Red Mane's leader

Vaien grit his teeth then gave a thin smile. "You little twerp, want me to beat you up?"

But it seemed like everyone else was curious as well, and as he was about to make an excuse, Kalla spoke up for him.

"Guys, it's crazy, but Zhang Han was one of those cave living mushroom people! You know~ mushrooms, those fluffy things that taste gross. That's why his hair is black and skin a different color. Isn't it weird? He's pretty crafty, but he's really weak too, so don't pick on him."

"..." Zhang Han didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Would everyone seriously believe that lie? It was just something Vaien made up earlier, but now Kalla was spreading it around without knowing any better. The situation was truly snowballing and yet he couldn't very well be the one to let the cat out of the bag. He just said, "...thanks for the introduction."

That kid Gunther certainly didn't seem to be buying it. He made an exaggerated pouting face and opened his mouth, but then another shout drew his attention away.

"Gunther, you brat, get your ass back here!" A middle-aged lady with hair in a bun and bloody knife in hand came over. "You're not done skinning the deer!"

The boy who was apparently called Gunther, who must also have a lot of courage to stand up to Vaien without fear, shrunk down at her scolding tone.

"But auntie Yetayyy," he whined. "Vaien's back and he brought an outsider! Everyone is curious. I really wanna ask this outsider some-"

"I don't give a rat's ass!" she countered with the air of an old cranky woman. The crowd parted as she wove her way through. She grabbed Gunther's arm and started dragging him back. "I don't care if we're being attacked by goliath killers, you're gonna finish skinning that meat before you do anything else."

There was no helping that child from his fate. But before they disappeared from sight Yetay paused, using the hand that was dragging along Gunther to wave at Vaien.

"Nice to see you're back! Stop by later."

"Sure." Vaien's expression was easy and obliging when he replied, and Zhang Han figured she must be pretty close with him. Or on good terms at least.

"Definitely!" Kalla echoed.

This time Yetay gave an eye-roll. "I see YOU all the time. You're just gonna want to eat all the dinner I cook again."

Kalla made a booing sound, but at that point Yetay had dragged Gunther away, surely to get back to his deer skinning.

There were densely poached houses, a mix of square and circular, about the village. They were made from wood and occasionally scrap metal. A few snoufle were in a stable nearby, it was around the corner of that building that Yetay and Gunther went out of sight.

The chatter continued afterwards. Zhang Han didn't know for how long it would last as more people arrived, hearing the news of Vaien's return later than the others.

At some point within Zhang Han answering a number of basic questions, such as what his name was, how he met Vaien, his history, of which he made up most answers, the crowd went silent again.

The fanciest residence with Red Mane's walls was at least two stories, with the skull of some toothed reptile nailed onto the eaves and wooden chimes clattering in the wind.

A woman stepped out the double doors of that house.

The weather was hot, but she wore a vest lined with bright red fur that circled halfway around her neck as orange hair curled around her features. A serpent tattoo ran down her collar bones and disappeared down her cleavage like a tempting mystery.

To many she would be sexy and beautiful, even with the faint lines of age around her eyes.

Zhang Han's shoulder was yanked on suddenly.

"What are you looking at?" Vaien asked with hints of viciousness. He'd been so busy talking to other people, but it was as though there were eyes in the back on his head as he interrupted Zhang Han's line of sight within a few seconds.

"..." Zhang Han had little tolerance for this. "That lady over there, is she the tribe leader?"

Vaien seemed to clench his jaw before giving a terse, "Yeah."

"Shouldn't we greet her soon?" Zhang Han was not certain about etiquette in this situation, but usually politely greeting the leader of an area when you arrive is natural. However, Vaien and Kalla had already spent quite some time talking with the crowd here.

As an answer to his thoughts, Vaien gave a light scoff. He was downright standoffish.

"Sure, she's the leader, but who can match me in power? It's only natural she comes out to greet me first. She should be overjoyed. I admit that Gihana is intelligent and decent strength, so she's all right at managing the tribe, but when it comes down to other matters..."

"..."

Or so he said openly in front of everyone. Vaien made managing the tribe sound so trivial.

Was that okay, bragging like that? Zhang Han assumed Vaien always spoke that way in front of him because he was weaker, but he realized that it was just the hierarchical ways of this planet. Those who were stronger just had a bigger ego that they shoved on everyone. Even the surrounding crowd found nothing strange with his rude words.

Kalla was the only one who argued with him, probably because she had those rights as his sister.

"Nobody's gonna be 'overjoyed' to deal with that attitude of yours."

"Yeah, you just repeat that. Go ahead."

Kalla stuck her tongue at him.

After that childish exchange Gihana stepped closer, the crowd parted to allow her through, and the first thing she did was let a wide smile peel over her face with hints of teasing.

"Vaien...I see you've returned in good spirits." Gihana leaned in closer, thin cat-eyes sparkling and cleavage hanging loosely. "I think we're all relieved. So...did you come back to reclaim your position, or to become my partner?"

Kalla got up with a dumb grin. "Gihana...you're behind in the race, Vaien already has a new partner. One who convinced him to come back here, to boot!"

As though unconvinced even with the crowd nodding in agreement, she narrowed her eyes and tried to lean in even closer to him.

"Really?" she asked in a low tone.

...Zhang Han was beginning to suspect she was one of the past flings Vaien mentioned before. And Gihana was much more sultry than Zhang Han would have expected from a leader. But you know, what the heck, she must do a good job leading since Vaien said so.

Isn't that what mattered?

Vaien's response to Gihana's temptation was more than clear. Turning his head in a subtle snub, Vaien even went as far as to take a step back from her.

He wrapped an arm around Zhang Han's shoulder, pulling him closer.

"Don't pester me," he said to her offhandedly.

"..."

Gihana stood back and her attitude shifted completely...over to Zhang Han.

"Oh? This little weakling is your tastes? Hm...this black hair..." she reached out to touch it, but Vaien dragged Zhang Han closer.

"Hands off!" he snapped.

The crowd recoiled, but Gihana just laughed brazenly. She similar to Kalla and didn't give two fucks about Vaien's mood flares.

"Well," she drawled, her eyes still roaming all over Zhang Han's figure, "I think we all know what's necessary for us to do next."

A single person in the crowd spoke up, Zhang Han was not sure who.

"Celebrate Vaien's return!"

Another echoed, "Celebrate Zhang Han joining Red Mane!"

Others fed into the whole 'celebrate' part and a chant started up. Everyone looked extremely happy as though they were given a day off work without notice. Which, they pretty much were.

To get dead drunk, of course.