Link Play

From Candypedia
Link Play
Chapter116 of 129 (list of chapters)
PublishedAugust 29, 2022 (2022-08-29)
Page count32
Major charactersMike, James, Lucy
Minor charactersSandy, Finn, Lucas, Felix, Daisy, Paulo
LocationsRoseville shopping mall, Mike’s house
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A pre-Christmas trip to the mall with Mike’s new track team friends is all fun and games until the arcade turns out to contain Lucy. Between James’s boundless admiration and Sandy’s long-distance confessions, Mike ends the day with an awful lot on his mind.

Synopsis

Mike turns up at the mall early, says a quick goodbye to Sandy over the phone, and joins James, Felix, Lucas and Finn for a day of Christmas shopping.[1] James spends the browsing showering Mike with over-the-top praise (“We are not worthy.”), much to his embarrassment.[2] When the two of them get separated from the group, James bashfully invites Mike to see a French indie film with him on Saturday, and Mike happily accepts.[3] James also teases that Daisy and Paulo might be an item, and Mike, remembering what Daisy told him in the library, finds he can’t quite finish denying it.[4]

Once the shopping is done, Mike begs the group into the arcade,[5] where Lucy, of all people, is single-handedly clearing the expert stage of the Maggot Mania light-gun game. An oblivious James drags a horrified Mike over to wait their turn for two-player.[6] Lucy’s victory leap ends the instant she lands and sees who’s watching. She hands over the cabinet with a flat “I’m all done. Go wild.” and walks off,[7] but the arcade turns out to be too small for the both of them. Every single game Mike wants to play next, Lucy is already playing.[8]

Lucas finds a six-seater racing cabinet, but Lucy has already claimed the last seat.[9] James, none the wiser, cheerfully invites her to make it a full race. Lucy glares at Mike, then answers just quietly enough that only he can hear: “I have the right to be here. And I’m not gonna let you scare me away.”[10] She backs it up on the track, too. Mike leads the whole race until the final stretch, when she rams his car clean off the road and takes first place. She leaves the arcade without a word.[11]

Mike chases her into the mall corridor and finally says his piece. He apologizes for making things awkward, for the accidental run-ins, for being a terrible friend, and, at last, about Sandy.[12] Lucy answers: “You told Augustus you wouldn’t talk to me again.” Mike admits it, promises to keep his word from here on, and explains he just had to let her know. She says “Thanks.” and disappears into the crowd.[13] Mike is still standing in the corridor when James finds him and places a hand on his shoulder.[14]

Mike has pizza with the group, then calls Sandy afterward.[15] As it turns out, her schedule might let her visit Roseville in February, in time to spend Valentine’s Day together.[16] Sandy thanks Mike again for taking her back, and talks about how lonely her modeling life is compared to being with him.[17][18] Mike stays supportive, though his answers get quieter the longer she goes on.

Mike lies awake on the wordless final page. His thoughts drift from Sandy in Francis’s arms to Lucy’s cold parting glare. He then pictures the smiling track team, with James at its center extending a hand, before falling asleep.[19]

Character dynamics

Lucy leaps into the air in triumph in front of the Maggot Mania cabinet, its screen reading Sewer Slugs DEFEATED.
Lucy conquers Maggot Mania’s expert stage, seconds before her afternoon takes a turn.
  • Mike and Lucy: Mike and Lucy finally speak about why they have stayed apart. Mike has kept total silence since promising Augustus he’d never talk to her again,[20] which is why every accidental run-in today leaves him paralyzed. Lucy, for her part, refuses to surrender any more ground to him. She would rather ram him off a racetrack than be chased out of an arcade she has every right to enjoy.[10][11] Mike apologizes and promises Lucy he will stay away. She briefly thanks him.[13] Cold as it is, it’s the first civil exchange the two have managed in a long while.
  • Mike and James: James’s admiration for Mike runs well past ordinary teammate enthusiasm, and this first proper day out shows how far. He’s been noticing Mike since before he even transferred, if the flashback of him spotting Mike under the tree at the Roseville Park is anything to go by,[21] and Finn’s “lovebirds” crack turns him crimson while sailing clean over Mike’s head.[22] James shares Mike’s enthusiasm for games and invites him to the Saturday movie.[23][3] After Lucy walks away, he finds Mike alone in the corridor and puts a hand on his shoulder.[14] In Mike’s final thoughts that night, James stands at the center of the smiling track team and extends a hand. Mike then falls asleep.[19]
  • Mike and Sandy: On paper, the long-distance couple is doing better than ever, with Sandy planning a Valentine’s Day visit and thanking Mike again for taking her back.[16][17] Sandy leans on Mike as the one honest thing in a modeling life full of drama and fakery, telling him “You.. complete the picture, Maishul”.[18][24] Mike’s replies get quieter and sadder the longer she talks. Later, as he lies awake, he pictures her in Francis’s arms.[19]

Trivia & observations

Lucy's race car slams into the side of Mike's car, sending it flying off the dirt track.
Second place isn’t going to cut it for Lucy today.
  • Per Veronica’s commentary under the final page, the chapter was originally 28 pages long. Unhappy with the original ending, she extended it “with more chats”, which became the closing phone call with Sandy.[19]
  • Veronica has said she deliberately keeps Sandy’s face hidden much of the time, to preserve her mystery and keep the perspective on Mike. The same commentary clarifies that Sandy’s “don’t get TOO excited” was purely a joke, not manipulation.[17]
  • According to Veronica’s commentary under the race, neither Mike nor Lucy has a driver’s license, or a car for that matter.[11]
  • James calling Daisy “the tall, curly Ragamuffin girl” is only the second time the breed has come up in the series. The first was Daisy herself, with “I’m part Ragamuffin” back in Show and Tell.[4][25]
  • The team’s waitress at Fiesta Pizza is Emma, a recurring background face who previously worked at the Roseville cinema.[15][26]
  • James has technically already heard the promise Lucy brings up. In One-Track Mind, he overhears Mike say “I won’t bother her again” from across the track, with no context to make sense of it, and he spends this whole chapter none the wiser.[27][13]
  • The final panel’s neatly folded track jersey mirrors a scene from Track Meet, where the uniform sat folded on the same desk during another of Mike’s phone calls with Sandy.[19][28]

Related chapters

  • Burnt Bridges: The promise Lucy quotes back at Mike comes from here. In the aftermath of Eternal Flame, Mike tells Augustus he’ll never talk to Lucy again and asks him to look after her.
  • Model Girlfriend: Sandy’s last visit to Roseville, spent at this same arcade. Mike played Maggot Mania there with Sandy, who quit the game in frustration, and he deliberately crashed the racing game so she could win.
  • Date Night: Mike and James go on the Saturday movie outing James proposes here. The evening ends with James kissing him.

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 1
  2. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 6
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 7
  5. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 9
  6. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 11
  7. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 13
  8. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 16
  9. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 17
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 19
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 21
  12. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 23
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 24
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 25
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 27
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 28
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 29
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 30
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 32
  20. ↑ Chapter 111: Burnt Bridges, page 17
  21. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 5
  22. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 8
  23. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 4
  24. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 31
  25. ↑ Chapter 9: Show and Tell, page 3
  26. ↑ Chapter 113: Featured Attraction, page 6
  27. ↑ One-Track Mind, page 2
  28. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 21
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