Darina watched with mild curiosity as the scarred man and the harvester began to talk with one another, lazily taking note of their names when they introduced themselves to each other. If she wanted to, she could pick out the particulars of the conversation, but right now, what she wanted was to find a replacement for the bullets and the knives she had lost to the guards at the Underbelly. Maybe in exchange for these items the Stalkers could use a scout, and she’d be one of their best, if they were willing to have her.<br/><br/>Something made her twitch. As if yanked with a hook, her head jerked to the side by instinct, smelling something. Mutant wolves, smells of dried blood on them, and the curious scent of a man who, by all indications, looked and smelled like someone who had spent most of his life among these animals. It wasn’t unusual to hear or encounter feral humans, and for bandits they were more of a nuisance than a danger. This one, though, seemed like a different story. What was even more intriguing was that the woman called Magpie knew who he was, and not in a good way, too. Dar glanced at Rock Hammer and almost laughed at the absurdity of what she saw; unless she understood it wrong, Rock was being a nice fellow and actually<span style="font-style: italic">offering</span>one of those fermenting slabs of meat that formed part of his ‘clothes’ to the stranger and his two animals.<br/><br/>“He smells sick,” she said simply, crossing her arms. She wanted to be inside, but, well, her curiosity got the better of her this time, and it felt wrong to ditch the action after she had gotten a look. “And we’re in a Stalker base. He so much as sneezes, and they will rain fire on him. Although,” she added, this time raising her voice so even the stranger could hear her clearly, “the stranger would maybe want to take note of this fact, too, should he decide to use whatever it is he is hiding in his pocket there.” If his suspicious gesture wasn’t enough to tell Darina that he had a contingency measure, his heartbeat supported the fact. Now, that was a pleasant surprise for the bandit. She didn’t even need to consciously be listening for telltale signs of heightened anxiety. It was as if her own concentration on the current situation was a signal her mutated body interpreted then passed on to her other senses.<br/><br/>Hoping this was enough to tell the others to be extra cautious, she stepped back, too. If that was an explosive, like a grenade, Darina wondered if Rock was strong enough to deal with it. Whatever the man planned to do, it was more of a Hail Mary than anything else. Poor bastard must really be in pain. “We better just get inside,” Darina said to Magpie, “no use personally wasting your own ammo on him if they can handle it. And if he tries to jump us, well.” She tapped her nose. “Let’s just say I can sniff him out.”