Chapter V

“It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.”

• Oscar Wilde

    “What… What kind of program is this? And how did you know…” Theo stuttered, taken aback at what was gazing back at him with the same intensity as any facial expression he was capable of.

    “That you’re a furry and your fursona just so happens to be a bear too? Theo, if we can figure out that you like wearing diapers because it makes you feel little and safe, then is it really that far of a stretch to also find that your fursona is a cute little baby burr?” Grumpy replied, his ever present cheeky grin plastered on his face, obviously pleased with himself.

    Down to the nomenclature, he even knew my affection for using the pet name ‘burr’ instead of bear! These guys know their stuff… thought Theo, as he experimentally tried smiling at the device he held. The brown bear smiled back at him likewise. He tried several facial expressions, sticking his tongue out to see the bear stick out his own little pink tongue as well, he frowned, and an adorable pout appeared on the bear’s face. Lastly he cringed, and the bear’s little nose wrinkled up cutely in response.

    “This is… I can’t believe this! I’ve always wanted to see him animated like this! I’ve only ever attained still im?… hold on you’re not going to tell me that?”    

    “Yes, we are going to tell you that,” said Grumpy, a wicked grin displayed on his face.  “We can’t perform it here, after all we don’t want to turn you into a literal bear, that would be a little much for the senses. But if you’ll give Tenderheart and me a chance, we might just be able to give your furry fantasies a chance at fulfillment. What do you say?”

    Theo looked to Tenderheart, who was nodding along with what Grumpy was explaining to him, catching his eye he smiled encouragingly at Theodore.

    It may have been the extremely satisfying meal or perhaps the initial delight of seeing a character born of his own imagination smiling up at him, but Theo nodded without hesitation.

    “I’ll go at least to see if what you say is true, to see if… ‘Care-A-Lot’ really is a place, not just in the TV show.”

    Tenderheart and Grumpy beamed at him, glancing at each other conspiratorially they stood together, and motioned for Theo to do the same.

    Complying, Tenderheart and Grumpy headed towards the entrance of his living but Theo hesitated before following suit, he grimaced and said, ”Wait, I can’t go out looking like this?  What if somebody sees me?”

    Grumpy responded with an understanding smile, ”Oh don’t worry, we won’t go outside where anyone will be able to see us, we just need access to a window, now hurry! Don’t want to keep them waiting too long!”

    Before Theo could ask who exactly was waiting, the two men had exited the living room and were heading back upstairs to his bedroom. Moving around the couch Theo followed quickly after them. He caught up to them at the top of the stairs, and saw that the two were in his bedroom opening his bedside window.  

    Little gusts of wind and air occasionally blew into his room, the weather outside still rather unfriendly.

    As the wind whistled through the bedroom, Tenderheart raised his voice to be heard over the tumultuous noise.

    “We’re going to have to be smart with this one, if lightning strikes one of our cores might short circuit while we perform planetary exit and then we might be stranded until we get somebody down for repairs!”

    Turning to Theo, Tenderheart reached his arm out, and beckoned him forward, still a little awed from the powerful scene of the storm trying to enter his bedroom Theo slowly walked forward.

    Still shouting, Tenderheart said, “Theo! I want you to wrap your arms around me and above my shoulders like you’re giving me a hug, and hold on tight! We don’t have any of our winged friends up here so things might get a little dangerous if we’re not careful!”

    Feeling almost more apprehensive than when he found himself in the presence of two strange men while wearing little more than a diaper just a few hours earlier, Theo did as he was told and wrapped his arms around Tenderheart in a tight embrace, to his surprise, he smelled like cinnamon.

    As another gust of wind blew into the room, causing the three to shiver slightly, out of the window Grumpy raised his arm, in his hand Theo saw lay a small, blue cube.

    It blinked a few times, a light within its interior illuminating it as Grumpy seemed to use the strange device to measure something, his face quitely aptly representing his name, Grumpy frowned something as the device’s blinking told him something only he seemed to understand.

    Shaking his head, he turned back to Theo and Tenderheart, a bemused smile tugging at his lips.

”Alright, this is going to be bumpy! But I think we can still get past this without getting electrocuted.”

Theo’s eyes opened wide, and Grumpy chuckled at this.

“Don’t worry kid, we’ve done this a thousand times in much worse weather, remember that tornado Tenderheart?”

“Don’t remind me! I still haven’t truly forgiven you for that, you know.” Tenderheart responded, a slight hint of irritation in his voice.

Grumpy grinned back at him, his eyes almost closing as his cheeky smile was so large.

“I love you too bro! Ready?”

“Ready,” Tenderheart replied. With affirmation, Grumpy turned back into the window and tossed up the blue cube into the stormy air.

Theo watched in awe as the cube’s flashing turned into a rate so rapid it soon began to look as if it were glowing solidly. Then, Theo felt the strangest sensation he had ever experienced in his life, one that he had fantasized many times too.

Theo felt weightless. He looked at Grumpy who had slowly begun to float a few inches off of his bedroom floor. He looked down and saw that he too along with Tenderheart was floating above the ground.

Theo laughed with joy and wonder, these people really out of this world!

Grumpy opened the window a little wider, and floated out, turning back to smile down at the two still in the bedroom with an expression equivalent to a cat who had just caught an extraordinarily fat rat. 

Tenderheart wrapped an arm around Theo, who had begun to shake a little bit in the cold rain now almost pouring into his bedroom, and squeezed him comfortingly.

And with that, they too floated out of the window, and after they had caught up with Grumpy, the two Care Bears looked up, and shot skywards, jolting Theo up with them as they accelerated into the heavens. 

Theo, understandably, began to yell in both fear and exhilaration. Looking down he saw his small slice of suburbia shrinking down beneath him. The rain hit his face painfully like little icey rods striking his skin. He sniffled, and had to narrow his eyes until he barely saw anything as the wind rushed around and against him.

    Theo had never felt something so exciting and terrifying before in his life. Suddenly the rain stopped hitting his skin, and he opened his eyes. Stars glistened around him, and he saw with astonishment that the three now floated above the clouds.

Soft flashes of light illuminated the cloudy floor beneath him as grumbles of thunder followed them, like a soft white carpet with lightening bugs hiding amongst its fibers. Theodore looked up, and a sky pregnant with stars created him. He gasped, not knowing whether it was from the thin atmosphere or the sight that he beheld. 

Above them, Theo noticed a small group of stars that seemed to twinkle more than the others, then as they approached he saw that it looked like some sort of fabric was flapping in the wind covered in those stars.

Like a sliver of the blanket that covered the night sky, a small wound seemed to be cut into the night sky. The three headed towards it, and much more quickly than he expected hurtled through it onto the other side of the cut in reality.

Theodore looked down, and gasped in awe once more, but this time, his amazement had merit outside of anything he had ever seen in his life.

A giant, glistening city of ocean blue skyscrapers covered with overflowing green gardens and trees stood magnificently resting in the clouds. Cheerily lit Theo saw many fingers of various shapes and sizes milling amongst the many gardens, parks, and fountains that littered the spaces between the buildings, which were bigger than any skyscraper he had ever seen in his own city.

The three began to descend down towards a small patch of scattered trees and grassy fields, illuminated by a few lampposts standing like lone bastions randomly in the little patch of park.

Beneath them Theo saw a group of… are those… Are those actually furries? Theo was in awe of what he saw, several anthropomorphic bears stood tall amongst the crowd, as well as a few other creatures including a lion, a few felines, and even what looked like a wolf with wings.

Theo looked to Tenderheart, and almost screamed right in his ear, his eyes widening in complete shock.

The man named Tenderheart was no longer there, instead a brown-furred, quite friendly looking bear smiled happily back at him, he spoke up, his voice now containing a slightly lighter, more calming rumble than his human counterpart had.

“Welcome to Care-A-Lot, Theo. The city in the clouds.”