#《 she doesn't get why Nicolau 'settled' for someone as bland as Teagan 》

[birdhcuse]

I decided create a hypothetical adoptive daughter deliberately designed to make Teagan's life a living hell because I thought it'd be a fun thought exercise.

I'll call her Beatriz for now.

Beatriz's mother went out for milk and her father is dead. She's still in denial about her mother never coming back. Her relationship with her father was...complicated. She was pretty much on her own even before he passed away, being more of a caretaker to him than he was to her. There'd be occasional good moments where he'd actually try, but mostly, he drank and got into fights. After her father’s death, the government seized the house she was living in. It was put up for sale, but she refused to leave anyway.

Teagan, who finally has enough stability to own a home, moves into the house with Nicolau. Beatriz still refuses to leave...so she gets to stay.

Beatriz doesn't like Teagan. They get on her nerves and she can tell they find her off-putting, regardless of how sweet they try to act. (Her love of seafood and surfing hits Teagan's trigger points, especially when she goes surfing during storms.) Beatriz also is put off by Teagan's doting. She calls Teagan by their name...when she's in a good mood. Otherwise, it's "fuckwad" and "dumbfuck". She'd do that thing Teagan did to Jasper, where she interprets everything in the least charitable way possible and makes them out to be worse than they are. Whether Beatriz actually hates Teagan or is just trying to keep herself from getting attached is a mystery to the both of them.

Nicolau, however, is someone Beatriz would warm up to. She thinks he's "much cooler" than Teagan and makes more of an effort to bond with him. It helps that they're closer in height (even when she's fully grown, she'd be Nicolau's height at most, probably shorter though), so it makes him feel more approachable than the giant, suffocating teddy bear that is Teagan. I can see Beatriz being comfortable enough with Nicolau to eventually call him "Dad", which is a huge thing for her. Teagan would be happy for Nicolau, but low-key hurt that they can't seem to connect with her no matter what they do.