A Familiar Face

[becauseyouhaveto]

Who: Carol and Rick
What: Meeting up after finding each other over the Network
Where: Carol's room
When: Beginning of February


Carol's pacing the length of her room, nervously waiting for that knock. It's just Rick. She has no reason to feel nervous. Or does she?

She'd left with hardly a warning, just run off in the night. And she'd almost been killed. Surely, Rick would be mad. What would he say? She knows he's a good man, but had she broken his trust by leaving?

The knock at the door startles her.

She rushes to it, flinging it open with a grin on her face. "Rick! I never thought I'd see you again!" she exclaims, wrapping him up in a hug. All her nervousness seems to have fled just from seeing her friend.

Comments

[redhandle]

Rick isn't mad, especially not here and now. He smiles when he sees her and he's quick to wrap his arms around her in a firm hug. He's more relieved to see her than he'd expected really.

"I had a feeling I hadn't seen the last of you," he counters, squeezing her lightly before letting her go after that.

[becauseyouhaveto]

She squeezes back, grinning up at Rick as she lets go. "This place seems so surreal." She steps back and motions to the couch before taking a seat herself. "After everything we've been through...it's untouched, it's safe, it's just like...before."

[redhandle]

"Surreal is the right word for it," Rick agreed and he moves to sit on the couch and leans back, relaxing more than he typically was in this place. Aaron was familiar but there was a more long-standing almost familial connection to Carol that set him further at ease.

"But different," he furrows his brow briefly. "It feels like looking at a mask but this entire place is wearing one."

[becauseyouhaveto]

She nods, looking down. "Yeah. I feel like I can't trust anyone here. It's driving me nuts. The others who were brought here recently are as lost as we are, but I just...I don't know." She shrugs and sighs.

"At least Aaron and Eric are here."

[redhandle]

"Yeah, It's been good to see them here," Rick agreed -- though seeing Eric alive is a strange experience for him every time.

"The rest of the people here? It's hard to get a good read on most of them."

[becauseyouhaveto]

"Especially the council. I get the creeps from them." She shivers, wrapping her arms around herself. "What do you make of them?"

[redhandle]

Rick runs his hand through his hair and there's an unsettled feeling at the question but honestly that's just about everything with this place. Unsettled.

"I'm not sure and that's what bothers me."

[becauseyouhaveto]

Carol nods. "They're hard to get a read on. I don't like it."