Lucy returns to the Loud House at 5 PM, after a good time at the skate park.
Breaking into a cold sweat, she discreetly waves to Lana, Lola and Lisa, who wave back while playing video games on the couch (the twins play and Lisa watches and takes notes on the clipboard).
Suddenly, a mustachioed black being, who had just been taking a sacred nap in the next armchair, opens his eyes, as if he had just detected the presence of his dark lady.
After putting away her skateboard and helmet, Lucy takes off her shoes and socks and calmly climbs the staircase that connects the living room to her bedroom.
Almost immediately, the hairy black creature stretches out, jumps out of the armchair and also climbs the stairs.
"Interesting," Lisa murmurs, writing down in the margin of the paper. "What explains such loyalty to a specific member of our family unit?"
Upstairs, Lucy enters her room, determined to make the most of the few precious hours of silence until her older siblings (Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn Jr. and Lincoln) return home. Luan is hanging out the clothes on the line and Baby Lily is sleeping peacefully in her crib.
Since Lynn Jr. is at field hockey practice, Lucy also has the Dark Room just to herself.
She leaves the door to her room slightly open, so her honorable guest doesn't have to force entry.
After putting the black dress and black leggings in the laundry basket, Lucy doesn't bother to take a bath. She just wears dark gray shorts and lies on her bed, daydreaming about life.
It doesn't take long before her furry friend bursts through the door, running madly towards her.
"Come, Cliff, come," Lucy calls to him, smiling softly.
Cliff climbs onto Lucy's bed and smells her left armpit, then runs his tongue over it.
"He he he he..." Lucy laughs at Cliff's tickling, careful not to scare him away. "Why do you always have to lick Mommy's armpit? It's not possible that you copied me," She surmises, thinking nastily about the times she lays down to rest with her own Mom.
Cliff doesn't respond and curls up his body to sleep next to his protector.
Lucy scratches the back of her head with her right hand and caresses Cliff with her left hand, while remembering how the two got there.
Lucy was walking home after taking a good walk in the neighborhood. It was late afternoon and Lucy was always attentive to every noise in the city.
Lucy has always been a very sensory girl, super curious about the world and nature.
When passing by a house with the yard and sidewalk covered in decomposing garbage bags, Lucy wrinkled her nose, but crossed the sidewalk courageously, without straying into the street. If bones and skeletons didn't torment her, it wouldn't be a filthy road that would intimidate her.
"Meow..."
Lucy stopped her walk and looked around.
"Meow..."
The girl was guided by the voice to know where it came from.
"Oh..."
Lucy finally spotted a tan snout between a black bag and a full can.
The skinny black cat stuck its head out and Lucy noticed some fresh blood under the animal's chin.
"It looks like someone hurt you..."
The cat limped, with a broken back leg, until it rested its head on Lucy's knee.
"And if you stay here, that someone might come back to finish the job. And I don't want to live with my soul troubled because of that."
Lucy took off her black hoodie and wrapped the cat in it, being careful not to touch it, as she didn't know if it was contaminated.
"Shh... Quiet. I'll take you to my house and you'll be safe there. I sign with my blood."
"You spent 1 week curled up on the toilet seat in the bathroom. You didn't want to eat or drink anything. You were too scared to value life. I identified very well with you. Luckily, the vet treated your injured paw and you, little by little, it got better. Until one day..."
Lucy played with Cliff in front of the house, throwing a massage ball into the garden for him to run and catch.
"I think I'd make a good cat physiotherapist," She thought.
Until the woman appeared.
"Tommy!"
Lucy just looked up at the woman, without saying anything.
Suddenly, the black cat ran terrified under Lucy's legs, as if wanting to protect himself.
"What are you doing with that animal, young lady?" The woman asked, in a stern tone of voice.
"Is that your cat?"
"Yes. So you kidnapped him?"
"I think you're scaring him."
"Don't change the subject. Give back to me before I call Police."
Luan left the house right away, completely casually.
"Hey! What are you doing? Leave my sister alone."
"Do you know that your sister kidnapped my black cat and brought him here?"
"For your government, ma'am, my sister didn't kidnap any animal. She found this injured cat on the street, victim of a stone or something, and took him with her, before he got worse. And now he's much better."
"Yes, but that's my cat. And now that you know..."
"If he's yours, what made him run away from your house? And why doesn't he even seem excited about seeing you again?"
At that moment, Cliff buried his face in chest of Lucy, who welcomed him into her arms.
"Well, I…" The woman choked.
"How can we say that it wasn't you who hurt him?" Luan insists.
"Enough! You can pass him over here!"
"Or? Are you going to make a public cat-harsis? That would be a huge cat-astrophe! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
The woman snorted:
"Is your Mother here?"
"Sure. I'll call her in 1 meownute. Excuse me."
The woman gritted her teeth in anger.
"Somehow, my Mother convinced the woman that you would be much better here with us. We'll never know if that woman hurt you, but I'm glad she never showed up again."
Lucy lets out a long sigh.
"I wouldn't know how to deal with that woman. Luan was our guardian angel. If she hadn't shown up to referee, maybe you wouldn't be with me today."
Lucy looks to the side and sees that Cliff is no longer there.
Suddenly, she feels a rough brush on her right foot.
"He he he he... And you couldn't use my foot as a pillow."
After finishing the tongue bath, Cliff lies down again, resting his head on Lucy's foot.
The dark girl smiles slightly and also decides to get some sleep, with her hands clasped on her chest.
She barely falls asleep when Luan, by the door, takes a cute photo with her smartphone.
She turns off the light and leaves.
THE END!
I don't know if there is any episode of Loud House telling the origin of Cliff Cat.
Anyway, who better to bring home a black cat than Lucy Loud?