#We love Pepa and Abuela for trying

[mischiefbuckley]

For this season being marketed like Eddie’s season again with Ryan doing so much press heading into the beginning of season 8… like where are all my Eddie scenes ABC??? Season 8b please deliver on more Eddie scenes and more focus on Eddie’s storyline please 🙏🏻

[dorkydegeneracy]

It's crazy that we were all tossing around these theories about how Eddie was going to get Chris back, and arguably one of the more obvious solutions, Eddie returning to El Paso all together to be with Chris, never crossed our minds.

Because let's be honest. IRL this isn't a terrible decision. It's actually quite a good one, considering Chris is seemingly thriving in Texas and all of his blood family is there (radio silence from Tia Pepa and Abuelita (didn't abuela move back to Texas, or is that fanon? The lines between fic and reality are Heavily blurred)). Uprooting Chris' life again would be unnecessarily cruel. Stability is of paramount importance right now after the tumultuous life Chris has had.

There are really only two things that make this idea nonsensical:

1) Eddie moving to El Paso is not going to fix his relationship with his son. He's doing it purely for himself because he is missing out on his son's most formative year. (See #2 for more insight on this.). But Chris doesn't need Eddie to move to El Paso permanently. He needs Eddie to come to terms with why he continues to make these reckless mistakes that affect Chris in a real way. Chris needs Eddie to stop trying to replace Shannon. Chris needs Eddie to move on and be happy so he can be an even better father. Which brings me to. . .

2(a)) Eddie believes that moving to El Paso is going to make him happy because Chris is there. But he is sorrily mistaken. The priest gave him the assignment to stop punishing himself and allow himself to feel joy. And he is choosing to move so that he can be happier by not missing Chris's milestone moments. He's going about the assignment the wrong way. Yes Chris should and does make him happy, but that's not the only thing that makes Eddie happy. It would be incredibly unhealthy if this was true. Eddie LOVES being a fire fighter. Eddie LOVES his fire fam* (more than he likes his parents). And. . .

2(b)) EDDIE LOVES BUCK. There are a million reasons why Eddie loves Buck. But one in particular was illuminated last episode that I don't think the show has ever teased at before.

Listen, I know we are all obsessed with Buck having his own crisis, but this was the most striking part of the entire scene for me. DO Y'ALL SEE THIS FACE? This is the face of a man who was afraid to let his "best friend" know that he was planning on moving to El Paso to be with his son because he knows that Buck is going through a tough time right now. He didn't want to add another stone to the pile. But Buck isn't a guest in Eddie's house, so he took a peak and ripped the band-aid off. And Buck had the nerve to be 1000% supportive of Eddie's decision. So Eddie makes that 👆🏾face because he CANNOT BELIEVE that Buck would be so selfless. He thinks it's crazy that somebody would unquestionably help him be happy in Buck's scenario.

Eddie, I'm just saying, what we all just saw is HUSBAND-like behavior from Buck. And I know you didn't see the whole thing, and you don't know this, but you have just flipped Buck's world upside down. Your man is dying on the inside. Because BUCK LOVES YOU. But he doesn't know that yet. And he doesn't want to pull you away from your son. Who is also his son. So yeah.

*NOTE: The fire fam is not the same as actual blood family at least not for Chris. I get it, Helena obviously does not have Eddie's interest at heart, which is why her and Ramon taking Chris for three months is cruel, but I think the show is trying to suggest that Chris is indeed thriving in El Paso where he is surrounded by his aunts, uncles, cousins and other family. Those bonds are unique and important. Even if Helena Diaz is conniving. The fire fam in my mind is more crucial for Eddie. Not that the fire fam aren't amazing and provide a comforting familial sense in LA, but. . . you get what I mean. It's just different. Especially since Eddie actually has a big family back home, not all of which he is maligned.

[glorious-spoon]

17 and/or 28?

hello nonnie! i went with 28: surprising them with their favorite treat. love is stored in the kitchen, etc.

-

"No, no, I'm not doing it for you," Abuela says, swatting his arm lightly with her dishtowel in that way that makes Eddie feel like he's taken a step backward through time, back to the sunny little kitchen in the house she sold three years ago to move back to Texas, back to being eight years old again and hanging around while she baked, even though he was supposed to be too old for all that by then. She's frailer now, but her eyes are just as sharp as she folds Eddie's fingers back around the egg he's trying to hand to her. "You're never going to learn if I do it for you."

"We're going to run out of eggs before I get it right at this point," he complains. They've gone through three already, the yolks broken and bleeding into the whites and therefore useless.

"You can use them to make a frittata. Or an omelet. Something. They won't go to waste."

He squints at her. "Was that a metaphor?"

"Come on, come on. Josephina is picking me up in an hour, if you want this cake to happen it's got to happen now."

"I could just buy one," Eddie says halfheartedly, like this whole enterprise wasn't his idea in the first place. God knows why. He's managed to drag himself a good few steps above boxed mac and cheese in the cooking department, but baking remains an intimidating mystery. It's not like he couldn't just buy one. It's Los Angeles. Plenty of places local to find tres leches cake, even if it won't be his abuela's recipe.

She probably would have made him one herself if he asked. Almost definitely would have. But once he got the idea in his head it felt—important, like Buck's laborious perfecting of the lasagna he's planning to make for them tomorrow, like Bobby's home-cooked meals at the station. Something about doing it himself.

Something about home-cooked meals, and about love, that it's definitely too early to say to Buck, at least in so many words. But he kind of wants to say it all the same.

He cracks the egg—gently, this time. The glistening yellow yolk remains intact, cradled in one half of the shell as the white slides away into the bowl beneath. Eddie holds his breath, holding his hand still until the separation is complete, feeling more than a little bit like he's defusing a bomb here. Then he finally drops the yolk into its own separate bowl with a feeling of absurd triumph.

Abuela squeezes him with a startling amount of strength for a woman who's more than a few years past eighty, but her voice is very gentle. "Perfect, Eddito. Now we just need four more like that."

Eddie breathes out a shaky laugh and reaches for another egg.

-

By six o'clock, Pepa is on her way over and the cake is cooling in the refrigerator, waiting for the leches mixture—the counter wiped clean, Abuela installed in a dining room chair sipping a cafecito from one of the little red cups that she bequeathed to Eddie when she moved away. They talk about inconsequential things: Christopher, his dad's retirement, his parents' tentative plans for a cruise, which makes Eddie wince and bite his tongue. Christopher again. Buck's name comes up, because of course it does, it always has. For years he's been so entwined with their lives that there's no way to talk about Eddie and Christopher for any length of time without mentioning Buck.

It feels more revealing now. Or maybe that's just that now Eddie knows there's something to reveal.

He's not trying to hide it. It's new, but he's never felt so sure about something in his life. He just doesn't know quite how to go about saying it; any of the words he can come up with feel too clumsy, too inadequate.

It's not until Pepa's car pulls in the driveway that she leans over to pat his hand where it's resting on the table. "He's going to love it. Tu novio, he'll be so happy you baked that just for him."

"That's assuming I don't mess anything else up," Eddie says, and then registers the rest of that sentence. Your boyfriend. His heart stutters for a moment, but settles fast. She's still smiling at him.

"You won't," she says.

He breathes out; laughs a little, breathless. "How did you know?"

"I'm old and wise," she says puckishly. Then, gentler, "You talk about him like you're in love."

Outside, the car door opens and shuts. Pepa starts up the walk. Eddie takes another breath, and nods. He feels a little flayed open, but it's a good feeling, to be seen like this. A little raw, but good. "I am. I—really am."

Abuela slides out of her chair and holds out her arms; Eddie folds into them like he's not a head taller than her these days. They're still standing like that, swaying a little, when Pepa comes in.

-

Buck is over the next night for dinner, a frequent if irregular occurrence whenever they both have the same evening off. They don't actually cook together, because Buck is kind of a control freak in the kitchen, but Eddie sets the table with Chris's sullen adolescent assistance, and puts on some music, and he remembers as he does it those evenings when he'd see his grandparents dancing together in the kitchen after dinner, the easy sway of their bodies. He's half-tempted to try and pull Buck into a dance, but right now Buck is frazzled and wearing an apron splattered with béchamel as he swears under his breath at the lasagna, so Eddie can wait.

It all comes out perfectly, because of course it does, and Eddie kisses him after he sets it down on the table, ignoring Chris's disgruntled noise. Buck smiles against his lips and kisses him back.

"Smells amazing," Eddie offers.

"It only took me five tries to get it right."

"Well, I appreciate you not burning my kitchen down."

"You're not funny," Buck pouts, but he leans in for another kiss.

"I'm starving," Chris says pointedly, and they break apart, laughing.

"You forget how to serve yourself, mijo?"

"No," Chris says, but he's smirking a little as he dishes himself a generous helping of lasagna and passes the spatula over to Eddie.

It's not that different, all told, from any of the other meals they've had together over the years. That's something that keeps tripping Eddie up: how little has actually changed. Other than the part where he's allowed to touch Buck as much as he wants now; other than the fact that he lets himself notice how much he wants.

For Chris's sake, he's discreet about it, but he curls his hand over Buck's knee under the table once they're all served. Buck ducks his head and smiles, a pretty flush dusting his cheeks, and Eddie leaves his hand there for the rest of the meal.

They clean up together, and Buck insists on helping even when Eddie tries to shoo him out of the kitchen, though he honestly doesn't try that hard. Chris escapes into the dining room when Buck pulls Eddie into a shuffling, impromptu dance to some Taylor Swift song on the radio—he must have stealthily changed the station when Eddie wasn't paying attention—but he ducks his head back in a few minutes later to ask if they're going to eat the cake.

"There's cake?" Buck asks, bemused.

"Tres leches," Eddie admits, and now he's blushing. "Abuela's recipe."

"You got Isabel to make me tres leches?" Buck asks, looking delighted.

"Okay, okay, it's not just for you—"

"Dad made it," interjects Chris, the traitor. "Can we please eat it now?"

Now Buck's expression has gone all soft, so sparkling and warm that Eddie can barely look directly at it. "You made me a cake?"

"You cooked dinner," Eddie counters, crossing over to open the fridge and pull the covered pan out. The whipped cream isn't in those graceful swirls that his abuela always did, but he's pretty sure it'll taste okay. It all looks okay, anyway. "Don't worry, I had supervision. It's probably edible."

"It looks amazing," Buck says, but he's not looking at the cake; he's looking at Eddie. Eddie tries to duck his head, and Buck catches his chin before he can manage it, and kisses him. It lingers sweetly for a moment, and then he grins and pulls away. "You made me a cake."

"Yeah, yeah," Eddie says, and thinks, I love you, I love you.

He doesn't say it out loud, not yet. But by the way Buck is beaming at him, Eddie thinks maybe he got it all the same.

[runawaymarbles]

9-1-1 fic recs

because if I do nothing but read 9-1-1 fic for a month solid I feel like I should. Since my bookmark notes are all spoilers. Buck/Eddie unless specified otherwise.

to your front door by hammersmiths | G | 3k

Buck and Pepa are bridge buddies and Pepa is happy to arrange everyone's lives.

i'm headed to the mountains by hammersmiths | 8k | G

a.k.a. Abby Clark does deserve rights

pick me, choose me, love me by trysetmeonfire | T | 9k

It is some kind of hell, it seems to me, to be forced to choose one irreplaceable thing over another. Buck and Chris get stuck and Eddie has to get one of them out first.

brick by spqr | E | 10k

9-1-1 fic I read and loved before I knew anything else about 9-1-1. Post lightning strike, Buck and Eddie are not at all on the same page.

i love you, ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard? by rarakiplin (gmontys) | T | 10k

"Because, Evan" is actually a love confession, but Buck's with Taylor. They handle it great.

the stick-around by derryfacts2 (winchysteria) | T | 10k

Buck is bleeding out. It's surprisingly funny.

Ace of Hearts by glorious_spoon | T | 10k

The poker night was a date but Buck doesn't realize it until later.

darlin', i'm just tryin' to tell ya by archerincombat | T | 10k

The station adopts a dog that has cancer and Ravi has some feelings about it.

still by brewrosemilk | T | 10k

Eddie is standing on a bomb.

the light's been out though, baby by hattalove | M | 15k

There's a video of the shooting.

like a hole in the ground by clytemnestra | T | 15k

Buck shares his feelings but they still don't know how to communicate.

maybe love won't let you down by sibylsleaves | M | 15k

Buck tells Eddie he loves him; Eddie thinks he himself is terrible at relationships and so he dodges the question. Things are OK until they aren't.

False Start (timing’s everything) by Morgane (smilla840) | E | 16k

Buck and Eddie hook up, and then Buck gets back together with Taylor. Ouches all the way down. It's great.

i would like a place i could call my own by maybeamystery | E | 17k

Buck and Eddie hooked up at the end of season 3. It does not make things better.

find a way to you (if it kills me) by foxwatson | M | 20k

Buck doesn't realize he has feelings for Eddie until Eddie lets Linda set him up. They both suck at coming out.

stay soft; get eaten by eddiediass | T | 20k

Ramon Diaz is dying.

every time we stop talking (the universe starts screaming) by withmeornotatall | M | 20k

Buck is being reckless, Eddie's pissed about it, and Natalia is asking a lot of questions about everybody's trauma.

where there's smoke, there's fire by wakeupnew | T | 24k

You're really not supposed to be secretly dating your coworker. Luckily, they have a union rep.

into the fire by brewrosemilk | E | 27k

Cheating fic (complimentary); Buck and Eddie sleep together. It's messy.

Tick Tick Boom by ChasetheWindTouchtheSky | 30k | T

Buck's having a breakdown; he's not talking to his parents; he doesn't tell Maddie this but he does go to drag brunch.

I Kinda Fell Half In Love (And You're To Blame) by orphan_account E | 33k

Eddie is dating Ana and Buck can't figure out why he doesn't like it. Also, Chris is trying to return to school after COVID and they're really stressed about it.

the going water and the gone by trysetmeonfire | T | 30k

Eddie is lost at sea and presumed dead. The logistics of death are complicated and custody isn't as easy as saying you want your platonic bro to raise your kid without telling anyone.

i don't swim and you're not in love by hattalove | T | 30k

Eddie is dating Ana, Buck tries to get over himself, and there's a sewer leak at Abuela's.

listen to you breathing (is where I wanna be) by Yavilee | T | 40k

Buck goes down in an earthquake and is missing, presumed. He and Eddie leave each other voicemails.

everything (nothing) has changed by bizarrestars | E | 50k

Buck goes to therapy, tells Eddie that he's in love with him but he's going to get over it, and Eddie has a meltdown for 50,000 words except this is from Buck's POV and Buck's an idiot.

across our great divide (a glorious sunrise) by catchingpapermoons | M | 50k

Buck and Eddie go to couples therapy in s5 and I? Cry.

a blaze in the dark by woodchoc_magnum | E | 117k

Buck gets caught up in Natalia, Eddie starts dating someone else, it goes about how you'd expect. Hurts in a delightful way.

tell me about despair by hattalove | M | 150k

THEEEEE Eddie Diaz fic.

just to be with you by woodchoc_magnum | M | 150k

Buck and Eddie keep their relationship secret for months and it turns out it's hard to come back from that.

The things we lost in the fire by SunSpell80

Buck's uncle molested him when he was a kid. Buck's relationship with his parents is complicated in a way that doesn't villanize them, but is still messy as fuck. I am rotating it in my brain. (Note: the author presumably wrote this before we met Buck's parents in canon, but got tired of changing the names a couple chapters in.)

[les-pompiers118]

Isabel Díaz attends a wedding

Because we'd all like to know why she turned up there, out of the blue, and ABC isn't saying...

"So Chimney's feeling a bit better, now that the meds have kicked in, and he wants to get married right away," Eddie tells Christopher and his abuela as he tucks his phone back into his pocket. "Like, in an hour."

"In the hospital?" Chris asks. "Is that allowed?"

Eddie laughs. "I'd like to see anyone try to stop them now. Or Bobby. He told us he's always wanted to officiate a wedding as a fire captain. He's not about to miss his chance."

"Well, I guess we should be going then." Abuela holds out her hand to Eddie, so he can help her get up from the couch. "You don't want to be late for the wedding. Twice."

"Very funny," Eddie says. "We'll drop you off at Pepa's house, if that's what you want, but you know you're welcome to make yourself at home here. We won't be gone long. And they'll probably kick us out when visiting hours end, anyway."

"No, no, Eddito. I'd like to come with you to the hospital."

"You want to come to the wedding?"

"As long as your friends don't mind an uninvited guest." Abuela slips her arm through Eddie's and looks up at him with a dreamy smile. "I love weddings. I never turn down the chance to go to one. And at my age, I don't think anyone can begrudge me that."

"Definitely not. I'm sure they'll be happy to have you there." Eddie starts for the door, but stops after only two steps and pivots around. "Abuela, did you... plan your visit to L.A. for this particular weekend for any special reason? Say, a wedding?"

Abuela's eyes sparkle and Christopher muffles a giggle with his hand.

"Maybe I just missed my boys," Abuela says before giving Eddie a wink and dropping her voice to a stage whisper. "Or maybe I had a hunch that this wedding was going to be a special one."

"If by special, you mean cramming into a hospital room with no food or music, you'd be right."

"Oh, mijo, don't you think I know how things always seem to go for you and your friends? Never have I known a group of people with such topsy-turvy lives. Cruise ship sinks. Girlfriends move in, girlfriends move out. They should make a telenovela about you all."

Eddie huffs a grudging laugh. "I suppose we should be happy there wasn't an earthquake today, on top of everything else."

"It's not too late," Chris sings. "They're not married yet!"

"Okay, okay," Eddie groans, ushering them both towards the door. "Let's go, Díaz family."

Abuela claps her hands. "To the wedding!"

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

The new ones sound so good! But I'm also loving your ongoing fics, so I'm putting a little of everything (hope this isn't too much!). 📖📖📖📖 🧟🧟🧟🧟 🛏️🛏️🛏️🛏️

➰➰➰➰ 🔼🔼🔼🔼 🦷🦷🦷🦷 🚨🚨🚨🚨

⚡⚡⚡⚡

Ahhh thank you so much!!

12 for 📖:

---

Buck has Fridays off. So his week is Sunday to Thursday. Starting after that second run-in with Eddie and Christopher, Buck starts seeing the kid two or three times a week. Sometimes with Eddie, sometimes with a relative. His Abuela or aunt. And then, sometimes - increasingly so - with Carla. 

Buck is thrilled to have Carla back in his life. After Patricia died, there hadn’t been much of a reason for them to see each other. Abby transferred to Phoenix. Stopped responding to Buck’s texts, despite promising him it wasn’t a breakup. Consequently, he and Carla had drifted apart. But he has such a fondness for her. 

---

12 for 🧟:

---

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Eddie complains. “Can we kill that thing?”

Former person. Whatever. 

“I can do that!” Buck jumps to be helpful. 

He strides into the street, aims, and shoots at the dying creature. Buckshot takes off most of its face and it slumps over, dead. Some pellets hit noisily off the metal street sign behind it. 

Eddie doesn’t actually feel any better at all. 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

---

12 for 🛏️:

---

 It’s not even a turning point. 

It’s just a natural continued erosion of boundaries. 

They’re eating dinner. Buck cooked. Obviously. Eddie has been very quiet all day. Waiting. Looking at his phone. He still hasn’t heard from Chris. Buck wishes he could teleport to Texas and plead with Chris to put aside his hurt and anger for just one moment to call his dad on Father’s Day. But he can’t. So he’s cooking for Eddie instead. 

---

12 for ➰

tagging @steadfastsaturnsrings

---

“It won’t work,” Eddie says. 

He sounds so certain. 

“Why not try?” Buck asks. 

“I’ve tried everything,” Eddie says. 

“Eating a different restaurant?” Buck asks. 

“Yes, Buck,” Eddie says through gritted teeth. “Obviously I tried that.”

Buck blinks. How did they go from I’m so lucky I get to love you, I’m so lucky that you’re mine, I love you so much, to here?

“Okay,” Buck concedes. 

---

12 for 🔼:

---

“I know,” Shannon mumbles. Her face is on fire. “God, I know. I-I… I’m so sorry.”

“I have to go,” Buck says tightly.

“Wait, Buck! I’m sorry!”

But he doesn’t stop to listen. He turns and flees her, shutting the apartment door loudly behind him.

Oh, god. God, what has she done?

---

12 for 🦷:

---

So they do this thing now, where they don’t even try to let go. Where they find any reason or moment possible to be somehow connected. And they never say a word about it. 

Eddie had wondered if it might change when Chris came back. If they’d both be too self conscious. Clearly Buck wondered the same, because they hesitated, a little, as they sat on the couch. But they drifted together all the same, and now here they are. Sitting with their thighs touching and their ankles hooked together and their shoulders bumping every time one of them moves. Christopher doesn’t seem to notice. And it all just feels easy. 

The thing is, Eddie knows. He knows Buck is waiting for him. 

---

12 for 🚨:

---

“And then you almost died,” Ramon says. 

Right. The well. Of course, Pepa or Abuela would have told them. 

“I did,” Eddie admits. 

“And then the world sort of… Ended in a way. For a bit there.”

“It did,” Eddie agrees. Although, he’s not sure he agrees. It sure didn’t feel ended, when he was still taking calls. 

“So I retired,” Ramon announces. 

---

12 for ⚡:

---

“So, yes,” Adriana guesses. “That covers it.”

“I guess,” Eddie grumbles.

“This is where you say, thanks, Adri and Ravi, love you both, and I’ll buy you a souvenir.” 

“You want a souvenir from San Clemente?” Ravi asks her. 

“Yeah, good point. I want wine.” Adriana decides.

“I will get you wine,” Eddie concedes. “Thank you both again. Seriously.”

[rimarkka]

DT17 x Encanto AU

I already see some Ducktales x Encanto AUs and they were really good

But I want to present my version of this AU

I want to bring dt17 characters into the Encanto’s world. It’s still a family concept with magical gifts in a magical house.

Could Duckworth move into the house and revive it?

Speaking of assigning roles

♪ Wait, who’s a sister and who’s a cousin? There’s so many people How do you keep them all straight? ♪

Scrooge as Abuela 

Have you noticed that the Miracle Candle and the Number One Dime play a similar role in the plot?

♪ We swear to always Help those around us And earn the miracle That somehow found us The town keeps growing The world keeps turning But work and dedication will keep the miracle burning And each new generation must keep the miracle burning ♪

I think he’s more concerned with the Number One Dime the Miracle Candle by helping the townspeople through deeds and adventures than by helping people itself

Donald as Pepa

Pepa is emotional and with her mood changes nature. Donald is no less emotional

♪ My tía Pepa My tío Donald

Her mood affects the weather When she’s unhappy Well, the temperature gets weird ♪

Daisy as Félix

She has no gift, she became part of the family by marrying Donald

♪ She fell in love with Family Madrigal McDuck And now she’s part of the Family Madrigal McDuck ♪

June and May as Dolores and Antonio

The biological daughters of Daisy and Donald

♪ Cousin Dolores can hear a pin drop <…> Antonio gets his gift today ♪

Huey as Luisa

They both take greater responsibility for the well-being of their family

♪ I’m the strong one, I’m not nervous I’m as tough as the crust of the Earth is I move mountains, I move churches And I glow ’cause I know what my worth is ♪

But for both of them, this responsibility is a cause for concern. Their gift weighs heavily on them. Luisa has it as a nervous tick and a song

♪ Give it to your sister, your sister’s older Give her all the heavy things we can’t shoulder Who am I if I can’t run with the ball? If I fold to ♪

And Huey has the Duke of Making a Mess

Dewey as Isabela

They both focus more on image than on gift.

♪ My older sisters brothers <…> one graceful Perfect in every way ♪

He acts like he’s good at everything, but he’s really worried that his gift isn’t enough

♪ I’ve been stuck being perfect my whole life ♪

Louie as Camilo

Louis in the series is shown as a skilled manipulator, actually (not in a bad way). He knows what to say when to smile and so on

♪ Camilo shapeshifts ♪

I believe it’s his gift

Della as Bruno

♪ We don’t talk about Bruno Della! ♪

I want to see this song in the context of «don’t talk about her so as not to piss off Scrooge», and not «don’t talk about her so as not to cause trouble from her»

♪ They say she saw the future, one day she disappeared ♪

It’s all canon. Della is gone. They don’t talk about her. The end.

Just kidding, I’ll tell you about her fate later

Beakley as Julieta or Agustín

Beakley is not bound to this family by blood, she entered it like Agustín, but not by marriage, but as an approximation.

I couldn’t choose one character, as I found it interesting that even without the gift Beakley would have the skills of cooking and «magic» to even be able to prepare healing food

Webby as Mirabel

Mirabel has no gift, and Webby is not tied to the McDuck family in blood, so she has no gift either. In fact, nobody even allowed such a thought, so they even didn’t try. I’d like to end the story with Webby’s becoming the new the Number One Dime the Miracle Candle’s keeper. 

As far as their family ties are concerned, everything here remains like the cartoon, and does not change under the state of affairs in Encanto. Beakley is still Webby’s grandmother. Scrooge has just become the father of Della and Donald. Donald and Daisy are the parents of May and June. Dell is the mother of triplets.

It’s not that the relationship between Webby and Scrooge is that important. I love this storyline twist in dt17 and it can be in this au too, but I can’t say that it is absolutely necessary, it seems to be superfluous

The main character will be Webby. On the day of receiving gifts, May and June, born on the same day, were afraid to go alone and refused to do it without Webby.

Ugh, going all the way up to two doors knowing that she would never be a part of the family and get any gift... it must hurt

It was Webby who noticed how the house began to collapse, because there was discord in the family. With their quarrels, the gifts weaken. So she intended to help everyone.

Their main conflict was Della, or rather her disappearance. So the Webby began to reveal this secret.

She found a prophecy by which Della flew away and suffered a plane crash. Unlike Bruno, whose poor predictions were not believed, Della herself did not believe her predictions. She believed she had the right to change her fate with her gift.

I don’t really want to take a flight into space because a rocket crash is too much

Why did Scrooge cover it up and get angry at every mention of his daughter? Because he kept Della’s faith in the ability to change her destiny. But after the crash, he changed his mind. For this reason, he ignored Webby’s words about the destruction of the house because he had seen the prophecy about it, and he was convinced that fate cannot be changed.

Scrooge broke it. But Webby collected it and saw herself in the end against the background of the destruction of the house.

Webby loved her family so much, so she decided to go out on emotion to prevent it. But during the escape, Della caught her. She was quite alive, ha

Della had indeed crashed the plane, but she had survived with the loss of her leg. She lived inside the walls of the house, unwilling to return.

She gave an answer to Webby’s questions. It was not only Scrooge who looked at the prediction incomplete. Della dropped the memory first, splintered from it a small piece that did not allow one to look beyond the image of Webby. There was Della too. And just like Webby, she loves her family too, but she thought it’s better without her

Kinda similar, right?

It’s only then Webby realized how stupid and wrong they both are when they run away

They rerun Della’s gift and watch the entire memory to learn how to prevent it.

Della looked at the girl condescendingly, seeing herself in her, but allowed her to. Because if the outcome is predetermined, her efforts will not make it worse.

Webby really saw how she helped her family, in particular, the triplets who first quarrelled when they began to slowly discover the secret of Della.

At this time, Gosalyn as Mariano came to court with Dewey.

I don’t mind them as a couple, but I just want them to feel like friends in that au

Later, Webby extorted the confession that Dewey did not want to marry, he did not know if he loves Gosalyn in that way

So… Webby was trying to make up with everyone and she’s even doing it well until Scrooge told her that he didn’t see the good in her actions

How do those words of Abuela resemble those of Scrooge "you are not part of the family!"

And the house collapsed…

Webby escaped. Scrooge talked to her heart-in-heart. They found an understanding. Della jumped on the donkey, said it’s her fault, she had predicted it. Tearful reunion of father and daughter. Repair of the house. Webby is a new keeper.

The end :з

SORRY IS IT TOO MUCH, HUH?

[hannahhook7744]

Where Are You Now? (Cause I'm Thinking Of You);

Cover:

Summary: The family wakes up thirteen years after Bruno returned to the family to find him gone yet again. They naturally freak out. Trigger Warnings: disappearances, premature labor, near death experiences, mention of homelessness, overworking of a pregnant woman, minor violence, guilt, fear for a loved one, etc. Encantober 2024: Return. Co-written with @igetthedisneybox .

------------------------------------------------------------

Bruno was gone—gone without a note. 

Again.

“Oje. Has anybody seen Bruno?” Alma asked a small handful of the family. The others were out in town, but according to Dolores, she hadn’t heard him out there either.

Everyone present either shook their heads, or couldn’t hear her over the chattering of the family. Casita was getting awfully crowded these days.

Squeak. 

Alma looked to her left and saw one of Dolores’ four-year-old twins, Elmira, standing there, looking wide-eyed. She definitely took after her mother.

Her and her twin’s skin was lighter than their mother's, but darker than their grandmother's and just a shade darker than their father’s. But where Princesa had teal eyes and blonde hair, Elmira had her mother’s dark brown eyes and curly light brown hair. 

“Chiquita,” Alma called. “Do you know where Tío Abuelo Bruno is?”

She looked down at her feet guiltily, before quietly answering—always the more mindful twin when it came to her mother’s hearing—“No.”

Alma saddled over to the four year old. Her bones creaked with each step, and she muttered curses under her breath, glad that Elmira didn’t have any superhearing like Dolores. 

“Elli, If you know something about Tío Abuelo Bruno, can you tell me please?” She looked at her great-granddaughter kindly.

“He saids he'd be back.”

“Did he say where he was going?” Panic spiked in Alma’s heart. She couldn’t lose her Brunito again.

Elmira shook her head. “He saws somethin’ bad.”

Alma felt her hands begin to shake, but she clenched them into fists. Elmira didn’t need to see her panic like this. “Thank you for telling me, Elmira.”

“De nada, abuela.” Elmira fidgeted with her skirt, looking over at her mother. “Mamá, I'm hungry.” 

Dolores had heard her from the other side of the room, of course, and came over to pick her daughter up. “I think Tío will be fine, Abuela.” She whispered to her.

“I hope you're right, Nieta.” Alma sighed. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Word got around the Encanto fast that the Madrigal’s beloved seer was once again missing and, before an hour was even up, the entire family was back at the Casita.

Panicking. 

The exact opposite of what Alma wanted. 

“My padres, Félix’s Papá, and the Guzmáns are keeping an eye out for him as we speak.” Agustín said, trying to soothe a crying Julieta. 

“Mi vida, your hermanito will be fine, I promise.” Félix claimed, circling around a pacing Pepa who was murmuring ‘clear skies’ for the first time in eleven years. 

Luisa was also having a hard time staying calm, gently cradling one of her own twins—Emilia and Tito—while her husband, Ryder, held the other and tried to comfort her. 

“You don’t th-think he left the Encanto for good, do you?” She asked, addressing the elephant in the room; the question no one wanted to ask.

“What? No, of course not. Tío Bruno wouldn't do that—he loves the family.” Mirabel protested immediately. “Elmira said he saw something right?” 

“He also saw something when he left the first time.” Camilo mentioned. His own wife, Yanamaria, was standing several feet away from him, sipping on a drink. Camilo had adopted her twin daughters, Amelia and Sofia, after marrying her three months ago when the pair were only two months old. 

Alma wasn't sure she liked the young lady. But maybe her judgment was being clouded by his past two lackluster relationships and the fact that she privately thought Camilo’s best friend, Mina, would be a much better (and kinder) wife  for him.  Not that she would ever voice these thoughts to him. She had learned her lesson after Agustín, thank you very much. 

Dolores elbowed Camilo, hissing. “Camilo.”

“What? I can't tell the truth? He did!”

“What I'm saying is that he probably just ran off to prevent whatever he saw from happening and once he does that, he'll be back. Because he knows he can trust us now.” Mirabel continued looking very confidently, wrangling her hands together, acting as if she hadn't heard her 'mellizo’. 

Isabela nodded along. “Mira’s right. We need to trust Tío Bruno. It’s the least we can do.”

“And besides, Señor Bruno promised Elmira he'd walk her to her door. He wouldn't break his promise.” Bubo chimed in from the doorway, startling everyone because he and Miguel had left with Antonio to watch the rest of the children before the conversation had started. 

Julieta sniffed and whipped at her eyes. “Dios mío, look at me. Sitting here crying like a bebé. You all are right.”

“That’s the spirit, Mi esposa.” Agustín hummed, resting a hand on her shoulder; Alma couldn’t help but be surprised by how much calmer he was being than the rest of them. That wasn't to say that he didn't care, however, because she could still see the nervousness in his eyes—unlike with Yanamaria, who seemed like she couldn't care less. At least Raimi and Rosa were acting serious, for once.

------------------------------------------------------------

“Mamá!” Arlo whined, immediately reaching out to her the moment Isabela stepped into the room. 

Zoey was snoring in the crib next to him and Miguel Jr—who they'd named after Mirabel’s husband, Miguel Rivera, after he'd delivered them when he and Isabela had gotten lost in a storm while out in the forest—was laughing at something. 

Isabela hadn't been thrilled to have triplets at first. Far from it in fact, but the older they got the more the florist grew to love them. Arlo especially.

“Hey, nene. Mamá’s here.” She scooped her baby into her arms, gently brushing his black hair from his forehead. He had his father's nose but everyone could already tell that he was going to grow up to be a mama’s boy. 

“Missed you.” Arlo declared, resting his tiny head on her shoulder. His tiny fist clenched tightly around the flower plushie Mirabel had made for Zoey. Somehow, the bear plushie Mirabel had made for him and the one she'd made for Zoey kept getting mixed up—no matter how many times they'd switched them back. 

If she didn't know better, Isabela would almost say that they were doing it on purpose. The fact that Migeul Jr’s wolf plushie never got mixed up with them only made her more sure of her suspicions. But it wasn't as if she could get confirmation from her children—they didn't even speak in full coherent sentences yet. 

“I missed you too, mi flor. And your hermanos, obviously.”

Zoey snored louder. Chubby hands squeezing the colorful bear plushie that she was chewing on. 

And Miguel Jr laughed innocently once again, clapping. Completely oblivious to the mild panic his tías, primos, and padres were feeling over his favorite great uncle’s second disappearance. 

Isabela could only hope that Mirabel's suspicions over why it had happened were correct. She didn't know if she could handle losing her uncle for another decade.

------------------------------------------------------------

Mariano was not fond of discourse.

But when one joins a familia like the Madrigals, bad things happen sometimes.

As of now, Mariano could only hold his wife and children close, and hope that everything would turn out okay.

Oscar seemed to be able to tell that something was going on and was crying quietly—which had been very concerning in the first couple of months after he was born a year ago before it had been confirmed that he was for sure healthy. 

Princesa was oblivious and looking at herself in her madre’s favorite golden hand held mirror that Mariano had gifted Dolores on their first date. Striking a pose she had seen her favorite character on the strange box that Auradon called a television do numerous times. 

Elmira, on the other hand, was sitting quietly in his arms. Looking thoughtful.

Dolores had dozed off at some point. 

“Oscar, are you alright?” Mariano asked his son softly.

The bebé shook his head, causing his brown curls to fall into his eyes. Causing him to frown as he clung to his madre (who thankfully had her earplugs in). “Mamá sad.” 

Oscar had definitely inherited Mariano’s big heart. “I know, mijo. But she will get better, I promise.”

In truth, Mariano had no idea if Bruno would come back.

He was the head of a small ensemble of men and women who’d decided to watch over the town’s entrance, and make sure that there were no civil disputes between its citizens. Handling the few crimes that came up every now and then in whatever capacity he could. He probably should have noticed Bruno leaving, but he’d been trying to settle an argument turned physical between Abraham Cerebro de Burro and his very own brother-in-law, Ryder Nattura, over the donkey farmer’s new fence and lock. Or lack therefore of. 

Which had been very hard to handle considering that an hour into the argument, Mariano had been about ready to throttle the man himself. Señora Alma had demanded a hundred times that he replace the damn lock on his estúpido fence but the cheap bastardo still refused to replace it—even when his own children pleaded with him to do it. 

Mariano had lost count of just how many times Luisa had had to chase after the man’s donkeys because of the farmer’s stinginess. 

The man was lucky that Luisa was even still willing to help him chase after the donkeys after the stress he had caused her during her pregnancy. Luisa and Ryder’s twins weren't even supposed to be born yet but had been anyway the last time the donkeys had got out a month ago. After which the farmer had promised he'd really replace the lock that was older than Mariano was for real this time. 

Or maybe the fool was just lucky because of how apologetic his children were whenever Luisa had to fix his mess. 

He was starting to get angry again just remembering the encounters, but Elmira snuggled against him, which jerked him back to the present.

“Papá?” 

He pulled his full attention to his daughter. “Si, mi corazón?”

“Lo lamento...” She bit her lip, eyes welling up. 

“What? Elli, you have nothing to be sorry for!” Mariano pulled her even closer, gently running his hands through her curls.

“But I saws Tío Bruno go.” The brunette sniffled. “Ands Abuela Pepa cryin’.” 

“That wasn’t your fault.” He stated firmly, well aware of the fact that it was something his younger Prima-en-ley had needed to hear twenty three years ago but never had: the last time señor Bruno had left. 

“¿Promesa?” Her big brown eyes met his own as she stuck her thumb in her mouth. A nervous habit they hadn't gotten her to shake yet. 

“Promesa.” Mariano kissed her on the forehead.

“I'm tired.” She yawned quietly, resting her head on his chest. 

“Then why don’t we all go and take a siesta? Maybe Tío will be back when we wake up.” He got up from his chair, still holding Elmira. 

Princesa didn't pay either of them any mind. 

“Okay papa.”

------------------------------------------------------------

“Any word on Bruno?” Ryder asked his cuñado, worrying his lip as he replaced the ice pack he'd been holding to his black eye. 

His suegra had offered to cook him something to heal up his injuries that morning when she saw him (after she had found out where and why he'd gotten them) but the reindeer herder had refused. If she healed his minor injuries, then the donkey farmer would find out and demand she heal his minor injuries which could very well spiral into the town once again taking advantage of Julieta's kindness. Something Ryder refused to allow to happen.

And no, it wasn't just because he wanted the donkey farmer to suffer for as long as possible for harassing his wife into doing the very job that could have cost them their children. 

….

Okay maybe part of his reasoning did have to do with that. But given the situation Ryder thought he was allowed to be petty.

“Socorro thought she saw him…but it turned out to be a homeless guy.” Miguel Sr sighed as he plucked on the strings of his guitar.

“Honeymaren hasn't seen anything either but Kristoff said that if Bruno isn't back soon, he'd be willing to ask Grand Pabbie for help.” Ryder offered, uncharacteristically frustrated.

He hated seeing his wife cry—she’d been stressed enough with the early arrival of the twins and the more��stubborn and selfish… townspeople (the number of which had thankfully dwindled over the years) who still asked her for help with every little thing. She hadn't needed this. 

Miguel rolled his eyes. “You mean the pile of rocks?”

“The trolls, yes.” Ryder didn't blame Miguel for his reaction—he didn't trust Kristoff's family very much either. 

Miguel wasn’t in the mood to poke Ryder further, so he let the subject of the ‘trolls’ drop. “Anyway, how far do you think Bruno could have gotten? He’s what, pushing sixty?”

“He’s closer to pushing seventy.” Ryder snorted. “And I honestly don't have a clue. I don't think he's ever left the Encanto alone before—and well, the Madrigal family genes are crazy. I mean his bisabuela is still alive.” 

Despite falling off a cliff on her wedding day, getting near drowned by an octopus, being bitten by a venomous snake, getting electrocuted after sticking a fork in the socket, and having her parachute fail after going skydiving. 

Pedro and Benito's mother sure was something.

“True.” Miguel huffed and placed his guitar away, unable to focus. He was worried about the familia, especially his Mirabel. She claimed she was fine, but he could see right through her.

“All we can hope is that he'll return safely and that our in-laws don't kill him when he does.” Ryder couldn't help but smile at the thought, though he knew it wasn't exactly an appropriate thought to have at the moment.

It was true though, Bruno would be lucky if he made it past Pepa and Isabela alive.

------------------------------------------------------------

“Clear skies, clear skies, clear skies.” Antonio muttered to himself as he anxiously paced, two nervous habits he'd picked up from his mother and was trying to shake. 

It wasn't often the wild child got stressed out enough to use the mantra or pace but considering the situation, the eighteen year old wasn't sure anyone would be able to blame him for it. Tío Bruno was missing again and no one knew where he'd gone. 

He wasn't in the walls. 

Antonio had checked six times and Casita said he wasn't. 

No one in the Encanto other than his little violín had seen him go. 

“Clear skies, clear skies, clear sk—”

“You okay, Tonito?” Camilo had been walking by, when Casita had gotten his attention, and showed him Antonio, about to have a panic attack.

Antonio nearly leapt across the room, not having heard his brother approaching. Which, at any other time, might have been amusing. But given the situation, it was only all the more worrying. “‘Milo, ay dios mío, don't scare me like that!” 

“You better watch your mouth, or Mamá’s gonna zap you.” The barest hint of a smile crossed Camilo’s face.

The animal whisperer rolled his eyes, waving him off—heart still racing. “Don't be a Soplón.”

“I won’t…for a price.” His eyes glinted with familiar mischief.

“Oye! Blackmail? After all I've done for you? I should let Parce eat you.” He wouldn't. He knew it and Camilo knew that it was an empty threat, but it was still a fun one to use. 

Camilo snorted. “I’d love to see Parce try.” His smile vanished. “But seriously, hermanito. Are you okay?”

Antonio thought about it for a moment. Thought about whether or not the little thing he had noticed was enough to worry his brother about. Then, he remembered what Mirabel had always told him ‘If it's big enough to worry or upset you, then say something.’ He bit his lip to give him courage and looked around before biting the bullet and answering. “I can't find Tío Bruno's rats.”

Camilo raised an eyebrow. “Did Parce finally eat them?”

“No, I asked around. Nobody is fessing up and I haven't seen them since he left.” He wrangled his hands, trying to reduce some of his panic. 

“So, you think Tío brought them with him?”

“Sí.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But I don't understand why he'd take them if his leaving is temporary.”

At Camilo's silence, Antonio’s nerves only grew. “I know, I know. It's a pequeño thing but it's just—it’s big enough for me to worry about whether Mirabel is right or not.”

“She’s right. When has Miraboo ever been wrong?” Camilo placed a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. “And look, whatever reason Tío had to bring the rats, I’m sure it’s a good one. Está bien?”

“Está bien.” Antonio let out a shaky breath. “Gracias, hermano.”

------------------------------------------------------------

Mirabel had said what she’d said. And she believed it.

Sort of.

She could lie to her family, but she couldn’t lie to herself. She was worried about Tío Bruno. Very afraid, in fact.

There was a tug on her skirt. 

She looked down, and saw Dolores’ oldest, Princesa. “Hey, ‘Cesa. What’s up?”

“No sad.” The little blonde glared, clutching something behind her back. Something that looked very familiar.

“I’m not sad.” Mirabel immediately deflected. Then she remembered she was talking to a four year old. “Whatcha got there?”

“¡Mentir!” The four year old wasn't fooled and was not amused as she held out one of Bruno's vision tablets. Just where had she gotten that?

She grabs the vision from Princesa. “Wha–where did you find this?!”

“Da Wall. Tío Parce showed me.”

“You went into the walls without adult supervision? Miércoles, Dolores is gonna kill me!”

Princesa shook her head, stubbornly. “No, Tío Parce is a adult. And he went in da wall.”

“Parce is a jaguar!” Mirabel stopped herself before she could argue semantics with a toddler. “Nevermind.” 

She looked at the vision tablet, and immediately blanched at the sight: there was a little girl, around Princesa and Elmira’s age, cowering in a closet filled with crosses on one side in one part of the vision.

On another, there was a little boy standing in front of a younger girl and a baby as a giant of a man towered over them. 

In a third, there was a boy covering his eyes and  screaming as an older boy tried to calm him. 

And in the last part of the vision, there was a boy bruised and bloody holding a rosary. 

So, in short, it was a horrifying vision that a four year old should not have been able to get her hands on. 

“Mierda.” She whispered. “Princesa, go find your Mamí. I need to talk to your Bisabuela right now.” Tucking the vision tablet under her arm, Mirabel tapped her foot on the tile floor. Casita responded, and moved her downstairs to Abuela Alma, who was with Julieta, Pepa, and their husbands.

------------------------------------------------------------

“Abuela!” 

Alma looked up from where she was comforting Julieta, and saw Mirabel speeding towards them with the help of Casita. “Mirabel, what–”

“Princesa found the vision that caused Bruno to leave.” Mirabel held the vision in question close to her chest with one arm, clutching her skirt in the other—it didn't look much different from the one she made shortly before Bruno came back. It was a similar teal color with the family’s different symbols on it, but symbols representing the new spouses and children had been added as well. 

There was a reindeer to represent Luisa’s husband, Ryder Nattura, and a skeletal guitar to represent Mirabel’s own husband, Miguel Rivera. There was a bear costume to represent Isabela’s husband, Bubo. There was a mamabear with a baby bear to represent Camilo's wife and a quill to represent Dolores’ husband, Mariano. There was a violin to represent Elmira and A mirror to represent Princesa, and she had the names of all the ones who were too little to show any clear personality traits sewn into the skirt too. 

Just another not so little detail that showed just how much Mirabel loved their family. 

“What?” Alma stood up. “Let me see.”

“Clear skies clear skies clear skies CLEAR SKIES!”

Thunder rumbled.

Mirabel handed the glass tablet over. 

“Dios mio…” Was all Alma could say when she saw the vision.

“Who are those poor ninos?” Julieta had her hand held over her mouth as she took in the grisly sight.

Augustín pointed. “They’re wherever Bruno is now, I’m sure of it.”

“You think he went to find them?” Félix was clutching Pepa, who was starting to hyperventilate.

Alma let out a shaky sigh. “Knowing my Brunito…most likely.”

“Tío Bruno will likely return when he gets them somewhere safe.” Mirabel would have smiled or sighed in relief at the not quite confirmation that she was right about Bruno not being gone permanently if the vision wasn't so horrifying.

“You think he’ll run into trouble?!” Pepa squeaked. “That man in the vision…Brunito can’t fight! He is too skinny!”

“I don't know.” The seamstress could only hope that her Tío wouldn't do anything too risky….but, seeing how often everyone compared the two of them, she knew that that hope was a fruitless effort. 

Que Dios tenga misericordia de él.

Félix tried to calm Pepa down again. “Bruno is smarter than he seems, eh? He’ll stay out of trouble, especially when there’s children involved.”

Pepa kept taking deep breaths, as Julieta chimed in. “Félix is right. Bruno…he wouldn’t risk the children.”

“What do we tell the others?”

Alma cleared her throat. “We tell them that Bruno is off doing a heroic act. That he is saving children. But, ah—let’s not mention the state of the children.”

“That's probably for the best.”

------------------------------------------------------------

“Tío Bruno’s back!” Antonio whooped as ran back into the Casita, a couple of his animals on his shoulders. 

“What?” Everyone in the sitting room leapt to their feet.

“Cecila said she saw him enter not that long ago! She says he got’s a few people with him.”

Alma and her daughters looked at each other. More people?

“Anyone my son brings into the Encanto is most welcome.” Alma said, albeit hesitantly.

“But what do these people have to do with the children?” Mariano asked, tilting his head. Oscar, in his lap, mimicked him.

“Children?” Antonio looked at his cousins, their partners, his Padres, his tíos, and just basically everyone older than him in confusion before something clicked. “Wait is this about that vision Bruno had that you all refused to show me?”

“Sí.” Alma nodded. “And we did not show you because its contents were much too disturbing for a young man like yourself.”

Antonio did not pout. He did not. But he did shoot Mirabel a betrayal look because honestly, he would have thought his favorite prima would know better than to still treat him as a bebé by now—before Pace tugged on his pants’ leg. Trying to drag him outside, to remind him why he came rushing back to Casita in the first place. 

“Is he close, Tonito?” Camilo asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He’ll admit, he missed his Tío and his telanovas.

Antonio looked at Parce questioningly, getting a growl in return. “Si. He's outside.”

Alma rushed the door. She needed to see her son.

------------------------------------------------------------

Alma stared. 

And stared.

And stared.

And the rest of the family stared with her. None of them quite sure whether or not what they were seeing was real. 

"A little help would be nice." Bruno chuckled awkwardly, a blonde haired toddler in one arm and an even blonder baby in the other. A little red toddler covered in rats clinging to one of his legs anxiously and a grumpy boy with black hair who couldn’t be any older than four or five on the other. 

A teenager and two boys not much younger behind him—arms full of pugs and bags and one boy—one with horrible burns around his milky white, pupiless eyes—even had a frog in his pocket. 

It was quite the sight. 

And that wasn't even covering the fact that the baby was wearing a bag as a diaper and the littlest of the children burlap sacks (or a box, in the boy's case), as clothing. 

“...Bruno Pedro Madrigal Botero where THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! ” Was the first thing out of Alma’s mouth.

“...Uh, well, you see—remember that place the Auradon folk tried to send me before you set ‘em straight?” Bruno smiled nervously, well aware of the fact all of the kids were cowering behind him. 

“Si?” She shifted nervously, as she continued to take in the state of the children.

“Imayormaynothavebeenthere.”

“YOU WHAT?!”

[butttterball]

y’all is my obsession with the batfamilly and Encanto related cause like think.

(Their role in the family kinda doesn’t matter in most more of their personalities)

Abuela would be Bruce. They one who started it all. At the end of the day, Bruce and Abuela would try to protect their city/candle no matter what. They probably never realized what they were doing to their family.

Pepa would be Stephanie. Steph is an optimistic, upbeat heroine. But a lot of time, Steph is overlooked as a character but in her moments is portrayed to be happy. Pepa is always supposed to be happy. I also think out of her siblings. Pepa is very impulsive as she feels first than thinks (so does Steph).

Bruno is Timothy. I mean riddled with anxiety, undervalued, has been not believed, been cast aside because they believed or saw something else. I don’t think I need to explain this one.

Julieta is Alfred. I know placement in family this is weird, but she’s so nurturing (like Alfred). Loves her kids and her husband . And when her husband did get into accidents she didn’t shame him or yell at him. Julieta just helped. Alfred just wants the Wayne’s to be happy and healthy.

Isabella is Dick. Golden Child type. I mean the dramaticness alone is just very Dick. I mean that one scene where she said “did someone say flowers” and she came down all majestic makes me think of all the ff where he’s on the chandelier. However perfectionism and only wanting to do everything for the family is very similar.

Luisa is Jason. Jason has been perceived as the angry robin or the mean one. “He MURDERS” boohoo. He’s a nerd canonically I mean. He feels he has to be strong. Has to be mean. Has to be “on” all the time never letting goZ

Mirabel is Barbra. I think where I got this from was that Mirabel kinda a clutz. Couldn’t be part of all the action with power stuff. But she still tries to help. Barbra, a little more successful, after getting shot by the joker still made herself useful as oracle. She could jump or rooftops anymore, but she could still help.

Camilo is Duke. Fun loving guy. Duke wasn’t adopted young and he’s the Batman for the daytime (the best way I can explain it). Duke isn’t like all the other bats where he takes everything seriously and Camilo doesn’t either. “What? I can’t say we don’t have a house?”

Dolores is Cassandra. Need I say more.

Antonio is Damian. Okay mainly cause of the animals, BUT he’s just a little kid. I think we’re I mix Antonia and Damian as similar is that they are just kids trying to figure out who they are.

[likeshipsonthesea]

I love your recent posts about Eddie and Shannon and their relationship. I just don’t see how the show can address any of that with the way they’ve written this arc. There’s no one who can criticise Eddie’s feelings of ‘she was the love of my life, I’m broken without her’ except us the audience. There are no characters who saw their relationship as it actually was, so how can the show steer Eddie in that direction? I feel like they’re gonna leave it as she’s his Great Dead Love and that’s that

i see what you mean, and tbh i'm not sure what the show is going to do with this arc on-screen. they have a bunch of storylines to tie up in this finale episode (here's hoping we don't get any cliffhangers 🤞) and i don't know how much time they will have to devote to eddie, or even what they want to do with that time. it's possible they have a completely different perspective on this and will take it a whole other way, but i have faith that the show will tell the story they want to tell and, if the past six seasons are any indication, i will enjoy that story

all that being said, if we're talking dream arc, this is what i would want

as far as who can tell eddie "hey, you're looking at your marriage with rose-colored glasses, this is how it actually is," i've got two ideas for this. one is eddie himself, and the second is his parents, specifically helena, who has been rumored to be in the s7 finale. i'm kinda more excited about the second, so let's get the first one out of the way

eddie himself - hopefully after the clusterfuck that is explaining to his son that he's been seeing a dead ringer for his dead mom and she cosplayed as mommy to give eddie closure, eddie will talk about this in therapy, and through the skills he's learned and a frank discussion (pun intended) he will be forced to confront the reality of his marriage and start to address the trauma he has from everything with shannon

p cut and dry, my typical eddie-goes-to-therapy kinda story. we've all been here before.

now, for the good stuff 😈 (putting this under a read-more bc i have Thoughts)

helena. the diaz mother we all know and have complicated feelings over. or not-so-complicated feelings over, given the "don't drag [chris] down with you" line. i know i keep asking y'all to think of things from the white woman's perspective, but bear with me just one moment while i do this again

helena married into a large mexican family in the 80s. she had a mother in law whose cooking was renowned, a husband always away on business, and three children to bring up along with keeping her home together. given how everyone in their family seemed to treat shannon, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume there were some heavy expectations on helena to be the wife everyone thought ramon deserved, and i'm gonna assume that meant a lot of tradition--cooking the right things, doing the holidays the right way, teaching the kids the right values, etc. etc.

i think it was hard. i think helena didn't always meet the expectations put on her. i know it was played as a joke, but during ramon's retirement party, eddie and pepa were concerned that helena was cooking a specific dish (i can't remember which one atm) until abuela assured them she was in charge of it. meaning this is probably a running joke, helena not cooking things as well as she ought to.

also, raising three kids with a physically absent husband in a town that (i'm assuming) is full of in-laws seems hard to me, too. (if this is sounding familiar, yes i'm about to make a shannon comparison just gimme another second). the stories we hear about eddie as a kid are yes, reflections of traditional masculinity and eddie falling short of that, but also reflections on his parenting--how could helena let her son try to cook? that should be her job, she should be watching him! how could she let him try to drive at 8? tsk tsk and all that

i think helena has become a part of the diaz family fully, but i don't think it was always easy, and i think when her son married a white woman who didn't fit the expectations of a diaz wife either, helena recognized that. i think helena saw herself in shannon so clearly.

and instead of breaking the cycle and offering shannon that support and empathy that shannon (and young helena) needed, helena enforced those expectations even harsher. helena did it, so shannon had to, too.

maybe it was out of protection--she wanted shannon to fit into the family the way helena had learned to. maybe it was common generational sentiment, i.e. it's the Right way or it's the way I did it so therefore you have to do it that way, too. maybe it was a means of reinforcing her own place in the family, as she was no longer the newbie, shannon was.

whatever it was, i don't think she was conscious of it, and especially after shannon left her son, helena refused to acknowledge she was anything like shannon at all.

until now.

(yes i've found my way back to the point, i usually do i promise--and yes my adhd meds are THRIVING rn)

both helena's husband and son have done a lot of emotional work in the recent years and i think it's likely she would take a queue from them (and if her daughters are anything like me, i'm sure they're trying to nudge her towards a therapist at every turn). helena very well may be in a place where she can acknowledge how the expectations she's lived under may have been stifling, and given her son's recent encounter with kim, she very well may be in a place to acknowledge how similar shannon was to her.

and that's where, dear anon, your point comes in.

because helena was there for shannon and eddie's entire marriage. ramon was working, eddie was in the war, abuela and pepa were in la, but helena was right down the street (idk if she was actually right down the street but you know what i mean). helena knew shannon as an 18-20yo woman, as a new mother, as a struggling mother. she was in the unique position of watching shannon go through a marriage alone and remembering exactly how that felt.

kim may look like shannon, but she has no idea how shannon felt during her marriage. eddie can say all the things he wants to say, but it's like talking to a gravestone. i think helena can say the things eddie needs to hear, even if he may not want to hear them.

....and now i really wanna write that conversation. fuck.

[izavella21]

The Use of Color in Character Design

One detail in character design that I’ve grown to really like is when certain colors, and sometimes patterns or accessories, are used to convey or hint at some type of connection between the characters involved. 

Here are some examples that I really like:

(Please note that a lot of these are my own speculation. I have no idea if these details and meanings were the artist’s and designers’ intentions when designing these characters, so please take this with a grain of salt)

Sonic The Hedgehog

Tails looks up to Sonic, and they’re close friends. Sonic and Tails both wear red and white shoes, as well as similar gloves. (I love that most of the Sonic characters’ gloves look like the basic cartoon white gloves at first glance, but they’re stylized to fit that character’s personality)

Later in the Sonic IDW comics, we get Surge and Kit, who are based on Sonic and Tails. Obviously, they wear the same shade of yellow, and their gloves and wrist bracers are identical. In this case, they were literally made for each other, so I think it would make sense for Starline to have them be matching to a degree. 

Encanto:

Encanto is full of examples of color used like this! A lot of details in the Encanto characters’ character designs show their connection. But for now, I’m going to focus on color specifically.

Okay, first, all the Madrigals are shown wearing white at their gift ceremony, before switching to a more colorful outfit afterwards. This is most prominently shown with Antonio, and briefly in Mirabel’s flashback.

Pepa’s side of the family wears warm colors. Mostly shades of yellow and orange. 

Dolores is shown wearing mostly red, which makes her stand out, but also blend in with her parents and siblings, at least to me. I’m not sure if that means anything. Antonio also wears a red scarf, so in that regard, Dolores matches her brother. 

Julietta’s side of the family wears shades of blue. 

Everyone except for Isabela that is. I’ve seen some people say that Isabela’s dress is pink, and I’ve heard others say that it’s purple or lilac. I think both make sense for her. Pink is Abuela’s color, and Isabela is shown to be the favorite grandchild. And if you really look into it, Abuela Alma seems to try to live her ideal life through Isabela, hence she might have influenced Isabela’s wardrobe, hence them both wearing pink.

Or, if you think Isabela’s dress is a pale purple, that also works, because purple can be made by mixing pink, Alma’s color, and blue, Jullieta’s color. 

In her song “What Else Can I Do?” Isabela’s dress gets painted with several colors, the most prominent of which being blue, yellow, and red, which are the colors of the Colombian flag, where Encanto is based.

At the end of the movie, Isabela’s dress is colored mostly blue, the same color as her parents and sisters.

Bruno wears green, which is yellow and blue mixed together. In other words, Bruno’s color is his sisters’ colors mixed together. 

And Mirabel’s dress contains lots of images that relate to her family’s gifts, but there’s no image relating to Bruno. However, Mirabel’s connection to Bruno is shown by her glasses being green, Bruno’s color.

Danganronpa:

The most obvious one: Junko’s outfit is black and white with red details. Similar to Monokuma.

Mukuro’s outfit when she’s disguised as Junko has a similar color palette. Makes sense. She’s in disguise, so she’s supposed to look identical to Junko at first glance. Does this count as foreshadowing to the mastermind reveal?

Chiaki’s design shares multiple elements with Usami/Monomi, including a similar shade of pink.

Not sure if this was intentional or not, but Hajime and Nagito have similar colors in their designs (mostly white and green). They are very much foils for each other.

Kaede and Kaito have similar colors in their design. There’s a lot of parallels between them and they play similar roles, particularly when it comes to supporting Shuichi. This one might be coincidence, but still.

Last but not least, Kaito’s associated with the color purple, Shuichi is associated with blue, and Maki is associated with red. Blue and red mixed together makes purple. In other words, Kaito’s color is his sidekicks’ colors mixed together. 

I think this is my favorite example on this list because it's subtle, and it doesn't register until well into the game.

At the start of V3, Shuichi Kaito and Maki have no meaningful relationship with each other, so you don’t think the colors used in their designs have any meaning. Then as the story progresses, their friendship gradually forms and develops. Key word being GRADUALLY, until you get to the scene in chapter 4 where they sit down and chat, and that scene has a dedicated image of them sitting together in a circle (also, Kaito is pictured between Shuichi and Maki, which makes the detail of their colors even more apparent). And you can look at that image and go “oh, that detail makes so much sense now!”.

Thank you for reading!

[foggyfanfic]

Queer Madrigals

I'm about to post a couple future!fic for Encanto, so I figured I'd take a minute to talk about my headcanons when it comes to their genders/sexualities.

The Obvious: I've posted somewhat in depth about what I think Bruno and Isabela's individual deals are, so I'm not going to really talk about it here, but yeah. Using the labels I am familiar with, I assume Bruno is demi, bi, and nonbinary, and that Isabela is a lesbian who ends up marrying a trans woman.

The Married: I mean, we can sit here all day and speculate, but the only real headcanons I got are that Juli is demi and Pepa has made out with more women than Bruno.

Mirabel: I've mentioned this, but I didn't really talk about it. Due to heteronormativity I suspect it wouldn't occur to Mirabel to question her sexuality until later in life when the Pride movement starts up. I think she's bi, possibly also demi, but most definitely not very focused on her love life (another reason why she doesn't think too hard about her sexuality). She's got shit to do and if somebody wants to date her they better speak up about it because she's got too many projects going on right now to bother with mind games. Mirabel ends up with a man mostly by coincidence, I saw somebody do the numbers and its just statistically more likely that a bi person will end up with somebody of the opposite sex (the math didn't factor for gender). I try to keep all of my headcanons grounded to peoples lived experiences, and this felt historically accurate.

Luisa: I think that if Luisa were a tumblrina she would end up being CIS+, but would have to go through the journey of exploring her gender due to societal biases. In the context of 1950's Colombia, she spends her youth hearing abuelas and tias talking about how she needs to be more feminine if she wants a husband, and struggles with that for a while. Luisa sings "I glow because I know what my worth is" and that's the sort of thing somebody says when they're on the other side of some serious self doubt, so I do think she had to deal with a bit of misogyny and body image issues. The thing is, Luisa likes the way she looks, and she's proud of what a hard worker she is, but she also wears ribbons in her hair and skirts instead of pants to work in. Furthermore, I suspect every bi person in the village, male or female, has a huge fucking crush on her because if she was a modern tumblrina people would be responding to pictures of her with that "not to be a lesbian but oh my god" stuff. I headcanon her as being technically cishet, but culturally gay due to people being people about the whole Woman with Biceps thing, if that makes sense. Once she starts allowing herself some free time, she dates every bi man in the village.

Dolores: Morosexual. No offense Mariano.

Camilo: You know how gender is a product of your culture and different societies throughout history have had different ideas of how many genders there are and what it means to be a man or woman? I think being able to turn into a woman at will would have an effect on Camilo's relationship with his gender. Like, I don't know if he would be full nonbinary, because I have never met a shapeshifter and asked them how they feel about gender, but I can't imagine he sees gender as a rigid binary. Like I said, I try to stay grounded in my headcanons, and I have zero idea what the lived experience of a shapeshifter is, soooooo...?

Antonio: I have spent a long time weighing the options here, his association with animals makes me think he would be the least traditional Madrigal, so I would like to think he'd end up in the least conventional relationship. I posted a list of headcanons where I floated the idea of him being poly, but I like the idea of him being aroace better. I stand by the rest of it, though. He marries a lesbian, let's her girlfriend move in with them, and he's just kinda there. Like, the women consider themselves married to each other and he's just some guy who talks to birds. They're his best friends and thinks he's pretty great but the only time he has sex is when him and the wives want kids, and other than that he's just vibing. I arrived at this headcanon because I love the idea of him being sorta a reverse Bruno. Like, people think he has two wives so everybody assumes he's this total lady killer, they sing songs about how charming he is, rumors abound that he can make a girl swoon with a single smile, then you talk to him and he's just some guy. Occasionally, a woman will throw herself at him and he's like "No thanks" then starts having a conversation with her cat. Do you see my vision? Anyone? I don't care if nobody else thinks it's funny, because I'm giggling at my computer.

[unnecessarilygrandiose]

Guys, come on. You have to try to understand. Eddie being 'the angry guy' in Buck's dream wasn't bad writing, an injustice to Eddie's character, or racist.

Hear me out.

If Eddie never met Buck, Eddie never met Carla. Which means he's struggling to be a firefighter, raise Christopher, trying to make it work with Shannon, and also probably trying to put up a good front for Abuela and Pepa because it's quite likely that whatever they know will get back to his parents. That's fucking hard for anyone, never mind someone with as much repressed PTSD as Eddie.

If there was no Buck, then, as the episode very clearly states, there would be no Bobby. Buck and Bobby are the first two people Eddie starts to trust in the firehouse. He forms a relationship with them before he gets closer to Hen or Chim. If there's no Buck and there's no Bobby, he probably isn't able to get close to Hen and Chim so easily. And that too is if he even ended up in the 118. We know from 2x01 that Bobby fought to have Eddie from the academy. All of this is to say that not only does he not have Buck, he doesn't have the entire support system that being in the 118 gave to him.

And maybe, even without Buck and the firefam, he would have eventually found someone to take care of Christopher, but that's a very difficult task, and certainly even more so when you've only moved to a new place a only few months ago. He's completely alone out here.

When Shannon died, Eddie's grief turned to anger. Remember fight club? Yeah, he's a war veteran, he's been trained to channel all his emotions into anger, to hit something. So it's not too far fetched to think that her dying and him being burnt out from all of his responsibilities and not having any real friends would turn him angrier. Maybe after joining fight club, he would have kept going. No Bobby to calm him down or coax him into therapy he doesn't want, no Buck to be annoyed at for suing departments, no Chim for Eddie to give sage romantic advice to, no Hen to bond over playdates with their kids.

Pepa and Abuela are probably seeing their nephew and grandson struggling, and while I'm sure they'd want to be on his side, maybe they decide that it's for his own good that they ask Eddie's parents to intervene.

So they come, they fight, and Eddie hasn't yet tried to mend his relationship with them, so they genuinely believe they're better for Chris than whatever Eddie can offer, and when he refuses to give Chris up, they take him to court.

Eddie loses his son. He never gets to meet his found family. He never gets to mend his relationship with his biological family. He doesn't go to therapy, because at least initially, Christopher was his only motivation to go to therapy.

Hence, he's 'the angry guy'.

I get why someone might not immediately get it, because all of this was distilled into one line in the show, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

Also, it truly isn't a case of the white guy being the brown guy's saviour, god no. Eddie saved Buck as much as Buck saved Eddie. Imagine if Eddie never came to LA. What then? What would Buck do in season 2, when he's lonely and grieving the loss of his first adult relationship? In season 3, when he's recovering in his loft all alone, because there's no Eddie dropping Christopher off every day? He had a best friend, and he sued the department anyway. What if, because Eddie wasn't there to say “Do you know how much Chris misses you?”, Buck never dropped the charges? What if that completely ruined his relationship with the firefam? What if he completely regressed?

Those are very real things that could have happened if Buck never met Eddie. So truly, it is not a case of the nice white boy saving the angry brown man. It is a case of ‘what if this very pivotal character was removed from the equation, how would it affect the lives of the people who love them?’

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

[keepin-it-on-the-d-l]

I CANT STOP THINKING ABOUT AN OAK FAMILY ENCANTO AU HELP ME. I CAN SEE IT SO CLEARLY.

Normal as Mirabel, the outcast of the family trying to mend a broken family

Hero as Isabella, golden child that fuels sibling rivalry

Lark as Pepa, temperamental uncle who has trouble controlling his emotions and as a result his powers are often more destructive than helpful

Sparrow as Julieta, peace-loving and quiet parent that avoids confrontation (healer over fighter)

Barry as Abuela (but worse), accepts nothing short of perfection from everyone

Henry as Bruno maybe? We don’t exactly know what happened to him after season one and Lark and Sparrow don’t like talking about him…

I don’t have anyone for Luisa lol

I DON’T KNOW IT JUST MAKES SO MUCH SENSE TO ME.

[miramilocamimira]

Villain Antonio???? Plez???

This is haunting me. It took so long to figure out what his reason would be and I realized if we lean heavily into pre-movie mama Mira headcanon, we really only need to start with a change at one scene.

If You Are Good

Antonio had come out of his room when Hiro told him that he heard Mira and Isabela come back. He had known that Abuela was looking for Mira but he didn't know what she wanted. He did know that Mira was trying to fix things.

All the animals kept talking to him. Telling him everything they knew. From Bruno being in the walls to his mom Pepa and Abuela having fought about what to use his gift for.

He loves his mom! He thinks. It's... Well, it's hard to say. How well can someone love what's essentially a stranger in his house? Antonio knows that's not what they all meant to have done but… the village came first. Abuela’s orders came first.

Except with Mira. He remembers when she'd break the rules and sneak him snacks or bandage his wounds or when she spent the whole day by his side while he was sick. She'd gotten in trouble for not helping pass out things or something.

It was funny. His Mira got in trouble for helping and for not helping.

“The cracks started with you.” He hears from his abeula and he feels cold. He looks down from his spot on the second floor and he doesn't need to see his Mira’s face to know she's hurt. Hiro growls and the others give out chirps and squeaks and more as they get upset on Mira’s behalf.

“Bruno left because of you. Luisa’s losing her powers,” Which isn't true! Bruno chose to leave to protect her! The rats said so. Earlier Dave the donkey said that he agreed with Mira and that Luisa deserved a break.

Barry is the one who comes up with the idea.

“Isabela’s out of control,” Flowers was out of control now? Antonio hears from some of the birds. He kind of agrees. Her having fun was out of line? “Because of you!” There's a bad feeling that feels like it's consuming him. He feels like he's on fire and covered in ice at the same time. Like he's gotten hundreds of paper cuts all at once.

He decides to do what Barry suggests. In a matter of moments, he and the animals are making their way up. Everyone else is focused on Abuela’s yelling at his Mira once again so they don't see him climbing.

“I don’t know why you weren’t given a gift,” Because his Mira, his Mami was perfect already. She was kind and caring. He'd always thought of her as good, as what good was supposed to be. “But it is not an excuse for you to hurt this family!” Now he knows he's the only one to think this way.

The walls are shaking. The animals say it's cause of the cracking.

There's a candle on a plate. It sits atop a windowsill to decide your gift and change your fate. He hears in his head. Something his Mira told him for as long as he could remember. Especially when he was feeling bad or scared. Well, in that impossible scenario, you’d stay here in the nursery with me.

He sees the candle. He doesn't hesitate to grab it.

“Don’t you ever- Antonio?” He turns around, candle in hand. They all start calling out to him but he focuses only on Mira.

And the hurt. The pain and fear, the doneness in her eyes when she first turns around are what does it. Even as it changes to concern and worry for him, he knows it was there.

If being good like the others will make him hurt his Mira for Abuela, if being good is what they are… he doesn't want it. Barry’s right.

If they're gonna call Mirabel bad then he’ll just have to show them what bad truly is.

He blows.

And

Everything

Crumbles.

[grimyandereencantosimp]

So this is a bit of an long ask but a yandere Mirabel who is in love with fem reader now the rest of the family is a platonic Yandere towards Mirabel as she doesn't have a gift and in there minds need to be cared for. So they kidnap reader to give to her as a gift and do all the punishments stopping reader from escaping for her.

(I'm really sorry for the long wait on your request!)

(Also I'm not including Abuela and Antonio, because I don't feel really that comfortable writing them as yandere's. Sorry!)

Gift (Romantic! Yandere Mirabel x Platonic! Yandere family Madrigal x Fem! Reader)

Tw: Kidnapping, yandere punishments, romantic yandere, platonic yandere, drugging, force, threats, unhealthy obsession, yandere themes.

Mirabel gazed at you from behind the tree, obsessed with you. Just everything about you she loved. Your looks, your personailty, everything.

You didn't talk to Mirabel, nor know her. All you knew she was from the famous and gifted Madrigal family. You didn't plan on getting to know Mirabel, unless she started talking to you. Until then you weren't going to attempt to talk to her.

It's not like you had anything against her or anything, it just you never really were a fan of talking to people you didn't really know. And it would most likely stay that way.

The Madrigals had suddenly found out about Mirabels little crush on you, (not looking at anyone Dolores) they thought it was cute. It might of been a normal thing for a family to be proud or find it cute their family member had a crush or lover. Yes. But the Madrigals weren't really normal at all, they were what you would call a yandere towards Mirabel.

They believed Mirabel needed to be cared for in every way possible , they were like this ever since Mirabel hadn't gotten a gift like everyone else did. Ever since that day they had felt pity for her, protecting her, caring for her, making sure she was happy.

Finding out about this 'crush' of hers', would put you in danger. You knew neither of these things so you had no idea you were in danger. Oh I wish you knew so you could protect yourself.

The next day, you were on your own not another soul to be seen in sight. Well that's what you thought anyway. It was a nice day today, so why not take a walk? Not like sitting around all day was going to do anything...

Then suddenly a cloth wrapped around your mouth, you tried to fight off the unknown attacker, but no avail.

Your eyes suddenly but slowly opened, you then looked to see the...Whole madrigal family?! What did they want with you?! "Hello (y/n)..." Isabela said, making you even more nervous. "I'm sorry for what ever I did, but please let me go!" You quickly blurted out, getting a chuckle from each family member. You gave a confused look.

Isabela then resumed, "that's not why you're here...Now why you're here is because we know Mirabel has feelings for you, and we want to give you to her as a gift...Whether you like it or not." Her voice got a little darker and stern with the last 6 words. You gulped, as a gift? You weren't a present someone could just wrap up and give to another! You weren't going to stay with these people just because their family member loves you!

"No! You can't make me just stay here! This is wrong!" You shout, now shaking all over. "You will and you will like it dear..." Julieta darkly tells you. "And if you don't and try to escape, we won't hesitate to break your legs or do worse." Pepa finishs.

You wanted to cry out of fear, you didn't want any of this, why did this have to happen to you out of all people?!

"Now! Lets get you nice and ready for Mirabel, shall we...?"