→ Atticus ←
Atticus on Family
Atticus has a lot of conflicted feelings when it comes to family. Most of them originate from his own family when they were killed. As it is, he doesn't truly feel as though he belonged anywhere to have a family again, even in the Order. Atticus merely wanted to do his job, not to become a part of a group of people who always relied on each other. Though, that feeling had begun to change when he fell in love with Miranda. He had wanted to stay by her side, but it was only after the war that Atticus was reminded that he couldn't stay with Miranda long enough to have a family.
He had put those feelings away - or so he thought.
When he had first heard about Miranda being pregnant, the Apprentice had continued to deny the fact. He didn't want a daughter at first, knowing without a doubt that he'll become attached. It would be the first step to admitting that he honestly wanted to have a family. (Un?)Fortunately, Atticus did end up becoming attached to Marlene when he first saw her on the day she was born. Still, the redhead had tried to prevent the mere idea that he does have a family now whether he liked it or not.
That's why he continued to be a Bookman, visiting once in a while to check up on Miranda and Marlene. Atticus had felt that he didn't belong with the two, and that even if he wanted to, he couldn't stay. By the time he became "Atticus", he was somewhat glad to have been given the record to track down a serial killer a.k.a Tyki Mikk. It gave him something to think about until it happened.
The day he was brought to the Dressing Room.
Atticus began to accept the idea of having a family after he unconsciously began to get close to Joyd and little Miranda. Though, a part of him continued to deny it until the day he went back to his world and discovered that the Clan has taken Marlene. Needless to say, Atticus became pretty angry at that (not that he'd open show it. Sort of). His love and protectiveness for his daughter was the final push to making the Apprentice secretly admit that he did, indeed, want a family.
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Atticus on Joyd:
Atticus loves Joyd a lot ;; Even more than he had ever loved Miranda. Joyd is Atticus' most important person in his life, and he will risk his own life to protect him. He does feel a little guilty about admitting his feelings for the gypsy - if only because he misses their comfortable silences that unlike the new one that appeared when they got together. It's not the big kind of awkward that's too uncomfortable, but he does miss things the way they were before. And Atticus is all too aware of the fact that he isn't helping things get better.
However, even though he does care about Joyd, Atticus is still hesitant to tell Joyd more about who he is. Yes, he's glad that Joyd knows about his past - and it's certainly a huge relief as well. It's just that these are secrets that the redhead doesn't want to bother or burden Joyd with them.
As it is, after witnessing Joyd being an Akuma, it made Atticus scared. He was scared at the thought of losing the gypsy that his defense mechanisms just kicked in all too soon (which is a topic for another time). Including the fact that Joyd mouthed 'I love you' to him, it made the redhead feel helpless. He couldn't do more to help the gypsy other than to find an Allen who could help. Other than that, he even had Irene watch over the akumafied gypsy temporarily.
He...can also be a bit possessive of Joyd and would sometimes get a tiny bit jealous, but it doesn't show too often. It's mostly due to his training as a Bookman that the redhead is able to get past these feelings and just enjoy the time he has with the gypsy.