"Abuela," Mirabel spoke up causing everyone at the breakfast table to look at her in surprise. Mirabel was often times soft-spoken during meal times, or really anytime she was with her grandmother. This had to be very important.
"Well, you see, everyone's been working so hard lately, and we haven't really done something as a family since Casita was rebuilt so I was wondering…"
"Oh for crying out loud Mira, spit it out," Isabela snapped.
"There's this thing going on in the city today, that I kind of wanted to go to, and I wonder… is anybody else interested in going with me. I don't really want to go alone."
"Well that's descriptive," Camilo snorted, only to rub the back of his head because Dolores slapped him, "Well it is, the city's a big place there's a lot of things that she could be wanting to do."
Mirabel gave Camilo a glare, "It's called a Hobby Fair, some local high schools and the police are putting it together as some form of Keep kids off the streets thing. All proceeds go to after-school activities."
"Hobby fair?" Bruno said slowly, "You should take Julieta, she needs one of those."
Julieta glared at her brother, "Bruno!" she hissed.
Bruno just shrugged, "I caught you sweeping my floor yesterday because you had nothing else to do."
"The floor… in your room… that is made of sand?"
"Mirabel, I am your mother, stop laughing. It's not that funny."
"I don't know Mama," Luisa said with a snicker, "I think it is."
"You aren't helping," Julieta insisted, "I wish I could but, what if there's an emergency while we're gone, they might need me."
"They'll be fine for a day," Abuela insisted, speaking up finally, "I think it's a good idea Mirabel, and I think it will be fun for the whole family to go. Maybe Camilo can pick up a hobby that isn't impersonating others behind their backs."
…
"You really didn't have to agree with Mirabel on this, you know that right Mama?" Julieta asked.
"I know, but," Alma sighed, looking at her oldest, "This is the first time that Mirabel has asked to do something. I can't just dismiss it, not again."
"Hey, cool, Tio Bruno, they have an acting club, and they're doing a short skit in like five minutes," Camilo called out, scanning the long list of attractions and show times.
"Let's go," Bruno insisted before those two disappeared.
"Mariano's over by the poetry booth," Dolores announced with a squeak, disappearing into the crowd as well.
"They have a petting zoo Mami, a petting zoo," Antonio said eagerly pointing to the large map they were standing by.
"They also have a tango Demonstration starting soon," Felix added.
"Why don't I take Antonio to the petting zoo while you go to the dance demonstration," Alma offered, she had looked through all of the things to do, and it was a long list, but nothing really caught her attention as something that she wanted to look into, so she might as well keep an eye out on the youngest.
"Wait, where did Isabela go?" Agustin demanded, looking around for his oldest.
"Pa, she went that way, something about abstract art?" Mirabel insisted, "You know how she is. She hears something that catches her attention and she goes off after it," she glanced down at the list of attractions in her hand, "I'm going this way," she said softly, starting to walk off before Agustin hurried over and started walking beside her.
Julieta pressed her lips together as they disappeared among the booths. It made sense, Mirabel was a young girl, this was a strange place, and unlike her sisters and cousins, she didn't have magic to protect her. It was kind of sweet that he was trying to protect her, but now she was alone.
"Mama?"
Okay maybe not all alone, Luisa was still with her until she runs off to explore something. But Julieta, Julieta wasn't really sure where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do.
"Are you okay, Mama?" Luisa asked again.
"I just really don't know what to do here," Julieta confessed, "I've never had time to pursue hobbies growing up, and now…"
"Now you don't know what to do with your free time?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know what I want to do either," Luisa insisted, "All my life, the only thing anyone saw me for is my strength. Now that I actually have time to do stuff just for me, I don't know what to do."
"I understand completely," Julieta confessed.
"Would you like to…" Luisa started, blushing slightly as she rubbed the back of her neck, "I don't know. Just explore with me?"
"Sure," Julieta said, "Where should we start?"
"There's a jewelery-making booth," Luisa suggested, "That sounds like fun."
…
Julieta walked around the tent looking at the bins of beads, "this is amazing," she admitted, looking at bins of little charms.
"This one kind of reminds me of Mirabel," Luisa confessed, holding up one that was shaped like a butterfly.
"That's cute," Julieta admitted as someone behind the cash register came up to talk to them.
"Can I help you find something?" the woman asked hopefully.
"We're just looking for something new to try, you know," Luisa insisted, glancing around, "I wish Mirabel was here, she'll know what to do with all this."
"Ay, your sister and her crafts, you tell her to make something, and she'll make it out of nothing, I'm sure," Julieta said, "I wish I had her creativity, but she inherited that from your father."
"Would you like to try your hands at making something?" the woman asked, nodding towards a table that was sat up for arts and crafts, "The prices are on the table, and as you can tell, we also sell a beginner kit, with everything needed to make jewelry at home. Feel free to look through the book on the table for inspiration and hints on what to do. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
Luisa poured over the book of patterns and then wandered around the tent, looking at all the different beads and other accessories. Julieta wondered with her, pointing out multiple options that seemed to be within what she was looking for, pink and girly.
"Aren't you going to make something Mama?" Luisa asked as she compared three separate pink beads, deciding which one she liked the best.
"I don't even know where to begin," Julieta confessed, "How can you decide what you want to do."
"I don't know, I just, Mirabel once told me that you don't look for inspiration, she says it grabs you in a vise grip and won't let go. That's the way I felt when I saw these," Luisa held out her large hand to reveal six beautiful crystal unicorn charms, "I want to make a bracelet with these, I just need to pick out what beads I want in between them."
Julieta looked at the clear white unicorns, before returning to look at the bins of beads, "What about a pattern, the Unicorns are white, and your favorite color is pink, so pink and white repeat around."
"Yeah, but…" Luisa picked up a pale baby blue bead, "I need some blue in there too, for you."
They ended up spending an hour in the jewelry tent, and by the time they were done, Luisa had made her bracelet, bought a premade earring and necklace set, and a beginners kit as well as a book of patterns.
They stepped out of the tent and looked at the nearest clock. Julieta groaned, they still had a couple of hours to go before they had planned to meet up with the rest of the family for lunch.
"So," Luisa said slowly, "Mama, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know…" Julieta insisted, staring at the long list of booths in her hand, there were just so many to choose from.
"Why don't we walk around and see what catches our eyes," Luisa offered.
"Sure, that sounds like a good idea," Julieta agreed.
…
They'd been wandering around for about half an hour when Julieta suddenly slowed down, looking at a tent with several ceramics set up in front of it… "You know, I do need some new ceramic pots to keep my spices and herbs in."
"Let's take a look then."
There were loads of ceramics, some had already been painted and fired, ready to go home, while others still needed to be painted.
Julieta didn't want to admit it, but she was intrigued by the concept that she was able to custom paint the ceramics to match the way she wanted her kitchen to look. The only downside she saw was the fact that she was going to have to come back in about a week to pick up the finished product at the actual shop, but with encouragement from Luisa, she decided to give it a try.
Luisa picked out a unicorn figurine to paint, as Julieta questioned her on designs and color choices for her pots.
…
Abuela frowned as she did one last head count, eleven, and that was counting Mariano, who was not with them when they had gotten on the bus that morning. They were short two, Julieta and Luisa, and nobody seemed to know where they had headed off to when they broke off.
"Dolores?" she asked, not finishing the sentence, they had been being careful making sure that nobody outside of the Encanto knew about their gifts, "Do you think that you can find your Tia and Prima?"
"Si," Dolores said, "They just lost track of time in the ceramic painting booth," she explained, shaking her head fondly.
"You mean my hermana has finally found a hobby that she likes?" Bruno asked, with a gasp, "Wow, I was afraid for a second there, that her hobby was going to be sweeping my floor."
Pepa gave her younger brother an annoyed look, the only reason she wasn't storming at the moment was that Felix had his arm wrapped around her waist, "Cut Julieta some slack, the past little while has been the first time Juli has had free time since we were little."
"I'll go fetch them," Dolores offered, taking off before her abuela felt the need to defend herself.
…
Julieta handed over the pots that she had made while Luisa handed over her unicorn, "Stop by our store in about a week to pick these up," the worker said, "You can always come to paint any time, and we have projects that you can take home and do as well."
"Tia, Luisa," Dolores's soft voice called out to them, "You were supposed to meet up with the rest of us half an hour ago," she explained, "Abuela sent me to fetch you."
"We're just finishing up," Julieta insisted, "We're on our way."
"Well, Tio Agustin's thinking about making you a cabinet to display your paintings in," Dolores said, "And Tio Bruno is just grateful that you aren't going to try to sweep his floor again."
Julieta rolled her eyes, "Come on Luisa, I need to have a talk with my hermanito apparently."