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[secondhandsome]

Hey there, you've reached... um... me. Yeah. Leave a message!

Well, that sounded smoother in my head... Damn it.

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[secondhandsome]

[Tim is almost grateful for how messed up his vision is right now, because it means he can't really see Jack's expression right now. The brand, though, that's hard to miss. It's just about all he can see.

And then... it comes closer.

The instinct to move is there, but he's paralyzed by many things right now. So despite what his subconscious is screaming at him to do, he stays still.

As soon as the burning metal touches his skin, everything explodes into searing pain. He'd thought the eye had been bad and it had been, but this isn't just in one spot, this is his whole face. It feels like he's on fire and he doesn't want to think about what it's doing to his skin right now. No, he doesn't need to think about it. He can feel it happening, after all. Buried underneath the pain.

The screaming is worse too, but Tim barely even hears his own voice. Everything is pain right now in a very literal sense - anything that isn't the pain might as well have disappeared.

It's only been moments but it feels like an eternity.]

[thedifferencebetween]

[It's weird, how burning flesh always smells like steaks on the grill. How messed up is that?]

[Jack's no stranger to burning skin. His other hand clamps over his double's mouth, stifling the much more intense screams that are pouring out of him. He hears the crackle of skin as it sears and crisps and dies under the metal. He watches the skin turn red and shiny at the edges. When he pulls the brand away, it's only been a matter of seconds, but it feels like he's been standing here forever, watching it take.]

[And there it is. Bright red and black and angry, oozing something sort of like blood. The skin is indented, swelling already, steaming. Yeah. That's it. There's his half-dead, damaged face.]

That's it. All done. You're all done now.

[secondhandsome]

[Tim's not sure when the screaming fades, but it does. The pain doesn't. It changes after the brand has been pulled away, but that's about it. There's no relief, nothing. He vaguely feels a pain somewhere in his throat too. Too much stress on his voice from the screaming...

Jack's saying something, but it's not reaching him again. Right now, he couldn't care less anyway.

So there's no response. Just more heavy, panicked breathing. Broken, not-quite sobs mixed between it. It hurts so goddamn much and his whole face feels so wrong. Even more wrong than it already does every day of his life.

Everything else around him starts coming a little more into focus now, even though the pain's still there. Which is just about the opposite of what he wants right now. He'd much rather just pass out.]