Melanie pauses. He's being stubborn about this - not in a Sergeant Parks sort of way, but in a Miss Justineau sort of way. Like he's more worried about what might happen to her than what might happen to him.

She slowly pivots to face him, pale eyebrows quirked in perplexity. "Have you dealt with hungries before?" she asks. He must have some experience - his pipe is covered in evidence of its recent use - but he might not understand exactly what they're facing.

No one from a universe other than her own would, really.