Categories > Cartoons > Class of the Titans > Skin Deep
Special Interest
2 reviewsNeil avoids interrogation by his friends and meets up with Pam. He has to make a tough decision on how exactly he feels about everything.
0Unrated
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Special Interest
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The art room was full of strange, filtered shadows as the light from a small lamp bounced off various statues and paintings. Hunched over a lump of clay, Pamela sat sculpting, working both from memory, a photograph, and another figure she had completed earlier. All of them were of Neil.
"Okay," she said at last, breaking the heavy, creative silence, "I'm going to take a break. You can relax." She wiped a hand across her forehead, leaving a small smear of wet clay. "Thanks for sitting still so long."
Her subject laughed. "I can keep still a lot longer than that, you know." Galen carefully dropped his assumed pose and stood, walking over to admire the work in progress. He whistled. "The more you do, the better you get, Pam." He fondly ruffled her hair. "You'd make your ancestor proud," he said.
Pam blushed. "I don't know about that. I may be a descendent of Pygmalion, the famous sculptor, but he made someone to fall in love with. I'm stuck making him," she gestured at the photo of Neil.
"You'll get a chance to be great." He bent and kissed her cheek fondly, wiping away the smudge. "As soon as you get this... commission over with, you can fulfill your heart's desire."
"Yes, of course she can. We made a deal, didn't we?" Chronus asked smugly, stepping into the dim lamplight. He glanced at the half-formed sculpture and looked under a blue tarp, smiling at the statues already made. "You make these statues for me and keep your mouth shut to Neil, and I return your great masterpiece to you."
Pam sighed and signaled to Galen, who retook his seat. Her hands once more began to skillfully shape the clay, pulling Neil's lovely form from the shapeless nothing. "How many of these do you want, anyway?" She kept her attention strictly on the clay in front of her, refusing to look up into Chronus' dark eyes.
"Fifty or so should do nicely, and by the weekend I think," he said, glancing over at Galen. "You should be able to charm Neil away from the others by then I trust?" The double nodded stiffly. "You'll be able to meet my order, won't you, Pam?"
She considered. "It won't be easy to get them done in two days, but I should be able to. But with all the work I'll be putting in, I won't be able to animate them all by then." Thoughts for how she would be able to make and explain fifty statues of Neil were quickly racing through her mind.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that little detail." The Titan dropped the tarp and headed for the door.
"Chronus," she called, daring to look away from her work and face the deity of time. "After I do this for you, after I make all these statues, our contract will be over, right? You'll give me back what's rightfully mine and leave me alone?"
His back to her, Chronus smiled. "Of course. By next week it will be all over."
--
The moment Neil opened his bedroom door he could feel tension waiting to press down on him in the form of awkward, half-sincere apologies and poorly worded questions. He quickly glided into the bathroom, thankfully vacant, keeping his head down and avoiding any eyes pointed his way. Looking in the mirror, Neil was met with an unusually unkempt reflection that gazed tiredly back. He was quick to step into the shower, leaving the horrible image behind.
His night hadn't gone well. After sleeping deeply for several hours, suggestive dreams had started invading his mind, leading to long hours in the early morning of twisting and turning, uncomfortable both physically and mentally. At last his alarm had gone off and he was able to escape his cluttered mind, at least for a few minutes. Under the hot spray of the shower, however, his thoughts turned on him.
Galen's face - his own face, really - smiling at him, calling him a hero in a hazy, not-quite-real sort of way, almost mocked Neil as he scrubbed shampoo from his hair. It also brought familiar heat to his cheeks as the sudden, but not unpleasant, kiss also came to mind. Frustrated, confused, Neil wrenched the shower off and stumbled out, hastily wrapping a towel around his waist before stepping out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam.
The collective stares he received were completely unexpected. "What?" he asked, gazing sullenly out from behind a veil of dripping hair. He walked to his room quickly but turned at the sound of an uncomfortable cough. The blonde turned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "What?" he asked again, almost tapping a foot in his impatients.
"Are you... okay, Neil?" Theresa asked slowly. She paused, considering her words carefully. A quick glance passed between her and Jay before she continued. "You seemed upset yesterday, and I thought I heard crying last night from your room."
"I was not crying," he said quickly, trying to fight down his returning blush and suddenly aware of how little he had on. "I didn't sleep very well, that's all." Neil ducked into his room and grabbed his familiar white and black shirt, pulling it on and ignoring the damp feel as the water from his hair trickled down his back.
Archie's voice followed him. "Sure, whatever you say, man." He shared a laugh with a few others. "Your secret is safe with us."
Neil reappeared in the common area, hair perfectly combed and his usual air of perfection around him. The only sign that anything was out of the ordinary was the frown tugging at his lips. He grabbed his school bag, slipped on his shoes and was out the door without another word.
When he was safely a block or two away, the blonde allowed himself to slow his pace and trudge in a dignified manner toward the school. He had tried to tell them about his clone, but they hadn't believed him. Instead, they fell back on the tired jokes about his self-adoration and blew the whole thing off. Neil wondered when they would get over it, if they would get over it. He was descended from Narcissus, so of course he looked incredibly good! And such handsomeness deserved to be admired, and there was no better admirer than himself.
Except for Galen, his mind whispered. Maybe falling in love with yourself, literally, isn't such a bad thing. Narcissus was punished, but I'm supposed to be lucky. This could just be my luck kicking in, trying to improve things.
He sighed, torn. On one hand, a part of him wanted to see where things would go with his strange mirror image. On the other hand, his rational mind continued to point out that this was most likely a plot by Chronus. But he couldn't see how giving him happiness would bring about the end of the world.
As if in answer to his thoughts, Neil was grabbed from behind and pulled into a clump of bushes across the street from the school. Before he could so much as muster one of his manly screams, he came face to face with himself. Galen flashed him a smile and started carefully picking leaves out of Neil's hair.
"Hey, good-looking. I'm sorry for the sudden grab, but I wanted to see you before school." In apology, he held up a single calla lily. "Flowers are cheesy, I know, but better than forcing myself on you. Sorry about last night, too."
Neil stared at the flower for a moment, wondering if he should feel insulted that he was being treated like a girl. A strange fluttering in his chest, however, decided that he didn't mind and in fact rather liked the attention. He took the lily carefully. "About last night," he said softly, "I'm kind of sorry too. But you have to understand I'm a little wary of all of this. Clones don't just pop up everyday."
"All too true." Galen laughed. "Will you let me woo you, then?" Neil choked, nearly dropping his flower. The duplicate smiled. "What I mean is, will you let me prove to you that I can be trusted?"
"I guess so," Neil said, nodding.
"Great. Find me in the art room after school and we'll go from there." The teen hero nodded again and stood, wading out of the bushes. "Have a good day at school, Neil," Galen's voice called and Neil found himself looking forward to the day to come.
--
Classes seemed to pass by in a blink. Before long, the final bell was ringing and Neil was wandering into the school's art room, wondering just what he might expect to find. Ms. Erato glanced up from a pile of drawings on her desk as he entered and beamed.
"Neil, wonderful! I'm glad that you're here." She stood and ushered him toward the back of the room, where works in progress and clay pieces waiting to be fired were stored. "Pamela, the girl who joined your class the other day, proposed a special project that I find most interesting."
"She was that impressed by all that is me, was she?" Neil couldn't help but puff out his chest a little more and run a hand through his hair.
The brunette appeared from behind a large form covered in a tarp. "Something like that, sir," she said shyly. "You're the best model I've had in quite some time, and I was hoping I could do a series of sculptures of you in various positions." A slight blush colored her cheeks. "I have some photos of you from magazines, but it's not the same as having you in person."
"If you do this, Neil," Erato said, smiling away, "I'll give you full credit in all the course work except pencil drawing, since you said you could do that." She clapped him warmly on the shoulder.
Faced with this offer, and a stroke to his complex, Neil could hardly say no. "Sure, why not? I can hardly let a fan down, or refuse the art world my beauty." He slid onto a nearby stool.
"Excellent!" the teacher boomed, clapping her hands. "Well, I'll let you two sort things out and get started while I go file some grades. I'll be back in a little while." She swept out of the room.
"So, how would you like me to sit?" he asked, shifting into various positions. "Do you want something casual like this? Or maybe something a little thoughtful..."
"Actually, Neil," Pam interrupted, "I'll sculpt while you and Galen talk. You came here to see him, after all." She turned back to the tarp that had hid her and pulled it off. Uncovered, Galen offered a little wave.
"I thought this would help you see I'm not a threat." He stepped off the small pedestal and took a seat on another stool, next to Neil. "Chronus didn't make me. Pamela did."
Special Interest
---
The art room was full of strange, filtered shadows as the light from a small lamp bounced off various statues and paintings. Hunched over a lump of clay, Pamela sat sculpting, working both from memory, a photograph, and another figure she had completed earlier. All of them were of Neil.
"Okay," she said at last, breaking the heavy, creative silence, "I'm going to take a break. You can relax." She wiped a hand across her forehead, leaving a small smear of wet clay. "Thanks for sitting still so long."
Her subject laughed. "I can keep still a lot longer than that, you know." Galen carefully dropped his assumed pose and stood, walking over to admire the work in progress. He whistled. "The more you do, the better you get, Pam." He fondly ruffled her hair. "You'd make your ancestor proud," he said.
Pam blushed. "I don't know about that. I may be a descendent of Pygmalion, the famous sculptor, but he made someone to fall in love with. I'm stuck making him," she gestured at the photo of Neil.
"You'll get a chance to be great." He bent and kissed her cheek fondly, wiping away the smudge. "As soon as you get this... commission over with, you can fulfill your heart's desire."
"Yes, of course she can. We made a deal, didn't we?" Chronus asked smugly, stepping into the dim lamplight. He glanced at the half-formed sculpture and looked under a blue tarp, smiling at the statues already made. "You make these statues for me and keep your mouth shut to Neil, and I return your great masterpiece to you."
Pam sighed and signaled to Galen, who retook his seat. Her hands once more began to skillfully shape the clay, pulling Neil's lovely form from the shapeless nothing. "How many of these do you want, anyway?" She kept her attention strictly on the clay in front of her, refusing to look up into Chronus' dark eyes.
"Fifty or so should do nicely, and by the weekend I think," he said, glancing over at Galen. "You should be able to charm Neil away from the others by then I trust?" The double nodded stiffly. "You'll be able to meet my order, won't you, Pam?"
She considered. "It won't be easy to get them done in two days, but I should be able to. But with all the work I'll be putting in, I won't be able to animate them all by then." Thoughts for how she would be able to make and explain fifty statues of Neil were quickly racing through her mind.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that little detail." The Titan dropped the tarp and headed for the door.
"Chronus," she called, daring to look away from her work and face the deity of time. "After I do this for you, after I make all these statues, our contract will be over, right? You'll give me back what's rightfully mine and leave me alone?"
His back to her, Chronus smiled. "Of course. By next week it will be all over."
--
The moment Neil opened his bedroom door he could feel tension waiting to press down on him in the form of awkward, half-sincere apologies and poorly worded questions. He quickly glided into the bathroom, thankfully vacant, keeping his head down and avoiding any eyes pointed his way. Looking in the mirror, Neil was met with an unusually unkempt reflection that gazed tiredly back. He was quick to step into the shower, leaving the horrible image behind.
His night hadn't gone well. After sleeping deeply for several hours, suggestive dreams had started invading his mind, leading to long hours in the early morning of twisting and turning, uncomfortable both physically and mentally. At last his alarm had gone off and he was able to escape his cluttered mind, at least for a few minutes. Under the hot spray of the shower, however, his thoughts turned on him.
Galen's face - his own face, really - smiling at him, calling him a hero in a hazy, not-quite-real sort of way, almost mocked Neil as he scrubbed shampoo from his hair. It also brought familiar heat to his cheeks as the sudden, but not unpleasant, kiss also came to mind. Frustrated, confused, Neil wrenched the shower off and stumbled out, hastily wrapping a towel around his waist before stepping out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam.
The collective stares he received were completely unexpected. "What?" he asked, gazing sullenly out from behind a veil of dripping hair. He walked to his room quickly but turned at the sound of an uncomfortable cough. The blonde turned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "What?" he asked again, almost tapping a foot in his impatients.
"Are you... okay, Neil?" Theresa asked slowly. She paused, considering her words carefully. A quick glance passed between her and Jay before she continued. "You seemed upset yesterday, and I thought I heard crying last night from your room."
"I was not crying," he said quickly, trying to fight down his returning blush and suddenly aware of how little he had on. "I didn't sleep very well, that's all." Neil ducked into his room and grabbed his familiar white and black shirt, pulling it on and ignoring the damp feel as the water from his hair trickled down his back.
Archie's voice followed him. "Sure, whatever you say, man." He shared a laugh with a few others. "Your secret is safe with us."
Neil reappeared in the common area, hair perfectly combed and his usual air of perfection around him. The only sign that anything was out of the ordinary was the frown tugging at his lips. He grabbed his school bag, slipped on his shoes and was out the door without another word.
When he was safely a block or two away, the blonde allowed himself to slow his pace and trudge in a dignified manner toward the school. He had tried to tell them about his clone, but they hadn't believed him. Instead, they fell back on the tired jokes about his self-adoration and blew the whole thing off. Neil wondered when they would get over it, if they would get over it. He was descended from Narcissus, so of course he looked incredibly good! And such handsomeness deserved to be admired, and there was no better admirer than himself.
Except for Galen, his mind whispered. Maybe falling in love with yourself, literally, isn't such a bad thing. Narcissus was punished, but I'm supposed to be lucky. This could just be my luck kicking in, trying to improve things.
He sighed, torn. On one hand, a part of him wanted to see where things would go with his strange mirror image. On the other hand, his rational mind continued to point out that this was most likely a plot by Chronus. But he couldn't see how giving him happiness would bring about the end of the world.
As if in answer to his thoughts, Neil was grabbed from behind and pulled into a clump of bushes across the street from the school. Before he could so much as muster one of his manly screams, he came face to face with himself. Galen flashed him a smile and started carefully picking leaves out of Neil's hair.
"Hey, good-looking. I'm sorry for the sudden grab, but I wanted to see you before school." In apology, he held up a single calla lily. "Flowers are cheesy, I know, but better than forcing myself on you. Sorry about last night, too."
Neil stared at the flower for a moment, wondering if he should feel insulted that he was being treated like a girl. A strange fluttering in his chest, however, decided that he didn't mind and in fact rather liked the attention. He took the lily carefully. "About last night," he said softly, "I'm kind of sorry too. But you have to understand I'm a little wary of all of this. Clones don't just pop up everyday."
"All too true." Galen laughed. "Will you let me woo you, then?" Neil choked, nearly dropping his flower. The duplicate smiled. "What I mean is, will you let me prove to you that I can be trusted?"
"I guess so," Neil said, nodding.
"Great. Find me in the art room after school and we'll go from there." The teen hero nodded again and stood, wading out of the bushes. "Have a good day at school, Neil," Galen's voice called and Neil found himself looking forward to the day to come.
--
Classes seemed to pass by in a blink. Before long, the final bell was ringing and Neil was wandering into the school's art room, wondering just what he might expect to find. Ms. Erato glanced up from a pile of drawings on her desk as he entered and beamed.
"Neil, wonderful! I'm glad that you're here." She stood and ushered him toward the back of the room, where works in progress and clay pieces waiting to be fired were stored. "Pamela, the girl who joined your class the other day, proposed a special project that I find most interesting."
"She was that impressed by all that is me, was she?" Neil couldn't help but puff out his chest a little more and run a hand through his hair.
The brunette appeared from behind a large form covered in a tarp. "Something like that, sir," she said shyly. "You're the best model I've had in quite some time, and I was hoping I could do a series of sculptures of you in various positions." A slight blush colored her cheeks. "I have some photos of you from magazines, but it's not the same as having you in person."
"If you do this, Neil," Erato said, smiling away, "I'll give you full credit in all the course work except pencil drawing, since you said you could do that." She clapped him warmly on the shoulder.
Faced with this offer, and a stroke to his complex, Neil could hardly say no. "Sure, why not? I can hardly let a fan down, or refuse the art world my beauty." He slid onto a nearby stool.
"Excellent!" the teacher boomed, clapping her hands. "Well, I'll let you two sort things out and get started while I go file some grades. I'll be back in a little while." She swept out of the room.
"So, how would you like me to sit?" he asked, shifting into various positions. "Do you want something casual like this? Or maybe something a little thoughtful..."
"Actually, Neil," Pam interrupted, "I'll sculpt while you and Galen talk. You came here to see him, after all." She turned back to the tarp that had hid her and pulled it off. Uncovered, Galen offered a little wave.
"I thought this would help you see I'm not a threat." He stepped off the small pedestal and took a seat on another stool, next to Neil. "Chronus didn't make me. Pamela did."
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