Judgment is such a fickle thing. It's a subconscious act, you usually cant stop yourself from doing it. When you see something or someone your brain starts picking through the details and deciding if they're good or bad. The funny thing about that is initial judgment is based on what you see, but sometimes what you see isn't the reality of what's in front of you.

Snap. Twig stepped on, cover blown.

"Come out! Now!" Daryl's voice boomed through the dead silence of the trees that stretched on for miles.

Lorelei turned to Aaron with a huffed and rolled her eyes. They were outside the walls of their humble abode because Aaron wanted to hunt rabbits. While in the woods they caught sight of a certain hunter, and he noticed due to Aaron's lack of ability when it came to being discreet.

"Hello Hunter." She said in greeting, stepping out slowly with her arms raised in the air.

"You can tell the difference between walkers and humans by sound?" Aaron asked Daryl impressed. When Daryl recognized them and realized there was no looming threat he put down his bow, however, his withering scowl remained. "Can you tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy? Rick doesn't seem to be an expert at that."

"There ain't much of a difference no more," Daryl replied.

"That how you feel about your people?" Aaron retorted.

"Why you following me?" Daryl said with a sharper tone.

"We were actually hunting rabbits, which is kind of unfortunate," Lorelei piped in, "I mean they're just so cute..." She then cut herself off trying not to stray from the point.

"I know why your out here," Aaron said, he then looked over to Lorelei who just gave him a nod to his silent question, "Mind if we join?"

He started to walk away, not bothering to face them when he answered, "Keep up. And keep quiet."

Lorelei gave a mocking salute "Sir yes sir."

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The three had been walking through the woods for a short while when they came across a clearing and heard a horse nicker. When they got closer Aaron and Lorelei quickly realized who it was. "I've been trying to catch him for months," Aaron said, "Bring him inside. His name is Buttons. One of the kids saw him run by the gate a while back. Thought he looked like a Buttons. I haven't seen him for a while. I was afraid it was too late. Every time Eric or I come close, he gets spooked. Lorelei almost got him once, but then the roamers came and he walked off. Have you done this before?" Aaron finished explaining grabbing the rope from his bag and handing it over to Daryl.

"My group did." Daryl said thinking back to the days at the prison, "But they weren't out there that long. The longer they're out there, the more they become what they really are." He then turned and walked over to the horse with slow footsteps careful not to startle him. "I ain't gonna hurt ya. All right? Come on, boy. Yeah. Just keep on eating." Lorelei was almost in shock, she could tell Daryl was a good man and a loyal friend, but she had never witnessed him being so gentle, "Yeah. Good boy. Yeah, you used to be somebody's, huh? Now you're just yours."

Unfortunately, Daryl had been a bit off in timing because before he was able to get close enough a twig snapped and the horse let out a noise drawing attention of nearby walkers. Daryl let out a curse and threw the rope to the side. The dead scared Buttons, he let out a loud neigh and then bolted off.

"Come on, they're coming!" Daryl yelled out to the others, then he hit one of the walkers with his crossbow. To assist Aaron started to shoot them and Lorelei started to take them out with her knife. When everything was done and all the walkers were dead and on the ground Daryl took a frantic look around making sure the area was clear. "Come on."

After a few seconds of trailing behind Daryl through the woods Aaron spoke, "You ride horses?" He asked.

"Yeah, back there you were pretty good, didn't think Mr. brooding hunter could do such a thing." He sent her a glare, she threw up her hands in defense, "I was impressed, that was my form of a compliment."

"I ride bikes." Daryl answers choosing to ignore the last part of Lorelei's statement.

"No shit." Lorelei said a grin forming on her face as Daryl looked at her skeptically, "Me too." Lorelei only appreciated so many things in her old life, one of them was her bike, which was actually the reason she had met her brother-in-law in the first place.

"You ride?" He asked almost seeming shocked by the possibility.

"Yeah, haven't in a long time though. You know it's weird, you look surprised, and I'm just baffled that your face can do something other than scowl," she said sarcastically.

"Nah, you just don't look it." Daryl said shaking his head ignoring her banter.

"Whys that?" she asked, "And if you say it's because I'm a girl I'm gonna punch you in the face."

To be honest, Daryl couldn't put into words why he thought what he did. The only girls he had ever been around who were interested in bikes were Merle's friends, and they were nothing like Lorelei. They were always high on drugs or drunk off their asses, just a bunch of shitty people, but that was just the people his brother ran with, he sometimes forgot not everyone in the world acted that way. That was just another stereotype screwed into his brain because of the dumb shit he did with his brother before the turn.

When he didn't respond she continued, "Do I have to have angel wings to be part of the club?" she joked, Daryl let out a small laugh causing her eyes to bulge out of her head. "So not only can you be surprised, you can laugh, I'm learning all new things today."

"Shut up," he said rolling his eyes, but his tone wasn't aggressive, it was more friendly?

"I usually don't."

"No, she doesn't." Aaron agreed. After a moment when things got quiet and the joking died down, he spoke, "I know you're feeling like an outsider. It's not your fault, you know. Eric and I, we're still looked at as outsiders in a lot of ways. We've heard our fair share of well-meaning, but hilariously offensive things from some otherwise really nice men and women. People are people. The more afraid they get, the more stupid they get. Fear shrinks the brain. They're scared of you and me for different reasons. They're less scared of me because they know me. It's less and less every day."

"And me?" Lorelei asked.

"Only the ones who've seen what you can do are scared of you." He answered flashing her a smile, being feared among the people you have to live with wasn't a thing to strive for. She didn't want to be feared, but she didn't like it when people underestimated her either. Aaron turned back to Daryl, "Anyway, let them get to know you. You should go to Deanna's party tonight."

"I got nothing to prove." He was right. It wasn't his job to fit into standards other people saw as appropriate, he was who he was and that wasn't gonna change, they were the ones who had to change. Unfortunately the world of people who lived in Alexandria weren't able to grasp that concept yet. "I met a lot of bad people out here doing a lot of bad shit. They weren't afraid of nothing."

Lorelei shook her head, "Everybody's afraid of something."

"You?" He asked, surprising her, he seemed like he really wanted to know, and when she looked at him she couldn't help but think she should tell him.

"I've done a lot of bad things, I won't lie about that, we all have one time or another to survive, justified or not." she paused for a moment gathering her thoughts, "But there's a line, its there, you do too many bad things, or something that's worse than everything else. You give up, and then you lose everyone you've ever cared about, even when they're already gone because it'll have changed you. I don't want to lose what I have left of those people."

He glanced at her, giving some thought to the words she had just spoken, and she could see a gleam of understanding in his eyes. He found himself thinking maybe they weren't so different. He broke from his thoughts when she spoke again.

"What about you, what are you afraid of?" she questioned, when he made no move to answer she just nodded, "Maybe another time."

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