"Good morning, garbage people!" Negan hooted with clear mockery in his voice. "Where is your queen?"
From the crowd, Jadis emerged. In one swoop, she stopped in front of the head-Savior. Her long coat draped over her heavily. "You come? Why?" She asked calmly. Negan smiled approvingly. A chuckle escaped his lips and he glanced at the other Scavengers.
"See, that's what I like about you, darlin'," he uttered, turning back to her. "Straight to the point."
Silence caressed them with the wind. It howled softly, weaving through piles of garbage. Nobody could tell if Jadis disapproved of the term of endearment, even if it was a joke. She wasn't easy to read. It was a big part of what made her such a good leader. Finally, after no reaction, she opened her lips.
"You come, why?"
Negan seemed, as ever, in the mood to play games. He was in no rush. In a world of the undead with only few survivors, there was no rush. The Saviour seemed to really play with that idea like it was his. Time was nothing anymore. Nobody knew what it was. All they knew was morning, afternoon, midday, evening and night. Instead of giving his answer, he turned back to her relatively-small community.
"Jesus, how the hell can you live here?" He dawdled around, exploring the place more thoroughly. "It absolutely stinks! Tell me." He picked up a dusty rug with some unknown liquid on it. "I don't think I even wanna know what this is." He tossed it aside.
"Time is important." Jadis pointed out, folding her arms with 'annoyed' tattooed all over her face. "You waste."
Negan let out another irritating chuckle. He swung his beloved baseball bat around a couple of times and stopped - leaning against her as she hit the ground - at arm's length from Jadis. "Time?" He shrugged. "What's the rush?"
When Jadis didn't answer and only glimpsed her peers, a satisfied smile crossed Negan's lips.
"Please answer my question. 'Cause I am genuinely curious," he smiled. "What made you think: Hey! The dead are walkin' now, the world's fucked - I think I'll live in this godforsaken pigsty?"
"Misconception." A soft but strong female voice answered from another place not too far. Both Negan and Jadis turned to a blonde woman who held a straight stance and curled her fists. Her clothes, like the rest of them, were tatty and she had her hair tied back in a greasy and nest-like ponytail.
"Excuse me?" The head-saviour's interest was on the woman. She showed no bother. The way she held herself stayed the same.
"Pigs - clean."
Negan's tongue glided across his teeth.
"We have work. Sculpts. Art. You are wasting light hours." Jadis interrupted, grinding her teeth. "Your business. I demand."
In a flash, Lucille was off the ground and swinging. The Scavenger's leader watched her with high awareness. She stepped back. From behind the bat, holding it firmly in one place, inches away from her chest, Negan's eyes lit like the hottest fire. Jadis closed her lips. She was a statue. She stared equally into him. Her breath hitched; her expression careful. Her eyes darted to the clicking and sweeping of weapons being revealed but she quickly held a hand up to her community. In reaction, they lowered their defence.
"No," she told them.
A louder howl of wind rushed around them. Negan's face softened. To everyone's surprise, a laugh escaped him and Lucille returned to his side, hanging with no hostility.
"Man!" He hooted. "You are fierce!"
Jadis' eyes shot down to the bat and back up again. Her breath shook.
"But you know your place. And I like that," he smirked, stepping towards her. This time, Jadis said nothing. She only straightened out her back and held herself stiffly, collecting herself. "I have a proposition for you," he muttered. Jadis blinked. Her breath hissed softly through her nose. "And I just know you're gonna like it." Her brow furrowed and she tilted her head. "Well? Are you gonna say something?"
"I'm curious," she responded.
Negan's smile widened into a grin and he stepped even closer to her. Her frown wrinkled. Her eyes explored him curiously, trying to figure things out. Trying to understand his body language.
"Curious," he repeated. "I like that." He winked. His voice got even softer but it wasn't a whisper. It was as if he didn't care who heard him, no matter what he had to say. Or maybe he wanted that. Maybe it made him feel powerful. Jadis however, cleared her throat and her eyes darted to each unique face of her community. She swallowed.
"Rick? Want him dead? Us to-" She guessed. Negan laughed and shook his head.
"No. No, no," he replied. Jadis nodded her head slowly. "But thanks for asking. No. I have something very different in mind for you." He looked her up and down.
Jadis swallowed, returning the looks. She raised an eyebrow. "Y-you.." she stuttered. She inhaled and exhaled deeply and went on. "You want pleasure," she discovered. "You want my body for it."
"Very good," Negan smirked, touching Jadis' leg - over her coat - with his bat. He leisurely ran it up her thickly-covered body. The barbed wire grazed the strong material but didn't do enough to damage it. "But I'm a gentleman. Ask Lucille. It's no fun if only one of us is enjoying it." Jadis looked on incredulously.
"Not you." Jadis breathed. "Many women yours. All no consent."
Negan exhaled through his nose with amusement. "You're right." His lips curled. Lucille had gotten even bolder and came just close enough under a covered hillock on Jadis' chest. "Jadis. I like sayin' that," he decided. "It sounds like Judas, the betrayer." His voice became louder again so that everyone heard. "Jadis." The bat swept over to the nook of her waist and he held it there. "D'you know what you want?"
A stray can lid rattled across the floor.
"I," she decided, looking straight on at him. "Not one of yours. Not anyone's." She lifted a hand and made a signal by flicking her fingers out once. "Dismissed." The crowd broke up and went their own ways, back to working on their creations. She swallowed. "Not anyone's," she repeated clearly and firmly to him. Negan held up his hands in mock-surrender.
"Hey." He held both sides of Lucille in each hand. "I get you're an independent woman. I like that. Lucille likes that. I have enough girls. I'm just suggesting a bit of fun."
Jadis watched her people for a moment. She watched as some of them ate from a can of the very little food they had left - thanks to the Saviours. She looked back at him - scanned him. "A reward," she suggested. Negan curled his lips in annoyance.
"I'm bein' very nice to you. I've let a lot go," he reminded her. "I'm leaving a lot up to you. I'm offering you something in return. Something...you probably haven't had anything like in a long long time."
Jadis took a breath and her nostrils flared. "Need more," she insisted. "Saviours took what we took. We can't take more." Her hands - now dropped to her sides - curled into fists. "Need food. Cans. People are a resource. Dead people kill, feed, pointless- no work." She lowered her eyelids and looked at him with mule-like stubbornness. "No work..." she breathed. "No resource."
Negan hesitated. The two stared almost into each other's souls. Finally, he gave in. "Five cans."
"Not enough. twenty."
Negan whistled and shook his head. "Now you're startin' to make me a little bit mad," he stated. "I am about at the point where I might just grab you and force your ass to the ground."
"Twenty!" Jadis said louder. People shot looks towards her. Negan launched himself forward and thrust his face right in hers. Her breath caught in her throat and her body began to shake. Negan began to smile again.
"Seven."
"Not enough," she protested. "Need more. Have...to have more." Her teeth clenched together and by now, she'd gone way past the stage of provocation towards him. She knew that and so she was at a stage where it was no longer going to change her fate, the more she pushed. If he would hurt or kill her, it would already happen. Negan nodded his head and glanced her lips.
"Ten." He paused for thought. "And a sack of potatoes."
Jadis' own lips turned to a smirk. Catching sight of this, Negan opened his mouth again. "But now, you are in my debt. You have to do something I want." His hand fell to his crotch and he squeezed the area for a moment. He nearly missed Jadis' split-second expression of repulsion.
"Yes?"
His lips curled and he took his hand away again. "Show me what else those pretty lips can do - apart from sass me."
Her smile fell. She scanned him again, this time more carefully. Her eyes glared, her lips pursed. She stopped below his hips - then looked him in the eyes. Her fists clenched but she didn't break.
"Deal."