Subject: Chapter 1B
Author:
Posted on: 2022-02-08 12:26:04 UTC

((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

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