( brandon sklenar , 33, cis male, he/him ) ⸻ hey, wait a second— i could swear that was BENTLEY MEDLOCK that just walked past. don’t tell me you haven’t heard of the ENFORCER of D’AMICO FAMILY? they’ve been a member for TEN YEARS and apparently they’re actually LOYAL, so make sure not to forget this time. i’ve heard they’re known as THE DUTIFUL, and i can tell you for sure that they’re STAUNCH and ADAPTABLE on a good day, but i don’t think you’d like to see them when they’re RESENTFUL and AGGRESSIVE . rumor has it that they SET FIRE TO HIS INHERITED CHILDHOOD HOME SO HE COULD COLLECT THE INSURANCE MONEY, but i don’t know if anyone has ever lived long enough to confirm it. either way, most people would use BREAK STUFF by LIMP BIZKIT to describe them, as well gritted teeth with clenched fists, brass knuckles tucked comfortably in a pocket and eyes that have seen it all. god only knows how they ended up here, but love them or hate them, they’re not going anywhere. ⸻
BIO:
TW: Character death, Car Accident.
For most of Bentley's childhood things were pretty normal. Bentley and his younger brother were primarily raised by their Mother . Their Father was still in the picture but he was an Ice Road trucker and was rarely home. Though it definitely provided for his family, the money he would send them. Perhaps it wasn’t the best situation as an outsider but it was fine. They were all content. Distance makes the heart grow fonder right ? Nonetheless, it made times that Bentley saw his Father more extraordinary and there was always some gift he would get upon his arrival.
However, with the so called man of the house gone - someone had to step up. Whether that was willingly or forced. It seemed like the latter for Bentley. Now that wasn’t to say he refused and he did it with out a second thought. When most kids his age were playing on their bikes through the neighborhood or playing video games with friends, Bentley was doing things around their house. Fixing things that needed replaced, maintaining the yard, running errands for his Mother and being a babysitter to his brother who was six years younger than him. Great responsibility like that can wear anyone down especially when Bentley was still a kid, but at a young age he had the duties of an adult.
Tragedy would strike the Medlock household one winter night. Bentley was out of town at a snowboard competition so it was just his young brother and their Mom driving. They were driving home from seeing a movie and a deer would come across the road. Everything happened so fast there was nothing Mrs. Medlock could have done. Unfortunately as she tried to swerve in order to avoid collision, it pushed the car off of a small hill and made the car roll and flip . She would survive but Cale’s brother would not. He was only 11.
The phone call Bentley would receive from the local police station would forever haunt him. It was only around 30 minutes before he placed first in the competition he had competed in. What was supposed to be a grand moment and him feeling like he was on cloud nine left him heartbroken and crumbling. It was a pure miracle he didn’t crash himself while he drove back to town that night with the rate of speed he was going. Mrs. Medlock would be hospitalized a week due to her injuries but would be released. Though she was never the same. The loss of a child and having to bury her son before her time was something one never could get over. It was the worst case scenario for any parent.
After that night, no one was the same. Things and dynamics shifted. Bentley knew his Mother and younger brother were attached at the hip so he couldn’t imagine what she was going through. He was observant enough to know that she was a shell of her old self. And in her grief, it was like his younger brother was the only son she had. Bentley was like a stranger to her. She never looked at him the same way after the death of her baby boy. He could only categorize it as emptiness from her looking at him- someone foreign. The elder Mr. Medlock who usually was on the road working stayed and began to be more of a permanent figure in this time of need. He wasn’t ignored by Mrs. Medlock like Bentley was but Mr. Medlock had his own routine and after a few months of staying home, he became restless himself. Plus, him being the sole breadwinner - he needed to fulfill that responsibility as he had. That was stable for him and the life that was happening around them at that point in time was not. So that just left Bentley and his Mother.
Quite brutally and unfortunately - there was not much talking between the pair. He tried his best to comfort her but he was ignored. Bentley also tried his best to not take it too personally. She was a grieving Mother whose heart ached for her son. He pegged it to his role in the family, given his Father’s absence. Perhaps the way she saw Bentley was never much of a son to begin with. But just someone who was like a caregiver of sorts. Though, again Bentley was quite observant and that pained him more then he would like to admit. But of course he never once showed it being displayed to his Mother. He had no right in his mind as grief is a most peculiar thing; we’re so helpless in the face of it. And it definitely cannot be shared.
Two years would pass and the Medlock family would suffer another loss. Another death. Winter months were exceptionally tough for the woman given the circumstances and she found herself most of the time grieving at her younger son’s grave. It didn’t matter how cold or what the conditions were. She didn’t want him to be alone even in death. She would get pneumonia and wouldn’t recover. Bentley though expected she truly died from a broken heart. At 19 it would just be himself and his Father. Mr. Medlock made another appearance, but the elder wasn’t a man of many words. His job really was only to be a provider. Emotions or showing any sort of vulnerability was almost frowned upon like it was a sin. Bentley had only seen his Father cry once and that was at his Mother’s funeral. There was no real conversation between the pair, or support even if it meant leaning on one another in another blow that stabbed and plagued their family. Bentley knew he wouldn’t get a moment or any sort of sudden change. At least his Father in that sense was consistent. Just like with the death of his Brother, Mr. Medlock stayed in town for a few months. Mostly to just get things settled with the house and finances.
At that time Bentley was technically an adult. He was a year past 18 and that signified some kind of relief for the elder because within that age. So, maybe it was pity or a last hurrah - but he left the house in Bentley's name. The payments were low and with his odds and ends jobs he had held - he could afford it. Well until some years later that is but the fire that would be set was no accident.
Time would pass and Bentley would survive. He would keep surviving. Life did try to break him but he wasn’t going to play victim. Deeply rooted he knew he was an outcast, least to his Family but it just made him develop thicker skin. However with that thick skin, through out his adult life he has built walls as a defense mechanism for any new person that should want to get close. Abandonment is like a broken mirror. It’s the shattered pieces of ourselves that we can never fully put back together. Until he found purpose. And that would involve the D'Amico Family. This was his new found family. Where his loyalty was respected and acknowledged. Since his initiation Bentley doesn't feel like he was someone left out to dry. He wears the crest proudly and will do anything to serve them blindly.
EXTRA:
In his younger days, Bentley had been a natural superstar at Snowboarding right before his younger brother died. He could have made it being a pro. He was already sponsored but after the loss and how he was at a snowboarding event the day of the wreck - something changed within the male. It was kind of poisoned now. He knows that there is no rewind button in life, but he would be lying if he didn’t picture all the what if’s if it meant changing the narrative if somehow he was there driving that night and maybe things could have ended differently with a better ending. Regardless, he hasn’t snowboarded since.
Bentley doesn’t have a relationship with his Father besides the yearly Happy Birthday text he gets. Bentley hasn’t seen him in person since he was 19 when he skipped town.
Violence to the man is like a warm blanket. But he knows who he stands behind and that kind of control has to be calculated. Like anything else though there is impulse. So, in order to keep it in check in those times - he participates in illegal fighting rings. For the hell of it, he will throw a match here and there just to show strength in taking hits. But most times than not, he always comes back with a vengeance.
