the characters have claws, or is he digging into his knee with his fingernails?

They do have claws. I remember a few pages were they get their claws out

They have claws! I forget most of the instances where I’ve seen them before but I know Augustus was clawed in the face, and Alejandro did the same to Lucy, plus Paulo had to have used them when he was scaling Lucy’s wall to the side of her house.

I don’t think they use them often that’s probably why we don’t visibly see them

Is it time for the Crazy Mike arc? Absolutely here for it

Oh no, Mike’s losing it! He’s been so dedicated that he’s going crazy. This can only end in tears.

Rip that band aid faster

Well for not handling the relationship like an adult before, at least she is being a bit more adult about it in the sense of “It’s not your fault” and well trying to at least cut it off. But we’re getting a view of the Crazy part.

Mike you put her on the pedestal, now you’re seeing the problem of that you loved an idea of a person without knowing everything. You held her up and lit her like she belonged in a gallery, regardless of what your friends said or asked to try and help. So now knowing all that pride and “You never believed in us” doubts that you never bothered questioning are coming back. Such a bandaid to rip off, but has to be or else you’re flying close to a stalker mentality.

I’m absolutely loving this and I think was GlimmeringAlder mentioned about the snow and this in relation to December could not be more spot on. Mirror this to what he said to Lucy in December. “You have no one” but she retorted that Paulo wouldn’t leave her and he snorted “your dumb rebound, doesn’t even LOVE you. Nobody does. You’re a parasite” and all RIGHT after telling her he hates her. The one person she TRULY believed was her only friend growing up. Further solidifying that she’s alone, no one likes her, she’s a parasite, and that NO ONE would love her for who she is. And now look how the tables have turned. I’ll be drinking Mike’s tears through a jumbo jug with a bunch of popcorn because this payback was a long time coming

It’s funny how December was written back in 2011 and its now 1 year in the main story where this is finally catching up with Mike.

And recieve his long awaited comeuppance

Now Lucy is the one surrounded by all their friends and Mike has single handedly pushed everyone away. Even the thirsty Daisy who whole heartedly believed Mike could do no wrong

It’s like, he wants it to be his fault because then there is something he can do to fix it. He has to face the fact that he doesn’t have the power to fix this. That they just grew apart. I think he knows that on some level, but instead of accepting it he just rejected any aspect of his life that he felt added to the distance and clung to Sandy even harder. Meanwhile Sandy felt the distance and felt sad and guilty, but she decided to accept it and move on. She should have told him much sooner, but she’s a kid and Mike meant a lot to her. It makes sense that she avoided this conversation for a while.

You’ve seen that mentality for a long time, heck, like Model Girlfriend page 7 (https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c94/p7.html) where it was always “He had to be better” even though how many of his friends were really pointing out some problems. Even though Paulo is crass and not the best at it, he did have a tendency to point out some strong issues pretty directly.

Not healthy to be to the point of “I’ll do anything” because that is either showing you don’t see any other option, or too blind to see that maybe this wasn’t working out, so you were doing everything you could to maintain that cold comfort.

Yeah, exactly. I remember that time he had a dream of Sandy drifting away and shaming him for being with Lucy. His inability to let Sandy, or his idea of her, go has been a big part of his character since the beginning. It has held him back from so many connections in his life. Paulo is a great foil for Mike, because Paulo has tried several relationships and while he has often fell flat, he has developed and grown much more then Mike has allowed himself to.

Now that Sandy is making that decision for him, he’ll have a lot of healing and work to do on himself. He’ll have to face things about himself and hopefully grow from it. For so long he’s almost used Sandy as a shield to keep everyone at arm’s length. Now we’ll have to see what he does without that crutch.

“I love you, Meeshul. Let’s break up.” It’s the kindest thing she could do.

Granted, that’s not what he’s seeing. But really it’s the different forms of Love. And I think she’s realizing that there is that love that is to care enough to let him go, to let him be happy. Though he’s centered his life so much around her, well, he’s not able to see things without that Sandy colored lens.

It’s really going to suck if she says “I love you but as a friend”

She’s probably going to say something like “I love you but I’m not IN love with you.”

It’s gonna sound messed up but I have a feeling we might see something similar to what Lucy did and there is a part of me that wants to see that as messed up as it sounds. He has pushed all of his friends away and the only person he has left doesn’t want to be with him anymore. He’s desperate. But essentially karma is turning around and kicking him in the face. And not gonna lie…..I think he deserves it. Mike had people that cared about him, that wanted to talk with him and help him and he just screams at all of them and tells them to screw off.

I wanna see this too, as I’m interested how everyone reacts, although I feel like the scarf would be what he uses, as it holds memories of when him and Sandy were “happy”. The question would then be, who would find him?

Jesus christ that’s dark.

The panel with Mike gashing into his thigh, like… I am Concerned.

Oh my God, you’re right. He’s drawing blood.

yeah this one hurts. This is the type of situation where you can feel your body completely disintegrate. Ah, i remember my first breakup, hopefully it will give him some fresh reality and get him moving forward for himself.

I love you but I’m not in love with you.

One of the most popular quotes when dealing with a break up.

I’m not sure why but with how Mike is begging to cling onto a one sided relationship, its not healthy. Sandy did drag him a long way to see that she’s not seeing a future with him. It is best to let him go. “If you love them you must set them free” but on the other hand, Mike did bury his own grave burning bridges with Paulo, Lucy, Daisy and the rest because of his high beliefs of him saying “everything is fine”

Now to see if Mike will be able to find some kind of network of support in the wreckage of his friendships

I know that Paulo will be crass about it but I genuinely think that Paulo will STILL be there for Mike, because that’s who he is, but it’s a matter of if Mike will tell anyone or if he’ll just pretend like they’re just doing better now

That pretend part I think would be a tough pull for Mike. Considering how he would come off when Sandy wouldn’t message for a long time and he’d turn into Mr Grumpy Pants and pushing everyone away. I think a “Something happened” vibe will be quite noticeable, and it’s more a question for him to see who is willing to ask the question now that he’s pushed most everyone away at one point or another. Though Paulo is about the only one that has been a stick with it enough. That might have been why His words cut deeper this last time. If the last person still willing to talk to me is saying he might as well not even bother…

SO I bet it will either be Paulo, but likely be lashed out at or will say something crass before even knowing… Or Lucy, but I can’t say if Lucy will break doing what Mike wanted to even show anything anymore either. And really, Mike burned that bridge, then burned the ashes for good measure.

Those Chickens are Coming home to Roost Mikey. Your Fragile world is Falling apart. All your bridges are burnt. your All alone.

The question now, will anyone try to rebuild them or will we see a darker route where mike decides to end it all? I have a dark mind and kind of want to see the latter to see how the ones he pushed away react.

Mike: Ow my knee!

Pain

This needed to happen, this was never a real relationship, it was a fantasy built upon nostalgia and 3rd grade puppy love. Mike sure is clinging to this sinking ship, but I think Sandy’s next words will seal it.

At this point, Mike really does need this reality check (and a swift kick to his ego by karma).

But the title of this chapter & what’s happened so far, I have to join in on the thinking that Mike might try to harm himself before the chapter is over.

How dark would it get? Well, if the parallels to “December” foreshadows it, then things might get real dark, real quick.

It would make me sad, yes. And I would rather if he doesn’t attempt to do something he will regret. But all the signs points to it.

Hopefully he’s going be able to make a comeback & show some growth. At the very least by making an effort to rebuild some bridges, mainly with Lucy, Paulo & Daisy (before moving on to the rest of his friends).

Based on the lack of reaction to digging his claws into is leg and from experience, I doubt it will end pretty, and I may be horrible for this thought, but I kinda want to see how everyone would react if he did attempt suicide. But with his reaction, the lightest I can see is self harm while attempting to hide it and the darkes would be him not surviving

I don’t like using the word suicide, as a friend of mine tried to kill herself back in high school, as well as 3 classmates did actually do it. The worst part is that my mom worked in a funeral home/cemetery were one of my classmate’s service/burial was at. By self harm, I fully ment suicide / attempted suicide. Also, him being a main character, I would doubt that he would actually die, but you never know

I personally have attempted, so I understand the want to avoid the word, and apologize for not realizing, but idk if Mike will get out of this ok

Good touch Taeshi with reminding us they are cats, and have claws. Detail made this really hit different.

I think over the course of this relationship Sandy has learned the difference between loving someone as a friend and loving someone romantically. That might be what she’s about to say. “I love you. But as a friend.”

C’mon Mike you’re going to ruin your nails.

For the people who said she was stringing him along… imagine you have this longtime childhood love that becomes a real relationship? How ROMANTIC that is, and their FRIENDSHIP is on the line. Imagine how much she was pushing down to keep that farce going, imagine every time you talked to the one your supposed to love… you didn’t feel anything. I think she was putting their relationship on a pedestal because of the narrative, and she was finally pushed to take it down.

This!