#madrigal family relationship analysis

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 28 - Antonio and Bruno

This is my favorite moment between this uncle and nephew duo; admittedly, it's one of the very few scenes they have together, but I still stand by my point. Antonio offers his stuffed jaguar, made by Mirabell (his favorite relative), to Bruno (a man he's just met and only heard about through his family and town's bias opinion). Jared Bush as confirmed in a twitter post that Antonio considers Bruno his pal. And I can understand why - given his gift, Antonio was told by Bruno's rats not only of the future teller's true personality but also the lengths the latter went to, to protect Mirabel, who Antonio greatly loves, cherishes, and admires. Of course, he would think of Bruno as his pal. And while it wasn't seen in the movie (which should've been), Bruno definitely returned Antonio's jaguar and genuinely thanked his young nephew for the help. And they would develop a tight bond because they are both shy but helpful guys who have an affinity towards animals more than people, and would do anything to help Mirabel, the person in the family who helped them the most (not hating on the Madrigals but the way Mirabel helped them was more beneficial). I can totally imagine Antonio cheerfully dragging Bruno along to play with him and his animals and Bruno happily agreeing since he loves being an uncle in general. I can also see Bruno trying to give good advice to Antonio that it's okay to prefer animals to people, a similar convo like the one Mirabel and Antonio had before his gift ceremony. In conclusion, these are PHENOMENAL PALS FOR LIFE.

[jacarandaaaas]

Mirabel Madrigal: A Character Analysis

Today I’m here to discuss all the attributes that make Mirabel Madrigal such a fantastical and magical character despite not having any magic herself. it’s all in her charm! I truly believe that Mirabel is one of the best protagonists! Shes such an endearing, sensitive, and strong character so I’m here to offer her some appreciation.

Right from the beginning of the story, one of the first things we learn about our protagonist is her mantra “make your family proud”. This phrase is Mirabel's driving motivation for the entire film and from what we can assume, her entire life. Mirabel makes it no secret that she is family orientated and she is full of pride for them, wanting to be like them and live up to the madrigal name. She introduces us to her family in a fun song praising each member. To her they are a “perfect constellation”. They are always her number one priority throughout the story as we see how she supports her sisters and encourages them to be themselves. One moment I feel truly highlights her love for her family is at the climax of the movie, whilst she consistently has shown what lengths she's willing to go to for her family this moment stood out the most to me. After her intense argument with alma casita starts to fall apart, at this moment everyone is yelling at mirabel to get out of the collapsing house but mirabel isnt thinking about herself. She's thinking about her family and getting the candle for them. What really stands out to me is Mirabel was willing to sacrifice her own life for her family, an eerie parallel to what Pedro did for them all those years ago.

Something that we learn about Mirabel immediately is that she's a go-getter, she's determined and persistent. What we also come to realize is that sometimes Mirabel doesn't realize when she's being overly persistent to the point of coming off as pushy to others. Both Julieta and Isabela point out that Mirabel has a tendency to “over do it”. We see how she wants to be useful in any way and she's taken up a variety of hobbies to prove this. Mirabel's incredibly creative doing everything from embroidery and sewing to playing the accordion. It's no secret she's talented but she always feels like she needs to do more. Upon overhearing Alma talking about the cracks Mirabel decides in that moment “I will save the miracle”. Instead of rushing in without a plan Mirabel knows Dolores would have intel due to her gift therefore she would know the most about the magic. It's also important to note that Mirabel decides to save the miracle before she even knows anything about the prophecy, she took it upon herself to do that! At breakfast when trying to get information from Dolores Mirabel decides to try complimenting her into it, showing early on how unintentionally pushy she can be. After breakfast she's no better, Mirabel is so determined to get answers that even when Luisa is working, she's pestering her. Mirabel is so overly focused on her mission that she can’t see Luisa gradually becoming more frustrated. “Luisa will you just tell me what it is!”, she’s frustrated that Luisa isn't giving her any information but she also seems hurt that Luisa doesn't trust her enough to tell her. Showing how Mirabel desperately wants a better relationship with her sisters.

Mirabel is so persistent in getting information about the magic that she causes luisa to snap at her. When climbing Bruno's tower Mirabel perseveres, as she forces herself up an unusually long flight of stairs and is exhausted by the end of it. Yet Mirabel persists because “I need to do this, for you for abuela”. She's so determined in fact to find this vision that she almost dies, twice. Mirabel doesn't care about the risks, she's aware of them but it doesn't deter her. She's willing to look at the situation about Bruno from a different angle than everyone else, questioning “what if you didn't understand what he saw?”. Mirabel's entire verse in “we don't talk about bruno” is just her pressing for the truth, she wants the whole story not just one perspective and she's driven to discover it. We've already established by now that Mirabel's persistence can be dangerous and this holds true once again as she chases Bruno through the walls and almost falls into a chasm, in pursuit of answers. Bruno tries to leave but she still pursues him, no way she's leaving without an answer or multiple answers to her many questions, she also cleverly pieces together here that it was actually Bruno who's been patching the cracks all along.

Pushy Mirabel is back in full force when she gets the idea for Bruno to have another vision to which he’s not enthusiastic about and tells her no. But Mirabel’s no quitter and her sole focus in the moment is her mission, to save the miracle. So when Bruno tells her he doesn't do visions anymore, Mirabel casually replies “but ya could!”, another instance of her being too focused on her goal that she doesn't take into consideration how Bruno would feel about this. She has no bad intentions and like with Luisa earlier Mirabel is unaware how she sounds. She tells Bruno “our family needs help and you need to get outta here” and as she realizes how broken the family truly is, she's more determined than ever to help them. Even when bruno tries to give up during the vision Mirabel encourages him to keep going to find another perspective “something we’re not seeing?” she ends up inspiring Bruno with this viewpoint. Before she goes to confront Isabela Mirabel tells Bruno “after I save the miracle I’m bringing you home” showing how that's now become part of her mission. As Isabela reveals a massive secret Mirabel instead keeps pressing for that hug she assumes will solve all their problems, once again she's so focused on her mission she isn't paying attention to Isabela’s revelation. Mirabel's determination and persistence is admirable but it's also a character flaw for her as we see she often takes it too far unintentionally.

One of Mirabel's most noticeable traits is her optimistic outlook. She's full of energy as she dances through the town singing about her family and whilst we know she's insecure, her enthusiasm towards her family and home is completely genuine. Mirabel is a true extrovert as we see how much she loves interacting with her community and wanting to help in any way she can. We see how she's always trying to see the bright side. Mirabel is optimistic and bright but even she has her limits and can't be optimistic all the time, as her song tells us she's truly not fine. However despite all her pain she still chooses to be optimistic, to be loving and to be hopeful.

Arguably the two scenes I believe emphasize her optimistic nature the most are when she helps Bruno through the vision and the final song of the movie. During the vision Bruno is deflated, he doesn't believe in the idea and Mirabel simply offers him some words of encouragement “you can do this”, she's already showing Bruno that she has faith in him, something Bruno isn't used to. When he fails to see anything other than what was shown in his last vision Mirabel begs him to keep trying, she's always looking for a brightside and she ends up finding it. As for the final scene, when returning from the river Casita is still a pile of rubble in front of them, Mirabel however sees this as an opportunity. To rebuild casita with better, stronger foundations and a chance for the family to build stronger foundations too, “look at this home we need a new foundation”. Mirabel really grows into herself as she leads the rebuilding efforts with her persistence and optimism, inspiring the whole family to view things from a different perspective.

An underrated trait for Mirabel is her humor. No seriously she's hilarious! humor is shown continuously to be one of her coping mechanisms along with her optimism. Whilst she is funny Mirabel is also incredibly snarky particularly towards her older sister Isabela, she can come off as slightly judgemental at times, very teenage of her. Her jealousy peeks through during the opening song, but towards the end of it when she runs into Mariano she not so subtly disses Isabela (as Isabela is walking by) “between you and me she's kinda a primadonna”. Unlike the better disguised insults at the beginning mirabel is not even trying to hide her disdain towards isabela this time. This continues directly after the song as she goes back to casita, Isabela gracefully descends on her vines and Mirabel’s expression is hilariously unimpressed. When Isabela notices her she tells her to stop trying so hard, we see Mirabel actually seems upset by that comment but as soon as Isabela looks back at her she masks that sadness as she bites back “actually Isa this is called helping and i'm not in the way you are”. We also see her mock Isabela as previously mentioned, unable to hide her disdain towards her. Mirabel's humor as a coping mechanism is emphasized when she's climbing Bruno's tower, giving us a half assed reprise of “the family madrigal” and of course one of her most iconic lines “BRUNO YOUR ROOM IS THE WORST!!”. Mirabel is also incredibly petty, my favorite example of this is not only her rolling her eyes during Isabela’s solo verse of “we don't talk about bruno” but also how Isabela tells her during that “hey sis I want not a sound out of you” and Mirabel who was silent until this point starts singing immediately out of spite.

She's also slightly judgemental when she first encounters resident wall man Bruno Madrigal. She's weirded out by him and her face does not hide this, “how long have you been back here?” with that concerned tone also didn't help her case. Although in this case who could blame her for that reaction? It's not everyday you find your estranged uncle in the walls of your house. Mirabel is not thrilled when the vision reveals she has to hug Isabela, so much so that she begins ranting about how she hates her and gives us a line nothing short of pure gold. “She's the one with flowers coming outta her-'' Bruno had to remind her to keep it pg! Even when mirabel is meant to apologize to Isa she can’t resist making a snarky comment about her older sister “I’m sorry that your life is soooo great!” this ends up spawning an argument between the two in which Mirabel unceremoniously yells out “some of us have bigger problems YOU SELFISH ENTITLED PRINCESS!” which is quite a humorous moment but also really shows Mirabel’s jealousy towards Isabela. As Isabela admits a very huge secret Mirabel’s reaction is one of complete sarcasm “that is a very serious confession” despite empathy being Mirabel’s strongest trait somehow her hatred for isabela overpowers it.

Mirabel as a person is incredibly selfless, this is both good and bad in her case. Whilst caring about others so much is admirable like how mentioned previously Mirabel can go too far, putting her life on the line multiple times! In one movie! One of the first examples of her selflessness is shown during Antonios gift ceremony. Antonio is incredibly nervous and calls out to her saying “I need you”, it's already a hard night for mirabel in general as people have been reminding her “last gift ceremony was a bummer”. However despite already finding it hard she knows Antonio needs her and she walks him to his door taking a deep breath, pushing through her own traumatic memories to support her favorite cousin. This scene is incredibly admirable to me as it takes a lot of courage to force yourself to relive the worst night of your life for the sake of supporting someone else. Here it's an example of mirabels selflessness being a positive trait and not a dangerous one.

Hey you know what's a great combination with being selfless? Being reckless!! Unfortunately for mirabel we can also add stubborn to the mix. Which makes for an ultra combination of self sacrificing nature and putting her life in danger! Brunos room is a scene that truly highlights these traits, especially recklessness. Mirabel throws herself across a giant chasm using rope from the fencing around her and whilst her resourcefulness is impressive it's still incredibly risky. Which ties into her selflessness! Mirabel has very little regard for her own safety and is willing to die in that vision cave if it means she helps the family. Almost suffocating to death in sand just while trying to get the vision shards. Mirabel also throws herself across a chasm twice, the second time isn't as dangerous but initially it looks very dangerous. Mirabel knows it's dangerous and still recklessly persists. Once again revealing how little regard she has for her own safety.

Arguably the biggest case of Mirabel's selflessness is when she tries to save the candle as the house is crumbling around her. This was also her most reckless act of the whole movie as she ignores everyone yelling at her to save herself, she covers the candle and not her head when the debris is crashing down on her. Really highlighting just how little she cares about what happened to her in that moment, valuing a candle over her own life. As selfless as Mirabel is, there are also times she like anyone else, can be selfish. Mirabel herself is aware of this as she says to herself, “for you, for abuela… maybe a little for me” she sounds almost embarrassed by the fact part of her motivation for saving the miracle is proving herself, even if it's only a tiny part. Other moments she can come off as selfish is when she's pestering Luisa about the magic and being dismissive, as well as when she dismisses Isabelas revelation in favor of getting a miracle saving hug. Whilst technically Mirabel isn't being selfish here as she's doing everything for saving the miracle, to others she seems selfish. Another trait Mirabel has is stubbornness and this is really highlighted when Isabela is around. Possibly Mirabel's most stubborn moment of the entire movie, is when Isabela asks her to apologize. Even though Mirabel knows that doing this will help her save the miracle she can't bring herself to give a sincere apology.

I think something that is less talked about than it should be is Mirabel's guilt and tendency to blame herself. A scene that I feel truly highlights her guilt is when Bruno tells her that he left to protect her. Mirabels responds to this saying “you left to protect me?” and she almost sounds in disbelief at this realization. The look on her face here is also one of deep concern, whilst she appreciates that he would sacrifice so much for it also reinforces a thought that had always been on her mind. That she was the cause of all this, that Bruno left due to her own failure, whilst we know this is untrue I strongly feel Mirabel believes this. After all, Bruno did disappear the same night as her gift ceremony. She feels guilty that Bruno left because of her even if he tells her it was for good reason.

A smaller example of Mirabels tendency to blame herself is when she tells Bruno “I ruined her proposal”, whilst mirabel had part in ruining it she was also trying to prevent disaster and ultimately she played the smallest role in ruining Isas night, yet Mirabel still believes it was entirely her fault. The biggest moment for Mirabel's guilt is right after Casita falls, the candle goes out after Mirabel almost gives her life to save it. Believing it's entirely her fault she runs off when nobody is watching.

Mirabel's rock bottom moment is when she's by the river crying, feeling like she's ruined everything and doesn’t know what to do other than to let out all of her bottled emotions. It's important to note that whilst there’s many points she comes close to crying, this is the only time we actually see her let the tears fall. When Alma discovers her Mirabel's reaction is to apologize, “I'm sorry I didn't wanna hurt us, I just wanted to be something I'm not”, again placing all of the blame on herself when the entire family is at fault for casitas collapse. I find this reaction interesting as during the climax Mirabel blames Alma in her anger but when her attempts to save the miracle fail she believes it’s her and her only to blame. This is also incredibly sad as it just shows how riddled by insecurity Mirabel is.

Throughout this story Mirabel is a person ruled by her insecurities, she lacks self esteem and confidence in general. However she's great at faking it and a prime example of this is the opening song, “the family madrigal”. A fun, upbeat tune but the entire song happens because of Mirabel's insecurity. As the children are asking her questions about her gift Mirabel responds with “I can't just talk about myself” and deflects into talking about her family instead. Her love for her family is entirely genuine but she puts on a facade to hide her own insecurities from everyone else, overcompensating to make up for what she lacks. Hidden in the lyrics of the song are her real feelings of worthlessness and jealousy, this especially shows in lines that refer to her two older sisters. When telling the kids about Isabela she sings “grows a flower the town goes wild'', there's a clear sarcastic tone to her voice. This instantly introduces us to Mirabel's envy of her oldest sister and the strained relationship between the two. Her envy is strongest when she sings “she's the perfect golden child” with such longing, illustrating how she actually seems to admire her sister as well as resent her. When she's describing both sisters she sings “the beauty and the brawn do no wrong” implying that she unlike them does do wrong. As the kids pester her more and more her insecurities only grow stronger and she's desperately trying to avoid the question, “I never meant this to get autobiographical”. She stays true to her word and successfully avoids talking about herself for the entire song. At the end she's so desperate to get out of the situation and hide the fact she has no gift that she sings “my family's amazing and i'm in my family so”, trying to convince herself more than anyone else that she's amazing by association.

There's little instances where her insecurity comes out such as when Osvaldo points out multiple times how un-special she is, he turns away for a brief moment and mirabel's painfully strained smile drops before she slips back into her act effortlessly. She also tries to act like this insecurity doesn’t affect her, a great example is when Alma tells her to step aside and nods in response but her expression is pained. Mirabel is hiding her problems from everyone else, even lying to herself. We see just how deep her insecurities go as Alma only tells her to step aside from the decorations but Mirabel interprets this as to stay away for the whole night, so when the whole family is out in the crowd she hides behind the curtain. When Alma tells Antonio that he got “a gift just as special as you” it forces Mirabel to remember when those very same words were said to her, and her smile fades away, her insecurities coming out. Most obviously, her insecurities are on full display during her solo number, “waiting on a miracle”, if you’re interested in more about that song I have a waiting on a miracle analysis !

The song starts with Mirabel pushing down her feelings as usual telling herself she's fine and she shouldn't be upset because the night isn't about her. In the song Mirabel refers to her pain as “unspoken” and “invisible”, displaying how she's not only been lying to everyone around her feelings but also to herself. When Mirabel tries to explain the cracks, Julieta doesn't seem to believe her and Mirabel believes it's because she “might not be super strong like Luisa or effortlessly perfect like senorita perfecta Isabela”. Whilst she's coming from a place of envy she's also speaking from insecurity here, believing that the only reason she isn't being taken seriously is because of her lack of a gift. When Julieta still doesn't believe her Mirabel appears to be hurt by this refusing to open up to her mother. Until she meets Bruno, Mirabel has actively been repressing all her insecurities and focusing solely on her mission. However when she realizes how similar she and Bruno really are, she's comfortable enough to fully open up about her insecurities for the first time. She admits her greatest fear and gets emotional about it, proving just how repressed those feelings are. When it's revealed in the vision she has to hug Isabela Mirabel starts ranting about how Isa hates her and seems like she has no faith in herself that she's able to do this.

One moment that truly highlights her insecurity is when Alma blames her for everything and she finally admits in front of the family that she feels she will “never be good enough for you”. A sharp contrast to Mirabel's denial at the beginning of the movie. In this moment, Mirabel has the courage to stand up not only for herself but for the entire family. Whilst we seen in previous scenes she can defend herself “I’m not doing anything! It’s Bruno’s vision”, here she fully commits to calling alma out in front of everyone. Whilst it’s painful for Mirabel to do, we see her come to the realization that this conversation is necessary. “He loves this family, I love this family we all LOVE this family!”. After this argument Mirabel is heartbroken and so insecure to the point of running to risk her own life just to prove something, anything to her abuela. Her character arc comes full circle at the ending of “all of you” when she looks at the doorknob and finally acknowledges herself for who she is, no longer a person controlled by her insecurities but one who's willing to challenge them.

Empathy & emotional intelligence are what I believe to be Mirabel's biggest strengths as a character. They’re often traits I see people try to argue make her weak, but I heavily disagree, I believe these traits are what make Mirabel such a resilient character. One of my favorite scenes in the whole movie is one where Mirabel's empathy truly shines, when she finds Antonio under her bed. This scene happening so early in the movie yet being so intimate and gentle instantly made me love Mirabel as a character. Her demeanor in this scene is so warm and loving. She knows Antonio is nervous about turning out like her yet she pushes her own feelings aside to support him, “you're gonna open that door and it's gonna be the coolest ever I know it”. This also showcases another strong trait of Mirabels, her emotional intelligence. She's able to gauge that Antonio is scared and needs comfort and she's willing to offer that to him. Antonio is still doubtful, questioning if it doesn't work and once again Mirabel reassures him, referring to the scenario as “impossible”. It's a very cute scene that sets up Mirabel and Antonios relationship. Mirabel's empathy shines here as there were many moments she could have made this about herself but she chooses not to. Other instances of Mirabel's recurring empathy are when she hugs Luisa offering her comfort ,some of her interactions with Bruno as well as when she empathizes with Isabela during their song. During “what else can I do”, Mirabel is able to admit she was wrong about her sister saying she barely knew her but Isa “changed” her mind, realizing that she finally understands Isabelas perspective.

A key scene for me that demonstrates both Mirabel's empathy and emotional intelligence is the “dos oruguitas” scene. After Alma shares her tragic past with Mirabel, despite Mirabel being upset, her reaction to Alma's story is an empathetic one. She tells her abuela “I can finally see” showcasing how similar to isabela, Mirabel finally sees her grandmother's perspective. Her emotional intelligence shines here as upon realizing the truth behind Alma's actions, she changes the words she spat so venomously during their argument. Stating that they were saved because of Alma and given a miracle because of her, she also tells her abuela that “nothing could ever be broken that we can't fix together” highlighting Mirabel’s growth and emotional maturity over the course of the film. Once again, as mentioned in the scene with Antonio, Mirabel had every opportunity to make this moment about her own suffering but she instead acknowledges Alma's feelings and offers her a chance to rebuild their relationship. Perhaps even the chance for forgiveness in the future.

These traits display for me what makes Mirabel such a well rounded and memorable character. Despite her flaws I adore how mirabel has always had her family's best interest at heart. She learns and grows a lot throughout this story and to me her flaws are what make her more interesting to follow and her flaws dont take away from her many positive traits. She's not a perfect protagonist, she's just a good person trying to help her family any way she can. She’s unapologetically loving and empathetic and willing to do anything for her family. To quote Stephanie Beatriz herself: “ I think one of the greatest things about this story is that she dares herself to go on that journey. I think that is so special because its telling an audience many of them impressionable young people, that by daring yourself to believe in yourself, you could possibly become the hero of your own story.”

[yellowcry]

I've seen some posts about "Mirabel is disobedient" and I really don't agree with it. So some of my own opinion/analysis of Mirabel's action. Just my own thinking. Not attacking anybody

The thing is. Mirabel actually DOES follow the rules that Alma had said to her specifically in the movie

Starting with

"The best way for some of us to help is to step aside".

It is the first direct appeal to Mirabel. Alma does not clarify what she meant by 'step aside' at this moment. And Mirabel's action pretty much show that she stopped helping at that moment. So we can see Mirabel leaving the preparation and going into her room. Which shows that Mirabel generally follows Abuela's rule. But what is coming next is the ceremony. Mirabel doesn't stand with the rest of her family but stays behind the curtains in the dark. Which is exactly what Alma had said, step aside, don't be near the family. Yes, she breaks this rule in the end. But this happens only because of Antonío (but let'sbe honest, who can blame her?). Which highlights that Mirabel is ready to go over her own guidelines if it means helping and defending people she cares about.

The breakfast is probably the scene that shows Mirabel not following rule the most. We don't know how the rules are in Madrigal family. But taking the facts, it is safe to assume that talking at the same time as Alma does can be concindered rude. So shows that Mirabel can be a bit forgettable and focus on her goal rather than what is going on in reality. Hovewer, we can also see that Mirabel stops after Alma's demand to do so. Allowing the rest of the scene to go even without her interruptions. So even in this small situation, Mirabel still clearly follows what Akma has said her to do.

"Stay away from Luisa."

Another rule that Mirabel easily follows. We can see her concerned. And taking Mirabel's passionate nature into account, I have no doubt Mirabel would want to check on her sister. But she doesn't. Yes, we can blame it on the fact that Mirabel was far more focused on the vision at the moment. And even when Alma is obviously far away and we can see Luisa struggling with a pot, Mirabel still doesn't aproach her sister to help. So staying away as she's supposed to.

So in general Mirabel followed all the rules said to her specifically. She did break some of them, specifically about Bruno. As entering Bruno's tower that's off-limits (only because Luisa said her to. And what's interesting, Mirabel describes Luisa as obedient in TOTS) And generally talking about Bruno. And even not talking about Bruno seems more as a principe. Alma isn't a dictator and she wouldn't force rules upon the whole Encanto. People just generally don't talk about him.

All other things that seem to cause problems weren't actual rules because of how specific they are. Finding an old vision, going into the walls and finding Bruno, talk with her family. Neither of this seems as something that would be forbidden. Either because it's too odd (Imagine a rule saying "Do not go into a hole hidden beihind the portrait and don't you dare to accidentally find your lost uncle") or just not something to be forbidden. (Banning family relationships lmao)

Each time Mirabel tries to simply agree and swallow her feeling or find an excuse and lie whenever she actually did something forbidden. Like entering Bruno's tower. Doing ot silently and clearly hiding. Which is an opposite of rebelling as it normally meant active protesting which Mirabel have never done until the argument scene. And let's be honest, if adds the climax so much.

And about that. It is the biggest moment when Mirabel finally opposes Alma. It can technically be concindered as breaking the rules, but we don't have any confirmation. In the very least occasion, same to the breakfast, it can be concindered rude to talk back to Alma. What's interesting, she looks at her sisters suggesting that she does it to defend them not thrown Alma off or for herself. Just the same all the way back in the Antonío's ceremony. Showing her kind and compassionate nature once again and the fact that Mirabel feels much more need to break the rules not for herself, but for offering support to her family.

So that's the thing. Mirabel wouldn't break rules for herself. Or try to argue. But if people she cares about need her — she will go against what she does normally

[asexy-phoenix]

Fic recs

It’s that time again where for no particular reason I trawl my ao3 bookmarks for fic recs! I’ll try not to doublepost any fic recs I’ve already put on a list here, but no promises I won’t repeat any. 

Fic recs ahead, under the cut!

Kaleidoscopic, a study of love and soulmates by empress_of_snark

this is a story of Niles Crane and Daphne Moon from the sitcom Frasier (yes, from the 90s) told through a soulmate AU. It’s the classic ‘you see in colour when you meet your soulmate’ but with a twist. When they meet, Niles sees in colour; Daphne doesn’t.

Make Yourself Useful by mystery_ink

another Frasier rec! This one is about Niles and Daphne’s relationship after they get together, with exploration of past abuse and trauma.

Roses by in_strawberry_fields

a series of short Sense and Sensibility vignettes about the story and developing relationship between Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon. Very sweet and touching, and includes Brandon bonding with every member of Marianne’s family to boot!

As Long as Everybody Pays Their Share by nenena

have you ever watched Attack on Titan and wondered what it would feel like if the 104th training squad stumbled into a fairy tale? It might sound weird, but this is a great fic with lots of atmosphere and a very spooky monster.

Sick of Ice by sednamode (sayalaine)

a classic Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fic! Hiccup is struggling with his prosthetic slipping on ice, so his friends band together to help him. Lots of friendship and fluff in this story!

after the scouring by dirgewithoutmusic

an excellent story that describes the trauma and recovery of the Lord of the Rings characters very well. It focuses on Rosie Cotton and her family, and how she helps her husband pick up the pieces of their life and build a new one together. Seriously, if there’s one LotR story I recommend, it’s this one. dirgewithoutmusic writes some beautiful stuff.

How Far do These Roots Go Down? by afterandalasia

more character study and trauma exploration! this story is about Alma Madrigal from Encanto and the story of how she suffered through trauma and death to bring her to the moment where she says something horribly cruel, and the start of the path back out of it. One of the best character analysis I have ever seen for Alma and I love this story so much. Seriously, please go read if you like Encanto even a little bit

Drag You Down by chocomd

I think one of the most realistic explorations of Aang and Katara’s relationships in Avatar: The Last Airbender. This story also dives into what the post-100 Year War world would look like, the Water Tribe diaspora, cultural identity and all sorts of other things. If you like nuanced, in-character AtLA fics, this is the one for you.

To Owe an Ostrich Horse by chocomd

okay, THIS might actually be the best Avatar: The Last Airbender story ever. Exploring the consequences of Zuko stealing Song’s ostrich horse, this story is a hard look at the toll war takes on people and the consequences of class and political hierarchies in society.

A Song Too Far by Beatrice_Otter

have you ever wanted more autistic characters in your Narnia? Then this is the fic for you! It’s a short little story about Lucy having a meltdown and the Beavers helping her. 

All the City Lights Look Like Stars by Wolfsong6913

a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse story about Peni Parker and her having an adventure of her own. Short and sweet and utterly what Peni deserved.

the ravell’d sleave of care by ardentintoxication

a story about the Avengers looking after each other and helping each other with their traumas and hurts. Very soft at the end, and one of the fics I come back to every time I want an Avengers team that actually cares about each other.

Sasha by sadlikeknives

Pacific Rim fic about Aleksis and Sasha and their relationship with each other. It’s very short but still offers a lot of character development. Also provides some cool characterization via the Russian language and how diminutives work for people’s names

Forever by lincyclopedia

“Annabeth comes out to Percy as asexual. It goes better than she expects.” That’s it, that’s the fic and I felt SO SEEN reading it. You will not regret this one.

[andtheyweresiblings]

Hello! First of all, I want to tell you that I like your blog. I have read your analyzes and HC's of the brumira ship and I loved them very much. What a way to expose through reasonable arguments a veiled relationship that goes beyond the familiar between this pair! I want to tell you that pairing them didn't even cross my mind at first, but as the movie continued I kept raising an eyebrow in suspicion that something was happening between them, but I didn't know what. I had this funny feeling until the infamous post-credit scene where the two of them were sitting on that hill under a starry night. I digress, I'm writing to you because I wanted to know your opinion on one of Jared Bush's answers in the last Q&A. Attached image.

I don't know why, but I feel like his answer was quite direct, pessimistic and realistic (I know he wouldn't have to answer with a super analysis either because it's twitter but still). Do you also consider that the family would have fallen apart? Taking into account the coexistence and the dependency that they would possibly develop, do you believe that the relationship between Bruno and Mirabel would have rushed towards the romantic? What do you think would have been the future of both parties? Do you think they would ever meet again? And if that was the case, how do you think both sides would react? I know that there are a million possibilities for these questions, but I would love to know your opinion or possible HC's in a situation like this. Thanks for your attention. I hope you have a good day.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you've enjoyed my thoughts on these two. And thank you for this ask! It's been awhile since I've done anything on here, and I don't keep up with what Jared Bush has to say about Encanto, so this is very cool to see.

To get to your ask, this has been a very fun and interesting scenario to play around with. Let me answer this in parts so I don't get lost.

Do you also consider that the family would have fallen apart?

To put it simply, yes, and it's because Mirabel and Bruno are the family's cycle breakers. But I can break it down further.

Everyone in the family aside from Mirabel and Bruno is working to uphold the status quo that has been set by Alma. A few things about this status quo:

It is incredibly maladaptive and toxic for the mental health of individual Madrigals and the overall cohesion of the Madrigal family.

It was developed directly from Alma's trauma responses in the aftermath of Pedro's death.

The miracle is central to upholding the status quo and without it, the family loses the tenuous foundation keeping them together.

In the film, we see the negative impact the Madrigal's status quo has on individuals. We specifically see this impact with Pepa, Isabela, and Luisa. We see Pepa in constant distress and at complete mercy of her gift, and we see Alma reinforce this dynamic by telling Pepa to tone down her weather (and by extension, her emotions) a couple times in the movie. With Isabela and Luisa, we get to see a slightly different story. A generation younger than Pepa, both Luisa and Isabela have a grasp on how detrimental the family's current dynamics are to their personal well-being, but they don't really know how to change it, and when they try to fix it, it backfires miserably on them, mostly due to Alma's wrath (which for nuance's sake is powered by her trauma-influenced worldview about needing to be worthy of the miracle and not lose anymore of her family). With Pepa, Luisa, and Isabela, we get to see how the different generations within the family interact with the family dynamics. And without any cycle breakers to aid them, they're not able to effectively make any lasting changes to the family.

This is all to say what we already know, and that is that Mirabel and Bruno are not the ones that cause the house—a metaphor for the family's dynamics/cohesion itself—to collapse. They are the ones who were able to see the cracks in the family's foundation, and for that reason alone, they are the only ones who have a chance at guiding the family towards healing. Because you can't fix a problem if you don't recognize it's there, as is the case with the triplet's generation. And even if you do recognize there's a problem, you still can't fix it if you don't know what it looks like or understand what is wrong, as is the case for the grandchildren's generation.

So, if Bruno and Mirabel completely left the family after the house collapsed, which ultimately serves as a metaphor for the family no longer being able to sustain their toxic system, then the rest of the Madrigals would be at a severe disadvantage for healing the family. Not only would the Madrigals have lost their two cycle breakers, but they would also have to navigate losing their gifts and estranging another Madrigal due to the family's toxic dynamics.

When I think about it, the gifts are what is really keeping the family together. The miracle garners a sense of duty within each of the gifted Madrigals. Within the film, Mirabel's reconciliation with Alma is directly what causes her to rally the Madrigals to rebuild. Mirabel keeps the family together in their gift-less state. Without Mirabel, I think it would be very easy for the oldest grandchildren decide to take off as well and finally escape Alma's standards and visions for them.

Really, Mirabel is the key to the family's destruction or rebirth. Bruno paved a way for her, but Mirabel is the one doing the heavy-lifting. That being said, if Mirabel left after the destruction of Casita, I can't think of a single compelling reason for why Bruno would hang around the Encanto or the Madrigals. He was living in the walls to be near his family, but he would see immediately that there is no family without Mirabel's help, and he certainly would not have the courage nor the reason to try to re-enter the family with Mirabel gone.

Headcanons and musings below the cut because this got really long.

Taking into account the coexistence and the dependency that they would possibly develop, do you believe that the relationship between Bruno and Mirabel would have rushed towards the romantic?

Like you said, I think there are a TON of ways this can play out.

If Mirabel and Bruno both decided to leave after the destruction of Casita, I think it is likely that they would both decide to journey together when they do find each other outside the Encanto. They might not know each other very well, but they are each other's last connection to their family and the town they're leaving behind.

In this scenario, I think Bruno and Mirabel's relationship would develop more quickly into a romantic one than if they had stayed with the family. After all, they are not going to be around other family members they can harm with their mutual attraction. It's going to be harder and harder for them to justify staying away from each other when they are all the other has. But I do think it would still take awhile before either of them develop feelings, acknowledge their feelings, and then decide what to do with their feelings.

I guess once they both realize they have feelings for each other, they might be more likely to act on their mutual attraction in this scenario. And the angst over what this means for the family would be lessened greatly because they're not a part of the family anymore.

You know, as I'm thinking about it, one way this could play out is that they really lean into this idea that they were the destroyers of the family, so yeah, of course they're going to have incestuous feelings for each other. Just par for the course.

So in this case, we have much more potential for Mirabel and Bruno being much more unapologetic about their feelings and their relationship with each other. Plus, aside from the obvious age-gap, they would be able to be as open as they want about it as they travel from town to town. (Because I guess in my head they become travelers. It adds to this idea that the only home they have at this point is each other, but I digress.)

What do you think would have been the future of both parties?

Let's focus on the rest of the Madrigals. Following the conclusion that Mirabel leaving would result in the destruction of the family, then I would have to say that if for some reason Mirabel and Bruno do ever return to the Encanto, it is highly unlikely the family is all still together.

I think Julieta and Augustin probably would have stayed behind with Alma, trying to maintain some semblance of the family that used to be. Plus, Julieta is the eldest daughter, so she might feel a deeper sense of responsibility to keep up the old ways best she can. Even if Alma's actions resulted in the estrangement of her youngest daughter.

Pepa and Felix are also probably nearby, or at the very least, in contact with Julieta and Augustin. But I don't see them living together. After all, after Bruno, Pepa had the most issues with Alma.

It's with the grandchildren that you can really see the fallout of the Madrigal family.

Isabela absolutely would leave as soon as she deemed that Mirabel was not going to return. She probably becomes a florist or a gardener a few towns over, exploring her other interests (and bisexuality).

Luisa would probably stay behind due to a blend of sense of duty and guilt over not wanting to leave her parents completely alone. But I can't imagine she would be too happy about it. She likely would still be in secret communication with Isabela, though it would break her heart that it has to be secret.

Whenever Dolores does end up with Mariano, they would probably find their own place together, either in town or just out of town. Either way, it would be away from the family.

Camilo would probably stay with his parents for a few years, but since these are my headcanons, I think he would also go looking for Isabela at some point. Once he finds her, they end up together.

For the most part, Antonio gets to grow up as a normal kid since Pepa and Felix move away from the family. He doesn't get the full experience of living in a close-knit multi-generational family, but at least he gets to be a kid with friends and more appropriate amount expectations set on him.

Do you think they would ever meet again? And if that was the case, how do you think both sides would react?

I imagine that the fragmented parts of the Madrigal family probably wouldn't meet again. At least not until far into the future. But if they were to meet again, it would have to be due to an event that would cause all the Madrigals to come together again.

Maybe it's Alma's funeral. Maybe it's the birth of Dolores's first child. Either way, something so big happens, that even the estranged Madrigals are notified. How? Probably Dolores. I think she would be savvy and covert enough to know where her estranged relatives are without outing them to the other relatives. So she's probably the one to let them know so they can decide if they should return, even temporarily.

When Mirabel and Bruno get the news, they have to decide first if they want to go back and second how they will present themselves to the family.

If Alma is still alive, they would totally go the unapologetic route of being openly together as a final middle finger to her before leaving again. If it's her funeral, they might be more secretive about it out of respect to the other grieving Madrigals.

Either way, enough time has passed that Mirabel is a fully grown woman, so if/when the family does find out, I think there would be some disgust and upset, but it would be much more worn than if the family had stayed together. Partially because of how much time has passed and how clear it is that Bruno and Mirabel are in an established, stable relationship, and partially because the family is broken and most of the Madrigals have made it to the acceptance stage for this brokenness. So an uncle and niece are in a relationship? Well, now that's a part of the family Madrigal.

But if Mirabel and Bruno are found out, Camilo and Isabela would come forward as a couple as well, as a show of unity to them.

Nothing like finding out there are two incest couples in one family to really send home the message that this family is beyond repair.

After that, I think the Madrigals would be taking sides. Mirabel, Bruno, Isabela, and Camilo would probably start reconnecting again, while the other Madrigals decide who they are willing to maintain relationships with and who they are disowning.

Luisa is pretty firm about not disowning her sisters, though she is secretly a little uneasy about Bruno. Mostly though, she's just happy to see Mirabel and Isabela again. It's probably what gives her the final push to move away from her parents and closer to Isabela and Camilo. Antonio is torn, but ultimately glad to be reconnected with his cousins and brother. Dolores and Mariano, of course, are opening their arms to everyone. It's Bruno's siblings and in-laws that are having a harder time.

But that's okay, because Mirabel and Bruno have reunited with the family who is willing to accept them. This gives them incentive to finally settle down, choosing to live close to Isabela, Camilo, Dolores, Mariano, and Luisa. It's not perfect, and it's certainly not normal, but the seven of them are able to slowly rebuild the Madrigals into something new. Possibly something a little better.

[ID: A set of tweets. User Sara Amelia asks: "What would have really happened if Mirabel and Bruno had left Encanto after the destruction of Casita to never return again to avoid harming their beloved family?"

User Jared Bush responds: "The destruction of the family." ED]

[whogavemoththerighttohyperfix]

how about a relationship analysis of Mirabel's individual relationship with her fam, please?

I’m gonna put my theory on the relationship with each family member at the top and my theory’s at the bottom

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days I got busy anyway as always feel free to send be drawing requests/theory ideas/analysis ideas

Luisa, honestly I think Luisa and Mirabel have a good relationship, Luisa seems to care a lot about Mirabel and seems to actually listen to her but at the same time I think she will accidentally leave her out a lot like the scene where the family is all standing together while Mirabel stands by herself.

Isabela, I think isabela and Mirabel have the ‘worst’ relationship out of the family with how different they are from each other in personality and their place in the house. I actually think isabela is aware on how Mirabel is and wants to help but is always busy with keeping her place as the perfect madrigal. On the other hand I think Mirabel knows isabela knows but thinks she dosent care enough to help her.

Antonio, Antonio and Mirabel seem to have the best relationship in the family probably because they’ve share a room for years. I also like to think that since Antonio is described as the introvert he can get overwhelmed by how loud the family can be (not in a bad way it just gets alot) and Mirabel is a bit more calm.Though I feel like Mirabel can get a bit jealous of Antonio though with him getting powers and her not but she doesn’t blame him at all.

Camilo, we have basically nothing on Mirabel and Camilo relationship so I’m just kind of going off nothing right now but I think they might have a nice relationship, they aren’t close but they really care about each other cause their family and they’ve grown up together. I think Camilo would be kind of annoyed at the thought of Mirabel having a closer relationship to Antonio because he’s his brother not her but not that much.

Delores, just like Camilo we dont have basically any information about their relationship so it’s just be guessing again but I think Delores and Mirabel have a kind of nice relationship. Delores loves Mirabel because their family but she can also get really mad about how close she is to Antonio because Delores is ment to be his big sister not Mirabel.

Pepa and Felix, we haven’t seen any of their relationship with Mirabel yet so just guessing, I think Pepa and Felix after Mirabel was shown to not have any powers got really worried about Antonio not having any powers which to Mirabel might come across as them not liking her. I also think she might have a nice relationship with Felix despite it considering he dosent have any powers, it might now be the same reason as her but I think it would be comforting

Julieta and Agustin, I think they’ll have a really nice relationship like shown in the trailer, I think both julieta and Agustin remind Mirabel that she’s just as special as them and they love her no matter what but like the rest of the family they’ll forget her like the scene where Mirabel is standing alone and like in the photo. Other than that though I do think they try their best to include her. I also think like Felix she’ll have a good relationship with Agustin because of him not having powers as well.

Abuela alma, other than Isabella I think Mirabel will have the worst relationship with alma, maybe because Mirabel sort of blames her not having powers even though she knows Alma couldn’t have helped that. I’ve probably got the least to say on alma all I know is that their relationship probably isn’t good

Bruno, honestly I think their relationship will be kind of cute with mirabels optimism and Bruno’s pessimism, I think he’ll pretend not to like her but really he’s grown really attached and cares a lot about her. I think they’ll be closer with them both feeling excluded from the rest of the family. Bruno seems like at first he just wants to help the family so no one will hate him anymore but as the adventure goes on he’ll do it more for the family.

Theories time

Ive also seen this picture going around a lot and a lot of people are saying they think it’s of Mirabel asking for alma to try the gift ceremony again because the house isn’t out of magic and I think that would be really cool but I think it’s more Mirabel telling alma (who can’t see the cracks) about the cracks getting worse

I think when their powers start to go away their will be side affects because their so used to having them like maybe Delores can barely hear because she’s so used to everything being amplified or Camilo can barely interact with people because he’s so used to being someone else when he does it.

Since it’s been said a lot that only Mirabel can see the cracks in the wall I think it would be really sad if they thought she was making it up to ruin Antonio’s party out of jealously.

When they finally see the cracks it’s because Mirabel snaps at them and all of a sudden they finally see the cracks she’s been talking about and know that Mirabel hasn’t been lying and they’ve been angry at her for nothing.

After the family makes Mirabel take the picture I think she’ll walk away clearly about to cry and no one notices but Antonio who tries to go after her only to be held back by the family still celebrating.

The scene where the house really starts to crack and they try to get out in the trailer will be right before mirabel goes off on her own adventure and I think No one in the family in the family will know where she’s went until Antonio leaves a note when he goes after her

I think at the wedding when Bruno gives everyone visions it’s because someone yells at him for being their and he loses control of his powers because he’s angry/sad and then it makes everyone hate him more.

After the wedding I don’t think Bruno wants to be around his family anymore in fear of him hurting them or constantly giving them visions. So when he sees that the family will loose their magic he comes almost too late to warn them and it’s just before the house completely brakes down

Even though the family says they hate Bruno i think pepa, Julietta or alma have been caught more than once looking at old photos of him and his place on the family tree because they miss him but no one ever talks about it.

The family won’t be happy to learn that Antonio and Mirabel are with Bruno because of how much they “don’t like him” but even as they all say how their worried about them being with him I think they’ll all be kind of great full because they know they he wouldn’t hurt them on purpose

[pynkhues]

hey so i don't know if you like animations or musicals but seeing your posts and analysis on succession about family relationships and intergenerational trauma.... i think you would appreciate disney's encanto.

Hey! I love both animation and musicals, anon, and I've actually seen Encanto already and absolutely adored it, so your rec was spot on, haha. I found it really, really magical, and so full of warmth, and for the first time in a long time, I hope there's a spinoff series. I just want so much more of the family Madrigal :'-)

[senseitoadstool]

Lyrical Enlightenment: The Family Madrigal (Encanto)

WARNING: ENCANTO SPOILERS WITHIN

As part of my Lyrical Enlightenment series, I've decided to take on the amazing songs from the latest Disney Studios movie, ENCANTO - a story about family and expectations. Heavy with tones of familial responsibilities and health both physical and mental, the songs reflect perfectly and accurately the depth of each character and the troubles of the family. I am including some story context prior to my lyrical analysis, which will contain a plethora of spoilers.

The introductory song is a way for us to not only meet the members of the family and their gifts, but also introduces a very important ingredient of the plot that passes almost unnoticed...

Without further ado, Let's Go!

Mirabel: This is our home, We’ve got every generation So full of music, A rhythm of its own design

This is my family,  A perfect constellation So many stars and everybody gets to shine

This concept will show up later as well - a constellation with many stars who shine. So we'll put a pin on this for later.

Whoa, but let’s be clear Abuela runs this show Whoa, she led us here So many years ago  Whoa, and every year, Our family blessings grow There’s just a lot you’ve simply got to know, so

Here is the first key point for the plot. Abuela runs this show. The matriarchy is set up from the very beginning - Abuela is the leader of the family, and whether they like it or not, what she says goes. She received the original miracle, and was designated as the guardian of the gift. She doesn't have a gift herself, other than ensuring the miracle lives on - and she takes this responsibility very seriously, vigilant about how the family blessings grow.

Welcome to the family Madrigal, The home of the family Madrigal (We’re on our way!)

Where all the people are fantastical and magical I’m part of the family Madrigal

This is where we get to know the family and their powers. She starts with the first generation, Abuela's children: Pepa, Bruno and Julieta.

My Tía Pepa, Her mood affects the weather When she’s unhappy,  Well, the temperature gets weird My Tío Bruno… Citizens: We don’t talk about Bruno!

Mirabel: They say he saw the future, One day, he disappeared (Oh!)

This is the first time we hear about Bruno, the family member nobody talks about (presumably by Abuela's orders, since she runs the show). Although I'm not Colombian, I do come from a Latin American background - and I can say with confidence that there's someone in every family that 'we don't talk about'. Most times it's someone who crossed the family in some way, represented a danger, or brought shame to the 'good name' of the family.

And that’s my mom Julieta, here’s her deal (Whoa!) The truth is, she can heal you with a meal (Whoa!) Her recipes are remedies for real If you’re impressed, imagine how I feel – Mom!

Here the relationship between Mirabel and her mother is clearly established. Seemingly, Mirabel has Julieta's attention more than any other members of her family.

Next, we get introduced to the men who married the sisters - men without 'miracle gifts' but provided the family with the ability to grow.

Welcome to the family Madrigal The home of the family Madrigal I know it sounds a bit fantastical and magical But I’m part of the Family Madrigal

Two guys fell in love with Family Madrigal And now they’re part of the Family Madrigal

So yeah, Tío Félix married Pepa, And my dad married Julieta That’s how Abuela became an Abuela Madrigal (Let’s go, let’s go)

And now, we hear from Abuela herself:

Abuela: 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

This is the specific segment I was talking about. These few lines give us exactly what Abuela's focus is. We SWEAR to always HELP all around us - to EARN the miracle. She is paying a debt she feels she has with those in the village because she was selected to receive this miracle gift. And how will she do it? With WORK and DEDICATION - and EACH NEW GENERATION must continue her legacy. Hence when the couples have children, the next generation now continues the legacy of preserving the magical miracle they were given. If you think about it, this is no different than a Doctor, a Lawyer, or a Military individual who have children so they can be Doctors, Lawyers, or join the Military to continue 'their legacy', regardless of what the child wants. This is a very traditional point of view that persists in some families even in these modern times, and is very much seen as a source of pride. In more than a few instances during this movie, we hear Abuela use the 'make your family proud' sentence, inculcating in the children of her household the expectation of making their family proud specifically by using the gifts they are given to help the community and continue to EARN the miracle.

Next, we get introduced to the 'cousins' - the children of Pepa and Julieta. There are three children for each of them.

Cousin Dolores can hear a pin drop Camilo shapeshifts, Antonio gets his gift today My older sisters – Isabela and Luisa One strong, one graceful Perfect in every way

Chorus: Isabela… Mirabel: …grows a flower, the town goes wild Chorus: Isabela… Mirabel: She’s a perfect golden child Chorus: Luisa, Luisa, Luisa, Luisa Mirabel: And Luisa’s super strong The beauty and the brawn do no wrong

In my view, Dolores represents that member of the family that is always paying attention to her surroundings and knows everything about everyone - yet on the same token, she's the one that is very tempted to share any secrets that fall onto her lap. She has a lot of information, and knows how to use it. Camilo represents that family member who is always trying to make friends with everyone. He's the clown, the prankster, and the social butterfly. He can be irritating and sarcastic sometimes, but he is so endearing that people tend to overlook those nasty traits because of his good side. And Antonio - as we find out later, is the animal lover in the bunch.

Isabela, as Julieta's eldest (and I'm willing to bet slightly older than Dolores), must be the perfect daughter, and the one who has to marry well to continue growing the family (which is also a traditional expectation in most Hispanic cultures). She is beautiful, graceful, polite, amiable, and the perfect hostess. Her marriage is the most important of the entire family, hence why eventually we learn about her Abuela-encouraged engagement to one of the best males in the village in Abuela's perspective.

That’s life in the Family Madrigal (Whoa…) Now you know the Family Madrigal (Whoa…) Where all the people are fantastical and magical (Whoa…) That’s who we are in the Family Madrigal (Adios!)

At this stage we proceed to learn that Mirabel is the only Madrigal without a gift. She is embarrassed and ashamed about this, feelings that mostly come from Abuela pushing her aside because, by not having a miracle-given gift, she is endangering the rest of the family. This message goes directly in contradiction to the 'make your family proud' that she was fed prior to realizing she wouldn't get a gift - but once she didn't, the treatment clearly changed. She tries to put a strong façade, but as we learn later, she is tired of feeling like a second class citizen in her own family.

Child: Whoa, what’s your gift? Mirabel: Ha! Well, I gotta go, the life of the Madrigal (Whoa…) But know you all know the Family Madrigal (Whoa…) I never meant this to get autobiographical (Whoa…) So just to review Family Madrigal Let’s go! (Mira-Mirabel)

It starts with Abuela, and then Tía Pepa – she handles the weather (Mira-Mirabel) My mom, Julieta, can make you feel better, with just one arepa (Mira-Mirabel) My dad Agustín – Well, he’s accident-prone but he means well (Mira-Mirabel) Hey, you said you wanna know what everyone does – I’ve got sisters and cousins and… (Mirabel)

One good detail to point out here is that Agustin is accident-prone, so his perfect match is with Julieta, who heals results of accidents with her cooking. Also, Pepa changes the weather with her temperament, and marries Felix - who is a very chill guy and balances her.

My primo, Camilo won’t stop until he makes you smile today (Mirabel) My Cousin Dolores can hear this whole chorus a mile away (Mirabel) Look, it’s Mr. Mariano, hey you can marry my sister if you wanna but between (Mirabel) …you and me she’s kind of a prima donna Yo, I’ve said too much and thank you but I really gotta go

My family’s amazing (Mirabel) And I’m in my family, so (Mirabel) Well…

Abuela: Mirabel!

Next installment will cover Mirabel's song, Waiting on a Miracle.

Sensei Toadstool.

[elvashayam]

(so i'm posting the below on this reblog cuz i forgot to switch to a new post and the tumblr app's composing window is IMPOSSIBLE to copy from lol. please don't take any of this as a personal criticism - i just failed to tumblr right 🙃)

Does the Encanto fandom's focus on Bruno bother anyone else? I've been thinking about it and i personally reckon it shows Transformative Fandom's internalised patriarchy - cuz as great as his character is, Bruno's popularity is not at all congruent with the film.

It's been bothering me.

(Major spoilers ahead, and some Hard Questions™. I'm also a white australian, which will affect my analysis; i welcome all constructive replies.)

Encanto is about

Colombia's traumatic history and how that affects families and communities - especially the members who can't fit in as well.

How trauma can make an otherwise lovely person into an abuser.

How every member of a dysfunctional family gets fucked up, including the golden child.

How healing such trauma requires rebuilding the very foundations upon which a community, family, relationship, even one's sense of self, rests.

Young folk, in their innocence, see how older folks' trauma clouds our judgement and affects our behaviour; with their help we can all heal and change our world for the better.

This, by the way, is not remotely subtle. Just on a narrative level, to resolve the story Abuela has to revisit and acknowledge her trauma, share with her family how it shaped her, accept that running from it has hurt everyone she loves, and show true remorse; i mean, Casita is literally torn down and rebuilt. Healing only happens after shattering the family's fragile facade.

This is a film about confronting one's trauma, taking responsibility for the toxic behaviour it produces, and choosing to do better - and yet all fandom talks about is Bruno.

For example: On ao3, there are (at time of writing) 3500 Encanto fics.

[image description: the header from Encanto's Ao3 fic page. it reads, "1 - 20 of 3500 Works in Encanto (2021)". end i.d.]

That's an impressive number, given canon's size!

Now look at the character filters:

[image description: the Ao3 filter panel. It shows the whole "tags to include" section, with the "Characters" option expanded to show:

Bruno Madrigal (2510)

Mirabel Madrigal (2127)

Camilo Madrigal (1988)

Julieta Madrigal (1856)

Pepa Madrigal (1850)

"Abuela" Alma Madrigal (1810)

Dolores Madrigal (1766)

Isabela Madrigal (1528)

Luisa Madrigal (1385)

Antonio Madrigal (1325)

end i.d.]

Mirabel, the main character, who's on screen nearly 100% of the time, is in nearly four hundred fewer fics than Bruno. Abuela is in seven hundred fewer. Even accounting for inconsistent tagging, that's an unreal difference!

Please note: I am not saying it's bad to focus on Bruno. I do not think that.

He's important!!! Even ignoring his role as deuteragonist, his story shows how painful it is to be estranged, that it's possible to love one's family regardless. His arc shows how unreliable family stories can be. Many, many fannish folk are their own family's scapegoat, the reject; i am! Seeing his reacceptance is indescribably cathartic.

However

Mirabel experiences the same thing.

More notably, unlike Bruno and Abuela, she chooses to follow the mystery's threads even though it threatens the status quo because she loves her family. She listens to her sisters' troubles and helps them learn more about themselves - Isabella rejects a loveless, unhappy marriage and Luisa learns to rest instead of working nonstop. She helps Dolores find happiness, restores the triplets to each other, gives Abuela a space to heal her trauma learns to love herself for who she is and brings back the miracle - and yet its fandom is utterly fixated on Bruno.

It is good to enjoy a story. It is great to create fanworks for it -

- and it's vital to analyse on whom we focus and why.

Transformative fandom, by all accounts, is predominantly female and queer. By focussing predominantly on cis male characters (especially white cis male characters, a problem every single fandom has), especially in the presence of fantastically complex female ones, we unconsciously privilege cis male perspectives over our own. For our own sake it's important to unpack!

After all, that's the entire point of fandom: learning about oneself/the world, and healing by projecting onto (/torturing) fictional characters.

(I'm only slightly memeing i swear.)

Use Encanto to build your own self-knowledge. We're all traumatised, even those with healthy family dynamics - that's the reality of our current world. Unlearn your internalised patriarchy. Explore Encanto's wonderful female characters and choose to heal your own trauma.

You deserve it.

the fact that bruno has literally spent a decade parkouring over that gap in the floor without once thinking to check how deep it actually goes or even laying down a fucking plank to walk across is hysterical and just proves that his dumbassery is not entirely a product of his time living in the walls

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 25 - Mirabel and Felix

Not much is now about this uncle-niece duo but I think one scene in particular sheds light on their relationship: Their talk right before the WDTAB song - When Mirabel is curious about Bruno and his gift, Felix comes in (dramatically) to tell her, even explaining to Pepa that it's best for Mirabel to know. In that short moment, Felix listens to and honestly gives his youngest advice the answer she's seeking (even if said answer is vague and not entirely accurate). But, we see that Felix is genuinely taking Mirabel's concerns seriously; that shows how much he respects and loves Mirabel. Then, when the house is collapsing, Felix can be heard shouting for Mirabel to get out and he's then shown looking for her when she goes missing; both times indicating that Felix has a strong, paternal protective side for his niece. On the other hand, Mirabel has nothing but respect and love for her uncle; if you were to ask her the best description of him, she would say without hesitation, "The definition of cool uncle!" And I also think she and Felix (with Agustin) formed their own special "non gift" trio (as seen in a deleted scene), mainly because they wanted to help Mirabel not feel bad about not having a gift.

[rantingfangirl]

Cross Life Chapter Eleven: Line Walking

Summary: Moving across the pond was supposed to signify new beginnings for the Kirkland family. Arthur’s parents seemed to take that a bit too literally for his liking.

Chapter Index

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“I’ll see y’all on Friday. Now get out of my classroom.”

Arthur grumbled as Mr. Vargas haphazardly tossed his binder full of sheet music onto his desk, sending papers and pencils to the sides and down to the floor. The latter stretched his arms out, his white dress shirt tightening around his biceps, his shoulders scrunched up.

The choir room broke out into a fit of noise, some individual voices louder than others. Most talked about what they had gone over during practice, what pieces they were worried about and how they went flat on that one high note. Others simply talked about their plans for the weekend, or the amount of homework they had that evening.

Grabbing his backpack, Arthur slung it over his shoulder, pressing his hand against his back and stretching. The backpack weighed down on his shoulders, and he got the strange feeling that it was unzipped, its contents open for everyone to see, even though he knew that wasn’t the case. As the year has gone on, it’s gotten heavier and heavier, though the crime could be mainly blamed on the three thick hardbacks he alternated between during the rare free moments he had. Each time he finished one, it was replaced with another the next day, just as heavy but just as addicting as the last.

Without saying goodbye to those in his section- he still had never bothered to learn their names, and when he was told, he immediately forgot, Arthur stalked out of the choir room, deflating as soon as he stepped into the silent hallway. He was the first one out the door.

Normally, he wouldn’t be able to wait to start his walk home, to begin those fifteen minutes where he was by himself and free, but today, he was doing something.

Something important.

Arthur slid his arm into the free strap of his backpack, the weight becoming more balanced as he turned right into another corridor. On the other side of the hallway, coming from the opposite direction, was Kiku. Arthur gave him a sarcastic sneer, a common greeting in their relationship, fully expecting one in return. What he got, however, could only be at best called a timid wince.

It was hard to believe that Kiku Honda, the one who had been a tiny needle stuck in his ass since the beginning of August, was actually cowering from him. Cowering, as if Arthur were some monster that had been waiting under his bed for months, waiting until he could see a soft white sock poke out onto the floor to grab and pull under. It was funny, really, considering the circumstances of their first meeting, how confident he was then compared to now.

And if Arthur was being serious, if he was really being serious to himself, he was curious. Of why this sudden change had happened. Not because he actually cared for Kiku- god no, he could never give a damn about such a slithery, slimy snake, but it made him wonder.

Though it was far-fetched, perhaps Alfred and Kiku were going through a patch of rocky terrain in their relationship. He remembered the way the latter shied from the former’s hand back in the library, the movement being far too snappy and harsh to be a fear of touch or anything of the like. Besides, he had seen them hold hands before, like when Arthur tracked Alfred down to declare his apology- and what a disaster that had been- so a phobia was out of the question.

Of course, Arthur could be overlooking it, be digging too deep into what could be something as simple as Kiku having a bad day, but he sincerely hoped it wasn’t. If they were fighting, if their string was growing taunt, then it would certainly make his plan go down much easier.

Arthur didn’t bother to say anything as he walked past Kiku, the latter’s pace quickening to a speed walk, not so much as sparing a single glance after his sneer. Soon, he was alone once more, the sound of his footsteps bouncing off the hallway as he strolled.

This afternoon was a gamble, as yesterday and the day before that had been. He was already gone by the time Arthur got out of Madrigal practice on Monday, and wasn’t in the library yesterday after his tutoring session with Alfred. Arthur supposed he had already left, and cursed Alfred for insisting on sitting outside in the courtyard. The latter had claimed, in his very own words, “it’s gonna be nice n’ cool outside, and I don’t wanna get stuck in a stuffy, dark library,” though Arthur was sure he just wanted to sabotage him.

However frustrating, Arthur figured he couldn’t enforce his hidden agenda on Alfred, no matter how much he wanted to, without risking it all. Besides, he wasn’t necessarily against sitting outside- so long as it wasn’t raining, he would hate for his books to be damaged- and hadn’t opposed, shocking himself and most likely Alfred as well. If the way his eyes widened after Arthur nodded was any indication.

He stopped before the library doors, taking a breath. It had not changed since the last time he was here, and he knew that inside, it would be the same as it always was. Books lined in faux wood shelves, the surfaces of the later made to look like anything but particle board. The dark carpet in desperate need of a vacuum, saturated with spilled Gatorade, soft drinks, and coffee, and even if it were to be thoroughly cleaned, it would never be the same as the first day it was nailed in and stepped on. Tables with declarations of love and phone numbers scrawled and etched into it, complete with matching chairs on their last leg, only a few years from toppling under someone.

And it was the same everywhere he went. No matter how many times his mum picked up his family and moved them, no matter how many times he went from one town to another, they all stayed the same. Different layouts, different buildings, different material, sure, but they were stable. Solid.

Unlike his family, with his brothers constantly moving in and out of the house, sometimes with an irritatingly shallow girlfriend clinging to their arms, their thin fingers twirling their thick and glossy hair, mouths spouting anything to please. With his mother lacing false promises and lies around her as if they were fine jewelry and silky lace, picking one off and throwing it at him when she needed to. With his father going through different versions of himself as a doctor would with bandages, ripping one off and tossing it away, only to replace it with another one he liked better.

Libraries were safe, calm, secure, and Arthur almost hesitated as he reached for the metal handle. He would be bringing his chaos inside, dragging it in with him and pushing all those peaceful years out, and everyone would let him do it without so much of a fight, without so much of a single thought of the consequences.

Arthur thought of leaving, just dropping it until another day when he saw him in the hallway or the courtyard. So he wouldn’t bring his plan and all that came with it into such a sacred place. But the damage had been done already, he supposed, and had been since the first tutoring session with Alfred.

And besides, he told himself, it was a necessary sacrifice to make.

He pulled the handle, shivering at the wave of chilly air that burst out. Another thing that had stayed consistent. Arthur wasn’t sure if the librarian would suddenly decided that a heater would be necessary soon, as in a couple weeks from now at the very maximum, or in the dead of winter. If the latter, then perhaps it would be warmer outside than in the library.

Balancing his weight to quiet his footsteps, Arthur beelined for the side of the library, windows between each bookshelf displaying slivers of the empty courtyard. Clusters of four tables were surrounded by a guard of shelves, and Arthur swiftly ducked his head to the side, checking to see if anyone was there. When he found it empty, he moved on to the next, making sure to go slow and quiet.

Row by row passed, textbooks, biographies, magazines, and casual picture books behind lined behind him. Each time he came across a group of tables, he pressed himself to the side of a bookshelf, slightly leaning over to get a good look before moving on.

He got closer and closer tot he back wall, the painted concrete covered in signs with inspirational quotes that Arthur doubted anyone relevant every said. As he reached the last group of tables, prepared for failure and being forced to try it again tomorrow, Arthur saw him.

Heracles sat in the corner, a stack mixed with hardbacks, paperbacks, and magazines piling high, almost as tall as he was sitting. Arthur froze, watching as he scanned down one page, stopping to scribble a quick note down in the lined notebook next to him, before flipping to the next. A speed reader, then. How wasteful, skimming over paragraphs, when the author spent hours hunched over each one, barely taking note of what the sentences contained. Whereas Arthur took his sweet time, reading each word and processing it with care, rereading pieces of dialogue to see what he could add to his analysis of each and every character. It made him think, made him wonder what type of reader he-

Arthur shook his head, forcing the thought away. It was unnecessary, he didn’t need that type of information nor would he ever. He rolled his shoulders back, the weight of his backpack making it more shallow than he would’ve preferred. He hadn’t been noticed yet, and if he kept quiet, probably wouldn’t be, which game him a decent amount of time to prepare.

Arthur thought of what he was going to say, or at the very least how he was going to begin the lengthy conversation they were going to have, and how he was going to deliver it in such a way that didn’t make him seem or look desperate.

Pushing some wisps of hair out of his face and taking in and letting out a deep breath, Arthur strolled to the table, his stride long but casual. He slid into the closet chair, dropping his backpack haphazardly into the one next to it. Arthur’s books knocked against the wood of the table, which he would normally wince at and immediately move to check their health, but he ignored it- not without a fair share of pain, however- in favor of focusing on Heracles.

The latter snapped his head up in surprise, his fingers tightening around the edges of his current book. From the confusion on his face, his brow furrowed, eyes narrowed, and mouth just a little bit gaped, Arthur could tell that he had no idea who he was. Good. Very good.

Arthur smirked, propping his cheek on the palm of his hand. “Heracles Karpusi?” The mentioned nodded, slowly closing his book shut, not before shoving an colored and scribbled on index card in the middle, setting it on the very top of the stack.

Heracles pursed his lips into a fine line, shaking his messy hair out of his face. He rolled his shoulders back, taking in a deep breath, letting it out through his mouth. “Yes, and who’re you?”

Arthur scoffed, shaking his head and waving his hand in dismissal. In this situation, it wasn’t necessary to know, and if Kiku had mentioned him before, then it could put everything at jeopardy. So, at the moment, “That’s not important.”

Heracles deadpanned, though Arthur could see his eye lightly twitch in annoyance, just barely noticeable. The latter’s smirk, which had appeared around the time he had taken the opportunity to seat himself, grew lazy and half-assed.

Making a show of himself, Arthur perked up in his chair, looking around for anyone that could be eavesdropping or just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, he knew that the library was empty, had practically taken a tour of it, except for the two of them, and had made sure of it, but it was always nice to double check. If any of their conversation were to get out, even just a little snippet of the more important words, then it would be a major pain in the ass for the both of them. Especially for Arthur.

Especially for Arthur.

Smacking his hand against his back pocket, just to make sure it was there, Arthur pulled out a pack of gum, offering a stick to Heracles. It was the product of a late night stop at the gas station earlier this week, his father needing to fill up his tank and Arthur wanting to get out of the house for at least five minutes. He had been chewing it sparingly, having only about a stick a day, but he had made the mistake of letting Vlad get an eyeful during one lunch period. Now, the contents had quickly diminished, and Arthur only had about a row and a half left.

Heracles shook his head, raising his hand as Arthur tried to hand it to him. The latter shrugged, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth. It crackled and snapped in his mouth, the minty taste almost making him wince.

“So, Heracles.” He chewed out a tough spot in the gum, running his tongue over the top row of his teeth.

Heracles raised an eyebrow, still looking as if a million piece puzzle had just been set in front of him, no paper with any directions in sight. He opened his mouth to speak, only for Arthur to quickly cut him off.

“How much do you love him?” Quick and blunt, he decided not to mention the word “crush” to him, lest he get angry, denying their relationship to be such a short, trivial thing, and walk away.

Heracles paled, or as much as his olive skin would allow, his shoulders tensing up and his jaw clenching. As he spoke, he stuttered, his normally lethargic demeanor turned into something rushed. Panicked. “I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about.”

Arthur’s smirk turned smug, and he leaned closer, his stomach pressing up against the table. “Now, that little reaction of yours tells me that yes, you do know what I’m talking about. You know exactly who I’m talking about.” Arthur lifted his head, studying his fingernails for dirt and places to file down. “How long?”

Heracles shook his head, pushing his chair back. This time, he had his backpack with him, a black cargo pack with two large pockets buttoned closed on the front, and slung it over his shoulder. Arthur noticed with not a lack of mirth that there were multiple cat charms chained to it. How cute.

Fully expecting this kind of reaction from him, Arthur sat there, watching as he picked up the entire stack of books with ease, along with his still-open notebook, balancing it on one arm. Not even a single one wiggled.

As he began to walk away, his pace slow as to not harm the stack, Arthur studied the lines and grooves of the table, not even sparing him a glance as he spoke. “Do you know how easy it would be for your little secret to get out?” From the corner of his eye, he saw Heracles freeze, and knew then that he had won. “You aren’t exactly subtle, to be quite honest. Someone would just have to point it out, give Alfred and his little band a small push, and then everyone would know about it.”

Heracles stepped up to the table, his hips pressing against the edge. He was tall, much taller than Arthur, and considering the way he was carrying those books as if they were rag dolls, much stronger than him as well.

Then again, he didn’t look angry per sé, but someone had once thrown a swing at Arthur while smiling without a care in the world, so he wasn’t taking any chances. Just in case, Arthur situated his arm a bit closer to the other and leaned away from him. At least that would give him a little bit of time to block.

Instead of going in for the punch, like Arthur anticipated- and he would’ve punched back, too, considering how long it had been since he had last gotten into a fight- Heracles raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. Waiting.

Arthur motioned his hand to the other side of the table, specifically the chair that Heracles had been sitting in before. The latter glanced at it, before returning his attention to Arthur. Taking in a sharp breath, he motioned again for him to sit in the chair, giving him a smile filled with sarcasm when the fool actually did.

When Heracles spoke, his voice had returned to its default quietness and slow pace, though Arthur could hear it shake. Out of fear, wary, or a bit of both, he couldn’t tell, and if he were to be honest, he didn’t really care. “What do ya want.”

Arthur propped his feet up on the chair next to him, his right foot resting against his backpack, and he hoped he wouldn’t fall. Cool and nonchalant, that was his act for the afternoon, and if he were to mess that up, it would be… embarrassing, to say the very least.

He shrugged, smiling as if he were in a daze, throwing his hands up in the air. “I just want to help you.”

Heracles deadpanned, slowly blinking. He crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair as much as his backpack- which he had not yet taken off, even while sitting in a chair, a petpeeve of Arthur’s that made his eye twitch- would allow him. “You were the one who just said that you were willin’ to out me to Alfred.” He said his name with a sneer, several teeth showing. Arthur noticed that there was a small gap between his canine and incisor. Adorable.

Arthur made himself look offended, breaking years of habit to raise his chest and shoulders as he breathed, putting his hand to his collar bone, his index finger pressing into his neck. He furrowed his brow, slowly shaking his head, his mouth gaping.

Heracles didn’t seem impressed with his performance, his jaw tense, and he looked displeased when Arthur spoke, the latter’s voice breathy and his words slow. His reaction to it was unfortunate, really, considering that he had picked this straight out of his mother’s catalog of acts. “I didn’t say that I was going to out you, I simply said that I would nudge them in the direction. I’m sure they’re smart enough to figure it out themselves.”

Even with as dramatic as he was being, and how much he was currently reminding himself of his mother, Arthur couldn’t deny the fact that he was having fun with this. Pure, unbridled fun. Even when he knew that Heracles was feeling the exact opposite. Especially because of that.

Heracles huffed, slumping in his chair. “That’s the exact same thing.”

“No, they’re very much different.”

A frown. “I doubt that.”

Arthur shrugged, dropping his act, pursing his lips into a fine line. “If that’s what you want to think.”

The two fell silent for a while, Arthur’s more intentional than the other’s. He tapped his fingers against the table, nodding his head slowly. Occasionally, he sent a glance towards Heracles’ direction, making sure it was noticed, measuring if and when he was about to crack. Eventually, after about a couple minutes, Arthur got what he wanted.

Heracles threw his hands up, muttering something under his breath. It was too quick for Arthur to hear even a single word, but he was sure that it was nothing that he particularly wanted to hear. Either that, or an exclamation of impatience, which he sincerely doubted. “Fine. How are you gonna help me?”

Arthur smirked, picking at the skin surrounding one of his fingernails. This was the moment of truth. When everything that Arthur had been working for these past two months would come to fruit. And he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Despite the significant importance of this, of this very sentence he was about to say, Arthur said it as if it were nothing, simply a statement of the weather that morning or what they had for lunch at school. He didn’t even glance at Heracles as he spoke. “What if I were to tell you that there is a great possibility that Kiku could love you back?”

The atmosphere surrounding the table tensed, a great secret finally revealed to the light of the world. Heracles stared at Arthur, his eyes as wide as saucers, the color leeching from his cheeks. He opened his mouth to speak, but then clamped it shut, pursing it into a fine line. His face blanked, and at the moment, Arthur’s confidence in the success of the afternoon faltered the tiniest bit.

Heracles stood, gently setting the stack of books on the table, and pushing his chair in. He rolled his shoulders back, along with his neck, and walked away, grabbing his notebook before hand.

Arthur’s smirk fell, turning into more of a half-assed sneer, and he signed, deflating. That certainly went the way he was expecting it to go.

Heracles left his stack of books, most likely figuring that a librarian would pick them up the next day. How rude of him, to put that much more work on them when they already had such stressful and taxing jobs.

Arthur had to admit, however, that he was curious, and reached for the first book on the very top, the one he had been reading when Arthur had first initiated their conversation. He pulled it over to him, scanning the cover. If only because he was curious of what such a disrespectful brat could possibly be reading.

And at the very top, above a picture of a sculpted bust that had certainly seen better days, in platinum colored letters over a soft blue, read, “Greek Mythology: Battles of Will, Jealously, and Punishment”. Arthur couldn’t help but snort at that, dropping it haphazardly onto the table.

What a damn coincidence.

Vlad shivered as they stepped out into the courtyard, running his hands up and down his arms. October was in full fling, summer having been long ushered out by fall. Dead leaves crunched under their feet, covering the concrete ground and empty tables.

Arthur eyed their usual table, which sat against one of the concrete walls of the pit in all its worn and black beauty. It sat under a tree, one that had already lost most of its foliage, only bits of its magnificent metal top visible. Vlad noticed him staring, and gave him a sympathetic look, seeming equally miserable, even though their torture had yet to even begin.

No matter how much he wanted to, how much he yearned to, they would not be sitting at their table today. No, for they were being forced to sit with Mathias and all of his friends.

They had told Lukas that he could go by himself, that he didn’t have to have him and Vlad intruding and ruining their fun, only for Lukas to deny it. Arthur brought it up again, perhaps for the fifth time, only for Lukas to shake his head.

“I don’t wanna leave y’all alone.”

Arthur tsked. “But we’ll be interrupting-”

“Not at all, Mathias said that I could bring you two if I wanted. And I want to.”

From the corner of his eye, he could see Vlad deflate, though Lukas didn’t seem to notice. Normally, Arthur would be supportive of this type of thing, and would go in without a complaint but with watchful eyes and a prepared defense, but this was different. Very different.

The table was a hostile zone, the Montagues to their Capulets, with his dear friend unknowingly caught in the middle of it. It was a silent battle, his side the only ones in the dark. And they would be right in the thick of enemy territory. It was unfortunate, really, but Arthur had no choice but to go along with it and smile and nod his head at all the right times and places.

It was all he really could do, if he wanted to keep up the persona that he had so carefully and painstakingly crafted around his friends, and Arthur could only hope that the others weren’t cruel enough to send it all tumbling down. Not that they would even care, he supposed.

As they quickly descended the concrete stairs into the pit, Mathias caught sight of Lukas, waving to him with an elated smile spread across his face. And though Mathias was focused on his boyfriend and only on him, everyone else at the table turned their heads towards Vlad and Arthur, a few looking between the two with unfamiliarity, the others glaring at the latter. Either way, their eyes were sharp as knives and their faces as cold as ice.

Arthur ignored them, however, keeping his chin up and facial expression pleasant, even when he oh-so desperately wanted to scowl and sneer. He couldn’t, though, he wouldn’t, not when they expected him to. Not when they were counting on him to.

“Lukas~!” Mathias hopped up from the bench, almost tripping as his foot was caught on the edges, but quickly recovered, running up and pulling Lukas into a hug. He was fast, really fast, to have crossed the pit so quickly, but Arthur figured that with his record of being on the football team, that was a given.

Lukas giggled as Mathias whispered into his ear, putting his hand on the latter’s chest. Arthur was suddenly reminded of how sickening the two were when they were with each other, and it baffled him that even though they had been dating for about a month now, they had still not left their honeymoon phase. At this point, he doubted that they ever would. At least not any time in the foreseeable century.

Grumbling when Mathias pulled away, Lukas turned back toward Arthur and Vlad, his smile sweet and serene. He motioned to Mathias with his free hand, the other still on his chest. The two looked like a middle class couple standing in front of their suburban home, their brand new, shiny minivan parked behind them. Disgusting. “Guys, y’all remember Mathias.”

Mathias smiled, giving the two a short and light wave. Arthur stayed silent, simply giving him a nod of acknowledgment, letting Vlad do the work.

The latter cocked his hip and head to the side, his signature smile already spreading across his face. Vlad crossed his arms, seeming smug. “Oh, trust me. We remember Mathias. He’s all ya talk about.”

Lukas blushed as Mathias’ eyes widened, his smile growing wider. By then, the latter had moved his hand to Lukas’ lower back- or at least, Arthur hoped that that was where it was- and tugged him towards him. “Aw~ babe, you talk about me?”

The rosy pink on Lukas’ cheeks turned into more of a cherry red, and Arthur had to fight to hold back a gag. Vlad choked, moving his hand to cover his mouth, the other one twitching, as if it was ready to join.

Lukas opened his mouth to say something, which would probably be something equally or even more mush than what Mathias had cooed at him, only to be- thankfully, for once- cut off by Alfred.

“Ay! Mathias! Quit yer chit-chattin’ and get yer ass over here!”

Mathias froze, his ever shining and strong smile faltering just a tiny bit, but enough to be easily noticed. It was quickly back up again, however, even stronger this time, and if Arthur hadn’t noticed it at the exact moment the mess up had happened, he wouldn’t have realized it.

Sending the three of them a quick, apologetic look- for what, Arthur guessed he would never find out- Mathias turned, strolling towards the table, Lukas on his heels. He waved for them to follow. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

A few faces at the table were easily recognizable, such as Antonio and Mr. Vargas’ grandson, whose name had already escaped him. Arthur supposed that he might’ve seen the others in the hallway once or twice, but could never bring up the memory. They all certainly seemed to know him, however, as they glared at him with mixed amounts of venom, one looking a bit more default than the others.

It made Arthur wonder if Mathias visiting them for lunch a couple weeks ago was more of a scouting mission than anything. To see what he would do in their presence, to see if Arthur would attack him with his friends sitting next to him. It made Arthur grit his teeth, to think that they could be using Lukas to get closer to him.

Thankfully, Mathias chose to sit at the end of the table, far away from Alfred and the little snake clinging to him. Maybe the two had decided to provide a unified front today in the face of their greatest enemy, show that yes, their relationship may be crumbling into little bitty pieces- at least, it looked that way- but oh boy, could they pretend the opposite. Pretend a unified, strong, loving front.

It made Arthur feel sorry for them, in a way, but he quickly reminded himself that they deserved everything they got, and everything they will get.

The four stopped at the end of the table, Mathias taking a few steps back so everyone could get a good look at them. In a way similar to the time of his confession, Lukas seemed to shrink into himself a little bit, though this time it seemed more of a nervous habit than anything.

“Guys.” Mathias smiled, his layers of freckles scrunching on top of each other. “This is Lukas.”

A boy Arthur didn’t know, one with fair white hair and tinted sunglasses, gave Mathias a toothy smirk. “Lukas, as in the main one, or Lukas the side dude?”

Alfred’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped, looking at the one who spoke with pure horror laced in his voice. “Oh my god, Gilbert. Stop. Don’t.”

Gilbert’s smirk turned into more of an ashamed frown, and he reached for his bottle- gray metal with a red top, grumbling behind it before taking a swig. “So, I guess that joke stopped being funny.”

Mathias’ smile was tense, and he took in a sharp breath, letting it out through his nose before he spoke. “Yes, it stopped being funny months ago. Months. Ago.”

Gilbert blushed, looking down. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Thank you.”

Arthur watched their exchange, trying his best to keep in a snicker. What came out was more of a choking sound, and Vlad looked at him, a knowing smile on his face. The latter covered his face, his thumb digging into his cheek, as if he were trying to keep his own laughter from falling out.

Remember who the particular joke was at the expense of, Arthur slightly leaned forward, looking across Vlad and to Lukas. He was frowning, the blush from before faded from his cheeks. Arthur would’ve thought that he had not understood the joke, would’ve believed it, until he noticed that his lips were slightly pursed.

“Anyway.” Mathias’ cheery smile was back up, though he flashed a quick warning look to those at the table. A possible threat, should they choose to make anymore jokes without thinking them out thoroughly beforehand. “This is Vlad…” He trailed off, wincing.

Vlad smiled, nodding his head. “Vlad Popescu.”

Mathias frowned, his eyebrows scrunching. He bopped his head side to side, pursing his lips into a fine line. “Yeah… I’m not even gonna try to say that.”

The table laughed, some louder than others, while Mr. Vargas’ grandson just rolled his eyes. Arthur noticed a fault in his act, however, as there was a small, tiny smirk on his face.

Mathias chuckled along with the group, softly shaking his head. Alfred, followed by a few others, tried to pronounce Vlad’s last name with varying levels of accuracy, Vlad watching them with an amused smile.

Arthur thought that he was perhaps the only one who noticed that Mathias’ smile and laughter had faded, his lips pursed into a fine line.

“And this, uh.” He rubbed the back of his neck, adjusting his feet, looking at Arthur as if he was going to reach out and bite his head off. As if he were the boogie monster, searching for more high schoolers to chew and munch on. When Mathias spoke, he did so quickly, in a rushed way, trying to get the words out of his mouth as fast as possible. “And this is Arthur Kirkland.”

The laughter at the table was shot, everyone silent. The mood soured, the elephant in the room suddenly remembered, the silent problem that they had been desperately trying to ignore.

In a playful, fun manner, one that was unusual for him, Arthur stuck his tongue out at them, bopping his head side to side. He ignored the sneers he received in return.

Vlad snickered, though seemed a bit confused, shaking his head at Arthur’s antics, while Lukas’ silent brooding had broken into a small chuckle. Arthur smiled, pretending that being bubbly and cheerful was his default mood, even if he was feeling almost the exact opposite. Smile and nod, he told himself, be the person they didn’t expect him to be.

Eyes wide, brow shot up, Mathias nodded before motioning to the bench. Vlad and Arthur crowded onto the bench, Lukas making a last-second decision to move to the other side. Arthur made sure to sit at the very edge, so he could easily slide out in need of a quick escape.

Mathias perked up, making a small, “oh”, sound, standing again. He chuckled breathlessly, rubbing the back of his neck. A habit, maybe. “Forgot to introduce everybody to y’all.” He cleared his throat as Arthur and his friends leaned forward, examining those at the table just as they did them. Lukas and Vlad with a bit more curiosity and much less hate than Arthur.

Mathias nodded his head to each person as he said their name, each one giving a small motion of acknowledgment in return. “Uh… I’ll go in order.” He began with his row, starting at the very end. “Alfred F. Jones, Kiku Honda, Ivan Braginsky, and me, of course.” The third of the mentioned, Ivan, smiled, while Alfred gave a half-assed grin. Kiku only deadpanned. Mathias turned his head to the bench on the other side, where Vlad and Arthur were sitting, doing the same type of introduction as he did previously. “Y’all’ve already met Gilbert Beilschmidt, then there’s Antonio Fernández Carriedo, and Lovino Vargas- Mr. Vargas’ oldest grandson. There’s also Francis, but he’s been out for the week.”

Lovino frowned at his own introduction, seeming displeased to have been associated with his grandfather. It must’ve been a regular thing, Arthur figured, for him to be so against it.

Alfred sniffled, crunching his face up as if he were trying to summon fake tears. He smacked his hands together the way someone would if they were deep in prayer, shaking them once or twice. When he spoke, his voice was laced with faux sadness. “We’ve lost our boy Francis to the flu.”

The table burst into laughter, Mathias yelling, “Rip Francis”. Arthur cringed as they earned several looks from the surrounding tables, some frowning and others rolling their eyes and returning to their lunch.

Gilbert, who had stayed silent during the entire exchange, was frowning as well. He pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, clearing his throat. He seemed to have recovered- if only a little bit- after his failure at humor, feeling enough confidence to speak again. “So, uh, how have y’all been settlin’ into yer new relationship?”

The conversation launched off at that, with Mathias and Lukas raving about each other and their date together. And though he had heard both sides in a total of around a million times, Arthur smiled through it, laughing at all the parts he was supposed to, along with everyone else.

Mathias and Lukas exchanged sickening smiles as they talked, Arthur having to occasionally shove down a gag and Vlad failing to.

Arthur sometimes found himself leaning down to look at the others at the table, measuring their reactions to certain parts. At any time Arthur was mentioned, Alfred winced the tiniest bit, hiding it behind Kiku’s hair. The latter tensed each time, swallowing hard, but relaxed and smiled a few moments later, giving a few loving glances in Alfred’s direction.

He was sure that he was the only one who could tell it was fake. Their movements were too tense, too robotic, as if they were only doing it because they were expected to. As if everyone figured and knew that they were going to do it, and would raise questions should they not go along.

And he had to admit to himself, though not verbally to any one else, that it was amusing and relieving to see it.

He looked away, knowing that if he stared for any longer he would be caught. As he turned his gaze to the left, Antonio- he already had to see his neighbor at least once a day, for god’s sake-glared daggers at him, a scowl etched on his face. Arthur smiled in response, bright and kind, and returned his attention back to the conversation at hand. He smirked when he heard Antonio quickly mutter something under his breath, something that anyone else would cringe at.

Perhaps Antonio should consider leaving his boyfriend to use that type of act, Arthur thought. It wasn’t doing much good for him.

Arthur perked up when Mathias and Lukas fell silent, just staring at each other with wonder and awe. Arthur was almost tempted to pull out his phone and look up how long the honeymoon phase of a relationship was supposed to last, but decided not too, if only because he didn’t want to drain his phone battery thinking about something so stupid.

The conversation had fallen flat, with everyone looking around, trying to think of a new topic. Occasionally, someone would open their mouth,  prepared to say something, only to close it, a dejected look spreading across their face. The whole situation at hand was terribly awkward, and Arthur wanted nothing more than to slide out of the bench and walk away, off to somewhere quiet. Maybe the library.

After what seemed like ten minutes, like ten years, Vlad perked up, his eyes wide and a full-fledged smile twisting his mouth. So~. He looked around the table, giving each person a glance before moving on. “What’re our plans for Halloween?”

Arthur groaned. He had completely forgotten about the holiday a little more than a week away, a while he didn’t do anything, at the most leaving his house until the wee hours of the morning, he knew that this year wouldn’t be the same case.

For the first time since their lunch session had began, Alfred’s eyes widened, a bright, wonder-filled smile displaying straight white teeth on his face. He took in a sharp breath, shallowly waving his hands. “Oh my god. I love Halloween! There was this one time in middle school where Kiku came over to my house and we toilet-papered Mattie’s- oh, that’s my twin brother, by the way- room and it was hil-ar-i-ous! Kiku, ya remember that?” Alfred smile at his boyfriend, who only nodded back. Seemingly deeming his response valid, Alfred, laughing as if he were a child in a candy store, put his hands behind his head and leaned back. “Ah, man. Y’all should’ve seen Mattie when he walked into his room. From the way his hands were twitchin’, you could definitely tell he was gonna strangle me!”

Arthur laughed along with the rest of the table, not entirely seeing the humor in his story, Alfred pulling Kiku close as he joined in. The latter seemed uncomfortable in their new position, pushing his shoulders up and bracing his hands on the edge of the table. Alfred didn’t seem to notice, and if he did, his laughter didn’t fade, nor did his smile falter. Not even the teeniest bit.

Either these two were always like this, even at the very start, or Alfred F. Jones was one of the greatest actors Arthur had ever seen.

Mathias nodded his head as he chuckled, taking in a shallow breath when he calmed down. He shook his head before turning to Lukas. “Are you guys doin’ anythin’? For Halloween?”

Just as Arthur was about to open his mouth, to deny that they had plans, Vlad swiftly cut him off, nodding enthusiastically. “We’re gonna go trick-or-treatin in my neighborhood. There’s this old lady a couple blocks down from my house who gives out some big-ass chocolate bars every year.”

Arthur groaned, just thinking of all the chocolate he was going to be getting. American chocolate that made him want to puke his guts up. A few people turned his way, but he ignored them, instead favoring on reminiscing on his British sweets that he had been forced to abandon.

Maltesers, Cadbury Eggs, Smarties- the chocolate ones, not the American flavored cocaine. All of the delicious candies that he had to leave back in the UK, his mother not allowing him to take even on a small bag on the plan with him or pack one in his suitcase. As if she genuinely believed it would be the same here.

And now, here he was, stuck in a country whose chocolate would only appease those who had never tasted their superior British counterparts. It was a shame, really, that they would never be able to taste what he loved and adored so dearly.

Clearing his throat, he looked to Vlad, who was staring at him with a raise eyebrow. Arthur tried his best to look confused as he spoke, raising the tone of his voice. “Wait. We are?”

Vlad nodded shallowly, Lukas staring at Arthur as if he had just said the stupidest thing possible. “Yeah, man, we always go over to my place.”

Arthur deadpanned, cocking his head to the side. “I’ve never even stepped foot into your house.”

Vlad perked up, his eyes widening. “Right~. That’s right.” He nodded as if he knew it all along, Arthur having to hold in a snort.

The table fell silent for about fifteen seconds, until Mathias perked up, his smile bright. “I know what we could do!” Everyone looked towards him, their faces revealing varying amounts of interest. Lukas smiled, face serene, the ever doting boyfriend. Perhaps Kiku should take notes. “We could all meet each other and go out of Halloween together!”

Arthur opened his mouth, along with a few others, to object, but was quickly cut off by Vlad, who straightened his back, rolling his shoulders. The latter smiled, one that almost rivaled Mathias’, before yelling at the same pitch, “Oh my god! That sounds like a fantastic idea!”

Arthur groaned, along with Lovino, the latter rolling his eyes. There were a few quiet complaints from the others, Ivan deadpanning, and from the corner of his eye, Arthur could see Kiku the Snake start to deflate a bit.

Nodding enthusiastically, Lukas grinned. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

The three began to talk, making plans that the others would no doubt be forced to participate in. With the actual holiday being a not too far away, Arthur didn’t have much time to prepare himself for the night of hell, a memory that he would no doubt shut out of his mind afterward.

Leaving them to talk, with his eyebrows raised in an interested expression, Alfred leaned forward, hunching over the table. Arthur rolled his shoulders back, forcing a lazy smile over his face, rolling over possible answers to Alfred’s question as he spoke. “So, Arthur, how long have you been in the States?”

Swallowing down a snort, Arthur bopped his head side to side, looking off, pretending that he actually had to think about it. He shrugged, clicking his tongue. “Oh, late July, maybe.”

Alfred nodded, seeming satisfied with Arthur’s answer. “How do y’all celebrate Halloween in England?”

Arthur sighed at the question, not entirely expecting it. His family had never been too big on it, nor anyone in his neighborhood, his mother claiming it an excuse for Arthur to terrify young children. Nevermind that it Dylan and William were the ones doing such a thing, with Allistor and George cheering them on. But Arthur had always been blamed for everything, from putting worms in Peter’s wellies to shredding one of his father’s proposition letters. There wasn’t anything that he hadn’t done in his parents’ eyes.

Not that he really cared anymore. Arthur had long stopped trying to convince him that it wasn’t him who committed the crime, his resolve crumbled after falling on deaf ears more times than he could count.

He shrugged, curling his lip and furrowing his brow. “We don’t really do anything. I mean, some younger kids go out, but that’s about it.”

Those who were listening nodded, Alfred seeming a bit disappointed. Arthur had to hold in a scoff, just barely doing so, pursing his lips into a fine line. He was just about to open his mouth, about to ask what was wrong and what had them acting like their puppy was brutally murdered, when Antonio- Antonio, of all people- cut him off.

“Speaking of moving in, how did your family enjoy the Tarta De Santiago? Y’know, the almond cake that my mother spent hours preparing and making?” Arthur could taste the venom from his voice.

Arthur took in a sharp breath, giving a smile that mirrored Antonio’s. He had almost forgotten about that, which was a shame, since now that he thought about it, that moment was probably one of the highlights of his year. Relaxing, leaning back, with his smile turning nonchalant, he waved Antonio’s silent accusation away. “It was wonderful. It really… hit the spot.”

He knew enough of basic Spanish to know that what Antonio cursed at him wasn’t anything pleasant. In a quick, brutal succession of words, all the conversation at the table ceased, everyone silent and watching. How dramatic.

Arthur quickly put his hand over his mouth, his eyes widening. He tried his best to make himself look shocked. Distressed. Ever the victim who did nothing but respond to a simple question, only to be attacked for it.

Vlad straightened his back, glancing at Arthur as Lukas hopped up from his bench and quickly stepped over to them. He turned towards the end of the table, his expression wary and concerned. “Is everything alright here?”

Keeping up his act, if only because he was curious of what would happen if he were to go along, Arthur leaned back and to the side, whispering to his friends in a hushed and frantic tone, forcing a couple stutters along the way. “Guys- I don’t think that I’m wanted. Here, I mean.”

He was quiet enough that while Lukas and Vlad would be the only ones able to hear him, the others would definitely be able to hear the hushed sound of whispers. Arthur made a quick glance up, reveling in the pure wrath slathered across Antonio’s face and the irritated ones near him. It was hard, so, so hard, not to break into a smug smirk.

Lukas frowned, shaking his head, wringing his fingers. He let out a shallow breath, slumping forward, leaning in as Vlad turned around. “No, Arthur. Of course you’re welcomed. Maybe-” Lukas sat up, sending a short glance in Antonio’s direction, who was still seething, before turning back to Arthur and Vlad. “Maybe Antonio’s just having a bad day. Mathias said that he’s usually sunny and sweet.”

Arthur doubted that, instead thinking that Antonio had a bad day when he had to see Arthur, a daily occurrence, but decided to go along. He looked at the ground, wiggling one of his shoes- Converse, as he had been encouraged to try them out- and nodded timidly.

Even though he wasn’t even that deep into his little game, he could feel the rage radiating from Vlad. Arthur quickly turned around, seeing his friend’s jaw clenched, his fingers flexing. He tried to hide it, but Arthur was close enough that he would have been blind not to have seen it.

If Lukas noticed it, he didn’t show it, not even a twitch of the eye. Instead, he was focusing on Arthur, his concern growing more and more. Arthur had to hold in a snort, if only to keep his act up.

Vlad’s mood softened, if only a little bit, and he said with a sympathetic wince, “Maybe we should go…”

Lukas looked up at Vlad with no small amount of shock, before turning to Mathias. The latter winced, shrugging his shoulders, looking unsure about what had just happened. It was almost as if he had expected Arthur to lash out back at Antonio, to hit with just as much, if not more, wrath as he received.

Interesting.

Deflating, Lukas sighed and shook his head. He stood, leaning over the table to whisper into Mathias’ ear, and when the latter nodded, kissed him on the cheek.

Vlad put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze. Sensing that they were- finally- about to leave, Arthur stood from the bench, hanging his head and slouching his shoulders.

“Um, we had fun.” Lukas gave everyone at the table, save for Antonio, a small, forced smile, nodding his head. “Maybe we should do this again.” Unlikely, but Arthur figured he was just trying to be polite.

Where Arthur expected Mathias to be the one to respond, Alfred perked up, smiling and nodding his head enthusiastically. “We definitely should! I’m lookin’ forward to it!” As he finished, he sent a quick glance to Arthur, and the latter could’ve sworn he saw his smile falter. “Y’all have a good day.”

Vlad’s hand moved from Arthur’s shoulder to his upper back, rubbing it in a circular motion. After grabbing their backpacks, softly groaning at the weight, Lukas caught up to them, sorting between which one belonged to who.

As Arthur slung his over his shoulders, he clenched the straps, his knuckles turning white. Details, details were what made it convincible, made the act into something real.

As they walked away, though, heading to their own usual table on the other side of the pit, Arthur couldn’t help it. He turned, looking straight at the one they had just departed from, its occupants staring back. Antonio was still seething, Kiku simply giving a disinterested sneer. What was the most surprising was Alfred, whose smile had watered down into more of a wince, his brow furrowed. He actually looked worried.

But that all changed, their expression turning into ones of shock when Arthur, just for them, broke his act into little piece. Making sure that his friends wouldn’t notice, he smirked, a smug little thing that even his mother would be proud of, sticking his tongue out and wiggling it side to side.

If he were to recount this lunch period ever again, then Arthur wouldn’t be exaggerating when he would say that Antonio’s howling could be heard throughout the courtyard.

FYI, just writing those few paragraphs about chocolate in the US was painful to my American soul. Ghirardelli is some pretty good stuff.

I’ve realized that I mention Arthur’s older brothers without anyone actually knowing who they’re supposed to be. Allistor is Scotland, William is Wales, Dylan is Ireland, and George is Northern Ireland. And, of course, Peter is Sealand. It’s really weird when people write Wales, N. Ireland, and Scotland as England’s brothers without including Ireland? That just really gets to me? I mean, I know Hima listed those three as his brothers, but it just feels… weird. So Arthur will have four older brothers in pretty much all of my fics.

Also, thank you thank you thank you to all those who participated in my survey for chapters 1-10! It was really nice to read what y’all had to say about what you liked and what I could improve on. While you may not think so, it helped a lot! Arthur is, of course, the favorite character, but I was also surprised to see Vlad show up a lot. Really, I’m just making my portrayal of Vlad as I go along, cause I’ve never really focused on Aph Romania, so it’s nice to see that everyone’s liking him so far. The least favorite character is a mix of Arthur’s mother and Kiku, which is definitely what I’m going for.

Once again, for those who participated, thank you so much! I’ll have another one for chapters 11-20 cause oh my god, it helped so much. I’ll be surprised if Cross Life doesn’t reach chapter 35, cause we’re not even halfway through yet. The chapter for Arthur’s plan will be in the next couple months or so (and I’m really nervous about it), cause I want it to happen by the end of the first semester.

Thank you for those who wished me good luck with school, as you can see from my late update time (one whole month, yuck), it’s already bearing down on me. I honestly did not expect this much homework, but what can you do :P. I’ll try to update as soon as I can, which will probably mean I’ll be a two weeks off at the most, but just know that I’m constantly working. I won’t discontinue this, cause honestly, Cross Life is my entire life right now. I constantly think about it.

Finally, I really wanna write Gilbert realistically and without using stereotypes (I’ve done a lot a research just for his short appearance in this chapter) so if I ever accidentally write anything offensive, please tell me. You would not believe how many tabs are open on my computer for research. Gilbert will be showing up more and more as the story goes on, because I love his character so much

Sorry for such a long note! I ramble too much. Anyways, thank you so much for reading Cross Life Chapter Eleven: Line Walking, and I hope to see you all soon! The next chapter will take place on Halloween, so I’m really excited about that. Have a fantastic morning, day, and evening!

[isaacscrawford]

The Best Positioned Tech Giant in Healthcare Today? The Answer May Surprise You.

By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD

When you think about tech giants playing in healthcare, you think of Google and the work Verily is doing; you think of Apple and their HealthKit and ResearchKit applications, as well as their rumored plans to organize all your medical data on your iPhone; you may even think of Amazon and their potential entry into the pharmacy market.

But the name you may hear about least–Facebook–may actually be the company influencing healthcare the most, and may also be the best positioned to support the patient-centered future that so many imagine and that Eric Topol described in The Patient Will See You Now (my Wall Street Journal review here).

At first blush, Facebook seems to be doing remarkably little in health; their most notable effort has arguably been providing the opportunity to list your organ donor status, an initiative which produced an immediate lift in organ donor registrations.

But while participating on a panel at a recent Festival of Genomics meeting in San Diego, I learned that apparently, Facebook is where patients with rare conditions, and their families, often go to connect with others in similar situations–typically via private groups. Apparently, these can be extremely specific–the example the panelist cited was childhood epilepsy due to one or another individual genetic mutation. Families reportedly self-organize into private groups based on the specific mutation, and share experiences and learnings.

This reminded me of the story of Bertrand Might and his family, elegantly told by Seth Mnookin in the New Yorker in 2014, and by Bertrand’s father, Matt, at several precision medicine conferences in Boston organized by Zak Kohane. (Disclosure: Both Might and I are adjunct members of Kohane’s Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard.)

When the Mights were trying to diagnose the rare disease afflicting Bertrand, genetic sequencing was able to help. (One more disclosure/reminder: I am Chief Medical Officer of DNAnexus, a cloud genomics company in Mountain View, Calif.) But when they then wanted to find other families with similar children, they found themselves stuck; effectively, medical data networks weren’t nearly dense enough, or well-populated enough, or usable enough, or accessible enough, to permit the Mights to successfully search for this information.

Consequently, as a tech expert, Matt Might resorted to truly dense networks, posting a deliberately crafted blog post that went viral and was picked up by search engines and other news outlets. This approach netted results.

When I recently told Might about the mutation-specific Facebook communities, he wasn’t surprised, and told me that he was “impressed by what patients can already do on Facebook” and other “established systems” including Google, Wikipedia and Twitter.

Google, for one, seems keenly interested in asking how its platform could be used to improve health (remember its intriguing and unfairly maligned Flu Trends effort–see thisoutstanding Alexis Madrigal essay). Might suggests Google might help rare disease patients by enabling them to connect with each other (if they want to) “on the basis of search history alone.”

In 2014, Facebook reportedly expressed an interest in nurturing patient communities, yet “we’ve heard nothing more about this” MedCityNews reported last year. The irony, of course, is that because of its features and popularity, Facebook has organically emerged as arguably the most attractive platform for patient groups to organize–despite the far more deliberate efforts of other companies and organizations that offer platforms aimed at bringing patients together. (Addendum: see this fascinating video, pointed out by a reader, featuring a pathologist, Jerad Gardner, describing to peers his experience engaging with patient communities on Facebook.)

If we truly believe what many profess–that the center of power in healthcare will relocate from physician to patient–what better platform for health than a digital community already integrated into the lives of a huge number of patients? (I assume I’m in the minority in not having a Facebook presence–I’ve avoided it out of concern it would become too much of a time sink.)

The point is that for all the work entrepreneurs are now doing trying to create de novo platforms aimed at serving the needs of patients, I wonder if patients would ultimately be better served by Facebook leaders recognizing the incredible opportunity that’s been dropped in their lap, and making a deliberate effort to discover and address the needs of the patients already on their platform. For example, Might suggests Facebook could “implement an opt-in ‘find patients like me’ service.” I can imagine a host of other utilities and applications (including user-friendly medical data import, sharing, visualization and analysis) aimed at better serving the needs of patients, and of patient communities.

Will Facebook take a more serious run at health? Certainly Zuckerberg (the son of a dentist) and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, have supported a range of health-related initiatives, including upgrades to San Francisco General Hospital (now named after the couple), the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (whose science is led by distinguished biologist Cori Bargmann–star of Natalie Angier’s classic Natural Obsessions) and the Breakthrough Prize (which I’ve discussed critically here).

As I’ve long argued (e.g., this Atlantic post, this New York Times op-ed), what many technologists fail to appreciate about healthcare is the importance and value of relationships, of human connection, of community. At its best and most foundational, medicine is about relationships, not transactions. Most of medicine, health and wellness isn’t about showing up with a discrete question and leaving with a discrete answer. Our experience of illness and disease is so much more complex and nuanced, individualized and personal, a process of understanding that unfolds over time. The best physicians and care providers recognize this, and appreciate the importance of listening and the value of longitudinal connection.

Facebook, at its core, is about cultivating relationships–in marked distinction to the transactional core of Google (search) and Amazon (deliver). The core mission of Facebook is to connect people–and to help good things emerge from these connections. What better forum than Facebook to bring patients together–and what better platform for health?

Article source:The Health Care Blog

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 30 - Isabela and Bruno

Both are the golden child of their respective generations/sibling groups. Both always under the ever-demanding pressure of strict matriarch, Alma. And both, in their own ways, emotionally drifted away from their families, even having a strained relationship with one of their sisters. Despite their outwardly different demeanors, both uncle and niece have much in common. And I believe this is one of the reasons why Isabela was one of the few who spoke highly of him during WDTAB; he was one of the few who could truly understand the pressure she was under. On his end, Bruno deeply loves his niece, just as much as he does his other nieces and nephews. And I think Bruno would be one she would listen to with utmost reverence (possibly only seconded by Dolores and Mirabel). Bruno, like with all his nieces and nephews, loves Isabela with all his heart; I believe he would help give her advice on how to better cope with the trauma of being the "Golden Child". Like with Pepa, Bruno would encourage Isabela to explore her powers while Isabela would encourage Bruno to pursue his own personal passions (i.e., acting). While Bruno and Isabela are closer to Mirabel and Pepa, respectively, the uncle and niece have a quiet understanding of one another and are all about supporting each other in being their genuine selves.

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 23 - Bruno and Mirabel

They were one of my favorite dynamics from the movie. Both have such a deep, intimate, understanding, and loving bond; plus, they are an uncle and niece, which is rare to see in most forms of media. The seflless acts they perform for each other is mutual and constant - Bruno exiled himself to protect Mirabel from possible ostracizing; Mirabel stating that Bruno doesn't cause bad visions and that "family wierdos" like them get a bad rep; Bruno telling Mirabel she's what their family needs (something Mirabel most likely wanted to hear); Mirabel defending Bruno from Alma's harsh accusations; Bruno running on horseback to protect Mirabel again from Alma's supposed anger. They have hardly interacted prior to the movie (with Jared Bush confirming that Bruno began alienating from the family before the time Mirabel was 5) and yet quickly form a healthy and collaborative bond speaks volumes to their profound kinship. And for some extra trivia, in the Japanese version of the movie, Mirabel referred to Bruno as "Bruno-oniichan" (an affectionate term younger siblings use to refer to their older brother); this means that Mirabel (at least in the Japanese version), thinks of Bruno as more of a brother than an uncle. In fact, their whole relationship is more like a brother-sister than an uncle-niece. They each give each other the validation and respect they don't often receive from their family and community, especially before the movie's conclusion. And they are symbolically tied to one - Bruno's green eyes is similar to Mirabel's green glasses and both bare a strong resemblance to each other (and deceased patriarch Pedro). And as for the strong resemblance part, I have a headcanon, that if anyone outside the village were to meet the duo, they automatically assume their father and daughter. And that adds another headcanon of mine: While Mirabel does have a loving and affectionate bond with Agustin, I think a part of her also views Bruno as another father figure. Similarly, while Bruno loves all his nieces and nephews equally, I think a part of him views Mirabel as more of a daughter. I can also see them being the type of best friends who constantly trade sarcastic quips and banter (with a dark sense of humor), basically having their own language. They are a true team and duo of loyal friends, who just GET each other.

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 26 - Camilo and Dolores

The duo doesn't get much screentime but I believe they have a surprisingly healthy sibling dynamic. In stark contrast to Mirabel and Isabela's relationship, neither of them have any hidden resentments or harsh feelings for each other. Dolores seemed unbothered (or if she was, only very slightly) by Camilo shapeshifting into her to get seconds. And when Dolores was stressing out about Mirabel's secret, she immediately told Camilo when able to; yeah, he was literally the closest but it does hint at a level of closeness. I believe they have a very healthy, close, even nuanced brother-sister dynamic: Yes, Dolores can and does find Camilo's antics annoying at times and the latter does enjoy teasing the former but they have a high amount of respect for one another. They're able to talk freely and openly one another, trade sarcastic barbs, and so forth with little to no drama. Also, when the house was breaking down, you can see Dolores protectively shielding Camilo from the debris; and I highly think that Camilo would make sure Mariano's courtship of his sister was real. And like their father, despite his silliness, Camilo would try and be sensitive to Dolores' superhearing and immediately apologize if he took it too far. They are both close siblings and best friends.

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 11 - Luisa and Bruno

They had no interaction in the movie but there are some minor snippets from said film and comments from creator Jared Bush to give some minor spotlight into their relationship. First, when Luisa is speaking to Mirabel about their estranged uncle, she doesn’t make any negative comments about him, signifying that she had no ill feelings towards him. As for Bruno, the aforementioned co-creator, Jared Bush, stated that Bruno deeply loves all of his niece and nephews and would never scare them. As such, I can imagine they had a mutually loving bond. I will go even further to say they most likely have the most healthy and close relationships in the Madrigal family. While I still do (and most audiences) think that Bruno is closest to Mirabel of his nieces, Luisa (even beating out Dolores to some extent) is next. Why? Because of the burdens and pressures they were forced to endure at a young age  because of their extremely useful gifts. The only difference is Bruno’s gift caused more harm than intended (not from Bruno but the villagers) while Luisa’s gift was more usable with little consequences. Despite the difference, both would relate and bond over how heavy the burdens their gifts caused them. And they would hug one another (which includes Luisa hoisting her uncle from his feet) and cry over it. Luisa would also admire his bond with his rats and would most likely ask for his advice on how to do the same thing but with her donkeys. They could be their full on goofy selves with one another and should Mirabel be in danger, and these two were in a team, they would make a surprisingly effective one.