The reactions from the people were mixed, which is honestly much better than Tamatoa and Maui had expected. Most of the villagers were more like Tui, skeptically mistrusting of the crab, but there were a surprising amount of people that were willing to give him a chance.

Tamatoa stayed off to the edge of the village that night, simply observing as the inhabitants did their dances and had their conversations. He didn't keep his distance so much for their comfort, but for his own. Moana being the only exception so far, Tamatoa still did not like humans and wanted to keep his distance for right now.

Unfortunately, some of the braver village kids had become curious about the crustacean and had began climbing all over him. And just when I thought humans couldn't get any smaller. Tamatoa, though mildly irritated, ignored them for the most part, and only moved them if they were getting too close to his treasures. The crab was particularly gentle with them despite how frustrating they were, as he certainly didn't want to be accused of "attacking" the human offspring.

"Are you really from Lalotai?" One would ask.

"Obviously." He would answer.

"Why are you so big?" Another question came.

"I'm a monster, kid." He sighed. "We do the 'growing' thing. A lot."

"Why do you have all this stuff?" A child asked, Tamatoa having not noticed that one got quite close to his treasure.

With an irritated glare, he plucked the child off his back with an antennae and placed her on the ground. "Awfully nosy little things, aren't you?" He growled, removing the other kids from himself as well. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"But we've never seen a real live monster before!" They whined. Tamatoa rolled his eyes; clearly these annoying little things weren't planning on giving up anytime soon.

"Children." A voice interrupted. Glancing to the side, Tamatoa saw that the voice belonged to none other than Chief Tui. The chief raised an eyebrow at the group of kids and continued, "Go play somewhere else. I need a word alone with the monster."

The children seemed disappointed, but were quick to comply with their leader's request.

"Wow." Tamatoa chuckled, holding his head up with a claw. "Didn't think I'd be relieved to see you again." He exuded a calm and cool demeanour on the outside, but kept in mind to be careful of what he said around Tui. Though he wasn't the most perceptive of beings, the crustacean could tell that it would be wise to at least attempt to make a good impression with this particular human.

"I'm going to be blunt with you, crab." Tui stated starkly, folding his arms. "I don't like you."

"Moi?" Tamatoa blinked innocently, gesturing to himself. "What's not to like?"

… Okay. Probably not the best thing to say. Tamatoa supposed he'd have to just roll with it now. When he saw Tui narrow his eyes in annoyance, the decapod went on. "Aw, c'mon, chief." He sang calmly, not letting the man get the better of him. "You may not like me now, but I think you'll come to find that I'm actually quite crabtivating." He gave a good-humoured wink as he said the pun, seeing if he could get any sort of reaction out of Tui other than that unimpressed glare.

The chief was not amused. Which was odd, considering how utterly fantastic and charming the crab is. Oh, well. Tui probably just has bad taste. Tamatoa refrained from saying so out loud, though.

"You listen to me, crab." Tui said sternly. "Moana may be excessively forgiving of what you tried to do to her, but I am not." His eyes became even colder, something Tamatoa didn't think was possible until now. "If you try to hurt my daughter again, I will kill you."

... Hmm. What a laughable threat from a creature so small. He must be off his rocker if he thought he could actually manage such a feat.

... But he could see why the chief would say this. Human parents are supposed to love and protect their children. Tamatoa knew that much, at least. Moana meant a lot to him, and surprisingly, the crab could relate.

"... I wouldn't blame you." The crustacean answered finally, watching the chief with a look of understanding. His voice carried a completely different tone to it, surprising the chief. "I can guarantee that you won't have any reason to kill me, but it's pretty obvious that my word alone won't reassure you of that. I'm no more than an untrustworthy monster to you, after all..." He smirked slightly; probably not the best look to give her dad right now, but he couldn't help himself. "Either way, I can't wait to prove you wrong."

The chief was expressionless for a while as he thought over everything, coldly watching the decapod. But, surprisingly enough, Tui returned the smirk. "Alright, then." He said. "Glad we're on the same page."

… Strange choice of words. But minor protective threats were nothing Tamatoa couldn't handle. At least they've made it somewhat clear to each other what their stances are on the whole situation. And now the crab knew he had something to prove to these people.