#arws

[i-really-like-ducks]

Ares (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤

[billow-and-breeze]

Another Rooster Would Sing: Prologue

Hey ^^ so this is the prologue of my first multi-chapter fic. It’s a canon divergent AU in which you’ll get to have an insight into my country, Spain, and its culture, so I’m very excited to write it and for you to read it :) Also, I’m looking for beta readers, so if anyone’s down to it, please DM me!

A/N: the title makes sense, I promise. 

dt; @thatsoccercoach thanks for all the support <3

@bat-cat-reader perdón por tardar tanto en traducir los fics, mi vida es súper frenética ahora, pero los tendrás!

PROLOGUE

Claire had been living in Madrid for a little over two years now, and only once in that time had she set foot on the airport of Barajas – the day she arrived. She had never really felt the need to go back to England, having left her whole life there and having come to Spain for the main purpose of having a clean slat on which to begin writing again. The wonderful weather and rich History were just two of the good things that came along with moving.

Walking now towards the “arrivals” gate, she felt all the memories come back to her in a wave of emotion that almost made her lose her balance and drop the sign she was holding – Uncle Lamb, dead in a coffin instead of a sarcophagus, and Frank, regretful but unapologetic after being caught with another woman in Claire’s own bed, and not to speak of Mary Hawkin’s husband, who had finally passed away after months of pain and struggling to breathe. Claire felt like a coward for having run like that, but it was all she could do before going mad.

And besides, Spain’s medical program wasn’t bad at all. And she would get a taste of home – or what had once been home – in a few minutes.

She was actually a bit nervous at the prospect of meeting her new roommate, who came all the way from Scotland. Claire had never spoken to her, but she already imagined her apartment filled with laughter and late-hour gossip about whatever boy at university, and was thrilled to meet the girl who’d be arriving in… two minutes?

Glancing up from her watch, Claire saw the door open at that very moment, and she held up the sign that read “Jamie Fraser” up high so that it could be visible through all the people waiting to pick up loved ones and clients. A red-haired man of about her age caught her eye while he stopped by the door to look around trying to spot whoever had to come get him. He was tall, broad-shouldered and – she had to admit – very handsome.

She observed him as his eyes scanned the room, then turned away quickly when their gazes locked, trying to conceal the blush that had most likely already sprang to her cheeks. Much as she’d like to, Claire wasn’t able to pick up the tan most Spaniards seemed to have as easily as she had their language, though, if she was being honest, she still didn’t consider herself fluent.  

“Claire Beauchamp?”, a deep voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to find the red-haired man standing in front of her, with a small and black suitcase trailing behind him. “Yes?”, she answered, her brain not thinking clearly enough for her to wonder how on Earth he knew what her name was.

Showcasing a lopsided smile, he pointed a finger to her sign. “I’m Jamie Fraser”, he said. This time, Claire had absolutely no control over her thoughts or actions, so she couldn’t help herself as she blurted out, “What?”.

All of her visions about the new school year fell to pieces as her mind tried to recompose itself by changing the she to… well, him.

[ed-myworlds]

A Road trip With a Stranger

Unexpected Meeting

This road is not really known to drivers but I know it by heart. This road is just a deserted road among many others. This one pass through a forest.

It's night and it's raining.

So there's nothing to encounter here this late. Normally. Logically. Or eventually.

But apparently, there's always someone you can meet at whatever hours and anywhere...

Even though I didn't see him right away. I almost roll on it! At the same time, why did he run across the road like he has the devil behind him, dressing in black?! At night?! Under the rains?! And when I stopped my car to see if he's okay, he beg me to take him with me...

There's everything that says that this kid means troubles. And I'm not the type of person that takes some stranger to a country in another country for free.

So why?

Why do I let him in my van?

I risk a glance. In the now occupied passenger place, there's a human kid at the age of twelve if I guess at his hormones. His hormones have an a...special smell; cinnamon, forest berries and pine Tree noodles. So young and so full of life.

I lick my lips. Was I so hungry before?

"So? What a kid like you was doing here?" I eventually asked.

"..."

"...did you want a last tell me your name?"

"..."

"Or your age?"

"..."

"...yeah that was I thought..." I mumbled under my breath.

We stay in that awkward and heavy silence for at last a mile until I ask: "Did you have a destination?"

And to my surprise, he answered: "Anywhere, everywhere but not here."

His answer was firms and serious. He wants to get out of this country the fastest way. And it was at that moment that I noticed he stills wet. I give him a serviette. He takes it silently. I started to think he won't thanks me but he did say it. Even though it was so small for human ears, I heard it.

A small smile is played on my lips.

I glanced again at him. He trying to dry his wet and chocolate hair but it will take an hour to dry completely if he did it this way. But I prefer to not say it...

Yeah...life is full of surprises. We don't know what's kind of people we'll meet and where. But it's what makes an adventure, isn't?

[billow-and-breeze]

Another Rooster Would Sing: Chapter 1

Thanks for all your comments on the prologue, they really help motivate me to keep writing ^^ here’s Chapter 1 of this modern au set in Madrid, which would have been a lot worse without @mrscpl. Also, thank you to @jules-fraser, who’s always been an inspiration, and @thatsoccercoach, who just redefined the way I take my coffee ;) Hope you all enjoy!

A/N: the title of the chapter is the literal translation of the last sentence :)

CHAPTER 1: O Land, Swallow Me!

“He’s a mess!”, Claire almost shouted on the phone. She knew she was alone in the house, but she tended to be more careful with what she said and did now that someone else was living with her. “He never makes his bed, his side is always a disaster…”

“Hold on”, Louise, another foreigner and one of her best friends, interrupted her, “you’re sleeping with him?”. Claire could almost picture the tall French woman looking at her with surprise and recrimination.

“Yes. No! We just share the only bedroom there is in this shitty apartment, okay? But that’s not the point at all”. She heard her friend laughing on the other side of the line and then what seemed to be Louise’s girlfriend’s voice. “Sorry, Claire. I have to go. Duty calls!”

Claire shook her head as she said goodbye and hung up the phone. Sometimes, she wished she could be as cheeky and spontaneous as her friend, who would’ve died if she were in Claire’s position – a tall, broad-shouldered, handsome Scot sleeping bare meters from her, showering in the same bathroom, sharing intimacies at late-night hours.

Of course, Louise didn’t have to actually share her personal space with him. And they’d barely even exchanged their own histories or talked about anything that wasn’t superficial or apartment-related, and Claire was pretty much fed up with his lifestyle, just as she’d been explaining to Louise on the phone. But she didn’t have the guts to confront him about every little thing that bothered her, so she just remained distant and angry whenever he tried to talk to her or include her in his life, charming accent notwithstanding.

After cleaning up her side of the bedroom – because she was not, under any circumstances, going to clean up his –, she sat in front of her desk and tried her best to study. Third year of Medicine started in only two days, and that meant going to a hospital for the first time as a Health professional, instead of as a patient, so she wanted to be ready and give her best. However, the letters in her Microbiology book only danced before her eyes, eluding her concentration as her mind wandered elsewhere, towards a red mass of hair and a pair of glacier eyes that were as warm as the Madrid summer.

Claire shook her head. He’s a mess, she told herself, echoing the words she had said to Louise earlier. And he…

The door opening stopped her thoughts at once, and her heart gave a jump she attributed to the fright of a sudden noise. Burying her hands inside the wild, brown curls that composed her hair, she tried her best to seem as though she was studying and extremely focused while she heard the now familiar footsteps coming ever closer.

“Hey”, he said, stopping by the threshold. She acknowledged him with a muttered sound and kept on reading the same sentence over and over again. “I met Louise on the way back”.

What?

Incapable of ignoring such an information bomb, she turned slowly while trying to compose herself and not show her surprise. “Oh?”.

“Interesting lass”, he said, with that lopsided smile lodged in his face and surrounded by a faint russet stubble. But his eyes swept the room and all amusement faded from his face, as though it was water drained after a long bath. He sat on his bed, facing Claire, and took a breath before speaking. “Why didn’t ye tell me, though, that all those things bothered ye so?”

Claire’s first thoughts when confronted with such a situation were two.

First was a deep craving for bloodshed. She would most definitely murder Louise in the most painful manner next time she met her.

Second was a recently learned Spanish expression that she had never thought she’d need to use. But now, her insides only screamed: ¡tierra, trágame!

[billow-and-breeze]

Another Rooster Would Sing: Chapter 2

Hi! Sorry for taking so long - I’m at the beach and there’s not much time to do anything that means sitting down with a laptop. So next Chapter will be posted probably on Monday or Tuesday, when I’m able to write carefully and thread the story that demands to be written. Much love to everyone and hope you enjoy ^^

Dt; @momwendy @jules-fraser @thatsoccercoach @mrscpl

Prologue | Chapter 1

CHAPTER 2

That night, when Claire went to sleep at an hour that she would regret in the morning, Jamie’s faint snores didn’t keep her awake and annoyed as they had for the last two weeks. The bedroom was almost as clean as she used to keep it when it was only hers. And in her heart, a new kind of peace, that she hadn’t known before that moment, had settled in.

They had talked for hours. First, Claire opened up about all the details that bothered her in any sort of way. “We have respect for each other,” he had said, “above any other thing.” Then they’d agreed some terms to make their sharing of space a more enjoyable activity for both of them.

And before Claire knew, they were talking. Not about doing the dishes, buying groceries or information about how to move about the city. But about their lives. Glass after glass of delicious tinto de verano, Claire had told him about Uncle Lamb, Mary Hawkins and her depression after Alex’s death, even about Frank, though she had managed not to spend too much time on that subject.

He, in turn, had talked about his desire to escape his inheritance and all the family pressure that came with it. “It’s no’ that I dinna want it. I do. Just no’ now,” he’d said, sighing. She had understood completely. Jamie was the heir to a huge estate in the wild Highlands of Scotland, and with it came a great responsibility that would swallow him whole if he took it all on his shoulders without having had a chance to explore the world, to enjoy life.

“It’s one of the reasons I chose Spain. I like the atmosphere, how everyone seems to take things at their own pace,” he’d confessed. She knew what he meant; it was one of the things that she loved most about Madrid, how it could overflow with life while at the same time remaining open and welcome and totally chill about everything. “And besides,”, she’d added, her lips curling up in the first smile she’d ever given him, “the weather isn’t crap.”.

“Aye,” Jamie had replied, with a chuckle, “there’s that, as weel.”

When Claire went to sleep, she was careful not to wake the already dozing Jamie, but she also could not help casting a glance his way and noticing the slight grin that split his lips in an angel-like manner. Smiling to herself, a strange feeling flooding her senses, she got on the bed and covered her feet with the blanket. She knew it would probably end up on the floor, as it was still too hot to sleep with anything, but she did it anyway, just as she’d always done to feel safer.

She discovered, though, while listening to the breathing of the Scot sleeping in the bed next to her, that she actually felt safer than she had in years. Happier, even. It was certainly more peaceful.

And for now, that was all she needed.

So Claire turned her head on the pillow, ready to sleep for a few hours before she had to get up and make ready for the new school year, with everything that it implicated. As she was closing her eyes, trying not to think of all she had to do the next day, a deep voice came from the shadows and gave her a slight fright.

“Sassenach? Claire?” Jamie asked, his words sluggish. She emitted a sound that could pass as a yes? while making a mental note to ask him about that first word he’d used to call her. “I hope you have no plans for tomorrow,” he continued, his voice as though he was talking with his mouth pressed against the pillow, “because I need you to show me around.”

Almost already caught between sleep’s claws, Claire smiled broadly and felt, for the first time since she’d come to Spain, truly excited about what life had in store for her. So, despite fully knowing she should take care of some things before university started again, she replied with a noise that she hoped would be understood as a yes, of course.

And after she closed her eyes, she dreamt of a distinctly fiery head and crystal blue eyes.

[billow-and-breeze]

Announcement

Hey! No, I’m not dead. But I might as well be. I’m currently working the whole morning by taking care of two 6-year-olds who are murdering me slowly, so I really haven’t had the time to write.

I will try to give Chapter 2 a push today so that you all can have a taste of it before I leave on vacation ☺️

Much love ❤️

[billow-and-breeze]

Hey! Uploading Chapter 2 very soon! ^^

[vizsladyke]

Hell yeah Eastwind is back in second place!! It’s likely they won’t catch Vidaraid but that’s kind of expected because Vidaraid kicks ass