Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aiden's eyes widened slightly. For all his family's problems they had never layed a hand on him. Well... that wasn't entirely true. There were... times - times when his father was too drunk or his brother was pissed after a fight or... But none of that mattered. "I..." he began, but he was unable to finish his sentance. His blue eyes lowered to the table and his bit his lip softly.

How could anyone do that to family? The burn marks... the fire, the pain... how? It wasn't human or... or loving or anything that a family should be. It wasn't right. He angled his head down furthur so that no one could see the tears that were forming in the corners of his eyes. He wouldn't let them fall - crying wasn't something that guys were supposed to do.... And, for some reason, he didn't think Justin or any of the others would be at all happy if someone started crying. And everyone had to be happy... right?

For the most part, Tristan had sat through the entire meeting hoping that he would just be skipped over... that he wouldn't have to speak. However, after what Justin had said... there was something inside him that finally collapsed. His concern for himself, his guard, finally let itself down and slowly, he looked from Justin to Aiden and a huge wave of self loathing washed over him... and just spilled every word he had onto the table.

"...You have good reason to be angry at your parents. I'm sure everyone here has good reason to be mad at the people who raised us for some reason or another." As he spoke, his eyes grew distant and didn't seem to focus on any one person... but rather the group as a whole.

"....I'm here because of what I didn't do. Not because of what I did." He sighed and shook his head at himself. " I'm here because I was to much of a coward to do something about what was happening in my house. I didn't stop the problem that just kept on getting worse and worse until it got to a point where I literatlly couldn't do anything anymore, my chance to make things right didn't even occur to me until after everything had happened."

He paused and took in his lower lip slightly in his teeth as he thought.

"You know, you never realize what you have until its gone." He paused again, realizing that he was probably confusing the hell out of everyone in the room. He finally made eye contact with the other boys and did his best to hold it as he looked from one face to the next.

"My stepfather brutally murdered my mother.... and raped and sufficated my little sister...." He said solemnly, his tone the grimmest it would probably ever be. "....he almost got away with it too."

"Funny thing about the police.... they like to do things by the book... they like evidence and fingerprints and like to used their fun gadgets to see what sort of seamen was left in my sister's body..... they don't care about the kind of justice a person recieves unless they get some sort of recognition for it...." He shook his head again.

"I'm not proud of what I did to that man. I took my revenge for all of the pain he put my mother and sister through. I didn't do anything heroic.... I didn't fix anything or save anyone....."

"...I really didn't choose to come here. I didn't care if they put me in jail because I know I deserve it. I killed a man.... in my mind, I probably should be in jail." He shrugged his shoulders, the pain subsiding from his tone.

"People pitied me.... thats why I'm here. They don't feel that its my fault that I killed my stepfather because of what he had done to my family..... but it is. It is my fault because I didn't do a damned thing to stop it from happening in the first place. If you ask me, I'm just as bad as him."

His blue eyes looked for some sort of judgement from the other boys.

"Whats worse? The evil doer or the person who stands by and does nothing?"

He swallowed hard, the flash backs finally taking their tole on his stability.

"...I... would have done something.... if I had been there. But I wasn't. I was out at a party with friends...... instead of protecting them.....like I should have been...."

Tristan fell silent and then looked back down to the table. He felt like such an idiot.... everyone else had briefly said their tale..... while he rambled on and on like some sort of preacher. He simply waited for a comment... or for Abby to somehow break the eerie silence that he had created.

Allumen looked mildly amused. "One more sob story to go." He sighed, shifting to get comfortable.

((I like the mug, not the coffee. x3;;;

*doesn't like coffee* Ahem... But tea and coacoa are good. =D ))

“Huh?” Liam lifted his head to look at Orpheus from beneath his curtain of hair, and he shrugged. It was almost as if nothing else in the room was that important, or worth paying attention to when weighed against his own interests and needs, however trivial they might appear to outsiders. “Another Tomorrow...” He spoke again, his tone soft and hesitant, not wanting to interrupt the others but feeling he had to explain himself clearly to the husky voiced boy, “The city of Washburn, R.W. Bailey, Pepper Lanigan?” For some reason, he thought the naming of fictional places and characters would help him out, but he relented with a silent sigh. “It’s that show starring Hannah Blake. The season premiere is tonight.” Yes, tonight they would get to see if R.W. really killed Victor, and if Pepper Lanigan was going to get out of being blackmailed by that uppity maid, whatever her name was. Liam never missed an episode except during rerun season. It wasn’t that hard to remember what was going on.

((I didn't even notice when I picked it out. lol, maybe its the Official Yaoi High School cup? Wait, I don't even RP in that one. And welcome Colzie!))

"Oh, I never miss it..." Oddly enough, he didn't seem enthusiastic about that prospect, despite his confession about his loyalty to it. If Orpheus wanted, he could watch it too, but Liam didn't extend an invitation. In the past, he always watched it by himself, there was no reason to change it up.

Straightening his posture a little, he shifts in his chair and clears his throat, addressing Abby from across the round table group. "Um, Ma'am... So does this place have a television somewhere?" Having spent the last couple of months hiding out, playing with Freckles and eating peanut butter sandwiches by himself, it wasn't as though he had spent much time inquiring or even being observant in terms of his new surroundings.

((Personally I'm a TV on DVD type of person, though I've found myself watching a lot of fall television. Usually I'm the person who doesn't know anything about current TV shows or whatever music the kids are listening to these days.))