139: Persuasion is one thing, respect is another.
The Space Argo glides above the waves for a few hours, its gravitic stabilizers keeping the journey smooth and pleasant. But for the majority of the crew, the atmosphere is drowning in awkward silence. After the conversation between David and Mash wrapped up and the two returned to the top deck, not a word has been uttered aside from the occasional direction given by Grimr to Jason, directing the ship towards their destination. David sits to the side, idly tapping his harp, preparing a tune. Benkei stares in silence towards the distant puncture in reality where Hercules awaits. And finally, after an hour of silent contemplation, Mash Kyrielight breaks the silence.
"Atalanta… what kind of person is she, Jason?" Mash asks. "She was present in the last singularity too, but she was defeated by someone else before we ever met her."
"Hm?" Jason strokes his chin tentatively. "If I had to put it into words… well, she's the calm one I guess? The rest of us were pretty excitable, so she sort of wound up as the one reigning everyone in and keeping us focused." He pauses, and then nods to himself. "Yeah. She's probably the most reasonable Argonaut other than me, so we should have a pretty good chance of convincing her."
"-So that's pretty much the gist of it," Jason concludes.
"In other words, you've made a huge mess of things as usual," A green and gold-haired woman replies, her cat ears twitching. "I fail to see how any of this is my problem."
"Th-that…" Her once captain says through gritted teeth. "No, you're right. there's nothing in it for you. But even so… please, help me. This isn't a request as your captain. Just… if you ever considered me, or Heracles, a friend, then-"
"Not particularly, no," Atlanta says with a small smirk, and Jason collapses on his face.
"That's so harsh!"
"Seeing you beg this desperately is amusing, but…" she says with a barely perceptible huff, and then her smirk turns to a frown. "It's not enough to give up a utopia."
"Oh come on! Aren't you a wild girl!? A kill-or-be-killed huntress type? What kind of purpose does someone like you have for a utopia!?" Jason whines.
"No child should be raised as I was," She replies. "That is my purpose for utopia. That is my fondest, my only wish, that children would finally be protected."
Atlanta stares at him after that, as Jason's face goes through several emotions - confusion, amusement, anger, before finally settling on regret. "...Sorry. I guess I never really got to know you as much as I should have."
She doesn't respond, simply staring at him as he turns in regret and begins to leave.
-And then, a small stuffed bear wearing an animal skin bursts out of the bushes. "Atlanta, you're avoiding the obvious here, and Jason's got his own reason not to say it, so I will instead!"
Jason whirls around. "Wait, who the heck-?"
"-Are you really gonna trust Heracles of all people to protect children?" The bear asks simply. As shocked horror dawns on Atlanta's face and fury on Jason's he continues. "He's gonna screw it up! You know that! All Greek heroes are screwups, the same as our gods!"
"But, if he kills the gods, then maybe…" Jason tries to blurt out a defense.
"Get real. The gods are just a scapegoat for his own failures as a hero. Heracles became one himself, you know? And he ruled the same way as all the other Greek gods. If he beats them all, and makes himself the sole god of humanity, what's gonna happen? How long until Hercules gets pissed off and destroys us in his rage?" The small stuffed Bear says with a snarl. "I'm not saying I'm better! I know I'm not! But modern humanity doesn't deserve to die for a utopia that guy can't create."
Silence fills the air for close to five seconds, until.
"...No, before all that, who are you, anyway?" Jason asks, Atlanta nodding along with him.
"Orion," The Bear responds.
As he takes in the revulsion and disappointment of the two Servants before him, the man-turned-mascot who might have been Grand Archer under other circumstances wonders whether it was even worth speaking up in the first place.
"I can't believe we were on the same island this whole time…" Atalanta mutters as she follows the strange mascot character further into the woods.
"It's not a big surprise to me," says Orion. "I was trying to find a way to safely approach you for almost a whole day, but you kept detecting me before I could get close enough to explain, and hurling rocks with all of your might."
"...Is that so?" The catgirl asks, her eyes narrowing. "In other words, you were that impure gaze I felt lingering on me?"
"A-ah… look! You can't blame a guy for looking, okay!? I wasn't going to do anything, not with Artemis in her current state!" The bear protests.
"Lady Artemis… it's difficult to believe someone like you is tied to her," Atalanta mutters.
"Doubt all you want, but here we are," Orion says, and pushing forward into an ivy-shrouded cave, Atlanta sees her goddess for the first time. "Artemis stole most of my Spirit Origin when we were summoned, but I guess it was for the best. There's no way we would have survived that shot if our core wasn't in my tiny body."
"D-dArling? Is thAt you?" A broken mechanical voice rasps out from a twisted mass of metal and flesh.
"I'm here, Artemis," The bear says, stepping forward to rest a paw on her.
"...Hercules did this?" Atlanta asks.
"Him and that redhead, when we tried to get involved in their fight," Orion says. "Stole our bow, too."
"I see," Atlanta mutters with closed eyes. "Then it seems I have reason to fight."
"DarLing…?" Artemis asks with an out-of-tune voice. "Is that anOTher womAN?"
"It's Atlanta. She came to see you," Orion says. "That thing you mentioned before… I was thinking we could probably give it to her."
"Lady Artemis, I…" The Huntress steps forward to kneel before the broken almost-corpse, a regretful look on her face. "Even though I have already broken my oath to you, I-"
"I d-dON't mind," The goddess says. "A sweEt girl like you who ALWays prAYs to me dESErves to find some love."
"Artemis has a head full of flowers anyway, she was probably rooting you on," Orion mutters.
Atlanta blinks, and then a scowl forms on her face. "Speaking ill of lady Artemis is-"
"It's nOt bad?" Artemis says. "I love dARLing lots!"
"It's like that, everyone." The bear says with a slightly embarrassed sigh. "Anyway, we can't do anything to help out like this, so we were thinking that we should probably turn Artemis's body into a bow."
"What?" Jason asks. "I mean, I get that Servants can be reshaped quite a bit since we've got spiritual bodies, but-"
"I was AN intERgalaCTIC cannon once!" Artemis says. "So if I USE some diVINE authority, I can. Bestowing a blessing to a WORSHipper, is within my abilities."
"So yeah, that's about it," Orion says. Sorry we couldn't do more, but we're checking out here."
"W-wait!" Atlanta stumbles forward. "I didn't… I'm not worthy! I haven't… I haven't done a thing to deserve this honor-!"
"Are you kidding? You're her greatest worshiper by far. Take yourself more seriously," Orion says with a chuckle.
"Darling is always telling me… Can't you do more for AtLAnta? That girl is always asking for yOUR help," Artemis says. "Okay, it's activating, Darling!"
"Ow! It kind of stings!" The bear complains.
"You need to say the words!"
"Fine, fine, I get it!"
""[Tri-Star Ortygia].""
Three more stars plunge from the heavens, as a great white bow stringed with starlight takes shape, alongside a single arrow.
The Atalanta who greets the eyes of those left aboard the Argo is different from the one they saw entering the forest with Jason and Orion. The change is less dramatic than Jason's, but it is there nonetheless. A certain fire in her eyes, the tension of an overwound spring in every motion. A tattered red cloth, wrapped around her neck like a scarf flutters in the salty ocean breeze. A pure white gauntlet of some unknown metal, stretching all the way up her right arm tightly grips an ornate bow twice as tall as she is, and strapped to her back an arrow near as large threatens to scrape the ground as she walks.
"That's…" Mash Kyrielight trails off, her eyes locked on the weapon - even her novice observation can make out its quality - a weapon like this, will surely-
"Don't get your hopes up," Jason says with a sigh as he emerges from the woods behind her. "That bow's almost entirely made up of Divine Authority, so no matter how cool it looks, it's not gonna do a thing to Hercules so long as he's got Nega-Divinity. No sign of Meleager either, so there goes the hope of more bodies. I hope the others are having more luck, because everyone here is totally use-gah!"
Naturally, Atalanta trips him, and he's sent tumbling down the beach's sandy slope.