Pinky couldn’t find a good guide to dealing with defensively hostile people… so she got a book on abused dogs instead. She heard it was the same theory.

The first step in befriending wary animals was acclimating them to touch, it said.

Star generally gave her weird looks when she’d slowly approach from the front, making sure he could see every move, and lightly set her fingertips on his arm.

If he looked annoyed at prolonged contact she’d take a step back. The book said that was a good idea if you didn’t want to lose your hand. Giving up was okay, it also said, as long as you made the contact last longer every time. Or almost every. Something like that.

Eventually, she moved on to steps two and three: safe touching from blind spots and visible touching of vulnerable spots. Star was not thrilled at unexpected contact so that had to be taken extra slowly.

Pinky was a little confused on the latter about what constituted a “vulnerable spot” on a person, though. Star didn’t have any reservations about watching her touch a few she thought of.

…That seemed like a really good sign for things to come.

A/N: wouldn't 'Stars for Dummies' fall under Astronomy? Hah.