"Yeah, I think we can work with this." Sable keeps pacing. "A statue of you in sapphire and silver, maybe? Or something featuring interlocking rings of whole gemstone? That would be essentially impossible to craft without conjuration unless you carved the whole thing from a single enormous stone, and if you make one of the middle rings from a different gemstone then the whole thing is literally impossible without conjuration. Maybe a statue of a woman with her arm outstretched to give aid? But how do we work the interlocking rings into that? Maybe we can do without a true structural impossibility since you could conjure it on camera, and people won't be visiting here to inspect it? Also if I'm going to be on camera we should settle on our inhuman features before that so that our appearance as a priestess is consistent."

She keeps pacing, getting more animated with each turn to continue.

"I want to go fox or lamia or demon, but lamia is impractical and demon has PR problems. Hailey wants wings but we probably can't make them functional and wings she can't fly with would just frustrate her. She'd accept demon as a backup but again PR problems. Maya wants to be made of steel and fire and accepts that that's not possible with current biological limits. Ruby wants to go fast and wants to be cute and isn't picky otherwise. Neo doesn't care. How do we find a compromise in there?"

Pace pace pace goes the priestess.

I have an idea. A statue of a woman sitting in a comfortable chair — I guess she'd represent me — hugging an armillary sphere containing the earth firmly in her arms and lap, her head laid against the top of the sphere. The rings of the armillary sphere are gemstone, the earth is a custom-made jewel of two clear colors, emerald and sapphire, and the woman and chair are made of silver.

As for your body situation, it feels like fox is the best compromise with practicality in your job and support for moving easily.

"Ooooh. That sounds lovely. Absolutely gorgeous statue design. Maybe make the armillary sphere rings out of amethyst or something, both to represent the night sky and because I think amethyst's really pretty?"

"Heh. Of course, Sable, you pick your favorite and most you gemstone for the armillary sphere. It does sound pretty, though. And I suppose I can vibe with fox. Let's make the fur black, though, rather than your usual purple."

"As if you're not going to be just as thrilled to visibly and blatantly stop being a mundane human, Hailey."

Sable laughs and shakes her head.

"Yeah, I think that's a plan. Probably do both the statue and the changes on camera, that way everything's nice and blatant. Hmmm, what about lighting, though? We'll need bright lights to capture everything properly on camera, but that's gonna suck for you, Goddess. I suppose it'll help keep people from catching on about the artificial light limitation, at least? And we can dim them down to off as we pan up to the night sky, and end the shot there?"

I can't create light sources that are turned on, but I can give you a set of studio equipment and have you set it up. 

I've worked beneath harsh lights before, and it's worth it in this case. Trust me. You've already helped me hugely by being a safe lightless redoubt for me whenever I need a moment to breathe.

... funny how I use figures of speech like that. I don't know how I know these things, I just do. My background on Asia seems to be somewhat weak compared to how I feel about the Americas and Europe... 

I have an image for the statue in my head. It came to me unbidden — a young girl, perhaps fourteen, with a sad smile and a ponytail. In my heart that's what I look like. 

I don't know where that came from. I don't know where I came from. It's possible I was a person before and the transition to — not working on physics — did something to my memory. I was certain that the acronym agencies wouldn't be able to find me, but...

Something to think about later, I think. Want those fox parts now? I could use a longer break before we do the shoot.

"Sure, that would be lovely. I'd been thinking we'd do those on camera too, but we can totally do those first. Whatever's best for you, Stella."

She hums thoughtfully. "If you were a human before... ascending, I wonder if it's possible to recover your memories. Or maybe let you have a temporary body again, something that can benefit from painkillers or shoulder rubs."

Maybe, yes. Something to look into later. We have higher priorities right now.

Shoulder rubs, huh...

It'll probably take several tries to get the nerve integration right and I don't want to do that whole process under harsh lights, so yeah, let's get you a tail and ears. 

People are totally going to talk about me as the weeb goddess. Oh well, I'm sure there's worse things they could say ^^

Black tail, black ears to match your hair. What should I do about your human ears? It might be hard for you to use standard phones or headphones if you don't have human ears.

"Oh bah, it would, wouldn't it? Hm. Oh! There's a design I saw that captures one way it could work." She pulls up the image online. "If you use the existing ear canal like this, then I might still be able to use something like normal phones?"

Lovely design. Let's see if I can implement it.

It takes a few tries, but she can. Before long, sleek black ears and a matching black tail round out Sable's midnight-blue dress. She makes Sable's new clothes have room for the tail as well, of course. Lastly she places the ammolite star necklace around Sable's neck. For some reason, she telekines it and does the clasp herself rather than just appear it fully closed. It's a waste of time, but... it matters to her. 

You're mine now. 

You work out a script for the video and set up the lights while I get the full statue pre-visualized in my head. 

Sable blushes and grins. "I am, aren't I?"

She spends a few moments running her hands along the backs of her ears and shivering delightedly at the sensation. "Oh these are lovely."

And then she gets to work, setting up the cameras, positioning the lights, rigging one camera to tilt up to the sky at the right time, and so on. Everything gets set up to save directly to her laptop. Good thing she was involved with theatre and the A/V club back in high school. Once that's all done, she starts drafting the script, her tail swishing contentedly.

It's nice, working on something important for her goddess, something that will let them help more people together.

As she drafts, a thought occurs to her. "Um. Goddess? I wonder if perhaps we should introduce me under a different last name, give my family a little longer unrecognized."

Definitely. Your roommate might say something, but that doesn't mean we have to give the game away. 

I'm worried for your family since they're out of my range for a full twelve hours or so yet. There's nothing I personally can do to help them right now.

You're sure you want to do this? Once we broadcast there's really no going back for you or your family.

"You need priestesses. You need people who are firmly on your side and helping you help everyone. Someone has to take the risk of being the first, and I don't want to miss the chance to help."

She nods firmly.

"I couldn't live with myself if I passed this up."

Alright. On your own head be it.

You can be Sable Aster.

Sable blushes, smiles wide, and keeps typing. "Thank you, Goddess."

It's only polite to repay devotion in kind.

Your script is looking decent. Let's do some rehearsals with the lighting off. I think we want to livestream the real one; more impact that way.

"Okay. Let me just finish setting up accounts and the web site, that way we can send emails from our domain letting news agencies know about the stream, and post about it, and such. Get more live views that way."

She continues typing. Also blushing.

"Just a minute or two more... Aaand... done. Ready to announce the stream whenever you say go. Now we can rehearse."

Okay. I need to draft my own letter, give me a moment while I boost some crop yields in China. 

Dear Planet Earth:

I'm Stella. I come in peace. Every one of you matters to me, in a deep and personal way. And I will do my best for all of you as best as I can manage.

I love you, Earth. Be well, and may the stars guide you.

Stella takes a moment to consider her letter. 

It's heartfelt, but I'm not sure if it's slick enough, and I feel like it doesn't say enough at the same time. But there's only so much you can fit into a letter you're going to type live on camera.

Do you think it works?

"I think it's pretty good. Hmmm. I can't think of any obvious improvements off-hand. I'm sure our eventual PR clerics will out-do us here. We're just two girls trying our best, one of whom has divine powers and no body."

Yeah, I guess so. Scary to be out in front of the world officially. Wish I could hold your hand. 

A silver bracelet appears around Sable's right wrist. 

This will have to do.

Let's go.

She flushes and fingers the bracelet for a moment, smiling.

"Okay. Let's practice this."

They run through it a few times, Stella refining the camera movements and lighting adjustments, Sable getting used to her lines and actions. Eventually, they agree that they're as ready as they can get today, and Sable sends off a few emails and social media posts.

First, to news media:

Official Livestreamed Address from Goddess Stella and the Temple of Night

From: "First Priestess Sable Aster" <sable.aster@templeofnight.faith>

To: "NBC Newsroom", "CNN Newsroom", "CBC Newsroom", "BBC Newsroom", "RT Newsroom", ...

---

On behalf of Stella, Goddess of Night and Stars, I would like to inform you of an upcoming public announcement, at 13:30 UTC (one hour from now). We will be streaming live on YouTube. There will be a demonstration to confirm that this is an official statement, followed by a brief explanation of our intentions, and a direct statement from Stella herself. 

Thank you for your time,

Sable Aster
First Priestess
Temple of Night

Next, on social media:

Official Livestreamed Address from Goddess Stella and the Temple of Night

By: First_Priestess_Sable_Aster

---

I'm sure many of you have heard about the miraculous healings and interrupted assaults credited to Stella over the past twelve hours or so. I'm also sure you have lots of questions. I can't promise answers to them all yet, as we're just getting organized, but I do have a livestreamed address confirmed for 13:30 UTC (just under an hour from now). There will be a brief demonstration and introduction, along with a statement from Stella herself. Hopefully we'll be able to take time to answer more questions over the coming days.

The livestream will be available at this YouTube link, and will start at 13:30 UTC.

Thanks in advance,

Sable Aster
First Priestess
Temple of Night

And then, at the appointed time, the cameras go live.

The scene fades in on a close-up of Sable's face, highlighting her slit pupils, warm smile, and faintly twitching fox ears.

"I'm Sable Aster, First Priestess of Stella, Goddess of the Night and Stars. I'm honored to be here today, serving this new Goddess and welcoming her to our world."

The camera zooms out as Sable walks backward, opening up the frame to capture the garden, along with Sable's softly swishing black fox tail.

"You might wonder how you can know that I'm really speaking on behalf of Stella, rather than one of the scammers already springing up to sell you fake scriptures. I've got a couple answers to that question. First, we're not trying to sell you something, just to get the Goddess's message out and clear up a few misconceptions. Second, the clever among you might find something hidden in the stars. And third, we have a little demonstration for you.

Then Sable steps a bit to the side, turning to face a cleared spot in the middle of the garden, bowing her head and holding her right hand over her heart, a silver bracelet visible on her wrist.