Alice Under The Looking Glass

Master Post

Part 1: Isabela

Part 2: Luisa

Part 3: Bruno

Part 4: Dolores

Part 5: Felix

Part 6: Agustin

Part 7: Camilo

Part 8: Antonio

Part 9: Pepa

Part 10: Julieta

Part 1

- After years of participating in elaborate entertainment, the Casita rats have learned a lot about entertainment so with a bit of work, Antonio helped them put on their own production to surprise Bruno

- At one point, there were three children in the nursery for the first time since the triplets, when Luisa was sharing a space with both Mirabel and Camilo. After she got her gift, the first thing she did was pick both babies up, one in each arm to show off her new room so they would know just where to find her

- Dolores’s room is totally soundproof, but she has a collection of wind chimes, fountains and noisemakers to add to the ambience of the space since switching between the noisy Casita and total silence drove her to near insanity

- The entire family is usually hard to shop for when it comes to giving gifts, so all of the presents they receive have to do with their gifts. This meant that they had very little idea on what to give Mirabel, so instead she got craft supplies. This is what started her favorite hobby

- Julieta has forbidden all of the Casita residents from eating in their rooms because in the past, someone has always amassed an impressive collection of used spoons. Camilo holds the record

- “Camilo fix your face” has become a bit of a popular phrase amongst the village adults, particularly when their children take on an unpleasant expressions. It’s the encanto’s version of “Your face will get stuck like that”

- While they were dating, Julieta always had multiple somethings she baked and a pouch of salt in her pocket for Agustin, because he managed to get hurt on every SINGLE OUTING. She’s half-convinced he’s cursed because no one is that naturally clumsy

- Camilo has a personal goal to one day convince someone that he is actually the “real person” he is shifted as while standing next to said person. It hasn’t worked yet, but one day, he’ll get there

Part 2

- Not a child in town has ever had to wonder what a cloud feels like, and Pepa loves showing them

- Parents in the town basically use Dolores as their own personal “Elf on the Shelf”. They said “Be good, or Dolores will know and tell Jesus!”

- Isabela is very popular in the lead up to el Día del Amor y la Amistad, not because she is the town’s most sought-after bachelorette, but her flower abilities have made bouquet-giving a tradition in every household

- Traditionally during a wedding, couples carry a candle out of the church that they lit together, but in both Pepa and Julieta’s weddings, they used THE candle instead to emphasize the family’s significance to their union

- While Julieta is the “oldest” triplet, Pepa got married first, and when they did the shoe pick at the ceremony, it was Agustin’s shoe she picked up. When she tried to give it back to him, he accidentally tripped and literally fell into Julieta’s lap

- Most afflictions can be healed using Julieta’s gift, unless they are hereditary or genetic. This is why Mirabel has her dad’s eyesight, and has needed glasses from a young age

- When Pepa planned to announce that she and Felix were expecting Camilo, Bruno accidentally congratulated Julieta instead because he had seen in a vision that there would be two babies in the nursery, one from each sister. She hadn’t even known she was pregnant yet

- Each of the Madrigal girls got an elaborate quinceañera celebration, so Bruno spent weeks practicing for the first dance. He even picked out and bequeathed the heels. After Dolores and Isabela were born, he imagined participating in their ceremonies too…and then he went into the walls, only watching the dances from afar. He refused to watch Luisa’s or Mirabel’s

Bruno

Bruno might not have had Dolores’s hearing, and while the Casita walls weren’t paper thin, he wasn’t out of the loop when it came to his family. Sometimes their drama was just as entertaining as his rat friends. And sometimes he just wanted to scream at them to sort it out. Mirabel’s reaction after Antonio’s ceremony had been painful to hear, as she looked out towards the mountains and begged for a miracle. Instead what she got was a disaster, and he couldn’t help but feel slighted on her behalf. She’d done nothing wrong, and neither had he. Well, except maybe Pepa’s wedding, that might’ve been his fault and...no. Not the point. Mirabel had been just as innocent in this as she had been when he predicted her fate ten years ago, and he was going to tell her so.

That was a problem though. Mirabel was now missing. The house was in shambles, along with the town, their family was freaking out, and Julieta was sobbing. His big sister, older than him by a whole hour, who’d spent their entire childhood taking care of people was as broken down as Casita. Agustin consoled her, and their two other children stood still in shock, watching as their mother cried.

Pepa on the other hand was lifeless. No isolated weather events erupted over her head, her expression completely blank. Felix comforted their three children, surrounded by the menagerie of animals his youngest had amassed, but all four glanced back at their mother, whom, for the first time, no one could tell how she was feeling.

Bruno glanced around, looking for his own mom, but she was nowhere to be seen. Fine. He’d fix this. Closing his eyes, Bruno recalled his vision, with the butterfly and the plant. That had to be important. What kind of pl...water. The plant was in water. A lake, a pond...a river. The river. The river that had only been mentioned in the story about the first time their family had broken. God, it was thematic that it would be involved the second time too.

Finding a horse was easy. Fences had collapsed throughout the town, and animals roamed freely, so he swung himself onto the back of a beautiful chestnut mare, and raced towards the river where his father had made his last stand.

As he raced towards the river, he thought about what to say. What to say, what to say? Well, the first thing he would say is enough. Enough with the expectations, enough with the pressure. It had already hurt his sobrinas enough, and while he wouldn’t defend himself, he would defend them. Even from his mother. He got closer, and closer, and he could even see them...hugging?

“I feel like I missed something important?”

He had. He’d missed a very therapeutic conversation between Mirabel and his mom, but clearly it had done the both of them some good, because the next minute, he was being dragged back onto the horse, and racing back into town. As they sped past, the town children cheered, spotting Mirabel. Clearly they were happy to see her. And as it turned out, they were happy to see him too.

Luisa

Opening up to her younger sister had been surprisingly easy for Luisa. Unloading her fears and just venting to a willing ear had been more of a relief than she was expecting, so much so that she hadn’t really been concerned about the fact that she just encouraged her sister to enter the most condemned room in the house.

And then the stress returned, and her powers disappeared, and suddenly Mirabel was the last thing on her mind. What was she supposed to do? The family needed her, the town needed her! She ran and hid in her room, desperate to reclaim her strength. She picked up weight after weight, straining for the ease she normally felt, but it just got harder and harder.

After the disaster that was dinner had passed, and Mirabel ran off to hide, Luisa found herself in front of the nursery door, knocking softly to gain entry. The door swung open to reveal an empty room, half covered in crafts. A singed pink mat lay on the worktable, surrounded by a pile of intact ones, each carefully embroidered with the names and symbols of each family member. Admiring the delicate nature of the piece, Luisa frowned at the state of the damaged one. It was burned, and missing a large piece. How had that happened? What even had these been for? Luisa resolved to ask her sister, and scanned the room for any sign of where she went. She even checked under the bed, remembering how years ago, Luisa herself would hide under the aged frame, with a newborn baby scared of Aunt Pepa’s thunderstorms.

“Mirabel!!”

Luisa could hear her grandmother yelling, left unanswered. Leaving the empty nursery, the stairs to Bruno’s tower caught her eye, and Luisa mustered what little strength she had left to search another place in the house for her little sister.

When they were younger, the only rooms that Luisa, Isabella, and Dolores were allowed in were their own, and their respective mom’s. No one was allowed in Abuela’s room, and Bruno said he didn’t like people in his either. Entering it now, Luisa realized that Bruno probably hadn’t liked being in there either. The stairs were killer, and there was sand everywhere.

Giving up, Luisa left Bruno’s room, and retreated to her own, clenching her fists, frustrated and tired. It was only then that she realized that she was still holding the damaged mat in her hand, and Luisa smoothed it out, noticing that the mat was dedicated to her abuela. Wasn’t that symbolic? Mirabel’s relationship with their grandmother was as damaged as this mat, and no one was around to fix it. Never had a scrap of fabric felt so heavy.

So I got to see Encanto yesterday, and I had many thoughts. This is part 1, of maybe 11 or 12. Warning: Spoilers.

Isabela

“I will never be good enough for you, will I?”

Isabela was frequently frustrated with her baby sister. She was clingy, and loud, she tried too hard for attention, and always had an attitude. But it wasn’t until Mirabel gave her unconditional support after the cactus incident, loved her even when Isabela wasn’t perfect that she recognized why. Her sister wanted what she had; the pride of her grandmother.

The soft comment whispered in the courtyard turned all of the guilt churning in Isabela’s stomach to dread, and for once she wished she had Luisa’s gift, just so she could pick her baby sister up and hug her enough to hide her from Abuela’s disapproval.

Briefly, in that moment, as her sister stood there shrinking within herself, Isabella was reminded of the aftermath of Mirabel’s door ceremony, where she was pushed back into the nursery while the grown-ups argued. As a 12-year old, Isabela had figured her mom would deal with it, she would fix it, so she left her sister in the nursery, crying all alone asking what she had done wrong.

But their mom hadn’t fixed it, no, couldn’t fix it. And Mirabel was left in the nursery for ten years, the family outcast, while she had been so worried about being the family’s pride and joy. It seemed so shallow now, as she looked at her sister holding back tears.

“None of us will ever be good enough.”

If the first comment was a heavy blow, the second knocked the breath out of her. Her abuela’s expression was unchanged, and Isa realized she was right. None of them would meet her expectations. Least of all the one person who’d never even been given a chance.

And then the house fell apart, and Mirabel dashed towards the collapsing walls. Horrified, Isa leapt after her, calling upon vines to swing towards her sister, but as the structure failed, so did her powers. Falling to the ground below, Isabella was dragged back by her aunt, and watched as the roof caved in while Mirabel reached for the candle, once again trying too hard for something she had always deserved to have.