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cockatrice-writers-guild · 2 years

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The Joy of Creation

this takes place in the set in stone au

warnings: panic, swearing

I wipe the sweat from my brow as I add the finishing touches to the sculpture in front of me, sanding out the remaining imperfections as the sun tries to roast me alive from above. Once I’m sure they’re gone, I take a step back and look over the statue again. As tired as I am, the moment this sculpture is done, the moment I can go take some time off till my next commission.

My name is Emelia Markov, Mia for short, and I’m a sculptor working for Rea, the goddess of creativity. Well, it’s less that I’m working for her than I am the people at the temple. Worshippers come to me to make them statues to add to the temple grounds and I’m more than happy to oblige. I like the work.

Once I’m sure the statue is done, I brush the dust off my shoulders and head back to my shack to ward off the sun for a while, thinking about what I can do with the free time as I go. Tending to my tools and helping out with temple maintenance I guess. Not exciting work by any means but it’s constant and I appreciate that.

I’m thinking of maybe a quick nap before I head to the temple but as I step into my humble little abode, I can immediately sense that something is…different and a simple glance to the right is all that it takes to see the problem: there’s a woman standing in here now, examining some of my sculpting tools.

Now, while my house is technically on temple property along with all the marble statues that remain here to honour the minor goddess, people aren’t really supposed to be in this part of the temple, as in, inside my house.

“Excuse me but this place is off limits,” I inform her.

The woman doesn’t even start, slowly putting down the small rasp she’s holding before turning to face me, a small smile on her face. “Actually, I came here because I wanted to see you.”

“Me?”

The woman nods. “You are the sculptor here, are you not?”

I nod.

“Then I wanted to give you a little something to show you my appreciation. You’ve been doing exceptionally well with your sculpting lately and you’ve been helping a lot of Rea’s followers as well. I can sense this…passion from your sculptures that’s almost a rare find these days. So after some thought, I finally found a gift that would be more than suitable to spark that passion of yours. To nurture it into something greater.”

I’m sweating. Covered in dust. And I think I need to drink something before I pass out but still, this intrigues me. People at the temple usually just pay me for my time, a quick thank you if they’re feeling generous, but that’s usually the end of it.

I nod at her and taking that as a queue, the woman silently beacons me before stepping out of the hut with me following along after a few steps.

She leads me past the garden of statues accumulated over the centuries this temple had been in use, made by me and the many other sculptors that had been here before. Their cold, colourless eyes watch us as we walk.

Rea has always had a small but loyal following. The statues we pass as we move further and further into the garden are already covered in thin layers of moss and vines from years of standing and being subjected to the elements. The greenery grows thick and eventually trees start to tower over us, filtering the sunlight as the unkempt grass brushes against my legs. We’ve been walking for some time now and when the woman finally stops and turns to me, I have no idea what I’m supposed to be looking at.

She smiles as I examine the statues surrounding us, taking in the winged horses expertly crafted in midflight, the heroes with raised swords and even a deer grazing peacefully. It’s all beautiful and as I try to absorb every single detail of the works surrounding us, trying to guess what techniques were used to carve things so lifelike, I’m also confused.

Why did this woman take me here? Was the gift she was talking about the view of these, admittedly amazing, statues? Was she giving them to me? Was she even allowed to? These were all technically property of the temple. I turn to look at the woman, surprised to see she had been staring at me the whole time. Her expression almost looks…giddy.

“You appreciate the craft, I take it?” she asks and I look away, embarrassed. “Good! Then this gift will do nicely. For Emelia, I’m granting you,” she raises her hands with a flourish at the wall of moss in front of us, “the gift of creativity!”

I stare at the greenery for a while before turning back to the woman, whose arms are still raised. “…you’re giving me moss?”

The woman blanks for just a moment before she shakes her head. “Look closer, sculptor.”

I just shoot her a look before walking towards the green wall. The sooner this is done, the sooner I can change into something that isn’t drenched in sweat. I reach forward and touch the moss, surprised when my hand makes contact with something hard just beneath it. I turn to the woman, unsure, and once she gives me an eager nod, turn and rip out some of the moss.

And underneath the patch I just excavated is marble.

I look up and the wall goes on and on and on. And all of it, presumably, marble.

Not in bad condition either.

I open and close my mouth a few times, trying to find something to say before just turning to the woman and pointing at the green stained patch of rock.

She smiles. “Creativity,” she repeats. “You’ve done well serving the temple and so I grant to you this block of marble to make a sculpture of your own. You may do whatever you wish with it.”

Whatever I wish with it. A weird noise escapes my mouth before the words do. “I…you…is this legal?”

“Have no fear. The mountain belongs to me. And now it belongs to you.”

This bitch is giving me a mountain.

“What…but I…would the temple approve of this?”

The woman just shrugs, her smile sly as she watches me. “I know Rea would.”

Practicality.

That’s obviously what should be done with an extravagant gift like this, right?

I mean, I’m allowed to do whatever I want with all this material and it was given to me because of my service to the temple. So, logically, using the marble for the sake of the temple is the most practical decision.

I spent the day scaling up the side of the massive thing and the whole time my mind was thinking about the practicality of it all, of how useful it would be for my job. But now,

…now as I stare down at the world below from the very peak of the mountain I now own I…

Start to reconsider.

An idea starts to form in my head. Something stupid. Something crazy. Insane. Exciting.

An idea worthy of Rea’s sculptor.

Now, do I believe Rea is, in fact, a real entity? …debatable.

Do I believe in the legitimacy of the woman giving me a whole ass mountain to sculpt with? …also debatable.

But…feeling the wind blowing through my hair and looking down down down at the tiny shack I call a home, the temple in the distance and the myriad of statues stretching out below me, so impossibly miniscule from this new vantage point I just…

inspiration hits.

And it hits hard.

My heart starts to flutter once I finally let myself think it over. There’s a spark now, excitement. I almost feel restless despite how drained I still am from the trip up, my hands already itching for the tools I’d neglected to take with me for the trip and it’s just…

Sure, I could save a few bucks cutting chunks out of the mountain to carve into the shapes people pay me to make

Or I could make something.

I could make something big.

The first thing I do is clean the moss off the areas I’m sculpting for the day. It’s tedious and hours of work hardly seem to make a dent in the greenery but as hours turn to days turn to months, the true face of the mountain starts to reveal itself to me.

And once enough of the green has disappeared, I think about all the things I can possibly make. And then, without any clear plan, I just…go.

Sometimes hours pass without me even noticing and sometimes I struggle to make even a single scrap in the cold stone. All the same, over time something starts to appear in the colossal rock. A mountain turns vaguely humanoid and then human. A crouched form, curled in on itself.

I hone my skills as time passes, the work I receive from the temple helping me to carve out more and more lifelike features as months turn to years.

It’s tough work but it’s exhilarating all the same. Whenever I’m not working, I’m chipping away at the massive mountain and slowly, slowly, the human becomes a man that becomes more and more detailed by the day.

I carve towering legs pulled up to a gigantic stone chest. A thick braid of hair that falls down his back like a waterfall. Shoulders and a neck. Ears and a slight gap between his lips. Eyes as close to lifelike as I can make them. A head that’s bowed slightly, an expression soft, something of wonder and closeness, looking into cupped hands large enough to hold a lake. And in those cupped hands…

…in those cupped hands is…

it’s…a heart? No no. Maybe…maybe a bird or a…a flower or maybe…maybe…

I try again and again and again to carve something into those hands but…nothing seems right. And as the marble resting in the man's palms gradually decreases with my repeated attempts to form anything with it, I eventually give up and spend the week chipping away at the remaining chunk before working to smoothen out what’s left, carving lines into his palms, creases into the bends of his fingers and the grooves of his fingerprints.

Sometimes, when the sun is too hot and the ground is too far away, I rest under whatever shade the massive man can provide. Under his chin or between the unmoving folds of the cloth he’s draped in or, most frequently, beneath his curled fingers. And over the years I…may have taken to talking to him too.

I even gave him a name.

Jax.

But it’s getting late and as I brush some of the stone powder out of the new lines in his hands, I think it may be best to call it a night for now. Though, I’ve exhausted myself yet again. I sigh and take a seat on the cool marble floor that makes up the man’s palm, looking up at his huge face as I rest. And staring back at me are those massive eyes I shaped and carved with my own hands.

It’s strange seeing him like this. I didn’t sculpt this man after anyone I knew. I wanted him to almost have his own identity in a way, as ridiculous as that is. His expression is warm as he stares down, those lifeless eyes trained on me as I stare back.

I lean back a bit and let out a breath, taking some time to warm up my voice before I speak. “Sorry about the empty hands, big guy. I just couldn’t find anything that fit you.”

The statue remains unmoving and the only response I get is the quiet rustling of the trees probably hundreds of feet below us.

The cold of the marble sinks into my legs.

…I mean, me. The trees are below me. There is no us here.

I sigh again. It’s hard to meet people and even if I did, I don’t think it would be easy for…someone like me to find someone willing to stay with me through it all. Sad as it is, this marble statue has been the only thing I’d really call a companion in all the years I’ve worked on him.

I’d leave the grounds for supplies and the only thing really waiting for me back at the temple besides a new customer was Jax, the lifeless piece of rock I’d made to look like a person.

I look up into the motionless stone face hovering over me then, taking in the dip of his nose that I almost broke by hacking away at the stone with too much force, the tear ducts that I remember not knowing how to shape when I first started, the soft lines in his lips that I debated even putting in and in that moment I…

That face, a human face so massive it’s almost off-putting to look at but…

I shake my head with a laugh, even the thought of my next words ridiculous. Still, there’s no one around to judge me. I pat the hand below me, feeling the result of days of sanding, “You’re going to hate me for this one, Jax, but I…”

The stone man waits.

“I…wish you were real.”

Lifeless eyes watch me in silence.

I try to laugh. “And I know that’s ridiculous but…well, it’s a nice thought, isn’t it?”

It’s chilly tonight.

“…how about you, big guy? The trees enough to keep you company when I’m gone?”

The wind blows past us quietly.

“Oh, wait, I guess the other statues are more than enough for you, right? You must have hundreds of friends by now.”

Passed me quietly.

“…unless they’re all scared of you. I’m…sorry I made you so big. I just didn’t want to waste the material. You get it, right?”

Silence.

“…Don’t worry about them, big guy. You’ll have me at least.”

Nothing.

I can feel my throat start to constrict with tears and decide to stop trying to converse with the inanimate object for now. I cough to clear my throat, vision starting to grow blurry. “I’ll fix your eye tomorrow, alright? Just…just…hold on for now. Please just…”

I trail off, staring up at the lifeless figure for a moment longer before lying down on the hard stone, wiping a few tears away with the heel of my palm to avoid getting dust into my eyes.

“…goodnight, Jax.”

Carving goes on and on and on and on. Years pass by. Temple staff come and go. More than a decade flies by and all the while, I learn and learn, my craft becoming more respected by the few who bother turning up at the temple of a minor goddess.

Days pass in a blur. Work, Jax, sleep, work, Jax, work, sleep. On and on and on. Hammer and dust and sand and chisel and cut. Sweat and grit and aching muscles. I’m determined to see this through. Especially when Jax looks so close to being finished. His appearance has changed slightly over the years, becoming more impressive to look at as my skills improve, though his expression always remains the same, warm eyes staring down at empty palms. The sight is almost sad in a way but I try not to dwell on it.

I work on him whenever I can, smoothing sharp edges and refining existing features and fixing imperfections until one day I’m in his palms again, having finally wrestled a building sized index finger into something that I’m actually proud of and staring up at his face for anything else to fix today but…

It’s…fine.

There’s…nothing left to work on there.

I walk over the edge of his palms and look down. Knees are good. Fabric is done. Legs are finished. Arms good. Torso, stomach, neck, all of it…

There’s nothing left for me to do today.

I look around carefully several more times, trying from any vantage point I can think of but…

He’s done.

12 years.

I started working on him in my early twenties, just a few years into a scary new career path and now it’s finally over.

For a moment I just take a seat in Jax’s hands, speechless with disbelief.

I…I did it.

The largest statue ever carved and I did it.

There’s a deep sense of triumph as I lie down to stare up at Jax’s face. His dead eyes watch me as always and I throw him an almost giddy smile. There’s satisfaction, relief and…something else now that I think about it.

Jax is done and now…

…now what?

There’s relief but now there’s emptiness too.

I frown up at the big man, realizing how free the schedule for pretty much the rest of my life just became.

“Don’t worry, Jax. I’ll try to visit from time to time. Maybe a picnic would be nice up here.”

As usual, Jax doesn’t respond to any of this and I close my eyes with a small sigh.

Still, once I’m convinced that there’s actually nothing left to do and finally make my way down the statue, I go back home for the night. And once I reach my hut and turn to see the absolutely massive, incredibly lifelike face rising high above the treeline, towering over everything, I can’t help but just…stare.

He looks real.

And I did that.

I smile up at him, a small wave of sadness washing over me as I realize this moment might be something of a goodbye before turning around to go rest for the night.

I open the door, mind still wandering when

“You did well.”

I flinch, eyes darting to scan the room before they land on the faintly familiar looking silhouette standing in the corner, watching me quietly.

I jump back when I see her, biting back a yelp at the sudden intrusion.

It takes me a second to recognize her but it’s the woman from all those years ago. The one who gave me the mountain and…she looks just as I remember her, which I find odd. The last I saw her was over a decade ago and yet looks like she hasn’t aged a day.

The woman takes a step forward and I resist the urge to take a step back. “The sculpture you made. It’s absolutely magnificent! Nearly brings a tear to my eye. You took your time with it and look at what you’ve made! I’m proud of what you’ve done. And so excited because now I can finally give you your reward.”

I just stare at her, confused. Even disregarding how she somehow broke into my house after the temple had long since closed for the night, it’s still weird seeing her again. “How did…but…you…I…thank you? But…wasn’t the mountain the gift?”

The woman just smiles back. “Ah. I never did explain myself, did I? Silly me. The marble was only half the gift dear. What you did with it determined whether or not you’d get the second half of the gift.”

“…so this was a test?”

The woman nods. “And you passed it beautifully. A massive sculpture like this, why I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Okay? Thanks I guess? I just-”

“-let your inspiration lead you?” The woman laughs when she sees the shock on my face. “I know, I know! I was watching you the whole time!”

She was…watching me…the whole time?

“WHAT?”

The woman looks taken aback by my response before something seems to dawn on her. “Oh wait, I never introduced myself to you, did I?” She bows in a theatrical manner before grinning wildly. “You can call me Rea, goddess of creativity.”

…

…there’s a lunatic in my house.

“Can you prove that?”

The woman shrugs. “Your name is Emelia. You have a knack for working with your hands. You took to clay sculpting when you were young and then decided to switch to marble after you saw what the medium was capable of. You wanted to make something awe inspiring. You got a job at my temple to get out of a marriage your parents arranged. You were surprised when the work wasn’t even half as bad as you anticipated it would be. Your creative spark lived on. For breakfast, you had…oh wait, no you didn’t eat anything. You want me to stop talking and you called me a lunatic just a second ago.”

Oh.

She smiles. “You’ve done exceptionally well as a disciple and-”

“Wait, disciple? I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU WERE ACTUALLY REAL UNTIL LIKE 2 MINUTES AGO.”

The woman shrugs. “You’ve devoted your life to creating, whether you’ve realized it or not. That’s more than enough for me.”

I open my mouth to say something else but then decide to close it before the goddess fries me.

The woman smirks. “Smart choice. So, since you passed my test with flying colours, made something from the heart and didn’t use my gift for material gain…,” she pauses for dramatics, “…we can now move on to the fun part.”

I just want to go to bed, man.

“Soon. I’ve watched you, Emelia. Examined your heart and desires. You’re in a lot of pain. You’ve been wanting something deeply for a long time now. Someone. Someone you could call your own without all the romantic attachments you don’t feel. You want a lifelong friend. And so you carved one yourself. Someone waiting just like you. His hands remain empty because of this.”

…his hands remain…did I do that on purpose? The lonely mountain of a man, seen by all but still waiting forever and ever for someone, anyone to fill that void. …did I…?

The woman smiles again. “You’re lonely. You made a friend, literally. And now…well he’s waiting for someone isn’t he? Why not you?”

…why not…

“ARE YOU GOING TO TURN ME INTO A STATUE?”

The goddess blanks for a moment before she laughs. “Ah, not quite. Close though. That man’s been waiting for over a decade now. But what if instead of sitting through an eternity of loneliness, he simply got up and started searching for the missing piece himself?”

Even as the implication of that statement still hangs in the air, the goddess slowly raises a hand.

“Good luck,” she chirps.

And then she snaps her fingers.

And all at once, everything starts to shake.

“Oh that’s my queue!” The goddess says. And a blink later, she’s gone.

…help.

The ground is already starting to shake something awful, the rhythmical quakes already starting to launch me as I stand frozen in my little hut.

My tiny hut.

My miniscule hut.

Footsteps.

The things launching my bed a few inches off the ground effortlessly are footsteps.

There’s tears in my eyes as I stand there, motionless.

I did this.

And now I’m about to pay the price.

I don’t know what Jax is looking for. Something to fill his hands?

Or is he looking for me?

Does he remember who I am? What I’ve done to him?

What will he do? I can’t just stay in this hut forever can I? Will he find me? Will he…

…am I going to die tonight?

I’m shaking bad now and the steps don’t waver in the slightest.

My mind races in time with my heart. Would he recognize me? Can he feel the void I left? Will he find me? Does he know where I live? Will he hate me for what I did to him? I didn’t mean to. I didn’t. I just wanted to make something! I didn’t know this would happen! That he would be brought to life to feel this way! He’s going to kill me he’s going to kill me he’s going to-

A step heavy enough to launch the entire hut for just a second lands and in that moment I can’t take it anymore.

I’m shaking badly and then just like that I’m wrenching open the door and I’m running. I’m running as fast as my legs can carry me and my tears are streaming down my face and obscuring my vision and there’s this horrible horrible horrible sound behind and above me and my heart hammers and I realize why it’s so dark tonight even though the moon is shining brightly and I don’t turn around and I can’t turn around and my legs are pounding against the grass and my heart is pounding in my chest and this is my fault this is my fault this is my fault this-

I dive behind a statue just as the ground shakes once more, just barely managing to remain under its cover as the steps come to a stop. I’m pressing myself hard against the cool material as I try to remember how to breathe. My vision’s blurry and head is starting to pound horribly in time with my heart and-

“…hello?”

A voice, a man’s, one I don’t recognize but all the same, it’s hard for it to even register as a voice at all at first.

Because it’s loud. Louder than anything I’ve ever heard in my life and I’m terrified. I try to hold my breath to erase my presence but quickly find it to be a losing battle as my racing heart demands more air and I just barely manage to hold back the gasp my body forces me to take.

The silence is horrible and as the seconds crawl by, I press myself harder into the statue I’m leaning on.

“Is someone out there? I think I’m…looking for someone. I-” there’s a pause and another few steps that thankfully seem to be decreasing in magnitude. I grit my teeth and wait out a few more tremors before making a decision. My only chance of surviving this is by getting out of the temple grounds without him noticing. I can worry about what comes after when the sun rises. I wait for one more step before ducking forward and crouch walking as fast as I can. I take the time to throw a look over my shoulder just in case and almost immediately regret it.

Because the sight alone is almost enough to make me stop moving entirely.

Jax. My statue, he’s walking around, looking around, his braid shifting with the movement, everything shifting with the movement.

And he’s fucking huge.

I guess I already knew that from all those years I spent making him but seeing him like this? In this context? He’s terrifying.

He was as tall as a fucking mountain when I’d carved him, when he was couched down, but now, standing, he’s damn near inconceivable. He stretches into the sky, towering over absolutely everything in sight and the many statues that decorate the garden, human sized statues for the most part, look like fucking bugs next to his massive stone sandals and the subtle shift of his feet as he tries to look around sends tremors through the ground and

and he’s looking for me.

I’m dead. I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFO-

Still gawking at the man as I move, the panicked thought gets cut off when my luck finally runs out and I crash into a statue with enough force to knock it over.

And it’s quiet out.

Which is why, when the statue collides with the earth below and a sharp crack rings through the once silent night, the man’s head jerks towards the noise instantly.

And then his eyes land on me.

And I can’t fucking breathe.

And then the moment passes as the giant starts walking towards me and I just stare helplessly as a single step closes so so so much distance between us and he’s already here and I turn at the last second and start to sprint like my life depends on it and-

Something slams down in front of me with enough force to knock me off my feet and

And it’s marble.

It’s a massive wall of marble, etched with intricate swirls that I remember trying to carve accurately for weeks.

The massive fingerprint that now blocks my only way forward.

I’m trapped. I can’t move. Can’t even back away from the thing, watching as it shifts slightly in the dirt.

Because now it lives.

Jax is alive.

And I doubt I will be for much longer.

It’s almost funny in a way. Emelia Markov, sculptor of Rea, cursed by the goddess for being too much of a fucking downer.

I can hardly breath, waiting for something, something to happen, my heart hammering and my vision blurring from the stress and then

“Sorry but…could you help me? I think I’m…looking for something? Or…maybe someone? I think her name is…”

Don’t say it.

“Emelia?”

I flinch at that but say nothing. Hearing the statue I dedicated over a decade to sculpting saying my name is…not something I thought I’d ever experience before and yet here we are.

The sound of it leaving his lips makes my blood freeze but the man keeps going. “I just…do you…know anyone by that name?”

My vision blurs with panic and I have to blink back tears as the voice rumbles through me but still, I grasp onto what I quickly realize could possibly be my only chance of not dying tonight.

The giant waits and I take a moment to clear my throat before speaking.

“…I don’t.”

A pause.

I wait, the tension starting to hurt my shoulders.

And then

“…oh.”

There’s a few seconds of silence and for just the slightest moment I think maybe there’s a chance of survival when

“Then why do you sound like her?”

And there it is. Cold dread washes over me as his words do. A question that just about makes my heart stop beating. But what else can I do? There’s no escape. And even if there was, I doubt I’d get that far before he blocked me off again.

Still, when nothing immediately happens, I slowly build up the will to turn and look at what I’ve done.

And I regret it instantly.

It’s Jax.

It’s him.

My friend, the only thing I had to keep me company all these years. I shouldn’t have given him a burden like my own. Why couldn’t I have just let him be happy? Why couldn’t I just let him be? Anything would have worked for him. Anything. But I couldn’t do it. Because it wasn’t true and it didn’t fit.

All that time I spent resting in his palms and staring at his face, talking to him.

Now I can’t even look him in the eyes.

Still, it’s strange seeing what I can of him. His clothes and legs still appear to be made of solid stone but the cloth now blows just slightly in the breeze, creases I’ve spent years trying to perfect being undone and redone by the wind. It’s almost mesmerizing to watch.

But then he reaches forward and the spell shatters instantly. I know what’s coming and I want so badly to close my eyes but I can’t. Instead, I watch as the stone fingers unfurl and reach for me

Before the tip of a single claw lands just underneath my chin.

I expect the man to just impale me through the skull and be done with it but instead he does something much worse.

He tilts my head up.

And now Jax stares down at me, his massive face almost incomprehensible like this, brows furrowed as he takes me in. It’s strange seeing him without his default expression but then, I don’t think such a look could ever be aimed at me.

There’s a moment where the two of us just stare at each other in silence. The giant man cocks his head slightly, blinking with eyelids that were never supposed to move. Taking me in the same way I did him for all these years. And it’s strange. There’s this sense of…calm in the air, an almost finality to this moment. The lonely artist getting killed by her embodiment of emptiness. It’s almost poetic in a way and I take a deep breath while I still can.

And once the moment passes, Jax raises the hand that was blocking me, bringing it up and setting it down in front of me before another claw approaches my face.

Approaches my eyes.

Of course he’s going for the eyes first.

I try to breathe as a few more tears spill out but otherwise don’t try to move. There’s no point fighting anymore anyway.

The claw reaches out almost painfully slowly, like he’s purposely drawing out the moment for everything I put him through, prolonging my suffering as long as he possibly can before landing the killing blow.

And once the sharp tip just starts to graze my skin and I brace myself for the pain to come

He runs the claw along my face with a gentleness I didn’t expect, using it to carefully wipe my tears away. He does this continuously, over and over and over until finally the tears slow to a stop.

And once that’s done, he pulls back both of his hands and takes a seat in front of me.

And he smiles when my eyes meet his again.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Emelia,” the giant says quietly.

And then…nothing.

And now I’m confused.

I had been fully prepared to die tonight and now I don’t know what to do.

And so as my adrenaline starts to wind down and with no other plans for the night, I sit down as well.

We continue staring at each other in the quiet and, with the imminent threat of death gone, I can take the time to examine him properly. His head of stone hair moves when he shifts his head just slightly and it’s just…incredible seeing him in motion.

Terrifying though.

“…I always wanted to do that,” the giant mutters and snaps me out of my daze.

It takes a moment for me to find my voice. “…do what?”

“Wipe away your tears. You always seemed so…sad.”

“…oh.” The way he says this is so genuine that I can’t help but look away for a moment. “…thank you then.”

There’s a moment of silence before I try to fill it again.

“…I thought you were going to kill me.”

Jax pulls back slightly, his stone eyes growing wide in alarm. “Why?”

“…your hands.”

Jax looks his hands over, confused before turning back to me. “What about them? I think they look pretty great! You are an incredible sculptor.”

“Nono…thank you…but, I mean like I’m sorry I left them empty, you know? You were supposed to be holding something and…and I didn’t let you. I left a void and…I’m so so sorry about that.”

“Void...” Jax looks like he’s thinking for a second before slowly bringing his hands up to his chest and holding them in the position I carved them in. It’s almost uncanny seeing it now. “…you mean this?”

I nod and Jax’s expression softens slightly.

“Emelia…,” he trails off for a second before bringing a hand forward again and setting it down in front of me, laying it flat on the grass. “I want to show you something,” he says when I just stare at him.

With a shrug, I push myself off the ground and make my way over to the hand. I walk around it until I find something I can actually climb onto, having to settle with the end of his nail. Once I sit down, Jax slowly brings the hand up and over to his chest once more.

He cups his hands again and watches me quietly for a moment. And then smiles when I just stare back confused.

“What do you see right now? In my hands?”

I cock my head at him and look around for a bit before giving up. “I…don’t know, nothing?”

Jax just leans in a bit as his smile grows warmer, his once lifeless eyes shining as he hums in thought. “I could hear you, you know. I think I could see you too. I remember when you grew tired and rested under the shade of my fingers and when you slept sprawled in my palms and when you…cried yourself to sleep. When you were gone I remember feeling lonely but when you were in here-” he tilts the finger I’m on until I have no choice but to let gravity send me sliding down into his palms, “well, I didn’t really feel that way at all.”

Silence.

As the man moves his hands up slightly, ducking lower to see me better. His expression starts to change as he waits for me to get it, as the implication hangs over us, one that I refuse to grasp. His eyes grow soft when I frown and now I realize the face he’s making is familiar.

Far too familiar to deny. Everything about this is…and yet…in his hands is…

“…it’s you by the way,” the giant mutters after a few more seconds.

“…no, yeah, I get that but-”

“You filled my hands and-”

“I AM AWARE OF THAT.”

The giant chuckles at that, the sound filling the air and the resulting tremors nearly bowling me over. “Sorry, just checking. Point is you’ve kept me company all these years and well-” He pauses, slowly moving one of his hands and curling his fingers before bringing his index finger towards me and resting the tip of his claw just under my hand, shifting it slightly so that he’s raising it up. “I think it’s about time I return the favour.”

It’s relatively peaceful when I wake up in the morning, the mattress sinking slightly as I move to get more comfortable under the covers.

The sun is already up but there’s no work to do right now and honestly, I’m just kind of…lazy.

I take in the ambient noise of the late morning as my head moves to borrow deeper in the pillow. The bird song and distant conversation filtering in from the temple.

A good day as any to stay in bed.

But then a tremor shakes the ground and I realize that I won’t be staying in bed much longer.

The tremors increase in magnitude and I hope to whichever god is listening that it isn’t anything important but of course

“Mia!” a voice that’s far too loud echoes from outside. “Some guy back at the temple wants to talk to you for a minute. It’s about uh…it’s about me.”

“Mmm?”

“He…well he wants to know more about Rea and how you managed to get her attention and…all that stuff.”

Ah.

I just sigh. Not one of these guys again. Ever since word got out that a statue was brought to life, Rea’s temple has been getting a lot more visitors, all of them full of questions. Some well meaning but others…not so much.

“…why can’t he just talk to you then?”

“Uh…well, you know why.”

I frown at that.

I think about going out there but then…just roll over instead. It’s cozy here and if that guy really wants something, then he can come to me himself. Jax has been here for months now and it’s not like he’d ever hurt anyone, as intimidating as he looks. He even helps out at the temple from time to time.

“No, I really don’t. Like yeah, you’re big but you’re also the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

“…oh? …thank you?”

“Either he talks to you or…he can come get me,” I mutter into my pillow.

“Mia.” There’s more movement from outside but otherwise nothing else happens.

“If he’s that scared of Rea’s blessing then maybe he doesn’t care as much as he thought.”

A sigh rolls over the house like a hurricane. “Rea’s not the one who made a giant, M. That was on you.”

I pull my covers closer. “You act like you don’t like being this size,” I mutter.

Silence.

Then

“…I do like being this size.”

There’s realization in that statement. And I can fucking hear the grin forming on his face as he says this. This gives me about half a second to brace myself before, with a sound the nearly deafens me, the entire hut starts to shake, knocking supplies over and causing the furniture to start sliding across the room and then, after one final jolt

Something blocks out the light filtering into the room.

Something it takes only a moment to register as one of the pupils I remember spending days trying to carve into a perfect circle. Jax is so damn big that I can only see the familiar curve of it through the window.

“Jax?”

“Mia?”

“Is my house still connected to the ground?”

“Nope.” He pops the p as he says this.

“Damn you.”

This causes Jax to laugh, which shakes the entire house for a moment until he stops.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

I just wave him off. “…so, what now?”

“…what do you mean?”

“You have the house. You can take me to that guy but I’m still not getting out of bed and it’s not like you can get in here so…,” I feel a smug smile of my own starting to form. “…what now, big guy?”

This seems to catch him off guard for a moment. He stops to think about it. “…well, you could always just admit defeat and walk out right now?”

“Nah.”

“I could…convince you?”

“How?”

“Uh….”

“Yeah?”

“…I could get you something you want?”

I almost laugh at that. “Rea, could you please remind me what Jax is supposed to be again?”

Rea pops into existence. “He’s the thing you’ve been wanting for some time now. From the very depths of your soul.”

“Thank you.” I pause for a moment. “…wait why don’t you have to deal with any of this bullshit?”

Rea’s grin falters for just a moment. “I…can’t interfere directly with the lives of mortals.”

“Jax looks pretty direct to me.”

The minor goddess looks away for a moment before her eyes widen almost comically. “Wait…can you feel that? Someone is in dire need of my guidance. Busy, busy, you know.”

She’s gone before I can so much as sneer at her half assed excuse and I shake my head at the empty space she once occupied before turning back to the window with a sigh. “Anyway, can you top that?”

Jax is quiet for a moment. “…I…guess…not?” And then in a softer voice. “…do I really mean that much to you?”

I nod at him through the window and there’s a pause before the whole house jolts just slightly.

“Jax, what are you doing?”

Jax coughs awkwardly. “…trying to hug you.”

I frown for a moment before sitting up and reaching out the window, making contact with the massive stone iris hanging outside. Jax blinks in confusion for a moment, temporarily trapping my fingers between his eyelids before he slowly moves his head until the tip of his nose is barely pushing through the opening. I wrap my arms around it, leaning into him and he tries to do the same, the hut creaking as he leans into the touch with a small sigh.

“…I’m still not coming out, you know,” I mutter into him.

“I know,” Jax mutters back. “…and yet-”

He cuts his words off as he suddenly leans away from the house and I, with the thing I was leaning my full body weight against suddenly gone, go sprawling out the window.

Once I finally get my bearings again, I can see Jax’s face staring down at me from above. His expression is apologetic but the tremors of silent laughter currently traveling through him tell me otherwise.

“You’re a dick, you know that?”

“Mmm.”

Once the man finally calms down enough, he leans in close once more, pressing the tip of his nose into me and pushing me into his palm as he nuzzles me.

“I’ll drop you off though,” he says after a moment, the proximity making the words vibrate through my bones. “And if the guy just so happens to leave at the sight then well…what can you do?”

I almost smile at that. “Fine.”

#writeblr #original writing #original story #hurt/comfort #statue au #Jax and Mia #set in stone au #ocs #the rooster crows #2 months i've wrestled with this fic #thanks for reading!

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