The Northern Gate [POST HERE FIRST]

Rather surprised to see the being nod back at her, Naoki offers no complaints as the being closes the gap and begins to rub itself on her, only raising her arms up awkwardly to either side as not to have it rub on her hands as well.

“Oh,” she remarks, rather placidly, as it proceeds around to the other side, getting hair all over her outfit. Slowly, tentatively, Naoki lowers one hand to place it atop the creature’s head, behind one of its ears. From there, she proceeds to begin to rub its head and the fur on it.

“You know what sort of being this is?...” Naoki asks Emahra, turning to make eye contact and giving the other woman a very serious sort of look as she continues to pet the creature.

“A soft kitty,” Naoki states, as if this is the only possible answer, and an exceedingly obvious one, at that.

A group consisting of an older Elf and a Half-Elf, as well as two young human men approached the city gates. The older elf said, "We are citizens of Isra. I am Aelar Galanodel. The priest you see behind me is Theren Galanodel, my spouse. On the other horse is our son Bran, and his spouse Ser Rolf. May we pass through?"

"Thank you." the elf responds.

The pair of hoomans before him seemed rather surprised by his ability to write his name. Ah, they must think he was just like a normal cat who couldn’t understand them very well! Well, it was true, normal cats were far more common than those like Haru. Haru did consider himself quite special in that regard. When Naoki inquired into if that was his name, Haru nodded his head up and down, purring slightly as he did so.

Noticing that Naoki seems to want to move to the side of the road, Haru would follow her lead, following her at a lazy pace. He still seemed quite intent on sniffing in the general direction of Naoki while still offering the occasional curious gaze at Emahra. Although he had met elves before, they were far less common than humans and did have quite an interesting scent to them…

Once he was off the road, Haru plopped over and began grooming himself. He had been traveling for quite a while and needed to properly clean himself up, it wouldn’t do for Haru to be dirty. He didn’t seem to be particularly interested in the humans who had come out to look at what had caused this minor commotion. Haru was curious to see what the cat-like human would do next.

Listening to Emahra introduce herself, Naoki smiles slightly to herself, somewhat pleased. Another reason she chose not to introduce Emahra was to see which of the handful of possible manners of introducing herself Emahra thinks to be most relevant.

In any case, Naoki finds Haru’s continued scratching on the pavement to be rather interesting and apparently quite convenient. While not one to wholeheartedly subscribe to the concept of fate, this situation would seem to be shaping into a quite fortuitous coincidence. If it can really be called a coincidence Naoki supposes isn’t quite clear, but regardless. She has her doubts about how well Haru would be able to utilize paper and pen with his paws there - they don’t seem very suited to the task - but she’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, happy enough just to go along with things for now.

So Naoki nods, “Certainly.”

A few moments thereafter, Jax: Carriage Attendant First Class & Master of Observation emerges from the rear of the carriage, carrying in his hands a stack of paper, two quills, and a bottle of ink. Approaching the group, he pauses, unsure if he should hand them to someone, set them on the ground, begin transcribing, or what. Regardless, he stands there, waiting for some further direction.

Haru figured the two might find it rather odd he had requested paper and ink, for as he currently was, he certainly was unable to make use of such things to any proper effect. He had no intent to use them in this form, however. Although he generally liked staying in this form, he had a second one he found useful when around hoomans, especially inside buildings, for many were too small for him to comfortably fit inside.

Taking one last sniff in the direction of Naoki, a surge of magic passed through Haru’s body. Those skilled in spells or even those with an attunement to such things would be able to notice this surge quite easily. A second or two passed after this sudden surge of mana, Haru appearing to be unchanged. Then, a sudden shifting passed through Haru’s form causing it to rapidly shrink in size. The transformation happened extremely rapidly, almost fast enough that if one blinked they would miss it.

What had previously been a rather sizable cat-like creature was now a humanoid of some variety, one rather similar, at least in terms of appearance, to Naoki herself. His body was that of a lean human, thin but not unhealthily so, with toned muscles easily visible. In terms of age, he appeared to be somewhere in his early to mid twenties. His skin was a pale white, featuring no notable blemishes with the exception of a faint scar across his abdomen. Two cat like ears sat atop his head and his tale was almost identical as before, with the exception of being proportioned to a human body. An unruly mass of black hair, the same color as his fur, extended down to Haru’s shoulders. Haru seemed completely unperturbed by the fact he wasn’t wearing a single scrap of clothing.

The most notable thing about him, however, was his mannerisms. His gazed swiveled around rapidly as if searching for anything nearby that might have snuck up on him while he had changed his form. His tail still moved in the same pattern as before and the eyes had the same look in them. Although he had clearly changed his appearance, it didn’t appear this had any effect on his mindset. After a few moments of the rapid looking around, Haru appeared to grow calm once more, turning his gaze on Jax who held the writing equipment. Extending his hand toward the man, he looked at him expectantly.