Atlas nodded when Persephone told him that Leon meant well. Of course, he knew that better than anyone but he appreciated her reassuring him. “Yeah, I know.” He responded. “I guess it is nice to see that some things haven’t changed.” He added. He just hoped he was allowing himself moments of carefree happiness, something he’d lacked the first time they met. It also made him wonder what else had stayed the same since he’d left and what had changed.
One thing that seemingly hadn’t was that Leon always seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, whether it was actually his burden to bear or not. It wasn’t entirely his fault, he hadn’t been given enough reassurance that it wasn’t when he needed it but Atlas could only assume that it got tiring eventually. Maybe Persephone was helping him with that. He got the vibe that the two of them were kind of close from observing how they interacted with each other.
Atlas chuckled when the girl questioned his nickname for Leon. “Yeah. When we first met, I didn’t know Leon’s name so I tried to get his attention by calling him Figure Skates. I’d just been watching him skate and he had his skates in his hand so that was the first thing I could think of.” He explained to her. “He didn’t appreciate it very much but it did get him to tell me what his name actually was. After that, I kept calling him ‘Figure Skates’ any time I wanted to tease him or get him to relax a bit.”
Speaking of burdens, there was one that Atlas needed to let go of which he was hoping that someone other than Leon or his parents could help him with. “Persephone, do you know what Leon thought happened to me while I was here?” He asked her, looking at the ground. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was ready to hear the truth, or if she would even know it, but he had to find out eventually and he figured that it would sting less coming from someone on the outside. “It’s okay if you don’t.” He reassured her. He knew that one of Leon’s friends, either Evie, Sebastian or Adonis knew and would tell him in a heartbeat but if Persephone knew, she would hopefully be gentler.
@raviola - Persephone