#lily will cave and lo will soon follow

[kategorema]

look me in my eyes and tell me lilo wont take donnelly under their wing 0.5 seconds after they realise how dire the need for positive parental figures is i fucking dare you

[withlove-so]

My Light, My Dream

An Asheleth Tangled AU fanfiction!

Part 1/?

[Inspiration]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

—

A/N: (Made this before I decided to make it a series but figured I’d keep it, hehe!)

Hey ya’ll seen this Asheleth Tangled AU @lecheyan did?

Cause I wrote something.

It’s one in the morning and, rather than sleeping, I decided writing a Tangled x Fire Emblem fan fic was the best thing I could do.

I might continue it, or maybe I’ll just make headcanons after, I dunno, I just wanted to share cause I love this AU 🥰👌

— — —

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. A princess is kidnapped and stored away in a tower. She must wait until a valiant knight comes to rescue her, or maybe even a prince if she’s lucky. Once her savior finally arrives and brings her back to her kingdom, the armor clad soldier and the delicate princess are wed.

Such fairy tales are common place, it gives young girls the chance to imagine their own knight who will come along and sweep them off their feet. However, not all princesses get a knight in shinning armor. Sometimes, the princesses are stolen in the dead of night, with no chance of discovery. The knights could search for years and years, and yet there wouldn’t be a trace. A family would be forced to mourn the loss of their lost love, their one daughter. All because a knight couldn’t find his princess.

Why don’t their stories get told?

No one speaks of the poor lost princess.

The one lost one tragic night.

The one where her loss is mourned the same day, each year.

And she doesn’t even know it herself.

“Mother. Why do those lights always appear on my birthday? Are they for me?”

“If that is what you desire, my sweet little lily, then it can be for you.”

A beautiful, almost unreal woman. Her skin showed no signs of aging, yet her eyes spoke for themselves. She gazed at the young child- her young child- with seemingly genuine affection. As if a child could tell the difference.

The woman stroked the young girl’s soft, light green hair, almost caressing it. She hummed a sweet melody, the same melody she always sang when she brushed the young princesses hair. She paused for a moment, glancing slightly down at the small child, “Byleth, my delightful little rose, please promise your dear Mother Rhea something.”

“What is it?”

“Promise to never leave me. You can never leave your poor mother by herself, do you understand?”

“... Yes, Mother.”

— — —

“Oh you silly girl, you don’t have to listen to that woman. You’re going to be an adult soon, you can do whatever you want!”

“You look more like a young girl to me. Can you even call me that?”

Byleth always felt like something was weird with her imaginary friend. She conjured up Sothis when she was just a child, most likely because she didn’t have any real friends. Yet, somehow, she felt so real. Like she could reach out and touch her if she wanted to.

“But that’s beside the point. I can’t ask Mother to leave.”

“You’re absolutely right. You need to DEMAND her to allow you to leave!”

“No.” The answer was short yet effective. Sothis looked positively cross with her, and she couldn’t blame her. Of course Byleth wanted to leave the tower. Despite all the things Mother said about the “Dangers of the outside”, she only found herself more intrigued by the idea of leaving. The problem was getting past Mother herself. She hasn’t let her leave the tower since she was born, obviously she wouldn’t let her leave just like that.

But maybe, just maybe, if she was lucky, Mother might allow Byleth to go if she accompanied her. It was really the best shot she had of ever seeing the world outside of her tower.

“Oh Byleth! Let down your hair!” The familiar voice of her Mother rang out from the bottom of the tower. Just like clockwork, Byleth trudged over to the edge of the window and carefully put her hair over the edge to allow her mother to climb up.

“Welcome home Mother. You seem well.”

“Of course I am, my little lily, I’m with you after all! Here, I brought you your favorite stew, all the way from the lands of Faerghus! And just in time for your birthday as well.” As she finished her sentence, Mother happily hummed to herself while she put up the rest of the food in different pantries.

“My birthday... Mother, I have a request. For my birthday. Allow me to accompany you outside.”

The reaction was not pleasurable, to say the least. As soon as those words left Byleth’s lips, the food her mother held was crushed in a death grip. She turned her head, her gaze cold, “You want to leave? Sweetie, you can’t mean that. You know what I told you about the outside world, it’s dangerous for delicate little flowers like you. So just stay at home, where you’re safe and lo-“

“Mother.”

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking Byleth. It’s rude.” Her tone was meant to sound like she was scolding her, yet it just sounded... threatening.

“Mother. I refuse to stay in this tower. Please. Let me leave, just once.” This wasn’t going how Byleth had hoped, and yet exactly how she expected.

“If I let you leave once, you’ll want to leave again and again and again until you’re never here! You’ll leave your poor, helpless mother all by herself.” She took a few steps toward Byleth, softly caressing her hair between her fingers. She gave a meaningful tug and the few strands she held. “You don’t want that, now do you?”

“... No... Mother. Of course not.”

“Good. Then don’t ever try to ask me that again.” She released Byleth’s hair and resumed her task from before like nothing happened. Even humming the same sweet tune.

“My my... She sure is a handful.” Sothis gave a little tut next to Byleth’s ear, “But there’s still another way.”

“Mother. I think I have something else I’d like for my birthday. Not leaving the tower, of course.”

“Oh, my sweet girl, anything for you! What can I do for you?” Despite her words, her gaze was hard and stern, as if she was daring her to ask to leave again. Luckily, Byleth isn’t so easily taunted.

“Albenian jam. It’s very rare I get to enjoy it, since it’s in another country. I think I’d like to have that. If you’re able.”

“Albenian jam? My my, that’s a long trip. It would take me 4 days just to reach the port. Are you sure? That’s such a long time to be separated.”

“I’m sure. I’ll be 18, I can take care of myself.” Say yes, say yes, say yes!

“Hmm... well, if it will make you happy, how can I possibly say no? I’ll leave as soon as possible, so we can be reunited sooner, my little sweetie. But before I go...”

Byleth already knew what she wanted. Her hand brushed across her hair, and as she hummed softly once again, a light began emitting from the strands.

“Of course, Mother...”

— — —

The loud clambering of feet mixed with hooves was deafening among the people in town. This was a common occurrence at this point, and it was always the same old thief that they could never seem to catch. It honestly made the knights look bad from how long he’s been escaping their grasp.

The familiar blur of blue and gray zipped past the towns people, followed by the pursuing knights, shouting out orders among each other and curses at the uncatchable thief.

By the GODS! I’m going to die. This is going to be my resting grounds, I’m going to die here.

Fearful thoughts ran through the poor boy’s mind, this was the first time the knights had ever gotten so close. One of the knights had barely missed grabbing his arm while he was making his escape. And now they were on horse back. There was no way he could out run that. He was going to have to out smart them.

“You menace! Return what was stolen, or we will be forced to take harsh actions!” A white haired knight, who was surprisingly on foot, spoke directly to the thief.

“As if my punishment wasn’t going to be harsh enough. Thanks, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” The thief took a moment to press his hand on his bag to check if it was still there.

Bingo

The familiar shape of the intricately shaped crown made it easy to identify. As soon as he confirmed it was there, he was quick to climb up the buildings surrounding them. The cavalry was, understandably, furious that their best and only tactic had been bested by such a simple plan. As they ran around town, desperately searching for the thief, he disappeared into the woods, seemingly unnoticed.

Almost unnoticed.

Once in the safety of the trees, he took a moment to catch his breath. The adrenaline rush was still fresh and he could hardly breathe from how fast his heart was pounding. But he got what he was after, and that’s what was important.

He trekked slowly through the unfamiliar woods, spotting a few wanted posters along the way. He sighed, “They never get my nose right. Does it really look that big? I don’t think so...” He shoved the poster into his bag for future reference. At this point, there was no telling where the man was. He was just thankful that he lost the-

A whiny. The clopping of hooves. And a small voice, “What is it Dorte? Did you smell something?”

Fear once again pierced his heart. How had they found him so quickly? He was sure he hadn’t been followed, they couldn’t have. It was impossible, there was a misunderstanding, surely. But he wasn’t going to risk it.

Immediately he began a mad sprint. He wasn’t going to risk being caught over a misunderstanding. He quickly ducked behind a rock, risking only a few peaks to check if he was safe. As the hooves became closer, the thief instinctively sunk back, slowly and-

He fell. He collapsed right through the rock. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. He quickly sat up and looked around, it was a cave, the front part covered by a thick layer of vines. He sunk back a bit more, moving himself completely behind the vines. Just as he did so, a silhouette of a horse passed by, Dorte was it? It looked around for a moment before slowly trotting along. The man let out a small sigh of relief before picking himself back up.

Where was he? He walked into the cave, slow at first. When he saw a light on the other side, he walked a bit faster, wondering what could possibly meet him at the other side.

A tower was the last thing he’d expected to see.

[Next Chapter]

[ladybalem]

Pets

Hello! I’ve received the following request, of a very dear girl: “Hey, im Cissy again… Say what is the reaction of each one of them to the pets. All of them got any?”

* * *

Newt Scamander - Any fragile and unprotected little animal or creature, which needs care and inspires feelings of compassion gonna win Newt’s heart. And it just doesn’t matter how much trouble or confusion the little being in question causes at his life, because Newt’s patience and goodness to the creatures is endless, and he’ll love it forever and in the same way.

*

Jack Jackson - Walking through the wood while coming back to the house of you two after a hard day’s work, totally covered in marble and stones’ dust and with callous hands, Jack finds in the ground a falcon eyrie with its wing hurt, and with a worried airing, he recovers the bird, holding it against his chest. And as he came home with it, asking you if you think the little falcon will be fine, you advice him to take it to his mother, so she can medicate it, and then you both go to the cave where Ellen lives. She knows all the herbs, and she knows medicine, and always helps you two with any problem, and she gets cheerful about to heal the animal, which grew, plenty recovered, becoming a beautiful brown falcon with a magnificent plumage and inquisitor eyes. By now while Jack is at the cathedral, the bird stays along with you at home, but when he comes home, the falcon soon flies to his shoulder, where it lands, and you like to see him to patiently feed the bird, giving it bits of raw meat on its peck. And seeing how Jack smiles while doing that, you, with your chin leaned on your hands, look at him with an impassioned glance.

*

Eddie Kreezer - He doesn’t like pets. No. Not that he doesn’t like the animals; he just doesn’t understand what’s about to take care for an animal which depends on you for everything, because he prefers independent things, which can carry along by themselves. If you have a pet of yours, certainly he’ll sometimes take himself looking very intrigued to the way you care and spend time with it, just doesn’t getting to understand how you seems to feel so happy about it; and he’ll just giggle, shaking his head and, arranging his hat, he’ll light a cigarette.

*

Stephen. Wraysford - In the army he’ll receive a trained Alsatian wolf-dog to work along with him, and at the beginning Stephen won’t see it as much more than a property of the British army under his service. But step by step he’ll like the way the dog shows itself loyal and serviceable, and how much it is intelligent and affable, and he’ll began to little by little to develop affection for it, getting to the point of giving it a name of his choice, to divide morsels with it and, even, sometimes to let his fingers to softly slide between its ears.

*

Lili Elbe - She loves the animals, cause they’re so sincere and so authentic, always being themselves, and for sure she would be very happy about to get any one of them, specially if it’s small and delicate. A puppy, a tender kitty or a colorful and small bird which sings a lot, as a cardinal or a canary. And Lili certainly will care for it carefully and cover it with petting, exactly as she does to yourself.

*

Marius Pontmercy - Sure he’ll buy an animal for you instead of himself, very certainly a small puppy, a hairy and very fluffy and docile one, which will be all the time happily running and jumping and barking around the hem of your dress, while you, happy, do some foundling to it, saying it sweet words or clapping your hands for it, what will only make Marius to look at the small being with tenderness and to you with even more love, while within himself he thinks how much you’re wonderful and how much he’s lucky for having met you and for you to be his wife. And seeing you to care for the puppy, he just can’t avoid but fantasize you caring for the children he desires to have with you very soon.

*

Balem Abrasax - He has no time to lose with this kind of things, nor even has in himself the affection that’s necessary to pursue to have a pet, so this not even pass through his idea to have one. But, if you request him one, certainly he’ll give you something expensive and exotic, just as some specie of snake or lizard which he considers esthetically beautiful, doesn’t understanding that to you that kind of animal wouldn’t be pleasing, because to him it doesn’t interest fluffy or docile animals, or that very colorful and happy ones, just as like the birds, for an example. And as long as the animal doesn’t take from him the time you need to have available to spend along with himself, Balem won’t care if you care for the animal which he gave you. In the contrary, you’ll just wake up one morning and, noticing the absence of the animal, you’ll hear Balem to say, just as if it was nothing, that he ordered an employee to get rid of it, and he’ll order you to shut up if you insist on the subject.

*

Qwerty Doolittle - He owns a sensitive soul and he likes all the living creatures, and for sure he’ll like any small animal you have, although he hasn’t one for himself. As he works a lot and spend many hours out of home, he doesn’t believe it’s fair having an animal to let it alone the most part of the day. In case you have a puppy, Qwerty will love to go outdoors to wander hand in hand with you as he leads the animal by its collar, and he’ll like to talk to it, giving it morsels and teaching it some tricks. If you have a cat, he’ll like to, as he comes from his funeral home, to sit down with you on the sofa and embrace you, while he caresses the little cat lying on his lap. But one day, passing by the display window of a pet shop downtown Los Angeles, you’ll see a small turtle for sale, and finding it so alike to Qwerty, you’ll buy it as a birthday gift for him. At the beginning, he’ll be worried in excess about it, but little by little, as he sees as it is so tranquil, Qwerty will relax, feeling just happy as he sees it to slowly to eat the lettuce he offers it. He finds it fascinating as it swims when it is left inside the bathtub, with its small head lifted out of water, or when it hides itself entirely to the inside of its own shell; and he sometimes takes himself just as “tickling” on its shell with his fingertips having a smile on his face, although he knows it can’t feel this.

[thewritinglemon]

Summers in Mangan

Gem Bonifacio Remaneses was just a girl in my THEA 107 class back in 2016. She was the girl with straight, shoulder-length hair that juxtaposed the milky complexion of her skin. She was the girl with the rosy, round cheeks that are irresistible to pinch and with eyes that seemed to disappear when she smiles. In that class, there were only eleven of us—eleven who had to mount a production within two to three months, and eleven who grew closer to each other even after the production finished. Gem was a person I’ve never expected to be friends with partly because she always seemed to be a woman of a few words and I was the complete opposite. Yet, over the years, she has been one of the few people I can have a crazy laugh with about the smallest of things, sing karaoke shamelessly in KTV rooms, or down a few shots with at the local pubs. There are days when I don’t feel like I know her as much as I should, though. For one, I never knew she had two older brothers at least eight years older than her or that she was of Chinese descent.

Today, I had the opportunity to get to know her better. I sat down with her over dinner at Vat Cave, one of Los Baños famous eateries, and asked about her fondest memory when she was a child. What I got was beyond my expectations because she took me on a journey to an island a hundred miles away, to a place where another version of Gem was unknown to me, and to the house where her happiest memories during her childhood resided.

Gem’s family lived in Muntinlupa, but her father, Margarito T. Remaneses, Jr. was a native of Aklan. Every summer, he took his family back to his hometown where his parents and the rest of his siblings—eight, to be exact—lived. Their trips to Aklan filled Gem with excitement since she wanted to travel—to have a summer adventure where she could see and experience new places. And, of course, coming to Aklan meant playing in a big home with all twenty of her cousins.

The destination wasn’t all that matters. For Gem, the moment she stepped out of their Muntinlupa home, her adventure and misadventures began. The trip to Aklan was long, almost twelve to eighteen hours by land and sea. From Muntinlupa, Gem and her family took the bus to the pier in Batangas. In our conversation, she recalled a time when she was six years old, she and her father were the only ones going to Aklan in their family. Gem was already on the jam-packed bus when her father suddenly needed to use the loo. The bus was departing soon so he told her to tell the driver to wait for him, that he had to go to the loo.

“Lutang at medyo slow ako since birth so, di ko na-gets kaya ayon, nakatunganga lang ako. Tapos, biglang umandar ‘yung bus, wala pa tatay ko. Buti na lang, ‘yung isang matandang pasahero sinigaw sa driver na naiwan tatay ko kaya ayon, huminto,” she told me. “Mag-isa ako noon kung sakali na makakarating sa Batangas.”

In Batangas, they had to board a ship to Caticlan. Gem loved the blending notes of the salty scent of the sea and the metallic odor of the ship, more so, the glittering sea itself. After the ship docked at Aklan, they would take a tricycle to their aunt’s house nearby. Gem recalled another misadventure. During one particular trip, they docked in the middle of the night much earlier than their expected arrival tomorrow morning. They were stuck at the port since her aunt wasn’t answering. Eventually, Gem and her family decided to go there on foot, walking along the beach to the sound of waves gently lapping on the shore. It was a fond memory for her. Although she and her family were exhausted, Gem still had the energy to play a game of catch with the waves—running after the retreating waves and running away as they return to the shore.

“I don’t know when but eventually, we reached my aunt’s house,” Gem said. “I walked with soggy shoes that night.”

After stopping by her aunt’s house, Gem, her family, and her aunt would travel by bus to their grandmother’s home in Banga. The bus ride from Caticlan to Banga showcased the natural beauty of the province—the enigmatic mountains on one side and the glittering cerulean sea on the other. The closer they were to Banga, the cerulean and green were slowly replaced by lush green trees and then by the bustle of the barrio. In Banga, Gem and her family would disembark from the bus to meet her uncles who would then drive them to the house. It would take twenty to twenty-five minutes from the bayan to her grandmother’s house. When the asphalt ran out, the car would rock slightly as they traversed the dirt road leading to the house.

From the road, the huge house wasn’t visible as trees partly covered it. The first part of the estate one could see is the two large fishponds where Gem’s grandfather bred tilapia and hito. Bright pink water lilies juxtaposed the moss green waters of the ponds that flanked the road to the house. On one side, there was a mango tree where the tree house was built, and in one of the branches, hung a make-shift swing. The house was mansion-like in its size. The split-level home was painted in a pastel shade of yellow with dandelion-colored trims and moldings. Inside, there were two salas, six large bedrooms, a kitchen extension, and even an attic.  A blue tricycle sat beside a motorcycle under the house’s second level balcony. Around the back was Gem’s grandfather’s plantation where he grew different kinds of fruits.  

It was different from what Gem was used to. In Muntinlupa, their home was situated near the train tracks. She described a narrow alley, filled with a lot of neighbors, that she had to pass to get to their house. There was no playground, but Gem still found it more fun to improvise their play space and use her imagination. Every few hours, trains would rattle the neighborhood as it whistled by. She was usually alone in Muntinlupa, too, because her brothers were studying and her parents were working. Gem mused that the company she usually kept was that of her nanny who usually busied herself with her textmate.

In Mangan, she and her cousins would ride bikes and chase each other around. She had a vast plot of land as her playground instead of the narrow alleys. Sometimes, they would play hide and seek since there were a ton of places to hide in. There were no noisy trains that would scare her because the entire estate was peaceful—an epitome of provincial living. Gem wasn’t alone either because her titos and titas, lolos and lolas, and all twenty cousins were all there to care and play with her.

Sometimes, she and her father would visit one of the natural beauties of Manga—the mangrove reserves near New Washington. They would follow the long, winding trail that lead to the shallows. It would take them thirty minutes to reach the end but the serenity that the mangrove offered seem to heal their weary souls and soles. When they reach the end, they would just watch the tranquil waves glitter under the sun and enjoy the breeze.

In usual Gem humor, she joked. “sobrang fresh ng hangin dyan parang na-cleanse baga ko after.”

           While Aklan was a natural goldmine of flora, fauna, and people, it was also one of the oldest provinces in the Philippines and had been linked to many folklores about ghosts, monsters, and witches. Sometimes, the helpers around the house would tell Gem and her cousins scary stories like that of Teniente Gimo (even though Gimo was actually from Iloilo).

“Since malapit lang yung Aklan sa Capiz, kumalat din samin yung mga kwento nila tungkol sa mga aswang,” she explained. “May mga nagsasabi pa nga na yung iba raw lumipat sa Aklan.”

           Other stories involved the tiktik, a bird-like monster whose wings flapped louder when afar and softer when it was nearby; stories about recognizing aswangs by using an oil or langis that would boil if an aswang was nearby; and, the folk belief of looking between the legs to see if a person was an aswang were also a brief topic of our conversation. She also mentioned walking about Mangan and getting spooked by the Santo Niños she saw in houses and along the paths.

           I asked Gem about the best memories she had of the house, and I found out that it was the lazy afternoons she loved the most. It was those kinds of afternoons when she was left alone without anyone to play with because her older brothers and cousins had gone somewhere she couldn’t go. She would explore the estate, climb trees, look at snails at the fishponds, skip rocks, and eat siniguelas. Sometimes, she’d just laze around the treehouse and enjoy the summer breeze.

           All great memories are accompanied by bad ones. For Gem, it was coming back to the estate for her grandmother’s wake. Strangers littered the yard in front of the house and more filled the inside. She went inside the house to view her grandmother, thinking how her passing was surreal. Her grandmother’s passing changed a lot of things. The house began to lose some of the vibrancy that it had when she was alive. But perhaps, it was also growing up that made the estate feel smaller for Gem—hallways were now too narrow, the ceiling no longer as high as before, and the vast land behind the house wasn’t as spacious anymore because of her aunt’s newly erected house.

           Mangan has always been a place Gem can come home to, so she didn’t feel sad whenever they had to return to Muntinlupa. In recent years, however, she hasn’t been able to come back to the estate. “My last visit was in 2012,” she said. “As absurd as it may sound, we were all busy. We couldn’t visit as a family. Jobs had to be prioritized, too. It was just my father who goes on vacations sometimes.”

           Gem plans to visit the house in Mangan with her brothers after she graduates. What she told me was a poignant summary of what it’s like to grow up and to grow apart from what we are used to. She lamented, “I am aware that even if I come back, the Mangan that is in my memories is no longer there.”

           She told me once that she didn’t have a province to go home to because she lived in the city, but I believe she had Mangan. A place of peace. A place of endless summer days. It was the epitome of provincial in her mind. While it is true that it is no longer the place she knew back in her childhood, it is still a home that will always welcome her with open arms. _______________________________________________________________ An interview piece I wrote about my classmate and friend, Gem Remaneses, for our Expository Writing class.