#✧ Raven & Negan; TBD

[offeatherandbone]

@savedpeople

"Pretty fucking cool, right? The tree, I mean, though I know this whole place must look damn luxurious to you."

Compared to the rest of the Sanctuary, it is; that's because they're currently in the parlor where Negan's wives spend much of their time -- though they're notably absent now -- down the hall from the leader's own living quarters. A room of leather and velvet, fancy-ass decorative pillows and chandeliers, a selection of wines at a personal bar and, currently, a bare Christmas tree, with a handful of boxes sitting besides it.

"Told the guys I wanted to feel some damn holiday cheer this winter and look at this." He motions towards the tree. "They pulled through for once in their sad lives. Now, as you may notice, it's looking pretty fucking sad, but that's where you come in." Arms spread open wide like his smile. "You, my dear, are going to help me decorate this thing."

He spots what must be either confusion or disbelief cross her face, because he soon adds, "You must be wondering why I don't have one of my many wives helpin' me instead. Don't you worry, I've got plenty of things lined up for them to help me get into the Christmas spirit." He keeps it vague on purpose; lets her come to her conclusions. "And let's be honest, you could use a break from all that back breaking work you do for me." Not the best kind of 'back breaking,' but by some miracle he manages to keep that one to himself. "I might even pour you a drink."

Some time later, the tree is wrapped in white lights and silver garland rests across the fireplace mantel. Raven turns down his offer to have a drink -- Negan has no fucking clue why -- but he still grabs himself a beer as they work their way through boxes of frosted silver, gold, and red bulb ornaments. He encourages them to share stories of Christmas from before the world fell, and he's pretty sure he sees Raven crack a smile or two. Soon enough the tree is covered, and Negan takes a dramatic step back to take it all in after he finishes it off with a gold star at the top.

"I don't know about you, but I think we did pretty fucking good! Look at it; there's so much Christmas cheer radiating off this thing, I'm about to start singing carols."

Hands on his hips, Negan turns to her, lifting a palm into the air. And -- maybe just to appease him, maybe not -- Raven doesn't leave him hanging, and gives him a high-five.

When she had been called out of her makeshift garage, Raven had spent the entire time creating a list of things that could have gotten her in trouble. Always having a bit of an issue with authority, there were definitely things that could warrant punishment. 'Innocent until prove guilty...right?’ She thought to herself, making sure to keep her lips tight as the two men lead her to Negan, ignoring any gross comment thrown her way with nothing more than a sharp side eye or a blank stare. 

Her arms were crossed when she stepped into the parlor. Eyes fell on the Pine and her brows furrowed, defensively confused. She listened quietly, waiting for Negan to explain. He wasn’t exactly one to let things speak for themselves, enjoying his own voice too much for that. It was definitely one of the weirder things that’s happened to her, but at least it wasn’t an iron to the face. If he wanted company decorating a Christmas tree, then so be it. It wasn’t exactly like she had anywhere else to go, though she did have some cars to work on.  “Sure,” She said hesitantly with a shrug of her shoulders, walking over to one of the boxes. When she opened it, it smelled like mothballs and something stale. She carefully pulled out an old crocheted blanket covering a few smaller plastic boxes filled with ornaments. At first, she was a quiet and stiff, listening to his stories as she cleaned the dust off the ornaments with the blanket. By the time she started putting the ornaments on the actual tree, she even found herself giving a soft laugh at one of his jokes. It was more of a huff, but it was something. 

“Never decorated a tree before,” She admitted, sharing a little glimpse of her own life as an apology for rejecting the drink. Her mother’s addiction robbed her of a lot of experiences. Christmas was one of them. “My boyfriend’s family was Jewish, so we celebrated Hanukkah.” Finn had been very sweet, allowing her into his family and sharing his culture with her. Sometimes, she felt left out of all the Christmas stuff but she stopped caring after a while. There was a numb pain in her chest, remembering exchanging gifts with Finn. At least he didn’t have to deal with the apocalypse anymore... Raven went quiet again, but it was more comfortable than it had been in the beginning. 

As Negan added the final touch, Raven hummed in agreement. They did do a pretty good job with the stuff they had. It looked a bit incohesive, but it made it feel more... homely. As he threatened to sing, Raven even felt comfortable enough to poke at him. 

“Please don’t.” As he raised his hand and waited, Raven sighed exaggeratedly and gave him a half assed Highfive. He kinda deserved it since he had been less obnoxious than usual. 

[offeatherandbone]

@savedpeople​ sent in you did this all by yourself? (for Raven)

“Damn right I did,” Pride laced her tone as she used the back of her hand to wipe away the sweat on her brow. The truck had been crashed a few months ago during a run. It took a lot of work but it was back and running. It was a mishmash of different colors now, having had to scavenge parts from other cars but it was completely functional. Who really cared about monochromaticity during the apocalypse anyway? 

“I know, I know, I am pretty awesome.” Sending a grin over her shoulder. There wasn’t a lot to be happy about nowadays, so she was enjoying what she could until she couldn’t. 

[offeatherandbone]

@savedpeople​ sent in hush .   raise  a  finger  in  a  gesture  to  silence  my  muse . (for Raven, if you'd like!) “Damn it,” The groans and snarls were getting closer and closer. Thankfully, the brace had held up until now. One of the screws fell out somewhere and the metal wasn’t supporting her as much as she needed. The only thing Raven could do now is drag her leg behind her the best she could as she used the walls for support. In her rush, she slipped and fell. The metal scrapped against the concrete floor as she crawled because, damn it, she wasn’t going to die like this. The door to her left creaked open. The man held a finger to his lips in a universal sign to ‘shut up’. This wasn’t the time to overthink. Raven scurried over as fast as she could with one leg out of commission. It wasn’t until she was in the room with him, door closed that she was able to catch her breath.  ‘Thanks,’ She mouthed, not even daring to take a full breath with the hoard of walkers outside.