SPOILERS! The Kane family (Patreon)

So, one page of the next comic is currently in flux. This page centers around Mercy taking Candice down a few pegs. Layout-wise, the plan is to have four wide panels - the first three are from a side view, with the 'camera' pulling in closer as Mercy closes the distance between her and Candice. In the forth, Candice is wide-eyed & utterly shocked by what Mercy has said, and is standing in the center of the frame, with a fisheye-effect (that I don't know how I'll draw) showing costumers on both sides of the diner staring at her. For the dialogue, there are two possibilities. If you don't care for spoilers, now's the time to stop reading, because there's quite a bit of ground to cover beyond just the one comic page! S E R I O U S L Y , S P O I L E R S ! ! ! We good? Okay then... Before this page, Mercy intervenes in Daisy & Candice's sniping, warning Candice of slander. As a result, Candice changes her attention to Mercy, and decides to share (in a louder tone of voice) one of her favorite stories she'd heard from her mother - that Mercy got pregnant when she was around 14 or 15 years old. Then Mercy turns the tables. First, the old version of what Mercy tells her - Panel 1 - Mercy - "Okay then. Two things - ONE: thank you so much for sharing THAT with everyone within earshot!" Candice, smirking - "You're welcome!" Panel 2 - Mercy - "TWO: Your mother and I are the same age, and we shared a lot of the same classes until her parents suddenly decided to homeschool her for close to a YEAR!" Panel 3 - Mercy is now leaning forward, and right in Candy's face. At this point, Candy's smirk disappears. Mercy - "...how OLD are you again, little girl?" ...so yeah, while Candice's family think they're better than everyone else, her mom actually found herself in the same situation as Mercy, at roughly the same time. There's just (at least) one problem with this idea - Candice would have done the math a long time ago, so this alone wouldn't have been much of a shock to her. She might be embarassed that Mercy put it out there for the whole diner to hear, but it would still lack a certain punch... unless until this moment, Candice didn't know her true parentage. Some background on Candice's family - lineage is everything to them. Anyone marrying into the family has to be "pure blooded", able to trace all of their ancestors back to "the old country". A big part of this has to do with the family business, which goes back centuries - one branch of the family only remains in control as long as they keep the bloodline pure. Candice, being a bastard with impure blood, would cost her family the position they've enjoyed for several generations. Until recently, the idea was that before she was born, Candice's grandfather had her father's entire background faked - and forced him to marry her mom - in order to convince the other family heads that Candice was legitimate. Realistically, this plan would fall apart almost immediately, even if the familes didn't have spies planted in each others' households. A more plausible scenario would be the grandparents claiming Candice as their own both to avoid a scandal and to render any questions of her legitimacy moot. If this is the case, Mercy's revelation to her would be a little different (note this dialogue is very much a work in progress) - Panel 1 - Mercy - "Okay then. If that's how you want to play, maybe it's time you learned a thing or two about your own family..." Candice - "oh, are you going to teach me? THIS should be entertaining!" Mercy - "I'm sure it will be. See, your older sister's my age, and I remember your parents suddenly pulling her out of school right around the time I got pregnant." (In this version, the story of Mercy getting pregnant would have been shared by the 'sister') Panel 2 - Mercy - "now unless I have my dates mixed up, you were born roughly 9 months later. In all that time, nobody saw your 'sister' at all, but your 'mother' kept up appearances... and had a noticeably FLAT stomach right up until the day you were born!" Panel 3 - Mercy - "I'm sure you don't need to be a detective to figure that one out, princess." Where this version could get interesting, is if Candy confronts her 'parents' about this and has it confirmed. As her 'sister''s first-born, she should be the next in line after her to control the family's empire... except that she's not pure blooded, and her real parents were never married. So her choice is to either live with the lie and eventually enjoy her inheritance but no power, or try to press her claim and risk ending up with nothing. Unless she opts for a more "Game of Thrones" approach...