Making this clear right up front: The little bear is not yelling at the skunk. Just want to avoid that misunderstanding. Explanation will come below.

So this is a pic I did last summer that is kind of representative of my talent level as far as drawing goes. This is not surprising given that I spend much more time keeping my writing skills sharp that working on drawing.

On the left is 's Saffy (seen here posing with her cousin Gem), while on the right is my Harry, from before I came up with the nickname "Toddfather" for him. Notice that Saffy is having her ponytails tugged by a mischievous off-screen paw, and that is what Harry is reacting to.

Saffy and Harry are both ARed characters who are less than thrilled with their new situation, although apart from that their circumstances are quite different.

I hope it goes without saying that a story goes it, and by way of preview this goes a little bit differently from the way most Saffy stories do. (And If you happened to see this on DA, I've added a new ending to the story.)

When Harry Met Saffy

“Westhaven?” Saffy repeated. “Isn’t that one of those homes the government set up for those virus victims a couple of years ago?”

“Yes, dear,” confirmed her mother. “I thought maybe it would help if you had a chance to visit some people who have spent some time living with the same thing you are.”

Saffy bristled at her mother’s choice of words. She’d kind of assumed all along, or maybe just fooled herself into believing, that there was an antidote or something for FOY water and that all she had to do was play “good girl” long enough and she’d get her old life back. She did not care at all for the suggestion that being two years old again was something she was going to have to “live with”.

“But it’s not the same thing,” Saffy complained. “I’m not like this because of a virus.”

“I know, dear, but they don’t have to know that. As far as they’ll know, you’re one of them.”

Saffy begrudgingly had to admit it was a decent idea. After all, what harm could it do to compare notes? At the very least she’d probably find someone to trade “life sucks” stories with. So she gave her assent and she and her mother made plans accordingly.

On the morning of the visit, Saffy was duly taken up to the toddlers' floor, and into what looked like an ordinary daycare playroom, in terms of decor, furnishings, toys, and above all the play activities going on. The only thing obviously missing was the safety gate at the door, but even lacking that Saffy was starting to have doubts. Had there been some kind of mistake? To make matters worse, when she looked behind her, she found that the staffer who had led her up there had already left, so she was on her own as far as introducing herself.

Or so she thought, anyway, because now with her back to most of the room, someone -- she never did find out who -- got an eyeful of her cherry-red pigtails and decided they were worth investigating. “Investigating” in this case in the sense of “pulling”.

YEEOUCH! Some welcome this was!

Having her head suddenly yanked back was one shock, but before that even had time to register another surprise was on the way, in the form of a voice that was paradoxically both babyish and commanding: "Hey. Hey! HEY!!!"

Saffy's assailant immediately released and ran off, but leaving Saffy surely moments away from a crying spell. But just then, she laid eyes on her white knight, or in this case brown knight, a baby bear cub, smaller and clearly younger than she was, wearing just a T-shirt, a diaper, and a very stern expression on his face.

Curiosity clashed with self-absorption, resulting in a stalemate, and Saffy just stood there, trembling, as the bear cub turned to retake his seat against the wall, only to stop short and turn back around to regard Saffy directly.

"Yo-rrr new he-urrr," the cub said in slow, slurred speech, clearly trying very hard to simulate adult diction.

Saffy dared not open her mouth lest her tenuous grasp on emotional control slip, so she just nodded vigorously and sniffled as a lone tear ran down her right cheek.

"Sicka liffin' wi-thh Momandad?" the cub continued, seemingly oblivious to Saffy’s distress.

Conveniently, that was in line with the cover story Saffy and her mom had come up with, so she could simply affirm again. But she felt she owed the little bear some kind of vocal response, so she tried making an "mmm-hmm" sound, but even with that she was still choking up a little.

The bear cub beamed with admiration. "Yo vewy -- " he quickly caught himself, "ve-er-ee burr-ayff."

Brave, did he say? Saffy didn't feel brave at all. In fact right now she'd never felt so small and helpless since this whole two-years-old-again business started. But the cub’s words did seem to have the effect of bucking her up, to the point where she realized she might not burst into tears after all.

The bear cub's speech quickened and lost diction as he too seemed to be getting more comfortable with the conversation. "By da way, my name’s Hawwy -- Hah-err-ee.”

“Saffy.” They shook paws.

“You wike it heaw, weally, “ Harry confided. “You act gwon-up, dey tweat you wike one."

Saffy looked around the room once again, looking for some sign of adulthood or even more mature childhood but coming up empty. Even examples of group play were few.

"I... don't see anyone else acting grown-up..." she finally said in bafflement

"Oh, dat's dis woom," Harry clarified. "More gwon-up stuff goin' on nex daw," he added, gesturing at a doorway Saffy had somehow overlooked, through which she could just glimpse a baby tiger seated at a table, calmly assessing a hand of five playing cards that it was somehow clutching between its two tiny forepaws.

Just then an adult staffer walked up, cup of coffee in hand. "Okay, Harry, I'll take over from here," she said to the bear cub. "I see you're showing our guest around, so I’ll leave you to that."

Saffy’s eyes popped as she realized this little cub wasn’t just being bossy, he really did have some kind of official sanction backing him up. A devious smile crossed her face as she sensed she was in the presence of a fellow manipulator. This could end up being being really fun...

Hours later when Saffy's mom came to retrieve her, she was very pleased as her beaming daughter proudly presented her with a finger painting she'd made of the two of them, all ready to be put on display on the refrigerator back home.

Every day a little more progress, her mother happily thought to herself after she had put Saffy to bed and was taking her clothes to the laundry hamper. Just before putting them in, she checked for stray objects in the pockets and found something: a small handful of hard plastic discs, colored in red and blue.

Where could Saffy have gotten a hold of those, she wondered. If I didn't know better I'd almost say these look like... poker chips?