It took a few days for Drugos’s tribe to arrive at the town. During that time, Drugos had some communication with Austin. They had planned to stay in the nearby mountains for their own independence, but they would periodically come to the town for trade and relations. They would also help teach people some of the things that they knew. Since many of the humans were used to modern conveniences. This would be their first visit to the town. Austin worked to prepare a celebration of their alliance. This was not just to celebrate the alliance, but also to ease the town into the tribe. He expected people to be wary, and he hoped a joyful occasion could ease the worry.
Austin stood at the entrance of the town with Brian by his side. As he stood there, the tribe came into view. Austin was shocked to see how much larger the entire tribe was than a typical human. Women and men both were at least one and a half times as tall and wide as humans. What was even more shocking was that the children all seemed to be the same size as a human child. It was as if orcs did not grow that large until after puberty. The clothes they wore were a mix of furs and something similar to traditional Japanese clothes. Austin thought it was strange that some of them wore clothes like that. He guessed there were only so many ways people could dress in the universe.
Drugos led the group beside a woman orc with hair in a ponytail. She wore furs and carried Astenk. Austin assumed that was Drugos’s wife if they had that sort of thing. He did not want to assume how orc culture worked. Through her lip was a singular gold ring, and Austin noticed that her skin was a more vibrant green than Drugos’s. Austin began to notice that the skin color of the orcs was all sorts of shades of green.
Directly behind Drugos was a group of orcs carrying two large pigs on spits. The pigs had already been taken care of and cooked. Austin could even smell the savory smell of meat as they approached. They must have finished roasting the pigs right before they left.
“Welcome to our town,” Austin smiled as he gestured back to the town with his arm. “I hope you have a good time meeting everyone today.”
“Thank you for the welcome!” Drugos smiled in response before he gestured to the pigs. “We brought you these boars as a gesture of goodwill.”
“Oh, thank you,” Austin said. “We have a celebration planned. We could share them there. Now come on in.”
Austin and Brian led the group through the town. They walked until they made it to a cuddlesack. Tables were set up throughout the area with various foods. Austin asked for as many people as possible to participate and cook a dish they felt good at.
“Uh, I guess we’ll have to find a place for the boars,” Austin said nervously. “I didn’t expect you to bring that.”
“Don’t worry at all, we brought stands for them,” Drugos said. “Just tell me where you want them set up.”
Austin pointed to an empty space where he thought the boars could fit. As he pointed, Drugos nodded to the orcs that carried them. They quickly moved towards the area with another group of orcs. It did not take long for them to put together stands for the pigs to hang from.
“Please make yourself comfortable,” Austin said. “Everyone should be arriving soon.”
The orcs dispersed themselves throughout the area. As Austin waited for the townsfolk to arrive, he spent time talking to the orcs and introducing himself. He felt awkward as he went from person to person. He never thought that he would be in a position where he had to mingle and make small talk.
As Austin felt his social battery dry, people started to arrive. Maya was the first to arrive with Elliot, and Austin felt relief as he saw the two. He immediately joined them. If anyone could help relax him, it was the two of them.
“How’s it going?” Maya asked with a knowing smile.
“Stressful, I need other people to get here,” Austin sighed. “I’m not good at this whole talking thing.”
“I know,” Maya chuckled. “I’m here now to save you.”
“My hero,” Austin said as he clutched his chest.
“Friend!” Elliot interrupted Maya and Austin to point towards Astenk.
“You can go play with him if you want,” Maya said as she lightly patted Elliot’s back.
Elliot nodded in excitement and ran towards Astenk. As he ran, he almost tripped over his feet in his excitement. Astenk’s eyes lit up as Elliot grew closer. It seemed like he was just as excited to see Elliot. Austin hoped that the adults could get along just as well as Elliot and Astenk.
“It’ll work out,” Maya said comfortingly as she placed a hand on Austin’s shoulder. “You said that Drugos seemed like a good person. Everyone will see they are just people like us.”
“I hope you’re right,” Austin said with doubt. “It’s not like orcs are portrayed well in stories usually.”
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“Those are just stories. You have to have some faith,” Maya said with a gentle smile. “There are a lot of new things for everyone. This is nothing compared to the Survival Game.”
“You’re right. Maybe I’m just getting in my head about it,” Austin admitted with a half-smile.
“You usually do that,” Maya chuckled. “Everyone else is starting to arrive. Let’s join them.”
Maya grabbed Austin by the hand and pulled him towards a group of townspeople. As they arrived, Maya started to direct them towards the orcs. While she had a smile on as she did, her approach had an unsettling forcefulness. She then went towards another group and had the same approach. Maya had made it her mission to force the groups to interact.
“Now that we got them talking to each other, let’s go eat,” Maya said to Austin. “I’m starving.”
The tables were filled with people grabbing food, but most of the people were gathered around the boars. They had been cut open by some of the orcs, and they started serving people. As they served people, they made small talk with the humans and seemed to hit it off. Of course, food was one of the closest ways to people’s hearts.
After Austin grabbed his food, he joined Sean, Josh, and Gavin. He was happy to see that they were talking with some of the orcs. Even though he was the leader of the town, he still gravitated to their group. They had all gotten back into their own style of clothing as well. Sean wore a black button-down shirt and slacks. Josh wore a baggy graphic t-shirt and sweat pants.
“Big man coming to grace us with his presence,” Gavin teased as Austin joined them.
“You know, if it were up to me, I would just spend time with you guys. All this other stuff doesn’t feel like my style,” Austin said.
“That’s what you signed up for,” Gavin laughed.
“Weren’t you just complaining about how leading the scouts means you don’t do much actual scouting?” Sean said flatly.
“If I knew it was mostly sitting around and managing, I would have taken one of your jobs,” Gavin said.
“You would hate it,” Josh laughed. “There is never a second of turning your brain off. It’s just constant.”
“Speaking of, it’s been a while since I have asked. Is everything going well?” Austin asked.
“As far as we can tell,” Sean said. “Everyone is doing their jobs as they should be.”
“Good to hear,” Austin said. “Everyone probably knows you are my inside guys, but I still feel comfortable knowing you guys are monitoring things.”
“You guys need to loosen up,” a bald orc man with a beard said. “Aren’t we having a party? You don’t have to talk about work.”
“Is this what humans do at parties?” Another orc with long hair asked. “You just stand around and talk?”
“Sometimes we play beer pong or cornhole,” Austin shrugged. “But otherwise, yeah, we mostly talk. Why? What do you guys do at parties?”
“There usually is a lot of wrestling,” the bearded orc said. “Nothing is better than eating your fill and testing your strength. What is this beer pong and cornhole?”
“We could show you,” Austin said. “It would probably liven things up.”
“That sounds like an idea!” The long-haired orc said. “We’ll do these games of yours, and you will wrestle with us!”
“You guys are almost twice our size!” Gavin said. “I don’t think that would be fair.”
“Wrestling is more than size. You’ll see,” the bearded orc said.
“I’m fine with it,” Austin said. “It’s better than standing around. I’ll get things set up.”
Austin left the group and asked around for the things he needed. He figured that at least some of the houses would have it. Luckily, it did not take long for him to find cornhole boards and bags. It took even less time to find disposable cups and some ping pong balls.
Gavin, Sean, and Josh helped Austin set up the beer pong and cornhole boards. Once they were set up, Austin gathered everyone and explained the rules. Drugos then explained the rules of their wrestling. It was not that different from what Austin knew. The winner was decided by a tap out or by holding their opponent down for a three-count.
Austin watched as the games started. Multiple games of beer pong, cornhole, and wrestling were all going on at once. Various people, from humans to orcs, volunteered as referees for the wrestling matches. At first, each group struggled with the other group’s respective games, but soon they started to get the hang of it. Each game had turned into a friendly challenge filled with competition and laughter.
As Austin watched, Drugos came up behind him and gave him a pat on the back. “It looks like everyone is getting along. I’m very impressed. I’ll admit I was worried how the humans would take to the orcs.”
“I think wrapping it together in a party helped a lot, but do people usually have problems with orcs?” Austin asked.
“Kinda,” Drugos shrugged. “I know that we have a ferocious appearance that can scare people. Long ago, we were also known as raiders. We’ve done a lot to change that, but there were still people who thought that of us. It’s actually kind of nice that we just have to worry about our appearance with you folk.”
“I’m happy that everyone could get over your appearance,” Austin admitted. “I was a little worried, myself. I think the boars definitely helped, though.”
“Of course! Food always helps!” Drugos chuckled. “There is no greater way to a man’s heart.”
“Very true,” Austin smiled.
The party continued late into the night. Eventually, people grew exhausted and retired to sleep. Austin led Drugos and his fellow orcs to vacant houses. He figured there was no harm in allowing them to sleep there. If anything, Austin thought they could work as places they stay when they visit the town.
After getting the orcs situated, Austin could finally return to his own home. As he walked to his room, he peered into Elliot’s. He was sprawled out on his bed in exhaustion. Austin was not sure he ever seen him sleep so soundly. Maya was also already asleep, and Austin quietly crawled into bed next to her. As he closed his eyes, he felt satisfied with the day’s events.
