Catty Remarks
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| Catty Remarks | |
|---|---|
| (Intermission) | |
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| Chapter | "12.1" of 127 (list of chapters) |
| Published | June 20, 2006 |
| Page count | 2 |
| Major characters | Mike, Lucy, Yashy, Paulo, David |
| Minor characters | Lily, Chirpy, Blur |
| Locations | Lucy's house |
| Collected in | Volume One, Omnibus 1 |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Off to the Movies | Puppy Love → |
| Read chapter | |
Mike just wants a quick nap after a sleepless night. What he gets is a stowaway in Lucy's bag, two soaking-wet friends at the door, and a household determined to speak entirely in cat and dog idioms.
Synopsis
Mike drags himself into Lucy's house after a night of no sleep and settles down on the floor for a rest. He gets a few seconds of it before Lucy shouts "WAKE UP!! No time for a catnap!!" right over his head.[1] Then her bag starts moving on its own, and Yashy bursts out of it in a shower of candy. Lucy scolds her for hiding in there, but Yashy is far too pleased with her haul to care.[1]
Things go soft for a moment while Mike stares at Lucy, blushing, the air around her sparkling. She catches him at it and wants to know if the cat's got his tongue, and Mike shyly deflects. Right on cue, David bursts through the door, dripping wet and wailing that "It's raining cats and dogs!!"[1] Paulo trails in behind him, just as soaked, and greets Lucy with finger guns and a "you look like the cat's meow ♥". She shuts him down flat.[2]
Mike hasn't been much subtler about his own feelings, quietly rating Lucy the cat's pajamas, and she finally puts two and two together. She smacks him and Paulo in one swing with a shout of "Quit the catty remarks!", which accomplishes nothing at all.[2] Yashy, Lily, Blur and David pile on with idioms of their own, and David's attempt at sweet-talking her ends in a punch. Mike and Paulo then start dueling over which cat phrase suits Lucy best, right up until Paulo pushes one taunt too far and takes a fist to the face. Chirpy gets the last word, turning to the reader to declare the whole situation "bird-brained."[2]
Trivia & observations
- Practically every line of dialogue is a cat or dog idiom, well over two dozen of them across just two pages. A few even happen literally on-panel: Yashy really is the cat out of the bag, and it really is raining cats and dogs outside.[1]
- Lucy delivers the chapter's title herself, mid-smack.[2]
- Oliver's commentary introduces the decimal-numbered chapters as "cute little mostly-comedic stories" between the main ones, and warns readers not to skip them, since "you'll miss out on puns like these!" This is the first such intermission in the series, and the whole thing was posted in a single day.[1]
- Veronica's commentary recalls that readers thought Paulo looked "different" when the chapter first ran. The culprit was the rain: his whiskers hang down under the weight of the water droplets. She credits the reaction with pushing her to make his whiskers stick out more afterward, and notes the pages have since been redrawn.[2]
- Chirpy's closer is the only idiom in the chapter that isn't about cats or dogs. It's also far from her first line, as she's been chattering since Simple Pleasures.[2][3]
Related chapters
- Off to the Movies: The chapter immediately before this one ends with Mike brushing Lucy's cheek and Lucy panicking and slamming her door in his face.[4] That might well be why Mike couldn't sleep all night, though the comic never actually says so.
- Gaming Rivalry: An earlier round of pet-filled comedy at Lucy's house, and the chapter where Yashy first calls Lucy "Mommy".[5] She keeps the habit up here with "You don't gotta have kittens, Mom."[2]
- Blurry Memories: The chapter where Blur, the bird behind this chapter's "cat on a hot tin roof" line,[2] finally gets a name.[6] Yashy is the one who names him, and the name is not a compliment.
- Puppy Love: The next chapter keeps the animal puns going in its title, but that's the only thing it carries over. Its story is its own, with Mike suddenly buried in love letters.