#give me bruno learning to cook to bond with julieta!

[jacarandaaaas]

Love reading your opinions on the characters and movie, it's refreshing to not see that repetitive hate and you make some good points

The discussions and others adding to that is also interesting

aww thank u anon! I just think these characters are so 3 dimensional it’s impossible to boil them down to one thing! isabela is the prissy oldest sister until you realize actually she’s not! luisa is the strong confident one until you realize no she’s not! These characters are so complex I just want to appreciate all of them!

I also love partaking in discussions and find your guys perspective interesting! It’s fun to dissect these characters and this story!

[honeybeebytheseaa]

I wanna write a fic maybe expanding over ten chapters (to those waiting for the next gen AU fic I swear it’s coming isjdjdn) with a gift swap scenario but the switch leaves everyone with a power that’s very unconventional to their lives.

Because in the movie the reason many of the family members had quarrels with their gifts was due to the fact that Alma got to dictate how they’d be used. The gifts are meant to be extensions of the family, but I want to see a situation where the magic goes “you guys are straining again ✨family bonding time✨” and swaps their gifts.

My current idea is:

Julieta - Shapeshifting - I want to see an introvert like her get a gift that forces her to be in the spotlight. By getting Camilo’s gift she’s encouraged to be more risky and makes mistakes.

Pepa - Future sight - A little on the nose with this one but I think because of her anxiety, her main takeaway would be she can’t control the future and whatever happens happens.

Bruno - Enhanced Super Hearing - Somewhat same vain as Pepa where he learns he can’t control what people think and feel about him, as the enchanted hearing allows him to hear all the negative things people say about him.

Isabela - Animal Communication - had a debate with myself between giving Isa super strength or animal communication but I decided the ladder because she might have too much fun with super strength and I can’t have that. Working with animals might make her a little more emphatic and give her a better understanding towards nature.

Dolores - Super-Strength - Still a little in the edge with this one but perhaps time management? Dolores often uses her gift by just milling around where with Lusia’s gift she’d have to constantly be running and running.

Luisa - Healing with food - PATIENCE. Cooking is an extremely difficult and tedious process. And though Luisa is a hard worker, she only really knows how to run not walk. At first I’d feel she’d be very frustrated, moving too fast and trying to get a recipe done so she can move on, but eventually she learns to slow down and take it one step at a time.

Camilo -Weather Manipulation - He has to learn to be vulnerable with people. Camilo is absolutely that kind of person to bottle shit up but with a cloud over his head 24/7 that’s not an option anymore.

Antonio - Plant Manipulation - ehhh I’ll be honest I’m still figuring out what his lesson would be. Antonio is pretty baby so unlike the rest of his family the magic might not give him a super hard time with this one. Perhaps it’d be a case of learning control and also a chance for him to communicate with other walks of nature outside animals. Also it’d be hella funny if he’s making flower crowns and behind him Camilo is quite literally laying in a puddle of his own sorrow, Dolores broke down the guest room door, Luisa is covered in flour, Isabela is trying to get a cat off her head and Mirabel is screaming at the sky because now she has to babysit the other idiot grandkids that have dangerous gifts.

Mirabel — No gift — yeah she’s not getting dragged into this— or not getting dragged into this with a gift at least. She still has to help figure out how to switch things back and also acts as a second hand when the swappies begin floundering too much. So in short: she is still the therapist.

If anyone has ideas on how they could be swapped let me know. Again the swap is meant to really challenge the person by giving them a gift they wouldn’t do well with so it forces them to adapt.

[prophetic-hijinks]

Elena's Madrigal Family dynamics

Alma

Alma was not fond of Elena being a lounge singer and while trying, would accidentally slip insults about it. Asking when she was giving it up etc. Also the divorce thing, before she understood the context, but still divorce is like very rare and a bishop has to agree. Yeah that dude sucks, God says yeeteth him.

Eventually, she realizes that she and Elena have a lot more in common when it comes to traumatic experiences and she finds it kind of comforting having a member of the family who understands loss, civil war, hunger and fear of societal destabilizing conditions like her.

So she came around.

Mirabel

She is close to Mirabel, but Mira had complicated emotions about wanting her uncle to be happy. But also worried a new family would take a black sheep ally away. But they worked through it and Mirabel comes to her for advice sometimes. @cheetee wrote a fic about this that was so wonderful, it's hijinks canon now

Antonio.

She adores Antonio, and she plays silly games with him.

Camilo

instant buds and kind of bring out the loving teasing behavior when near each other (Bruno: you're not allowed to gang up on me!")

Also big performer personalities so Camilo learns from her, and she and him help with Bruno's plays.

Agustin.

Get along well, he knows what it's like to not be on Alma's favored side.

Felix.

He is the only of the member of the family she will outright sarcastic jab with. Basically it's an ongoing cold war of short jokes.

Felix: oh Elena, bring an umbrella. Pepa is raining today and I know you and Antonio would be the last to know.

Elena: aye Felix! Short jokes? I'd ask how you could sink so low, but turns out that is your standing height.

Dolores.

To be honest. Sweet girl, thinks she is lovely. But constantly worried she is gonna say something sexy to Bruno and she is gonna hear it (which she suspects she has, bc one time she whispered something and Dolores squeaked, but determinedly wouldn't not look away from her knitting a room over). Also... Apparently she was listening to her uterus under Alma's request... So Elena let that one go

Luisa.

Elena wants to help. Elena, soft little city girl physically, more of a hindrance than a help. Elena insists on helping. Luisa insists she shouldn't. Repeat conversation ad infinitum.

Isabela.

They bonded on the concept of showing an idealized version of themselves to the world and it making them miserable. Elena offers insight into bisexual or lesbian identities based on her friendship with Lucia.

Pepa

these two are sassy little gremlins together. Once again. Lovingly tease Bruno.

Julieta.

Gentle mothering sister even though she is only 12 years younger, and has experienced far more life experiences. Julieta, gonna Julieta. Elena helps her with mass cooking though, bc though she is not as good as cook as Julieta, she has experience making food for a large group from being at the orphanage