#isamira hanahaki au

[genuinewhy]

My friend really said, "wouldn't it be ironic if Isabela got seasonal hanahaki" and then proceeded to think I won't be hung up on the idea. People flock to her (more so than usual) every spring because flower dispenser but not everything pretty is meant to be admired. Exhibit A: her incestuous feelings for a certain younger sister without a gift.

Isabela is convinced her feelings are indecent, way beyond immoral, and therefore ugly. Something she isn’t – something she shouldn’t be. She has to be careful with toeing the line between being a petty, vain sister and appearing to actually hate Mirabel. She has to distance herself so she won’t accidentally slip; it’s an impossible love anyway so she thinks it’s better that way, but putting too much distance or saying too many hurtful words could tip the balance, destroy the family’s status quo. She’s vain, she’s petty, she hates seeing Mirabel try so hard to prove herself. It’s what she thinks Mirabel should think of when they interact.

There’s a line I want to stick in the narration but it sounds off and I can’t get it to sound right. 

“It was the one flower she hadn’t meant to grow.“ It being her feelings. (That one flower becomes a garden because love isn’t limited to adoration and hate; her feelings said more than what a thousand words in a picture could tell. Her love spoke of disdain – towards Mirabel for being her sister, towards the situation for not even giving her a chance, towards herself for being powerless. Her love screamed to be heard yet it’s the same love that silences that voice, because what was she to do if her secret got out? What would happen to Mirabel, being the scapegoat child?) “It’s the one flower she couldn’t keep from blooming.” 

We know from the lyrics of WECID that Isabela’s good at repressing her emotions + she’s surprised at the cactus that grows out of her anger (?). So I think it’d be neat if, other than the hanahaki situation, the flowers she coughs out became signs of her unbearable feelings. A sign that her feelings are that real. And it’s scarier then because, like how the petals spill out of her mouth despite her protests, her secret could slither its way out just as easily. 

Isabela discovering the nature of her feelings and everything it entails sounds like good material for a long angst ride too. I’m talking about pre-WECID Isabela. Need to be perfect, always the center of attention Isabela and the person she had to become the moment Alma decided to groom her into a golden child. Her mind immediately going to familiar places: how Alma would react, how her parents would look at her, if Mirabel’s distaste towards her would turn into genuine disgust. 

Isabela dreading the beginning of spring every year, hoping that she won’t be spitting flowers the next day. This raises the question: so her feelings grew way before the movie timeline? The answer is yes. She could’ve fallen in love with Mirabel the moment she was born. Her feelings were platonic then but it was definitely love. Five years later, Mirabel doesn’t get her gift but she doesn’t let that stop her. At least that’s how I imagine Mirabel behaved after her gift ceremony. Point is Mirabel stayed lovable all the same and at some point in her life, Isabela just started looking at Mirabel in a romantic light. 

Anyway. Isabela inflicted with seasonal hanahaki. Or just hanahaki in general. The irony is delicious. (Angst ride too. I can’t write angst to save my life but I do enjoy reading it.)

I can't shake the thought.

ps. isabela’s hanahaki does not involve blood. i imagine it’d be a nuisance seeing she has to keep a good appearance at all times. she could just easily put a hand over her mouth and pretend she grew the flowers and didn’t actually spit them out

[isamiral-soulwolf]

I have some free time so to expand on this idea I had for an Isamira hanahaki AU:

My take on hanahaki draws pretty heavily from the line “He told me that my power would grow like the grapes that thrive on the fine,” coupled with the fact that when left to her own devices, Isabela’s gift is actually fairly emotional. I started thinking, Isabela can grow flowers from her hands, what stops it from growing elsewhere? Like, say... inside of her? Cue chronic hanahaki where every once in awhile Isabela finds herself coughing up flowers depending on her emotional state. It’s not so bad when she’s younger and reasonably happier, but it’s gradually gotten worse as she’s gotten older, between the stress of being the perfect golden child and her incest guilt. She takes great care to hide it.

By the time of canon-ish, she’s coughing pretty regularly every day.

[genuinewhy]

isamira hanahaki au

Hi.

One of the ideas I have for seasonal hanahaki-inflicted Isabela is that the flowers she spits out have meanings corresponding to how she feels at the moment (about her feelings, about the object of her affection). This idea supports the concept(?) that her love for Mirabel is not defined by a single flower but a whole garden, which I mentioned in my previous post. Now read that sentence again but stop at flower and replace the word with ‘definition’. 

[This idea supports the concept that her love for Mirabel is not defined by a single definition.]

Now, on to the flowers.

Disclaimer: I did some research but I wouldn’t call it extensive. This also lacks any looking through a cultural lens. Apologies in advance for any inaccuracies.  

Gardenia for secret love, striped carnations for “a love that is not shared”, purple hyacinths because she feels she should apologize, marigolds to mirror her grief, morning glories for how impossible her love is. Toadflax¹ climbs up her throat when Mirabel tells Isa she hates her or just straight up ignores her. Yellow hyacinths² for when a village girl/boy around Mirabel’s age gets too close. Pink³ and yellow⁴ roses for the sound of Mirabel’s laughter as she plays with the children in town. Petals of red roses because it’s love and it’s real no matter how much she wants to say it’s not. 

¹Toadflax - notice my feelings

²Yellow hyacinths - jealousy

³Pink roses - happiness, gratitude and gentleness

⁴Yellow roses - joy, gladness

WAIT. What if Isabela interpreted the meaning of her flowers as the description of her feelings. So when she coughed out flowers usually seen at funerals (lilies are the only ones I can think of), she interprets that it’s a love that should be killed off? (Though even without the flowers, she’d still think it’s wrong.) It doesn’t make sense to you as the reader but for Isabela who’s confused, carrying the encanto’s expectations, and has no one to tell her that no, her love isn't disgusting? She believes in it.

[After reading this paragraph for the fifth time, I decided I don’t want this idea, but I’ll still put it on there.]

Mindless ramblings here which I don’t recommend reading:

While we're on the subject of flowers and gardens. If Isabela’s hanahaki flowers signify how she feels for Mirabel, then it means that when/if she’s ready to allow herself to let those feelings run free, she's also allowing her flowers to have space somewhere else other than the tight, narrow darkness in her lungs. Willingly.

So. She's letting her feelings out into the light. Quite literally.

On that note, I am beginning to form a concept of hanahaki that doesn't rely solely on whether your love is requited or not. It also depends on how repressed you are or how tightly you keep a lid on the said feelings.

And the reason why the flowers keep blooming inside her is because she doesn’t tell anyone, she doesn’t give them to anyone, because she keeps them to herself.

i think i just decrypted deciphered decoded unriddled unraveled the logic of hanahaki

her blooming feelings really said ok u wanna keep me to urself? alright then, keep me to urself 

hanahaki was aggressive attention-seeking flower language all along

so. listen. uHhhh. if Isabela ever decides to, let's say, *voice drops an octave* confess *audible gasp*, the symptoms of her hanahaki could mellow. ??? question mark? and not just confess. i mean she starts expressing herself instead of bottling it up like she's always done

Hanahaki is still based on having unrequited feelings, though, so even if she does let her feelings out in the light, she still has hanahaki unless Mirabel loves her back. So, in modern medical terms, she's sick but she's taking the proper steps (finally!) to get better.

Another point to discuss. Since it's seasonal hanahaki, then does it mean the intensity of the symptoms change or depend on how 'at peak' it is in spring? For example, in early spring Isabela doesn't spit petals that much and she could more or less still keep the 'vomiting' under control. It gets more and more uncontrollable as peak spring gets closer and it slowly fades as summer draws near.

In conclusion, the type of hanahaki Isabela has (or may have) in this au is seasonal. She only ever experiences the symptoms every spring and the intensity of the attacks is controlled by two factors: (1) how repressed her feelings are, and (2) how deep she is in the spring season.

Not ramblings anymore but are still just as mindless (scene ideas):

Isabela made a bouquet unconsciously while gazing fondly at Mirabel from afar. She catches herself mid-thought and chants the now overfamiliar mantra (“Don’t. It’s wrong. I shouldn't” rinse repeat). A second later she’s spitting petals again and then she thinks, “hm? Why do the petals look similar to the bouquet I just made?” And then it clicks, “ohnonono my feelings are showing.”

Mirabel almost catches Isabela in action spitting out flowers. There's an orange flower in her hair. (she was nervous)

One of the kids in town saw Isabela vomiting by accident but didn't understand what it meant so he now refers to what happened as magic trick practice gone wrong. 

I just think it’s a crime that we don’t have many Isabela With Hanahaki aus.

[ingridverse]

"It was the one flower she hadn't meant to grow. It's the one flower she couldn't keep from blooming."

That's some good writing right there.

My friend really said, “wouldn’t it be ironic if Isabela got seasonal hanahaki” and then proceeded to think I won’t be hung up on the idea. People flock to her (more so than usual) every spring because flower dispenser but not everything pretty is meant to be admired. Exhibit A: her incestuous feelings for a certain younger sister without a gift.

Isabela is convinced her feelings are indecent, way beyond immoral, and therefore ugly. Something she isn’t – something she shouldn’t be. She has to be careful with toeing the line between being a petty, vain sister and appearing to actually hate Mirabel. She has to distance herself so she won’t accidentally slip; it’s an impossible love anyway so she thinks it’s better that way, but putting too much distance or saying too many hurtful words could tip the balance, destroy the family’s status quo. She’s vain, she’s petty, she hates seeing Mirabel try so hard to prove herself. It’s what she thinks Mirabel should think of when they interact.

There’s a line I want to stick in the narration but it sounds off and I can’t get it to sound right. 

“It was the one flower she hadn’t meant to grow.“ It being her feelings. (That one flower becomes a garden because love isn’t limited to adoration and hate; her feelings said more than what a thousand words in a picture could tell. Her love spoke of disdain – towards Mirabel for being her sister, towards the situation for not even giving her a chance, towards herself for being powerless. Her love screamed to be heard yet it’s the same love that silences that voice, because what was she to do if her secret got out? What would happen to Mirabel, being the scapegoat child?) “It’s the one flower she couldn’t keep from blooming.” 

We know from the lyrics of WECID that Isabela’s good at repressing her emotions + she’s surprised at the cactus that grows out of her anger (?). So I think it’d be neat if, other than the hanahaki situation, the flowers she coughs out became signs of her unbearable feelings. A sign that her feelings are that real. And it’s scarier then because, like how the petals spill out of her mouth despite her protests, her secret could slither its way out just as easily. 

Isabela discovering the nature of her feelings and everything it entails sounds like good material for a long angst ride too. I’m talking about pre-WECID Isabela. Need to be perfect, always the center of attention Isabela and the person she had to become the moment Alma decided to groom her into a golden child. Her mind immediately going to familiar places: how Alma would react, how her parents would look at her, if Mirabel’s distaste towards her would turn into genuine disgust. 

Isabela dreading the beginning of spring every year, hoping that she won’t be spitting flowers the next day. This raises the question: so her feelings grew way before the movie timeline? The answer is yes. She could’ve fallen in love with Mirabel the moment she was born. Her feelings were platonic then but it was definitely love. Five years later, Mirabel doesn’t get her gift but she doesn’t let that stop her. At least that’s how I imagine Mirabel behaved after her gift ceremony. Point is Mirabel stayed lovable all the same and at some point in her life, Isabela just started looking at Mirabel in a romantic light. 

Anyway. Isabela inflicted with seasonal hanahaki. Or just hanahaki in general. The irony is delicious. (Angst ride too. I can’t write angst to save my life but I do enjoy reading it.)

I can’t shake the thought.

ps. isabela’s hanahaki does not involve blood. i imagine it’d be a nuisance seeing she has to keep a good appearance at all times. she could just easily put a hand over her mouth and pretend she grew the flowers and didn’t actually spit them out