Jack held still as the understandably curious Motti pushed around at the fur along the bunny's cheek. She used her dull, keratinous claw tip to sift the fur back and forth and find that the skin underneath was actually a different color, if only slightly. The stripes were real. Nick flicked his tail about happily, entertained by the hyena's reaction to their relatively odd circumstances. Judy was finding that messing with everyone's head was of particular interest to her fox, and she worried a little about how much fun he'd have if their relationship ever became common knowledge. She did not suspect he would make a spectacle of it, as he was considerate to her feelings at least, but could he really resist the temptation all the time? Judy remained seated in the shady grass where they had moved alongside the trail to recover from Jack and Skye's short but ugly fight.
Motti spoke up, finally. "I don't understand all the medical things you speak of, but your mother was really... I mean... Like... you were actually born from a..." Jack nodded at that. That part was definitely true.
"I was, yes. Not a fully natural thing though, again. Lots of medical science involved and even then, it wasn't literally a combination of the two. Not in the, uh... traditional sense," he explained. Motti finally stopped sifting through his fur, which made a grumpy-looking Skye relax a bit. Judy glanced back to her lady vulpine friend and wondered if Nick was the jealous type. The doe hadn't really been in a position where someone was trying to get that close to her. Certainly no one had touched her like that in front of him.
Motti resumed walking again toward their destination, saying softly, "I was thinking that I was to be having some difficulty on the trip for what we might find." She looked over her shoulder warily at the immediately following mammals. "I was not thinking I would struggle just knowing who you all are. I worry I have made a terrible mistake. No turning back now." She laughed a bit at that, instantly dispelling the idea that she was really upset.
Nick nodded as he took Judy's paw, "Yeah, crazy seems to follow us around. I will admit that." Judy punched him in the arm. She didn't want to be labeled as causing any of it, and it often felt like she was. Her job just made it likely that she was going to be where the crazy was happening, regardless of whose fault it was. She shook her head and Nick laughed with a good-natured tone.
The police officers walked right behind Motti quietly a bit, and Jack and Skye lingered a couple dozen meters further back. The latter couple was obviously softly talking, perhaps reassuring one another after that emotional outburst. Judy nodded to herself, ears back so as not to listen to them inadvertently. They needed that time alone.
Judy had originally suspected that they were getting close to the mine at the point that Skye and Jack had their fight.
She was so very wrong.
There was over an hour of hiking left to their destination. The wider trail made for a lack of shade. Judy found herself hugging the edge of the path alongside Nick to get what relief she could from the hot sun. Motti didn't seem to care if she was in shadow or not. She was really used to travelling in this place.
After suffering a frustratingly hot hike, the forest rather abruptly became denser. The trail narrowed a bit before they came to a very large brown-colored rock-face. Judy found that the rock face formed kind of a 'V' that they had walked into, making for a sheltered area. There was only one direction they could even go at that point, and the little valley they were in became narrower as they continued on. The hills on either side went up steeply at least thirty or forty meters. Massive trees capped the steep hillside to cast dark shadows down over the valley, making it feel almost like a cave in and of itself.
Finally, they reached the focal point of the valley. It was a bare and grey-toned sheer rock-face. It looked like some of the cliff itself had been cleared away. Inside that indentation, there was the gaping maw of a cave. There was a heavy-looking iron gate that made it nearly to the top of the easily five meter tall cave opening, but not quite. It was very large. Nick panted a bit, leaning over. The last roughly quarter mile had been pretty much all up hill. It was tiring. Jack and Skye had fallen further behind, so Motti and the officers waited there a bit for them to arrive.
