This is Tup the Timid Toddler. He briefly appears in Chapter 3 of the BTBF novelization as a very minor character, a toddler boy that Jonah becomes fascinated with when he begins to be able to leave his stroller for short periods of time while his mother takes him along on her errands.
As you can plainly see, Tup is a flying squirrel, a species found in many places in the world including north america, although Tup is not necessarily of the north american variety (Furmerica has plenty of non-native species that have migrated to the country). Jonah is fascinated by the strange skin parachute that connects Tup's arms and legs. He also notices his strange timid behavior and instantly begins to pester the boy following him where ever he goes, which upsets Tup and gets his mother on Jonah's case.
This is the first instance in the story of Jonah pestering another cub, something that will become a recurring theme in the next few chapters. Most, like Tup, are almost immediately uncomfortable with Jonah's inability to keep his hands to himself. Jonah, for his part, seems blissfully unaware that he is doing anything wrong.
I chose flying squirrel kind of on a whim. I just wanted a unique species not anywhere else in the story. I thought the idea of a flying squirrel boy was cute.
As I started to think about the logistics of a clothed anthromorphic flying squirrel however I realized that it would require a radical rethink of clothing. I looked through some images of flying squirrels to see if anyone has given this much thought before. Turns out, not really. Most of the images were of either Ray or Rocky, who are both, conveniently, always naked. When they are clothed the flaps are often severely downplayed, not actually connecting the limbs together. The one instance I did find with a clothed flying squirrel character with complete flaps basically just glossed over the issue by magically allowing them to wear normal human clothing, even though this would actually be impossible, the clothing would have to somehow phase through the skin.
The flaps of skin make conventional human clothing impossible or impractical. The skin acts as a barrier from either side of the body so normal pants and shirts wouldn't work. I thought of clothing that had stretchy membranes for the flaps however there would be nothing to make such clothing close fitted like ordinary clothing, because it would be far too wide. The portion covering what we would think of the body would have no way to hold together since each half would be disconnected. It would essentially become a big sack cloth and wouldn't cling to the body. Not only would it look embarrassing, but it would also be uncomfortable and would probably make flying impossible.
Obviously some solution would need to be found in-universe because at very least the anthromorphic flying squirrels would have to cover their genitals in public. Otherwise they would seem uncivilized.
The solution I came up with was that the clothing only wraps around their midsection. It is held firmly in place through a double strap system of some sort, kind of like two sided overalls. However, this would probably still not work. To make sure it actually holds, especially around the genital area, two small incisions in the flaps are made near the hips. Here clothing can be threaded through to hold both sides together. This would be akin to getting your ears pierced except that it wouldn't really be optional. All flying squirrels would get clothing holes made at birth. If the incisions were sufficiently small they would have a minimal to non-existent effect on their ability to fly, but obviously you wouldn't want to make too many of these incisions or make them too big for that reason, or else they would lose the ability to fly when naked. When clothed this is less of an issue since the clothing would fill in the hole and would keep it relatively air tight.
Of course the simplest solution would be to surgically remove the flaps altogether, but no doubt flying squirrels would find that barbaric and vaguely specist. They are also reticent to give up their ability to glide even though it has considerably less function in their civilized world. Naturally some individuals would probably opt to have them completely removed to more easily fit into the rest of society, but my guess is the majority of flying squirrels would see this as a betrayal of their species.
Granted there does not seem to be a great solution to their dilemma, but the concept I've elucidated here, which I haven't seen anywhere else, appears to be the best possible option. Clearly this might cause some ostracization from the rest of anthromorphic society, as the flying squirrels situation is unique. No doubt they are sometimes teased by having their genitals exposed by a kid trying to shift their clothing, although this would be made significantly more difficult with the hip fasteners nice and tight. Another issue is that putting on and removing clothing would be a considerably greater hassle than conventional clothing, particularly tail holes. Having to be required to modify their body is also unfortunate, but the alternative is probably not acceptable. Anyway it was an interesting concept to explore. With BTBF one of my goals was to show the ways in which the anthromorphic world differs from our own. If animals were to evolve into sentient bipedal forms they would likely retain many of their "primitive" animal behaviors, and this would lead to a very distinct world, especially with so many radically different species. With BTBF I am trying to take a somewhat realistic approach to what a world like that would be like.
Here is the brief passage of the novel where Tup comes up:
Excerpt from BTBF Ch3
One time I noticed a timid little flying squirrel boy. He was clinging to his mother's legs. Every time she'd walk ahead it quickly shuffle back towards her like she was afraid to be alone. I watched him for a while like this. Then he noticed me and gave a furtive glance.
"Hi!" I shouted towards him and gave him an enthusiastic wave. He instantly scurred behind his mother. I could see his tail twitching from behind her.
I thought this reaction was strange. Why was he afraid. I was just another little fur like him. I started to walk towards the pair curious about the boy and the twitchy tail. The mother was distracted trying to find something on the shelf.
Finally I was within reaching distance. I leaned over slightly to get a better look but I could only see the twitchy tail. For some reason I decided I wanted to touch it. So I reached out and grabbed it.
"Ah!" screamed the little boy as he fled to the other side of his mother, and suddenly the mother noticed me.
"Excuse me young man! What are you doing!" she said incredulously.
"Jonah get back here!" demanded my mother.
I didn't understand. What had I done wrong this time.
The little boy peaked his head out tentatively to look at me. I looked right back at him. I started to follow him, and around we both went around his mother.
"This is outrageous! Excuse me madam, get control of your boy! Tell him to leave my son alone!" said the boy's mother with righteous indignation.
"I'm very sorry ma'am. Jonah is just very friendly" my mother tried to explain, but the lady was not having it.
"Mama! Mama!" The timid boy complained as he tugged on his mothers pants.
"Jonah, get over here now!" my mother said in a loud whisper.
I pranced over happily clearly not understanding the situation.
"Mama, mama, cub!" I pointed back at the boy with a large smile on my face.
"Jonah, leave them alone." and with that she sat me back in the stroller and strapped me in.
I tried to figure out how to undo it but couldn't. I started to become frustrated and started to kick up a fuss.
"I'm very sorry ma'am. I don't know why he's acting this way" she apologized.
"Maybe you should have him see a doctor" the lady coldly shot back.
"What did you just say? Listen you ornery bitch, maybe you should have your lilly livered son checked out first!" my mother shot back without hesitation.
My mother could have quite the sharp tongue. This started a big scene in the supermarket and a lot of nasty words followed on both sides until some big intimidating furs had to come to break it up. Why did trouble always seem to follow me where ever I'd go? What exactly was I doing wrong?
This is an excerpt from the storyline "Better Than Best Friends", commonly abbreviated BTBF.
