#mirabel and usnavi would also get on so well

[thisstableground]

Hi, I'm curious about something and you're like the one person I know who knows both characters so what would a meeting between Usnavi and Bruno be like? Just wondering

(this is broadway usnavi btw, i haven’t seen the movie)

okay! so, i actually think that bruno and usnavi have way more in common than you’d think just from a quck glance.

usnavi is clearly deeply loved by his community, whereas bruno is shunned by his, but (at least before usnavi’s character arc in the show) both of them feel on the outside of things. it’s probably not a coincidence that usnavi’s the only one breaking the fourth wall in ITH. he’s really no more the main character than, say, nina, but he is the one who chats with the audience directly, and i think that reflects the fact that he feels, like the audience, that he’s watching everyone else’s lives rather than participating himself. the world spins around while i'm frozen to my seat. and isn’t that so similar to bruno, sitting isolated in his room, watching visions of everyone else’s lives but never getting out himself, or putting on his rat plays in his space behind the wall? they both view themselves more in the role of narrator or observer, not a character with their own arc.

it’s obviously got a different vibe. i don’t think usnavi realises quite to what extent he’s loved by the people around him (he seems absolutely baffled by sonny and vanessa being upset about him leaving) but he definitely does not feel unloved. i think bruno also doesn’t realise how loved he is, but in his case he also has very good reasons to feel unloved, and is much less welcomed by the wider community (though perhaps when he was younger, this was different). and i definitely get the impression that usnavi’s relationship with his parents was an affectionate one, not a fraught one like bruno’s.

but there is that sense, for both of them, of having lost the thread of their individual identity under all the pressure of legacy and lost parents and their role and duty to their community. and both of them are stuck. they're living a life that isn't where they want it to be, there are things they want and relationships they crave but they can't move out of the place they're trapped in. there is also the sense that some part of is their own subconscious doing.

i always interpret usnavi’s as a result of anxiety that largely comes from losing his parents, a past that he can't change but wishes he could: what if he makes a wrong choice and something else bad happens, what if he loses someone else or loses his memory of his parents? better keep things exactly the same, to be safe. and bruno's as a result of seeing futures that he can't change but wishes he could, and what if he is cursed? what if he is the reason things go wrong? better knock on wood, hold your breath, spin in a circle, to be safe. when your life throws you a pain that you can't control, you create a routine that you can control, even if it eventually takes over and controls you.

usnavi's goal for a long time is to go back to the dominican republic, apparently, but until abuela claudia wins the lotto it really doesn’t look like he’s got any intention of taking steps towards that. and bruno is very similar - doesn’t actually manage to run away, because he’s too connected to his home and his family, but he doesn’t know how to change things so he just hides, stays the same, watches everything else grow and change without him. i’d bet that usnavi and bruno have had similar thoughts so many times of like “oh i’ll ask vanessa out, i'll sell the store, i'll move to DR. one day. probably. not yet.” and “i’ll talk to my sisters, i'll leave the encanto properly, i'll go outside. at some point. probably. not yet.”

and part of that pressure is external circumstances, but part of it is self-imposed, as a defense mechanism. if you lose yourself in your work or your duty to that extent, if you hide behind the things that are honest about it, then you always have an excuse to tell yourself for the rest. someone does always need coffee or a vision or a stable job or to be protected, that's true, so you can pretend that you're putting that big plan off because you're just too busy with all that other stuff, not because you're scared to do it. stay in the store. stay behind the walls. part of it is kindness, or duty, or practicality, yes. part of it is fear.

oh and speaking of abuelas! (though, again with a very different vibe depending who we're talking abut) i think both of them are very led by their love and respect for the respective maternal figures in their lives, but that this clouds their own desires/goals. claudia says to her own mama, "i spent my life inheriting dreams from you", and i think that without meaning to, the same happens with her and usnavi about moving to the dominican republic. as soon as it was him making the choice alone, he realised that it wasn’t what he wanted. i think there’s always some part of him that does want that a little, i doubt claudia picked that up from nothing, but it’s possible that she read usnavi's vague ideas of going to DR more strongly through her own experience of missing where her family came from, the part of her that regrets not going back to cuba, and didn’t recognise that the indecision probably meant part of usnavi felt it wasn't right for him.

and that’s so similar for alma, though it's much more harsh and hurtful in this instance: she parents her children and grandchildren based on her own history and regret and fear and wishes. she wants a safe place to hide, she wants outsiders not to find them or cause them harm: bruno lives up to that and then some when he goes into the walls. and he convinces himself it's the best choice for himself and for the family, but it isn’t. they probably don’t even realise that it’s something he learned from her example.

neither claudia nor alma mean any harm by this, they try their best, and they sacrifice for it: alma locks away her own grief and her trauma to build a whole community from the ground. claudia could use her lotto money to go back to la vibora after days into weeks into years away from home, but it’s puerto plata that they’re getting a plane ticket for, usnavi's island, not hers. they’re both misguided, their own pasts biasing their perception, but they do love their kids.

anyway!! you asked what it'd be like if they met, not for a list of things they have in common or for an extensive meta about abuelas. tough shit i guess you got that too.

so. i think that usnavi may see the similarities between himself and bruno, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who dislikes people who he can see his own flaws/insecurities in. if anything it just makes him reach out to them more. i think he would want to help. he’s been scared and lonely and saddled with too much responsibility from too young an age and felt like he lost everything before, too, but he’s doing so much better now, and he'd want to extend that hope to anyone else who is struggling similarly. and what bruno needs more than anything is to be shown kindness and acceptance, both things that usnavi can very easily give. i also think usnavi has absolutely no concept of people being weird, he’s extroverted and makes friends easily but he’s not exactly Mr Social Cues himself. bruno could say the most absolute batshit thing you’ve ever heard and usnavi would just be like “lmao yeah i get u :)))"

bruno, on the other hand, probably would struggle to like someone who he felt was too much like himself, but i don’t think he’d see usnavi that way. someone who has struggles, fears, insecurities that bruno does relate to, but who unlike bruno is also bubbly and bouncy and chatty, and who is trying so, so hard all the time to be positive (even when it would be healthier to let themselves feel angry, or sad, or hurt, even when it's blatantly obvious that they are feeling those things), someone who helps other people when they're in the middle of their own crisis and who thinks of themselves as just a totally unremarkable, ordinary, nothing-special person because they don’t see the way that everyone gravitates towards their warmth and kindness. he’s not going to see himself in usnavi. he’s going to see mirabel.

they’d get along great.

#character: usnavi #character: bruno #fandom: in the heights #fandom: encanto #ended up just character analysis instead of what a meeting would be like sorry #the meeting would be a lot of coffee and conversations with 20 different tangents that neither of them are quite following #but theyre having a nice time. neurodivergent solidarity #usnavi would love the rat telenovelas #mirabel and usnavi would also get on so well #this does however increase the risk of sonny and camilo meeting and i think that would be hell for everyone else #edit: i just realised too that i think the way i characterise my versions of usnavi's parents #have kind of a julieta and agustín vibe #usnavi should hang out with the madrigals i think he'd have a lovely time

[rightsforbrunomadrigalonly]

HEY GUYS! I just wanted to take a minute to say

✨⌛️I have not forgotten about all the amazing requests you’ve dropped into my in box!!! Anyone waiting on a request I promise I’ll get to them soon 😭😭I’ve just been super busy with work as well as drawing copious amounts of fan art for bruno and my OC!!⌛️✨

I just wanted to take a minute to introduce you all to my little Bruno family while I was here! 💚💚

I’m not sure if anyone will care to read about my OC and her kids but I’ve decided to post it anyway!

Her name is Vanessa 💚

Here’s a little about her and the relationship she shares with Bruno:

She’s 30 years old, but just as short as half of the kids in the Encanto! It’s the on going joke that Tío Bruno managed to find a wife shorter than he is.

When I say short, I mean she’s TINY. She’s only 143 cm. (4’8)

Her family owns a bakery in the Encanto. Delgado Dough

She has one sister who is 16 years of age. Her name is Pamela and they do NOT get along.

She totally thinks her sister is a pampered spoiled little princess who’s never had to lift a finger to help their parents and their bakery.

Before marrying Bruno, she’d work the bakery in the mornings and dedicate her nights to painting just at the edge of the village under the night stars.

She loves the arts, all forms. Music, painting, drawing, dance.

She’s quite the musician, seeing as her father’s favorite past time was pushing forward his knowledge and love for music

It definitely helps her adjust into the Family Madrigal. A house so full of music and talent.

Her favorite color is coincidentally green! She’s always been drawn to the color, it feeling so natural and beautiful.

In fact one of the first things Vanessa says to Bruno is “I like your ruana. Green is such a beautiful color, and it really looks nice on you. It brings out your eyes.”

He is FLUSTERED. He could have choked on his own tongue.

He stood there opening and closing his mouth trying to think of a comeback until Mirabel put the poor man out of his misery and interjected.

She found it kind of endearing. She’d never seen someone react to a complement like that.

Once they met, Bruno would be in town every day just hoping to bump paths with her again.

If you’ve ever heard of In The Heights (another amazing soundtrack done by the lyrical genius Lin Manuel Miranda) Bruno reminds me of Usnavi when it comes to Vanessa.  Especially in the song “It Wont Be Long” when Usnavi and Sonny are singing Vanessa’s name.

Mirabel told him multiple times “Tiooo just talk to her already! Come on let’s go let’s go! Make a move!”

He eventually listened… he’s just…slow about making his first move.

Painfully slow.

When Bruno brings her home she has no trouble settling into the family.

Vanessa always tells Bruno’s nieces and nephews that she doesn’t have a favorite.

She does.

It’s Mirabel. Just don’t tell anyone else, especially Mira.

She also bonds pretty well with both Pepa and Julieta.

She definitely finds it easier to bond with Julieta however. They just have a similar interest in cooking, and they both have this nurturing aura about them.

Her and Pepa definitely have a rocky relationship, neither of them caring for each other at the start. They couldn’t seem to see eye to eye but now they get along thick as thieves.

Vanessa’s relationship with Alma though….is complicated. She always grew up admiring the woman, but when she realized all the trauma and pressure the founding Madrigal placed on the family’s members, her perspective shifted.

She tries to keep her emotions towards Alma’s blatant mistreatment of Bruno hidden, but sometimes it’s hard. When her husband breaks down in her arms from the overwhelming burdens and traumas of his past, it takes her everything she has not to say something to her mother in law.

With that said, Vanessa would defend Bruno with her last breath. Rights for a Bruno Madrigal was the hill she’d choose to die on.

Her family is pretty comfortable with Bruno. The only person she has to defend him to is her sister.

God she’s so annoying! 16 years old and thinks she knows everything about everything! “I heard he was 7 foot tall…he looks BARELY taller than you.”

She’s one protective mama bear. She’s protective of her husband and even more protective of their babies….

Sophia and Pedro. Bruno’s weak point.

Sophia is 7, and the biggest little trouble maker you’ll EVER meet. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not a bad kid, she’s just a little menacing sometimes.

Her gift definitely leads her into a lot of trouble.

Her gift is mimic. It’s kind of like her cousin, but instead of shifting her shape, she can perfectly copy the sound of anyone or anything. (Etc. her mothers voice, an animal, a baby crying.)

She is such a little menace when it comes to using this power. Her and her cousin Camilo are a sight for sore eyes together. They like to pull pranks on the entire family. Camilo will shape shift and Sophia will throw her voice from another room. Truly the wombo combo.

She definitely is a bit spoiled…so if Vanessa says no to something, she’ll try and trick her father.

She usually can. Bruno’s disappointed in himself every time for falling for it. Vanessa is also upset everytime he falls for it.

She doesn’t abuse her gift too much though, most of it’s in the name of fun and games.

Her favorite cousin is Luisa. She wants to be big and strong and cool like Luisa one day.

Pedro is 5 years old.

He is the SWEETEST little boy in the world.

Vanessa literally hit copy and paste on bruno. The kid is the spitting image of his father at that age.

He’s a little sensitive guy, and a huge mamas boy. Is always attached at Vanessa’s hip.

His gift is like a sixth sense. He can talk to the dead and see them.

The first few days with his gift were overwhelming. He refused to stay in his room, crying every time he went near it. (If you’ve seen coco, it looks similar to the land of the dead. ) Definitely the biggest room in the house.

He was petrified every time he saw a spirit, clutching onto Vanessa’s dress begging her to make them go away.

The first spirit to try and talk to him is of course Abuelo Pedro.

He sits down with the boy and explains to him that he would have never blessed him with such a strong and important gift, like his father’s, if he didn’t think he was capable of handling it.

Pedro soon becomes used to his grandfathers presence, and learns to find comfort in his gift.

The little sugar skull on his ruana is a gift from Mirabel, something to make him feel less scared about his gift.

He’s Abuela’s new golden child.

Sorry Isa.

Not only is he the baby’s baby, and her last grandchild, he is always very vocal about sharing messages from Abuelo.

Abuelo always tells Pedro to relay a message to Abuela every morning, usually something along the lines of “let her know I’m here waiting for her, and that I think she still looks beautiful.”

Bruno’s low key a little jealous of the relationship his son and Abuela have.

When Alma passes on, Pedro is devastated. He looks for Alma every night, panicking when she doesn’t appear right away.

“What if she’s lost? What if she doesn’t come back! What if I never get to see Abuela again!”

When she finally reappears, he runs through the house letting everyone know that Abuela is rightfully back in the house with the Madrigals.

✨⌛️ If you stuck around to read all of this TYSM! I just really love the characters I’ve created and the stories I have for all of them! After I finish some of the requests I have I want to start posting little short fictions of things I think happen between Vanessa, her husband, their kids, and the other Madrigals!⌛️✨

#bruno madrigal #bruno madrigal x oc #bruno madrigal x reader #encanto bruno #bruno encanto #bruno #encanto #bruno x reader #encanto bruno madrigal #oc #disney