Confined With a Goddess

The next day started the same; with a run and a talk, and when they came back, Celestia gave Jake a spade. "Tomorrow, this section will reset if we don't put something in place." She marked twelve spots with flags made of chopped-off palm fronds. "All of these need to be dug out, at least a metre and a half deep."

Jake nodded. "I'll start here. You can start over there, and we'll try to meet in the middle."

Celestia shook her head. "You're going to be digging all of these. I have to go cut down the trees that are going to fit down into these holes. Because I know that you can't cut down six trees, cut them in half and haul them back here in time to treat them before they go in, so you're going to take a headstart on this, instead."

As Celestia dashed off toward the location where they'd recently cut down trees for firewood, Jake felt alone for the first time since Celestia had captured him. Sure, he'd had some moments of privacy; he was allowed to go out into the bushes to pee without being followed, and she had left him to handle a few things while she went out to do other things, but it felt different this time.

He wasn't sure why it felt different. Last night, he'd worked until he'd strained his back, and had just relaxed in the dirt while she went and did the fishing. Today, he was actually doing something while she was gone. He should have been more proud of himself, not letting her work alone, but instead, he felt like a disappointment.

Perhaps it was because she'd asked him to dig the holes, and he was just standing there, even after a minute had passed. He started digging, hoping that he'd come across the answer, because that meant he was working on the solution. The dirt was pretty soft and pliable, and not quite so full of roots as he was expecting. Celestia had, amongst yesterday's work, removed three trees, so he was expecting the roots to still be down there, but he couldn't find any.

Having the whole day to think, it was a good hour before Jake realised why he still felt like a disappointment. Back at his job, he'd felt the same way from time to time, and as he was digging out the third hole, he realised that the reason he felt inadequate today and not yesterday was because he had been saddled with expectations.

When Celestia had gone off from the camp yesterday to do her fishing, she had no expectations for him. She would come back, and as long as he didn't fuck anything up, she'd be fine. Today, she was counting on him to dig these holes, and he was only a quarter of the way done. At this rate, he'd only be halfway done when she came back, and she'd have to finish the job for him.

A chill ran down his spine. He had made the wrong decision. He'd opted to stay here with her, and that meant this was going to be the norm. He'd fail at something she needed him to do, and she'd have to clean up the mess. If he'd opted to leave, she'd only have to deal with his failures until he was gone. But he'd opted to stay. She'd be picking up the slack for his incompetence for a long time.

He wiped his face as she came back to camp, and refused to talk to disguise the catch in his voice. "Good afternoon," she called out, but he didn't respond with more than a nod.

"So, what crawled up your arse this morning?"

"Hm?" Jake looked up, but couldn't bring himself to look at her for long before returning to the ground again. He just shrugged.

"Not talking, huh?"

He shrugged again and continued digging.

She came over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know why you're so grumpy today, but it's time to turn that frown upside-down."

"It'll have to wait," Jake replied, his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Nope! Happening now!"

She spun him around and lifted his chin, and he was once more face-to-face with her massive tits. He glanced up at her smiling face, then pulled away and turned back to continue digging. He didn't feel that he deserved to look at them.

"Nine and a half holes. Not bad. After seeing you in action, I thought you'd be almost halfway done, but here you are, nearly finished. Maybe you're good for something, after all."

Popular media had told Jake that he'd just been insulted, but to be perfectly honest, it felt good to hear. While she had indeed given him a task that she didn't believe he could do well, she had set her own expectations as to what he was capable of, and he'd exceeded them. More importantly, she saw potential in him, even if the only thing he'd demonstrated was an ability to dig a hole.

With renewed vigor, he kept digging, and she started the fire, burning the ends of the logs. She mentioned that this was to help prevent rot, but Jake wasn't sure how accurate that statement really was. He would have thought that burning the wood would help it rot away, but... Well, he'd never build a house before, and Celestia had. If she said this was right, he would just have to trust her. After all, this was supposed to be her new home, too.

As the sun was setting, they finished eating, and Jake felt pretty good about himself. His back hurt even worse than yesterday, but right now, he didn't care. He felt accomplished, and that was something to be proud of.

"You stink."

He looked up at Celestia, his jaw dropping.

"Don't feel too bad about it. I smell pretty awful, too. It's the smell of sweat from hard work. Be proud of how sticky and gross you are."

Jake nodded. "Okay. I am proud. I feel good about the work I put in today."

"Good. But I hope you're not too proud, because we're washing off that stink tomorrow."