Safe Haven

Kamma was humming for herself as she semi-danced around in the shelter as she was cleaning the cages that the guineapigs lived in. She usually always did everything she could, so Aleks would have an easy shift. And with everything that had happened with him lately, he needed it.
Then there had been her little run-in with Roman, a guy she hadn’t really had any success with getting out of her head. They had texted, mostly because she had always texted him—and to be fair, his reasons for not having time to come by had never been something she had been interested in. She had just told him to take his time, and she wouldn’t go anywhere, or at least the shelter wouldn’t.
At least she had other dogs to keep her company and cats— oh and parrots. Really, anything that had been left behind found its temporary home here. She walked over and looked at Caspar, chatting away “ding dong, ding dong,” she laughed “having a nice day, Caspar?” she hummed, looking beautiful Quaker Parrot that she opened the cage too. Instantly the parrot started making kissing noises which only made the shapeshifter laugh even more as she let him jump on her shoulder as she walked back to her job with the cleaning. That was when a familiar scent turned her gaze toward the door. The customers that had been inside had gone out, which only left her and Roman. “Hi!” a wide grin formed over her lips as she ran towards him “you came”, she hummed, not even trying to hide how happy she was to see him again. "you came, you came!" yet again kissing noises with only made Kamma giggle "oh shut it Caspar"

Her smile only grew in strength; how could it not? It was so easy when you felt comfortable in other people's presence, and her being a shapeshifter, she had the natural instinct that most animals also had. She didn’t need multiple meetings to know if she liked a person or not; that said, it wasn’t a guarantee that she wouldn’t get burned or hurt along the way.
“I don’t mind it taking this long”, she quickly said before shaking her head at how Caspar was moving his entire body while singing; “I’ll just put him back into his cage before he hurts someone or himself”, she chuckled, turning around, walking the few steps back to where she had taken him out and put him back in. Then she turned and looked down at the beautiful husky that was the sole reason she had even invited here. “besides!” she quickly added “things are worth waiting for when they are this cute”, she pouted as she quickly got down on all fours and let Snow sniff her hand. She quickly gave in and started petting the excited puppy “oh my god how are you so cute—how old is he now?” she asked, having gotten down on his backside sitting with one leg stretched out while the other was folded against her.

“3 months old, and you’re still so little!” Kamma mused, pulling her hands slowly back as she could see that Snow quickly got bored with cuddles and wanted to do something more interesting—like playing; “yeah, I see that”, she laughed, not taking her eyes off the beautiful dog one minute, it wasn’t until she finally realised that she was sitting on the floor grinning like a maniac. With a short snort through the nose, she got up “he has to meet Cookie; I think they will get along perfectly!” she said and turned her eyes toward Roman “come with me, we’ll go to the training area, so he doesn’t get overstimulated with all the other dogs out in the back” she mused, bouncing toward the door she put on the sign that the shop was closed, but they could call if they needed assistance because as it were, the shelter never really closed down; there was always need for someone to look out for the animals, especially those that needed extra care. “Jamal, I’m taking Cookie out for some socialising!” she called into the veterinarian area. A male voice shouted back in a thick accent that most people had problems with understanding. “yes, yes, I’ll be good!” she called back before she found the leash for Cookie a beautiful mixed German Sheppard, that she was still astounded hadn’t found a forever home yet. She got him to sit before walking inside and put on the harness and leash; then, she walked into the room she had directed Roman and Snow in. “Easy,” she said in a steady voice, ensuring that Cookie kept his gentle soul intact as she finally let him walk over and sniff Snow, letting them get to know each other before she would take off the leash so they could play.

She made a clicking sound with her tongue, which immediately made Cookie go over and sniff the submitting dog; when she clicked again, Cookie backed away and sat down beside her leg “good boy”, she praised and gave Cookie one of the treats she was carrying in her apron. “Okay, so the best tip I can give you, when he does something that you don’t want, or want to enforce better behaviour, then walk the other direction, when you feel his calming down then return to the object that he wants to get to know, only praise him when he does something good because dogs can’t really differentiate between good or bad behaviour when they are excited, anxious or angry; so if he starts barking and you want him to stop, just pull him away without saying anything, the moment he stops then praise him and give him a treat” she explained with a soft smile; “and just be patient, some dogs are just a character and will never learn how to listen to commands, trust me” she gave him a big smile, then looking down at Snow “even though I’m sure the two of you will be like two pees in a pot” she hummed, then she looked down at Cookie “stay” she instructed and took off the leash and stepped away “he’ll wait for my command to do anything, so you can train with how Snow interacts with other dogs” she explained walking toward Roman letting her hand softly find his wrist “relax, he feeds of your energy as well, as long as you’re calm and collected, Snow will feed of that and ease into it as well”

“Sorry”, she laughed, about to take away her hand when he told her that he didn’t want her to let go. Her smile softened, and the wrinkles that had been forming around her eyes disappeared in tack with how she looked into his eyes. It was so easy to get lost in this comfortable air around him, but he had already warned her—he didn’t do romance. Yet, he had been messaging her back; he had taken time to explain to her that things had been somewhat chaotic around him; that had to count for something.
Her lips folded together, letting her tongue soften them for a second as she tried to think through her options. Should it really be that easy? Run away from some gunmen, text a lot, he came over with his dog, and then they kissed? Lived happily ever after? There was just something in between the kissing and happily ever after, and something told her that he needed comfort. Someone safe, or at least that felt safe. Which she could only take as a compliment, but it wouldn’t take away the pain he was hiding away, a pain she knew too well—because she saw it in her sister's eyes every day.
“Has something happened?” she spoke softly, and instead of doing what he might have wanted—she gave him something he needed. Her arms folded around his neck, and then she pulled him into a hug. Warm and kind. Like a blanket to soothe the soul, that was at least what she was aiming for. The type of hug she got from her niece and nephews. Unconditional love, even though they might not have gotten that far yet.

She nodded, closing her eyes, and even though she could feel how he tensed up, she didn’t pull away because he hadn’t told her to, and she believed that it was more out of fear of what might happen if he relaxed than him telling her that he didn’t want her to hug him. “It’s okay, then forget I asked,” she whispered against his skin, feeling his warm breath tingling her cheek as she pressed it against his. Her arms folded even closer around him, not wanting to let go when it almost felt like he was crumbling in her arms, and she had no idea if she was able to pick up the pieces and put them back together. Not that she would ever let him walk away, at least not when he was clearly struggling and fighting his demons on his own.
It wasn’t all she could save, she knew that, and there might never come a time when Roman would feel comfortable enough to open up to her. But at least then he knew that he could if he wanted to.

She blinked, at first not understanding what he had said, then his hands found her arms, and she could feel how he tried to get her to let go of him. So, she did. Standing there feeling smaller and smaller, she could see how much distress she had caused him. “Yeah, of course, just follow the way out again, and then in the shop to your right, there is a bathroom for the guests to use”, she whispered; she smiled at him even though it didn’t quite reach her eyes as it would typically have done. It wasn’t fair. But she couldn’t help the pain her heart made as it had picked up speed. She had overstepped, and not just a little, by miles.
How could she have read the situation so wrong? She usually always knew what people needed and what she could do to make them feel better; here, it would seem that she had only made it worse. Well, at least she had given him a little to take when he left again, already mentally preparing herself that he wouldn’t return. Her eyes fell from his moving silhouette toward Cookie, that was still sitting, waiting for the command of being released. “free,” she said and walked over to one of the stools to sit down on, observing Snow that had followed his master to the rest room. At the same time, she and Cookie were left alone.

She let him take his time. The last thing she wanted was to make matters worse, so when a few minutes had passed, she got up and walked with Cookie back to his sleeping area, even though it was a cage just like all the other animals—even if it was bigger. She had never liked saying that word when it came to the cats and dogs, which was weird in a way when she didn’t mind it with the birds, fishes, reptiles and so forth. As if she didn’t see those animals as thinking and feeling beings, which just made her more upset. With a shaky breath, she tried to get herself to focus, push away the spiral of negative thoughts that just made her question everything. Not because it was his fault, not really—just like him, she had a lot of unsolved traumas; granted if she were ever lucky enough to hear about his, she would know that hers didn’t compare the slightest. Even though things affect people differently, one should never put themselves in other people's shoes.
She got back at the same time as he did, a soft smile formed over her lips, and she shook her head, making her curls bounce around her heart-shaped face. “Don’t worry about it; we all need to deal with things differently. I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable; that wasn’t my intention,” she said with a softer smile, letting her left arm fold around her chest before grabbing onto the opposite arm.

Small wrinkles formed around her eyes as a soft smile slowly blossomed over her lips. Then with a soft exhale, she started walking toward him; “Roman, it’s okay, you pushing back and taking things at your own speed, that is okay”, she said softly. Her hand closed around his “Come with me; Snow can come when he is ready” she gently tugged him along and walked into the wing with the dogs. “Rosie just got puppies; she was pregnant when she was brought in; the former owners didn’t have the means nor the money to raise her and the addition that would follow along, so” she turned and opened up into a room where the sound of six sets of legs came running toward them, there wasn’t one puppy that looked like the other, clearly being some sort of mix between a golden retriever and maybe a border collie, you couldn’t always be sure with dogs unless you got them tested.
“I need help with naming them if you’re up for it?” she said and sat down, signalling to do the same; a laugh left her as four of the dogs started crawling all over her, japing and tugging in her clothing to get her attention directed toward them.

She nodded “you can choose whomever you like, and you’re also welcome to give everyone a name” she chuckled, a sound that became more of a burst of laughter as she felt tongues starting to lick her throat and jaw; “aw man that tickles” she giggled before her gaze turned to the one that decided that Roman was the perfect place for her to lie down; “well, seems like it” she agreed before she ended up surrendering to the army of puppies and lied down closing her eyes as they started to move around on her, filling her with love—making her forget that there had been an awkward moment between her and Roman—making her forget anything terrible, at least for a second. That was probably the most fantastic thing about working here. How you could just sit down with the animals and surrender your heart and soul to them, and they would love you unconditionally.
Her eyes opened, and she looked toward Snow, that trotted toward Roman to get his share of attention.

She finally managed to get up from the pile that the dogs had made on her. A laugh left her as she tried to push the affectionate and slightly wild puppies away from her. “Laika”, she said the name as if she tried to taste it, letting it roll over her tongue; “I like it!” her entire face beamed while she took him in; he suddenly looked so much more his age than he had done a couple of moments ago; and she couldn’t help but wonder what he had gone through, what had happened since he felt like he had to hide away as he did. That he didn’t want to let people close enough to peel off all the layers he used as armour to hide the scared kid that clearly had gone through something so traumatic that he would rather ignore it than deal with it.
“Does it mean something?” she wondered and hid away the words that she truly wished to ask him.

“First dog that went to space”, she hummed, looking at the little dog making herself comfortable in Roman’s lap and making a slight smile curl over her lips. “she is a little barking one, so I think that is the most fitting name anyone could give her” she chuckled before looking at the pile of dogs in her own lap that was starting to play with one another now that she wasn’t giving them the attention that they crave “I always feel like it’s such a responsibility to give animal’s name because I really want to find something that conveys who they are if that makes sense?” she looked up at him as the last words escaped her lips. She couldn’t help but let another chuckle leave her lips. Maybe she was just overthinking things; who knew, warmth spread in her cheeks, and she quickly looked back down at the puppies letting her wild curly hair shield her from the embarrassment of showing how he was still affecting her by being this near; especially now that she could see this carefree side of him.