Negan said that he was not going to take any food and then took the deer.
That was on a lark
You either offer up full "accommodation" or you shoot through that gate into Negan's shadow and go for the straight up fight.
Service"--
Father Gabriel scaring Negan was priceless. No one can be sure how Father Gabriel will deal with the situation, since his "faith" line could be read in several ways..
Father Gabriel is on to something. If the Wolves were ISIS, then Negan is al-Assad. His underlings would worry me far more than Negan himself.
If I were in the group, I might suggest Rick lock himself in the cell and play crazy. So Negan has to speak to me.
I'd answer the gate. "Come on in, I'm father Gabriel"
Negan asks about Rick--and I say Rick's insane. In fron of Negans men--mind you--I say "why don't you move your men here, we have empty houses, running water and solar power" The men look more favorably towards me then. Negan would likely be taken aback. If Negan speaks to me in private about undermining him--I tell him that isn't my intent--though it was. Romans may have conquered the Greeks--but whose culture really changed? Zeus became Jove/Jupiter...Athena, Minerva.
That's the long game. I want Negan happy. His braggadocio--his wielding of Lucille, that's as much for his own men as the group.
I would spell out plans to expand walls, something to impress Negan. Let him breathe.
Could the Alexandrians potentially find that giant herd they redirected last season and throw them at Negan?
They don't know his base camp. That's the brilliance of each person saying that he's Negan. You kill a cell--and they spring back up like crabgrass. The original Negan might even be dead for all we know--or never existed. Like the Laughing Man from GITS:SOC
But all I'd have to do is, while discussing all the finds--and putting the saviors at ease...in passing...
"Where was it you said your base was again?"