Arrival
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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.
| Arrival | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chapter | 42 of 127 (list of chapters) |
| Published | June 8, 2008 |
| Page count | 30 |
| Major characters | Lucy, Mike, Paulo, David, Tess, Yashy, Zachary |
| Minor characters | Sue, Alec McCain, Amaya, Lily, Catherine, Chirpy, Blur |
| Locations | Silvershore Islands |
| Collected in | Volume One, Omnibus 1 |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Invitation | Search and Rescue → |
| Read chapter | |
Synopsis
Tess's promised trip from Invitation lands the gang at a beach resort in the Silvershore Islands.[1][2] Check-in goes badly for Paulo, since Tess has booked four non-coed rooms and the list sticks him with Mike.[3][4] That evening Lily tips Tess off to listen as Lucy sings beautifully in the bath, and Lucy throws her out of the room for hearing it.[5]
Back in their room, the boys discover exactly one queen bed between them, and Paulo claims the whole thing since he doesn't "swing that way".[6] That night, Paulo delivers a tender apology to Mike that drifts into a lick to his face. He turns out to be sound asleep and drooling, and the chapter never settles whether it was a dream, sleep-talk, or a very committed prank.[7]
At breakfast, Paulo is flirting with Tess when Lucy deadpans, "Thought all that moaning was Mike-related," right as Mike staggers up rubbing his sore back and grumbling about his rough night.[8] David has his own grievance boiling over, tearfully accusing Tess of turning his former role model into a groveling lapdog, and Paulo only wins him back with the promise of a proper beach day.[9]
The beach day nearly turns tragic when Yashy hauls her homemade jet-propelled bodyboard into the surf just as towering waves roll in.[10] Lucy has been terrified of water ever since Troubled Waters, but she sprints in anyway, shields Yashy with her own body, takes the wave head-on, and collapses on the sand with Yashy held safely overhead.[11][12]
Lucy wakes on a beach chair, finds a ponytailed stranger hovering over her, and kicks him in the chin.[13] The stranger is Zachary, no lifeguard but the one who carried her to safety, and he leads the group to a burger place in town.[14] Over lunch Lucy admits that water scares her, and Zachary reveals he can't swim either, earning the nickname "fake lifeguard".[15] When he begs her to sing and Tess learns he is twenty-one, he ends up bruised outside, and his childhood friend Catherine must vouch that he is a harmless music freak who heard someone with potential.[16]
On the evening stroll, Mike comes closest yet to blowing his biggest secret, starting to boast about a much nicer, sweeter, prettier girlf-- before Lucy muzzles him, since Yashy isn't allowed to know about Sandy.[17][18] Yashy dares him to yell the truth out, and Mike wilts under her adorable stare and backs down.[19] At the goodbyes, Zachary holds up cash for one last plea to hear Lucy sing, and she names her price, pockets his $100 and strolls off without singing a note: "I can't believe you fell for that."[20]
Critical moments
- 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.[4][6]
- 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.[7]
- 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.[8]
- David tearfully accuses Tess of ruining Paulo, once his role model. Paulo repairs the friendship with the promise of a real beach day.[9][21]
- 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.[12]
- 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".[16][22]
- On the boardwalk at nightfall, Zachary pays Lucy $100 to sing. She takes the money and leaves without singing a note.[20]
Character dynamics
- Lucy and Zachary: Strangers until this trip, and from here on a pairing that runs on his fixation with her singing voice and her prickly amusement at his expense. Zachary means well in everything he does, hauling her out of the surf without even knowing how to swim, but his obsession keeps landing him somewhere between endearing and alarming.[13][16] Lucy repays him with a kick to the chin, the "fake lifeguard" nickname and a hundred-dollar con, yet when the group turns on him she's his fiercest defender: "He didn't DO anything!! He wasn't GOING to!!"[22][20]
- Paulo and David: David's side of the friendship is pure hero-worship, which is why Paulo going soft under Tess's influence wounds him so badly. This chapter is the first time he says so out loud, accusing his old role model of becoming a "pathetic lapdog".[9] Paulo admits he's been more emotional since meeting Tess, but a promised day of sandcastles and surfing is enough to prove the old Paulo is still in there, and the friendship settles back down with the grievance finally aired.[21]
- Paulo and Tess: Paulo has gotten nowhere with Tess, and his courtship has curdled into a hot-and-cold routine of wooing her one minute and punishing her the next. On this trip alone he begs to share her room, spitefully leaves her locked out in the hallway, grovels at breakfast, then parades two beach girls right past her.[4][23][9][24] For her part, Tess is rather less indifferent than she acts: the volleyball that bounces off his face arrives with a scowl and a sweetly delivered "Oops, silly me".[25]
- Mike and Lucy: The Sandy secret has been in place since Lucy asked Mike not to mention his girlfriend around Yashy.[18] Mike has never come closer to breaking it. He declares he hates "keeping this stupid secret", winds up to yell the truth out, then deflates under Yashy's stare and plays along instead.[19] Nothing changes yet, but Yashy doesn't stay in the dark forever.[26]
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.[27]
- Per Veronica's commentary, Lucy's beach sundress is the one Asuka wears in Evangelion, and it's "meant to be yellow".[28]
- 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.[10]
- 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.[29][30]
- Arrival is the first chapter Veronica inked. Everything before it was drawn entirely in pencil.[31]
- 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.[16]
Related chapters
- Invitation: The setup for the whole trip. Tess announces the weeklong Silvershore Islands vacation by letter, while Abbey and Daisy stay home.[2]
- 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.[32]
- Search and Rescue: The vacation continues straight into a hiking disaster, with Zachary and Catherine along for much of it.[33]
- Intervention: Zachary confronts Mike about Lucy, acting on the worry he shows while watching the two of them here.[34]
- 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.[35]
- 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.[11]
References
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 6
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 7
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 8
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 10
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 11
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 13
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 14
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 18
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 30: Troubled Waters, page 1
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 21
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 22
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 23
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 24
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 25
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 28
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Chapter 32: Follow Me, page 2
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 29
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 30
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 16
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Chapter 42: Arrival, page 26
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 9
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 19
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 20
- ↑ Chapter 71: Just Beautiful, page 31
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 5
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 17
- ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 2
- ↑ Chapter 12: Off to the Movies, page 3
- ↑ "Veronica on shading old comic pages with pencil". 2018-03-10.
- ↑ Chapter 28: Feline Festivities, page 15
- ↑ Chapter 43: Search and Rescue, page 16
- ↑ Chapter 44: Intervention, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 45: Return, page 2