Beware the Raven (Rick and Raven)

Rick and the others in the group had allowed Oscar and another prisoner into their little group after the fiasco with the main group of other prisoners. Strangely enough, Rick wasn't excited about trying to bring in the little one who had run away. But Axel and Oscar had been fitting in well with the group and Rick had to say that it was a good idea to keep them in the group as he had decided. Oscar was a decent Walker-killer and both of them knew the prison very well, which let them stumble across the armory and several other useful places throughout the prison.

Axel wasn't as good at Walker killing but he made up for it in other areas. One of them was that he was just a likable guy. To the point where he and Carol were now regularly seen holding hands and talking alone and he was playing chess with Hershel when others were off doing attacks on Walkers or scavenger runs. He was also good with Carl and Beth, even telling them horror stories.

It was one of these horror stories that had Rick wandering through the maximum security wing of the prison, towards the isolation cells.

Apparently one of the prisoners here, "The Raven", was always confined to isolation because she preferred it over the general population. It helped that the general prison population was apparently scared of the woman so they weren't about to complain. He noticed very early on that there were few to no Walkers around this area.

The other people searching for her included Oscar and Daryl but they had all split up to cover more ground, with Oscar taking the top floor of maximum security, Daryl taking the middle and Rick on the ground, making his way to isolation. Holding his magnum up ahead of him just in case there were Walkers, he had his flashlight on to illuminate the dark corners.

As he enter the isolation area he noticed that there were no Walkers to be seen anywhere, dead or moving around. He stayed in the door that led into the corridor of isolation cells, so that he had a clean shot if any Walkers jumped out,

"Hello?" he called out into the isolation area, lowering his gun slightly but keeping his flashlight up, "Anyone called Raven in here? I'm rapping... rapping upon your chamber door..."

He knocked on the door with a weak little chuckle.

Raven had been most displeased to hear that there were people in her area, when the prison had fallen she had claimed it as her area herself without anybodies help, she hadn't wanted anybodies help if she was honest with herself and she didn't want anyone around her even now. She had been lonely for the longest time but then again, it was self inflicted and it was for the best, she wouldn't do well around people, she wasn't the most patient and forgiving of people.

Hence why she was attempting not to actually jump out and attack any of the people who were currently flitting about the maximum security prison area, sticking to the shadows she looked at the one who was entering her corridor where her bedroom was and she decided that it was getting a little too close to home, and that she would have to prevent it from coming closer.

Shifting slightly in the shadows she stepped out, the light from the window glistening on her chainsaw as she held it pointed down to the floor, but that could change in a matter of seconds if it needed to. It was a handy weapon, Betty, she had gotten her out of many sticky situations, and she was glad that she had the foresight to actually raid the woodshop.

"Is that supposed to be amusing?" she asked in a voice like silk but laced with danger, as Raven's eyes glinted in the dark she stepped forwards again so she could clearly be seen in the light "What are you doing here, this is my home?"

Raven, taking in the man's appearance tilted her head to one side, her large eyes were moving up and down his form, taking in his strengths which appeared to be many, and his weaknesses which were few. Fortunately, she could make that same assessment of herself.

"You should leave." she advised in that same voice.

Rick heard the sound of footsteps before she spoke and spun round to face her, his gun poised to shoot her down if she was hostile. When she just spoke to him rather than attacking, he lowered his gun slightly. But it was still ready in case he needed to take her out because she had suddenly decided to start using that massive chainsaw she was lugging around. Honestly he was surprised they hadn't heard that thing echoing through the prison,

"Call it nerves, my opening jokes are never funny." he told her with a small smirk, knowing that she wasn't really amused by his quote. When she stepped into the light he observed her carefully. He nodded a little bit, "I had heard that you lived here. I just wanted to see if I could talk to you on the behalf of my group confidering we're neighbours of a sort."

She was a competant looking sort but was clearly more than a little bit crazy. Unfortunately for Rick she was the kind of crazy that was dangerous, that amplified violence and tended to make them attack stronger and with more savagry than any sane person could accomplish. But then again the same could be said for him at times. Rick had noticed that when he got really angry now he would become more of a beserker against Walkers than anything else. Hopefully he'd never have to see who would win in a fight because the 'winner' would most likely die a few seconds later,

"Are you sure we can't talk?" he tried to reason with her, "We have food, medicine, a doctor, weapons, clothes... we could help each other out."

Raven's eyes widened a little bit when she heard that they had moved into the prison, she had been used to having it just for her and the walkers for so long she didn't know that they were planning on making themselves a permenant fixture. Gritting her teeth, she had to come to terms rather quickly with sharing her home with other people, it was big enough she supposed but...she had been used to not sharing for a long long time.

Wondering how big the group was, she furrowed her gaze, not happy with this news in the slightest, or the idea that they seemed to be wanting something from her, otherwise why would they be bothering to talk to her? They should have just left her alone.

"Why would you want to talk to me?" she asked with a smirk "I keep to myself I'm no trouble, if anything, you're causing me trouble, this is my house and you didn't even ask if you could stay here, how rude." she grinned wickedly, her eyes taking on a rather malicious glint.

When the man tried to continue to talk to her, she turned around and looked at him over her shoulder, why on earth would she be interested in anything they had to offer, she was doing fine just on her own. Although, she really should try and collect some rent because they were living in her home after all, it was only fair that they gave her a little something to placate her.

But what would she take from them she wondered?

"Speak plain." she stated with a small frown "What is it that you want from me, and what is it that I can expect from you in return, forgive me but if company and a good chat is all your offering...you're speaking to the wrong person."

Resting her chainsaw on the floor, she let it scrape a little bit, and hearing something upstairs she frowned at the ceiling, someone was upstairs, that wasn't very nice to be snooping around her section of the prison, that was where she had her collection...she would be sure to check if they had taken anything when she was done with this man.

"How many people have you sent creeping around my house?" she asked in a harsh tone.

Rick could tell that she wasn't happy about the fact that he and the others had moved into the prison but to be fair he hadn't seen her name on the place. Childish? Yes. But necessary. If you wanted to own anything in this new world you had to mark you territory and she had left her front gate wide open for them to move right on in. He could imagine her reluctance to share but to be honest he would settle for 'not enemies' if the stories about her were true. And by the looks of her chainsaw and the madness in her eyes they might just be true.

When she asked why they would want to talk to her he was confused for a moment. Perhaps she thought that they wanted to exploit her or something? He smiled a little bit,

"We want to see if we can get along and co-exist here." he told her before chuckling a little bit, "But we're not bad house guests to be fair. We've been cleaning up the pesky Walkers. Sorry we couldn't ring the doorbell though."

He could tell that this offer was going nowhere. Well then there was only one more offer he could reasonably give and that was one of mutual protection. Considering scouts from a larger group had been trying to harress them, it wasn't too hard,

"Alright then, different offer." he agreed before he scowled slightly at something, "There's another group in the area. In some town called "Woodbury". They're trying to stake their claim to the prison too and they seem to have the manpower to do it. I suggest we work together to keep them out of the prison and maybe take some of their supplies and food."

He noticed that she didn't seem happy with the idea of other people being in this section of the prison. Chuckling a little bit he tilted his head slightly to the side,

"Would you believe none?" he joked before shaking his head, "Just two. We didn't know what level you would be on so we split up. Want them to come down?"

Raven raised an eyebrow when he said that they wanted to live peacefully with each other here, she couldn't help but smirk a little bit, she didn't think that was going to be possible especially given the fact that they had just snooped on in here quite rudely. Would then do so again, most likely. Especially if there were any annoying children in the group, they would certainly come poking around in her rooms...she could see it now.

It seemed however like she was going to have to play ball, if she didn't say yes, gun beat chainsaw at this range and she was sure that if he didn't get the answer he wanted this man wasn't above playing hardball to get it. It was something she would have admired if it wasn't directed towards her at this moment.

"Co-exisiting is simple. Leave me alone. I'll leave you alone. We shall co-exist just fine." shrugging her shoulders she scraped the chainsaw along the floor a little bit, making a white scratch on the stone "Walkers are no problem for me, I can take care of them on my own, why should I care if they're all dead in a section I don't use?"

The idea of someone else wanting to take the prison, made her scowl. She had been alone in here for the longest time and these people show up and create all these problems for her, and she had to help them clean it up? This is why she hated being around people, they always wanted something from her, always expecting from her. Could she never get a conversation without someone wanting anything? Of course not, it was part of their nature.

"I don't suppose I have much choice if people are trying to take my home from me, but I never had this problem before, people left this place alone and I made sure of it, you and your group must have attracted too much attention to yourselves." she hissed softly "What will you give me for me helping protect your group, because I assure you I require no protection myself."

Snarling a little bit she tightened her grip on her chainsaw's handle;

"Yes I do. You can't just come in here and then wander through my private rooms!" Raven growled "I have things in there that are personal! But you don't care do you? As long as you get what you want? Just waltz through here and disturb me, make me do deals I don't want to do simply because you're here now? If they've touched a thing...and believe me I will know..." she hissed, leaving the threat open.

Rick had to admit that she was pushing him quite far. He was trying to be the nice guy about this but the cold hard fact of the matter was that he had a gun. Not only did he have a gun but it was drawn and still aimed in her general direction. If needs be this could become very hostile and he would still have a comfortable victory as long as she didn't close the distance between them before then. He could tell that their little arrangement was going to be rather interesting,

"Seems reasonable enough I suppose. But if you need more food or supplies feel free to ask and we'll see what we can spare." he assured her, still trying to be somewhat the good guy. He chuckled a little bit, "I can see they're no problem for you. You've cleared this section very well."

When she seemed to think that it was their fault for attracting scouts here his eyes narrowed dangerously and he briefly entertained the idea of putting a bullet through her knee to see if she was still feeling up to throwing blame around. He ignored the idea in the end though even though his grip on his pistol tightened slightly,

"We captured one of the scouts and he said they had been ordered to check the prison just because it was defensable. They didn't know any of us were here until they tried to get in." he told her with a small smile, "So we're not to blame for them arriving. As for what we give you... what do you eat Raven? We're planting gardens, we can produce fresh vegetables and game meat for you. Not to mention we're working on getting the power running to all parts of the prison again. Including yours."

Rick held one hand up in a placating manner,

"Hey, just calm down. We're not here to mess around with your stuff, we're just here to get to meet you is all." he told her calmly, "After this little meeting we'll only see each other when you want to or there's something very serious come up."

Just then both Oscar and Daryl came down. Rick was relieved right up until he noticed that Daryl was carrying a little teddy bear. He wanted to groan in annoyance,

"Hey ther'..." Daryl greeted Raven cautiously, one hand on his crossbow ready to fire, "I don' suppos' this is yer bea' huh?"

Raven almost threw up when he was trying to be so sicklingly nice to her, she really couldn't care less what this complete stranger thought about her, he hadn't even had the manners to tell her his name, and yet he was here threatening her with that gun of his? If he had been told about her this was hardly a good way to get her to warm up to him, pointing a gun at a crazy person too long didn't yeild very good results.

Merely letting her neutral gaze land on the man she quirked one eyebrow upwards and she shook her head lightly a smirk on her lips when she thought about having to share her prison with a man like this, clearly he was not many steps off herself, he'd kill to get what he wanted, if he was pushed enough. They shared this in common she could see already.

The look in his eyes when she blamed his group only confirmed what she had just thought, and she laughed softly to herself, running her hand through her hair and moving it back from her eyes;

"You know, drop the nice guy act..." she grinned wickedly "And you're not far off from being like me, maybe you should consider asking for a cell in here, in a few months I suspect we'll be closer than you think, living in a prison, working or not, does things to you after all."

Merely waving off the idea of a garden, Raven placed a hand on her hip and looked at the man, how did he think she had lived here all this time? Off tinned beans and rats? For a time she had lived off things like that, but not any more;

"No need, I have my own garden. Before you ask, no. No you can't have any." she smirked.

Hearing more people coming Raven began to panic a little bit, she hadn't been around this many people unconfined since the prison fell, and that was hardly an appropriate social situation, cutting people's heads and limbs off was quite accepted in that frantic chaos...now, probably not so much. It was not helped by the fact one of these strangers was carrying one of her items...

Raven gritted her teeth and growled at the man before trying to calm, and holding out a rather shakey hand;

"Thats mine...give it back." she stated simply, not trusting herself to say anything else.

Rick could already tell that she was going to be interesting to be around on a good day. Downright frustrating to be around on a bad day. And that was actually a rather good thing in his book. To him, people should act on their emotions and she was doing just that. It wasn't her fault that her emotions seemed to be on a slight shorter fuse, or at least have less morality involved with them. When she told him to drop the act he froze up for a second before he relaxed, a small little smirk on his lips,

"It's not an act most of the time." he told her with his small smirk widening slightly, "I already sleep inside one of the cells. Perhaps it won't be a stretch for me to need one one day... but not now, not while my group needs me."

She was right though. Rick could feel himself being dragged down by the world they lived in now. The Rick Grimes who had set out to find his family was worlds away from the Rick Grimes of today. The earlier Rick would probably try and arrest him, he reflected in amusement. When she said she had her own garden he chuckled lightly,

"Wasn't going to ask." he told her with a little shrug, "But if you need anything from us ask and we'll see if we have it to spare. I mean we've got a lot of books for some reason in case you wanted some light reading."

Rick could see that she was going to go nuclear unless Daryl gave back the teddy bear and he hoped that the redneck would have the sense to do so. Daryl shook his head,

"Na', we nee' tis' fer lil asskick'r." he decided before shrugging, "Com' on lady, a baby nee's it mor' tan yer do righ'?"

Seeing that this was going to end badly, Rick moved up to Daryl and shook his head, staring the man down. Daryl took one look at his leader before sighing and handing the teddy over. Rick knew that Daryl wouldn't be mad about it either thankfully. Taking the teddy bear, Rick took a few steps closer to Raven and holstered his gun. It was a display of trust but it was a definate risk. He held it out for her to take,

"I'm sorry about the teddy bear being taken from your collection." he told her honestly, "The guy who took it's Daryl. The other guy is Oscar. I'm Rick, sorry for our little meeting. Not the best first impression I know but I hope we can move past it."

Raven giggled a little bit, of course, it was a good thing that the man admitted that he was so close to belonging in here, she supposed that a lot of people belonged in here now to be honest it was what the world made them. She was actually quite interested to see what the rest of his group was like, perhaps she should play nice, it would be good to have some friends...maybe.

As long as they understood her limits, then there should be no problem.

"Oh how boring, and here I thought you were a wolf in lambs clothing." she sighed lightly shrugging "Never mind I am sure my match is out there somewhere just waiting for me."

Humming a little bit, she rested her hand on her hip, she was going to go back on what she said, perhaps she could give some things from her collection to this group on loan as long as they promised that they would keep it in good condition, if they didn't she wouldn't be happy, she would be more than a little bit pissed off to be honest.

"I suppose...if you wanted you could look and see if there's anything you wanted to borrow from the Collection...as long as you took care of it." Raven murmured, almost begrudgingly although she had just resolved to give them something, call it her lonliness acting up on her.

Raven, when she heard that their group had a baby, let her eyes widen a little bit. A baby? Turning her gaze away she couldn't stop her conflicting emotions, she wanted to see the little chubby cute thing, to hold it, but then again, it could remind her too much of the baby she had once had, that was taken away from her, and was the reason why she was here if she was honest.

When the man approached her, she took the teddy from his hands and ran her fingertips over his small glass eyes;

"This teddy bear isn't suitable for under three year olds." she whispered softly "If you had asked, I would have helped you find something more suitable. Tell me...what is the babies name?" Raven asked, perhaps for the first time in the conversation her madness was dropping away, maybe it was a good thing for her to be around people after all...? She didn't know.

When she said that she had hoped that he was a wolf in sheeps clothing he chuckled a little bit as he remembered some of the killing he'd done. She wasn't too far away from being right, he decided. He tried to act the paragon of goodness and happiness when the truth was probably closer to what Raven was observing. He might not be deceiving his group to hurt them in the future but he was a wolf, he was a bit of a monster on the inside,

"I'm more like a sheepdog." he told her with a grin, showing all his teeth, "All the bite of the wolf but with a purpse, something to defend."

When she seemed to change her mind about her collection he blinked a few times. Depending on what was in the collection this offer could be incredibly helpful to the group. He smiled a little bit,

"That's very generous of you Raven, I promise that if you let us borrow anything that we'll take excellent care of it and return it when you ask." he assured her before grinning a little bit, "And if you want we can add some things to your collection that we find."

He could tell that the fact that their group included a baby was something of a good point for them, Raven seemed to be thinking extra hard about the baby but she had such a sad look on her face when she did. Perhaps she had had a baby taken off of her or maybe she'd lost it? Maybe she was just feeling broody? He didn't know. He nodded a little bit,

"Thank you. She's only a few days old so far..." he whispered quietly, looking down at the floor for a moment when she asked for the baby's name, "Sophia. Sophia Lori Grimes. She's... she's my daughter and her mother recently passed away. But she's a little fighter. It's why her nickname is little asskicker. If you'd like you could see her sometime?"

Raven grinned when he showed his teeth to her, she wanted to think that he was rather like her, it would make it easier to interact with the group, although she would probably not interact with them much for their own good, she just hoped that she wouldn't start to react badly to them, because then if she had made friends she would have to distance herself from them.

The very idea of making friends was something that Raven hadn't thought of for a long long time, but maybe in a world like this it would be possible for her.

"I have something to defend, but I would never liken myself to a dog." she smirked a little bit "Its just degrading, don't you think?"

Glad to hear that she was going to be able to show someone her collection, although she was initally hostile about it she really thought that she was going to be proud of all the work she had done now that she had someone to show it to. The idea that they might be able to add to it was a happy one as well, she loved the idea of expanding her collection, although it was vast already there was always more to add.

"Well then follow me." she smiled lightly, brightly even as she turned and wandered towards the stairs the other two men had come down "You two can stay here." Raven growled a little bit, stealers weren't welcome in her collection she couldn't trust them.

As she walked up the stairs, she listened intently to Rick telling her about his child, Sophia was a beautiful name and she felt her heart tug, her baby had been a beautiful girl too, although she would have called her Charlotte, it was one of her favourite names. Hearing that the mother had passed away she bit her lip, she couldn't help but feel bad for Rick, but at least the mother wouldn't have to watch her child being taken away from her.

"I'm not sure whether...whether thats such a good idea." she whispered softly "But, I would very much like to see her...Sophia is a beautiful name, if you need anything for her, and you see it here, you can take it, just as long as you tell me."

Rick smirked wider when she grinned at him. Here was a person he could act his most 'socially unacceptable' around and it would actually translate into understanding between the two of them. He could tell that she was unlikely to ever interact with the rest of the group too much but that was alright. She was entitled to her privacy and that was perfectly acceptable to him. Others in the group might be concerned she wasn't in sight but they could all go suck lemons since he was the one in charge,

"Ah not too degrading for me I think. I rather like sheepdogs." he said with a little chuckle before smirking slightly, "Besides, you're much more of a wolf than a sheep or sheepdog. Maybe a renegade wolf... maybe."

When she seemed to wanted to actually show her collection to him he smiled happily. This was good. They were bonding over the collection and he would be able to see if there was going to be anything he would want to borrow. Of course he could understand why the others weren't allowed to come,

"Why don't you guys head back?" he suggested as he went after Raven, "Thanks for trusting me enough to let me see your collection. I'm very curious about it I have to admit."

Rick slipped into thoughts about Lori and his baby as they walked and they were definately not happy thoughts. He hadn't liked his wife towards the end but he liked to think that they could have worked things out eventually. He smiled a little bit, faintly,

"Well you can at least come and see her. If you're still not sure you don't have to hold her or anything." he told her before smiling a little bit, "Thanks for the offer but all she really needs right now is formula. Although... I don't suppose you've got a soft towel or something? Like a child's blanket?"

Raven smirked a little bit, she didn't know if Rick was trying to compliment her or not, she hoped that he was, because now that she knew he had a baby and his wife was dead, it was an almost perfect family setting for her to slide on into. Although she didn't really deserve a family after what she had done...even though it had been all his fault...all his fault!

Stopping her thoughts from turning to those dark times again she shook her head, and she turned her attention to the collection, they were approaching it now and her hand was resting on the doorknob of the cell block that she had placed it in.

"I hope you're not trying to compliment me." she smirked "A girl can get ideas, especially when she has been alone as long as I have."

Opening the door to the collection, she allowed Rick to enter before her and she smiled proudly at the little collection of things that she had gathered over the months she had been freed. Everything was alphabatised, she thought that it would be the easiest way to organise everything, so she could find something quickly by the first letter.

"I collect everything that I see, I wanted to be able to preserve as much of human culture as it was and so, I thought it would be best to do something like this. It is no where near completed...but it has a fair few things."

Grinning she walked over to the second pile and looked through a pile of blankets, before pulling out one near the bottom and smoothing it out a little bit, it was a blue blanket which normally was used for boys but she supposed that beggars couldn't be choosers when it came to the things available in a situation like this, although she was unhappy she didn't have a better blanket, although the cute ducks on this one were sweet.

"Here, unfortunately it is blue, not a normal girl colour however, it does have little ducks on it." she stated with a light smile "I doubt I'll want it back full of child slobber so...you keep it."

Rick was actually trying to compliment her, he realised only when she pointed it out. Of course he didn't much care when it came right down to it. He wanted to compliment her and there was no Lori to tell him off for saying anything nice about, or to, any woman at all. When she commented on it though he chuckled a little bit and shook his head slightly,

"Well I actually was trying to compliment you." he admitted before smirking a little bit and shaking his head slightly, "Although not for that reason. If I was going to compliment you like that, trust me, you'd know I was doing it."

When he stepped into the collection room he couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle. She really had packed this room to the gills and she said that it was nowhere near complete. When she explained that it was to show the entire history and culture of the human race he acknowledged that she wasn't anywhere near completion despite having a very sizable collection of useful things,

"That's a worthy goal." he agreed with a small grin before nodding too, "Yes just a fair few things. I must say that it's a very impressive collection even if it isn't complete yet."

When she handed him the baby blanket he held it lightly in his hand for a moment. It hadn't really sunk in very much but holding this in his hand, for some reason, he realised that he was a father. He smiled a little bit,

"I think having a blue blanket is going to be the least of the girl's worries." he joked lightly before smiling at her, "Thank you Raven, thank you so much. If you ever want anything specific collecting ask and I'll go out and fetch it."