Introductions cut short, Viktor turned from Darren at the incoming of another citizen of the Underbelly. Someone, a woman, pushed her way through the crowd that had been surrounding their now-finished altercation. Her accent drew visible reaction from Viktor, who furrowed his brows and slightly tilted his head at the sound of it. An odd novelty. The Stalker hadn't heard an accent so strange from anyone aside from one of his friends back at base. Lowering his still-open hand, he turned to face Nikolav head on, moving it instead to the side of his belt.<br/><br/>"Word travels that fast down here, eh?" He asked, other hand idly scratching at his chin scruff.<span style="font-style: italic">"Georgy must have blabbed about it,"</span>Viktor thought.<span style="font-style: italic">"Fucking Georgy."</span>While he had little issue with bringing people out of the station if necessary, he did keep in mind that the Stalkers were not a travel service. Still, he listened to her, keeping quiet as she explained her proposal. Another tilt of the head and an expression that suggested agreement was his reaction to her speak of locks and opening them. Shooting a good lock barely proved fruitful anyway, and even breeching doors was a waste of ammunition without very specific equipment. The shotgun skill was a nice bonus. An extra shooter was always helpful, and at her claim to be better than most with a shotgun, Viktor shot an amused glance and half-smile at Darren, owing to what the other man had previously stated about his lack of experience with firearms.<br/><br/>"Don't see why you<span style="font-style: italic">couldn't</span>come. But the cities are pretty damn dangerous places, you know? Especially the big ones. Hell, I've never even seen Moscow's heart yet. Between the broken towers and the mutants, I don't expect us to be headed in that way. If you want to go west, though, you showed up at a damn good time." Another normal-sized passenger probably wouldn't weigh the cars down too much. At the very least, they didn't have another giant tagging along. "Let's try to keep word quiet though? At this rate, we'll be taking half the damn station with us." The last comment was meant mostly as a good natured joke, but he did find it awfully strange that their presence in the underground village, as well as their intentions to go, had gotten around so quick.<br/><br/>Before an answer could be properly given, Viktor took notice of the crowd dispersing, and the looming silhouette of a giant wading through it. People turned from the fight to stare at the enormous mutant coming their way, with a look on his face that was different from any Viktor had witnessed over their travels that day. Something was wrong. Rock Hammer's approach stopped, and the sound of a guttural rumble put Viktor on instinctive alert. The heaviness of his breath and the saliva leaking from his mouth worried him on multiple levels. Was he sick? Or had he lost his mind so utterly that he now saw them as prey in the short time they'd been in the station.<br/><br/>Viktor could not tell, and with an unsure motion, he changed his stance and moved his hand to let it hover near his leg holster. A hopeless maneuver, perhaps. The mutant's thick hide and thicker muscles would make a bullet useless in the event one needed to be used,  and preferring to see if his faculties still worked before he defended himself, Viktor attempted to speak to him. "You feeling alright, big guy?" Distinct in the undertone of his speech was a hint of apprehensiveness. It was lessened only somewhat when he uttered a profoundly disconcerting response.<br/><br/>"Who's coming?" Was Viktor's first question. An answer coming straight was doubtful, but it was worth a shot. At the very least, it may have offered some meager amount of insight into his intentions.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Mikhail's direction of words to the giant rat drew her full attention, both ears raised to listen to him while her nose twitched. She was indeed a rather large specimen, but nothing compared to some of the monsters that existed out in the world. At the very least, she didn't look too deformed. Aside from her lack of a tail and rather huge size, she outwardly resembled a very ordinary white rat.<br/><br/>Stefan got quite a bit of amusement out of Mikhail's joke, chuckling audibly. "You should have seen her parents. Sasha may as well be a runt compared to them." It wasn't clear if it was a joke or not, but rats could grow to somewhat ridiculous size in certain places. He quieted down again when Mikhail started to answer his question about sicknesses, and a much less joking tone took his voice. "Ah, I'm afraid not, more than likely. If you'd allow me to perform an examination, I<span style="font-style: italic">might</span>have a treatment, but miracles are a bit out of my league." He regretted that he was unable to help more. Disabilities, whether brought on by mutation or not, were hard to live with in the new world.<br/><br/>While the loss of medicine was a bit of an issue, Stefan was confident he could fix what damage had been done given time. "It's nothing that can't be undone with a bit of work. That will mostly just take time and focus at this point. As for helping, that's exactly what you could aid me with, provided you don't mind plucking flowers and carrying around bottles. I'm sure that the others could find something for you to do if you'd prefer less menial tasks, though." Making salves and pills out of mutant plants was easy enough with an experienced doctor at the helm, and it was what most of their haul had been in the first place.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>While she refrained from speaking to any of the guards, the hooded woman gave a nod to add some sort of believability to the ongoing lie the other two women were feeding to them. Just a big get-together of old friends, meeting in a dark alley near the back wall of town. Completely believable. When the guards walked off again, she grunted in amusement, and watched the knife-wielding man take off soon after.<br/><br/>"I'd worry more about that cut than a drink," She responded to Magpie's offer, uncrossing her arms to flick the safety on her pistol back on. Her coat was pushed out of the way to holster it again, and she rested the hand that had been holding it on her hip. "Don't suppose you'll be sticking around much longer, anyway. It's usually not a good idea to keep to places where you owe people something." After a few moments of pause, she added on to it. "Unless you can get away with shooting them, I mean."<br/><br/>As casually as she'd suggested the option of putting a bullet through a man's head, she squatted and ran her hand down Tiny's head and back, giving his side a firm few pats. "Good dog." Some moments of consideration later, she decided to ask a question. "So, who names their kid 'Magpie?'"