#William be out here telling a teenager they're broken meanwhile doing far worse

[chaosmultiverse]

William put a firm hand on T.J's shoulder with a cold and demeaning look in his eyes, the pale violet of his eyes were more akin to a blizzard.

"Ah, I see:" He smiled, leaving a puase long enough for someone to start to say something but not enough time to finish a single word.

"You lot were just placing a sobbing 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 into the jaws of a robotic bear, for fun! Ah how silly of me to fail see how that might tickle someone's funny bone." He said a fuax cheerful tone.

His grip got painfully tight for a moment while he simply glared at the child, before he released his grip.

"I suppose I could see how that might be a little funny, under different circumstances-" his glare became more tense for a moment before his eyes drifted off to somewhere in the distance "-but really, to be serious there- There is something so deeply broken there, with my remaining son and yourself, turly."

Sure, he had made a child cry before, many times. Sure he had put his hands on Evan a few times, when the boy simply won't listen and he hadn't refined his guidance to the boy, sure, especially recently he had tormented Michael.

But he hadn't done it for fun, no it was meant to make them better, growing pains.

it wasn't like T.J. didn't feel bad for what happened -- the regret was seeping into him more && more each day that went by. it felt like overnight, their worlds had fallen apart && been replaced with nothing but anxiety && fear. he knew that none of them had intended for a stupid little joke to got hat far -- but it had. it had, and now a kid was dead, he'd never ever forget that moment of panic.

" we didn't think he was gonna get hurt. we were just messin' with him. " T.J. confesses, albeit still hiding a lot of details by keeping it vague. he didn't do well when he was cornered like this, but he still wanted to defend their decisions -- to defend michael's dumb idea.

at the next insinuation, T.J. grows a bit more defensive. " wh -- i didn't exactly think the thing was gonna go off! none of us did! we were just tryin' to play a prank on him -- it was meant t' be funny! not .. " he trails off, frowning, the memories of that day coming back like a whirlwind of chaos. he clams up at the idea of saying any more -- he doesn't want to mess up .. say something wrong.