know better / private.

[OLLIE.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; color: #494949; font-family: karla; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 0.2px; word-spacing: 1px; margin-top: 10px;"]a couple of days pass with no theodore knope.

it's not without reason, though. ever since she seen him torture michael seeing him was the last thing that she cared to do. of course, she couldn't avoid him completely. she still was member in the badlands and so naturally, she has to contribute, but she makes no further efforts to drive the conversation forward. instead, she's dry. avoids all contact. and if they are to lock eyes? her expression is cold, comparable to daggers. despite her efforts to keep him away, she hates that apart of her still hopes that he notices. asks what's wrong. cares enough to ask why. she hates that she wonders which woman he has in his bed in replacement to hers. such petty things in comparison to what he's done.

it's not without reason, though. she is drawn to teddy. seeing him was the last thing, but the most prominent thing she cared to do.

she wouldn't be the one to make the efforts, though. she knows how he expects anyone to bend to his will, and yet she refuses to give him the satisfaction- not when it comes to this. she arrives home, using toilet paper to smudge her makeup off, before changing into something more comfortable, a white oversized t-shirt that hangs over tight shorts. after pulling her hair back, she settles down in the queen sized bed, drawing the covers to her chin as she goes to stuff the earphones in her ears. until she hears a knock at the door, that is.

she pauses, sitting up in her bed, eyebrows knitting in question. who could be here so late? and whoever it was, she hopes they weren't here to request something from her. getting up sluggishly, she walks over just as the next series of knocks begin "can you wait one second? maldición! she unlocks the door and opens it, shocked to see the face that is staring back at her: the badlands leader himself. immediately, her face falls into one that could only be distinguished as dismay, making not rush to welcome him in. "what do you want?"

[TEDDY.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]A couple of days pass with no Janelle Martinez.

This hadn’t been Theodore’s choice, however, as he certainly wouldn’t have neglected to pay a woman of his attention otherwise. In fact, he had felt obliged to find Janelle, pull her aside in public or elsewhere and utter those same old sweet nothings which had been so effortlessly rehearsed and repeated over and over again. But no — she was avoiding him like the plague. When he’d hope for her to approach, she’d stray from him. When he’d look for her face in the crowd, he’d only find it to realise that she wouldn’t even dare to look back. For a man whose face everyone knew, without her acknowledgement he felt like nothing more than a ghost. And, for those rare chances where she’d meet his gaze, he’d only find a vacancy in her eyes. No intimacy or respect, but a blatant aloofness which made it clear that she didn’t want to talk to him.

Against all better judgement, almost a week later, Teddy decided to meet her at her home one quiet evening.

Teddy initially intended to head to bed himself for the night — alone — until his mind lingered on Janelle for a moment too long. Usually, Teddy wouldn’t inwardly wish to make such an effort like this; women like Janelle ought to gravitate naturally towards Teddy without much encouragement. But, after waiting around in the hopes that she’d eventually come to miss him, Janelle still remained absent in his life, and he knew exactly why. Was she afraid of him after what she’d witnessed? He hadn’t been the one to lower that tenderiser on Mike’s hand, fracturing it like fragile china, but it had been a clear message to not break the rules. A clear message that the Knopes were in charge.

The door remained shut, quiet shuffling from inside notifying Teddy that someone was on the other side of the door. But, no one opened. He began to knock again, only to hear the voice he so missed in a frustrated exclamation before Janelle opened the door. A brief moment of hesitation had Teddy quiet, eyeing Janelle out before he cracked a small smile, despite her look of dismay. ❝ May I come in? ❞ He asked, hand on the doorway as if he simply expected she say yes. After all, if she closed the door on him, she likely knew that he’d just break the door down.

[OLLIE.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; color: #494949; font-family: karla; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 0.2px; word-spacing: 1px; margin-top: 10px;"]she's in an endless cycle, it seems.

it starts with her papi, her father. he is the one who is supposed to teach her what love from your significant other should be, what romantic love should look like, and he chooses to show it in the harshest way. bruises the size of boulders line her body on the nights he finally chooses to come home, and when he's not home, he's gone for days on end. you'd think she'd hate him, in some aspect, she does. had she come from a normal family, she'd never have met men like julian or theodore, slithering snakes disguised as beautiful men. but her family wasn't near normal, and in a sense, she'd been daddy's little girl. he'd feed her lies, justifying the reasons her mami deserved her abuse:

he loved her, but she didn't know how to keep her legs closed. that her mami was a slut who needed to learn a lesson, that she was a terrible mother and he just wanted what was best for his babygirl. hear that enough, and you start to believe it. no matter how much dread she felt when she happened to witness the prior and aftermath, she believed it. and it's what made her almost fall victim to the hands of julian. follow him to the ends of the earth almost to fall off because of him and yet, she was doing it again like an idiot. she knows what happens if she closes the door theodore knope's face, though. they both knew, and so after standing there for a couple of minutes and letting the question hang in the air, she pushes her hand from the door she holds and turns away, allowing him to come in.

"i don't really want to talk to you." even though he knows this, she says it anyway as if it may change anything. she wants him to know that he isn't going into her fire without potentially getting burned; she won't subside in his presence, even if he thinks he has that affect on her. trending over towards the kitchen island, she leans against it, and crosses her arms.

"don't you have somewhere to be anyway? someone to torture or wait never mind," she lifts up a finger, eyes briefly drifting away from him as if she suddenly remembered "you have assholes to fight your battles for you." after all janelle's gone through, you'd think she'd watch herself around these dangerous men, but her father has always prided her on being a fighter.