Thomas pats Lucky's neck gently. "What a pretty girl you are."

"You can pat her harder," Taharqi instructs, smiling. "They have very strong muscles and thick hide, they can barely feel that."

Okay, harder, then. "Just didn't want to spook her." Pat pat.

She whinies again and taps the floor with one of her hooves. "She likes you." He steps away from her to go find Midnight. "Midnight, where are you," he singsongs, even though he knows exactly where the panther kitten is. In fact, it's almost like he's purposefully leaving his flank open to the kitten.

Thomas keeps an eye on that. Taharqi is just like that 80s barbarian... The Beastmaster.

He does not know what the 80s are, or who the Beastmaster could be, but he bets he didn't have a cool panther pet.

A cool panther pet that does its tiny growl and pounces, to which Taharqi immediately spins around so he can catch the cat mid-leap. It struggles in his hands—and that is actually starting to get meaningful, the panther is growing—but he holds firm. "You will need to get way bigger and stronger to catch me," he says, tsking and grinning. "Let me introduce you to Lucky."

"Is it safe to let it pounce at you like that?"

"Don't think I have much of a choice in the matter," he says, shrugging. "That is how cats play." He starts walking over to the horse, turning the kitten around in his hands so he's facing outwards, and Lucky whinies a bit and stomps on the ground with her forehooves a few times. "Easy, girl. He's safe, at least for now. Here you go." He slowly approaches the horse's face, and the panther squirms some more in his hands but he doesn't let go, and although Lucky initially turns her face out, when Taharqi stops walking just within reach of her she turns to look at him. He gets Midnight close enough that Lucky can smell him (and vice-versa), and when the panther starts vibrating a growl he says, "No. She is part of the family, just like the four of us."

But he doesn't force the interaction to continue any longer; now that they have smelled each other once, he turns around and places Midnight on the ground, and the panther immediately scampers off to hide somewhere high.

Thomas pats Lucky and makes soothing noises.

"I brought a cloth in one of her bags she often sleeps on," he tells the other three as he turns around. "Put it near where Midnight sleeps, or his food, so he can get used to her scent without being too overwhelmed by her presence while we're away. I'm going to bring some of Midnight's bedding's furs with us, too, for the same reason, although horses are less scent-oriented like that than cats are."

"Sure, I can do it."

"Did you get around to performing the test you wanted or are you planning to do it after dealing with the Witch?"

"It wasn't so much a test as an observation when I died, and I think my theory was right. The highlands option felt like it was weaker and here felt stronger."

"Interesting. I wonder if it's a designed property or just a side effect of however your magic works."

Shrug. "Anyway, are we ready to go?"

"I am as ready as you are."

In that case Taharqi can fetch what passes for "armor" for him: the furs and leather belt plus the handwraps and footwraps. From one of the bags hanging from Lucky he gets something that smells like her for Midnight, and trades it for one of Midnight's own bed furs.

And then he goes to the elevator with Lucky and Thomas and they can go down to the jungle floor.

Thomas is wearing the shirt and pants he was wearing when they were dropped on this world - having a change of clothes was not a priority. Plus his new equipment. The bracers on his legs are under his pants to allow for skin contact, but the ones on his arms are visible. And looking fetching if he can say so himself.

He can definitely say so himself.

Once they are again on the jungle floor, Taharqi does not immediately hop onto Lucky. "The path from here to the city is tricky. Follow me and be careful with your footing."

"Of course, that is easy enough."

So he can lead the way. He steers from what little beaten path there is, since threats are more likely there, and tries to also avoid anywhere where it looks like animals might be nearby. They successfully reach a rather enormous tree that has had a spiralling path carved onto it, probably centuries ago, that leads all the way to a lower plateau of the jungle.

Impressive! Thomas will refrain from taking pictures now, but impressive! He follows along; on a whim he tries something... yeah, he can use his own earth manipulation crystals to make his footing more steady.

Taharqi doesn't seem to be having any trouble, but then again that would defeat the sexy barbarian aesthetic wouldn't it?

Once they're down he looks around for threats and, finding none, nimbly hops into Lucky's back. He then offers Thomas a hand.

Which Thomas takes. Up.

"Hang onto me, tightly," he instructs. "Not great footing even for a fine horse such as Lucky."