Primum Non Nocere - By AughtPunk

Kallamar considers himself the greatest medical mind the cult, no, the world has ever seen. However no one else seems to appreciate his genius. Luckily his newest invention--the syringe--will show everyone that he's the most important person in the world. But as he's busy showing all of the naysayers wrong he could really use a new assistant to help him out. Luckily for him, there's a recently-brought-back-to-life lamb that could use a job. The question is can the pair get along enough to solve a sudden, strange medical emergency? Or, even more importantly, fall in love?

Chapter Thirteen: In Which Kallamar Takes a Vacation

Finished a limited color sketch commission for @aughtpunk of best boy Shaun (from the To Forgive is Divine set of Cult of the Lamb fanfics) tormenting Kallamar during their first chess match. The poor guy can’t handle it and is soundly losing.

Since I decided to go old-school on the coat design and such as well, I wanted to also recommend this cute fanart by @very-tired-child that had been drawn of the same scene. It’s really nice.

For the border design, I went for crystal shards for Kallamar and forget-me-nots for Shaun.

Commission slots for this style and animated pixel art are still available.

The new vessel of heket’s crown

checkmate.

based on ch 5 of Primum non Nocere by @aughtpunk!!

Woo more @aughtpunk fic fan art yayyyyyyy

Rushed home to throw this down for @aughtpunk 's birthday! Kallamar's silly lamb doodles from chapter 8 of Primum Non Nocere

(everyone should go read the forgiveness of the lamb series seriously)

My pronouns are he, but not him.

Cuz I will never be him

So I read @aughtpunk 's cotl forgiveness au in like 2 days and now I'm hyperfocusing on it. I just keep thinking of cute little things. Particularly between Shaun and kallamar. Aughtpunk probably shouldn't read this.

Like they have regular are-we-still-engaged chess matches. The first time kallamar wins, they regretfully tell the others the engagement is off. Most everyone is like, you were engaged?? How?? Since when?????? The next day they're engaged again. It great and not at all confusing. Pretty soon no one is sure if the engagement is even real or not. Don't ask kallamar, he's not 100% sure either. Like they play games to see who's responsible for the flowers or menu decisions but is it real? Half the group is sure it isn't until it's the night before the wedding and Holy shit this is actually happening wtf and Shaun is just so disappointed in them. Kallamar is too, right my love? Kallamar is like, yeah, I can't believe they doubted the seriousness of this situation. Internally he's screaming. Shaun also didn't think it was that serious but over time he got sick of people shit talking kallamar to his face so he was like, now I gotta marry him in the biggest most amazing wedding ever. I just gotta.

I also just like the idea that they would use games to settle most disagreements. They watch eachothers strategies and moods to figure out how serious they need to be. If it's a lighthearted thing then they joke the whole time and whoever wins, wins. Gg. If it's something more important to one than the other then they give a good game but let that person win since clearly this is a significant matter. If it's an important matter to both, they use the game as something of a distraction. I can't kill you for not understanding exactly where I'm coming from by magically reading my mind if I'm too busy trying to figure out if the move you just made is even legal. By the end of the match, whomever wins, it comes out as more of a compromise.

They do have this problem where if they don't have a clear goal for a game, it can escalate into terrible ends. Like Shaun makes a flirty double entendre about calamari, kallamar says something gross about cannibalism, suddenly its 3 am, they're in the kitchen with heket who is waaaay too happy about cooking some of her brother's flesh with the intention of giving it to his ex-fiancee to eat (shaun being grossed out by cannibalism made him lose), and questioning all of their life choices.

Oh and after wedding thought. Shaun asks narinder for a life flower (that what I've been calling them in my head). Narinder is grossed out but Shaun gives this whole speech about how they aren't gonna use it now, he just wants to show kallamar that he did notice that he wasnt sure how serious he was about the wedding but he is very serious about wanting to have this life together with him and growing their family together. Narinder does reluctantly give him a flower. Little while later kallamar asks for the same thing. His explanation is a little more based in logic. They've talked about children before and he's probably gonna be the one carrying them so it just makes sense for him to have the flower. Everyone is like aww they're gonna present these flowers to eachother and it's gonna be cute or something. Meanwhile kallamar is confirming that he and his husband aren't needed for anything else tonight and maybe the flower might work if brewed into a tea but eh it's better to not chance it and just. Fucking. Eats it. Right there. Infront of God (poor jake) and everybody. Did his husband see that? No, of course not. That would prevent any miscommunication drama. It's like, dude, did you guys plan on that or...? And kallamar is like, we've had some of the most important discussions about this already, I fail to see why we can't start trying now. And then he leaves to go spend his wedding with Shaun in private and now the whole family has no idea what to do with themselves. They did not need this information.

I also have thoughts for their kids. First set is twins. They are cute. They look like normal lambs just tinted blue. At first. They actually have tendrils they hide amongst their wool. They're also good at team hunting. If you see the both of them, it's safe. If you only see one, it's a distraction, turn around, you are being ambushed.

These are just fun little thoughts I had. Feel free to ignore me.

Another day, another snippet from Chapter 13 of "Primum Non Nocere"!

Kallamar and Shaun are doing their best to figure out out how this whole 'vacation' thing works.

HELLO if shaun became Narinder’s vessel instead of Jacob, would anything have changed?

Oh gosh, lots.

For starters, Shaun would be a terrible cult leader. Even if they were fueled by the same rage Jacob was I don't think they would have ever had it in them to fall as deeply as their twin did. They would have to kill the bishops of course--fate is a real bitch like that--but I think they would have had a much harder time of it. Probably walked away with far more trauma than Jacob did.

Shaun would have killed Narinder too, of course, and shown him that same mercy he did not deserve. I think Shaun's betrayal wouldn't have hurt Narinder as much. There was no love here, simple a God and their vessel. Narinder probably saw it as Shaun failing him yet again (after failing at the whole cult thing).

Over time Narinder and Shaun would become friends, and Narinder would probably take over as being actually in charge of the cult. Sure Shaun has the crown but Narinder actually knows how to run a tight ship. Shaun would have to get Narinder to be less...scary-vengeful-God-y and balance him out a little with his kind nature. They would make a good team, I think.

By the time The Bishops came back Shaun would probably be too emotionally exhausted to hate them anymore. While Jacob found kinship with their and the Bishop's vile deeds Shaun takes more of a "well at least they're harmless now. And it's not like they can murder all the lambs a second time." Although distrustful of them at first Shaun slowly becomes friends with The Bishops over time.

Well, it wasn't that slow with Kallamar. Something about that squid made Shaun finally feel like his old self again. He could laugh and smile for the first time in almost a hundred years when Kallamar was around. He even picked up 'speaking with hands' just so he could find ways to playfully annoy Kallamar even more.

Shaun doesn't realize he's fallen for him until Kallamar and Narinder go off to find the ear relic, leaving Shaun alone and terrified over the idea of losing his squid. He knocks Kallamar right off his tendrils the second he returned to the cult with a kiss, and they're inseparable after that. Annoyingly so, even.

Then roughly a hundred years later Narinder, the new God of Life, brings Shaun's twin back to life. Jacob immediately gets off on the wrong foot with Narinder and they take a swift and almost violent disliking to each other.

Shaun isn't that shocked when Jacob and Narinder get married less than a year later.

Okay but a Modern AU Shaun/Kallamar fic where they're both part of the same board game group and are also MORTAL ENEMIES

Like Shaun spends an entire game of Ticket to Ride just blocking Kallamar's attempts at getting the longest route

Kallamar keeps showing up with ultra complex games that no one else can follow but Shaun learns them just so he can beat Kallamar at his own game

Anyway they go to PAX Unplugged together and have to share a room and end up making out sloppy style the end

I spent the day trying to wrap my head around how a Kallamar/Shaun kiss would even work but I've come up empty

Like does Kallamar just... Press his upper lips together and kiss with the normal bottom two or

Don't even get me started on how the Shamura/Clementine smooches will work

Have a sneak peek of Chapter Six of "Primum Non Nocere"!

It's time for Shaun to enjoy lunch with his twin and his twin's husband. Let's hope the conversation doesn't get heavy.

So in the comments of "Primum Non Nocere" someone asked what would have happened if Shaun didn't get sick. I answered briefly, but I really felt like getting lost in the weeds of this idea for a bit. Because there's just so many possibilities, you know?

To start, Shaun would have ran. Shaun had been running his entire life. He doesn't know how to do anything else when faced with such potential danger. Shaun would run, leaving the safety of the Grand Temple and everyone within behind. It's from there our possibilities begin to branch off.

It's possible that, with time, Shaun would calm down and reflect on what he learned and the life of his twin. Maybe it would take weeks, months, years, decades, but with time and distance he could begin to understand what Jacob had gone through. Perhaps as more and more lambs come back to life and return to the world Shaun would slowly believe that--despite their evil actions in the past that--Jacob is now fighting for a peaceful, better future. Perhaps then Shaun would return to the Grand Temple. Older, yes, but more mature and understanding and willing to rebuild his relationship with Jacob.

or maybe

Or maybe Shaun never returns to the Grand Temple. He instead spends his life in hiding, too scared to return to the only family he's ever really known. Maybe he starts a family of his own. Maybe he spends his years alone. When he eventually passes he's not too shocked to find himself alive again in front of Jacob and Narinder. Would he run again? Or would the weight of a life alone make him more eager to forgive?

or maybe

Or maybe once he's alone Shaun would find it so easy, so painfully easy, to convince himself that the God of Death isn't his twin. That Jacob died kneeling in front of the Bishops over two hundred years ago. This thing, this monster known as the God of Death is not Jacob. Maybe it's just the Red Crown using his body as a puppet. Maybe it's a demon, or some other sort of monster that had taken Jacob's form. Because there's no way Jacob, his Jacob, would ever do those horrible things. No, this must be something else. It must be. Whatever it was it had to be stopped or Jacob's soul would never be able to rest.

Shaun couldn't do it alone. But The God of Death and their followers have plenty of enemies. How easy it would be to join those ranks. To rise up thanks to his knowledge of The Lamb's weaknesses and fears. Shaun wouldn't think twice about leading these troops into battle. He would show no mercy to those within the Grand Temple, nor would he hesitate to take on the thing that wore Jacob's flesh himself.

Shaun would lose, of course. Dead before he even knew what happened. Jacob wouldn't want to do it but they'd have no choice. It was the only way to end this. The only way.

And Jacob would bring him back, of course. Apologizing the whole time. Begging their twin to hear them out, to listen, to stop this senseless violence.

Shaun would run again. He'd come back more powerful. He'd fight Jacob. He'd die. Jacob would bring him back. He'd run again. An endless cycle fueled by rage and denial.

or maybe

Years pass. Decades. Centuries. Jacob still hasn't felt Shaun's second death after all of this time. But they're not shocked at all.

Because, you see, on the night Shaun left someone also stole the translated text about how to create a crown.

There are rumors of a new cult in the air. This one lead by a God of Justice. A lamb.

Jacob could easily crush the new cult, but they don't. They can't. All they can do is wait until the day The God of Justice decides to make Jacob pay for all of their past sins. Even if it meant killing The God of Death themselves.

And frankly? Jacob may let him.

***

In all of these possibilities, these strange and twisted branches, Kallamar will sometimes look and his old chess set and feel an odd lump in his throat. It made no sense, really. He'd only known The Lamb's twin for a few short days. Yet there was still a part that missed him. He'd then go back to whatever he was doing before and forget all about it.

Still. It was a shame he never got that rematch.

Enjoy a snippet of Chapter 13 of "Primum Non Nocere"! Now that Kallamar and Shaun are smooching what could be next for the brand-new couple?

They...they did have a "so are we a couple now" talk, right?

It's that time again! Enjoy this snippet from Chapter 10 of "Primum Non Nocere"!