The Brightest Stars

BASTIEN He made a note of the words about seduction for later. It was certainly something he wanted to try; to take someone so divine and beautiful for something as carnal as what he had planned...it was a delicious notion. Clinking their glasses together before he took a drink, Bastien thought about the question. First of all, he wasn't sure that his intentions were to proselytise. This encounter, like most things, he had been making up as he'd been going along. But he did have five necklaces growing dusty in the altar that needed to be given out... He stood, placing one foot on his chair and speaking with his hands animated. "So. I was once like you. Lost here and brand new like a baby, though not half as beautiful. I was wandering looking for a purpose when somebody told me the Gods here could speak to you as easily as someone in the street. Where I come from..." Bastien sighed exaggeratedly. "...God was a distant figure used by others to control." Memories of the cold halls of churches and gazes of priests made him appreciate his little building all the more. Gently touching the table (decorated with paint and carving to look like a forest at night) he continued. "So I go to the shrine. And I pray for someone, anyone to appear. And my beautiful Lady Safrin appeared to me. I'm sure you understand, Signore, that beauty is a kind of power. Well, she immediately held power over me. From her presence to her body draped in stars and the very darkness of the night. Ah..il mio amore." Admittedly his story began to suffer from some leaps of logic at this point onwards, but he kept the same tone and excitement. "I asked what I could do for such a creature so that she could smile upon me. When there is such a thing as Gods walking on the Earth with you...you do not ignore it. She told me to make her name known among the people. And well...I know how to stay in minds. I constructed this place. People here have a good time, have a transcendent time...and remember that Safrin is all of it." Now he held up a finger as if acknowledging a shout from a crowd. "But, you say, what if Safrin does not care for this? Well, I asked her. She said she could approve of the endeavour and gave me the chance to name five disciples. We can spread the word of beauty, of power, of pleasure. All in the name of a most wonderful Goddess. And that is the Church of Safrin." you never had time for metaphor, or, rather, you had time to spare for those who used it with care, holy mother star