#Had no idea mentioning Morgan's sister would make y'all react and make me explain myself with a lore dump

[laserbobcat]

@androgynous-agent69 "Take inspiration if you want" bruh I have the whole thing in my head already, and you got in there somehow and spied. Admit it. I mean it's a game about life and death, resurrections and messy families, so it's not surprising similar ideas float around.

Ok it ended up being LONG. My file says 1780 words. Buckle up. ⬇

I did think about Leshy trying to find the sibling's remains in Darkwood with what little is left of his powers, asking the lamb for help, hopefully to bring them back. I need them to go over the whole "Hey I was miserable because of your whole stupid cult and they killed my sister because she was too soft" at one point in their relationship, probably relatively early. Note that Morgan's grief is centuries old, and at this point it's more old sorrow than vivid pain. Meeting and fighting Leshy, and seeing the Lamb so calm about his own past, helped him let go of most of his lingering anger. Which is why he doesn't mind telling him that he was absent for the day to visit a particular tree, not far in Darkwood. He chose this place to go and remember his sister every year. He does ask Leshy about his past life as a god though. The god of chaos was elusive, only showing up to cause havoc, kill some of his followers, rewarding others apparently on whims, and leaving again for long periods of time. Leshy admits that he didn't care about any of it. The whole cult wasn't his thing, he liked the powers of a crown but not the obligations. He did care about his siblings, and his siblings insisted he had to have a following. He visited the mortals when he needed something, or when he was bored, and they seemed to be happy making up their own thing in his name and waiting for him to come back and cause chaos. He saw mortals kind of like funny insects. Or pets, at best. Morgan points out that he has some nerve to admit all of that to him, and Leshy simply says that he won't add insult to injury by lying to him. "I didn't care back then. I didn't even know there was something to care about. I care now, but it's too late." Morgan ends the conversation after a silence by saying that gods really were selfish and destructive, and leaves. He's not even angry, he sounds sad and tired, which is a billion time worse. So Leshy swallows his pride, and goes to the Lamb to ask for a favor. Find his eye, maybe there's some lingering power there he could use to track the dead cat's remains in his former domain. But it doesn't. The lamb finds it, it's a relic now that is useless to him for the time being, and the initiative fails. Morgan's been a bit distant after the whole conversation, and Leshy goes to him and apologizes for failing to help bring his sibling back. Morgan is astounded that he even tried, and that's the thing that finally makes him openly admit that he's a dear friend despite everything. And that he will have to murder him for good this time if he doesn't stop burrowing near the tailor workshop, so he should really stop, because murdering a friend is sad and he wouldn't want another sad story would he.

There's another part for this way later in the storyline, where the Lamb sends Narinder to the afterlife (he knows how to navigate it better than them) by lending him their power. He's searching for Morgan's soul, who is in a coma after a resurrection, weirdly stuck between life and death, his body frozen. Lambie could not find a way to bring him back properly. Narinder finds the yellow cat sitting under a tree, brightly colored compared to the complete white of the place. Sitting next to him is a ghost that is obviously his twin. She's carrying chains around her neck and wrists. She is eerily serene, and it apparently had a calming effect on Morgan, as they're both very peacefully sitting there, not even surprised to see the former god of death. Narinder tells the cat that he's being a pain in the ass for everyone and no, he's not dead and he has to come back pronto. Morgan wants to stay, at least for a while, he never got to be dead and have a break. It's peaceful here. He missed his sister. He barely had time to enjoy her company. To which Narinder answers that time flows differently here, and that back home he's been out cold for almost two months. When he doesn't really seem to care, he adds "My lamb is worried sick. Your friends are worried sick. Leshy is worried sick. Literally sick in his case. He dropped a lot of weight, and Heket is battling him every day to force him to eat. There's not a leaf left in his coat. I heard him say it's his fault that you died in Darkwood. But he even stopped throwing fits, he's silent now." Morgan is immediately on his feet, panicked, asking how he's even supposed to go back. Narinder starts scanning him, as he turns to his sister apologetically, but she smiles at him. "I listen, and I collect stories. I was so happy to hear yours. And so relieved you found some peace and happiness. When we meet next time, we will both have so much more to share!" Before he can answer, he disappears, after Narinder finally finds that the source of the problem was a faulty skull necklace that he immediately crushes. He is left there, relieved that this whole situation is finally resolved. The other cat is still sitting near the tree, thoughtfully watching him. She asks him if he wants to rest for a while, he seems tired. He answers that no, now that her idiot brother is not causing troubles anymore, his Lamb will finally catch a break, and therefore him too. He's about to leave, but he hesitates. There's something about the peaceful soul sitting here, all white and chains and serenity, that offsets him. She reminds him of the Lamb. He softens and asks her, if it was possible, would she want to come back with her brother. He warns her not to hope, he does not think it's possible. But he offers to try. She smiles and silently picks up the long phantom chain dangling from her cuffs, and hands it to him. "My name is Anya." Narinder disappears like Morgan did. He's back in his body, in the temple, near an exhausted Lamb, with the chain in his hand. Meanwhile in the healing bay, Morgan suddenly jolts awake and start frenetically repeating "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so sorry I didn't realize I was gone so long I thought I was dead after what happened in Darkwood I'm sorry where's Lesh- Oh my Lamb you like like shit I'm so sorry why did you stop eating Narinder said that you stopped eating I'm so sorry I worried you-" and keeps apologizing as Leshy is silently crushing him in his arms. He does not let him out of his sight after that. Not that Morgan wants to go anywhere, he's constantly looking after him and making sure he's eating properly and recovering. The bettors are raging at this point. "Oh my Lamb- no I don't want to hear anything about proof they are obviously together now. No. No I don't care. "Nobody saw them kiss" I don't care. You owe me money. You already owed me money when they started "being roommates". Come on it's more PDA than 10 teenager couples combined. It's ridiculous. It's basically a romance novel at this point. And a cliche one. No shut up and give me my damn money."

Anya is brought back later after that. Lambie's been working hard on this kind of magic, and when the resurrection is successful, he's hopeful he can use it this way again to maybe find and bring back some of the sheep who were slaughtered to extinction. Narinder knows where they might be, despite being chained at the time, and Anya herself knows a surprising amount about them, since she spent her death traveling and listening. Maybe with time he can do it.

Narinder, Aym and Baal are calling Anya a warden. Some souls don't forget, or fade away, or merge, or change. They're exceptionally strong, and stay as solid and clear as they were the day of their arrival. They used to make them into helpers to guide the dead. Though they never noticed her, and she ended up helping in her own way, by sitting with other people who passed away and listening to their stories. She was distraught after dying, but rather quickly met someone from the Lamb's cult who thought she was Morgan, and ended up learning that her brother was safe. After that she decided to wait and listen for more. She ended up listening to everyone, for anything. When she realized that her brother was not joining her anytime soon, she decided to travel as far as possible to hear new stories. "Though the land of the dead is not a place that can be measured as you understand it. Everywhere is anywhere. But still, I traveled. I heard stories from all sort of people, old and young, sad and happy, kind and cruel. From places I will never know, from times long forgotten. Stories from fallen gods. They're all the same, and yet they're all different. Like currents in the same ocean." Because she knew the last Lamb saved her brother, and because the sheep she met told her about their fate, she paid attention to their tales in particular. She ends up spending a lot of time with Thena, the cult's scribe and record keeper, to put her knowledge to paper for them. Lambie is extremely grateful. They were only a child when the last sheep they knew was killed. They don't know much about them. Aym takes a liking to her, and ends up silently following her around like a guard dog. She appreciate his company. He says "She's the first normal person I met here" and he gets angry when people point out that the pale eerie cat who tells stories heard from dead gods is not normal at all, he's just as weird as her. Overall people like Anya a lot, she's such a good listener, and always know what to ask or say to help. What I mean by that is the cult now has a therapist. Aym's ace in this btw. Baal took all the horny, there was none left. Anya and him are platonically paired. I really need to draw her now lol

I also need to draw Morgan's dead twin sister. Might bring her back to life somehow.