#curarle el empacho a un ser querido >>>

[awildtei]

This might be kind of niche but I was talking to the friend who introduced me to aftg yesterday about Cat and Nicky and how we would love to give them the particular Latin American experience of living surrounded by magic and religion as ordinary things that are just part of life.

So we were reminiscing on the role of Argentine witches during the last football world cup, how they were all over twitter and even serious newspapers kept talking about them and their efforts to help the team. Then the conversation turned to the other ways to heal energies and many bodily discomforts that so many Catholics learn from their parents and grandparents, the grandmas from church who offer to cure you when you have a headache, the way magic and magic-adjacent religious healing practices are a mundane, everyday thing for us... And that it's kind of annoying how little the casual supernatural shows up in the lives of Latine characters in media outside of Latin America, even in, like, throwaway comments.

Give me a Nicky who learned to cure indigestion, liver issues, ojeado, and mal de ojo/evil eye via prayer from an devout elderly lady in his church. Who mutters the prayers under his breath in the car to try to alleviate the tension when things get uncomfortable. Who uses it to ease Andrew's headaches when he's having a bad day. Who makes a big show of doing it with oil for extra effectiveness when the twins come back from joint therapy angry and frustrated.

Give me a Cat who cleanses their shared house of bad energies and side-eyes white California instagram "witches" who treat that kind of stuff like it's a trend. Who heals her teammates during halftime to help them drain the negative energies they've absorbed and threatens to freeze opposite team players who play dirty (she won't, it would go against Trojan fair play... and she doesn't want that bad energy coming back to bite her in the ass, thank you very much). Who teaches Jeremy how to protect his energy when he has to go back home and deal with his family.

Give me a Nicky and Cat who use the commonplace magical/religious/supernatural as acts of love: I'll get you a cup of tea. I'll cure your headache. I'll drive you. I'll help you out and keep you safe in every way I know how.