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Dolores has some odd qualities.
But that's fine. They are a magic family after all.
But Dolores though... For starters, she's the most superstitious of the grandkids, always insisting on knocking on the family tree behind Abuela's seat before every family meal. First, Camilo joked that it's because she doesn't want anyone choking and interrupting their family time. But now he claims that she's actually in love with the wall after multiple people caught her talking to the knocking spot.
Additionally, she's the most likely to go missing. She'll help out whenever someone needs her to, but sometimes it's like she's hiding, others only able to find her when they voice that they're looking for her. And even when she is around, her mind seems to be elsewhere, apparently listening to something else, but more often than not, not something that she was willing to divulge. To Abuela's frustration, of course. But Dolores would never be the Señorita Perfecta that Isabela was, so at least there's that.
And then there are startling moments. Things that they've all come to accept as part of her gift. She can hear everything after all. Random bursts of uncontrollable laughter happen. And so do sudden waterworks. One time Dolores weeped uncontrollably in town square and wouldn't calm down for an hour, but refused to say why.
So, she isn't Abuela's favorite grandchild either, but at least Dolores still has a gift.
But now, she was the first step in Mirabel's plan to save their miracle.
"Camilo! Stop pretending you're Dolores so you can get seconds!" Dolores turned into Camilo, who just shrugs it off. That was another thing. Dolores always sneaks an extra plate, and always before meals. Anyways, Tío Felix turns to her as her second favorite older cousin walks away. "She's doing her ritual." Mirabel nods.
She hurries inside to the dining room. They're eating outside today because Antonio's gift is a special occasion. But there Dolores is, not knocking but instead whispering. Mirabel walks close enough to hear.
"-say anything, I can get Antonio to keep a secret. And if not, then I'll say I told him stories. Which would get me in trouble, but it's fine." She squeaks, eyeing Mirabel. "Have to go. Have fun without us."
Mirabel starts to speak. "So-"
"The only person worried about the magic is you." Dolores says, glancing back at the family tree. With a sigh, she adds. "And the rats in the walls." She walks past Mirabel, but squeaks and adds. "Oh, and Luisa. I heard her eye twitching all night."
Mirabel is too focused on Luisa to dwell on it, but later on, as she makes the tiring trek up her long lost uncle's staircase, she'll have the time to think about the encounter.
'All night' probably referred to the party up until they all went down to sleep, which must be why Abuela isn't on that list. Soundproofing. Abuela was probably counting on that when she finally admitted that there was something wrong with the house.
As for the rats, maybe Dolores found out from Antonio.
Other than that, the encounter was really just Typical Dolores.
Mirabel didn't think much more of it, or of her, once she hits the top because she has a miracle to save after all. It's only after Dolores hears about what she's done, and tells everyone at Isabela's proposal dinner, and everything goes crazy and no one is listening that she decides to look at that vision again and so goes back to the dining room only to catch Dolores talking to the family tree again.
"This!?" Her prima's whispers come. She's talking to family tree again. "This is why you-" She whips her head around to meet Mirabel's gaze. "Have to go. This isn't over."
They stare down one another, a little less anxious than the contest they'd had ten minutes earlier at least. They both glance at the vision on the table.
"I'm sorry."
Mirabel huffs. "Thank you." She steps forward to take the vision.
"Let me make it up to you."
Mirabel freezes. "How?"
Dolores sighs, looking down at the vision. "Mirabel, I think I know someone who can help you."
"Help me?" Mirabel says, unsure.
"At the very least, answer a question or two." Dolores walks to kitchen and opens a cupboard. She pulls out a basket and puts the vision in it. "Follow me." She walks past her. Mirabel blinks.
A 'please' would have been nice. Maybe a little convincing. But instead Mirabel huffs and follows her out of the dining room, wincing when she hears Abuela yelling for her, and up the stairs to the doors. Dolores takes a second to listen for someone before going to her door. But then she walks past it and goes for the painting next to it. She takes it off the wall to reveal a hole in the wall and crawls into it.
Mirabel gapes.
Dolores gestures for her to follow.
"What the-"
Is Dolores leading her through the walls?
"Mira!" Her prima hisses in front of her.
They walk further, through the dark until they reach a pit. Why is there a pit in the walls? Two ropes were tied to the ceiling. One had its end hanging on the side of the pit they were on, held in place by a sideways hook. The other one was the same but on the opposite end. There was also a rope hanging from one side to the other, with another hook hanging on it that Dolores puts the basket on and pushes it across.
She takes the rope on their end off the hook. "Okay, I'm going to swing across, and then I'm going to send the rope back to you. Please catch it. If not, I have to swing back and extend an arm to get both ropes to us, and it's just a hassle, you know?"
"I- Okay-"
"Good. Pay attention."
Dolores swings across the pit, and thankfully Mirabel catches the rope when she sends it back. She grips it with both hands, takes a few steps back, hopes she doesn't flop in front of her cousin and manages to get across. Then she can finally question her cousin.
"Dolores, why is this here?"
Dolores shakes her head, and whispers. "I keep telling him to invest in a bridge. But he always says no."
"'Him'?"
Dolores shakes her head and keeps walking. "Dolores, have you been patching these cracks?" Mirabel asks, shocked.
"No, that's all Hernando."
"Who's Hernando?"
"Uh... Maybe you'll meet him."
She leads her down another corridor, until finally they're at a makeshift door.
Dolores sighs, looking at Mirabel. "I'd make you promise not to tell anyone if I hadn't just told our entire family that you were gonna doom us all."
"Well, at least you're self aware."
Dolores nods and turns the knob, leading her into the room.
"I know, I know, I should have told you." An unfamiliar voice says. "I can expla- ah." He jumps, but doesn't shriek, like he's used to accommodating for Dolores.
He stares at Mirabel. Mirabel stares at him.
"Tío Bruno?"
"Dolores, you promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" Tío Bruno whines petulantly.
What the-
"And you promised those cracks weren't dangerous." Dolores puts her hands on her hips.
Mirabel shakes her head. "I'm so confused."
Dolores turns to her and says. "Tío Bruno lives in the walls."
"What?" Mirabel whispers, wanting to scream but like everyone else, she was in the habit of keeping when talking to Dolores.
"He never left."
"And- and you've known this entire time?"
She shrugs. "Who do you think I'm talking to whenever I'm whispering at the wall?"
Mirabel's jaw drops.
"I- I don't know."
"I- Wow." Bruno chuckles nervously. "You're here. I've missed talking to you a lot in the past ten years. Along with everyone else. Besides Dolores. It's so good to see you. Or, well, I've seen you, but not this close."
Mirabel stares at him, and then turns back to her cousin. "Didn't you say that he told you 'the man of your dreams will be betrothed to another'?"
Bruno visibly winces, but Dolores just holds up a finger when he tries to stutter out an apology and shrugs. "That's not his fault."
"So you just- You didn't tell anyone?"
"Look. If Tío Bruno wants to live in the walls, then that is Tío Bruno's... business." Dolores says impatiently. "When I found out how much danger we were in, that became the family's business." She glares at Bruno, who shrinks away and scurries to the other end of the room. She looks back at Mirabel and smiles. "Honestly, between you and me, back in the beginning I thought that this was just a phase."
"A phase? Like he's the fifteen year old in all this?" Mirabel thinks she might be having a stress headache.
"Uh huh." Dolores squeaks, undeterred by her shock. She grins wider. "I can't believe someone else actually knows! This is the one secret I've been wanting to spill for years, and it's the one I just couldn't. Honestly, it kind of ruined other secrets for me. I just say anything else I hear because if I keep too much in it feels like I'll explode."
"That sounds terrible."
"Oh!" She squeaks. "Do you want to know why I hate Señor Vasquez?"
"What?" Mirabel says. Dolores moves her to the corner, glancing to make sure Tío Bruno isn't listening, but he seems lost in his own world with his... rats.
"Three years ago, he gave Tía Julieta rat poison. It was a disaster. Thankfully, I got an arepa to Tío before anything happened to him, but he lost seventeen friends."
"Oh. Oh my god."
"Have you ever been to a mass rat funeral, Mirabel?"
"You know I haven't."
"It's one of the worst experiences." Dolores shakes her head. "It was followed by the three most stressful weeks of my life. Abuela kept telling me I haven't been giving enough to the community and on the inside I just wanted to say, 'I am keeping your son from falling apart, you're welcome.' But obviously I couldn't say that." She lets out a breathy laugh, voice still quiet as it always is but slightly crazed. "It feels so good to talk to someone about this. I can't believe you know." She frowns. "Also, never bring that up to Tío, it will send him down a very dark place."
"What are you two talking about?" Bruno asks from across the room.
"Just your shows, Tío Bruno." Dolores lies.
"Shows?" Mirabel asks.
"Oh! Dolores loves them. She writes the sweetest reviews." Bruno grabs a stack of papers off a counter and runs to hand them to her.
"0 out of 5 stars. How dare you do this to me? Rico is worth ten of you and is too smart to fall for Elena's schemes." Mirabel turns a page. "3 out of 5 stars. Good pacing but Bonita was acting way out of character towards the end."
"Tío Bruno does telenovelas."
"And you listen to them?"
Dolores responds by laughing.
And laughing.
And laughing.
Mirabel walks away.
She goes to Bruno. "I'm so confused. Why did you do this?"
"Well, I really enjoy the telenovelas. Dolores really enjoys the telenovelas. And you know, I didn't want her visiting me to be another chore. I know I can be a handful, so I just really want her to have something to look forward to.”
"No, I mean why did you leave but not leave?"
Bruno tells her the story, the whole story. Abuela's request, the vision, the decision to flee to the walls. She presses her hand to a painted plate and peeks out a gap in the wall to find that they're right outside the dining room, which is only sensible given everything with Dolores, but the weight of it only hits her then.
She can see by the way Dolores listens in that this is her first time hearing the story, or at least the story being told this way. Mirabel still has a lot of questions about her cousin's involvement, all things considered.
"And so I was alone. With my rats. And Dolores."
"That- that's-
"It's not- I know I'm not the luckiest guy in the world. But it could be a lot worse." Bruno gives a sad smile. "But when I left, I chose not to actually leave. As tall as the mountains around the Encanto are, it's the lack of will that kept me from the journey." He forces an award little chuckle. "I mean, it certainly wasn't anything else. I obviously have the athletic prowess to make it."
"You did." Dolores mumbles from the arm chair.
Bruno does a double take. "Excuse me?"
"What? I'm just saying you did."
Bruno puts his hands on his hips. "You used past tense."
She shrugs, voice still small. "It's just a tense."
"No, it's more than that." Bruno says. "If you have something to say, then say it."
"No, you really. You could have made that trip." Dolores says, then in an even lower voice, eyes glancing at the floor, she adds a quiet, "Ten years ago."
Bruno gapes, trying to stutter out a response.
"I could-!" He stops himself and then whispers harshly. "I could make that trip now."
Dolores grimaces. "It's just- You haven't really been doing much athletic work for the past ten years."
"There are the ropes."
"Still. Not as much as you did."
"You don't even like the ropes. You want a bridge. But the ropes were your idea. I wanted to jump across on stray floor pieces, but you insisted. If I can't survive a trip across the mountains, then blame yourself."
Dolores squeaks and then hums. "So you admit you can't do it."
Mirabel shakes her head in disbelief. "What is happening?"
Bruno sighs. "What's happening is all that I have to give to you. That's all I know. Okay? I'm sorry I can't be of anymore help, but that's all I saw in my vision. But you know what? You can hide out here until you're ready to see Abuela. And, uh, how about I put on a telenovela. Um, let's see. The Brightest Days is only on its fifteenth season, probably the easiest one to understand without going through a whole lot of lore."
Dolores gasps, beams, and scoots to the side of the chair with her arms raised as if inviting her to cuddle her. Mirabel feels at a loss for what to do, and doesn't know what else to do. And so she does what they want and curls up next to her cousin as their long lost tío performs.
Ten minutes in she tunes him out. Fifteen minutes in it occurs to her that this is insane. Twenty minutes in it finally hits her what needs to be done.
"Have another vision!"
"Mirabel." Dolores scolds, covering her ears.
Bruno stands up annoyed. "In the middle of an episode. Really?
"You said the fate of the family is up to me. Well me says have another vision."
Bruno backs away as she stands up. "Even if I wanted to, which I don't. I need a big open space. And you destroyed my vision cave." He says defensively.
"You can use my room!"
Mirabel and Bruno jump. Dolores does not. Antonio stands there with his animals.
And so they make the trek to his room.
"Okay, um, I'm just gonna-"
"Oscar can jump across."
"Is that-? Oh. Oh! Wow, that's- He did it. Point Oscar."
"How far down is it?"
"I dunno. Never wanted to find out."
"Down enough that a fall would sprain something but it couldn't kill unless you landed on your head."
"Oh."
"Uh, so two of us go now, and then send one rope back for the third one?"
"Worked the last time."
"I would just like to point out that this would a non-issue if we had built a bridge."
"That would be so much work."
"Like you didn't have the time?"
"Well, maybe I would have if I didn't have to think of new storylines on a dime."
Dolores gasps. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That you just expect me to come up with a cohesive and entertaining script everytime you have the free time. You never want a rerun. And you know, I'm the one running all the shows. Sometimes I'll have a new episode of La Esperanza en Dios, and instead of just enjoying it and appreciating the work I put into it, all you have to say is that you want the next episode of Esta es la Realidad."
"Oof. That's really bad, cuz."
"Thank you, Mirabel."
"Stay out of this, Mirabel."