Ｎ Ｏ Ｔ Ｉ Ｏ Ｎ | ᴄᴀᴍɪʟᴏ ᴍᴀᴅʀɪɢᴀʟ |

chapter one - just introductions and new beginnings

A FIVE YEAR OLD CAMILA RAN AROUND HER MOTHER AS she held her newest child, pablo. quickly, her older sister, valentina, picked up the energetic girl, sensing her mothers distress. camila laughed, letting her older sister set her back on the ground before bopping her nose aggressively. camila rubbed her nose, when her father came around the corner with a bottle full of formula and warm water.

spotting the younger girl, her father scooped her up and whispered, "getting into trouble, my little camaleón (chameleon)?" as a response, camila just giggled giddily. "you excited for the gifting ceremony tonight? I heard the little niño  there is muy guapo (the boy is really handsome)." he continued, walking over to his wife to give her the bottle for the little boy in her arms. "oh stop trying to get 'mila a husband so early, mi amor (my love). she's 5. let her be a niña (girl)." he only chuckled at her. "you never know."

"but in the meantime, wanna go try on your dress?" the father asked his adaughter. she gasped and clapped her hands together quickly. "sí, sí!" she answered. "alright then." he smiled. "make sure it looks good on the her. she doesn't deserve a lukewarm dress. make it look spicy! ole!" camilas grandmother, violeta, yelled from the kitchen in a columbian manner, chopping onions without crying. "por supuesto! (of course)" he yelled back sarcastically, ascending the stairs to the second floor, and walking into one of the many bedrooms, this one lucia and camila's. plopping camila into one of the two beds in the room, camilas father grabbed the garment covering over the dress and gave it to her.

"try it on." he urged, giving her the dress. camila smiled and grabbed the dress, running out of the room and coming in a couple minutes later.

she walked in, and her father couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock and awe. camila's dress went down to her plump knees, and the dress was a dusty warm yellow with chameleons dancing on the fabric. the dress was tight yet flowy on camilas body, and with her short and curly hair, she looked beautiful.

"hermosa (beautiful), niña."

<3

at the gift ceremony, people still roamed around, waiting for the ceremony to take place. the place was crowded, causing camila to at one point, lose her family. she decided to make the best of it, waving to people who walked by and thanking people who complimented her dress. later on, she felt someone grab her arm gently yet with thrust. "camilo, there you are, it's almost time for the ceremony, go get ready, niño." she heard a woman's voice she didn't recognize, starting to drag the small girl over to the carpeted pathway. "but-" the girl tried to reason with the woman, but she wouldn't take it.

"look, mijo (son), I know you're scared. but there's nothing to be scared of." the woman assured the child before dragging her to the carpeted path and patting her head. "we will be waiting upstairs." and with that, she kisses the girls head and sauntered off without even looking at her once. unsure, camila just stood there, looking around awkwardly, when a couple moments later, a boy jumped next to her, not scaring camila. she had a older brother. that's all she needed.

the boy looked over at her, and grinned, even though a bit confused. "uh, lo siento (im sorry), who are you?" he asked. "I'm just here 'cause a woman brought me here. who are you?" camila asked the boy who stood next to her with a ruana that has the exact shades and designs that camila's dress had. "Im camilo.
this is my gift ceremony." he answered, though his tone showed no anger at the girl being there in his spot. "nice chameleons." camila commented, pointing to the ruana. "oh, thank you! yours are cute too... well, if we're gonna be sharing the spotlight, I might as well know your name, pretty girl." the 6 year old boy said.

"camila." she grinned, introducing herself. "wha- WOAH! our names are like- THE SAME. camil-OH, camil-AH. same thing!" camilo excitedly said, and camila just laughed whole heartedly at the boy, thoroughly enjoying her time. "well, I should probably-" camila was about to step away from the carpeted pathway, out of the future spotlight, when it was already too late. everyone was already standing away from the path, and watching the small boy and girl. the woman who dragged the girl to the path realized her mistake and slapped a hand over her mouth, turning around and violently poking (what she assumed to be) her husband, before getting his attention and pointing over to the two children who looked very alike.

though it wasn't planned nor organized, instead of pushing her out of the spotlight, camilo turned to her and held out a arm for her to link with. without a word-to-word conversation, camila smiled up sweetly at the boy and linked her arm with his, and without realizing, a smile started to stretch across camilo's face without him even noticing.

they slowly walked down the hall, people watching their every step. camila seemed a bit nervous under all the eyes, but camilo seemed just fine. she guessed he was used to it by now. they walked up the stairs and instead of being scolded, abuela alma just nodded at her and turned her attention to camilo. "do you promise and swear to always use your gift for good and for the village?" excitedly, camilo grinned like a puppy and nodded. "you must go, then. go on."

without a second thought, camilo easily caught camila's hand and ran to the door, taking a deep yet quick breath, through the nose and out the mouth, before touching the doorknob with his free hand. the door instantly started engraving golden lines on the door. and to the madrigales suprise, not only camilo was on the door. quickly, the door made a golden drawing of camilo and camila with drawings of people behind them. the two children looked at one another, until all of a sudden, they hiccuped and unison, and turned into each other. they looked back at each other, seeing themselves in the other. they gasped, before quickly shape shifting into all their other relatives.

abuela, mamá, papá, valentina, lucia, manuel, tony. mami, papi, dolores, abuela alma, mirabel.

in 2 seconds, they transformed back into themselves. they stood in a shock for a second, before starting to laugh and squeal, jumping around together. "not only do we have one gift presented tonight, we have two!" abuela alma announced into the casita. people jeered and cheered for the two, music starting up, and people starting to groove.

and that's how mami and papi met.