She smiles when she tries out his name, and Rodeo is bought and sold. He smiles back, warm and genuine, nodding at her conclusion. He's trying to be kind, trying to show her that life above the underground isn't so bad. He can't stop dreaming about saving her. Maybe it's an arrogant thought, maybe he's in desperate need of a reality check. Maybe he's wishing so hard that he could save Sarge that he's distracting himself by imagining he can save this little junkie from her poison. Whatever the reason, he can't get it out of his head.
"Yeah, sweetheart. Just like the bull-ridin'," he concurs. He listens next to her explanation for the fight, and it's not really any different from what she told him the day before. He's not surprised that Sarge was willing to fight her-- when his brother gets into that rage, a rat's as good a target as any, and Emilie had been goading the lot of them over the Freenet for weeks. He hasn't forgotten her taunts and messages, cryptic and strange, but right now he's deluded by her big blue eyes and he's having trouble connecting them fully in his mind. She's twisting him up and he hardly even realizes it.
"He barely got a chance to bite," Rodeo tells her. "You keep away from him, alright? No matter what he says." He knows the fight could have gotten much worse, knows it would have continued to escalate if he hadn't shown up when he did. Rodeo never even considers that Emilie might have been able to hold her own for very long. Sarge ain't just a bar brawler with big fists. He doesn't just throw his muscle around and hope it hits something. He's an honest-to-god professional, and his hands are honed weapons. Rodeo has seen Sarge take down fellas twice his own size, knives and all. It never crosses his mind that Emilie might have had a chance. That knife is mean, but she's just a baby doll with a bad habit.
Emilie calls Bishop handsome, and Rodeo can't help laughing. He glances back at his brother, and it's a testament to how off guard he's growing. Emilie is standing close enough to reach him, but he takes his eyes off her anyway. "Now c'mon, brother. You gotta stop bein' such a ladykiller. I can't take you nowhere," Rodeo teases. He looks back to Emilie, lifting his brows. "Hold up. You best not be tryin' to get my man here into trouble. You got a fella down there in those tunnels? You somebody's sweetheart?" It's a conversational way of asking if anybody will miss her if something happens to her. The last thing Rodeo needs is some kind of vengeful lover trying to hunt down the Dogs once Emilie falls to her addiction.