Bad Luck Bears

BASTIEN There was silence except for the hints of crying he could hear, until suddenly the door opened. Bastien stepped back a little more and didn't say anything until she did, just looking at her tears and feeling rather terrible about himself for them. Memories of teenage drama appeared fuzzily in the back of his mind at the sight. The questions caught him off guard. Even when she was upset, she didn't give up, huh? He took a deep breath and tried to think of answers that were both truthful but would not make things worse. "...I cannot say why you are upset, though I could make some guesses. As for what you are saying..." He tilted his head this way and that, pursing his lips as he tried to consider the words. "...You say I don't know enough about Safrin. That I only value her for her beauty and that my church is an excuse for my own hedonistic tendencies. And in a way, cara, you are right." Bastien shrugged as he admitted that, then looked at his hand on the wall, idly rubbed his fingertip against the rough, old surface. "I think it is a matter of perspective. I have always valued the beautiful, in anything. Nature, people, art. Safrin...I was looking for a purpose. She brought me it with her power. Beauty is power over the soul. She asked me to spread her name and, well...I am doing it in a way to please myself. But no one there is made to swear loyalty or do anything they don't wish. I am trying to make my way through here just as you are. Our talents lay in...very different areas." He rarely conceded points or apologised at all, and never at this sort of length, so Bastien waited with a uncharacteristically nervous expression to see how it would be received. I'm feelin' like a big bang