Subject: On Abuela.
Author:
Posted on: 2022-02-03 16:46:49 UTC
How should the students actually refer to her? Does anyone call her anything other than Abuela or Mamá in the film? I don't remember her name coming up in dialogue. It looks like she's "Señora" once, which is probably the most respectful option - but half the students probably think Abuela is her name.
hS
If you could get past the fact the fic is written entirely in ALLCAPS and script format and the first chapter has no paragraph breaks, the story has stuff not for the faint of heart. Also, there's a mini, hooray (JULLIETA). If it's any consolation, the summary of the fic is a straight warning not to read it.
Chapter 1 - Welcome to the UOF Encanto
Leonor Poe had been having a lovely dream. There'd been a butterfly… no, it had been a man, and he'd been so impressed ("awestruck" was the word he used) by her latest Encanto fanfic that he wanted to invite her to a… a special school for writers, that was how she remembered it.
He'd given her a form, and while paperwork in dreams usually meant she'd slipped over into a nightmare, the soft music playing through Leonor's window made actually made filling it out almost pleasant. She'd handed it back to the man, or maybe he was a butterfly, and… and now she was lying in a back alley with a toucan staring at her from three inches away.
She yelped, flapping her hands at the bird, but it just took a step back and watched as she scrabbled into a sitting position. Fabric tangled around her legs as she pressed her back to a warm stone wall, and she realised that while what she was wearing was recognisably her nightgown, it seemed to have grown longer and acquired some very nice embroidery. Her bra had reappeared under it, as had a pair of soft shoes - almost slippers - and the whole ensemble looked almost like-
"I found her!"
Leonor flinched back as the toucan took off in a storm of feathers. Behind it, a small child in a straw hat was grinning at her.
"Come on!" the little girl shouted, running over and grabbing her hand. "You're going to be late!"
Still shaking off her dream and her confusion, Leonor allowed herself to be dragged to her feet and out onto a sunny cobbled street. "But, I don't understand," she said to the child. "What's… where am I?"
"Come on!" the girl repeated. "We need to find Mirabel!"
"Mi… ra…?" Leonor shook her head as she stumbled after the child. The buildings had an old-fashioned look, and they were hung with flowers and vines that looked really familiar. Like, really, really familiar, as if she'd watched a movie with them in at least a dozen times. "But that's impossible," she mumbled. "There's no such place as-"
They burst into a sunlit plaza, and the little girl led her towards a group of about a dozen people. They ranged from a handful of girls who couldn't be older than fourteen to a man probably in his twenties, and most of them looked exactly as bewildered (and half-asleep) as Leonor; but at the front was a teenage girl with frizzy black hair, huge round glasses, and a huge, unmistakable grin.
"¡Hola!" called - it was totally impossible - Mirabel Madrigal, waving at Leonor. "Looks like we're all here, and time's a-wasting, so let's get straight to it!" She clapped her hands, and lively music started up out of nowhere.
One of the confused crowd, a girl in an oversized white cardigan, looked around. "Oh come on!" she protested. "A songfic?"
"So glad you read and / Filled in the application!" Mirabel sang, as a crowd of little kids burst into applause from the side of the plaza.
"Now we’ll get started
There’s so much to see and do
Come meet my family
They’ll help with orientation
They read your work and would love to give you their review!"
As she sang, the girl - the fictional character, Leonor had to keep reminding herself - danced off along the road. Leonor and the rest of the group followed; at least three of them started dancing as well, and Leonor had to keep from tapping along to the beat.
"Whoa
Do you think I’m talking way too fast, whoa
The truth is I am glad you’re here at last, whoa
You feel the beat, know this will be a blast
If you’re uncertain, then feel free to ask, so--"
"Whoa," Leonor whispered, as they rounded a corner and a grand, vine-covered house came into view. "Can it really be…?"
"Casita!" squealed the youngest of the group, and Mirabel shot her a grin before launching into the chorus:
"Welcome to the UOF Encanto!
You’re moving to UOF Encanto! (we’re getting close!)
Where all the staff is so encouraging and nourishing
Where we all work at UOF Encanto!"
Very few of the group could hold back smiles as they stepped through the wide-open doors of the Madrigal house. The tiles in the courtyard clattered as they entered, rippling out from Mirabel's feet like waves around a thrown stone.
"I've read about this sort of thing," muttered the girl next to Leonor, who had glasses almost as large as Mirabel's. "If you die in a lucid dream, apparently you can die for real."
"I don't think it's a dream," Leonor said, eyes wide as she watched a staircase assemble itself in front of them. "I think this is… is really…"
"Casita!" repeated the littlest girl, and then launched into a high-pitched, warbling attempt at a song: "Drawers! Floors! Doors! Let's go!"
The drawers, floors, and walls stayed where they were. "And this is why coffee's for grownups," muttered a tall girl with tangled blonde hair.
"Can we maybe not quote the movie?" the girl next to Leonor pleaded, glancing nervously at Mirabel. "I really don't want to find out what happens if… you know."
Mirabel laughed. "Oh, we know all about it, don't worry!" she exclaimed. "We've read all your stories - that's why you're here!" Leonor frowned, hearing a slight edge in Mirabel's tone, but the girl had already set off up the stairs again. "Come on, let's go!"
The group clambered up the stairs, which helpfully widened to accommodate them. On the balcony above was a line of doors, each glowing with a golden light.
"Okay, okay, okay!" Mirabel announced as the last of them reached the top. "Casita, can we have them in pairs, please?"
The railing reshaped itself, pushing bars in amongst the group. Leonor found herself squeezed in front of a door with the girl in glasses, while Mirabel hopped up onto the handrail and pointed.
"Okay, you and you swap… yes, and you two… perfect!" The railings extended into a ramp, letting Mirabel descend to the head of the stairs. She turned around to face them, held out her hands, and sang:
"This is your dorm room
Step up and touch the doorknob
Casita grants you
A miracle that’s yours to keep
You’ll have a roommates
(Please get along with your roommate!)
They say it’s best to play nice, please note they watch you sleep!"
Leonor glanced at the girl next to her. "I'm Leonor," she said in a low voice.
"Ana," the girl in the glasses said, and nodded at the glowing door in front of them. "Shall we?"
Leonor took a deep breath, and together the pair reached out and clasped the brass doorknob.
"Oh! When you hug it out the candle’s bright, whoa
The truth is, you can learn from every fight, whoa
Knowing them makes everything alright
And after this you might be super tight, aw!"
Golden light rose about them, and the music took on a more ethereal cast even as Mirabel finished her song:
"Welcome to the UOF Encanto
You’re moving to UOF Encanto (this will be great!)
Where all the staff will sure endeavor to look out for you
That’s just who we are at UOF Encanto!"
The light faded out, and Leonor found herself looking into her own face. The door had transformed, and now carried an image of her and Ana. The other girl's portrait was looking down, her brow furrowed, while Leonor's was holding a hand to one ear in a very Dolores-esque pose.
"Whoa," said the small girl at the neighbouring door, reaching out to touch her own image. "Does this mean we get magic gifts?"
The even smaller girl with her grinned and reached for the doorknob. "And magic bedrooms?!"
"Whoa!" Mirabel clapped her hands before anyone could open their doors. "Don't get ahead of yourself, my little friend. Abuela wants to welcome you all, and we don't want to keep her waiting." Her smile vanished abruptly. "Seriously, you don't want to do that." Then it was back in full force. "Plenty of time for exploring your dorms later!"
"And Tía Julieta made arepas!" called a muffled voice, and the entire group swung round to see Antonio perched on the railing across the courtyard. "They're so good."
"Antonio." Mirabel propped her hands on her hips. "Are you eating the students' arepas?"
"... no?" Antonio swallowed hurriedly, then slipped down onto the balcony. "Gotta go, see ya!"
"We're gonna talk about this!" Mirabel shook her head, then turned back to the group. "As I was saying: Abuela, downstairs, let's go!"
The plan is to continue through to their return to the dorms, but I figured I'd kept you all waiting long enough. ^_~ Student cameos so far are James, Dolores, Alexandra, Katherine and Matilda in the next room, and of course Ana and Leonor. (Also technically Marty as one of the three youngest kids in the square.) Hopefully they'll have time for introductions over arepas, so I can start name-dropping.
As with OFUDisc back in the day, I like to use my students as characters, not just cameos. I won't go quite as all-in as I did back then, but we should still get to know all of the class pretty well. (There's still room for more students, btw! I've been deliberately vague on the numbers for just that reason.)
I think some of you have probably watched the film more than me, so if there's anything that seems off, shout it out! This is essentially an open draft at the moment.
hS
((Following on directly from the previous, and finishing out the chapter.))
The group (students? Leonor thought back to her dream of the butterfly-man) trooped down the staircase and across the courtyard into a shady, tiled dining-room. A wooden table had been set out, long enough to accommodate all of them; and at the head Abuela sat with a welcoming smile.
"Welcome, children," the old woman said, "to La Casa Madrigal." She spread her hands, indicating the platters of bread rolls arrayed along the table. "Please, sit; you have had a busy morning already."
Leonor walked up to the table and glanced down at the nearest plate. It had a pattern of cherry blossoms, what seemed to be angular caterpillars, and a name at the bottom. "Alice?" she read out. "I don't remember an Alice in the movie."
"That's me," said a girl a couple of years younger than Leonor, whose skirt had a distinctly denim air about it. "I guess we have assigned seating?"
"That's like in the film!" said the freckled girl next to her. "You remember? Bruno painted his own-"
"We don't talk about Bruno!" The cry went up from at least five places in the crowd - not Leonor, though she did mouth along. At the head of the table, Abuela flinched slightly, but her smile held.
Leonor circled the table until she found her own plate. It was kind of a strange one - there were a few orange flowers, but mostly it was just her name, written repeatedly around the rim. She glanced at the places on either side of her, but they were just like Alice's: Ana's had black flowers and clouds, someone called Sophie had poppies and pillows, and both of them only had their name once.
"Oh, well that's depressing," Ana said, slipping into the chair beside her and tapping the plate. "Checks out, though; I would get the ominous tableware."
"Cheer up," Leonor told her roommate. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Lead poisoning from the old-fashioned paint." Ana blinked. "Er, sorry, that just came out."
There was a scrape from the head of the table, and the girls looked up as Abuela got to her feet, a glass in her hand. "Once again," the old woman said, "I wish to welcome you to our home. You are all here because we have read your…" She frowned, produced a small square of card and peered at it. "Your 'fan-fiction' about my family. In each of you, we have seen something special: a gift that can be nurtured."
There was a buzz of excited whispering around the table. Leonor grinned at the thought of the Madrigals reading her Encanto fics - though, come to think of it, there were a few scenes she hoped they'd skipped over. Not that they were bad scenes, but if Dolores and Isabela had seen some of the racier parts, it might be embarrassing later on.
"The family Madrigal is dedicating our time and our talents to help you develop that gift," Abuela went on when the conversation died down. "It may be challenging for you, but I promise, you will not leave here until you are ready to write again." Leonor frowned at that - it had a bit of an edge to it that she didn't much care for - but Abuela didn't give her time to speak. She raised her glass, and the sunlight of the Encanto sparkled through it. "Welcome, students, to La Universidad Oficial de Fanfiction de Encanto. Salud!"
"Salud!" the students repeated with varying accuracy, and then, because it had been a long morning, there was a scramble for the snacks.
"So these are areppas?" the girl next to Leonor, Sophie, asked, holding one up. "I thought they were a kind of fruit."
"Obviously not," muttered a girl across the table; Leonor thought she remembered her from the town plaza. "This is basic Latin American culture, it's not hard."
A boy a few seats down grimaced. "And it's arepas," he said, "not areppas."
A scruffy girl next to Miss Latin American Culture rolled her eyes. "Was that meant to be scathing?" she asked. "Because you just repeated the same word twice."
The boy gave an exasperated sigh. "Arepa - areppa. The difference is obvi…" He stopped, frowning, and began to mutter to himself. "Areppa? Arepa?"
The dishevilled girl shook her head. "Some people," she said, grabbing an arepa and biting a chunk out of it. "Mmm, that's- eh, it's all right, I mean. I'm Alexandra."
"And I'm Dolores," said the girl at her side, and smirked. "Not that Dolores. Apparently I'm this one's," she hooked a thumb at Alexandra, "roomie."
"Leonor," Leonor introduced herself, then waited while Ana, Sophie, and Sophie's roommate Elodia gave their own names. "What I want to know is," she went on, "what was that thing Abuela said? The university of fiscal… something Encanto?"
"University Official de Fanfiction de Encanto," Alice supplied from further down the table. "It means University of Official Encanto Fanfiction."
"Oh, cool!" Sophie exclaimed. "We're going to be official writers!"
"It doesn't- that's not what it means," not-that-Dolores said, glaring down at Alice. "It's Official Fanfiction University of Encanto. The university's official, not us."
"Excuse you?" Alice folded her arms. "Which one of us is very nearly taking Latin?"
"You think they speak Latin here?" Dolores gaped at the younger girl. "Could you be any more wrong?"
"People can always be more wrong," Ana muttered, then flushed slightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't- I'm not sure what's up with me today."
"It's probably the wine," Alexandra said, lifting up her glass and taking a sip. She grimaced. "No, I take it back, this is fruit juice; it's probably the lack of wine."
"It won't be juice," Dolores said. "It's probably mezcal." She took her own cautious sip and frowned. "No, you're right; I guess they got the drinks wrong."
"Oh, sure; the film got it wrong," Alexandra muttered. "That's the only possible explanation."
Leonor shook her head and picked up her own glass, largely as an excuse to drop out of the conversation. She ate through three or four arepas with different fillings, and when the gathering broke up, she walked with Ana up the stairs.
"So," she said as they reached their door, "a Fanfiction University, run by the actual characters. It's going to be quite a ride."
"One way or another," Ana agreed. "I just can't shake the feeling there's more to it than they're telling us."
"I know what you mean," Leonor said, "but come on, look at this place. How bad could it be?"
"They could be planning to torture us as punishment for our stories." Ana scowled. "Okay, I honestly didn't mean to say that, what is happening?"
"Mirabel said we'd get our own miracles." Leonor leant over and tapped Ana's portrait on the door, with its downcast expression. "Maybe yours is always knowing exactly what the worst is that could happen."
"I really hope not," Ana mumbled, "I get enough of that as it is." She brightened slightly. "Still - like the little next door said, a gift means a room, right? That should be pretty cool. I mean, they might deliberately have given us tiny rooms like Mirabel's, but-" She bit down on her words and looked stubborn. "No. Pretty cool. I stand by it."
"Good for you." Leonor reached out and laid her hand on the doorknob. "You ready?"
"On three." Ana laid her own hand over Leonor's. "One… two…"
The pair pushed the door open. Their eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, and then they found themselves looking into…
… an exact copy of Mirabel's nursery from the movie, up to and including faded marks where the posters and drawings had been taken down from the walls.
Cameos! Gifts! Names, for the love of Casita!
A question for... any of the six of you who've added they pronouns (though I don't think we have any 'pure' they/them characters). Once I get the names in place it won't be an issue, but at the moment there's a lot of "a girl with X characteristic" or "the girl next to her" going on. I feel like several of the students (Marty, Alexandra, and Xochitl) would be better described more neutrally, but don't want to derail the story into Leonor musing like Prof. Oak - "Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?". Is there a simple fix for, eg, Alexandra's introduction as "A scruffy girl/The dishevilled girl" above? "Person" sounds wrong.
(Inb4 Scapegrace suggests "oik" or something.)
(It won't be an issue for much longer - next chapter should allow Leonor to learn all the names, even if we're not introduced to everyone as the audience. But I want to start off right too.)
hS
"Now," murmured Alexandra ffinch, "would be a great time for me to own a hip flask."
The moon hung high and silver over the Colombian mountains. The air was thick with the scent of flowers. The Casa Madrigal was asleep, as evidenced by a gently snoring wardrobe in Alexandra's nursery-room-dorm-thing, which might well have been a hint. If it was, her irritating roommate had taken it long ago. At least they didn't snore. Not that Alexandra could complain; her own snoring sounded like a chain-smoking tractor with a bassoon in the exhaust. Mater had recorded it once. She'd laughed at the time, because everyone else was.
Alexandra padded over to the door and opened it slowly, trying to avoid any squeaks. She couldn't remember if Dolores Madrigal's super-hearing turned off at night, but she wasn't about to take any chances. "Heh," she mumbled aloud, without really realizing she was doing so. "The woman lives in a house with other people's kids. I'm amazed she didn't go completely nuts." There was no response. Of course there wasn't. Alexandra moved on.
Down the stairs, steps light, through the courtyard under the moon. Every breath was sweet and fragrant. Alexandra scrunched up her face in disgust. "God, it's so sickly." There was no reply. The flowers didn't seem to want her opinion either. She kept walking.
At last, the kitchen. It was the heart of Casa Madrigal, or at least one of the more important internal organs. "Come on, come on, donde esta el boozo, this is a place with Camilo Madrigal in it, there's bound to be something to drink somewhere..." She looked through the shelves and racks, trying not to wake anyone up. "Or anything." Nothing responded, of course. "But then why would it?"
She sat down at the table. By chance, it was at her assigned seat, with her assigned crockery in front of her. A pattern of hummingbirds and tropical flowers ran around the edge, with the name Alexandra in a jaunty font at the bottom. She rested her head on the table. "Urgl," she said. Eloquent as always. "Argh." Such a way with words. She lifted her head up just far enough to fold her arms underneath it. The fabric was soft and brightly coloured and wasn't the same hoodie she'd worn for two weeks straight because laundry meant dealing with people. It wasn't hers, was the point. Everything was so... it was all just...
"Nice." She said it aloud, made it sound like an insult, didn't realise she was doing either. "It's all so bloody, bloody nice. It's bright colours and upbeat songs and forgiving all thy trespasses. It's ghastly. And I'm stuck. The others might not have caught it in what that manipulative old bat said at dinner but she can't pull one over on me. We get out when we write something that's to their satisfaction. Which means writing something jolly and positive and oh so very nice. And until then? I'm stuck here. I'm stuck being condescended to by the Latinx-Men because I don't think abusers deserve forgiveness. I'm stuck living in We Have Hogwarts At Home with a bunch of stupid kids, and that's just the ones who aren't teachers. I'm stuck here until I learn to toe the line and bite my tongue and be a good little uncritical simpering Disney Adult. I'm stuck!"
She hadn't meant to shout that last word, and in the silence that followed she pressed her face deeper into her folded arms. That was when she heard the footsteps, and looked up into Camilo's eyes.
"Uh, hey, you're one of the students, right? Alejandra? Look, I know it's new here, but it's not gonna be so bad-"
Alexandra's face twisted into a snarl. "Don't you have someone more interesting to pretend to be?"
The words were out of her mouth before she could cover it up. Her eyes went wide. "Oh Christ, I, I didn't mean-"
"Wow. Rude much? Last time I try and help." And Camilo walked away.
Alexandra walked back up the stairs, feet light to hide her passing. She turned the doorknob and went to bed. The wardrobe was still snoring, still a hint that she should sleep.
She couldn't take it.
Girl, if you're going to be wrong, at least don't be so aggressively wrong. ... She thinks it's called "Latin America" because they actually speak Latin there, doesn't she. *facepalm*
Dolores, why do you think they'd be serving alcohol to a bunch of minors? Also, why do you think they wouldn't have juice? {X D
These people are very silly. I look forward to them being broken gently persuaded out of it.
The "we don't talk about Bruno!" bit made me laugh. Seems like something that would definitely happen. ^_^
~Neshomeh
These students really are going to be in for a ride! I laughed at the “not-that-Dolores” and her general sanctimoniousness. Can’t wait to see what comes next!
She has that sort of kidish innocence, which I had when I was 15 (and somewhat when I was 16) and I called myself kid. But, for the others, I don't know.
-kA, who sometimes still calls themself kid, but it's getting less frequent.
Either "kid" or "teen(ager)" should cover everyone except maybe the oldest three (Sophie, Elodia, and James). Sophie and James are she and he, and I reckon I can refactor to have Elodia as "Sophie's adult roomie" or somesuch.
(Though honestly I've creeped myself out a little by using 'man' to describe James early on. He may revert to 'guy' to draw less of a hard line, since I can't really use 'boy'.)
hS
Whoops.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this intro chapter. Leonor and Ana are gonna be really fun to be around, I can already tell. I'm excited to see where this goes! Even just looking through the signups, it'll be great fun to see where the other students go from their starting places.
I'm now extremely tempted to try and write songs from each character's perspective about what they think about the UOF and what they need to learn and so on. =]
One thing does seem off... The quote is not "And this is why coffee's for grownups", it's "And that's why coffee's for grownups." Tiny detail, you might even want to keep the mistake as an intentional misquote, but yeah. ...I watch reaction videos to Encanto songs WAY too much. No regrets!
And definitely throw me a line if you want more filks! Especially if you have ideas for what the song should be about as well; it always helps to have a plan on what the song's meant to accomplish before I start writing. XD
Or is it too early?
Once I've got a couple of chapters written I'll put it up on FFn and maybe AO3; then it can have a wiki page.
hS
In other ALLCAPPY fics by the same author, there are also CAISTA, DLORES and MARANIO. There may be more, but the ALLCAPS are making my eyes swim already.
I’m super excited for this one! Ever since I read the OFU’s, I always wanted to participate in an active one (although I think the only one I would have qualified for [ie, the only one I wrote badfic for] would have been the OFUR). Please room Katherine with someone who likes Luisa or Camilo, please. I can guarantee that there will be a fight. (Also, small note, she’s about 5’7 since I’m pretty sure I wasn’t 5’8 yet at 14? IDK, I haven’t grown much.)
You've succeeded in getting me properly excited for this! I envy the students their magical experience, though I'm sure that will change, haha. I don't reckon Abuela Alma is too thrilled about what these little hooligans have been saying about her family.
One typo: the S got left on in "You’ll have a roommates."
~Neshomeh
How should the students actually refer to her? Does anyone call her anything other than Abuela or Mamá in the film? I don't remember her name coming up in dialogue. It looks like she's "Señora" once, which is probably the most respectful option - but half the students probably think Abuela is her name.
hS
And when they're speaking Spanish, it seems as though they should definitely use usted (not tú) when speaking to staff members—and anyone else, too. I guess usted is more prevalent in Colombian Spanish than in other forms. TIL.
~Neshomeh
(Just for the record, Alejandra is merely the Spanish pronunciation. Which she doesn't like. Say her damn name, Spanish has the letter ex in it, it's not hard.)
See, Alexandra's biggest problem with the film is that people say it doesn't really have a villain... but it does. The villain is generational trauma, represented by Abuela, and as far as Alexandra's concerned the villain won. In her opinion, the Madrigals should have dropped her off at a nursing home on the other side of the world and gone full no-contact afterwards, and views the ending as actively undermining all the film's morals up to that point. This is, incidentally, not a view I particularly share myself, but it's certainly a take I've seen online more than once.
So the most polite thing you're gonna get out of her regarding Abuela is "that hag", and the worst you're gonna get is not repeatable here. Or in the fic, actually. The film's rated, what, PG? So in my head I have the image of it just being bleeped out automatically by the Casita, perhaps with a nearby dresser clamping its drawers over any impressionable young ears.
... Please room her with Lily's character. Please. They'd get on like a house on fire. Y'know, screaming, property damage, probably an explosion or two.
I was thinking Lola would be a good fit for Alice or Sophie because she could bully them enable them into making fools of themselves when something Lola says “all Latinos do” turns out to be super region-specific and definitely not Colombian, but if Alexandra is the sort who’d call Abuela abusive she’ll probably get into a sandal slapfight with Lola, hehe.
(Incidentally I’ve had the idea of “Surface Pressure” being filked to become something about the burden of not feeling like you’re doing your own culture justice when you write fic about it, which would be an interesting second layer to Lola… Much To Think About)
"This is just the kind of Anglo imperialist garbage I should expect from you!"
"You think my people have some kind of monopoly on imperialism? You speak Spanish. How much Nahuatl do you know?"
Casita won’t even light a candle for them; they’ll have to stay in the nursery until they can stand each other long enough to get their miracles 🤣
gasp of offense “The fact that I don’t speak Nahuatl is actually proof that I am a victim of imperialism and not a perpetrator, unlike you!”
I reckon we can squeeze Dolores (is she Lola now? How is she Lola?) and Alexandra in together; I already have Alexander's room down as one where the candle goes out pretty quickly, so shifting Dolores in won't hinder that.
The only downside is that it puts probably the two strongest personalities together, which means that the /other/ rooms will be a bit quieter. (My tentative notes had Dolores with Elodia, who would be utterly convinced by everything she said. But that can happen outside the dorms.) But then, dorm room drama isn't a major plot point, insofar as there's even a plot.
hS
It’s just my prediction for what would happen if someone tried pairing Alexandra and Dolores anyway :P
As for Lola, it’s a diminutive of Dolores, which will hopefully help distinguish her from Dolores Madrigal (besides her… everything else, anyway).
Which godforsaken demon got into the Author's mind and wrote this-
on an irrelevant note, what would Encanto minis be :D
This is WhatThe-worthy stuff, no doubt.
This might be nuts, but it's the closest thing to a "monster" with a physical form in the movie. I'm thinking, like, green 3D hard-light images of the scene in which the character/word is misspelled? And most of the time they just sorta sit there, but if you look at them too long, you get a vague sense of existential dread and have to turn away. And god help you if you blink. {X D
~Neshomeh
The example of Misspelled Monkeys tells us they don't have to be miniature, and prophecies are already a convenient size. I think the "minis" would be better referred to as False Prophecies.
hS
I am getting massive SCP vibes from this. I can just imagine agents carefully collecting these minis, putting them in special folders to separate and protect them, and then place them in a very secure and sturdy filing cabinet. From which they may of course escape... Not that you'd notice immediately. They move when you're not actively thinking about them, and place themselves where they may be noticed. They might feel like they're here to help, so they don't like being forgotten... That may be putting a little too much sentience in what is essentially an object in the film, but they ARE minis, and minis tend to have a lot of personality.
These are a lot more eerie and dread-inspiring than your average mini. Any Encanto OFU student learning through pain with these ones would have to face their mistakes in a much more... self-reflecting way. Haunted, in a way, by prophecies they made. I love it. =D
Like, for guarding the staff room of the Casa Madrigal (I'm sure Casita would oblige), there are a couple of these False Prophecies (which I like!) sitting on pedestals outside the door, staring down anyone who dares enter if it is not their fate to do so. Cue some students inevitably taking the lessons on fate vs. free will and duty vs. being yourself to heart in all the wrong ways. YOLO, amirite? {X D
It would be an interesting OFU! (Or UOF, as the case may be: La Universidad Oficial de Fanfiction de Encanto, if I'm not much mistaken.) I really kinda hope someone does this now.
~Neshomeh
So I'm picturing the dorms as copies of the nursery, with each one having a magic door showing the occupants (2-4), and a candle inside. The candle gives those students their own almost-entirely-useless miracle - like "can jump a foot higher" or "can understand rocks (but rocks don't talk much)". And if the occupants of a dorm room fall out - their candle goes out, their door goes blank, and their miracle goes poof until they fix things up.
Classes take place in the bedrooms (or, we can assume, copies thereof, Casita being a helpful sort). Some of them are useful - Luisa covers how to write actual strong characters, not just characters who can do everything, Isabela talks about the dangers of letting plot override character (or vice versa!). Some of them are not: notably, Dolores alternates between letting the students talk among themselves for an hour (so she can get all the gossip), and literally just telling them all to shut up for the entire lesson.
Mirabel ostensibly teaches in the nursery, but actually takes her classes out into town every time. Theoretically she's teaching Columbian culture, but in fact she's making them do chores for the townsfolk.
Bruno teaches Prophesy Versus Narrative Causality in the sand-room. Hernando and Jorge also teach, in various places inside the walls. At no point do any of the staff acknowledge that these are the same person, to the point where half the students are convinced they must be different.
Nobody has seen Camilo. Everyone's certain he must be disguised as someone.
Being a very helpful family, none of the staff would dream of doing anything to hurt the students... unless it's deniable. Isabela didn't know anyone would step on those cacti; Pepa didn't mean to drop a hailstorm on the picnic; and just because Antonio can talk to animals doesn't mean he can control them well enough to have done all that on purpose.
And yes - all the staff keep singing. Mealtimes and nighttimes are continually interrupted by Lin Manuel Miranda filks relevant to current events. Most of the nighttime ones are Dolores recapping what she's overheard that day.
hS
...Like I haven't had a version of What Else Can I Do but about writing in my head for weeks.
I just wrote something, I-don’t-know-what
Something that I don’t hate
It’s not the greatest thing in hist’ry
But it’s finished though, and it’s mine
There’s more to create
Not even close to done, Lin is way too good with his rhyming for anything I write to be perfect. (But maybe it just needs to be. See, I learned from this song!)
This has nothing to do with the fact it’s been stuck in my head for a week...
But maybe it would be something to do with the one legendary badfic of the Encanto fandom (if there is one)? We don’t talk about insert badfic name here, no no no. We don’t talk about insert badfic name here...”
... that covers the ground "Welcome to the Casita, you're here to learn how to write fanfic, here's your miracle and if you fight with your dormmates you're gonna lose it"? I feel like a songfic chapter would be the perfect way to introduce Encanto OFU. (In the sense that someone - probably Mirabel - is actually singing at them, relentlessly cheerful even as she tells them This Is Gonna Hurt.)
hS
Something like this? Not entirely finished, but I've got the first half.
MIRABEL
So glad you read and
Filled in the application
Now we’ll get started
There’s so much to see and do
Come meet my family
They’ll help with orientation
They read your work and would love to give you their review
Whoa
Do you think I’m talking way too fast, whoa
The truth is I am glad you’re here at last, whoa
You feel the beat, know this will be a blast
If you’re uncertain, then feel free to ask, so
Welcome to the OUF Encanto
You’re moving to OUF Encanto (we’re getting close!)
Where all the staff is so encouraging and nourishing
Where we all work at OUF Encanto
[dialogue, probably filled with a lot of squealing]
MIRABEL
This is your dorm room
Step up and touch the doorknob
Casita grants you
A miracle that’s yours to keep
You’ll have some roommates
(Please get along with your roommates!)
They say it’s best to play nice, please note they watch you sleep
Oh! When you hug it out the candle’s bright, whoa
The truth is, you can learn from every fight, whoa
Knowing them makes everything alright
And after this you might be super tight, aw!
Welcome to the OUF Encanto
You’re moving to OUF Encanto (this will be great!)
Where all the staff will sure endeavor to look out for you
That’s just who we are at OUF Encanto
By which I mean, the students are just arriving at Casita now for the first chorus. Because yes of course I've tricked myself into writing the thing.
Don't feel you have to filk the entire song, by the way - I know how hard it is! I'm cheerfully writing to meet your lyrics, so I'm happy to send them to their dorms now - or to take them on a wild introductory tour if you do want to continue the song. It's all up to you!
~
I've pegged UOF Encanto (I think it is "UOF", because the O is an adjective) at a dozen students, in three dorms of four. In traditional OFU style, I'm going to ask for hapless volunteer students from you lot. My thought is to go for fairly realistic "self-inserts" (need not actually be self), rather than "my name is ~#&STARS*** and I'm a fairy princess!", which... well, it's kind of mean to fanwriters, is my thought. So for example, my student insert* is named James, and is basically me aged down to about 23. No PPC agents, please - the first class is just for fanwriters.
*James is not the protagonist; she's a more typical late-teens fangirl.
(I've also mentioned so far a girl aged about 14, and another girl - no age - with glasses as big as Mirabel's, who's not overly keen on being in a "songfic". If you want to be one of those two, mention it.)
Student name: An Earth name, but not necessarily yours. Ideally it would have a Spanish form - eg "James" can be called "Jaime" - but this isn't 100% essential. (Behind the Name is good for this.) (I may be willing to accept one person who insists on being called by their screenname.)
Student age: I figure let's keep it below university leaving age, so we don't have full adults hanging out with young teenagers.
Student appearance & gender: Briefly, please! Hair, skin, and height, any strong clothing preferences, anything I really need in there, and of course pronouns.
Student personality: Just really briefly. Bouncy, snarky, pessimistic, excitable, whatever.
Miracle: A really minor, fairly useless power for your student to be given.
Anything Else: Do you see them as writers of a specific genre? Do they have a Thing for Luisa? Do they actually speak Spanish? Any details I can slip into the story.
hS
Name: Alice "Alicia" Pietz (pronounced "peets")
Age: 16
Gender & Appearance: Cis female. Caucasian, long brown hair kept in a ponytail, brown eyes, glasses. On the skinny side. She has zero fashion sense; anything other than jeans and a solid-color t-shirt or sweater is too flashy. She's fine with the film's style of dress on the characters, but won't enjoy it on herself. (Not at first, anyway; it may grow on her when/if she learns that liking dresses doesn't mean you're a dumb airhead.)
Personality: Serious, quiet with large groups, friendly with individuals, curious. Bit of a know-it-all, though. Will show off in class given the chance. The ego really shows in her writing.
Miracle: She can fold anything suitably paper-like into a perfect origami caterpillar. This is the only origami she can do. She's never even made paper cranes before.
Other: The tagline for Alice's problem fic is "What if Isabela had to get married after all? What if Mirabel was next?" It involves Mirabel in your basic fanfic arranged marriage with a guy from another encanto (because they're all over the place, you know), and it's got a European-style fantasy castle and everything. Of course, Mirabel (like the author!) is too smart to want anything to do with this, but she doesn't have a choice. The fic spends a few chapters "cleverly" "deconstructing" marriage, relationships, stereotypical femininity, etc. (Witness zero awareness of other cultures and the misogynist overtones of ripping on people who want marriage and dresses and all.) Mirabel makes friends with her horse and takes her only joy from daily rides and whatnot. (This is totally not ripping off The Princess Bride or any other rebellious princess stories at all.) Finally, she's rescued from her misery by Bruno, who had a vision that she was in trouble and came to help her escape. They go off and have wholesome buddy adventures together, free from their stupid family who never understood them anyway. They are NOT A COUPLE and any reviewers suggesting they should be are sick perverts, ew.
Alice might be an asexual who hasn't learned there's a spectrum and she's simply at one end of it, and has decided her lack of interest in sex makes her intellectually and morally superior to everyone wasting their time being obsessed with it. Maybe. She'll view students who partake in lusting and/or shipping with distaste bordering on disgust.
Spanish? Haha, no. She wants to learn Latin, but her stupid high school doesn't offer it. Spanish is, like, corrupted Latin, and therefore uncool.
~Neshomeh was secretly a really annoying teenager. >.>
Well, if there's still room in the Universidad, that is!
Name: Clay Romero
Student Age: 17
Student appearance and gender: Shorter than 5 feet, with dark hair swept to one side. Lanky but hides it under loose clothes. He/they.
Student personality: Quiet and very tired. Usually looks either zoned out or half-asleep. Not one to speak in sentences when a few words will do. Very passive and open to self-deprecation if it means avoiding conflict.
Miracle: Can draw very realistic eyes with the tip of his finger. Is only capable of drawing eyes; he's a terrible artist otherwise.
Anything else: Wrote stories on Deviantart for money. Watched Encanto once and didn't remember it very well, but got commissioned to write fanfic of it. The end result was less canon-breaking than it was simply dull. His technical writing is passable, but he only knows how to write three distinct character types without creating cardboard cutouts.
Name: Martha (usually goes by Marty and gets irritated when told that's pretty atypical yes she knows that stop telling her)
Student age: 14
Student appearance & gender: Short and stocky, with close-cropped and wildly curly brown hair that frizzes in the heat. She keeps it tied back with a bandana and usually dresses very tomboyishly. Caucasian skin, brown eyes. Marty's nonbinary but hasn't figured it out yet, so she/her pronouns.
Student personality: Loud, opinionated, and when she latches onto an idea it takes a lot to persuade her otherwise.
Miracle: (Wow that would've been good to remember I needed) Marty can conjure a light at the tip of her finger. Its best use is as a reading light under the covers.
Anything Else: Marty likes to say she's got a massive crush on Camilo but secretly wishes she had his miracle. She doesn't want to think too much on why. She wrote a self-insert Mary Sue who turned up at Casita with the same powers and had a terribly written romance that threw the poor canon wildly OOC with his soppy declarations of love. While her grasp on grammar is solid, her storytelling abilities... leave a lot to be desired.
She speaks enough Spanish to follow the gist of a conversation but is nowhere near fluent; funnily enough the Spanish in her fanfic was one of the few redeeming points of it because she got a friend who is fluent to make sure she had it correct.
Limiting signups was silly and I'm not doing it. ^_^ I've shifted the students to 2-bed dorms, so will keep adding pairs as long as people keep joining. Marty (or Martí? I figure she'll avoid winding up as Marta) will probably be bunking with Catalina - I mean Katherine - nah, I mean Catalina, because I'm trying to keep roomie ages close together. (I do currently have Jaime and Goose in together, because they're the only male students so far; I honestly have no idea if I'm being old-fashioned there?)
hS
Student name: Gus. The Spanish would be Augusto, but I'm sure Gus would love if it just got pronounced under typical Spanish phonetics as "Goose."
Student age: 16
Student appearance & gender: Short brown hair, Caucasian skin, five feet tall, green eyes. Preppy collared shirts only, glasses for nearsightedness. He/him.
Student personality: Studious, serious, analytical.
Miracle: The ability to "play back" from his mouth spoken dialogue he's heard, including an exact impression of the speaker's voice. (But only repeating things he's heard; can't make up new dialogue in someone else's voice.)
Anything else: Gus is a film reviewer on YouTube, but his videos are always dry and serious academic analyses; they're not very fun to watch. He admires Luisa for her strong work ethic . . . he may not quite grasp the real meaning behind "Surface Pressure" . . . He's probably taking some Spanish classes in high school, but isn't fully fluent.
—doctorlit wears himself some preppy collared shirts, loves him them preppy collared shirts
Who's only capable of repeating what someone else has said.
Gus can speak freely in his own voice. He just can't freely imitate others, only parrot back what he's heard them say.
—doctorlit doctorlit
Gus can just switch up the order of words he's remembered, so he can still mimic people fairly well; he just needs to hear more of them. Actually, that's a point. Is it retroactive? If not, he could just watch Encanto again on a laptop by completely legal means and then be able to perfectly mimic most of the main cast, with expansions on vocabulary added as and when.
This is a useless power, remember? I reckon Goose is going to be stuck with full sentences only. (Doesn't make sense? Doesn't have to - it's a miracle.)
Thinking about it, the best way to use this is probably that he has to concentrate on the memory. Also he's literally playing it back - his mouth doesn't even move.
I'm currently stuck for a miracle for my protagonist. :-/ All my ideas have been used.
hS
>She can change the colour of her hair, but only her eyebrows.
>She has perfect pitch, but only for the G note that opens "Welcome to the Black Parade".
>She is able to tell exactly when milk is going to spoil. Just milk, nothing related like cheese or butter.
>She never loses that one sock in the wash.
>She can make a red dot appear on the wall. A bit like a laser pointer, but it only works on walls.
>She can make any writing invisible, but only while she's holding whatever said writing is upon.
> She can belch a perfect E Flat.
> Her sneezes are ten times faster than even the fastest Dad Sneeze
> She can absorb small items into her body and slowly spit them out again; the objects are about the size of a 10p piece at maximum and she can't hold that many.
> She can turn any liquid into fresh milk by touching its container or receptacle. It doesn't turn off. Hope you like moo juice.
> She knows the exact position and emotional state of every adult man called Horace within a fifty mile radius.
> She can fix a malfunctioning mechanical object by hitting it and swearing at it for an hour at a time.
> She can recharge a battery by laying her tongue across the contacts
> She has highly flammable, extremely sticky spit that sets like concrete on the target. However, it's in the same quantities as normal spit.
> She can sing the bassoon part in any piece of classical music.
Hope these are fun =]
It's not any of either of yours, though I was really very tempted to combine two into "she can fix any broken machine, but only while she's touching it". The one I wound up with is strongly inspired by the theme of "a thing, but only in very specific circumstances". I came very close to using "she instinctively knows everyone's name", which would be amazing for narrative, but founders on questions of Martha/Marty and Alexandra/Alejandra. So instead I settled on--
--ah, but that would be telling.
hS
Student Name: Alexandra (Alejandra) ffinch. That's not a typo. The double f is in place of a capital and is common in English surnames, particularly those of posh twerps whose ears are sensitive to the upper case.
Student Age: 19
Student Appearance and Gender: 6'1", long, thick, dark blonde hair that's mostly tangles, brown eyes, very heavy pear-shaped figure. She wears slip-on shoes and bulky, shapeless clothes. She/they pronouns.
Student Personality: Dejected, haughty, disdainful of the Casa and its magic powers. The kind of person whose response to being sung a song about friendship by Mister Blue Bird Of Happiness would be to lace some breadcrumbs with cyanide. Does she have depression? Yes! Is she medicated? No! This may go some way to explaining why she's Like This.
Miracle: Can levitate herself about six inches off the ground for a few seconds no it's not jumping it's different.
Anything Else: Alexandra doesn't really care for the film at all, and wrote a deliberately bad fanfic to mock the premise. This fic became hugely popular, spawning a small hatedom community and bountiful memes. She therefore tried to earnestly write a fic that critiqued the film from an in-universe perspective... and that fic turned out even worse, because even though she was really trying hard, it became a really dull essay instead of a fic. She thinks she was dragged into the UOF for the first fic mentioned, but it's actually for the second; I get the impression that the UOF ignores trolls but sensed something else in Alexandra with the second one. She doesn't speak a word of Spanish, LatAm or otherwise; she can do French and a little bit of GCSE Latin, but that's about it.
Student name: Amber Grey. Ámbar looks to be the Spanish version of the name.
Student age: 16
Student appearance & gender: White skin and light blue eyes with long red hair. Has freckles across her nose, spilling onto the tops of her cheeks. She/he/they (she's genderfluid) but she is usally what she uses.
Student personality: Energetic, naïve about certain things, kind (not likely to provoke someone into a fight nor say anything super mean), but gets lost in her own thoughts easily and is shy.
Miracle: Able to run into any (and every) door and not get super injured.
Anything Else: A writer of fluff, but doesn't understand character dynamics. Probably her greatest sin is her error-ridden story that she promptly took down once people at school found out. Clueless about Latin American culture, and the only Spanish words she knows are "hola," "si," and "no."
You see, I was thinking about starting an OFU of my own, but now I would feel bad of two OFUs ran at the same time.
-kA
If you're interested in collaborating I'm open to that...? I only actually have a solid idea of the first two chapters, plus a few lesson ideas thereafter. I can email you the link to my working document if you're interested (it's mostly bios right now; I've only written about a third of a chapter).
Or, I'd be perfectly happy for there to be two OFUEncantos, though preferably under different names. They could even cross over - I'm not sure whether it would be funnier for them to be parallel universes (with two sets of the canon characters meeting up), or just... hey, turns out they've been running a second school on the other side of Casita, you just never noticed before.
(Or or, we could theoretically have one OFU with two fics, focussing on different students. They wouldn't have to cover the same lessons and events, but equally could do so. I put this one in brackets because I suspect for you it would be the worst of all worlds, though I think it would be pretty cool.)
hS
No, I meant a completely different canon. I was gonna do my RBAF (Rescue Bots Academy for Fanfiction), not an Encanto OFU. Sorry for the confusion on my end.
I didn't want two OFUs running at the same time because... for some reason, I don't exactly recall now. I think it was because of the signups.
Again, sorry for the confusion!
-kA
(Edit: Spelling)
I mean, OFUM and HFA ran at the same time; you can't get better precedent than that!
More importantly, signing up for an OFU takes... what, ten minutes? Fifteen? People aren't going to shy away just because there's a second one in town. Is that Transformers: Rescue Bots? The kids used to watch that for a bit, so I would totally craft a student to send into it.
hS
I based the title off of Rescue Bots Academy, though (which then begs the question: what would the OFU of RBA be called? Would it be a division of RBAF? Would it be The Secondary Academy for Fanfiction? I guess it would be up to whoever decides to write an RBA OFU, which probably wouldn't be me).
Still fiddling with the sign up form, but I should have it done soon (am currently doing Stats homework, but that doesn't take too long).
-kA who also needs to read an English book for Lit. Circles on Friday (if there is in-person learning, of course) as well
I was running out of ideas a little and there's a lot of song left, so might just leave it there unless there's something else that needs to be told in song form? I am all for adding verses if there is more exposition!
Oh, and I've got a student for ya!
Student name: Sophie. Could easily be made into Sofía, but definitely best not to let Sophie name herself! She knows nothing about Spanish.
Student age: 20
Student appearance & gender: She/her. 5’7, red hair with the complexion that matches that so flushes easily, from exertion, embarrassment, excitement or just heat. The Colombian jungle will not be kind to her. She dresses for comfort but loves the clothing in Encanto, even if she has no idea what anything is called.
Student personality: Very, very excited to be here. It’s all so colourful and pretty, and musical interludes are so great!
Miracle: Can fall asleep anywhere.
Anything Else: Does she know anything about Latin American culture? No! Does she speak Spanish? Absolutely not! Does she do even the tiniest bit of research? No! She is a creature powered by enthusiasm and her stories make it very clear that she has no idea that things can be different in other places. She learned that arepas existed by watching the movie, but she doesn’t know what they actually are. (Is it like a bread or a fruit? Eh, it's not super important to the story so she's not even googling that.) She's from the UK, so writing that Crunchie bars are Antonio's favourite makes perfect sense!
Oh, and her favourite character is Dolores. She writes a lot of Dolores/Mariano and would like very much to see them kiss.
Student Name: Xochitl Bowman
Student age: 16
Student appearance and gender: Xochitl is 5 feet 4 inches tall and kind of skinny. She almost always wears jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt, and tends to grumble when forced to wear dresses or skirts. She is mixed up about the whole business of gender, and uses they/them pronouns.
Personality: She is generally nice and friendly, but she gets very cranky when she is hungry.
Miracle: She can see in the dark, but becomes very nearsighted when she does it.
She can speak a decent amount of Spanish because of taking lots of classes and practicing at home with her mom. She mostly writes poemfics and sometimes original poetry.
Name: Katherine (Catalina)
Age: 14
Appearance/Gender: Tall with long brown hair that’s generally back in a low ponytail. Constantly wears a green headband. Has a slight tan and bad skin. Has glasses that are constantly slipping down her nose. Only wears sweatpants, hoodies, and oversized tee-shirts. She/her
Personality: Quiet, nice, seems normal at first. She’s actually very chatty, filthy-minded, and sarcastic, she just hides it well from strangers. Very lazy. Tends to be very possessive of people she fancies.
Miracle: Can levitate small items across a distance of about five feet
Anything Else: Is in her “anime phase” of drawing. Has a serious crush on both Luisa and Camilo. Freaks out about SPaG but can’t write a good original character to save her life. Tends to write flat, boring characters in an attempt to avoid writing Sues. Knows enough Spanish to hold a basic conservation if speaking slowly.
Question: how would you like/expect to see the multiple pronouns written? Would you expect the characters to switch in mid-scene (as happens in Vioven's profile), or just to have a different one day by day? (I don't intend it to come up in dialogue, but the narration is going to need to refer to them!)
Note: I may have been confusing on names. They don't need to be Spanish names, but Mirabel and/or the village kids are going to translate everyone whose name isn't already Spanish-use. (Though already-Spanish is also fine!)
hS
I think Dolores is fine with people addressing her or referring to her with either she or they. In terms of the narrative, just pick one and stick with it.
ETA: Also, to avoid confusing her with Dolores Madrigal, she could be called Lola. For further comedy, a staff member could call her Loli or Lolita just to watch basically anyone who’s read Nabokov or likes questionable Japanese manga or Japanese fashion subcultures get confused.
Student name: Dolores Muñoz
Student age: 19
Student appearance & gender: She/they. If you refer to her as Latinx be prepared to get a complaint about “Anglo imperialism” (the x-makes-something-gender-neutral rule doesn’t really work in Spanish). Olive skin, dark wavy hair often in a messy ponytail. Hazel eyes. Wears only thrifted and handmade clothes and is a bit of a snob about it. Commonly spotted in an oversized white cardigan and jeans. Would wear a snood.
Student personality: High-strung, dramatic, very opinionated, is the kind of person who takes an introductory class to something and then decides that that makes her an expert about something. If her fellow students burn themselves trying to make arepas (apparently the batter can explode) she will laugh about it.
Miracle: Incredibly deadly aim when throwing a sandal.
Anything Else: Considers herself an expert on all of Latin American culture, ignoring the fact that there’s a ton of different cultures and not even one culture is a monolith. Writes the kinds of fics that get so pedantic or bogged down in self-aggrandisement that it kinda loses flavour. Her biggest Encanto fic sin is probably some edgy attempt to make the setting more like actual magical realism. It went grimdark very fast.
Student name: Elodia
Student age: 22
Student appearance & gender: Elodia has short, curly dark brown hair, fairly pale skin and deep blue eyes. She's about 5'6 and tends to wear brightly coloured or oddly patterned tops/jumpers. She/her and they/them
Student personality: Easily excited, happy and joyful, although a bit... naive.
Miracle: Sometimes parts of her neck glow random colours. There is absolutely no pattern to it, but sometimes random glowy colours appear on her neck, stay around for awhile, then disappear
Anything Else: They're fairly nice- but they don't exactly understand why certain things qualify their writing as badfic.
You know, the one with the honor of being mini'd up there 😆
...that are bound to pop up. Not that the Madrigals would ever hurt anyone on purpose! There are just, um... bees everywhere. Antonio did not ask them to be there. Sometimes bees happen.
You know, to find out what the actual problems are that need solving.
It's hard to come up with anything related to healing or cooking... I know someone needs to teach Basic Spanish (Not Just Hola), so I suspect the Madrigals who don't have an obvious subject will end up on things like that and Spelling. Perhaps Pepa was supposed to take Language Use as a whole, but she kept going hurricane on students who messed up their Spanish, so Julieta took it over and left her sister with just English.
hS
Circle of Lemmings is, of course, stuffed with Camilo/OC and Camilo/reader. Noted one Bruno/OC, too. Sometimes Bruno and/or Camilo are “yandere”, so… dark and possessive?
AO3 has like over four thousand entries in the Encanto tag already (but I haven’t filtered it further for language or completion status just yet). Lots of OCs (understandable if you wanna ship and not do an incest) and some… fluff and self discovery stuff? There’s a couple fics tagged “X is a good parent” because while the movie might be about healing generational trauma, the fics would like to Pretend that Never Needed to Happen. Sometimes it’s just escapism, but I would be wary of non-Latine people trying to make judgements on Latin American family dynamics.
(Which, as I think was noted in this thread, was mentioned with fics calling Abuela abusive, etc. There’s a similar issue in MDZS fandom with the Jiangs.)
But badfics in this fandom seem to involve incest in one way or another.
...except they talk about Bruno a lot in that song. >.<
I imagine this class would be two units. Unit 1 covers all the psychological, social/religious, and biological reasons incest would be extremely unlikely to occur among the Madrigals. Unit 2 covers all the implications regarding the same that you must bear in mind if you insist on writing it anyway. And possibly also involves one or two students being taken aside and asked if there's anything they need to talk about, because the staff are worried about them. >.>
~Neshomeh
Because I can totally see that. She doesn't /mean/ to half-drown the students - she just gets so worked up!
hS
PEPA (AND FÉLIX)
Incest is a big no-no, no no no
Incest is a big no-no
But!
Since you’re still doing it (Never not doing it)
Here’s a valid lesson
And we won’t unpack your reasons why (No time for your reasons why)
Incest’s not drama, it’s heavy-weight trauma (Expelled!)
You’re leading this lesson or am I? (Sorry mi vida, go on)
Incest is a dicey game (You won’t put the time in)
Leading to disgrace and shame (With no reason or rhyme in)
Sullying the family name (Actions have consequences, hey)
Incest is a big no-no, no no no
Incest is a big no-no
It wouldn't just be Pepa (with a supportive husband to calm her down if she sweeps the students away in a hurricane) but her entire family getting in on it... Each of them giving their take. Dolores might lay out the reasons for why she gets it, basically all the developed characters of the movie are part of the same family so pairing them up makes a sort of bizarre sense, but with the ease writers seem to be doing it she's also a little worried about them. ("But seriously though I am here if you need to talk / Do you need to talk?") while Camilo might just be like... grossed out.
PS. Though I think the idea of Dolores as a school therapist is funny and there are jokes to be made about hearing vs. listening, the Madrigal who should be the therapist is obviously Mirabel. But maybe in Dolores' room, because I believe people who worked on the film have mentioned it being soundproof, so Dolores wouldn't be able to listen in on sessions. She absolutely cannot be trusted with secrets, as we know.
^_^
I'm currently thinking this will be around chapter 5; I don't want to drop the incest-bomb too early, and I'm figuring roughly one in two chapters will have songs, so yeah.
ALSO! Can I put in a request? It's getting way ahead of myself, but I've realised that the final song is the one sung by the students after they take their final exam - to write an Encanto fic using what they've learned - and realise that it's actually... good?
LEONOR: I just wrote something unexpected...
Any chance you can work something up (based on What Else Can I Do?) with them just... exclaiming about these new ideas they've used and how much they've come on? Feel free to attribute lines to specific people you really think should have them, but I'm also happy to do assignments on the fly to see what fits with the story.
(My only other lyric thought was that "bring it in" could easily be "read it out", quite possibly still from Mirabel.)
hS
I'll work on these, but it'll take me a while. =) We'll keep in touch!
I was thinking about the popularity of Camilo. His limited screen time and lines combined with his shape-shifting ability make him easy to project onto, so that makes total sense to me.
Further, I got to thinking that I want to see Disney do a feature film starring a (human) boy who doesn't go on a warrior's journey. You know who's perfect for that? Camilo!
I want an Encanto sequel starring Camilo. I want to see this young man who can be anybody go on a journey to figure out who he wants to be. I want to see him try out everything possible and end up somewhere in the middle. I don't think Disney has the stones to have him decide to be a Camila in the end, but maybe, just maybe, we could end up with an openly enby character? Maybe he could at least kiss a(nother) boy even if he ends up with a girl (or nobody!) in the end? At the very least, he could become someone whose gift allows him to actually walk a mile in other people's shoes and develop the sort of deep empathy and compassion typically associated with women, or something like that, anyway. Just so long as he doesn't end up traditionally-masculine.
Maybe he helps break down the walls between the encanto and the outside world, maybe he just helps quarreling townsfolk who've been stuck with each other for fifty years to get along better, IDK.
Care would have to be taken to execute this story in a way that's respectful of the culture in which it takes place, but I think it could be done. The encanto is a matriarchy, anyway; there doesn't seem to be any stereotype machismo in the film, so that couldn't be a convenient straw "villain."
I said I want to see this in an Encanto sequel. It could also be the subject of a final exam fanfiction. Thought I'd put it out there. {= )
~Neshomeh
Bruno is not a small abused child, Alma is not evil, Pepa doesn't hate Bruno and rejecting a man does not always make you a lesbian and more pain.
Which, considering the continuum, should probably be named in Spanish.
On an unrelated note, I planned (and have scrapped said plan, at least for now) to write an OFU for the Onmyōji fandom, which would operate like a terakoya – Edo period temple school.
Unless other continua already have mini-rats, of course
