Wah-nderful Time - Lou Gagliardi

She was nervous. It wasn’t every day that someone asked to meet her, let alone meet her in public. They agreed upon a nice restaurant in the middle of downtown. It Not the worst place to meet, as Clarissa thought there would be tons of people. Oddly, it seemed a little sparsely populated tonight. Still, she decided, the atmosphere was nice and for what people were there, the wait staff was going full force.

The restaurant was modern and classical at the same time, she was actually surprised when she entered it. The red panda wouldn’t be able to afford a place like this usually.  But tonight was a special occasion.

Clarissa had trouble meeting people. It wasn’t that she was ugly or anything. She wasn’t. The red panda was very pretty, with girl next door qualities. A curvy body, cute face and all around. What more could people ask for, Clarissa asked herself. But then she remembered that she was transgender and trans-species. Not many people wanted to deal with her.

They saw her as a freak. The furry community, for the most part, embraced her and helped her adjust to being anthro. The human community had shunned her. Some saw her as a traitor to their cause. Even her parents had disowned her. It felt like all of the world was against her at the moment. Not that she minded that, it helped her through a lot actually. Everyone was against her.

Except him.  He was different in a way that she couldn’t quite place. And she liked that about Seth.

Seth reached out to her on a dating site, being interested in her. He fully admitted that it was to be platonic and to be a friend. Clarissa didn’t care. The red panda was just glad to have a friend. They spoke mostly online, but agreed to meet for a meal at least twice month. This was the first time they were meeting, which made Clarissa nervous. It had been the first time since the changes that she had been out of the apartment, not even leaving to get food thanks to the new advances

Then he walked into the room.  He was dressed nicely in a shirt the color of light coffee Clarissa immediately knew who she was. He had nice features, cute even. The glasses added to the shape of his face, made it look dignified. The wah waved to him, making sure he saw her in her light blue sundress and those nice glasses on her own face.

“Seth?”

Seth looked over, trying to focus. It was a little hard in the sparsely lit restaurant. They claimed it was for atmosphere. Clarissa personally thought it was dumb since humans couldn’t see that well in dimly lit places. Heck, she could barely see in this lighting.  But the lack of light did make Seth look good and it was easy to spot him despite this.

“That’s me!”

She got up and shook his hand. They smiled at each other, the awkwardness not lost on them. He sat down across from her at first then decided to move to sit next to her.

“Nice to meet you.”

They gave their orders and drinks straight away. The red panda let out a sigh, not really sure what to start with the conversation. She just kept looking at Seth, trying to figure out what to say. Usually, Clarissa had something to say. She could talk about anything at any time, yet here she was with a friend and felt unsure of what to do. She felt like a dork.

“So...umm...if this isn’t too personal, what made you choose to change your species?”

Clarissa looked up after counting how many spots on a particular square of table cloth there were. She ran a hand through her blonde hair and smiled.  No one had ever asked her this question before, so it was good to have someone to talk to about it.

“Well, truth be told I didn’t consider it at first. But given the chance I jumped on it. I always wanted to be soft and cuddly like a teddy bear. And when I was able to jump on the easy transition to female, I also added the option to become a red panda. I loved them so I thought why not?”

Seth nodded. It made perfect sense to her. She had dated a red panda before, as well, so that had made the decision a little easier for her too. Thankfully, Clarissa had never been asked to play up the japanese stereotype. Still people did stare, which made her feel conscious about her looks.

“May I touch your fur?”

The only thing that could be heard was the light music of restaurant to her fuzzy ears, which were swiveling in embarrassment.  She blushed, that was a rather personal question! But Clarissa saw no reason to say no. She nodded as she sipped her raspberry iced tea. He reached out and gently stroked her arm, causing her to wiggle a little bit in her chair. This was a courageous moment for the red panda. But a nod of the head

“If you like, after dinner, we can go and chat somewhere more private. But for now, sure, I see no reason not to let you do so.”

Seth nodded and reached out, slowly stroking her arm and up to her shoulder. He repeated this four times. Seth’s hand then moved to her thigh, rubbing her

Their meals came soon after she said that, and the began to eat with a happy promise of things to come. Under the tail, her tail wrapped around his leg and her free hand went into his. It was the first time in a long time that Clarissa felt happy.