Tamora didn't know what to suspect, but he had told no lie when he called his home a shake. It was a building made out of rotten wood, surrounded with a metal fence. Which was probably electrocuted, for the many predators inside this world. Inside the fence were a few places of farm land, which were overgrown with weeds. But still she could see the veggies between them, the inside of the shake was not much better. It had two rooms, one of them was a bedroom. There was no bathroom, so she guessed that he probably took a shit outside. Most likely inside a hole in the ground. There was no kitchen inside, but she had seen a fire pit outside, far away from the shake. At least he had safety covered, but if she had to guess. She would do a lot of work outside, cleaning up the garden. Maybe helping out repairing this shake, to make it more livable.
"So woman, this is our humble home. You can see what needs to be done, so I will not tell you what to do. But let use start with your name first." He said.
"Tamora." She replied, quickly and he nodded.
"Well Tamora, like I said to Benny. I am not going to force myself on you, I am not that type of man. But if you are going to offer yourself to me, I will not hesitate to take you up on that offer. Do not go outside that fence without a proper weapon, you can find those inside the basement. Later today I am going to teach you how to use the weapon of your choosing, because tomorrow you will come with me to pick up the greens." She nodded, that sounded good in her ears. And she would not offer herself to him, of that she was sure.
"I will grab a weapon first, and after that I am going to work in the garden." She said he nodded.
"Then I will make a place where you can take a shit in private." He started to grin about his own joke, she didn't find it funny at all. But instead of saying that to him, she simply walked inside the shake, it was not hard to find the basement. The wooden stairs were half rotten way, and would collapse at any moment. And she thanked who even was listening that it didn't when she made her descent. Or when she came back up with a sword on a stick, and a set of daggers on her hip. "Ah you have chosen the glaive, fine and nice choice. Keeps your enemy at a save distance, and you are still being deadly." Orisino said, he hummed. "I am looking forward to our training, this afternoon. But now you need to put that pretty ass of yours in gear and earn your keep." She narrowed her eyes and looked him over. Did he really just said that? Well if she was going to life here, she needed to put up with it. Somehow. Because she knew that she was not able to change him.
********
Tamora just emptied the bucket with weeds on the freshly made compost pile. She was almost done setting the carrots free from the weeds that hold them captive. The loud noise of something slamming on wood had filled the air. Some animals had visited them, but they didn't get any closer. Indicating that the fence was indeed electrocuted.
"You freed the carrots, nice." Orisino stood behind her, and she almost jumped out of her skin. "If you want to survive here, you need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Even when you sleep." He growled, she rolled with her eyes.
"Do you ever sucker coat things?" She asked, he shook his head.
"I would not dream of it." He replied. "Come on, it is time for your training." She looked at the garden, which was not even being near done. But he had said that he would train her, something she wanted. "I am not going to say it again, so get up. Or I will attack you right here and now, and you will learn to fight that way." He said, and somehow she knew that it was not an empty treat. She jumped up and grabbed the sword on a stick from her back. She had forgotten how he had called it, so she named it how it looked like. He nodded, and he showed her how to hold it. "Keep your hands apart, so you have balance." She did what he just said, and again he nodded. But then he grabbed his maquette and swung it her way. She quickly blocked it with the stick, he did it again and again. How was this going to teach her anything? She learned how to block an attack, but that would mean nothing when she would come face to face with one of those animals. They didn't attack with just one weapon, they would attack with their claws and teeth. Still she kept on blocking his assaults. Without complaining, but still she started to get angry. He swung with his maquette again, she blocked it with the stick. And then started to attack him with the sword end of the stick. But he ducked out of the way, but then she attacked him again. And this time he could block her assault in the nick of time. "Good, you are doing good. You are light and quick, which you can use in fights." He said, when she attacked him again. "Do not use your anger as fuel for your attacks, it makes you lose focus." He then slammed with one clean swoop the sword on the stick out of her hands. "Pick it up." He did not need to say that. She was already all on her way to do that. "Again." And they started the whole process over, and over until her whole body started to ache. But once again she did not complain.
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*****
"Alright that is enough for today. Go to the other side of the house there is a shower stall. Do not stand under it too long, the water is not limitless." He said and walked away. She nodded and went to the other side of the house. There was indeed a little wooden building, from which she could swear was not there when she had arrived here. Maybe it was one of the things he had built when she was working inside the garden. Inside the wooden building she found two compartments, one with a tray were she could place her cloths on, and one that was separated with a simple plastic screen. Quickly she undressed herself, until she was only in her underwear. She was going naked all the way, at least not for now. The shower was a rusted bucket with a shower head attached to it, briefly she wondered how she got the water out of the bucket. But then she saw a little cord. She pulled on it softly, knowing what Orisino had said about the limited water supply. The water started to pour down, it felt good, she would not say that she was clean after that, but still it was nice to know she could was away some of the dirt and sweat. She moved the screen away and then had the shock of her life. In the other side stood a plant, which filled the room. A plant she had never seen before, it had a large red flower as head and cup as body. It was beautiful, but then she wondered how it got here. She had not seen it being there before. Not knowing why she grabbed her sword on the stick, which she had taken with her. She grabbed in the way Orisino had showed her, and she attacked the plant. Yes she was going crazy, she was attacking a plant. Or maybe not. Because as soon she trusted the sword end towards the plant, it started to move and to attack her. She needed to get out of this tiny space, or maybe she needed to start screaming. Which in her mind sounded like a good idea. She opened her mouth and screamed, it was loud and long, she was sure Orisino would get the message that something was wrong. Still she was not going to wait for him to rescue her, she trusted with her weapon Again and again, the plant tried to snap at her with his bright red flower head. She somehow menaced to get it out of the little building and into the garden. From the corner of her eyes she saw Orisino running towards them. "How did it get in here?" He asked.
"Do not know, but is that really a question you want to have answered now? Or are you going to help me kill it?" She snapped at him, and he grabbed his machete as the answer. He swung it towards the plant's head, which fall off. And the fight was over. She started to gasp for air. "What was that thing?"
"Paracidic Dazzler, a spawn of someone's genius but sick mind." He replied, he now looked at her with large eyes. "Did it attack you when you were under the shower?" She just now remembered that she was only wearing her underwear.
"No, I was just done, and it stood in the place where my cloths were." She said, her cheeks started to burn up. "This is not an invitation." She said quickly before running back to the little wooden building to put on her cloths.
"You did good. You hold it off, long enough for me to kill it." He said when she stepped out, this time in her short and tank top. She wanted to thank him for that compliment, but then she remembered his question. Had he already figured out how the creature got there in the first place?
"How..." She started.
"Like all living things get in here, simply through the gate. Someone had left it open. And I do not point fingers at you, it was most likely me." Orisino said. Her eyebrows shot up. It would have being him, if he was not pointing a finger at her directly. Something he would have done, about that she had no doubt. "Alright, I will clean this up." He said. "You keep a watch on the fire." She nodded.
*******
There was not much she could do when she sat by the fire. He already had placed wood on it, and it burned brightly. Cooking the water and meat inside the cooking pot. So she looked at the man, who was busy carving out the plant. Were they going to eat that thing? Probably, it would make sense. Eat or been eaten. She stopped wondering about it now. She just wanted to take in the man, who she is now sharing a shake with. He had a sunburned skin, dark brown curls on top of his head. A three-day stubble, covered his chin.
"Place another piece of wood on the fire." He said, and she quickly did as she was told. Had he noticed that she was staring at him instead of watching the fire? If he had, he had not said a thing about it, until now that is. But if that was the case, then that meant that he was staring at her too. Her cheeks started to heat up again. What was this, was she blushing? She was and she had no idea how to stop it. She didn't know this man, at least not yet. But that would chance rather quickly.