After the cool down of their work out, the two of them decided to wash away the sweat and grime that had accumulated on their bodies. Initially, the procedure was that they would take turns, but this time, since they were now an item, they could bathe together. Tanatswa was still getting used to this side of their romancing and was making sure he wouldn’t over extend himself, least he would anger the only girlfriend he had ever had. As the two of them submerged their bodies into the pool of water,

Shami, made her clavicle to the neck up visible to him. She unstrapped the animal hide she was wearing and used the coconut soap to scrub her body. As the foam built up on her hair, she divided down and saw Tanatswa’s junk and then resurfaced with a wicked smile. Tanatswa just watched as this girl did her thing, being energetic and jovial over the simplest of things. Tanatswa just washed and minded his business, but soon enough, Shami found his act a bit boring.

“Why are you acting all coy Tana?” she asked, splashing water at him.

“Hey, stop that, stop splashing water at me.” he said, peeved by her antics.

“You know you should relax a bit, or are your muscles so sour that you can’t just let loose in this pool. I mean you bath like you’re in a concentration camp.” she said, jokingly.

“You do realise that if we were in different circles, that joke would have probably offended a lot of people.” he said, glancing at her as he tried to dodge her water projectiles.

“Well fuck political correctness. We live in Goshem now, so that won’t affect us. You know Tanatswa, you’re really fascinating guy.” she said, as she floated atop the water. Her breasts and her knees were showing as she did back strokes.

“Really now, I wonder where you’re going with this?” he asked, curious as to what insane thing would come out of her mouth.

“You have this knack of being either very hot or cold, never Luke warm. When you’re dark and gloomy, you’re 100% doing it and when you’re getting very excited, you go crazy.” she said, floating towards him in the pool.

“What made you come to that conclusion?” he asked, unsure of where she was going with this.

“Well observation and the fact that we have been staying together. For a guy who claims you never went hard for fitness in the past, you sure look like you’re in the zone when you do it.” she said, reaching him and then submerging her body.

“Like I said before, I had the passion for it, but circumstances didn’t allow for me to even scratch the surface.” he said, now sounding a bit serious.

“Well then, now that you’re in the right circumstances, what else could you not do that you wish you could do now? I remember you mentioning you drawing comics and making music at one point in your life, so would you want to draw me comics?” she asked, with a whimsical expression.

“You want me to draw you comics? Okay where the hell is this coming from?” he asked, doubtful of her true intentions.

“Well you said you were a promising artist who didn’t get the chance to live your dreams, so maybe we could get you to draw or paint your material again.” she said, with a gleaming face.

“Even if I wanted to, there aren’t any pens, paints, paper or any art stores where I can just easily get a hold of such equipment. Let’s face it, I am better off cave painting and sculpting models with clay.” he said in a rather bummer tone.

“Well, we are pretty smart people plus we have the added advantage of the custom goal, it’s basically google afterlife. If people back in the day figured out how to make paper, pens, ink and anything, then we can too.” she said, getting close to him. Tanatswa felt really uncertain about her close proximity and believed that it conflicted with her stipulation that they weren’t supposed to touch. She had insisted on no touching, but here she was, nude in water, right next to him.

“Okay, maybe I could get back into that…” he said, before getting interjected.

“Yeah and even your music.” she said, now grabbing him by the torso.

“I can’t produce music without a laptop. I don’t think it’s possible for me to just whip up a pc that has the right music software like FL Studio 11 without any background knowledge in manufacturing nor specialised sound software development. Just forget about it.” he said, becoming frustrated by her arrogant questions.

“But you can play an instrument right?” she asked.

“Yeah, but regardless…” he said before being interjected by her again.

“Well I could make you an acoustic guitar. You don’t need to plug anything or use any music software” she said, with frantic enthusiasm.

“Why all the sudden are you interested in facilitating my past passions?” he asked, now grabbing her by the torso.

“I know I tend to do things in an unconventional manner, but when you talked about us having to do those insane drills every day plus factoring in my priority list, I realised that we have just been surviving and not really living. Like once we get our shit together, level up, get the mana farm up and running, kick all the asses of the assholes who try to gank our shit, what will become of our lives? Maybe we could invent things or do cool shit like your music, or we could start a football club. It’s just that, it would be nice for a change of pace. You and me, we are a bunch of crazy, sexy and beautiful people playing the Hunger games. Even if it’s necessary for us to live like this for now, just remember that even war torn kings need a court jester. Saw think about it.” she said, as she embraced him.

“Alright, I will consider what you’re saying. We better head off and get started with the mana plant stuff.” he said, feeling awkward about Shami’s breasts rubbing against his lower chest as she tried to convey to him something serious.

“Alright then, I will see you at the base.” she said, as she swam to the edge of the pool.

Shami got out of the pool butt naked, showing her rear end to Tanatswa who at first wanted to block his eyes, but felt like doing so would make him seem coy. If watching her walk out without turning away wasn’t okay then she would probably scold him. Alas, none of that happened.

Shami quickly covered her private parts with the animal hide and began to trot away into the distance, whilst showing signs of throbbing muscles fatigue. Tanatswa soon followed and dressed up in his torn up clothes that made him seem like a well-built homeless man. If one thing was for sure, he was in desperate need for a new wardrobe.

The custom goal mechanic gave them both specific guidelines on how to achieve the best possible results for their mana planting project and they immediately got to work. For this project to be a success, they needed: to till the land at least 30 centimetres deep, extract the seeds from the plants and place them in the dirt as well as get mulch and spread it across the ploughed land. Mana plants were like cabbages in that they were very water intensive, so Shami came up with a plan to make a huge tank like wooden dish that they would fill up with water at the river.

The actual tank construction took a while since they spent a lot of time researching about a substance that they could use to water proof any of the potential holes that would result in water leaks. As soon as they made the adhesive, Tanatswa who insisted on doing the heavy lifting, would walk around with the dish which was 11 times his size, but would carry it effortlessly due to his physique. Tanatswa wondered how heavy it would become with the added weight of water being inside of it, but when he did fill it up, he felt a huge increase in its heaviness. Tanatswa just tensed his bulging muscles and carried the dish, walking a little over 2km. The weight over time did tire him, but when Shami cheered him on as she watched him at a distance, he resisted the urge to slack. From one single trip, they managed to secure just enough water to water all the seeds. Apart from the mulch, they would also need to use the leavings of animals to fertilize the plants. As Tanatswa rested, Shami would then go with her small wooden bucket to collect dung from many of the herbivorous animals.

This process was rather gross because animal dung in Goshem was pungent. The smell was so bad that Shami would get nauseated and experience a gag reflex. When she returned, she placed the dung far from their living quarters and decided to call it a day. It was already getting dark so there was no need for them to get into any building. Shami could barely handle thinking about housing plans and architecture after having exposed her nostrils to such a vile stench. Both of them were pretty drained and just wanted to relax and eat something. The evening’s cuisine would be some soy meat looking vegetable, boiled and simmered in the clay pot over a fire and then fried using some oils that were preserved from the remnants of animal fat. As this went on, Shami decided to discuss with him.

“So today was a fucken long day, but at least we managed to set up that plantation stuff in a day. I am totally glad that’s water under the bridge.” she said, reclining on her back, as she looked into the stars.

“Yeah, I think I should incorporate carrying that big dish into our workouts. I don’t know exactly which muscle it affects, but I am pretty sure it really tests your endurance. I hope you’re going to make your xp purchase for strength.” he said, as he separated their meal in half, giving each other large portions.

“I already made the purchase. My muscles do feel heavier now, but anyways, that looks great, I am really craving something delicious.” she said, taking a mouthful of the food.

“Yeah, this is pretty intense stuff. Gordon Ramsey would be proud.” he said, smiling as he devoured the meal. After the feasting was done, the two of them slept beside each other, exhausted and in desperate need for sleep. Even if they had any inclination to fool around, their fatigue gave no sway to their libido. The only thing Tanatswa did was give Shami a goodnight kiss by the forehead before retiring. It was going to be another day of hard work, but as long as the two of them had each other, they could persevere and overcome whatever they put their mind to accomplishing.

In the morning, the young couple yawned as they got out of bed. Shami was the first one to wake up and noticed Tanatswa sleeping peacefully. She stretched out her hand to caress his face. After a few seconds of stroking his cheek and lower jaw, Tanatswa slowly opened his eyes, stretching out his arms as he began to give off a yarn that sounded like a suffocated growl. Shami giggled at the sound of him yawning and then said, “Looks like the Tiger has finally awoken from his sleep.”

“The tiger?” he asked, as he got out of the animal fur blankets, “Are we now doing pet names?”

“Is the Tiger too raunchy for you or maybe you’d want something like me calling you a lion.” she said, teasing him as usual.

“No, I want neither, besides; I would rather call you by your name and have you do the same to me.” he insisted, not willing to entertain her silliness.

“Well, I am not going to give up on the idea just yet, so we going to head out to train?” she asked.

“Yeah, after we eat and then stretch. Are you gonna rock that Bantu look or you’re going to wear something decent?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

“Well that was just for yesterday, besides don’t act as if you weren’t into that shit.” she said, giving him the wicked smile whilst she was caressing her hair.

“Yeah, but we are training, so there is no need for that, plus, I don’t think I would want other people to see you dressed like that.” he said, getting into the heart of the matter.

“Oh, so you are becoming territorial now, setting boundaries on how I should dress now? Well, what if I am trying to express myself in some way.” she said, jokingly.

“We both know that’s bullshit, because you’re just trying to push me to the edge because of our no touching rule. You seem to be torturing me by exposing yourself and turning me on, when you clearly don’t want us to go any further.” he said, with a stern look.

“So you figured me out, I guess you can apply your brain to other things. Well, right now we are in relationship cross roads. Basically I am whipping you into shape so that you learn that when a girl like me, who by the way is very forward because of you dropping the ball all the time, wants to make you want it so bad that you can’t get it, you will the pain.” she said with a crude laughter.

“Your exes must have found you to be quite the piece of work. So when does this game of yours end?” he asked.

“Well, once I know that you have learned your lesson and you don’t do anything reckless like not pulling out, then maybe we could go back to love making. So for now, you can hold it in your pants and watch in pain, knowing that there won’t be any vag and dick action until you realise, that I can keep these legs closed for a long time, but I won’t make it easy for you because, if I do, you won’t learn.” she said, sounding maniacal.

“I think I would get bored without you. You’re a really crazy girl.” he said, heading towards the table with the fruits.

“Honestly, if you hadn’t found me, you probably would have gone gay, wait…” she said, getting interrupted by him when he tapped her ass after she stated ‘gay’.

“I am pretty sure you’re not the only pretty lady in Goshem.” he said, with a snarky smile.

“We agreed on no touching damn it, that means smacking my ass is out of the question you idiot.” she said, running after him.

Tanatswa dodged her and then speed out of the cottage. Shami began to pursue him as she noticed him laughing at the same time making silly expressions on his face. The chase lasted for 5 minutes until she realised she was no match for his speed. Tanatswa laughed it off whilst Shami made a comical sulking face. The two of them had a busy day ahead of them and they were surely going to make their gains through their training and mana farming. Despite this jovial and enthusiastic attitude towards their efforts, Shami was still concerned about one thing, whether she would get her period or not. If she missed her cycle, then it would mean that they would have to prepare for one more person and that was the last thing Shami wanted on her conscience.