The fact that the Dog King was searching for his baby sister wasn't a secret to the others in the camp. He went to some pretty risky lengths in pursuit of her, and there isn't any amongst them who hasn't seen that picture he carries of her. He asked every single person he met if they recognized her. Everyone here has had the question posed to them at least once. Zhenya is no exception, but it was only later that Rodeo revealed to her who exactly the girl in the picture is. That kind of opening up only comes with trust, but now he's got nothing but trust for this smart, fierce little lady. It's why he can open up to her now, when he hasn't really been able to talk about this with anyone else. He could talk to Sarge, but they're not really much for talking about shit like this. Admissions of emotion don't happen often between them.
"She is. And I'm real, real glad for that," Rodeo says, accepting the bottle for a drink. He sets it down between them after that, so she can pick it up if she wants more. "I raised her, y'know? Didn't have much of a mama, so I took care of her. Washed her, fed her, changed her. She always been my baby girl. But I learned my own ways to provide for her. Didn't have money from mama, daddy died, I had to make ends meet somehow. Started gettin' into trouble. She never really cared much 'till I got locked up for a couple years. That got her madder'n a fly in a window. And that girl, she don't let go of it. She was holdin' on to that shit, makin' me swear I wouldn't get locked up again nearly every day since they let me out. But I couldn't keep outta trouble. Ain't in me. I'm just too good at doin' wrong. Before the world bit the big one, I already hadn't seen her in years. 'Cause I was in jail. For good. Huntsville Unit. You know what they send guys there for, darlin'?"