Well, first time doing one of these, but here we go anyway. Julien Leblanc (and yes, it is in fact Leblanc) : - Julien was originally intended to be what is in retrospect a much more cookie-cutter character, plainly nice to just about everyone he met and not going near the depths of violent anger th...

Been a while since I was in a songtest. Sign me up.

Julien emerged from the ball pit.

He looked around at the people around him, taking in the reality of where exactly he was. Once he had fully appraised it all, he simply burst out laughing and laid out on top. Because really, what the fuck else was there to do?

" When have I ever lied to you, then, Blaise? " He'd always figured his heart would be what got him killed with the way he wore it on his sleeve, but knowing he was right only ground the salt deeper into his wounds at the end. Fortunate for him that death came calling so quickly in the dar...

He hadn't really been able to tell how much time passed before Blaise burned the other eye away and tore it to leaking shreds with their shaking hands. Only that it had felt far too long. They were silent now, the both of them. Had been for some time. Thinking of something, anything, to say through ...

Julien saw everything in the corner of that eye dull, melt into a haze and finally fade to nothing as the needle went in. Then the rest of it started to set in. He didn't scream this time, only able to make strangled gasping noises as he felt the fluid within start bubbling while his eyeball boiled ...

"No. You chose this."

"No."

He still stared at Blaise.

"No."

He didn't spare it even a glance.

"No."

Julien looked directly at Blaise. His voice stayed just as sure as it had since they began, despite the pain.

Everything he cared about had been lost to him the moment he ended up here. What difference would an eye make?

Julien had gone pale from the life seeping out of him, senses dulled by the pain that wouldn't leave him for his refusal to curl and die. All he had the strength to do at this point, horrifying as what awaited him would inevitably be, was close his eyes and sigh. " Cross my heart and hope to di...

" We both know that's— " Well, fuck everything he'd just thought about that being worse. Julien screamed his mouth dry this time. Thrashing only made the pain worse, but it was at least doing something, not simply lying there and taking it. Wouldn't do to let Blaise think they were actuall...

The scream of pain it tore out of him tapered off into wheezing laughter around about the time Julien stopped thrashing. " Flattery? How fucking deluded are you?! " He knew the pain would end when their patience did, limits of which would never exceed his own no matter what they did, and h...

" Such a stupid question. Why did I keep you when I knew you might hurt me? Some things are worth the cost they come with, Blaise. " The ropes digging into his skin weren't the worst thing. If anything they helped, stemming some of the blood that had flowed out of each and every place wher...