Tatum had sort have been thrown for a trip when Sera told her where she was planning to throw the birthday party for Jenny and Ella. There were about a million things that could go wrong, up to and including letting Hunter handle the guest list obviously, but the most worrying part is that she kept expecting her father to come barreling back through the front door at any moment. No matter how much she knew he was away, no matter how much she reminded herself that he was way the hell down in Portland, it was still weird being in the house, and a little sad.

She had been drinking a bit while selling off some grams earlier, but she wasn't too drunk. Other than hooking people up with the green, she had actually spent the last hour or so apparating between her bedroom upstairs and her room at Blue Ridge. When she had left so suddenly in December, there was a lot left behind. She was pleased to see that none of it was thrown out, her step-mother had just shut the room with a simple locking charm.

When she got to moving furniture, her favorite tall dresser that she really wanted to take back to school actually, she was stumped. She was too little to even move it herself, even with all of the clothes taken out. She had gotten a fresh can of Smirnoff, and had been looking for Mack or Julian or somebody to help her, when Leland found her instead.

She listened to most of his nerd rant with a deadpan expression, only catching about half of it and staring at him blankly as his hand fell on her shoulder. He looked strong or whatever, dads were always strong. "Do you know how to m-move a dresser across the c-country?" she asked simply, blinking up at him. If they were dressed the same, it would have been pretty funny. "Y-You must have good taste in clothes.. I-I like your shirt."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"I can move shit!" he roared. "I can move chairs and beds and I can move dressers!" he proclaimed.

"But I gotta ask ya? Do you..." he giggled and leaned in closer. "Do you have magical titties? Can I see them? Is- is it like looking into a magical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?"

He looked at his t-shirt, there was still blood on it. "Oh yeah thanks. This is a dope t-shirt. I have a million shirts with dogs on 'em. My kid thinks they're fuckin' hysterical. Gets-gets her gigglin' e'ry time," he giggled. "Hey, how do you get blood outta a t-shirt?"

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Well good!" Tatum replied with enthusiasm, clapping her hands together. She had been about to tell him to follow her upstairs, when he suddenly began asking about her tits, and she felt her face flushing terribly. "W-What?! N-No! No and n-no! You can't-- no!" she replied quickly, her arms automatically coming up to cover her chest even through her shirt. She had done a few stupid things on Mardi Gras past, but she had been sort of obligated with the whole act she had been portraying. She didn't plan on flashing anybody this year, if she could help it.

She stared blankly at Leland, seeming to notice for the first time just how kicked to shit he looked. "Uh," she managed, blinking a bit. "I don't.. know how to d-do that. But I can uh, fix your face.. well, fix it b-back to the way it was. I can't m-make you cute or anything."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Awww come on now, I aint gonna rip your shirt off, no-no need to cover up like some prude," he poked her shoulder. "Why you-you need a lifter-mover?" he asked squinting at her. "Hey! Have you seen any wolves tonight? You still doing good? Need me to stab him again?"

"Sylv cleaned me up good but she mighta missed a cut er somethin'..." he started to mumble until he heard Tatum's last comment. Leland started laughing and couldn't help but almost fall over. "C-can't make me cute! That was a good one Red!" he put up his hand for a high five. "Don't leave me hanging bro!"

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"I-I'm.. I'm not even a p-prude!" Tatum protested, squirming a bit as her poked her in the shoulder. "And I just need your help 'cos it's.. well, I could levitate it I-I guess, but I've been apparating with some s-stuff that I need to uhm, take back to school. Mack was d-doing stuff so I didn't really get her to help," she trailed off. Upon the mention of wolves, her eyes went wide. "N-No! Don't stab a-anything! There's no.. w-we don't have wolves like that in Maine."

Staring blankly at him again as he lifted his hand for a high-five, she waited a moment to consider whether he was being sarcastic with her or not, before lifting her own hand and slapping his back. "W-Well, uhm.. I mean, I can't. M-Magic can't make miracles happen. You're g-gonna be all gruff lookin' forever. D-Do chicks dig that anyway?"

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Sorry little bro! I didn't mean to like freak you our! Just checkin' in and makin' sure you're alright!" Without any warning at all he pulled her into a bear hug. "I got you bro," he laughed. "You point the way and I'll move shit for you."

He smiled stupidly as she high fived him, he was not in the right state of mind to even understand sarcasm. "I've done well enough with the gruff lookin' thing," he nodded. "Though people always be like what's with the scar?" he flailed his arms as he did his best to impersonate a girl's voice. "And I'm all... I got stabbed! And they're like either that's so hot! or like you're a freak!" He laughed and shrugged.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

When he came in for the hug, Tatum didn't really know what to expect, just holding her breath instinctively and waiting for the moment to be over. But when he just gave her a big hug and offered to help her move things, that was much better than whatever she had been worried about. She didn't even really know. It was always just her natural reaction to be on guard around guys like Leland, or.. well, most of the people Mack hung around with. She didn't quite fit into the crowd, but she did her best not to be too annoying.

"Uhm, t-thanks. I think. We can, uh.. do you think you can a-apparate and stuff? Without s-splinching your face off?" she asked seriously. Though it was hard to contain a snort as his imitation of a girly voice. "Stab w-wounds are hardly sexy.. well, sometimes. Like, on movies and stuff."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

He patted her head and nodded. "I won't splinch nothin'," he said brightly. "I can... I can apparate and move shit still," he nodded. Drunk as he may be he could still apparate fairly well. He had done it on a number of occasions to get home on nights like this.

"Let me tell you girl, it wasn't sexy when it happened either," he laughed. "Gettin' stabbed in the face is like..." he flailed his hands around. "AHH FUCK! And it's comin' right for the eye..." he stopped and grinned. "Not so many knife fights to worry about in the fuckin' mountains though."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

She was a bit skeptical, but there was no point in arguing with a good thing, so she just nodded her head instead. "Sure, yeah! Y-You got this, you're.. you're n-not that drunk?" she replied, though it was hard not to giggle at her own words. He was trashed, but he was willing to help, so it was all irrelevant.

Grabbing his arm, she pulled him in the direction of the stairs. Being small made it easier to maneuver through the crowd, just tugging him along behind her. "You're like a boss with that knife though, you uhm.. y-you like seriously saved me the other night. Y-You were like.. bam! Just like, right there!"

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Leland followed along dutifully as Tatum pulled him up the stairs, occasionally getting his shoulders wedged between two people and having to turn to keep up with Tatum's lead. "I am not-not that drunk!" he insisted. He sure was that drunk.

"I couldn't let a cute little nerd like you get mauled by a bear," he said. "I'd nuver... I'd never hear the end of it from Mack and I'd feeeeeeel my feeeeelings," he gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster. "And just so you know," he said poking his own nose with his free hand as if to prove a point. "Just so you know, I don't usually c-carry around um... a knife. It was sliver- er silver. I was makin' a wand with sliver," he squinted, that damn word kept tripping him up. "SILVER. FUCKING SILVER. Yeah, I was makin' a wand with that metal and had a little scrap left over in my pocket. Silver pocket."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"C-Cute?" Tatum squeaked, halting for just a moment as they reached the top of the stairs. "I'm not.. w-well, I mean yeah, M-Mack would have been pretty sad.. r-really sad, I g-guess," she went on, smiling nervously at the puppy eyes he turned on her.

"W-Well.. I'm glad you're n-not packing heat?" she replied, making their way down the hallway, her hand groping along the wall, looking for a light switch. "Either way, uhm.. i-it was good that you were t-there."

She wasn't about to mention that she had been considering going out again, what the full story behind that animal was had still been bothering her. That was something she'd keep to herself for now.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"You are so cute!" he said, almost accusingly. "Like a cute little ginger nerd but..." he put his finger to his lips. "Don't tell Mack, she'll... she'll punch me for saying so. It's like not a crime man."

He pretty much had to trust her to lead him down the hallway as he was in no state to stumble through the darkness alone. "I'm glad I was there too little nerd," he giggled. "No dead nerds on my watch."

"Hey since you're like... know... Mack's girlfriend and she might be moving into my building we should play video games together and smoke and shit. I mean... not all nerds is bad," he mumbled. "Why we takin' shit anyways?" he asked. "Are we..." he snorted and giggled maniacally. "ARE WE CAT BURGLARS?!"

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Mack just likes to punch, I think," Tatum replied, trying hard to keep herself from blushing any harder as Le complimented her. He was glad he saved her? He had seemed sort of sullen that night, but she supposed that if he wanted to let her die, he could have.. so obviously, he must have wanted to help her a little. All of the praise from him was one of the last things she was expecting, and it was hard to keep from getting embarrassed.

"Y-You wanna play games? With me?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit as she pushed into her bedroom when they reached it, and she took a cursory glance around. Things were still scattered about, but most of the small stuff was gone. It was a lot of furniture left so far. "Well.. uhm, w-we're sort of cat burglars. We're not supposed to be d-doing this?"

She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she wanted to explain her situation entirely to her girlfriend's drunk friend, but figuring she might as well say something. "My d-dad doesn't want me to live here anymore, so.. I'm j-just taking my stuff. But h-he doesn't know I'm here! So it's.. secret."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Mack does love to punch. Bitch is one tough cookie, makes me all the better at quidditch though," he grinned.

"Course I wanna play games with you and shit! Like... I figure we're gonna be hangin' out more now that y'all are movin' in and you aint so bad," he patted her head.

Listening to her story he frowned a bit. "Hey man. Having a shit dad is like... fuckin' the worst. I have a shit dad too. All I got is some shit picture of him and nothin' else. He won't even acknowledge my existence. I don't even get a shit birthday card er nothin' since the day I was born. It's why I promised Eddie I would be a good dad cause havin' a shit dad is the fuckin' worst."

"Your secret is safe with me Red."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Don't say I said anything, but the soft squishy side is w-way cuter than the like.. tough cookie side," Tatum replied, grinning slowly herself. When he patted her head, she felt herself blushing despite her attempts to stay chill. "Y-Yeah, that'd be.. pretty c-cool actually, yeah. Do y-you have a DS? Or like, a 3DS.. R-Resident Evil Mercenaries is a-amazing, I uhm.. play online a lot."

It did make her feel a little better to hear that someone else was going through the same thing as her, it seemed like she was far from the only person around who had a father that wasn't perfect. But that only provided so much comfort. Misery loved company, but she mostly just wanted her dad back. Before this whole gay fiasco, he hadn't been a bad dad at all, aside from maybe a little intense. He pressured her about her grades a lot, but he only wanted the best for her. She knew, unfortunately, in his own way that he thought he was doing what was best for her right now too. Except she wasn't going to give in and come home and live the way he wanted her to. Even if he thought she would eventually, she had already promised herself that she wouldn't. She was who she was, and there was no sense in trying to change it.

"Shit d-dads suck," she agreed weakly. "My dad like, t-thinks being gay is a disease or s-something.. like people just, get over it. It's w-who you are, man! It's not-- h-he's just a jerk. He's closed-minded.. f-fuck him, I guess."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

He giggled a bit at her revelation. He hadn't ever really seen a softer side in Mack before little Tater Tot came along, it was definitely a nice change. He couldn't blame her for hiding that side, he was just as guilty... until Eddie came along. "Yeah I bet," he grinned. "Give us tough guys something cute and we go to pieces," he laughed.

"I have a DS, old school one, well not too cold school, DS Lite," he said. "I'm waiting for tax returns to get a nice little 3DS. Budgeting sucks... oooo! I haven't played that yet! It looks dope though! Do you... um..." he pushed his hat down lower to avert his eyes. "You play pokemon?" he mumbled. He was a bit ashamed to admit just how geeky his gaming got.

"Nah man, aint no disease," he shook his head. "People," he squinted, pointing at her. "People are born the way they are, aint no changin' that. Fuck 'im," he agreed. "It's tough because a part 'a you wants him to accept you and fer him to be a dad but you can't change other people and there aint no way you should hafta change..." he trailed off. "Fuck it bro."

"I know I gave you a lotta shit in the past Little Red, you just... yer an easy target but it aint cause yer gay," he gave her a little nudge with her elbow. "I'll give you some hinters when I'm more uh... sobery," he grinned.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Tatum was more than ready to busy herself with her room again, now that they were back into it. She stepped away from Le a bit, making her way over to the dresser she had mentioned earlier, hurrying to get all of the knick-knacks off of it and putting them onto her bed. "Y-You could.. well, you c-can play mine. It's r-red," the younger girl told him, pausing for a moment when he asked about Pokemon. "Uhm, yeah.. of c-course."

She hesitated for a moment, chewing her lip as she began taking pictures out of the edge of the mirror on the dresser. "W-Who's your favorite? I like, uh.. Pachirisu."

Standing in her bedroom and discussing Pokemon with Leland was never something she would have pictured before, but it wasn't turning out so bad. Alcohol was probably helping. When he pointed at her, she stared blankly back, but managed a little bit of a smile. "R-Right? You can't, uhm.. really c-change what's up. I am what I a-am, I guess."

She couldn't believe he was apologizing to her, and once again, she stared blankly at him for a few moments. "It's, uhm.. okay. Everybody g-gives me shit, so it's.. really not a big deal," she admitted, giving him a little nudge back with her elbow. "I'm j-just a wimp. I'm used to it.. at least, uhm.. I have Mack now. It's like having a snuggly attack d-doberman."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Ooo! Red, must be shiny! I like those ones," he grinned. "Oh, uh... Charizard has always been my favorite. Like, little dinosaur man, right? Can't go wrong," he found himself blushing even admitting that he knew what Pokemon was.

"You is what you is," he giggled. "But you gotta stand up fer yerself Little Red," he said moving over to the dresser. "Whatchu need me to do?" he asked. "Point me in the right direction!" he giggled.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)