Breakdown -{open

The doors of the bar opened, rather forcefully and slammed behind her with a sound that resonated through the mostly empty bar. With a scowl on her face, her boots smacked onto the tiles on the ground. It seemed that the nation had resorted to going back into the bar with a headache, but, with a quick check around, it seemed none of her familiar company was around. That was good; Teresa didn’t really want to be around them when she was in this kind of mood. Damn the Zetas for bring her back into this; the cartel life was not for her, not when her friends were trying to help her get rid of them…Not anymore. She had become one of the strongest leaders, and it was killing her, but she couldn’t quite give up the rush. She walked through the ‘busy’ part of the bar, making her way to one of the empty booths. This was amazing; she needed to be alone, even if she didn’t quite want it. This bar was the closest one from where all the nations were meeting, and, frankly, the Mexican nation didn’t really feel like making her way all the way to the hotel where she was staying. Instead, her hands dug into her bag, and she picked up the bottle of tequila that she had stored there. The alcohol burned her throat and her shaky hands slid the bottle onto the table. The drink was warm against her throat, but it didn’t stop the chilling feeling that had invaded her body.

She crossed her arms and placed them on the table, and then slammed her head on them. Tears clouded her jaded, cold eyes and were streaming down her face. That was also okay because she couldn’t see the new scars forming themselves on the back of her palms and on her arms. She would have seen the dark shade of crimson push itself through her green long-sleeved shirt. It was colder outside than it was back in her home, and so she could hide herself behind her arms. The cartels were currently going at it – she could feel it, even if she wasn’t there. And, even if she couldn’t have felt it, she still would have known. They would have called her to tell her. There was…a gash in the side of her body that stung if she moved oddly, but most of them were on her arms. A small sob escaped her, and she clenched her teeth tightly as a result. The nation wasn’t normally like this; she hadn’t been this bitter since her war with Alfred all those years ago. She was, since her days with Olmec, a free spirit that enjoyed moving around and wanted to make an actual name for herself. Well, she could say that she had accomplished that. Her cartel, one of the most technological advanced cartels, was slowly killing her. With the current conditions in Mexico, she wondered how she had managed to stay on her feet so long.

Today, everything felt awful. Her hands had been shaking during the meeting, and they kept giving her odd looks as she struggled not to make it obvious that she was having one of her episodes. Eventually, everyone had been dismissed…except for the G8+5. Teresa had nearly groaned. After all the years she had spent being ignored and dismissed with the rest of the world, all those years where she would leave and have to deal with people asking her about how she felt being the only North American country not involved with the plans the rest of them were making. She cared, but then she would go back to caring about other things. The meeting was uncomfortable, but she was sitting next to Canada the entire time. It felt like they were ignoring her most of the time because of it, but she felt as if…crying would get her weird looks and the room would break down in a panic. Alfred would find a way to pin it on France, England…Russia…anyone, she could just tell. So, she kept it in even though all she wished was to be alone. She had never been very shy, but now…it seemed as if she was slowly being pulled into being a recluse.

Teresa took a shuddering deep breath and slowly brought her thumbs up to wipe her tears from her face. The wounds on her arms started bleeding again, and the original Mexican hadn’t even checked the gash on her side, but right now she needed to calm down. She needed to think straight. This wasn’t the end; she would pick herself back up and fight again. She could do this. She had done it for many years. She had stopped herself from joining them once before, and she could do it now. The blood stained her clothes, but that was her last concern. The tears were beginning to cloud her vision again, threatening to pour over the barrier and release the water works again.

^{STARRING : Teresa&open
WORDS : 838
STATUS : open
NOTES : kinda serious
LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON
OUTFIT : here
BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

[style=width: 420px; background: #121212; color: white; font-family: times new roman; font-style: italic; text-align: center; font-size: 48px; letter-spacing: -4px; line-height: 60px; padding-bottom: 4px; -moz-border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; opacity: 0.8;]i've got two strong arms, i can help

tag: Teresa // words: 517 // notes: Hope this is alright.

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;]Sometimes, Alfred wondered why they even bothered to have these meetings. It was a rare occasion when anything actually got accomplished. The majority of the time spent at these conferences consisted of arguing. Occasionally, there were breakthroughs, but such breakthroughs were usually only eclipsed by more arguing about some other subject, and so it went, for hours on end. Today, the main subject on Alfred's mind was a territorial dispute over a small group of islands in the Pacific. Both China and Japan claimed sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, and as of recently, the disputes were starting to reach a head. Alfred's stance was behind Japan's claims, owing to a certain treaty, but reminding China of this hadn't gone over well. Let's just say that Alfred was surprised nothing ended up broken in the meeting room today. Per usual, by the time the meeting let out, not much had been accomplished. Alfred didn't feel like going back to his hotel yet, and opted to stop at a bar near the venue the meeting took place. He ordered himself a beer, and upon receiving it, scanned the bar for any sign of a familiar face. Drinking alone didn't sound like much fun, though it was on a rare occasion that Alfred wanted to be alone in the first place. He didn't spot anyone straight away, but he decided to take a venture toward the back, to see if anyone was hidden from sight. As it turned out, this move lead him to a familiar face after all. Alfred's grin abruptly faded at the sight. Why was Teresa crying? He hadn't noticed the other North American nation's discomfort at the meeting, mind. Not only was he too preoccupied with other matters, but he hadn't paid much heed to her body language. Otherwise he might have noted the signs before now. Better late than never? It was impossible for even Alfred to ignore tears, especially her tears. Once upon a time, he'd likely been the cause of them. Territorial disputes of their own, erupting into war and bitterness for years to come. Now? All of that was long in the past. As he approached even closer, he saw that there was blood staining her clothes. It didn't even occur to him that her position in the back of the bar might be a signal that she wanted to be left alone. All he knew was that he wanted to get to the bottom of this. He set his beer down on the table with a loud thump, then slid into the booth across from her without waiting for an invitation. "Spill. What's happening? I don't have to kick anyone's ass for you, do I?" The final statement was said with a wry grin across his face. He meant it as a joke, though if Teresa truly did want him to kick someone's ass for her, he wouldn't hesitate. Really, though, he just wanted to find out what was wrong with her and do what he could to fix it. North American nations had to stick together, after all.

[/td][/tr][/table][/style][/style][style=padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 7px; padding-bottom: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;">template by eliza @ shadowplay[/style][/center]


[I'll get a template for this soon. I also apologize if this royally sucked. This is my first post, so I'm trying to get into the hang of this site. Lemme know if I effed anything up, or misread something, or whatever. I also assume this takes place in present day? If not, I can take out the bit about the Senkaku Islands...]

She could get through this. She had to be able to get through this. Teresa Hidalgo was strong – or, that’s what image she wanted the others to think of her as. She wouldn’t let something as little as the cartel get her down, right? Even if it was the cartel that made her feel strong; made her feel invincible; what with her power slowly reaching to Italy. She wondered if Feli-chan even felt it sometimes. How much drugs she allowed to be trafficking. She wondered…if the other countries – the ones she would spend countless days with, laughing, joking, and reminiscing with – could feel the changes happening slowly to her. She was on the verge of snapping.

What if she ended up like Ivan; the same on the outside, but dark, twisted, and broken on the inside? She would never have that childish quality about her again – that died when her children were taken, when her people fought in their own Revolution, the moment she had agreed to take control of the cartel. While the Russian preferred a metal pipe, Teresa got a sick kick out of carrying around her gun everywhere with her. It was only really a matter of time before all the drugs that she didn’t do and did do manage to take a hold of who she was and what she stood for. She was already cracking; especially around her underlings. She had ordered countless of deaths among her own people. She commanded that they be sentenced to death; beheaded and even whipped because they wouldn’t give her the information she needed; the information that she wanted.

For some reason, it didn’t matter that all this eventually hurt her on the inside. At the time, it never occurred to her the families she was tearing apart without a second thought. All that mattered was, in that time…Teresa was alive. She sucked in a breath as she pushed her sleeves back and glanced at them, wondering just whose mother was going to find out that her son or her husband…her precious person wasn’t going to find their way home that night. She wondered, perhaps, if it were yet another American citizen that was caught in the middle through no fault of their own. She always felt bad, and that was when she would leave the other ‘leaders’ in charge while she went off to visit her favorite American and see if he didn’t want to do something – like, getting ice cream or something else. She wasn’t sure if he would ever find out exactly why she did it. He was strangely oblivious in an endearing sort of way in that sense.

At any rate, the scratches in her arms didn’t seem too bad. There were a lot of them, but no more were appearing and these were already beginning to stop stinging…unless, of course, she moved too quickly. Then, the pain would begin to happen all over again. She was afraid to open her shirt and glance down at the gash. That…felt painful. She was pretty sure that it was going to take a while to sting, but, luckily for her, she had bandages in the hotel room. The only problem was that Alfred had slipped into the seat across from her. With another sucked in breath, she wiped at the tears with her palms and blinked at him, slowly. There were so many lies going through her mind, none of which could quite fit with how she looked.

Instead, she lifted up her bottle of tequila and drank from it. It was still warm, and she wondered if she could ask Alfred to get her a cup of ice. It would probably make her feel better; tequila always made her feel better. She couldn’t remember a time where she couldn’t turn to the alcohol to comfort her. It was her very best friend during the times where her father figure held disdain for her, she hadn’t quite met her favorite Canadian, and she and her best friend were at odds with each other because some blond was being selfish. When she lowered the bottle, she leaned back into the booth and tried to stop herself from wincing when her side screamed at her to shut up. Her green eyes blinked at him again before focusing on her hands.

A smile made its way onto her face. She wanted to lie to him. If there was one person she could absolutely not tell about this, it was him. Alfred who had grand ideals and his need to protect her. Alfred who had programs dedicated to helping her stop the cartels from taking over her home. She needed them, but couldn’t do much without them. Her eyes filled slightly all over again, and her hands pressed tightly together. “I’m sorry, amigo.” She started, glancing up with a slight smile on her face. “It’s no one’s fault except my own. They’re old wounds that opened up. It’s fine.” That was going to be her only explanation. And, she raised an eyebrow. “That meeting was so boring, no?”

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred
WORDS : 847
STATUS : open
NOTES : yours was great(: don't worry
LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON
OUTFIT : here
BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

[style=width: 420px; background: #121212; color: white; font-family: times new roman; font-style: italic; text-align: center; font-size: 48px; letter-spacing: -4px; line-height: 60px; padding-bottom: 4px; -moz-border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; opacity: 0.8;]i've got two strong arms, i can help

tag: Teresa // words: 518 // notes: Shoooort.

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;]Alfred was often oblivious, but even he couldn't ignore solid evidence. Teresa was crying, and therefore her explanation for why she was crying had to line up. Her explanation also had to line up with the fact that her clothes were soaked with blood. Had she been attacked? That was the first thing that sprang to mind, and his fists clenched at the very thought. To fill the silence that ensued while he waited for Teresa's response, Alfred raised his glass to his lips and took a few chugs himself. Finally, Teresa's response came, followed by a frown from Alfred. ...seriously? Even Alfred could tell that there was more to it than that. He wasn't the most observant person in the world, but old wounds just opening up for no reason? He didn't buy it. None of it actually added up. Plus, what was she apologizing for? Unless it was for crying, but that didn't make much sense either. None of this made sense, and that bothered him. "S'okay, but...really?" Alfred reached out and grabbed one of her arms, gesturing to the blood stains easily visible through the fabric. "That's from old wounds opening up? You expect me to believe that, Resa?" Wounds like that didn't just open up on their own, not on their kind. She was stubborn as all hell, but so was he, and he wasn't just going to take being brushed off. "What's going on? I'll do whatever I can to help! Heroes can't just sit by while they're friends are in trouble!" And Resa was in trouble, he had no doubt about that. She was bleeding, and she was crying. That didn't just happen with no rhyme or reason. So what was the deal? Alfred needed to know! That said, he couldn't ignore her last question. As intent as he was to poke his nose into Resa's business, he would not turn down the chance to vent about another world meeting. "I don't know about boring, but it was pretty much a waste of time. I could think of plenty of other ways I'd rather have spent my day than listening to Yao and Kiku bicker about those islands, Arthur and Francis bicker about...whatever it is they're bickering about this time, and so on and so forth. I think the day we can actually sit down and discuss something without a fight breaking out'll be the day the world ends." Which, if the Mayan calender theory was true, was only in a few months? Well that was one major point against those theories - Alfred couldn't see a world meeting without a fight anywhere in the foreseeable future. Not that some of Alfred's own conflicts hadn't seeped into the meetings in the past. The Cold War came to mind... With this question, she'd temporarily gotten him off of the subject (and inspired a long ramble about not much in particular). That didn't mean he'd forgotten about his concern, though. The reminders were still present. The blood, the tears...as long as those were there, Alfred wanted to get to the bottom of this. Or, at the very least, cheer the other North American nation up. Cause he hated seeing her like this.

[/td][/tr][/table][/style][/style][style=padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 7px; padding-bottom: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;">template by eliza @ shadowplay[/style][/center]

Of all the times that he decided he wasn’t going to be oblivious anymore; now was his moment? Instead of all those moments where she snuck into his house – back when she could still resist and tell them no, she would not join them – with the intention of telling him what was going on, but almost always chickened out of doing it, today was the day where he caught her in the act of crying? Teresa had been telling Alfred for months that she had no idea where the drug leaders were, only some of the members; that they had hidden too well. She had, somehow, managed to convince Guatemala that if he spilled his guts, she would find him and he would be able to say, “hola” to the ancient civilizations for her. But, all of that seemed like it was going to be in vain…because America was sitting in front of her, blue eyes alert at the fact that her wounds were bleeding.

He grabbed her arm. He grabbed her arm, and she wasn’t able to warn herself. A sharp gasp left her, and her other hand clenched itself into a fist. Maldito sea, that was going to keep her from convincing him that he was okay. Her smile dropped from her face, and her expression pulled itself into a tight look. Alfred…would throw a fit. He would probably keep her locked up or something; ship her off to stay with Matthew, or, worse, Spain. She couldn’t handle living with Spain anymore. He was always around that Prussian and…the French Bastard. “Well, I’m not lying to you, Alfredo.” Teresa glanced away, pulling her hand back and running her free arm over some of the wounds with only a slight wince. “Some of them really are old wounds.”

And, damn her for not wearing anything that was black. It would have been…smarter for her to do. It wouldn’t have been uncommon for the Mexican – wearing black. Especially because she happened to be doing so a lot lately. She was, after all, in “mourning” for all of the people she had lost. “I do expect you to believe it, gringo, because it’s true. Is it my fault that,” my “cartels hit the same spots time and time again?” She was going to have to have a chat with them. She had, mostly, put a stop to all the nonsense where they killed without a reason. There had to be a reason for them to do something so drastic as killing another; hurting their leader. Many of them thought that she was weak. They challenged her; to wrestling matches, shootouts, anything. Teresa always delivered, too. She was swift in killing her opponents, the faster the better. If it was prolonged, she had the bad habit of latching onto their pain as well…like with the drugs.

Teresa forced herself to stop crying. She wasn’t weak; she wouldn’t let them go back to calling her a third world country without a chance of getting better. Sure, the worst possible crimes were committed, but they weren’t the only things going on. There was also improvement. Hadn’t her home country taken the gold in Soccer during the Olympics? She remembered her children (the states) and the cities latching themselves onto her as they screamed themselves hoarse with celebration. And, well, she couldn’t help but call Brazil and rub it in his face that she had kicked his butt. All the times he and Argentina had called her…it was justice. “That’s just it, Alfredo. You’re the…the héroe. That’s why I can’t tell you. All of this is from the cartels, but don’t you dare do more than you’re doing, entiendes?” Her voice was chilled and her eyes narrowed slightly.

Besides, she healed easily enough. They always hurt and bled the first day, were annoying and continued to bleed slightly as they healed the second, and were scars on the first day. She understood that there were hardly any countries out there that had…seen her vital regions, especially lately. Because of it, there were a lot of scars that had appeared on her person. She was sure that she wasn’t the only country to have them…although hers were getting to be as bad as the Middle Eastern countries. “I know, right? I adore Kiku and Yao as people, I do, but I didn’t care. I don’t see why Germany made us stay if it was just going to be them arguing.” She scowled, imaging how all of this could have been avoided if Ludwig had just let them break off. “Well, I understand you. You’re like…Kiku’s best friend, no? But, the rest of us?” She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him slightly.

There, at least she had managed to stop crying. Now, if only she had remembered to bring an extra shirt with her. Teresa was certain that, if she managed to change and not appear like she had just gotten out of a street fight, her neighbor would forget, wouldn’t he? He certainly seemed to forget about his brother enough that it made sense…’Canadia’, honestly

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred
WORDS : 853
STATUS : open
NOTES : always found it amusing he called Matthew, "Canadia" X3
LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON
OUTFIT : here
BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

[style=width: 420px; background: #121212; color: white; font-family: times new roman; font-style: italic; text-align: center; font-size: 48px; letter-spacing: -4px; line-height: 60px; padding-bottom: 4px; -moz-border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; opacity: 0.8;]i've got two strong arms, i can help

tag: Teresa // words: 578 // notes: Who's Canadia? =P Kidding!

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;] Watching as the smile faded from Teresa's face, Alfred set the other nation's arm down once more. Just as he thought - There was more going on than she was letting on. It was kind of funny, really. If Alfred hadn't seen her crying, if he hadn't seen the blood on her clothing, he would have easily been fooled. He would have taken her words at face value, like usual, and that would have been that. He wasn't one for reading body language unless he knew to look for it. The blood and the tears told him to look for it. If Alfred found out that Teresa was involved with her cartels again...well, she was right, he would throw a fit. But rest assured, he had no intent to turn her over to Spain of all people. If he knew she was thinking along those lines, he'd be offended. If a country was independent, it was independent. You didn't send them to go live with their former big brother. Alfred wouldn't like it if someone forced him to live with Arthur again, so why would he do the same to Resa? Now Mattie was a different story... "Some of them?" Alfred didn't pick up on her looking away, but the word 'some' implied that not all of them were old wounds. "Just some?" He was about to ask, again, what was going on when Resa finally supplied him with an answer. "The cartels again? Damn them! I thought we were making some progress against them..." Not that he would know. He wasn't Mexico. He couldn't feel when violence erupted as a result of the drug war like she could. Perhaps the worst part was, some of his citizens were fueling the violence. Much of the market for the illegal drugs came from his country. Her next statement just confused him. "Exactly, I'm the hero! So I can help you! We'll get you feeling right as rain in no time at all!" Nevermind that not every attempt of his to 'help' in matters outside of his own borders ended successfully. In fact, unsolicited help usually caused more problems than it was worth. It was rarely something Alfred actually thought about until it was too late, and this was no different. He just wanted to help her, dammit, why couldn't she see that? "Don't do more than I'm already doing? But it's clear what we're doing isn't working! We need to ramp things up a bit, get these cartels back under control!" There he went, butting his nose into her business again. He also didn't stop to think that maybe these cartels were never really under control in the first place. Alfred shrugged. "I like 'em both too, but they both know if I get dragged in I'm gonna have to go with Kiku. We signed a treaty years ago. As far as my government's concerned, those islands are his. That should be that, but of course, it never is." While Alfred didn't mind stepping in if his help was needed, even he didn't want the situation with the Senkaku islands to get out of hand. If Kiku made the move to defend the islands, Alfred would be tempted to join in himself. A little distraction would go a long way with Alfred, but there was still a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was more to what was happening than Teresa was letting on.

[/td][/tr][/table][/style][/style][style=padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 7px; padding-bottom: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;">template by eliza @ shadowplay[/style][/center]

She was an awful friend. Although she knew that most of the time the sentiments weren’t returned, Alfred was her best friend. Her mejor amigo; she was lying to him. If there was a pit she could sink into because of how badly she felt, she would have done it. If she wasn’t so sure that the – questionably – fit American could catch up to her if she took off running, she would have already burst out of the bar without her bottle of tequila if it meant she would outrun him. On a good day, she probably could. She worked out a lot…but…not with the gash on her side that made her want to cry. Oh, Dios. Not only would this kill Alfred, but her thoughts had hardly brushed deeply on how Matthew would feel. Matthew who was…admittedly, the most sentimental of the three of them. He’d somehow find a way to blame himself for all of her troubles; she was sure of it. The feeling of guilt that washed over her nearly made her want to start sobbing again, and her tightened her grip on her bottle as she forced herself not to cry. She couldn’t cry. Alfred would get worse with his questioning and she would break the moment he touched her. Teresa never understood why, but somehow…the American just had a way of making her confess…and it didn’t help that he was freakishly strong. “Yes, just some…some are new ones being ripped open…” And, she trailed off, bringing her hands back and pressing herself slightly into the booth. Oh, how ignorant he was. They were stopping the cartels. In fact, it seemed like they were growing larger and larger every day. More and more people were thrown in jail; yes, that was true…but her police force was corrupted and easily persuaded to do something different. She couldn’t even count how many times she had managed to get herself caught only to be released by the officer because of the amount of pesos that she handed him…hopefully, her new boss wouldn’t put a stop to that because she wasn’t…she was addicted. She wasn’t sure she would be able to stop. “Well…the Juarez group is slowly falling…but only because it’s being overrun…losing its territory.” Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing in her eyes except that her ‘grandson’ was…hurting. She didn’t mind the pain, but she cried herself to sleep at nights because of what she was doing to them. No; he wouldn’t help her. The American that kept stealing the good, hardworking people in her country because they had a chance – however small it was nowadays – at having a better life than they would in Mexico? Sure, she had plenty of people that stayed and the reason she wasn’t crazy nowadays was because of them, but a lot of good ones were lost. “Alfredo, te amo. I do; I really do. You’re my mejor amigo, but no.” She was rather…insistent and she could feel the cold sting in her voice. That made her want to flinch. “You’re doing so much already. It would be selfish of me to take all your time. You’re always helping me. I need…to do some stuff on my own, sabes?” They couldn’t! If they did, she would surely be found out. She may have been the head of the most technologically advanced, but they made mistakes and they left trails. It was hard for her to hide them from him enough as it was; if he stepped up his game, she would be outdone. A part of her begged the other to let him help her; to let him get her out of this mess so she could move forward. The other part – the winning part – would do no such thing. She was…independent, selfish, and malicious. These things were helping her…although the cons far outweighed the pros. “Give it more time, Alfredo! I feel better some nights rather than others. I promise you.” She could hear the crack in her voice. “And, of course, I’ll have to side with you.” Her smile was only half-heartedly. Everyone always assumed – and, usually correctly so – that she would agree with them. She did agree with America most of the time…because she was too busy to do other things. “Ah. I didn’t pay much attention to the meeting. Matthew and I just kind of stayed out of it. What with neutrality and all.” And, she did try to keep to herself and stay out of foreign affairs. Sometimes, she got dragged in, but she had enough problems of her own.

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred WORDS : 763 STATUS : open NOTES : Not sure who you're talking about, lol. LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON OUTFIT : here BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

[style=width: 420px; background: #121212; color: white; font-family: times new roman; font-style: italic; text-align: center; font-size: 48px; letter-spacing: -4px; line-height: 60px; padding-bottom: 4px; -moz-border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; opacity: 0.8;]i've got two strong arms, i can help

tag: Teresa // words: 632 // notes: N/A

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;] There, at last she full out admitted to there being new injuries. "You should have said something sooner, before it got this bad!" He remained blissfully unaware, at this point, of the fact that Teresa's feelings about the cartels were a lot more mixed than his were. It was easy to automatically brand the cartels as bad when they weren't his. If he considered it, though, he would understand. During his own Civil War, he could not even bring himself to enter the battlefield when the Union side of him was in control. He respected what the Union army was doing (especially since not only was it fighting to preserve the union, but, unbeknownst to them, they were fighting to keep him sane), but he couldn't fight against what he still considered to be his own citizens. The Confederate side of him was different, but that stood to reason as well - The Confederates largely saw themselves as fighting for their independence. The connection was lost on that side of him at the time. The fact was, the cartels were a part of Teresa, and if she wasn't that willing to let them go...then progress would be hindered. Alfred smiled temporarily at the statement about the Juarez group. "See? We're already making prog-" Then Teresa finished. The group was failing because it's territory was being overrun. In other words, it was failing, only to have another cartel take it's place. He knew things were bad in Mexico, but he'd lead himself to believe that the programs were working. When Teresa put up a front, it was next to impossible to see what was actually happening, especially when that front she was putting up was exactly what Alfred wanted to see. Now, though, there were cracks in that front. She told him no. The other things she'd said weren't lost on him either. Many of the other nations thought that English was his only language - which, for the most part, was true. He rarely used anything other than English in every day conversation. However, he was slowly starting to pick up Spanish. It stood to reason - The Hispanic population was now his largest ethnic minority. Alfred still looked taken aback that she was refusing his help. At least, though, she was acknowledging that something needed to be done about it. That was a plus! And if she wanted to handle it on her own...well, he supposed that wouldn't hurt. Except it would, but he didn't know that as of yet. He didn't know that the cartels had her hooked. He didn't know just how reliant on them she actually was. There were holes in her armor, but they weren't quite that deep yet. As she insisted that she'd be alright, Alfred wanted to buy it. He almost did, were it not for that crack in her voice. It was something he wouldn't pay much mind to normally, but given the subject of conversation - and the fact that as a result of seeing Teresa in tears, he was more aware of the smaller things than usual - he wasn't quite so sure that he entirely believed her. He sighed and leaned back. "Okay, fine. But if you need help, you know where I am, kay?" He wasn't going to completely drop the subject. He wanted her to know that his help was there if she needed it. Part of this was his hero complex (actually, most of it was), but he really did care about Resa too. She was his southern neighbor, and a good friend of his, and he didn't want to see her like this.

[/td][/tr][/table][/style][/style][style=padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 7px; padding-bottom: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;">template by eliza @ shadowplay[/style][/center]

She was going to go to the deepest levels of hell if she ever died because of this. She could feel it already, even though there simply wasn’t much that she could do. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the table. She should have said something sooner – but not to him. The cartels needed to remember who was in charge of what and just how easily she could destroy them had she not needed them so badly. Teresa enjoyed the fact that they simply didn’t realize just how involved in them she was. Sure, they took the backseat to other things on occasion – the stupid earlier meeting, for example, and the Olympics. Such events that would be noticed if she didn’t arrive; that was the only reason she gave for being unable to attend any of the little missions. She sucked in a breath and gave Alfred a reassuring smile at best she could. “Ah, I thought that I had had it under control, pero I guess that I was wrong. It’s okay though…I will get them for this.” Her words were laced with double meaning, but her tone was almost as determined as his was…if not for different reasons. If she started to become more and more injured, then she wondered how Guatemala would end up looking considering how bad it was there…she still remembered ordering a hit on the Guatemalan’s boss. To her credit, she was as intimidating as she was friendly if she put her mind to it. It only led her to believe she was going to eventually snap like Ivan had…but it was the life she had chosen for herself. Looking at the American with his many emotions and the look in her eyes made her thankful. Her children – her Mexican states – had been unlucky. They had chosen wrong in asking to stay with her. Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico – as well as the others she didn’t quite dote on as often – had been smart in choosing Alfred. He was the better country; the better parent. The truth was that they were making progress. At the same time that she cheered with her boss and her friends, she cursed them for getting rid of her addiction. She did strive to bring them closer and closer. She let her boss think that everything was going according to plan because she did report the amount of cartels losing their power and disbanding with many of their members going to jail. The problem was that the members that didn’t go to jail joined up with the cartels that had only expanded because of the lack of competition. Teresa’s goal was to reunite all of them. Not only would it satisfy the part that called for their blood, but it also made it harder to balance out the easy ways to take them out. A large group could have a lot of members and manpower, yes, but there was always a struggle for who remained on top. “It just means the bigger cartel will be easier to take down.” She assured him, although she knew that was a lie deep in her heart. The blood on her skin was starting to itch now, and she felt cold as the blood on her shirt left it slightly damp and started to dry off. If anyone that wasn’t a country saw them, she knew they would report them to the police. Thankfully, the bar was still mostly empty, and there weren’t really any countries around, either, to annoy them with questions. She was most thankful that Antonio wasn’t around to check on his ex-colony. She would have a harder time convincing him to leave her alone than she would with Alfred and…eventually, Matthew. She had dreaded the moment Alfred had sat down across from her, but she couldn’t force herself to think about meeting Matthew. Seeing the disappointed look in his eyes when she told him that none of the plans to get her better were working would kill her. Her cell phone rang. With a raised eyebrow and a slightly shocked look, she glanced down at her phone that was going off in her pocket. She stared at it blankly before looking up at Alfred for a second before her green eyes tore themselves off of him and back down. She recognized the number, even if she hadn’t written the name down for it. He called often enough. “Excuse me, Alfred. I think this is important.” And, she flashed him an excited grin. Let him take it as he will; she was excited to know, in detail, how everything had gone down. She could feel the casualties, but not on who’s side it actually was. “Qué? Qué puedes denunciar?” She asked clearly overjoyed and, well, excited. She listened to the report with a smile and tried not to let Alfred hear what was being said. “Good, tell me how that goes down, and I’ll tell you what to do next, claro?” She glanced back at her Northern neighbor before nodding her head. “Of course I will. You’re my hero, aren’t you? When I’m in dire need of help, of course I’ll ask you for it.” The problem was, she just didn’t understand herself when the need became dire. Teresa couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that she needed him now, or, rather, she refused to see she needed help.

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred WORDS : 763 STATUS : open NOTES : She's an awful liar. LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON OUTFIT : here BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

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tag: Teresa // words: 517 // notes: Sorry this took so long.

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;] He was happy to hear Teresa's words - and, unfortunately, he bought them. Alfred believed what Teresa was saying, that she was going to try her best to rid herself of these cartels. Her tone was as determined as his was, and it brought a smile to Alfred's face. He knew how resilient Teresa could be if she put all of her efforts into it. The problem was that she wasn't putting all of her efforts into it, and Alfred remained unaware. "That's the spirit!" Alfred said with a tone of confidence, attempting to cheer her on in her quest. A quest that he still believed she was actually undertaking. If he did his research, he'd discover that Teresa was lying almost straight off the back, but instead, he was blindly trusting her, because come on, this was Resa. What reason did she have to lie to him? Oh, if only he knew...if only he knew... Even if he was convinced by her words, his eyes kept drifting down to her arms. Though he believed she was actually going to do something about these cartels, as she claimed, that didn't fix the fact that she was suffering right now. He looked at her arm and frowned. "You might wanna wash that off and wrap it up." He was thinking along the same lines as she was - If anyone who wasn't a nation happened to see the state of her arms, they'd be even more concerned than Alfred, and for the wrong reasons. Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a phone. Alfred knew that it wasn't his, which meant that it could only be Teresa's. His eyebrow quirked up, wondering who could be calling her so soon after a meeting. Hearing her conversing in Spanish, Alfred translated what was being said in his head. Apparently, she was asking for some sort of report. Was this her boss? Alfred tried to lean closer to find out what was going on, missing the hints that she wanted to keep this conversation private. Fortunately, her attempts still won out in the end, and he could only tell what was being said on her end of the conversation - Which didn't provide much information. Tell her how what went down? Alfred's curiosity was piqued. Was she talking about a new attempt to get those cartels under control? If she was talking to her boss, that made sense. Why did Alfred have this vague feeling of unease? It was something he hardly paid much mind to consciously, but it was there. He was still worried about Teresa, but he played it off as worry about her injuries. What he didn't realize was that there was a small part of him that saw through her attempts to play everything off. Alfred smiled as Teresa reassured him that she'd ask for help if she needed it. "Good." He nodded toward her phone. "Who was that? Your boss?" Which unknowingly provided her the perfect out if it wasn't her boss.

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Was this…really happening? Was Teresa getting away with lying to the American? Sure, it wasn’t that hard…like when she had told him, ‘Que? Of course I’m not friends with Iran.’ And, she had had him believing her for a month before she finally caved in and told him…But, this was different. This had to be different. Alfred was scary when he was determined to do something he deemed would help somebody else, even if they didn’t want it. Besides that, she had to keep up the lie in order for him to go on and believe it. How could she do that when he was smiling so brightly? It was like someone had just flashed a giant bright light in her face, ready to ask her questions to get her to confess the one thing she didn’t want to say.

Teresa couldn’t help but beam under his encouragement. Once she realized what she was doing, she shrunk slightly in horror and guilt. She didn’t deserve to be here. She deserved to be back in a hospital anywhere in Mexico – preferably one of the bigger cities because they already knew her; they already knew what to do when she was found on the streets. She would be hooked up to an IV right now, watching some novella on the TV, bored, because that’s how she usually spent her days. She even, occasionally, sprung to have a nurse stay with her in her home for when situations like this happened. “How can I fail when my héroe is here to keep me motivated?”

Yes, she knew she should wash this off. She hummed for a second under her breath before she nodded her head. “Okay. Can you wait for me, here? I feel like we hardly ever get to talk outside of those meetings, and most of the time I’m with Matthew and that bastardo Brasileño while you fight with everyone else.” Which could get amusing, sure, but the smug Brazilian was always getting on her last nerve. Without giving him a chance to answer, she slid her bottle of tequila over to him and slid out of the booth, bursting through the bar doors in a sprint she usually reserved for playing soccer towards the hotel. She ignored the looks and questions, asking her if she was okay in favor of trying her hardest to get back. Even when the exercise caused her side excruciating pain, she kept running. She burst into the hotel and took the elevator, smashing the button to close the elevator before anyone could get in. She hoped that this was all alright with Alfred, and, even if it weren’t, it was okay with her because she was tired of all the blood on her. It smelled and was giving her a headache.

The warm water felt amazing on her. She washed the water tint the bathtub red as her cuts were cleaned. Well, the one on her side still looked pretty awful, but her arms were doing…okay, considering how they were earlier. Her left hand was twitching now, but that could be easily hid…damn drug withdrawals. She did her best to hurry and step out, putting her hair up in a towel and searching through her bag for any bandages. Teresa smiled happily when she finally found a roll and hurried in wrapping it around her torso. It felt kind of weird, and it probably wasn’t her best work, but it would do for the night until she came back from her ‘night out’ with Alfred. She pulled on a fresh pair of jeans that didn’t have blood tinting them and a black turtleneck. That way, if they did reopen, it wouldn’t be as noticeable. Leaving her hair alone, she glanced at herself in the mirror and winced when she still looked…pale.

She made it back to the bar in a record time, and most of her hair was dry as a result. She found Alfred sitting where she had left him and she gave him a slight, awkward hug from behind before returning to her seat in front of him. “Sorry. I feel…much better.” She beamed, placing her hands in her lap. Her left hand would eventually stop shaking, she hoped. It was slightly embarrassing and she could only imagine what he would say when she told him she had all the problems a drug addict had without actually getting to have the fun of being a drug addict. “Ah, si, that was my boss.” She blinked, remembering his earlier question. And, she was kind of telling the truth, right? It had been a boss she had been talking to on the phone. “He wanted to know some stuff about the cartels. He thinks he has a plan in taking some down.”

Of course, this was all true. She was just going to give him the ‘go’ in his plans and they would be a move on. The Juarez Cartel – Dios bless her poor, poor Juarez – was going down, and she wasn’t about to let such a big move get out of her hands.

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred WORDS : [/co849lor] STATUS : open NOTES : Being bloody is uncomfortable, lols. LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON OUTFIT : here BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

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tag: Teresa // words: 700 // notes: Yeah, so, I apparently took a really long time to reply to this. Sorry about that. >.<

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;] A smile came to Alfred's face at Teresa's words. She knew just what to say to keep him at bay. She was acknowledging that he could help, but claiming that she had it under control. It was just the right move to make. If she more actively denied his help, even he would recognize that something wasn't right. She'd decided to take his advice and take care of her wounds. That was good. At least they could fix something right away. He pouted a little, in jest, as Teresa instructed him to stay at the bar. "Oh, alright. Just don't take too long." Alfred wasn't known for being the most patient in the world, after all. By the time Teresa made it back to the bar, Alfred was caught up in a game of Angry Birds on his phone. The majority of his beer was gone as well, though it had little effect on him. He was not high in the rankings when it came to nations who could hold their liquor, but it wasn't as though he was drinking anything with a particularly high alcohol content. It was one beer. Alfred jumped a little in surprise when he felt a hug encompass him from behind, but quickly regained his composure with a wide grin as Mexico came back into view. As she slid back into the seat in front of him, he looked her over, giving her a thumbs up. "You look a lot better now too." Now at least they wouldn't have to worry about anyone else asking them questions. Alfred didn't mind so much if other nations asked (though he'd prefer to stop the problem before it reached that level, whether he had to step in to do so or not), but humans were a different story. They'd have to come up with a cover story that didn't threaten to give away their identities as nations. The blond looked at his southern neighbor, blissfully unaware of the fact that she was still covering something up. No, she wasn't outright lying if she was talking to a boss, but when nations referred to each other's bosses, they typically meant their top leaders, not any other sort of 'boss' (especially one that was presumably involved in illegal operations). Therefore, she was willfully withholding information from him, which was almost as bad. Oh well. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right? "Really? That's fantastic!" Alfred shouted so loud that the few patrons present in the building looked on in curiosity, wondering at what exactly was happening. Once they saw what they presumed was two ordinary young adults making what was presumably normal young adult conversation, they quickly went back to their business. Alfred, with his back to them, remained unaware the entire time. "Well, I'm glad he's already trying to get things under control. You'll be right as rain again in no time flat at this rate!" So much optimism. It was easy for him to say when he lacked most of the information needed to piece the whole picture together. It also didn't help that he wanted to cheer Teresa up, and the best way he saw to do this was to cheer her on in if she didn't want him involved in actuality. His hero complex still had to come out in some way, after all. Alfred began to drum on the table with his hands, for lack of anything else to do with them (he'd placed his iPhone back into his pocket upon Teresa's return to the bar). "So, are we just gonna stick around here or are we going to blow this popsicle stand in favor of something else?" Alfred didn't care too much, so long as he was doing something. Talking, dancing, going out for a night on the town, it was all fine by him. He just didn't particularly want to head back to the hotel yet. He still had far too much energy that he needed to burn off before he could do that.

[/td][/tr][/table][/style][/style][style=padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 7px; padding-bottom: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px;">template by eliza @ shadowplay[/style][/center]

His jump made her smile, she realized. She almost wanted to smile even more when she realized that he was done with his beer. Her green eyes slid over to her bottle, and it didn’t take her long before she was finished with that, too. Afterwards, she crossed her arms over her lap and leaned forward, nodding her head at the compliment. It wasn’t as if she believed it. She may have looked better, and she may have even felt better, but that didn’t erase the slow guilt that was creeping up into her and was sure to take over soon if she didn’t stop herself. Besides that, there were other things she had to hide from the American, too, and she wasn’t sure she could do those very well, especially if she started shaking again.

It was such a hassle, sometimes, being a third world country involved in a continent in which there were two superpowers. Sure, Matthew and Alfred never made her feel…like she was the scum of the earth, but, sometimes, the knowledge of the fact that they were infinitely better than her – enough for her people to want to abandon her and head for them again – was too much for the Mexican. Despite her beliefs, though, despite the actions that she was doing, her boss was doing his absolute best to be able to go and stop the cartels. And, admittedly, she helped every once in a while, too. She helped before she “came to her senses” and decided that she no longer wanted to help him; that she would rather help her cartels. Oh, Teresa was certain that Alfred would somehow manage to find a way to figure out what she was doing. She knew that he would because he always did, she just hoped she would be stronger then to withstand the onslaught of the attack he would launch.

The brunette blushed and ducked her head down, hoping that no one really noticed her sitting with him. “Maldita sea, Alfredo.” She complained in her native tongue, giving him a look she reserved for her children. “Calm down, no? You’re still going to attract attention.” And, that was something she didn’t need, especially if she had an episode. She may not have blood smeared all over her anymore, and she may not have any moments where she was shaking to the point of being taken to the local hospital, but she was still weary of the looks – weary of anyone recognizing her. That came with the job description, too. He was…so cheerful that it was almost sickening for her to hear. His voice rang in her ears, and not for the first time. They had always had…such a shaky relationship, especially after their war against one another. Nowadays, it seemed that they were better, but she still held the bitter resentment whenever Texas and Arizona and even California refused to visit her. If there was one child, though, that she could count on, it was New Mexico…They always made Teresa angrier, but, at the same time, she was glad that they had decided to go with “el gringo.” It made her realize that they weren’t with her. They weren’t getting as hurt by the cartels as they might have gotten – like Durango, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Zacatecas and the others.

“Right as rain…?” She repeated, blinking at him. Who said that nowadays? A laugh left her lips before she realized that she was laughing at him for what he said. It was just…amusing to her, even if it made her sick at the same time. “Ay, I’m sure I will be.” She nodded her head, although the doubt was ringing in her ears. “No quiero…I don’t want your help right now, but I’m sure that, if I get overwhelmed, I can count on el héroe to help me, right?” Teresa asked, brushing some of her hair out of her face. It wasn’t like it was the first time, either. She remembered, when she was still a new country and still trying to get France to leave her the hell alone – that damn pervertido always seemed to be at her house those days – and so she had launched a war against him though she wasn’t ready for it. Admittedly, although she didn’t want to admit it now, she had gotten her butt handed to her. Then, finally, during El Día de la Batalla de Puebla, she finally managed to land a hit on him enough to deter him from attacking.

At least, she thought that she had. It wasn’t until later that Teresa realized, really realized that the only reason Francis had left her alone was because she had had Alfred on her side and he wasn’t going to take that. But, Alfred soon spoke and she was snapped from her thoughts with a flinch as her jaded eyes snapped back in attention towards him. She blinked, numbly, before raising an eyebrow. “What do you want to do, Alfredo?” She asked him, slowly because she hadn’t had anything planned. All she was going to do was wait until she could move around enough to make it to the hotel without being noticed. But, now that she had the American to entertain, it seemed like things were different. “And, quien dice eso?”

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred
WORDS : 883
STATUS : open
NOTES : that's okay. mine took forever, too.
LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON
OUTFIT : here
BANNER CREDIT : TANA}

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tag: Teresa // words: 555 // notes: Came out shorter.

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[style=height: 400px; overflow: auto; font-family: verdana; line-height: 11px; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #ffffff; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 0px;] Alfred meant the compliment, but he was still unaware of the guilt that was gnawing at Teresa just underneath the surface. The way she looked now was a major improvement over the way she looked before she'd gotten herself cleaned up. In fact, it almost looked as though nothing was wrong in the first place. If Alfred wanted to put more thought into such things, he might have regarded this as suspicious, the way Teresa was able to push everything aside so quickly, as if it hadn't even happened. Because he was the exact same way, and he was never as alright as he pretended in such situations. He failed to see the red flags, because he didn't want to see the red flags. He wanted to believe Teresa. He wanted to believe that everything was going to be fine soon enough, that Teresa could pull it off herself, with a reassurance that he would step in if something did go wrong. He was unintentionally turning a blind eye to the truth, because he wanted to believe her lies. Though he wasn't as close to her as Matthew, his true brother, Alfred considered Teresa as something akin to a sister. Not an actual sister, mind, but a sort of adopted sister. And he didn't want to acknowledge that his 'sister' might be in over her head, and that it was because of her own bad choices. Alfred was surprised to hear Teresa curse at him. It took that for him to realize that yes, he might have been a little loud, but to him it was justified! This was already a huge step in the right direction! If only Alfred knew what Teresa was keeping from him. That she wasn't talking to the boss that he thought she was at all. "Sorry, it's just...that's great news!" He grinned across the table at Teresa. Maybe all of his initial worrying was for naught after all. Alfred smiled as she once again referred to him as 'the hero'. "You bet! You can always count on a hero to help you in your time of need!" Though there was little Alfred could do to help if he did not know that Teresa was in need. Hopefully she would keep that in mind if and when she decided that she really did need him. When Teresa questioned him on what he wanted to do, he shrugged. "I dunno. I didn't actually get that far in the planning stage. I just know it might cheer you up a bit if you get your mind off of everything for a little while." It worked pretty well for him, so why wouldn't it work just as well for her? Her next words puzzled him. He could easily translate them in his head, being fluent in Spanish (though when he spoke in Spanish, it was still with a heavy American accent...some things couldn't be helped, though he was starting to improve on that front), but they still puzzled him nonetheless. "What do you mean? Says what?" Alfred did have a habit of incorporating slang, both from his past and present alike, into his conversation, and he rarely stopped to consider that other nations might look at him oddly for it...

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He wounded me, but he never beat me. When she had stumbled upon her mother as she was lying on the forest ground, ready to die, those had been the words she had uttered to the young girl. Of course, she didn’t understand them. To her, her mother looked beaten and destroyed. She remembered falling to her knees and reaching out for her, crying because she didn’t understand. Now, she understood. She understood because that was where she was. She was sitting there, wounded and probably on the verge of a breakdown from lack of drugs – though, the blasted things had never entered her system – she was receiving from her own people. They were killing each other, but she would survive. She would survive and move on with her life.

It was what she always did. It was what they, as countries, always did. She would bounce back from this. She had to because…because they all had bounced back from one thing or another, right? Look, she and Alfred were friends now. He was like the brother she had never really wanted but ended up getting regardless of it anyway. She had managed to survive losing her mother and everyone who made her who she was, she had survived her war with Antonio, with Francis, hell[i/], she had managed to get by with her war with Alfred, and the two of them were currently having drinks. No, her cartels weren’t the problem. If she wanted to, they would be something that would be easily – oh so easily – put down. It was just…they were so addicting. She was addicted to the power, to the want and demand that she got from it. Unashamed, she took it all in stride with a smile and a lovesick look that was only ever marred when she was having an episode…or when they made her mad.

She wished…that she could take it back. That all the drug problems below the United States didn’t almost always bring up news about her. She preferred the days when they were about Columbia, although she wouldn’t wish these things on anyone else. No, it was something that she had to put up with; her punishment for lying to everyone. “Si, I understand that.” She waved him off, leaning forward and laughing. Alfred just always managed to blow things out of proportions, though…especially her level of guilt. But, she smiled wryly anyway. Despite her awful lying skills, she still managed to keep it from him. She wasn’t sure how long that was gonna last, especially when her chest was already beginning to hurt her some. “Can you get me another bottle of tequila, hero?” Teresa’s mouth twitched into a smirk. The tequila would help with the shaking, if only to loosen her up. Besides that, she had run out and she was quite fond of the alcohol.

She blinked and turned to look at the floor. She supposed there was enough music playing to go dancing, but…this was never her kind of music. Cocking her head to the left, she beamed and got up again, stretching out her hand for him to take. “Vamos, Alfredo.” Teresa’s eyes twinkled. “I know this cool place that plays my kind of music.” But, it would take her a while to teach him how to dance to it if he hadn’t already learned. That, and it would be a bit embarrassing to be seen with him, but she wouldn’t be lying if she said that it would get her mind off of things. “Let’s blow this Popsicle stand. Who even says that anymore?”

^{STARRING : Teresa&Alfred
WORDS : 599
STATUS : open
NOTES : happen's when the muse is like aldfkjasdlfkja
LYRICS USED : USE SOMEBODY - KINGS OF LEON
OUTFIT : here
BANNER CREDIT : TANA}