When Slough pointed out Atlas, who was standing off in the distance observing the group of people, Vanera could feel her heart quicken. “Friend Atlas!” Vanera shouted with glee as she shot up onto her feet. She rushed over to the human and tackled him onto the ground with all four of her arms wrapped around his body and purred softly. It kind of hurt her arms a bit when she tackled him, but she didn’t care. She didn’t mind the pain. She wanted to stay holding onto Atlas forever, never to let him go again. But once she heard him wheeze and whisper “ow”, she realized that he was still in pain and immediately let go. She then pulled him onto his feet and apologized frantically, hoping he would forgive her foolish action. But he didn’t seem to notice, something in his eyes told her that he wasn’t really listening to anything going on around him. Something else had his focus, something Vanera couldn't see. What was he thinking about? And then Vanera saw it. In his eyes, there was a look of fear. A look of worry and anxiety. She thought once more it was because of what she did and said sorry before urging him to go back and rest. Hoping that as he slept, he would forgive her of her childish act. But then unexpectedly, he said no. Vanera tried again to convince him to go back to sleep so he’d heal quicker, but still he refused. He tried to mask the pain he was in with a fake smile, but Vanera could still see in his eyes that he was still in pain. Eventually, the Exo Hunter, Seth, butt in and joined her in urging Atlas to go back to sleep. Before Seth did though, she introduced herself and shook Atlas’ hand. Vanera couldn’t tell what she disliked more, the Hunter touching Atlas, or Atlas gladly accepting the gesture and returning it. How dare she even try to [i]talk [/i]to Atlas after what she did. Vanera wanted so badly to pull Atlas away from the Hunter’s outstretched hand, but she knew that he probably wouldn’t take her attempts to distance them kindly and would get angry. So with itching hands hovering close to her shock dagger, Vanera just watched the encounter between the both; silently hoping the Exo would try something. But of course, nothing happened. After the friendly handshake, Seth opened her mouth to start speaking to Atlas, but Vanera wasn’t having any of it and cut her off. “Friend Atlas!” Vanera interrupted, “You should really go back to sleeping, yes? Your wound, it is not healed: you are still damaged.” With another fake smile, Atlas assured her that he was fine. And that’s when both Seth and Vanera had enough of his nonsense and started to explain to him the severity of his wound along with why he should rest. Vanera, though she still silently wanted Seth gone (no matter how), she did admire and respect the Exo’s persistence in trying to get the stubborn human to do what was best for himself. Then Vanera saw something in Atlas’ eyes. She saw mourning, sadness, and fear. And when she finally realized that something terrible must have happened to him for him to not want to go back inside so badly, it was too late. Atlas clenched his eyes shut and exploded into tears. Seth and Vanera both fell silent. “I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK!” Atlas snapped. “I DON’T… I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK. PLEASE!” he sobbed for a few seconds before continuing. But to Vanera and Seth, it felt like an eternity. They both dreaded what they saw, but Vanera felt like she was slowly dying. Why was he crying so much? Humans only did that when they were sad, and even when she saw those 'movies' they didn’t cry as much. What was troubling him so much? She wanted to know so badly. Then finally, Vanera got the answer to her unspoken question. “I saw her…” Atlas quietly sobbed. “I saw Mia, I saw Mia! I can’t… I can’t go back! I can’t go back in there,” he paused for a moment and with tears still streaming from his frightened eyes, looked up at Vanera and Seth. “Please, don’t make me -- don’t make me go back in there. Don't make me close me eyes and return to that... that hell...” Seth exchanged a worried look at Vanera, and they both clearly understood what the other was silently communicating: they couldn’t make him go back. Seth and Vanera turned back to Atlas and with a nod, both agreed not to make him go back. Atlas nodded slowly and thanked them before wiping the tears from his eyes with his hand. “Now… can someone please tell me where the heck my clothes are?” Atlas weakly scoffed while gesturing towards his naked upper body and his shoeless feet. He still had his pants on though, much to his relief. “I’ll get your stuff.” Seth said. Seconds later, Atlas’ clean blue shirt, coat, socks, and shoes were all resting in her two hands unstained and neatly folded. “I had my Ghost put them all in my vault. You can thank Slough for patching up the holes and Banker for cleaning them; believe it or not, he’s really big on stains and stuff.” She placed the clothes into Atlas’ hands. “Thank you.” Atlas slightly smiled before putting on his shirt. It was extremely cold, for some reason, but he didn’t mind it. After all, it was still better than having no shirt at all. He tried to put on his shoes, but stopped as a burning pain ran through his chest when he bent down. He winced in pain and stood up straight. Seth swayed where she stood uncomfortably, “look, Atlas, you don’t need to go back into the room -- or even sleep -- but you do need to lie down somewhere and move as little as possible. That wound isn’t going to heal if you keep on irritating it with your movement.” With grit teeth, Atlas nodded in understanding. “Yup, got it. No movement, will do.” he said while looking at the soft grass under him, wondering if it’d be a nice spot to lie down. Vanera clicked happily to herself, knowing that now was the time she could do what she wanted to do from the start without making things worse for her friend. “Friend Atlas!” she started, “Allow for me to carry you over to the rest of the… Gar...dions? Guar-dians? Guardians! And I can continue to carry you so that you will receive no further unintentional injuries.” Atlas’ face reddened, “No-no, I think I’m good right here. I’ll just uh, lay down here and uh, write. I’ll use my coat as a pillow.” “Actually, the Vandal’s got a point. We need to keep a close eye on you. You wouldn’t want to have a sprained neck and a bullet wound after all.” Seth snickered evilly. Or at least to Atlas it was evil. “Besides, the boys are just [i]dying [/i]to talk to ‘the regular that does a better job at staying alive than some Guardians’.” “Nononono, really, it’s fine.” Atlas insisted. “I’ll walk there myself then. My legs are fine, see?” he bent his legs in a sort of squat to somehow prove he was capable of walking there. Seth rested her chin on her hand and pretended to study his legs intently. She nodded her head, “Hmmm… it’d seem that your right leg has a sort of… knot… in it. If you continue to walk, you might get hurt.” “Wh-what? I don’t feel anything wrong-” Before Atlas finished, Vanera swept him up in her four arms like he was nothing and laughed. Atlas tried to squirm out of her grasp, but the more he did the more he could feel her nails -- or claws, he didn’t really know -- digging into his arm and side as her grip on him only tightened. Eventually, with a face as red as a tomato, he gave up his attempts and let Vanera carry him bridal style over to the group of Guardians. Behind Vanera, Atlas could see the Exo Hunter, Seth, laughing profoundly with her back turned to them.