Winston hated the idea of being followed by an unknown entity. He was too trigger happy whenever he noticed a threat, which was what he was afraid of.
Despite the city proving to be a decent camouflage, where he was mostly left alone with his thoughts and ideas, all that calmness went away when he felt threatened. When he felt threatened, a certain primal urge to fight overcame him, but this was especially disadvantageous in a city, where not only were there many eye witnesses, but he would also have to deal with the troubles of being hunted by city officials if he chose to defend himself against this stalker.
The inner debate he had with himself, was primarily focused on resisting the urge to shoot the stalker on sight. He fought hard to keep that urge in check, and instead, he calmly walked to a part of the city where there were less people around. If he had to defend himself, he'd rather have the opportunity to disappear into the city afterwards, as there were great benefits from hiding in plain sight.
"Come on… keep following me a little further you bastard." He mumbled, until he made it to the edge of the city.
There weren't many houses at the edge. The line between houses carved into the coral reef, and the wild side of the reef ended here. Worse case scenario, he could also choose to make a run for it and hide in the wild, rather than the city. He had options.
As soon as he confirmed that there weren't any other starfish around, he snapped, and summoned the bolt-action rifle from his arsenal. He was hoping that he wouldn't get to use it, as this rifle was quite loud when shot, but he figured that a big gun would intimidate most people, including the stalker. The safest route out of this might just be to play mind tricks.
The stalker caught up to him minutes later, and met with the barrel of Winston's gun, which forced them to take a couple of steps backwards.
"Woah!!" A feminine voice echoed. "Calm down, I don't want to hurt you!"
"Well, you can't hurt me." He said. "I have the advantage, woman, so you better tell me why you've been following me."
Shaking her head left and right, she insisted, "Put the gun down first, and then we'll talk."
"Hell nah!" He exclaimed. "I'm not a fucking idiot. You better start talking, or otherwise you're gonna end up picking how you want to die. I'm no sucker."
"Pinky… calm down." She insisted.
"Pinky?" He pulled his head back, confused. "That sounds racist."
With a stern face, she added, "That's a stupid thing to say, we're not even the same species. Calling you Pinky can't be racist. Now, don't change the topic… I need you to put the gun down, and listen to me. I'm a friend, or recruiter, if you prefer that."
Irritated, he said, "I'd prefer you piss off. I'm not trusting whatever bullshit you're trying to sell me."
"Stibus, you're paranoid." She sighed. "Look, I saw you talking to those hunters, and I'd like to share some information with you."
"Information?" He repeated. "That old fart was just a prick. Nothing new there."
"Well, he is a prick yes, but he was also scared, scared that you were after something bigger, that he was trying to protect. There's something big going on in the city, and we could use some help." She said.
"We?" He repeated.
Afterwards, he took a look around, and counted three more starfish pointing their guns at him. Unlike him, they weren't trigger happy, but rather, they seemed focused, precise, and organized. He could tell how serious they were by their posture, they were self-maintained.
He thought, "If they're this damn organized, there's probably ten more of them hiding around me. I'm probably going back to the mines, for fuck's sake!"
[Cooperate. They would've shot you already if they wanted to. Even if you end up in the mines, you can fight your way out again.]
After that bit of advice from the system, he looked at the woman, and said, "I'll put my gun away, but just know, if I get shot, I will make sure that at least half of you lose your legs from ten or so grenades."
Winston wasn't even sure if he could summon one grenade in time, so he was bluffing, because he really wanted an edge over this forced meet-and-greet. He flicked his gun back into his arsenal, and hoped for the best.
"We don't want to shoot you, pinky," She repeated, and at this point, he could see it from her smile that she was teasing him. "We don't shoot talented starfish, we recruit them."
The lady honored her words. Winston didn't get shot when he put his gun away, he was fine. He was even surprised that this band hadn't gunned him down yet.
"Relax, my friends have put their guns down already. They're coordinated." She nodded. "Let's introduce ourselves properly now. I'm Amanda. What's your name?"
"Winston," He answered.
"Okay, Winston, here's what's in my mind. When one of us heard you talking to the hunters about guns, we figured that you were lying, because most Worker Starfish don't use guns, they don't practice such magic, so we had to check you out ourselves." She explained. "You've proven that you practice Weapons Magic, and you're good at it too, so my question is, how did you become so good at it? You seem to be too young to hold a rifle like that."
"I'm not that young, I'm practically middle aged." He pointed out. "I had a lot of time, so I practiced Weapons Magic on the count that it's quite useful."
Winston had an honest look on him, but of course, everything he said was a lie. It would be unwise if he told them that the system provided him the guns, because by all odds, no one else had a system in their heads.
"Okay, that sounds reasonable. Thanks for your honesty." Amanda said. "Now that we got that out of the way, I have an offer for you. We need talented shooters, or smart starfish in general. You've proven yourself smart enough by luring me here, so, how would you like to join us in the biggest, and likely most important quest of your life?"