#a special mix of oblivious / brutally honest and incredibly gentle

[nael-opale]

You know, when Mirabel finds Bruno, what I love is that beyond the fact that his social skills are very peculiar to start with and he spent ten years in isolation on top of that, well...

You have to remember that even if he saw her grow up from a distance, Bruno has not interacted with his niece since she was 5 years old !

I edited this little clip to talk about that :

First we start with a clip of what Mirabel used to look like when she was 5 years old. Bruno probably kinda perceive her like that, at least at the start. She is his adorable little niece and he is a caring man. He's not immune.

I put a clip of a worried Mirabel just after, for comparison. You can see she did not change that much. That's the moment that wrecks me... Protective instinct probably activates when she's here for Tío Bruno. He doesn't want her to get scared. His hand movement is just so gentle... I'll never recover.

Bruno throwing salt at his niece is done out of superstition, that's for sure. But why sugar ? And why does it sound like a question ? I know he's a bit eccentric, but I think he's trying to tell her she's sweet. But what he says after really got to me... "Sana, Sana Colita de Rana" A post here (EDIT : I found the post ! I found it ! It was an anon ask with a cool headcanon, check it out) taught me that it is a Spanish saying that you can say/sing when someone gets hurt. It goes : "Sana, Sana Colita de Rana Si no sanas hoy, sanarás mañana" And it means : "Heal, heal, little tail of the frog. If you don't heal today, you'll heal tomorrow." From what I've gathered, it is specifically meant for children. Bruno is not facing her, he may be singing that to himself, he probably heard that a lot growing up, he is still very childlike (he is literally playing hopscotch)... But I don't think it's a coincidence that he said that out loud. Mirabel was emotionally hurt like...a lot ! He does want her to get better.

The last one cracks me up : Bruno introducing Hernando to Mirabel and feeling compelled to clarify that it actually is him under the hood. To me, it's not only him being awkward and/or convinced his acting is very good. I think he was used to a kid who did not have the best concept of object permanence / was very naive... That tends to change A LOT between 5 and 15 years old 😂

Thanks to @vilmublue for uploading 8 minutes of Bruno Madrigal, I could not find the last two clips anywhere else

In conclusion :

Bruno is the best uncle, but frankly, he never had to interact with niblings older than 12 years old... I don't think he knows that much about teenagers. But it's okay. He quickly grasps how smart and emotionally intelligent Mirabel actually is. He does not treat her as a child to be condescending or anything... He is genuinely a bit lost, he has a lot of catching up to do. One thing's sure : he knew 5 year old Mirabel and he probably remembers what was comforting to her when she was small. I think he instinctively used that without even thinking about it...