Slowly, Castiel relaxed as they sat together with the mutts clambering over one another. Perhaps it was just him, but everything about her seemed to radiate kindness and gentleness. He felt slightly guilty for expecting hostility from the people here, yet it was nothing compared to the guilt he felt for wallowing in how all they proved him wrong. Certainly there were tensions in Preya, and arguments that he wanted no part of, but here, at least, there was no vitriol aimed at him, and there was no one demanding he pick a side and fight a battle that he wanted no part of anymore.
It was more than he deserved and he knew it... but he couldn't help himself.
He stared at her for a long moment - uncomfortably long, for a human. Cas never did quite understand what the problem with extended eye contact was for some humans. Wasn't eye contact considered an important part of human communication skills? It took him a moment to form a reply. "You'd... let me do that? I could do that?" he marveled. It hadn't occurred to him that he might be permitted to come in when he wasn't looking for a pet, to have that permission made official. It sounded wonderful.
A spaniel came trotting up to him, a rubber bone in its mouth that it dropped by Castiel's knee. He reached out to pet the dog, but she didn't want petted. She wanted to play, and she ducked his hand and nudged the toy.
Cas shrugged and tossed the toy. The spaniel and two other dogs went bouncing after it, making him smile a little. "I didn't go to Australia on purpose. They were racing dogs. They had to keep going round and round and round." He leaned towards Rose, looking at her from under his lashes. "That would be enough to make anyone miserable, I think. More than a little crazy."