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"Bring me flowers from Darkwood," Narinder demands.
The Lamb merely smiles up at him, all soft angles, and comes back moments later- their hands may be stained with blood, but the former god of death is no stranger to it.
There was no time limit on that request, but the Lamb seemed to like to manipulate time. Quite an irksome and unusual power for one to deal with, and yet.......
The One Who Waits takes the flowers. They smell familiar, so Narinder keeps them until they wither. Then he adds them to the pile of scraps for compost.
A death god, feeding the cycle of life.
(How bizarre.)
- - -
His tent is close to theirs- put there specially by the leader Themself, unholy as you can be. Narinder is surprised by how proud he is of that fact- he should be upset, living in his usurper's home base.
He should growl at the site of the giant statue of himself that they erected soon after his defeat and arrival to the cult.
Narinder should be aching to burst with fury and rage, seething, waiting for the opportunity to take their life...
But The One Who Waits just can't bring himself not to smile when they take time out of their busy day to chat with him about any little thing, and give him a chaste peck of a kiss, and grin up at him in that silly way they tend to do. Taking his hands for a moment, and then letting go…
(And… The statue's placement is fine, actually. It hides his tent from the other cult members, for the most part. And he's close to the only person who knows the true One Who Waits besides his siblings.)
(...Who the Lamb also recruited, for some reason.)
(Seems like mercy towards the right people can be just as much of a ruthless weapon as the crushing weight of sheer power.)
However, the former gods are not immortal- "I want to let them die a natural death," the Lamb had replied, when Narinder asked about their lack of immortality necklaces.
"Besides, surely you don't want your siblings to pester you forever?" They had teased.
"Oh, but you give a lowly worm eternal life? Tsk, tsk, little lamb, for shame." Narinder's tail had flicked back and forth, betraying his amusement on the subject.
"They have good traits! and they have been loyal for their whole life... Don't you think they deserve a reward?"
"If any creature deserves a reward, it's me. I came up with a good system, and you-" Narinder leans down to lightly touch their nose as he continues, "-Took it."
Those big, shiny eyes look up at him, caught between remorse and self-attained pride. The result is a sheepish (ha!) expression, and they gently swat his hand away.
- - -
Perhaps Narinder feels special when the Lamb gives him a necklace, or new garments. Or maybe when they come back with the bones of their dissenters and enemies, it fills him with a dark sense of glee.
He's the only one here who knows who they really are- a peacemaker through war, a light within a black hole... A cosmically massive contradiction, who brought down a family of gods.
(How strange.)
(How fantastic.)
"You have even stolen the followers gifted to me," Narinder remarks, as they summon Baal and Aym, lost and confused and bleating.
(The Lamb could have them. Narinder didn't really want them, but being a god at the time, something so nice couldn't exactly be refused... And they served him quite well, over the millennia.)
"I'm giving them a new home," The Lamb refutes.
"By sacrificing your..." Narinder squints. "Least favorite followers for them?"
The Lamb huffs petulantly.
"I can't exactly let people who are terrified of death or against sacrifice stay here- I'll shelter them, sure. But entropy is inevitable."
"And… You want more power?" The One Who Waits adds.
"That's just a nice bonus. I'm paving the way into a better future." The Lamb smiles smugly, showing none of their strange, flat teeth in the process.
(Narinder and his siblings all have sharp teeth- most likely from their species, rather than of the burden of godhood. Sometimes he wonders if the Lamb's teeth will sharpen over time to resemble the predator they've become, or if their teeth stay smooth and flat to reflect their protective nature.)
(...How wonderful, either way.)