A tiny giant leap

I took Tails on a small excursion.

There was a movie night arranged on a night when Tails was going to be staying with me, and socializing animals is very important, so I decided to bring her.  Everyone are just charmed by her anyway, so I'm confident nobody would ever mind her coming along.
I was invited over to a friends house before the movie night, and then to spend the night as his house after, so I was coordinating with him a little.  As it happened, the whole movie night was canceled while I was making arrangements, so I just spent the night at my friend's house in stead.

My friend has met Tails before, so he was delighted that she was coming along.  Tails has met his daughter as well, so she was dancing with happiness when we walked in the door.

We spent the night talking and watching a movie, and while Tails was very comfortable there she spent most of the night in my lap.  Red pandas are nocturnal by nature, but Tails has adjusted fairly well to living with humans.  She is a bit sleepy during the day, and has trouble sleeping some nights, but overall she has adjusted well to a human time.  Trying not to spoil that, I put her to bed in their kitchen when it was her bedtime, and went back to talking to my friend and his daughter, just checking in on Tails from time to time.

Once, when I went in to check on her, something rather special happened.  She wasn't asleep, but she was resting comfortably in the bedding they had set up for her, so I bent down to cuddle her as I tend to do.  She looked up at me and vocalized a little before she stretched up towards me as red pandas do in close groups.  I am not just some guy that plays with her and takes care of her any more, I'm officially part of her circle of trusted friends.  It felt like acceptance, like she is that much closer to really being my red panda now.  It might seem like a small thing to an outsider, but for me it was a huge leap.

Of course, her declaration of trust won't really change anything, but it is a mile marker on the road towards her fully trusting me and accepting my guidance.  When I returned to talking to my friend in his living room I didn't really talk about it, just letting it settle for a bit.  Besides, his daughter was clearly tired, but not at all ready to go to bed, so he had his hands full with her as well.  Later, when I tried to put words to the feeling, my friend was a little surprised that I brought it up as he thought it had already happened, but he was absolutely happy for me.  I don't think I did a very good job in explaining what it means to me, but he gets the gist of it, I guess.

This morning, while I was talking to my friend over coffee and Tails was more or less in my lap, it felt a lot like nothing had changed, but I did notice that we are a little closer now.
Generally speaking, I don't share a lot of personal stuff on Facebook, but I did mention this, and it got a storm of likes and a small pile or comments.  I'm glad people are happy for me/us, but I don't think they really get it.  I mean, most of them have no idea what a red panda even is.

I'd love to go into more detail on this whole thing, but Tails is eyeing the couch again, and she did gnaw on it earlier.  I have to intervene or there will be foam rubber stuffing everywhere.