Sometimes I have story idea that for one reason or another I don't have any intention of following up on. If I like them enough to write about them anyway, then odds are I'll post them here.
Chellewalker's Never-to-be-Continued Oneshots
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Out of the House (Encanto)
chellewalker
President of the Water Seeker Fan Club
- Pronouns
- She/Her
As the light settled into Antonio's new door and the festivities resumed with new fervor, Mirabel finally released the breath she didn't know she was holding. That constantly niggling worry that her worst moment would be shared by him was over, and as the celebrations began to move into his new room, Mirabel's resolve finally hardened.
An idea had been in the back of her mind for more than a year now, as time and again her efforts only dragged the family down and strained her relationships, and with Antonio's ceremony over and knowing that he wouldn't share her fate, Mirabel had nothing more to offer the family as she was now. So then, she had asked herself in the past, what could she do in lieu of a blessing from the miracle? She couldn't help the town with physical action like her aunt and Luise, nor brighten their days quite like Isabella or Miguel, and she still wasn't old enough to take on the greater household responsibilities like her father and uncle, so how could she help?
On and on this question followed her, until one day while mindlessly strumming her guitar, she came to conclude that her most valuable trait was her music; the cheerful tunes she made up as she went, joyful enough performances that even Isabella would smile without noticing (even if it quickly turned to a scowl when it was pointed out), and the townspeople too had begun to sing along to her songs when she played within earshot. But how to leverage that talent in a way her family couldn't already do with their blessings? Well it was quite simple.
She had to leave the valley.
The thought had come to her as she stewed in the quandary, mulling over the problem in her head time and again. The town had always held a cheerful revelry, but lacking resources from their isolation, the valley had remained relatively poor. And as she had heard from an idle talk with one of the town's gentle elders, musical talent like Mirabel's could earn a great amount of money with a big enough audience. Money that could then be returned to the town and finally prove Mirabel's worth as a Madrigal.
It seemed like the perfect solution to her: it let her contribute to the family like her sisters and cousins, allowed her to explore her personally honed "blessing" for the good of the community, and got her a bit of space from everything at home (not that she much liked to acknowledge that last point). She was honestly tempted to do just that as soon as the idea came to her, but held off for a number of reasons.
The first was entirely practical. Her cousin Dolores could hear a pin drop from halfway across the valley, so she would definitely notice if Mirabel began to make such an attempt. Dolores' room was soundproof, but making the trek in a single night (even putting aside the inherent dangers of night travel) just wasn't feasible for Mirabel's noodle limbs.
The second problem was likewise one of pragmatics, but held a much simpler solution. See, Mirabel was still really young; not juvenile (unless you asked Isabella), but young enough that it would make unaccompanied travel… less feasible than she would like. Mainly it was the attention her young age would bring, attention that would hamper any attempts to put on a show with the worries of local busybodies. Thankfully all she had to do here was wait a year or so to get a little more height; she'd still be on the younger side, but not totally out of place (she thinks).
Which actually gave her a pretty clear timeline for her plan, as the last bit of reasoning was her care of Antonio. One of the few (only) upsides of her lack of blessing was the chance it gave Mirabel to bond and grow up with her favorite cousin in a way none of the rest of the family could really relate; she had been there for the pillow fights, she had been there for the homework, and she had been there for the groundings. She loved Antonio in a way that was hard to really put to words, and so couldn't fathom the idea of leaving him before his blessing ceremony.
But now… that ceremony was over. Dolores was surrounded by a big enough party to not notice her leaving, and would head to bed afterwards so Mirabel's absence wouldn't be noticed for at least half a day. And Mirabel was… well, still not old, but at least old-er. So if she wanted to go through with it, tonight would be the time. And yet still… she hesitated. This wasn't the kind of thing that would get her a frown and disappointed shake of the head if it didn't pan out, this was her leaving the valley.
Mirabel weighed the satchel in her hands, mentally running through every way this could go wrong, but then every time returning to how it could go right. Better commerce for the town, a lessened reliance on her family's time and blessings, and a chance to prove she really did belong in the family. So, as the party raged on and her last responsibility to her cousin ending, Mirabel laid a hand on the frame of her family home in what would be the last time for potentially months or years, and stepped out into the world.
Not noticing the roof tile falling to the ground behind her.
Oh no. Oh nonononono. Where was she going? This wasn't camping season, and he's not thought Mirabel the type anyway. As Bruno peeked out at the fading sight of his niece, panic began to return to his hunched form. Maybe she just went out for air? Bruno had never seen the need, but hey! To each their own, right? But did people normally take their entire wardrobe with them for that? The guitar was a common enough sight on her, but Bruno was getting a sinking feeling that things were very much not "normal."
Seeing Antonio's blessing ceremony go off without a hitch had started to settle Bruno's nerves for the first time in years; could it mean his prophecy was starting to change, or was it not as bad as he thought? But now he was watching something even worse than Mirabel's nightmare of a blessing ceremony: Mirabel leaving the house altogether!
Someone needed to do something! Not him obviously, he was just Bruno and he would just make things worse. But maybe he could grab one of his sisters and- wait no, one was still mad at his wedding joke all those years ago and the other would probably fuss over his scruffy appearance too much to take him seriously. Plus, you know, there was the whole "hiding in their walls for an entire decade" thing.
Oh! But what about their children? Luise always seemed to have her head on straight and Miguel always seemed to know what to say. Although… it had been so long since they'd seen him that they'd probably get their parents to make sure he was real, and then he'd have to deal with their awkward reunion anyhow.
Someone else… someone else… mom? No, Bruno wasn't the greatest with people skills (or non-people skills (or just… you know, skills)) but even he could tell how strained things would get between the two over meals. Getting them together would probably just make a mess of things. Plus, going to mom would probably have her asking about the prophecy at some point and… yeah, definitely can't go to her then.
Erm… that left… Wait, nobody? Oh nonononono, Mirabel was only getting further and further away, someone needed to go after her right now! Someone brave, someone capable… Wait, if Bruno couldn't do it… then maybe Hernando could! Sure the bucket might weird her out, but all he had to do was get her to turn around and she'd forget about him no problem.
After all, how hard could it be to change the mind of a teenager?
Isabella knew something was up when Mirabel hadn't messed up the night. Oh sure, she might have loved Antonio just as much as they did, but a blessing ceremony after her out disastrous affair would touch on all her stupid issues at once, so her not having a meltdown slowly priked her suspicions as the festivities went on. So when the party began to wind down and the family started to turn in, Isabella took a detour to look in the now solitary room of Mirabel's.
Only to find it entirely devoid of her biggest headache, paradoxically making a even greater headache as the promise of a quite end to her night was stopped short.
Rummaging through the absolute pigsty the room had been left in (Antonio was young enough to have an excuse, but Mirabel's sloppiness was yet another source of sisterly irritation), Isabella was left downright worried after finding the closet emptied and Mirabel's guitar gone. Now equal parts angry and concerned, Isabella quickly rifled through the rest of Mirabel's belongings (her juvenile sense of order making it hard to tell them from Antonio's), and pulled out a collection of maps, each marked with notes and travel details; had that attention-seeker really run away from home?
Well, Isabella wasn't having it. She knew the roads as well as she could for her age, and she knew Mirabel couldn't have gotten far. She wasn't about to let that little brat pull a Bruno over some inane melodrama, so it was up to the responsible sister to clean up her mess. She'd drag her sister right back home and no one in the family would have to find out and spoil Antonio's otherwise perfect day. It would also be nice to have something to do other than think about the marriage her grandmother kept pushing.
So, returning to her room to slip on her good boots and making sure Dolores was already asleep, Isabella returned to the front door and set off with a huff, eager to get this nonsense over with and return to her waiting bed.
Not noticing the parrot watching her go.
Mirabel had actually left. Antonio had known she had been planning it, what with all the loose maps she kept leaving around (and then panickingly asking if he'd seen them while shoving them in her desk), but had always assumed she was using them as an escape from her days' stresses. But if Isabella thought it was serious enough to go out looking for her, Antonio was starting to think he should have taken those moments of Mirabel's anxiety more seriously.
Sure she had been ecstatic for his coming blessing ceremony (even if she tried to hide her forlorn expression that came and went), but that wasn't any excuse for him to take her feelings for granted. Did she think he was leaving her behind just because of his new room? She'd always been closest to him, and at least part of that had come from their shared lack of blessings. And while he wouldn't give up his new friends for anything, there was still that loss of connection that seemed to have hit his cousin a lot harder than he thought it would.
The fact that he apparently went the entire party without noticing her absence only made that guilt hit all the harder; not just him, but nobody noticed a missing Madrigal? And when he sent a parrot to check in with her, hoping to ask her for help falling asleep in that new and unfamiliar room of his, only then did he notice. But now it seemed he was too late, and his favorite cousin was leaving with his not-favorite cousin (as Mirabel had explained to him, there was no such thing as a "least favorite") trailing after.
But that didn't have to stop him, did it? He had a lot of new friends now, and some of them were a lot faster than she could walk. He could catch up to them in no time if he really wanted to, and then apologize to Mirabel in person! (Maybe not say it is an apology though, that would just make her feel guilty.) So Antonio quietly led his new tiger friend through the darkened corridors of his home, careful to not wake any more of the family, and hurried to mount them outside, taking off in pursuit of his distant cousin.
Leaving the Madrigal household far emptier than when the night began.
AN: Encanto is a fantastic movie, but the cast felt a bit too big to explore all of them (really only half the family got much attention, and Miguel especially lacked any scenes). I'm not actually familiar enough with Colombian culture and geography to follow this up without coming off as a hack though, so this is all I'm comfortable with writing (I am a bit annoyed with how short the Isabella section was given I relate most to her character arc).
An idea had been in the back of her mind for more than a year now, as time and again her efforts only dragged the family down and strained her relationships, and with Antonio's ceremony over and knowing that he wouldn't share her fate, Mirabel had nothing more to offer the family as she was now. So then, she had asked herself in the past, what could she do in lieu of a blessing from the miracle? She couldn't help the town with physical action like her aunt and Luise, nor brighten their days quite like Isabella or Miguel, and she still wasn't old enough to take on the greater household responsibilities like her father and uncle, so how could she help?
On and on this question followed her, until one day while mindlessly strumming her guitar, she came to conclude that her most valuable trait was her music; the cheerful tunes she made up as she went, joyful enough performances that even Isabella would smile without noticing (even if it quickly turned to a scowl when it was pointed out), and the townspeople too had begun to sing along to her songs when she played within earshot. But how to leverage that talent in a way her family couldn't already do with their blessings? Well it was quite simple.
She had to leave the valley.
The thought had come to her as she stewed in the quandary, mulling over the problem in her head time and again. The town had always held a cheerful revelry, but lacking resources from their isolation, the valley had remained relatively poor. And as she had heard from an idle talk with one of the town's gentle elders, musical talent like Mirabel's could earn a great amount of money with a big enough audience. Money that could then be returned to the town and finally prove Mirabel's worth as a Madrigal.
It seemed like the perfect solution to her: it let her contribute to the family like her sisters and cousins, allowed her to explore her personally honed "blessing" for the good of the community, and got her a bit of space from everything at home (not that she much liked to acknowledge that last point). She was honestly tempted to do just that as soon as the idea came to her, but held off for a number of reasons.
The first was entirely practical. Her cousin Dolores could hear a pin drop from halfway across the valley, so she would definitely notice if Mirabel began to make such an attempt. Dolores' room was soundproof, but making the trek in a single night (even putting aside the inherent dangers of night travel) just wasn't feasible for Mirabel's noodle limbs.
The second problem was likewise one of pragmatics, but held a much simpler solution. See, Mirabel was still really young; not juvenile (unless you asked Isabella), but young enough that it would make unaccompanied travel… less feasible than she would like. Mainly it was the attention her young age would bring, attention that would hamper any attempts to put on a show with the worries of local busybodies. Thankfully all she had to do here was wait a year or so to get a little more height; she'd still be on the younger side, but not totally out of place (she thinks).
Which actually gave her a pretty clear timeline for her plan, as the last bit of reasoning was her care of Antonio. One of the few (only) upsides of her lack of blessing was the chance it gave Mirabel to bond and grow up with her favorite cousin in a way none of the rest of the family could really relate; she had been there for the pillow fights, she had been there for the homework, and she had been there for the groundings. She loved Antonio in a way that was hard to really put to words, and so couldn't fathom the idea of leaving him before his blessing ceremony.
But now… that ceremony was over. Dolores was surrounded by a big enough party to not notice her leaving, and would head to bed afterwards so Mirabel's absence wouldn't be noticed for at least half a day. And Mirabel was… well, still not old, but at least old-er. So if she wanted to go through with it, tonight would be the time. And yet still… she hesitated. This wasn't the kind of thing that would get her a frown and disappointed shake of the head if it didn't pan out, this was her leaving the valley.
Mirabel weighed the satchel in her hands, mentally running through every way this could go wrong, but then every time returning to how it could go right. Better commerce for the town, a lessened reliance on her family's time and blessings, and a chance to prove she really did belong in the family. So, as the party raged on and her last responsibility to her cousin ending, Mirabel laid a hand on the frame of her family home in what would be the last time for potentially months or years, and stepped out into the world.
Not noticing the roof tile falling to the ground behind her.
Oh no. Oh nonononono. Where was she going? This wasn't camping season, and he's not thought Mirabel the type anyway. As Bruno peeked out at the fading sight of his niece, panic began to return to his hunched form. Maybe she just went out for air? Bruno had never seen the need, but hey! To each their own, right? But did people normally take their entire wardrobe with them for that? The guitar was a common enough sight on her, but Bruno was getting a sinking feeling that things were very much not "normal."
Seeing Antonio's blessing ceremony go off without a hitch had started to settle Bruno's nerves for the first time in years; could it mean his prophecy was starting to change, or was it not as bad as he thought? But now he was watching something even worse than Mirabel's nightmare of a blessing ceremony: Mirabel leaving the house altogether!
Someone needed to do something! Not him obviously, he was just Bruno and he would just make things worse. But maybe he could grab one of his sisters and- wait no, one was still mad at his wedding joke all those years ago and the other would probably fuss over his scruffy appearance too much to take him seriously. Plus, you know, there was the whole "hiding in their walls for an entire decade" thing.
Oh! But what about their children? Luise always seemed to have her head on straight and Miguel always seemed to know what to say. Although… it had been so long since they'd seen him that they'd probably get their parents to make sure he was real, and then he'd have to deal with their awkward reunion anyhow.
Someone else… someone else… mom? No, Bruno wasn't the greatest with people skills (or non-people skills (or just… you know, skills)) but even he could tell how strained things would get between the two over meals. Getting them together would probably just make a mess of things. Plus, going to mom would probably have her asking about the prophecy at some point and… yeah, definitely can't go to her then.
Erm… that left… Wait, nobody? Oh nonononono, Mirabel was only getting further and further away, someone needed to go after her right now! Someone brave, someone capable… Wait, if Bruno couldn't do it… then maybe Hernando could! Sure the bucket might weird her out, but all he had to do was get her to turn around and she'd forget about him no problem.
After all, how hard could it be to change the mind of a teenager?
Isabella knew something was up when Mirabel hadn't messed up the night. Oh sure, she might have loved Antonio just as much as they did, but a blessing ceremony after her out disastrous affair would touch on all her stupid issues at once, so her not having a meltdown slowly priked her suspicions as the festivities went on. So when the party began to wind down and the family started to turn in, Isabella took a detour to look in the now solitary room of Mirabel's.
Only to find it entirely devoid of her biggest headache, paradoxically making a even greater headache as the promise of a quite end to her night was stopped short.
Rummaging through the absolute pigsty the room had been left in (Antonio was young enough to have an excuse, but Mirabel's sloppiness was yet another source of sisterly irritation), Isabella was left downright worried after finding the closet emptied and Mirabel's guitar gone. Now equal parts angry and concerned, Isabella quickly rifled through the rest of Mirabel's belongings (her juvenile sense of order making it hard to tell them from Antonio's), and pulled out a collection of maps, each marked with notes and travel details; had that attention-seeker really run away from home?
Well, Isabella wasn't having it. She knew the roads as well as she could for her age, and she knew Mirabel couldn't have gotten far. She wasn't about to let that little brat pull a Bruno over some inane melodrama, so it was up to the responsible sister to clean up her mess. She'd drag her sister right back home and no one in the family would have to find out and spoil Antonio's otherwise perfect day. It would also be nice to have something to do other than think about the marriage her grandmother kept pushing.
So, returning to her room to slip on her good boots and making sure Dolores was already asleep, Isabella returned to the front door and set off with a huff, eager to get this nonsense over with and return to her waiting bed.
Not noticing the parrot watching her go.
Mirabel had actually left. Antonio had known she had been planning it, what with all the loose maps she kept leaving around (and then panickingly asking if he'd seen them while shoving them in her desk), but had always assumed she was using them as an escape from her days' stresses. But if Isabella thought it was serious enough to go out looking for her, Antonio was starting to think he should have taken those moments of Mirabel's anxiety more seriously.
Sure she had been ecstatic for his coming blessing ceremony (even if she tried to hide her forlorn expression that came and went), but that wasn't any excuse for him to take her feelings for granted. Did she think he was leaving her behind just because of his new room? She'd always been closest to him, and at least part of that had come from their shared lack of blessings. And while he wouldn't give up his new friends for anything, there was still that loss of connection that seemed to have hit his cousin a lot harder than he thought it would.
The fact that he apparently went the entire party without noticing her absence only made that guilt hit all the harder; not just him, but nobody noticed a missing Madrigal? And when he sent a parrot to check in with her, hoping to ask her for help falling asleep in that new and unfamiliar room of his, only then did he notice. But now it seemed he was too late, and his favorite cousin was leaving with his not-favorite cousin (as Mirabel had explained to him, there was no such thing as a "least favorite") trailing after.
But that didn't have to stop him, did it? He had a lot of new friends now, and some of them were a lot faster than she could walk. He could catch up to them in no time if he really wanted to, and then apologize to Mirabel in person! (Maybe not say it is an apology though, that would just make her feel guilty.) So Antonio quietly led his new tiger friend through the darkened corridors of his home, careful to not wake any more of the family, and hurried to mount them outside, taking off in pursuit of his distant cousin.
Leaving the Madrigal household far emptier than when the night began.
AN: Encanto is a fantastic movie, but the cast felt a bit too big to explore all of them (really only half the family got much attention, and Miguel especially lacked any scenes). I'm not actually familiar enough with Colombian culture and geography to follow this up without coming off as a hack though, so this is all I'm comfortable with writing (I am a bit annoyed with how short the Isabella section was given I relate most to her character arc).