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Narinder was in a temper, as was the case more often than not lately, so pedantic in its predictability that Baal and Aym turned their attention from their master and back to the dice between them. Ears inclined to each other and heads close, pushing the metronomic tone of their God away. They were loyal but in the prison of the One Who Waits, well… there was an awful lot of waiting to be done and only so much listening one could stomach.
Noting the lack of reaction from his disciples, Narinder's spiel came to a close and he watched the two brothers play. With a sigh lacking breath he slouched and contemplated his options, his current entertainment less than satisfactory.
It was watching them ignore him that dredged up an old idea. One that he had contemplated in the past but worried to invoke in case it didn't work. After all, the God of Neglect could be just that, in their own right, and Narinder didn't have many favors available.
He slipped away from the meeting place into the veil behind and only garnished the briefest of glances from Baal as he went. They weren't concerned, trapped as he was in this pocket of time by chains stronger than anything that could be physically manifested. There were very few places he could hide should they need to find him.
Dread bubbled in the pit of his stomach for the possibility of failure, that he would reduce himself to this for no benefit at all. To pray to another God was shameful, though he didn't believe there was a better choice. Kneeling, Narinder folded his paws and tried to tempt the God with his prayer.
“God of Neglect, of forgotten things and things left behind to waste, of broken hearts left unmended and letters never sent.
I pray to you to hear my call, find me and collect me into the folds of your cloak and keep my memory in your heart, my soul in your voice.
I have been cast aside and I am afraid I will be held for all eternity in this place between.”
The sound of Baal and Aym clattering to attention upon their arrival drew Narinder's head up. Quickly, but not too quickly, he slithered back to join them at the meeting place. Up the path towards them came the leisurely gait of the God of Neglect, curious and purposeful in their dark robes and wisp white fur.
Baal and Aym looked to Narinder for orders and when none were given they simply sat where they were and watched. Their slick black bodies coiled and ready to act at a moments notice.
“Narinder,” the God of Neglect smiled and Narinder swam a little at the influence of their voice, “a beautiful prayer to be disappointed by.”
“Yet here you stand, Cobalt, on the edge of my prison.” Narinder stayed sitting, let Cobalt tower over him.
“I cannot help you.” They told him flatly.
“But I have been forgotten, left here to rot, are you not a sympathetic God?” He looked up at them with what many would take for pleading and Cobalt chuffed a pleasant laugh and sat down across from him.
The threat Cobalt brought with them ebbed and the guarding cats went back to their game. Content to let the two Gods discuss whatever matters concerned them.
“Look how long I've been down here, they've forgotten about me entirely.” Narinder restated.
Cobalt shrugged, unfolding into a comfortable sprawl as they rested back on a paw.
“Forgotten? No.” They looked over their shoulder to Baal and Aym and shook their head.
“You are quite remembered, Narinder, their Mother mourns them every day and in her heart she will never forget you, a tiny seed of hate. The Bishops, they have not forgotten you, they plan for your return with every breath they speak to each other. The Rat still prays at your altar, as I'm sure you're well aware.” Cobalt's pink tongue swept over their teeth as they shrugged again and Narinder rolled his eyes.
“Fine, fine.” He waved his paw dismissing the statement with ire, “Neglected then, that is certain.”
Cobalt frowned and their gaze gathered a far off look that signified deep thought, that they were weighing if what he said was true enough to help him. It was a long moment before they refocused on the present and spoke.
“You are being punished, not neglected.” Cobalt's ears flicked downwards, “If you were not a God yourself, perhaps I could do something, but you have been placed here as punishment and kept well enough that while it may appear neglectful it is more so cruel and does not yet fall into my domain. Perhaps you should have prayed to a God of compassion.”
Narinder scoffed, the disappointment of bringing Cobalt here, to essentially beg for freedom from his moniker was humiliating. Even if Cobalt didn't appear to find it so on his behalf.
“I do apologize, I understand your predicament.” They spoke earnestly.
Of course they did, that was the reason Narinder thought he had a chance in the God of being Forgotten. By the nature of their Godhood, prayers only came to Cobalt in times of need and there was little they could do to influence many cases. Caught, as Narinder was, between cruelty and neglect. Few prayed to a God so useless on the surface, so few understood the depths of being cast aside. It could be said that the God was a victim of their own divination and so many would-bes fell to the territory of other Gods, leaving Cobalt to wait and wander until they were needed.
“I do wish there was something I could do, but as it stands there isn't. I cannot free you from this prison, it is yours as The One Who Waits.” Cobalt looked sympathetic.
Narinder tapped his skeletal claws against his knee and frowned.
“Nothing?” He clarified and they shrugged making the cloak around their shoulders ripple.
“Nothing of substance to you.”
“Well then, if there's nothing to be done about this prison. Perhaps, since you're here…” Narinder looked quickly to the cats pretending to ignore them and back to Cobalt, “perhaps you'll grant me comfort, God to God.”
Cobalt inclined their head to the side as amusement suffused their frame and they sat forward. Timeless paws reaching out to scoop Narinder's charred mitts in their own.
“That is something I can do.” They stood and took Narinder with them to his feet.
From their robe, Cobalt produced a stack of smooth edged cards and handed them to Baal.
“I request discretion for the next while.” They told him and Baal glanced at the two Gods and accepted the trade. Glad for an excuse to feign ignorance to Narinder’s indulgences.
As the cats doled out their new game, Narinder took Cobalt back through the veil. Claws grasped tightly around their paw as though he worried Cobalt would pull away and make a run for it. Instead of press their body up against his and knock him back into the piles of pillow and cloth he'd manifested for a bed.
Their fur was in his face bringing with it the scent of wet earth and forest green, mineral and ozone, salt water and breeze. Narinder pressed his nose deeper into it, pulling Cobalt closer with his claws. He nosed up under their chin, felt their heart beat against his fangs, breathed in their life.
“Narinder,” Cobalt's weight settled in his lap, their robes pooling around them as they licked at his mouth until Narinder closed his eyes and kissed them.
The inside of their mouth tasted like electricity and blood as he raked his claws through the downy fur beneath their ears. Their gasp a grant to taste deep, kiss them more thoroughly, lose himself to something he'd been cruelly kept apart from. The warmth of Cobalt's magic worming deep into his bones as a honeyed balm of care.
He felt something shift, something change, not for real but as a convincing illusion he'd let himself believe. When he opened his eyes the rays of sun were filtering through the trees and he was no longer the One Who Waits but simply Narinder from a time before.
“Clever Dog,” He nipped at Cobalt's lips and pulled their head back by the scruff.
“Does the illusion of freedom distress you?” Cobalt asked, already knowing the answer before Narinder released them to start tugging the robe from their frame.
He chose not to answer them, focused on the tactility of flesh covered paws, the feeling of Cobalt's warm fur underneath the heavy cloth of the robe as he pushed it from their shoulders. So used he'd gotten to feeling nothing through his paws that for a few seconds he reveled in the sensation. Carding fur through his fingers and twisting it around, committing the feeling to memory for later use.
Narinder pulled Cobalt back against his chest and held them close as he rolled them, pressing them into the grass of the forest clearing. A berry patch from long ago in a place that no longer supported life. Kept crystal in his memories for Cobalt to revive. He wondered if Cobalt were to collect him if this would be the place he'd reside for eternity. A sundrenched memory from a forgotten world and the balm of care that suffused all of Cobalt's charges. Or if this was just one of many possibilities from the endless reaches of his mind.
It hardly seemed to matter when Cobalt had already been clear that he couldn't help him gain his freedom, only provide the comfort of their body and magic for a temporary reprieve. It was hardly an opportunity Narinder would squander. There were few that would risk invoking the Bishop's ire for so much as contacting him, let alone granting him release from his suffering.
Cobalt let themselves be manhandled and pinned to the forest floor, the dark silhouette of Narinder above them, wild and desperate with the time he'd been left waiting and the indefinite wait left to come. They wondered at the wiseness of locking him away like this, of not attempting a further compromise. If the Bishop's knew their fates were hammered further in an irreparable direction with every moment Narinder was left to stew.
They pondered after the thought for a long minute while Narinder stripped off his robes and pressed his hot inky body between their legs where the fur was thinner. Where the heat of him jolted up through their frame in a sinful shiver as he rut against them and dampened their stomach with his desire. Cobalt indulged in his grabbing hands and trembling whiskers, lapped up his kisses and arched against him when his claws drew blood from their sides. Narinder's fingers were sticky with it as he gripped their muzzle and streaked it red, kissed them and tasted vitality on his barren tongue.
Narinder expected them to balk from him for this trespass, drawing their blood and forcing them down into the grass. Instead Cobalt sprawled under him and licked the stickiness from his fingers with their warm tongue as he pressed them into their maw. Their sharp teeth like tiny daggers against the sides of his fingers.
“Narinder, am I a play thing to you?” Cobalt teased, licking their teeth clean as they slid their paws over his chest and pressed up against him.
“At the moment? I would say.” He mused, basking in the warmth of the sun across his back and the way Cobalt's paws tickled down his stomach.
“Then play, Cat, lest your moniker betray you.”
Narinder raised a brow and placed a paw on their chest, leaning his weight forward. Holding Cobalt to the ground as he rocked against them and felt their slick coat the underside of his cock.
“Impatient?” He smirked, scrunching the fur on their chest as Cobalt scoffed and heaved a sigh.
Cobalt's paws dropped beside their head in answer and they looked at him balefully. It occured to Narinder that Cobalt was committing him to memory the same way he was for them. That Cobalt was tasting him with their magic, probing into his mind, enough to build this illusion. Enough to never forget him. Narinder's chest felt tight as he looked down into their eyes and understood that his prayer had been answered in the best way Cobalt could. With waiting and the promise that he'd never be forgotten. That if he was, Cobalt would remember him and take him in. The thought both comforted and despaired him in equal measure.
Something hot and violent crawled up in his throat for the injustice at the situation. That Cobalt was bound to the will of others for their own survival, a stagnant battle to seemingly more beneficiary opponents who granted instant blessings. That so few people understood what that meant, to become untouched by thought, to have your memory fade from the world.
That while Cobalt was the God of Neglect they were the other side of the coin as well, remembrance. They held the core of memory in their heart and blessed those with nostalgia while they were chained to the caveat that they could only collect what had been lost to consciousness. At the sad, aching look Cobalt gave him that said they knew how awful it was to be alone and trapped by self assigned duty. Narinder fathomed that they needed him as much as he needed them.
Cobalt reached for him and brushed their thumbs along his cheeks, sending shivers through him as they smoothed his whiskers back.
“Why do you torture yourself? Do I not grant you reprieve? Narinder, come now and indulge in my flesh as you desire. Do not think on the ills outside this illusion, it's of no concern right now.” There was an edge of desperation to Cobalt's voice.
“You speak as though I aim to eat you.” Narinder said as he kissed Cobalt's palms.
“Perhaps you do? A devouring of some kind at least.” Cobalt nipped at his nose, “I didn't say I opposed.”
Heat licked through Narinder, up his spine and down into the cradle of his hips. The temptation of the offer, the servitude from one who did not need to give it, was a potent liquor in his veins. He nosed their chin up and bit at their throat as he shifted himself forward, driven by their submission and the promise of pleasure. Cobalt's claws gripped at his shoulders as he felt them move and the head of his cock slid aligned for him to sink into them. He bit down harder until his fangs pierced the skin beneath their fur and they whimpered as vitality dampened his lips with copper tang.
He rocked into them as Cobalt clung to him and he savored the pleasure of indulgence. Thick like the blood on his tongue staining the snow white fur red as the petals of a flower around his mouth. Hot like the muscles clenching around him slick with desire as he braced his paws on the false earthen ground for stability and felt his claws bite into the dirt. So convincing in its realism that Narinder surrendered himself to it and let the illusion climb to its full potential as bird song and late summer life bloomed around them. It felt so real, humid in his fur, dusty in his nose, the air scented with sweet berries and leaf litter. Pollen clung to the edges of Cobalt's fur in golden flecks and floated away only to settle again when they jostled it.
Narinder kissed them as the sun shimmered overhead and he was aware that the Cobalt he was kissing matched his own form. Puppy like softness to their cheeks and the fur that tickled his nose. He wondered if Cobalt thought often of their time before godhood, if that was why they indulged in it now. If Cobalt had wishes they put into these illusions for themselves or if it was an unusual slip of desperation. A departure from the illusions Cobalt would make for someone else. He wondered if he was an exception, a well deep enough for Cobalt to drown in too.
He didn't want to think on it any longer, not when Cobalt's breath was trembling through his fur in desperate gasps and their body quivered under him. There was an anxiety mounting in Narinder's rib cage that once they were done, Cobalt would leave and he'd be left as he was. Trapped in a place between and waiting without an end in sight.
“Hush now,” Cobalt stroked down his back and held him close, dotting his cheeks with kisses as his vision swam slightly.
The feeling smoothed away with every brush of his fur and he knew it was a product of Cobalt's influence. As his sight cleared he couldn't remember what he was worried about just a moment ago. What could there possibly be to worry over when harvest was in full swing and he was buried in the tender body beneath him? The day promised nothing but leisure and traded kisses. There was nothing to worry about in that case, nothing to do but seek their pleasure in each other.
Narinder sighed as he thrust into Cobalt, surrendering himself to the slide of their coats against each other and trading breath between kisses. Let himself pant and gasp against their lips as heat coiled in his stomach. Cobalt's claws gripped at his shoulders and scrabbled over his back leaving little trails of fire in their wake. Their fangs clicked against each other next to his ear and he felt the humid wash of their breath over his throat. The soft wetness of their tongue where his jaw met his neck giving tender licks between softer bites.
The snags in Cobalt's illusion tapestry released with Narinder's submission to the spell and they relaxed against the pillows he saw as grass and earth. Cobalt could see it too, of course, shimmering around them in this place behind the veil. They weren't immune to their own illusions and this place picked from Narinder's memories was sweet and delicious with its innocence. Cobalt enjoyed that, the taste of Narinder's soul, perhaps more than his body and the passionate need he poured into them.
They gasped as Narinder bit into their throat and kissed them with their blood in his mouth, dripping between them in saccharine ribbons onto Cobalt's tongue. It was at odds with the illusion, so much blood and violence, but it didn't seem to phase Narinder. If anything it strengthened it for him, the control and the power, to be able to pin Cobalt's wrists next to their head and buck into them with wild abandon as their coat bloomed red.
Cobalt panted and strained against Narinder's grip, gave him an excuse to hold them tighter, fuck them harder. Until their breath burned in their chest and pleasure tore through them like a mounting inferno.
“Narinder,” Their voice was rough with need, “Please…”
He grinned, sharp toothed and bloody, and Cobalt felt his rhythm falter. They sensed the ripple of pride and desire their begging brought about and decided to push it.
“Narinder, please, please don't stop.” They pleaded and hoped the cats outside had turned their ears away.
He let go of their wrists to bunch his claws in Cobalt's fur as he tucked his face into their shoulder and breathed in the scent of iron and life. The way Cobalt twisted his name into something reverent sent sharp knives of desire through him.
“What makes you think I would stop?” He panted into their fur and heard them whine.
“I don't know, but don't. Narinder, please.” Cobalt's breath was coming in heavy gasps that left humid clouds on his fur.
“Please what? What are you begging for, Cobalt, your own completion? Or is it mine you crave, to be filled with my essence as you find your release?”
“Can it not be both? Narinder, please, fuck me, fill me, bite my throat out, whatever it is. Do it. Please don't make me beg anymore, be merciful.” Cobalt whined, pawing at his shoulders, not sure when the last time they had begged for anything was.
“You beg so sweetly though.” Narinder purred, grinding into them and being rewarded with a growled moan.
“Sweeter than your own completion?”
“Sweeter still.” Narinder whispered against their cheek.
Cobalt trembled as his influence rooted in their mind and they struggled to hold their own illusion as bone deep want flooded through every nerve. Narinder’s touch, his fur and teeth, his attention and adoration, Cobalt hungered so viciously for him it felt as if he were to stop touching them Cobalt might cease to exist themself.
They panted open mouthed and heavy, head fallen back and throat exposed to Narinder's searching tongue and fangs. Cobalt's acceptance flowed through him, letting him touch deep inside of them, the places left neglected and aching. Delighted by the way Cobalt devoured it like the starving creature they were in desperate gulps barely coming up for air. He could feel it in the pulse beneath his lips, the break of surrender in the body under him, hot and tense as Cobalt wavered on a razor's edge. Their rib cage trembling with held breath that rushed out of them with a cry Narinder smothered with his paw around their muzzle. Holding them tightly as they thrashed and squirmed through their climax.
Their muscles squeezed around him, tight and slick as he drowned in his own need. He pressed his face into the unbloodied side of Cobalt's neck and filled his nose with everything they carried in them. Narinder lost himself to sunny days and sweet grass, music and feasts, crisp winter and evergreen, heaven sent blessings on his tongue rich like citrus. His rhythm fell unsteady and his frame quivered as he came hard. Whisked away by the potency of it all, he clung to Cobalt until his claws bit into them and they whined pitifully against his hold.
The air around them seemed alive while they stayed frozen. Cobalt's breath rushed scalding hot as Narinder lost his when the illusion started to fade and the anxiety that had been temporarily banished from his mind returned. It clawed at his ribs like a wild thing and bit away at the afterglow tingling through him.
“Cobalt.” Narinder whispered, nuzzling their cheek.
“Mhm?” They answered, stroking his ears and the back of his head, affection pouring from their paws.
“Am I going to see you again?” He felt stupid asking, stupid when he was still wrapped up in Cobalt, stupid as the feeling left his paws.
“Of course.” They didn't stop petting him.
“I mean before you Collect?” Narinder wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
Cobalt was quiet, the rhythm of their pets slowed as they thought about it. Decided the ball was in their court and the hunger still wormed deep in their chest.
“Yes,” They cupped his cheeks and pulled him back to look him in the eyes, “I'll be back and you know how to reach me.”
“You think I'll pray to you again?” Narinder said as the illusion broke into fading dust that glittered around them for a moment before it faded.
“If you want to, you will.” They mused and Narinder let their care blanket the ache of loss as he pushed himself up and off of them.
He surveyed the damage he'd done, the soft white fur stained and matted with blood. How covered Cobalt's muzzle was with it, white turned pink and crimson. His hands were sticky with Godly blood, as was most of his mouth and chest. Cobalt followed him to sit and leaned forward, closing the slight space between them to bathe Narinder's face with their tongue in gentle, deliberate little laps.
He closed his eyes and let them, it reminded him of times long past. The images were gone but the echo of feeling remained, painted on him with every lick. Unusual drowsiness spread through him that held his eyelids closed and he felt himself lowered onto the bed as Cobalt continued to tend to him.
“It will be okay, Narinder, rest easy and sleep now.” Cobalt's voice filtered to him from somewhere that felt very far off.
Cobalt drifted Narinder into a dream from a time he would never have remembered. A simpler time when grass blades were taller than the would-be God and everything was new to him without fear. They left their cloak draped over him as they slipped back into their robes and stepped back through the veil.
Baal looked up at them and when he saw their condition his eyes widen slightly.
“Fear not, young Keeper, your Master simply rests. The blood belongs to me.” Cobalt told him.
Baal averted his eyes while Aym stared openly with his own sort of hunger and Cobalt lamented the stunted lives of the kittens turned cats in death. There was nothing Cobalt could do for them in that regard. Eventually the brothers would come to them too, lost as they were to the world, held on by so few tethers. They would not ask Forneus to forget her kits, would not take those memories from her even if it would grant them all relief. They couldn't ask Narinder to release them either, trapped as he was and alone, they were his company and keepers.
“Take care. This will not be the last you see of me.” They said as they passed by them towards the Gateway and back towards the living world to wander again.
The Cats bowed their heads at the God of Neglect's departure and wondered after the state of their Master behind the veil.