#outlander!au

Say, Could That Lass Be I?

Nesta & Jurian Chapters: 1/4

Nesta Archeron has always been a romantic. She loves old stories, doomed heroes, and wars already lost to history.

Her favorite book tells the tale of Jurian—his rebellion, his love, his death.

Reality, however, is far more cruel than any romance ever dared to be.

🔗 Read of AO3

My birthday gift to the amazing @professorprompt! Thank you so much for making me this obsessed with Jurian that I ended up writing a whole piece of angst about him. I hope you enjoy it 💜

Because she’s there.

Picture after picture.

Clarke stands in an apartment by herself, scrubbing the terribly dirty walls, her stomach a little larger than when he last saw her. There’s a sadness in her eyes that makes his own tear up, because he knows he put it there. But there’s light around her and she’s alive.

Another picture catches his eye, Clarke covered in paint. She’s smiling, a little lighter and a little freer.

Then.

He stops.

A picture in a hospital. Clarke’s sitting in a bed by herself, a baby wrapped snuggly in her arms. She’s smiling and the baby’s eyes are barely open. Bellamy reaches out, his fingertips hitting the glass of the screen.

It almost startles him.

He forgot he was just watching. That was his curse – forced to watch, to dream of what life could’ve been like if they were together. He would always be behind a screen.

He isn’t sure when Raven leaves. He looks from photo to photo, unable to stop himself. Entranced in the life that he could never be a part of. Pictures of the daughter with his dark hair and her spirited eyes, the two always remain close. He watches as Clarke takes her to a park, they read, when they get something called takeout. He watches as the two grow, watches his daughter grow.

Then… the photos stop.

***

In the words of Squidward Tentacles: “Well, here you go.”

It only took 2 hours to produce about 1K words of the blurb I was ranting about earlier. I guess it is my work-in-progress for now to see if anyone out there would be interested in reading more. 

The Outlander AU - this is just a blip where Astrid is picked up my the Haddock’s. The setting is the same as the HTTYD-verse and so are the characters. The storyline, however, will follow Outlander but veer around if I keep writing it to fit the characters and plot better. Maybe dragons? Let’s see where this test-drive takes us. 

Let me know if you are interested in more, DM me or comment on this post :) It just takes a single person to sway me haha.

Best,

Prue

———-

I looked around me- looked for a way out, but what good would being alone and exposed be as it has led to this. Barefoot and in a shift with no weapon on me- not the best odds, therefore foolish to take the chance on my own. No. Escape, as of right now, was not an option.

           As I looked out into the trees, seeing my breath rise in the near frigid temperature, gentle hands announced themselves on my waist with barely a graze.

            “It’s time we get on our way, Mistress” He spoke quietly into my ear from behind my back, keeping a politeness that, although not dissipating my still ravenous impulse to comic a crime, kept it in check. The safest thing to do was to keep within, at least for now, everyone’s good graces.

           He lifted me up to side-saddle at that. His fingertips were nearly inches away from meeting when they wrapped around me. His hands were big, in fact, every one of them was taller than the averagr man. The one who had lifted me, though, was lean but strong enough to lift me a few feet intot he air with absolute ease.

           “Tuff, ride ahead and tell Stoick what we are bringing.” The large, balding man with the peg leg shouted form his Clydesdale of black and white to the absolutely morose young man hidden behind a combination of pure grime and matted, wiry hair. If you can call it that. I guess I am a ‘what’, then.

           “I will hold it with my life, good sir.” He said with solute and a nod before riding off into the now falling darkness.

I watched from my perch, fully aware of .. of… I couldn’t recall his name... Ren.. lifting himself up behind me. I adjusted with him like a rag doll of sorts as I was too busy absorbing what I was seeing and hearing. They all oggled me, the greasy black haired one and the large mustachiod one pulled up on there horses while talking in the group but could not stare more clearly at me. I starred back, trying to hold the chatter of my teeth from showing from the cold.

The addition of another person in the single-person suited saddle had me pushed forward, causing me to sway and nearly lose my balance. Ren was talking over me when I gasped:

“Jesus Fu-“

“Wooh.” he stopped and steadied me with a grasp on my left arm. “Can’t have you falling.”

He chuckled under his breath, a half-smile pulled the corner of his lips up, a crooked left smile. It was humorous, amused, and calm. As cold as I was, and despite how bitterly stubborn to stay bitterly cold that I was, a protest died in my belly once Ren’s arms encircled me from below my elbows and along my hips to still hold the reigns. He maneuvered his heavy cloak to fall around me too, engulfing me in a warmth that I would silently relish as it kept me from freezing, but show an outward reluctance for.

With a shout the 4 men’s horses moved out. We lead in the front, the rotund man just nearly behind us, followed by the other two. The movement of a horse was not something I was used to and to keep from slipping my back was pressed into the riders chest while he kept his elbows ineard to lock me in place as we traversed the terrain.

It was silent for a long while until the oldest man began singing something in a language entirely foreign to me. The other two in the back pitched in and they proceeded to perhaps scare every living creature within ear shot. That’s when he decided to say something-

“Falling asleep, are you?”  He whispered lowly. 

Wide awake I was, though, trying to memorize every bit of my surroundings to figure out how to get back. Where was I? When was I?  So engulfed in my own thoughts I barely heard him speak and questioned if I had even heard anything at all.

He waited, his breath in my hair. Where our heights nearly matched had his chin at my ear. He could not look clearly over my head. Finally, as he patiently waited for a response from me, I breathed:

“No.”

“Hm.” He hummed with a thought. “You know,” He shifted mis sentence and pulled the now nearly fallen cloak back around in front of me, I held it shut in front of my chest as he handed me the pelt. “If you tell me where you are from, or why you are out here, a wee lass all on her own, it’ll be easier for you than waiting until we get back home.”

Still looking perfectly straight ahead of me I replayed his words in my head again, choosing my response not on the merit of question response, but that of priority.

“Where is ‘home’?” As clearly as I tried to speak, I could not keep the trembling of chill and adrenalin out of my voice.

I knew he could here it and perhaps even feel it as I my entire body began trembling as the sun set and the temperature dropped even lower.

“Home?” He shifted yet again, I held my breathe, unsure of what he was doing as His left hand reached in between us and he pulled at the fabric in front lf him. Unsure I held my breathe and braced, ready to push away.

“ Why, it’s the most dangerous place in the world, it’s about... hmm... twelve days north of Hopeless,and”

He had pushed the fabric of his overlayer away and be scooched me back with his left arm bared across my mid section like I weighed nothing to press back into his chest. His mouth was right at my ear again, still not releasing me from his bar, causing me every nerve in my body to reanimate and grow nervously close to threshhold response.

“a few degrees south of Freezing to Death.”

“Where?” I interhected and tried to hold my impatience disinterest in his long-winded spiel.

He paused, I could feel his chin turn towards me, perhaps in mild surprise at my change jn nathre. As he was about to answer men began shouting in the back. Ren cursed under his breathe and slowed the horse down to a slow walk.

“Hello? Gentlemen, could you please hold your minds?” He shouted over his shoulder.

The round man began shouting at them also.

“ We was havin such a nice time and you have ta start up again?” He scolded.

I looked over Ren’s opposite shoulder but could not see far back enough as I was sitting side saddle to the right while looking over my left.

“Idiots.” Ren groaned, laughing it off.  

I was still looking over his shoulder, at what? Nothing in particular anymore. It had become too dark and hazy to see clearly; I could not make out a visual marker from the ground to the tree tops above.

The conversation had died with that; I would not know where I was so long as they did not know where I came from.

I fought the lull of sleep with all of my might, never has the will to sleep and the will to stay awake sparred so furiously for dominance. I could keep my eyes open, but it was getting hard to keep my head from going idle. Around what I felt like the hour and a half mark, with open eyes and a nearly fuzzy mind my head fell back and hit the captor’s shoulder. I snapped up again, shaking my head and releasing the cloak from my fist which had grown ridged- cricking as it lifted to rub my eyes.

“Sleep, Mistress, ‘till be an hour yet before we are home. If you’re not going to talk, then be ready to meet the redt of us.” He bunched the cloak around me again, using the arm which bared across me to now reach over and hold it closed in front of me just above my own.

I wouldn’t sleep, I did not know these men and would not let my gaurd down to sleep. I shook my head.

“ No?” He chuckled “ I’can tell you have the urge to from every time your head hits my shoulder.”

I couldn’t tell why be was talking, but it still made me nervous he would try something like the Red Coat.

I jumped again when the horse faltered for inly a second and I lost my balance.

“Heyyy, easy boy.” He called his horse. I had gripped his forearm that layed on my hip and pushed back into him. As the horse recovered and tread on he placed a bared arm around me again, the intimacy was more than uncomfortable and he said “ I apologize mistress for the close quaters.” There was an uncertainty now in his voice, implying he was nervous also, or atleast uneasy with having a strange woman in his saddle now.

His sense of propriety certainly was bordering archatic, but whatever kept his hands from me.

We were almost there, but where?

__________

There she is, guys. Let me know your thoughts, I would really appreciate feed-back.

New Post:

Rebel North, Part III [ AO3 ] | [ ff.net ]

The afternoon sun streamed through the sheer curtains of the bedroom windows as Anders rolled to lay crossways on the bed, his bare skin still damp and warm from the bath. He rubbed his hands down his face and peered up at Garrett. “You want me to try on a… what, exactly?” Garrett disappeared into the dressing room before emerging with two folded bundles of fabrics, his robe swishing about his knees.  Glancing over the fabric, Anders frowned, taking in the raw but tidy edges. “I think you may have forgotten a step in making our outfits,” he hazarded.  Garrett laughed and set the cloths on the bed. “They’re supposed to be this way, love. They’re called kilts. Supposedly popular among the Starkhaven populace.”

- AO3: "Fereldan Hearts, Starkhaven Kilts" by @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul 

I participated in the Handers Reverse Big Bang, hosted by an amazingly organised @reikah. When I initially heard the idea that in this Big Bang the artist provides a picture first, upon which an author then bases a story, I was immediately hooked! What's more, I was paired with an awesome author, @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul, who communicated well throughout the exchange process and kept me motivated by sharing work-in-progress pieces and providing feedback :D It was a pleasure working with you, and I am amazed by what story you created from this picture!

Is this emotional blackmail to prod @orangeyouglad8 to write MOAR of her fantastic Clexa Outlander!AU, Sassenach. Yes, yes it is.