Flying Lessons
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| Flying Lessons | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chapter | 6 of 127 (list of chapters) |
| Published | June 9, 2006 |
| Page count | 4 |
| Major characters | Yashy, Chirpy, Mike, Lucy |
| Minor characters | Blur |
| Locations | Park |
| Collected in | Volume One, Omnibus 1 |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← The Burden of Parenthood | Prom Preparation → |
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Why does a baby bird call Yashy "Mommy"? Chirpy's flying lessons stir up the memory of a snake, an abandoned egg, and one very brave catch. Mike, meanwhile, has taught her a new word, and Yashy intends to make him regret it.
Synopsis
Chirpy is convinced her "Mommy" just needs a little practice to get airborne, but Yashy gently explains that she simply isn't a bird and settles for watching from below. Reflecting that she's the closest thing to a mom Chirpy has, she slips into memory.[1]
Two years earlier, at a park, a younger Mike and Lucy chase each other out of sight during a game of tag, leaving little Yashy alone in the sandbox.[1] She spots a snake slithering toward a bird's nest and shouts a warning, and the panicked mother bird flies off with her eggs, leaving one behind. Yashy slams into the tree, knocks the egg loose, and dives to catch it, quietly promising the mama birdie that she'll take care of it.[2]
The egg hatches under Yashy's watch soon after, and as she melts over the little bird, Mike announces "I'm calling child services." Yashy names her Chirpy, and though the mother bird was never found, she hopes she'll fly back one day.[3]
Back in the present, Yashy hands the flying lessons off to Blur, and when he asks Chirpy for her best dive, she happily agrees, calling him Daddy while she's at it. It turns out Boy-Kitty told her that Yashy is her mommy and Boy-Birdie her daddy, and a snickering Mike calls the prank overdue payback for a familiar theme. Yashy leaps on him and pounds away, which a starry-eyed Chirpy takes for flight: "Did you see how far Mommy FLIED??" When she checks with Daddy anyway, Blur just blushes.[4]
Character dynamics
- Yashy and Chirpy: Chirpy has been calling Yashy "Mommy" since before the chapter opens, and this is where the comic explains why. Yashy rescued the abandoned egg and vowed to raise it herself, and in the present day she privately accepts that she's the closest thing to a mom Chirpy has, even if she can't join her in the air.[1][3]
- Yashy and Blur: On panel they mostly bicker, but Mike's prank saddles them with a new arrangement. Chirpy now calls Blur "Daddy", and Yashy's furious denial ("Blur and I are NOTHING like that, scumbag!") does nothing to shake the label. Blur's blush in the final panel does her case no favors either.[4]
Trivia & observations
- This chapter is a redrawn rework of a chapter from the comic's old DeviantArt run, originally titled "Chirpy's Introduction". It was cut when the chapters were reworked for Volume One in 2011, and Oliver went through "all the rejected chapters of yore" specifically to get this one back, since it explains where Chirpy came from "and it has a lot of charm!"[1][2]
- Per Veronica's commentary, the original stayed cut for so long partly because early Yashy "acted like a certain copyrighted dinosaur", particularly in the egg-rescue scene. By the redraw she had settled into being "a vague lizard-creature" who merely resembles the character Lucy named her after.[2]
- This is Chirpy's first appearance in the series, egg and all.[3] Blur, on the other hand, has been around since Gaming Rivalry, but the flashback panel of Mike finding him is the first glimpse of his backstory.[5][4]
Related chapters
- The Burden of Parenthood: Yashy spends the previous chapter loudly casting Mike and Lucy as a couple and expectant parents during a sex-ed assignment. If you're wondering what "familiar theme" Mike thinks she's due payback for, start here.
- Blurry Memories: The companion origin story. It shows in full the moment this chapter only glimpses, with Mike finding Blur lying on the ground, and has Blur offer to teach Chirpy to fly.
- Feline Festivities: Chirpy's abandonment resurfaces at the Christmas party, where she breaks down crying for the mother who left her and Lucy has to comfort her.
- Witch Hunt: The dangling thread gets tied off much, much later, when Lucy recounts that Chirpy's mom was eventually found, tearful reunion and all.