Arrival

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Arrival
Chapter42 of 127 (list of chapters)
PublishedJune 8, 2008 (2008-06-08)
Page count30
Major charactersLucy, Mike, Paulo, David, Tess, Yashy, Zachary
Minor charactersSue, Alec McCain, Amaya, Lily, Catherine, Chirpy, Blur
LocationsSilvershore Islands
Collected inVolume One, Omnibus 1
Chapter navigation
← InvitationSearch and Rescue →
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Tess flies the whole gang out to the Silvershore Islands, where Paulo and Mike get one bed between them, David mourns his ruined role model, and a ponytailed stranger named Zachary becomes hopelessly obsessed with Lucy's singing voice.

Synopsis

Paulo and David spend the whole flight belting Queen's "Bicycle Race" at each other while the rest of the cabin quietly suffers.[1] Lucy handles it her own way, confiscating Mike's Nintendo DS and hurling it into Paulo's face.[2] Tess, a few glasses of wine deep, refuses to buckle up for landing as the plane descends toward the crescent beach and luxury hotels of the Silvershore Islands, the destination she promised everyone back in Invitation.[3][4]

Check-in goes badly for Paulo. Tess has booked four non-coed rooms, and the list pairs him with Mike. "YOU MEAN I'M STUCK WITH THIS IDIOT?!" Begging gets him nowhere, so he settles for screaming that he hates her.[5][6] That evening, Lily tips Tess off to listen as Lucy sings beautifully in the bath. Tess heard that voice once before, at her own Christmas party, and Lucy is no happier about it the second time.[7][8] She throws Tess out of their room, and a gloating Paulo refuses to open his own door for her.[9]

Back in their room, the boys discover exactly one queen bed between them. Paulo claims the whole thing, since he doesn't "swing that way", and the resulting pillow war rattles the walls until the painting above the bed drops on both of them.[10] That night, Paulo delivers a tender apology to Mike that drifts into whispers of "So.. sweet.. So.. soft.." and a lick to Mike's face. The reveal shows Paulo sprawled out asleep and drooling, and the chapter never settles whether it was a dream, sleep-talk, or a very committed prank.[11] Mike flees to the floor for what's left of the night.[12]

Paulo turns in horror as Mike arrives at the breakfast table; Lucy drops her food, Tess gapes and David's jaw hangs open.
Mike picks the worst possible moment to complain about his back.

At breakfast the next morning, Paulo is busy flirting with Tess when Lucy deadpans, "Thought all that moaning was Mike-related." Right on cue, Mike staggers up to the table rubbing his sore back and grumbling about the rough night he had. The whole table freezes.[13] David, for his part, has a different grievance boiling over. He tearfully accuses Tess of turning his former role model into a groveling lapdog and flees the restaurant wailing.[14] Paulo chases him down and wins him back with the promise of a proper beach day. David hugs him: "THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!"[15]

Out on the sand, everyone is dressed for once except David, who ran out without his trunks and gets shamed from every direction. Lucy, for her part, turns heads in a spaghetti-strap sundress.[16] Paulo struts around with two flirty local girls until a volleyball ricochets off his face. Tess, the server, offers a sweet "Oops, silly me ♥" from behind a scowl.[17][18]

The fun stops when Yashy hauls her homemade "jet-propelled bodyboard" into the surf just as towering waves roll in.[19][18] Every lifeguard on the beach is busy flirting, chatting, or singing inside a porta-potty.[20] Lucy has been deathly afraid of the water ever since Troubled Waters, but she sprints in anyway. She shields Yashy with her own body, takes the wave head-on, and collapses on the sand with Yashy held safely overhead.[21][20]

Lucy wakes up on a beach chair, finds a ponytailed stranger hovering over her, and kicks him in the chin.[22] The stranger is Zachary. He's no lifeguard, but he carried her to safety anyway, and he now leads the whole group to the best burger place in town.[23] Over lunch Lucy admits that water scares her, and Zachary cheerfully reveals he can't swim either, earning himself the nickname "fake lifeguard".[24] Then he blurts out "Your voice is gorgeous! Even when you call me creepy!" and begs her to sing. Tess demands his age (twenty-one), and Zachary winds up bruised on the pavement outside.[25] His childhood friend Catherine arrives to clear his name, vouching that Zachie is a harmless music freak who just heard someone with potential.[26][27]

The evening stroll is where Mike comes closest to blowing the Sandy secret. When Yashy declares him and Lucy a "work in progress", Mike starts boasting about his much nicer, sweeter, prettier girlf--. Lucy physically muzzles him before he can finish, since Yashy isn't allowed to know about Sandy yet.[28][29] Yashy dares him to yell the truth out, and Mike winds up, wilts under her adorable stare, and backs down.[30] At the goodbyes, Zachary makes one last plea to hear Lucy sing and holds up cash to sweeten it. Lucy names her price, pockets his $100, and strolls off without singing a note. "I can't believe you fell for that."[31]

Critical moments

Lucy tucks Yashy behind her back and faces the cresting wave, ears down and tail puffed out.
Lucy takes the wave so Yashy doesn't have to.
  • Tess's four strictly non-coed rooms leave Paulo sharing with Mike, and their room turns out to hold a single queen bed. Paulo claims it all for himself.[6][10]
  • In the dark of the shared room, Paulo's tender apology to Mike ends with a lick to the face. The reveal shows him sprawled asleep and drooling, and whether it was a dream, sleep-talk, or a prank is never answered.[11]
  • At breakfast, Lucy cracks that the night's moaning "was Mike-related" just before Mike arrives complaining about his back and his rough night. The whole table freezes.[13]
  • David tearfully accuses Tess of ruining Paulo, once his role model. Paulo repairs the friendship with the promise of a real beach day.[14][15]
  • When Yashy sails her bodyboard into towering surf while the lifeguards slack off, Lucy overrides her fear of the water and shields Yashy through the wave with her own body.[20]
  • Zachary, the stranger who carried Lucy off the beach, confesses over burgers that he's fixated on her "gorgeous" voice and admits he is twenty-one. His childhood friend Catherine has to step in and vouch that "Zachie wouldn't hurt a fly ♥".[25][26]
  • On the boardwalk at nightfall, Zachary pays Lucy $100 to sing. She takes the money and leaves without singing a note.[31]

Character dynamics

  • Lucy and Zachary: Total strangers at the start of the chapter, and the trip's newest fixture by the end of it. Zachary watches her from down the beach, carries her out of the surf despite being unable to swim himself, then torches his own goodwill by begging her to sing.[22][25] Lucy answers with a kick to the chin, the "fake lifeguard" nickname, and finally the hundred-dollar con. Even so, she's the one who defends him to the group: "He didn't DO anything!! He wasn't GOING to!!"[26][31]
  • Paulo and David: David finally puts words to what's been bothering him. Paulo, he says, has been a "pathetic lapdog" ever since he met Tess, and isn't the role model David grew up with.[14] Paulo owns up to being "more ~emotional~" these days, then proves he's still fun with the beach-day promise, and the friendship comes back together with the grievance at least aired.[15]
  • Paulo and Tess: Paulo swings between courting Tess and punishing her all chapter. He begs for a shared room, refuses to open his door when she's locked out, grovels at breakfast, then parades two beach girls right past her.[6][9][14][17] Her answer is a volleyball off his face and a sweetly delivered "Oops, silly me ♥". The scowl she serves it with says plenty.[18]
  • Mike and Lucy: The Sandy secret has been in place since Lucy asked Mike not to mention his girlfriend around Yashy.[29] Mike has never come closer to breaking it. He declares he hates "keeping this stupid secret", winds up to yell it out, and deflates into a frosty "Let's go, darling.." instead.[30] Nothing changes yet, but Yashy doesn't stay in the dark forever.[32]

Trivia & observations

  • Tess's ears briefly reshape into Chiyo Mihama's pigtails on arrival, an Azumanga Daioh gag Veronica says she has explained to Oliver "like 20 times" over the years.[33]
  • Per Veronica's commentary, Lucy's beach sundress is the one Asuka wears in Evangelion, and it's "meant to be yellow".[16]
  • Veronica calls Yashy's bodyboard scene an "obvious reference" and jokes about disowning anyone who misses it. Readers identified it as the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA.[19]
  • David's "You say BARK!" gets no rise out of Paulo, whose terror of barking was established in Off to the Movies, making this a genuine continuity slip.[2][34]
  • Arrival is the first chapter Veronica inked. Everything before it was drawn entirely in pencil.[35]
  • Zachary went through several redesigns. Veronica originally nicknamed him "surfercat", then reworked him because he looked too much like a cat version of one of her friends, and he isn't actually a surfer at all.[25]

Related chapters

  • Invitation: The setup for the whole trip. Tess announces the weeklong Silvershore Islands vacation by letter, while Abbey and Daisy stay home.[4]
  • Feline Festivities: The first time Lucy's singing was overheard. David, Tess, and Mike all caught her singing to Yashy at Tess's Christmas party, which is why Tess knows exactly what she's hearing in this chapter.[8]
  • Search and Rescue: The vacation continues straight into a hiking disaster, with Zachary and Catherine along for much of it.[36]
  • Intervention: Zachary confronts Mike about Lucy, acting on the worry he shows while watching the two of them here.[37]
  • Return: The island arc's farewell chapter. Zachary finally gets a real conversation with Lucy on the beach at night before the group heads home.[38]
  • Troubled Waters: Where Lucy's fear of the water comes from. It also mirrors this chapter's rescue, since Lucy once dove into a river for Mike despite not knowing how to swim.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 2
  3. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 4
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 1
  5. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 6
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 7
  7. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 8
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 28: Feline Festivities, page 15
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 9
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 10
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 11
  12. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 12
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 13
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 14
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 16
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 17
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 19
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 20
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 18
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 21
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Chapter 30: Troubled Waters, page 1
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 22
  23. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 23
  24. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 24
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 25
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 26
  27. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 27
  28. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 28
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Chapter 32: Follow Me, page 2
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 29
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 30
  32. ↑ Chapter 71: Just Beautiful, page 31
  33. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 5
  34. ↑ Chapter 12: Off to the Movies, page 3
  35. ↑ . 2018-03-10 https://bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com/post/171708240589/what-did-you-use-to-shade-the-old-comics-like-the. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  36. ↑ Chapter 43: Search and Rescue, page 16
  37. ↑ Chapter 44: Intervention, page 1
  38. ↑ Chapter 45: Return, page 2
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