9. Campaign 1- Encanto Performance

If not for his father Camilo would have assumed he was adopted.

No one in his family was like him save for his papa. Mama had a bit of an excuse as if she lost control of her emotions and just had fun people would find a reason to complain about rainbows just as they complained about anything else she did. Dolores was a sneak and a snitch, listening to everything and reporting it back to their abuela. And then there was his Tia and Tio. Agustin seemed like a nice guy but due to how accident-prone he was he, reasonably, didn't cut loose. And Tia Julieta was just so tired all the time it was a wonder she had found time to even have children.

Camlio snickered to himsef.

~MC~GF~MC~GF~

"Push, Julieta, push!"

The woman did so... only to turn and check a sauce pan that was sitting next to her bed. "Needs something."

"Here's your baby," the midwife said.

"I was thinking salt myself."

~MC~GF~MC~GF~

And then there were his cousins. Isabela... well, Princess Perfecta was a nightmare. Someone Camilo would never want to spend a moment with and when he was forced to (which was rare) he did all he could to ignore her. Luisa... well he could go to her with his problems but she wasn't someone to have fun with. She was someone that helped you when you needed to vent not someone you got to join in on the action.

Abuela... heh, no.

ONCE he had cared for her, he was sure of that. He remembered her reading him stories and cuddling with him when he would sit still. But the moment he got his gift that had changed. No longer was there time to sit on her bed and hear stories about her childhood or about Abuelo Pedro. No... he needed to WORK! Become this woman so she can run errands; the customers will be too startled if she gets someone else to man the counter. Babysit these five children. Can you be taller to reach this? Shorter to get under there?

Be anyone but yourself, Camilo.

So yes, if it wasn't for his papa he'd have assumed he was adopted because there was no one else like him in the family. And even his father was far too busy in his opinion. Constantly running around to prove he belonged even now.

But sitting in the remarkably plush and comfy red chair, a bag of popcorn in his lap, watching his Tio Bruno perform his latest telenova... he suddenly found someone else in the family he could relate to.

Tio Bruno's room, or rather the doorway that led to his amazing home The Bureau, held more than bedrooms for sleeping. According to Bruno the Bureau had at least 30 rooms though it could have more as it was always growing as it matured. There was an armory filled with all sorts of weapons that Camilo wanted to know the name of so he could at once ask for one himself while also avoiding anyone who wielded the death devices. A blacksmith forge where Mirabel created armor for herself and the rest of her party. Though she admitted she'd only recently received her Golem Smith Mastery and thus could create living armor so all they had gotten so far was basic armor. Camilo found it rather funny how she sounded almost regretful over that, as if 'normal armor' wasn't already massively impressive. There was also something called a 'bathhouse' but Tio Bruno had been quick to wave them all off, saying none of them would be interested in that.

Camilo made a mental note to sneak in later and check it out. If an adult said something wasn't interesting that meant it absolutely WAS!

There were other doors too, which led to other rooms. Mirabel had told them they belonged to 'the party' but they had gone off on a 'dungeon crawl' to grab some loot and weren't expected back for a few months so they wouldn't meet them anyway.

No, what Bruno wanted to show them was his theater and the moment they'd stepped in Camilo's jaw had dropped. He'd only see structures like it in books. Of course the books made him feel like the room should have been bigger but it still easily fit them all with seats to spare assuming any of the family ever came up. He doubted it; maybe his papa and mama and possibly Tia Julieta but otherwise he doubted the rest would ever be interested and even those three might wave off joining in.

Camilo though...

"You can't just marry someone you just met!" the puppet of the crowned queen of some frigid nation declared, staring at her sister. It was a rather impressive puppet, being at once simplistic yet detailed. Bruno operated it with a few sticks while leaving the other members of the performance still. Occasionally he could hear his tio rush around in the background but often he was so engrossed in the tale that he ignored that.

Bruno switched to a different voice. "How... how can you say that? Don't you want me to be happy?" He made the queen's sister, the princess of the frigid nation, 'walk' towards her sister, jabbing her hand at the other puppet. Bruno switched to that one, making the queen wave off her sister as fear leaked into her voice.

"Oh no..." Antonio whispered but he still watched, entranced.

There was a blast of light and glittering 'ice appeared between the queen and the rest of the puppets.

"She's a witch!" Bruno said in a nasally voice as he made the Duke of Dungberg (though the duke, humorously, had continually declared it was pronounced Dun-Ge-Berg). "Seize her!"

Bruno made the queen escape with another appearance of more ice and then the lights went down, signaling another scene change.

"This is amazing!" Tio Agustin raved. He was seated next to Mirabel, Luisa right behind them so she could stretch out with hitting any of them, while Camilo was on Mira's other side with Antonio.

"This is one of my favorites," Mirabel admitted. "He gets asked to perform it a lot... sometimes if we are at a festival Tio Ernesto and I help with the puppets but it's always better when he just does it alone. He's so gifted."

"And this is based on one of your adventures?" Luisa asked.

Mirabel though shook her head. "Not quite. The queen and her sister? We met them while we were traveling and helped them with an issue. They even joined us on a few adventures. We keep in touch."

"And she could really shoot ice out of her hands?!" Antonio asked.

"Oh yes," Mirabel told him with a quick nod. "It is very impressive. She can even... well, I don't want to spoil it."

Camilo watched, sometimes sharing a comment with his little brother, as the Queen's sister declared that she was going to bring the queen back so that the winter that had suddenly fallen over the land would end. This led her to finding a man and his reindeer companion who agreed to take her up into the mountains.

"So this is how Tio Bruno learned to control his visions?" Camilo asked when the lights had dimmed for another scene change.

Mirabel laughed at that. "No! That would be funny though, using puppets to have visions. I'm sure there is someone that does that though... the world is a big place, after all!" She snagged some popcorn and munched on it. "But no... this is just something he does for fun."

Camilo frowned. "So... it has nothing to do with his gift?"

"Not at all," Mirabel said, confused.

Tio Agustin spoke up. "Well, does it help anyone else in your group?"

"With their magic?" Mirabel said. "No. Again, just for fun-"

The lights came back on and the queen puppet began to sing about how people had always expected things of her, tried to get her to be a certain way and how she'd struggled to do just that. And as he listened Camilo couldn't help but lean forward, the world falling away. He didn't see the silly exaggerated felt and foam puppet. He didn't hear his uncle's voice. He didn't see the handmade sets. No... he saw a beautiful queen singing on a cold and lonely snow topped mountain, releasing all the emotions she'd been told to bottle up in the name of meeting the expectations of others... and how she was done doing that. That she was going to live her life the way she wanted.

Suddenly the curtain fell and everyone was clapping and cheering.

"Is that it?" Antonio asked. "Is that all there is?"

"No no," Mirabel assured him. "That's just act one. There are two more acts to go... if there is time. It is getting late..."

"I can stay up!" Antonio insisted, bouncing in his seat.

"Well... okay." Mirabel looked at Camilo and he started as he felt her burning gaze on him. "Camilo... what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" he asked only to feel a wetness on his cheek. He reached up and was startled to find tears clinging to the tips of his fingers.

Tio Agustin spoke up. "Antonio, why don't we go to the bathroom before the next act starts?"

"If you want to stay in the Bureau just go three doors down to your left!" Mirabel called out as the two got up form their seats.

"I'm going to stretch my legs," Luisa said, reminding Camilo she was there too; she'd been utterly silent during the entire performance.

Mirabel nodded before turning to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just dusty in here. Does Bruno ever dust? He should... if mama comes in here she'll get a sneezing fit and that's how you get tornados!" He turned into his mother and gave exaggerated fake sneezes before turning into one of the villagers, pointing to his right and crying out in horror.

"Uh...huh," Mirabel said softly.

Camilo sighed. "What do you want me to say?"

"The truth," she told him. "Its me... Mirabel. We've always told each other everything! Every problem you've had you've written to me about-"

"That was different," Camilo complained. "That was a letter. You were the only one who read them and I made sure to hide the personal ones from everyone else. This is... face to face!" He waved his hands between the two of them.

Mirabel considered this. "Alright." She stood up and turned to her left. "Back to back."

"What?"

"Like I said, back to back. Come on, primo, its not that hard!"

Grumbling at that comment Camilo did as she asked. "Is there a reason for this other than feeling stupid?"

Mirabel though took a breath. "The first letter I sent... a part of me was hoping you guys would beg me to come back. When you said it was fine I cried all night."

Camilo nearly turned to face her but Mirabel pressed her back against him and even reached around, wrapping her arms around his and forcing him to remain in place. As such all he could do was murmur, "We thought you loved it out there."

"I did! I still do! The world… God, Camilo, you don't understand how big the world is! How much there is to learn. I've been doing this for a decade and it feels like I've only been in a closet of the casita and not explored the rest of it." She paused. "There are shapeshifters out there, Camilo. Just like you. Dopplers, mimics, those that do it with glamours or spells. Some that can only take one form like a bat or a bear and others that can turn into anyone they want! Some that do it with their hands, reshaping their faces like clay-"

"Can I say I am glad I didn't get that power?" he said, a smile tugging on his lips.

"-but they are out there, Milo. They are out there." She took a breath. "But… that didn't mean I wouldn't wake up some nights and look over and wish you were lying in the bed across the room. That I didn't long to taste mama's food. Or sit with abuela and listen to her stories like you got to. I was on an adventure… but I wanted you guys to ask me to come home so I could have an excuse to see you all again."

"Mira… we didn't-"

"I know, I know. Especially you. You were six, I can't blame you! I… just wanted you to know that." She took a breath. "Now… what's wrong?"

"… you won't laugh?"

"Not unless you want me too."

"I envy Elsa."

Mirabel clearly was thinking about that. "I get it. The puppet is good but I'll show you a picture of us. She's closer to mama's age than ours but she is still beautiful and powerful and-"

"No, not that," he said, cutting her off. He dropped his head. "I envy her because people told her how they expected her to be."

"…I don't-"

"People tell me who I should be. This person, that person. Become this man, turn into that woman. Get it perfect, Camilo, you have to have it perfect, don't let anyone know it isn't you even if they all know! But…" he stomped his foot. "Other than 'don't pull pranks' no one has ever told me who I should be."

Miravel was silent. "They tell you to be anyone… except Camilo."

"And not even their idealized Camilo!" he snapped in frustration. "Elsa at least had people telling her she should behave a certain way! But I don't ever get that! And I'm sick of it! I'm sick that everyone wants me to be taller or shorter or thinner or fatter but it's not really me; they want someone else! They just want themselves or their friends or their neighbors but they don't want Camilo!"

"Have… have you talked to anyone about this?"

He let out a bitter huffing laugh. "No. I'm not crazy!"

"Crazy? Milo, its not crazy to tell people you are unhappy."

"I can't."

"You can," Mirabel insisted. "Tell them you can't do this anymore. That you're unhappy."

"I can't," he said again, more forcefully.

"I know you can! If you tell them-"

"THEY'LL BANISH ME LIKE THEY DID YOU!"

Mirabel let him go and Camilo fell to his knees.

"If… if I'm not what the family needs… they'll force me to leave. I won't get to see mama and papa or Antonio or Dolores ever again. You… you didn't see how they moved on without you Mirabel. How everyone just forgot you existed because you didn't get a stupid gift that I don't even want anymore! But I did see! I can't… I can't…"

She knelt down and hugged him, rocking back and forth.