Not All Dogs | |
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King meets his fate. Comic: "Did It Hurt" (click for full size) | |
Info | |
Number of Comics | 18 |
Dates Published | April 25th - June 3rd, 2011 |
Featured Character(s) | |
King, Fox, Bino, Sasha, Sabrina, Pete, Cerberus | |
Previous Arc The Arc Specifically About Being Naked Following Arc
The Great Water Balloon War |
Not All Dogs is the 42nd arc in Housepets!.
This arc introduced King's Fate in the form of a digital watch.
Characters[]
- Pete
- Cerberus
- King
- Fox
- Sabrina
- Tarot (mentioned)
- Bino
- Rex
- Sasha
- Fido
- Spo
- Yeltsin
- Boris
- Joey
- Karishad (mentioned)
Plot[]
Somewhere in the Cosmos, Pete is arguing with Great Kitsune in his mind as he flies into a room filled with Essence, Humanity, and more importantly, Fates. As Pete grabs the Fate belonging to Joel Zachariah Robinson (King) he is stopped by Cerberus, who throws him out a window. The Fate rolls down the street as Cerberus and Pete bitterly fight each other, reminding Pete they had dated for a million and one years.
Pete manages to get the upper hand and dives for the gates of Heaven, but Cerberus pulls him back at the last second, causing him to drop the Fate. It bounces out through the gate and falls to Earth, transforming into a digital stopwatch before hitting King, who is walking with Fox, on the head. King inspects the watch, not realizing his human name is on the back on it in tiny print, before tossing it away, (and Fox making a 'watchdog' joke.)
In the middle of a rainy night, King gets a knock at the door. He opens it to find Sabrina, with a message from Tarot. She tells him about what happened in heaven, and King realizes she didn't come to tell him good news. Sabrina tells him that they think the Fate fell to Earth, and that it would formerly manifest itself as a piece of machinery like a watch. King realizes with horror (and UnPG like language) that watch he threw away was his own Fate. Sabrina mentions that they won't be able to return the watch, only someone from Heaven can come and pick it up, as well as the fact his soul is stuck in limbo until he decides to embrace or reject his dog-ness.
King and Sabrina go back to the dumpster, but are unable to find the watch. King frustratedly tells Sabrina to do something, but Sabrina replies that she and Tarot can't even see the watch, and Tarot would be in major trouble if she tried to touch it. King resolves to look in the morning, bitter over the fact that his life is being toyed with by a bunch of LARPers...again.
The next day, King overhears Bino talking, and realizes he's wearing the watch. Fox tells Bino to give it back, but Bino refuses, reading the name on the back--Joel Robinson.
Fox immediately snaps at the fact the watch 'belongs' to Joel. King desperately tries to get the watch, but Fox explains that Joel was one of the people who kidnapped him. King tries to argue that he needs it, but Fox firmly stands his ground, saying unless King has a profoundly good reason, he won't be able to do anything. King realizes telling Fox the truth will cause his identity to be revealed, and he will subsequently lose Fox as a friend, so he simply says no.
Bino, Rex and Fox head off. King realizes he needs to call in a favor and heads to Sasha's house. King asks about her owner, stating he doesn't like him, considering the numerous beer bottles that litter the floor. King asks for Sasha's help, though he is visibly irritated by her dimwittedness.
That night, Bino is hanging out with Fido and Spo when he gets a knock at the door. Sasha answers, reading off a cue card, asking Bino for a "private snuggle session." Bino doesn't catch on, and goes off to brag tell everyone where he's going.
Sasha tries various means to get the watch off Bino, at King's advice, who is sitting on a branch outside. Eventually King tells her to improvise, and Sasha aggressively tells Bino to take off his collar. She tries to hand the watch over to King, but Bino catches them in the act. He gets Boris and Yeltsin to hold King down while he smashes the watch. Bino maliciously taunts King by saying he just doesn't want him to have it. King calls for help, and at that moment, Joey arrives to save the day...only to be thrown out of the club head first.
Sabrina arrives to find Fido peeking in through the window. Fido explains the situation, and a panicked Sabrina tells him to go in and stop Bino or else she'll make him never born. Fido bursts in, telling Bino to give King his watch back. Bino begrudgingly agrees, but ends up throwing it as hard as he can.
King dives for the watch, but misses, only to find that Fox had dived for it too, and ended up catching it. The two friends awkwardly stand up as Fox hands the watch back to King, asking if they can pretend this never happened. King agrees, and leaves quietly. Fox informs Bino there is a reason that injuring him isn't a means for expulsion, which Bino takes as a hint to start running.
King asks Sabrina what she meant by his soul being in limbo. Sabrina explains that there was a problem when King was turned into a dog. She mentions that Dog Heaven is much more lenient than Human Heaven, but King wasn't exactly a paragon either. She tells him until he decides whether to embrace humanity or dogness, the resolution will be tricky, although he shouldn't worry since someone will come by the pick up the watch any day now.
That night, King is in bed when the sound of thunder (really Karishad playing with firecrackers) wakes him up. He takes the watch out and looks at it, before simply saying "Well, this sucks."
Events[]
- Pete attempts to steal King's fate in heaven, but it falls to Earth and materializes as a stopwatch.
- This arc reveals Pete and Cerberus dated for a million and one years.
- Sabrina mentions that King's soul is in limbo until he decides whether to embrace humanity or dogness.
- King receives his fate in the form of the stopwatch, with Sabrina telling him that someone from heaven will come to pick it up.
Trivia[]
- How Low Can You Go marks the third time King has swore and had it censored. Sabrina mentions it as "UnPG Language," a reference to the PG rating of the comic. The first time this happened was in It's A Wonderful Dog's Life, and the second time was in Dog Days of Summer.
- The arc's title was listed as ??? until it was revealed in Did It Hurt.
- This is one of the five story arcs whose titles weren't initially revealed when the arc started, the others being Oops I Arced, Housepets Babies!, Let's Imaginate Jurassic Park! and HECKRAISER.
- Did It Hurt was originally titled "Are You An Angel" and is still listed as its web address.
- The title of the arc is a reference to the phrase not all dogs go to heaven, which perfectly summarizes King's dilemma.
- Pete is put on trial for his actions in this arc in The Trial in Heaven.
- Cerberus eventually comes back for the watch, three years later, in Heaven's Not Enough, Part 1.
- King's paw-pads are mistakenly colored black in this arc instead of their usual pink.