Bittersweet Candy Bowl

125. First-Degree Burn, page posted 5/16/25

Page 1 of 18

Author commentary

Veronica: Hey, pals! Welcome to a new chapter! We noticed a trend with naming conventions (Third, Second) and just HAD to keep up the trend.. I promise this was not originally done on purpose, I swear!

Anyway, what is this Satoshi Kon!?!??!? Klonoa???? More dreams?!??!? Anyway uhh let’s try to have a fun time :)

.. but maybe not a fun time right now. In SADDER NEWS (Sadder than Lucy’s traumadreams??) For those of you who have kept up with my diary comics, you might have gotten to grow up with stories about Mia the cat! Mia was a cat we adopted in 2009 in Sydney, and loved her so much that I dragged her all the way to the US when we moved to New York. Mia has stuck by us all through these years, making it to the age of 16.

She was hit with some debilitating old cat illnesses these last few years: inflammatory bowel disease and diabetes primarily. Apparently the medications clashed with each other, her body was a battle field! She was given a two-year life expectancy when she was diagnosed with IBD, and lived past three. But there was no avoiding the end. She stopped being able to digest her food and lost a lot of weight.

After making the decision last week, we said our goodbyes and she was put to sleep on Thursday. I just want any Mia-lovers to know about it. I murmured a lot about it on my bluesky, and made some comics about it there, but I should talk about it here too.

Thank you to everyone who made running jokes out of Mia and thought about Mia and loved Mia the same way we did. She is a cat that has passed on without the knowledge an entire little group of the internet loved her, and I think that’s a pretty cool way to get some immortality. Thank you to those sending well-wishes. We will be okay.

We really can’t thank patrons enough for helping us manage all this. We spent an exorbitant amount on vet and medication bills these last few years. It was through your support for my comic and the continuation of BCB that Mia was given all the treatment she needed to live as comfortably as she could. We never had to resort to a gofundme, even when hit with thousands of dollars of vet bills. It was made possible by you, so I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all had Mia’s back and I’m eternally grateful for your support.

BCB is gonna start getting into some heavy territory soon! I hope you’ll join us to see these cats fight their biggest battles, right ’til the end. Thank you.

ANNIVERSARY SALE: We're clearing out the vault!

Comments from Patreon

Comment ID #28489

Noo not again

BnSrSa

Comment ID #28490

YEAH GIRL, SAME

SomeColourMage

Comment ID #28491

Poor Lucy… I hope she’s finally able to confront this and maybe talk it out with someone

Scorch

Comment ID #28492

No noo noooo noooo

EzekielWonders

Comment ID #28493

I know this is Lucy’s nightmare but are there more people who suspect that maybe Mike has started sharing it?

Birgir Óli Konrádsson

Comment ID #28494

This would be super interesting. Has there been any indication that Mike remembers Confrontation at all? I know he was pretty drunk during, but I genuinely cannot recall if he ever mentioned those events after they happened.

whiteboypizza

Comment ID #28495

That’s the thing, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been suppressing those memories only for them to resurface later. But these might entirely different nightmares, just in the same setting OR this could be Lucy’s nightmare. I just got this weird feeling but I might easily be wrong.

Birgir Óli Konrádsson

Comment ID #28496

…..oh wow, I didnt even consider that! and honestly, if he and Lucy are sharing this bad dream it would make a lot of sense and make for some really interesting parallels.

esinololly

Comment ID #28497

It would also make it slightly more understandable that Mike would be so cold towards Lucy and say that he doesn’t need her when she licherally saved his life

whiteboypizza

Comment ID #28498

The Mike/Lucy parallels throughout is one of my favorite things about BCB tbh

whiteboypizza

Comment ID #28499

Took the words right out of my mouth

audie

Comment ID #28500

Here we go again with the recurring nightmares. I’m wondering if this and Mike’s downward spiral is going to be the thing that brings the two closer again (before Mike inevitably screws things up once more)

Mordaunt-the-Wizard

Comment ID #28501

I hope not. Girl got burned enough from him…

WitchDoll

Comment ID #28502

Honestly could see it slowly be that thing where it will play long term to finally confront everything that happens and finally reconcile.

Even if both were hurt and have hurted each other, I still think they still scare about each other and maybe they miss one another

But because of the trauma and events, it’s all buried deep down and there first reaction is pain and hurt.

Plus, august can’t be there forever too

Rocky Wolfknight

Comment ID #28503

Oh gosh darn it not again…!!

Joselyn Rivera

Comment ID #28504

aww shit, here we go again…

esinololly

Comment ID #28505

Yes, Lucy. You’re in the Pac-Man maze once again.

SCD

Comment ID #28506

I was ready for (and looking forward to) a short intermission of David trying not to let it slip to Abbey about Paisy. I was definitely not ready for Lucy nightmare. Kinda hoping that the theory from others that it might be a Mike nightmare because it would be a pretty good parallel.

HMan0199