Rath didn’t care much for the pomp and chaperones that surrounded the Homecoming Dance, and while he loved being around people, tonight he would have rather gone to an actual party. However, mostly everyone else he knew was here, so here he was. He’d dressed up in a nice pair of dark slacks, a white button up shirt, and a slick black tie. He felt like a proper, dapper gentleman, and the fact that he’d snuck in some vodka definitely would help the night.

He’d made a few rounds chatting with all the familiar faces, and a few people who had strayed off by themselves, if only because he couldn’t stand to see people all by themselves. Plus those sort of people were always interesting, or at least willing to talk after a few questions and jokes.

It didn’t take him long to get a bit bored of it all, and he’d been about to go check on his sisters when he felt a tug on his shirt. He wasn’t too surprised to see Tatum, but he was concerned to see her by herself. He knew Homecoming was even less of a picnic for her than it was for him, and he was worried about her. Having to deal with everything, and all by herself, was no doubt taxing. He didn’t approve of the way it made his sister so unhappy, so anything he could do to help, he would. Especially if it involved a bit of a smoke,

“Had enough of people already?” He teased her, though he gestured for her to lead the way. Sometimes Rath was sure she only smoked so much because of the stress of being closeted. “Though where’s Sam?” He asked curiously. He had yet to form an opinion on the man, but he did want to get to know the guy, especially if he was going to be hanging around Tatum a lot.

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"I-I was born sick of people," Tatum murmured back, cracking a weak smile and only withering a bit under the looks of the people Rath had been conversing with before she interrupted. Even if they were only curious glances, they made the smaller redhead's skin crawl. People staring was probably the worst thing ever, and her anxiety constantly reminded her just how much the average person spent staring at her. Breaking her concentration on that subject and deciding to play it cool, she began to head off as soon as Rath gestured for her to do so.

"Uhm, he's around. I left him with S-Shelby and them for a while, I told h-him I'd be back soon," she explained, hesitating for a moment as they came to a human blockade in the crowd. Head down, Tatum moved carefully around them, finally breaking to the edge of the dance floor. She felt better already without people dancing all around and bumping into her at every turn.

Once more taking a look for chaperones, she moved to the side exit of the hall, pushing open the double doors and letting them outside. It was a little bit of a crisp evening, and she suddenly wished she had brought a hoodie. "So you're like, going stag?" she asked, leading them further still to the edge of the woods. A few other girls were already gathered around smoking cigarettes.

"Dad is gonna wanna know why," she half-joked, putting the joint to her lips once they were clear. It was obvious how much Tatum had begun to relax once they were outside, mostly just the two of them. "Handsome old Quidpot player like yourself," she joked, always cracking a smile at their dad's favorite magical mispronounciation.

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When Tatum said she was born sick of people, Rath shot her a grin, glad that she seemed in good enough spirits to joke. He waved to the people he was talking to and followed his younger sister as she led the way through the crowd. It was a bit of a habit when Tatum hesitated before the crowd of people to go in front and try to make sure his sister had to deal with as little bumping as possible.

“He not a smoker?” He asked a bit curiously, wondering how Tatum could find a guy who didn’t partake in what had to be her favorite form of recreation. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about having some one on one time with his sister, who was inarguably his favorite person in the world, quirks and all.

He always found that it looked more suspicious to look for chaperones before heading out somewhere, so he just followed Tatum out. If you looked like you were going somewhere casually, most people didn’t question you. Though Tatum’s paranoia might also be the reason they’d never been caught.

The cool night air felt refreshing after being stuffed like sardines in that room, and he took a deep breath before following Tatum down towards the woods. “Yup. I spaced about the dance, and no one asked me. We don’t all have your legion of admirers, so don’t rub it in.” Rath joked, waving to the other girls already out for a smoke. Maybe he should ask one of them to be his date, but the thought was gone as soon as he had it. Too much work.

When Tatum mentioned dad, Rath groaned, plopping down on a sturdy looking log. He did laugh though at the familiar term that their father always got wrong. For a cop, sometimes it seemed like the silliest things could fly over his head. “I’ll tell him I’m thinking about becoming a priest. He can’t be mad at that right?” He asked, holding out his hand for a joint. “Though how are you holding up? I need clear the dance floor for you and your guy to be able to have that dance when you win that court thing?” He teased her. He had every faith his sister would win, mostly because he may or may not had tons of people vote for her.

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"No," Tatum replied, shaking her head. It struck most people as sort of weird that she and Sam were friends and bandmates, let alone dating, when you really thought about how much weed Tatum smoked. She was just glad she hadn't entirely smoked him out yet. "Sammy's as straight-edge as.. well, like the straight edge of something," she went on to explain, laughing weakly as she sat gingerly down next to her brother on the log. She carefully folded her legs. "I-It's all good though.. just means he takes care of me when I'm fucked up," she half-joked.

She rolled her eyes at his comment about admirers, resisting the urge to duck down as he waved at the girls a few paces away. He was always waving to someone, but she supposed that was just Rath. If she could have lived her next twenty years without waving to a single soul, she would have done it. "S-Shut up," she murmured, lighting up the joint and inhaling sharply, holding it before she exhaled and spoke again. "Nobody like, admires me.. how do I have a date and n-not you, mister popular?"

Tatum coughed loudly on a chest full of smoke when Rath suggested being a priest. "If you do that, I'll move into the nunnery," she replied, pausing for a second. "But did you know nunnery is a-actually another work for whore-house, and not even really a house for nuns? So maybe n-not."

When he reached for the joint, she gladly passed it along, though color drained from her face at the mention of the homecoming court. "W-Wait a second, like what does t-that mean? I don't-- I might n-not even stay to see who gets crowned. Stupid, r-right?" she shot back, rolling her eyes again and holding her chin in her hands as she watched Rath hit the joint. "T-Totally stupid," she decided, mostly in agreement with herself. She didn't even want to imagine going up on that stage in front of all of those people. It'd have to be a joke if she won, like Carrie or something.

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Rath laughed a bit at her explanation, deciding that the guy couldn’t be too bad if he’d take care of his tripping sister. “You know that’s definitely a good idea. I heard that there was some chick going around making money off of helping fucked up people get back to their dorms intact or some shit. Like a babysitting service for drunk people. It seemed like a good business idea, so you lucked out getting that for free.”

He settled his elbow on his knee, resting his chin in the palm of his hand, watching as Tatum took a long drag of her joint, smiling innocently when she told him to shut up. “Bullshit. The fact that you have a date and I don’t speaks enough about your admirers.” He teased, before shrugging. “Perhaps my horrible reputation proceeded me. And I haven’t met anyone interesting in a while.” Rath said. He wasn’t the type to make the first move, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually been interested in someone enough to do so.

“That would explain all those sexy nun fantasies.” Rath said thoughtfully, tucking that tidbit away for later. “But you probably shouldn’t go to a nunnery. You can’t even go to church on Sunday, let alone every day.”

When Tatum handed him the joint, he took a long, grateful drag. “You should stay. It may be a bit stupid, but we can make fun of the people who win and take it way too seriously.” He offered, holding out the blunt to her.

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Scrunching up her face, Tatum laughed and rolled her eyes. "Seriously? That sounds like, the kind of thing that Sera would try to profit off of or something," the redhead giggled, shaking her head at the thought. She really didn't put such an idea past their sanctimonious little sister, even if she knew that the brunette was way easier to tempt to the dark side than she cared to admit. Just because she liked a glass of wine now and again didn't mean Sera would ever just plain admit that to anybody. "It is a g-good idea though, seems profitable. Everyone is wasted around here," she laughed.

She listened contentedly as Rath spoke about not being interested in anyone, and she couldn't say she was surprised, just nodding her head a little bit as he talked. "You're pickier than a-anybody I know," she informed him, though she knew that it was a little deeper than that. It was just the most obvious factor to tease him about. "T-The fact that I have a date is like.. I dunno, I h-happen to have a boyfriend right now. I guess, uhm, it's better. Colin could never come to dances or like, anything."

Taking her joint back when Rath was done with it, Tatum hit it again and cracked a little smile at the promise of mocking other people. It was something she would never do loudly, terrified of ever being confronted, but it was something she did love to do when they could get away with it. When they were baked, that just made it even funnier. "For real? Well, I guess I could like.. do that. Who do you think is gonna win anyway? I uhm, voted for Sunny."

Fiddling with the joint, she flicked the ash before holding it to her brother again. "It's really just like, a stupid popularity contest, right? Maybe you'll be the king, mom will be so excited she'll have a bird."

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“I’d say we should open up shop but we’d probably be better clients than employees. We really could rake in a lot of cash.” Rath said, making a face slightly at the thought of Sera doing that sort of business. “And if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not suggest this sort of stuff to Sera. I’d get earfuls of lectures about how I should be more careful or some shit.” He loved his sister, and she could be surprisingly mature at times, but sometimes the concept of loosening up seemed to fly over her head. But he supposed, that’s what they were here for, to help her have a good time.

When Tatum called him picky, he only smiled, not one to dispute it. Maybe he was, but they both knew it was far more difficult than that. “Well with all of my manly charm and good looks, I need to find someone I know who can withstand it.” He joked, before glancing at her curiously. “You always have a boyfriend.” He teased her, picking at the log thoughtfully. “Though is it really better now? Especially since you’ll have to see this one more often.” Colin had been a good guy for her, if only because he fit the beard bill and it hadn’t hurt him too bad for them to break up. But this Sam guy sounded more serious.

“You better. It’s no fun to mock people on my own.” Rath said, grinning at her. “And who knows who will win? Maybe you will. I voted for you, though Sunny winning wouldn’t be too bad. She’d deserve to.” He said, flicking bark off of the tree, accepting the joint when Tatum handed it back to him.

He made a face at the thought of being crowned. “I think you think I’m more popular than I am. Besides, if I get crowned king I’m not going up there so you can make fun of me.” He said, before laughing at the image of their mom having a bird. “She probably would. Guess that means she’ll have an elephant when you get crowned.”

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"Don't even talk a-about her lectures, I feel like I can hear them ringing in my ears now," Tatum groaned, her head shaking at the mere thought. Sera had a bad habit of pointing out the flaws of others, but she took special care in Tatum's case. There was rarely something that the redhead did that her little sister didn't have some critique or comment to give about. If it wasn't trying to play detective with her sexuality, it was trying to tell her she smoked too much weed. She could never win with Sera.

"You'll find someone, you're great," she assured him, gushing a little more than she probably would have done in front of anyone else. She never just worried about embarrassing herself, but hated embarrassing others. She couldn't even be around other people's awkwardness without feeling awkward, but when it was just Rath, she could just say whatever was on her mind. When he questioned her about her boyfriend situation, she gave a non-committal shrug.

"I guess so? I mean, it's.. it's good now, because I g-guess we can go to dances like this and s-stuff and keep mom and dad happy. And like, I already like him, like as a friend so it's like.. I dunno. It's not better, it's whatever," she sighed, knowing it wasn't a really good answer but unsure how else to explain herself. She was, more than anything since Mack's homecoming proposal, generally just feeling guilty about the whole situation. Colin had been convenient, Sam was a real friend.

While Rath hit the joint, Tatum took up where he had left off, absently picking at the side of the log now as he grinned at her. "Maybe we both will," she laughed weakly. "Can they do that? Like, even if we're related?"

Shaking her head, she managed a small smile. "If y-you went up there, I would so rip on you. But mom would definitely be happy. It's a lot of p-pressure," she admitted. Generally speaking, most of the pressure was off of her. Other than the pressure they put on her about going into medicine, Sera got all of the school awards, and Rath played the sports. It was almost like their parents just expected Tatum to be hovering in the middle, not especially good at anything in particular, but generally well rounded.

She didn't stand out, but she didn't really cause trouble. If she started winning homecoming queen and stuff, it would probably give Madeline a false sense of expectations. The last thing she wanted was an expectation of popularity on top of med school. Tatum wasn't cut out for being queen, then or ever.

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