Yashy's Birthday

It's September 1, and Yashy is certain the whole household remembers what that means. Blur and Chirpy are too busy sobbing over the start of school to notice, and Mike and Lucy won't even look up from their books. Has everyone really forgotten her?

Yashy's Birthday
(Intermission)
Chapter	"19.1" of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	September 1, 2006 (2006-09-01)
Page count	1
Major characters	Yashy
Minor characters	Blur, Chirpy, Mike, Lucy, Lily
Locations	Lucy's house
Collected in	Volume One, Omnibus 1
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Synopsis

Yashy wakes up at Lucy's house in a wonderful mood, and she wants everyone to share it. She sidles up to Blur and Chirpy with a hint: "There's just something in the air today, isn't there?" The two of them look at each other and burst into tears. There is indeed something in the air, because it's September, and September means school. Blur wails that school means no more Mike, while Chirpy dreads losing her "Girl-Kitty". The pair hold each other and sob about being left home alone every day.

None of that stops Yashy from fishing, and she asks if there isn't a date they always look forward to this month in particular. Blur's answer is a flat "NEVER!!" She tries Lucy and Mike next, hailing them as "Mom" and "Flea", but the two are kneeling over their books, muttering about finishing the summer reading before school arrives. Neither of them so much as looks up.

All this snubbing is too much for Yashy, and she goes into full mourning. The background turns dark, sinister faces loom behind her, and she delivers a proper mourning speech: "Such is the misfortune of my existence.. Ignored, forgotten, cast aside.." She declares herself loved no longer on the fifth anniversary of her birth, and lays all the blame on the cursed month of September.

The cursed month of September comes through after all.

The gloom lasts exactly one panel. In a burst of sparkles, Lucy and Mike hold up a cake topped with a number-five candle, with Lily, Chirpy and Blur all beaming beside them. Everyone shouts "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!", and Yashy flops flat onto the ground.

Trivia & observations

• Yashy turns five in this strip. The candle on her cake is shaped like the number five, and she calls the day "the fifth anniversary of my birth."
• Per Veronica's commentary, the page was drawn in advance and released "just in time" for September 1, 2006, Yashy's fictional hatching date. She picked the date because September 1 had long been "the signal for school's return" to her, even though school rarely starts exactly then.
• Veronica later confirmed on Tumblr that most of the cast's birthdates were random, "except for Yashy and Lucy. Yashy was born on the day Lucy went back to school (September 1st)".
• All the pet nicknames on display here are long-running ones: Yashy has called Mike "Flea" since Gaming Rivalry and Lucy "Mom" since at least The Burden of Parenthood, while Chirpy's "Girl-Kitty" goes all the way back to Simple Pleasures.
• Veronica signs the commentary off with "HAPPY FICTIONAL BIRTHDAY, YOU GREEN THING", an echo of Daisy's old name for Yashy in Prom Preparation ("this weird green thing").

Related chapters

• Mike's Birthday: The intermission directly before this one, and the strip that started the format. Veronica's commentary here calls Yashy's page "a continuation of the birthday comics."
• Blurry Memories: Published the week before, this chapter sets up the pets' sobbing. Blur moved in with Mike at its end, which is why his particular dread is "no Mike" while Chirpy fears losing "Girl-Kitty".
• Left Behind: This chapter shows where Yashy's story began, with Lucy stumbling across her egg at the end of the Sandy summer in elementary school. That's where the five years on the candle started counting.
• Lucy's Birthday: The birthday-comic series carries on with Lucy later in the archive, complete with the same nickname register. Chirpy signs off with "Happy birthday Girl-Kitty!"
• Table for One: Years later, this chapter opens on summer-reading worries at the start of a school year and closes with Mike alone at the tree, thinking "Happy birthday." with no name attached. Yashy's September 1 birthday, established here, makes her the strongest candidate.