How to pretend
1- pretending is a complicated process. Far more complicated than it's given credit for. First, you just know who you will be. What are you trying to accomplish by pretending? what is the mission? It's to please them. What do they want? How can that be someone? These questions are a necessary part of thinking through this logically. You must be able to answer them, almost robotically. You must know what your new personality is. You must know what this personality consists of. Are you brave? Cowardly? Smart? Stupid? What do they want you to be? What do you want to add into your new personality? What do they need of you?
-Dolores
2- Pretending needs practice. You have to know exactly how to make your eyes shine, how to make your face brighten, exactly what your signature is. What is it that you are known for? What is your defining characteristic? These are all things you should know by now. How do you add this into your expressions? This is difficult. Remember, your eyes sparkle when you widen them. Your smile is more relaxed if it looks unpracticed. Your eyebrows furrow when you look confused or alarmed. Practice in the mirror. What makes an expression tick? Move your face to what you need. This needs to become common in your reactions. It helps ween them off of whoever you were and into your new personality. Bit by bit, your new personality is your only one
-Camilo
3- Practice in front of people. Put on your face, go out of the bathroom you're locked in trying to perfect your reaction, and talk to people. Ignore their confusion. Ignore their concern. Ignore their alarm. Make sure everything looks just how you want it, perfect, poised. Make sure they don't look underneath the face. If they peek, if your mask cracks, pretend it never happened. They forget quick.
-Isabela
4- Do no crack. this is now who you are, who you've always been. This is now all they've ever known. Too much pressure? No, you've got this. Too much responsibility? You're fine. Too much concealed emotion? What are you talking about? No one can know anymore, ever. They know what you are now, and that's all they'll ever know. You can not crack. It is not an option. If you do, things will go south far too fast for anyone's liking
5- Find us. We'll take care of the rest.
Farewell, Mirabel.
Sorry.
-La Interna Familia
Mirabel never read this. It ended up in Camilo's drawer. It caused a massive argument within the small family, but they all understood. Camilo couldn't do it. He just couldn't. They worked a new system out.
It didn't work. They were too late. Mirabel knew how to pretend, and none of them saw it
Yup, its this technically canon-compiant au again.
YOU ARE READING
Encanto Oneshots
FanfictionA collection of my projections onto this poor family, ranging from well-written to downright crappy. I took some artistic liberties to both Encanto and my own life, but I'm actually kind of proud of some of these. <3
