Under the circumstances i will not be thank u

This one is long, because I can never give a brief answer, haha

For context, I reblogged this post with the tags: #...Okay: next time a fic requires the Encanto to have a bunch of books it will be because they have One Guy #who ran an illicit printing press publishing politically contentious materials #and sets up a new one in the Encanto #almost all the classics are awful knockoffs though and this results in Debate when the Encanto opens and someone gets in a conversation #about their beloved favorite scene that exists only in the Encanto's fanfictionalized canon

Which got me thinking about That One Guy and how they connect to Alma’s and Pedro’s life prior to the miracle.

Starting with what we see of Alma as a political figure:

The Encanto has free universal healthcare. I doubt anyone goes hungry, either. If the magic healing food is freely available to anyone who needs it, I can’t imagine the regular food being hoarded, and with The Family Madrigal demonstrating Pepa watering fields of crops, I don’t think the Encanto struggles with famine, after the rocky first years.

The same song shows 75 year old Alma helping with the construction of a new house. Is everyone else a dedicated construction worker working on a contact, and she just drops in on job sites sometimes? Or (the interpretation I go with) is this a collective community effort along the lines of a barn raising? The chain of people standing still and passing materials to each other doesn’t behave like I would expect from a construction crew, which would usually have too few people to make that effective. But a large group of friends and neighbors? The Encanto has a very strong sense of connection. If you watch the background during the scenes in town, there’s people constantly meeting up and chatting. I think the standard practice in the Encanto is community-built housing.

(This also foreshadows and establishes the rebuilding in All of You. The Madrigals have long provided support to the town without receiving it in turn. But when they’re in need, the welfare structures they’ve created and contributed to are there to help them, too. It’s a bookend, and the symbol of the Madrigals truly becoming part of the community, instead of living on pedestals.)

Which would mean that Alma founded and leads a town with universal healthcare, food, and housing. The latter two aren’t explicitly canon, but I do think they make more sense than alternate explanations.

Going more into inferences: the refugees arrived in the Encanto with almost nothing in the way of material possessions. The only person with any sort of landed property was Alma herself. Upon founding, the Madrigals were essentially the only family with any form of inherited wealth. Do you think that a community of desperate refugees living in the near-wilderness and dependent on each other’s collective skills and knowledge to eke out their survival would re-form a stratified socio-economic class structure? Especially with the knowledge of the strong social welfare structures they form in the future?

TL;DR Alma believes strongly in mutual aid and community support and uses her position of power to found a communist paradise.

(Where the world’s most hyperfixated accordian enthusiast is able to ply their trade)

With that in mind, the fic idea, inherently a tragedy Because Canon:

Alma has ideas about things like land ownership and the sorts of support a society should guarantee its members. Fanon characterizes Pedro as a writer. I think this came from a canon-adjacent source? I’ve also seen the idea floated in the fandom that he specifically wrote political essays.

So: Pedro is also politically invested, and writes some contentious material. Alma is a networker, the one who introduces Pedro to the someone running an amateur printing press out of their home and builds connections with allies (building the role of community organizer and leader she will eventually take on). She thinks of herself as supporting the people who do the real work.

The reconstructed face of the “Cheddar Man” (c. 7,000 BCE) compared to his living descendant, Adrian Targett    

The Cheddar Man is a Mesolithic skeleton that was recovered from England’s Cheddar Gorge in 1903. At around 9,000 years old, the Cheddar Man is the oldest complete skeleton ever discovered in the UK, and has long been hailed as the “first Briton.” DNA analysis on the Cheddar man from 2018 indicated that he was lactose intolerant, had light-colored eyes, dark brown or black hair, and had a dark to black skin tone. Although the discovery of the Cheddar Man’s dark skin tone was surprising for both scientists and the public alike, it corresponds with recent research suggesting that genes linked to lighter skin only began to spread about 8,500 years ago - approximately 32,000 years later than what was previously believed.  

In addition to the development on his skin tone, the Cheddar Man surprised scientists in 1997 when DNA analysis revealed that he had a living descendant -  a retired history teacher named Adrian Targett. Targett and the Cheddar man share the same mtDNA, which is passed down from mother to daughter. In other words, they share a common maternal ancestor. What is even more remarkable is that Targett lives in Cheddar, only a half mile away where his 9,000-year-old ancestor was discovered.

Targett was not invited to the initial reveal of his ancestor’s new facial reconstruction, but he has since seen it and has commented on the family resemblance. “I do feel a bit more multicultural now,” he once joked in an interview “And I can definitely see that there is a family resemblance. That nose is similar to mine. And we have both got those blue eyes.”

we are all familiar with how toothless prowls and stalks - his body feels completely fluid - catlike. as he approaches hiccup in the cove, he extends one leg out, cautiously, keeping his centre of mass behind him in case he needs to flee quickly. his tail whips around in one smooth motion, following through his direction of motion. he's very clearly curious, yet also apprehensive. he becomes even more catlike fighting hookfang in the kill ring, arching his spine as he guards hiccup, clawing at hookfang's face and pushing him off with his legs, trying to create as much space as possible between them. fighting the red death - toothless swoops and dives like a peregrine falcon. he follows through his shots, so he doesn't have to sacrifice speed during the dive-bombs, which is a neat detail.

gronkles on the other hand, are flying tanks. during dragon training, meatlug ploughs head first at the gang. which makes sense, given their rough, armoured exterior, built to withstand blunt force. as gronkles are built like lava spewing bludgeons, they could shake off any mallet thrown at them.

nadders hop from vantage point to vantage point, scanning the scene from above. they're agile and light on their feet - with sharp talons that that could cling onto even the narrowest of ledges. from above they have a clear view for a spine shot or a narrow beam of magnesium fire. with their large talons, they can easily swoop onto an unsuspecting sheep.

zipplebacks dart their heads forward like snakes and cobras - likely an intimidation tactic. another little detail - the distinct 'click-click' as a telltale sign the sparks will alight. (which may seem obvious but I like it and it's pretty cool)

and i think one of the most interesting ones is the monstrous nightmare. they are skittish and erratic, scurrying around faster than you can get a clear shot of them - clearly shown by hookfang as he tries to escape the Kill Ring. only when he realises the only way out is through; he stands his ground and tramples anything in his way.

rites of passage

closeups:

1. academia

2. teaching

an omnipotent creator being almost certainly doesn't exist but if it does, it's a supervillain

gods shouldn't exist but we keep creating them to use as weapons. and no one knows how to defuse one

gods don't exist which is a relief bc otherwise we'd be forced to hunt them down for execution

creator god exists and we owe it nothing (DEEPLY unqualified)

god/s abandoned us and it hurt at the time but in hindsight we escaped a highly toxic relationship

Anyway.

It has been very pleasant out. We had the windows cracked and left them cracked when we went to work. This has never been an issue before.

My darling spouse was working on a job in a small town about a mile from our place. He was getting some stuff from the work van when he sees a large white dog prancing along.

"Huh." He thinks. "That looks an awful lot like.....TYR WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE."

Tyr, delighted that she has Found Father, bounds up happily and gets in the work van to give face kisses.

"GIRL NO WHAT." Kev says, scrambling to go let the client know that he has to take the fucking criminal back home real quick.

Turns out she discovered that a window can be shoved open with a determined snoot, and a window screen is not as strong as 80 pounds of muscular dog. And went for an adventure.

I got a call at this point while I was doing payroll.

"BABE WE NEED TO BABY GATE ALL THE FUCKING WINDOWS." My spouse says.

"....okay??" I say, and then get the story. I swore a bunch.

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