Loosely based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea with a few elements changed — namely, the gender of the sculpture. If there are inaccuracies, they were most likely accidental.
Warning for nudity.
He spends months on his masterpiece. Painstakingly molding, carving, until it bears the likeness of a nameless figure Remus utterly reveres. His hands are cracked and calloused, and the long nights have taken a toll on him.
The villagers think he's mad for being so devoted to a statue, but they do not understand. They do not understand the true meaning of creation. Of knowing that you'd made something so beautiful that you'd fall hopelessly and madly in love with it. It could have been made of gold or wood and it wouldn't have mattered.
Not a day passes by when Remus isn't at the sculpture's side. His weary eyes are nonetheless sharp, discerning every flaw and eliminating it. He values perfection — and this cannot be anything less than perfect.
After the statue's completion, it becomes his fascination. He marvels how something could be so utterly...perfect. Every night, he goes to sleep dreaming of his sculpture. His dreams taunt him with visions of his desires. The sculpture coming to life. The clay-turned-man stepping down from the pedestal and holding his arms open.
He wants nothing more.
So he hardly believes it when he touches the statue's clay skin and finds it...warm.
Perhaps it had been touched by sunlight, he thinks, but there is no feasible way it could have. The room is completely closed, with only a window on the other side of the room. Even then, the sunlight doesn't reach that far.
Heart thrumming in his chest, Remus guides his hand up the sculpture's arm, to his chest, and his blood stops cold.
For he feels a heart beating beneath the hardened clay. Only it's no longer hard clay, but it's...softer. Like human skin.
Trembling, Remus brings his hand up to the man's cheek, feeling smooth skin beneath his palm, and that's when the man stirs to life. He opens his eyes and Remus steps back, gaping.
How could this be? The sculpture man looks...he looks human.
Brown hair falls over the man's forehead and grey eyes blink at him, glassy with confusion. It does not occur to Remus that he's naked until the man looks down.
Remus swears softly under his breath, shutting his eyes and trying not to recall the glorious sight with feverish desperation. (He fails.)
"Where am I?" the man asks, completely unabashed and sounding unbothered by his nudity. Remus cautiously opens his eyes and keeps his eyes above the man's navel.
(He doesn't know why he's so hesitant when he'd sculpted the man himself.)
He clears his throat. "My name is Remus Lupin," he says, "and I made you myself."
441 words
Assignment 4, Divination Task #1: Cups represent your feelings, emotions, intuition, and creativity. Prompt: Write about someone expressing their emotions through some sort of art
Auction - 22.1 - (myth) Pygmalion and Galatea
Back to School - 75. (emotion) Focused
Southern Cookout - Heart of Glass- (word) glass
