He can’t sew in a straight line to save his life, but more than half the time will somehow manage to sew his sleeve on to whatever he is working on. Twice he gets his finger bones jammed in the machinery (which is luckily nowhere near as horrific an accident as it would have been if he was alive, but does take up time and risk breaking the machines).
The guy tries his best, but it is abundantly clear where the shoemaking Riveras got their talent from and it was not from Héctor’s side of the family.
He’s also actually pretty clumsy, especially now.
He’s kept the Shantytown habit of constantly removing his limbs, but hasn’t quite gotten used to the idea that now he’s better remembered his bones are held together much more firmly. The sudden influx of memories has also affected his gait, making him walk straighter and move his arms less. He hasn’t gotten used to this either and what it essentially means is that he suddenly has way less of an idea how to use his own body and has to get used to it all over again.
Plus he was often clumsy in life as well and a bit of a daydreamer, and that hasn’t changed. He basically can’t walk into the workroom without knocking something over, or off the table, or nudging somebody at a critical moment.
Eventually Imelda tells him that much as she loves him and is glad that he’s back in their lives, she would appreciate it if he could just… never touch anything in the workroom again. Ever. Under any circumstances. In fact, better yet, just stay out of the workroom altogether. For the sake of the business and general family sanity.
Héctor actually takes this pretty well, mainly because he’s just so thrilled that nobody expects him to try and make shoes any more. He knew as well as anybody that he was rubbish at it, and while his family were patient with him, he could sense that they were getting tired of explaining everything to him twenty times and having him still not get it.
They put him in charge of selling the shoes instead, something he is actually good at, being fairly extroverted and practiced in persuading people to do what he wants. (Though his sales tactics do border on the agressive sometimes, and occasionally the other Riveras have to remind him that “no, Héctor, you can’t promise them the chance to meet Frida Kahlo if they buy our shoes. Apart from anything else, Frida hasn’t agreed to any of this and yes people will complain and probably ask for their money back if you break your promise.”)
When he’s not needed in the shop, he works as a musician— though he never plays at any venue more than at most a few hours from the Rivera’s shop. People have made him offers, but he refuses to spend even one night away from home.
Sometimes, he wishes that he shared the family skill at making shoes. It seems to mark him as different from the rest of them and is one more reminder of the time he spent away from his family.
Ultimately, though, he knows it’s pointless to wish that he could just slot back into their lives like a missing jigsaw piece. His going away changed his family forever and his coming back has changed it too. It’s not the same shape as it would have been, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good shape to be.
I think Ernesto definitely had all kinds of complicated and hidden feelings suddenly rise to the surface in that moment. After all, he and Héctor had spent their entire childhoods together, they had a lot of good memories. If Ernesto’s spent nearly a century trying to forget what he’d done, who knows what kind of nostalgia suddenly blindsided him at seeing Héctor’s picture, the living face he’d gone so many years without seeing.
Of course it couldn’t last too long, Ernesto’s spent too many years lying to himself and others for his facade to crumble that easily, but who knows, maybe for that brief moment, that picture reminded him of the good he’d had, not just of the evil he’d done.
(If you would like to see Héctor’s answers, click here.)
Wand: Cypress wood with a Unicorn hair core 14 ½” and Slightly Yielding flexibility
Héctor’s Answers:
What height would you say you are for your age? Tall
What would you say your eye colour is? Other (magenta-ish?)
Is your birthday odd or even? Even (November 30th)
Which would you say your fear the most? Isolation
What would you say is your best quality? Kindness
Which path would you take? Ahead towards the forest
Which artifact did you chose? Bound-up Scroll
Blood Purity: Muggleborn
Patronus: Mastiff(?)
Héctor was not able to summon a patronus until he and Imelda kissed for the first time. When he remembers it he remembers a twinkling early night sky above the grounds, the earthy taste of Imelda’s lips, the feel of her breath, the warmth in his stomach washing over his entire body, desperately kissing her back, he’d been denied this for so long and now that he finally had it it felt so, so amazing… It was heaven.
Wand: Yew wood with a Dragon heartstring core 13 1/4″ and Reasonably Supple flexibility
Ernesto’s Answers:
What height would you say you are for your age?
Tall (because let’s be real Ernesto would totally claim he’s tall even when he has a beanpole for a best friend)
What would you say your eye colour is? Brown
Is your birthday odd or even?
Odd (please let me know if Ernesto has a canon birthday!! I chose odd over even because I thought the flexibility and appearance of the wand fit Ernesto more.)
Which would you say your fear the most? Isolation
What would you say is your best quality? Determination
Which path would you take? Ahead towards the forest
Which artifact did you chose? Glittering Jewel
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Patronus: Chihuahua
More details on each character to come!! For now though have some random headcanons ^ _ ^
Age gaps are the same as they are in canon. In case you are unaware of the canon age gaps:
Ernesto is 4 years older than Héctor
Imelda is a year older than Héctor
When Ernesto went to Hogwarts for his first through fourth years,
Héctor would spend the entire year writing to him and telling him how boring it was without him around
Eventually
Héctor sent so many letters that Ernesto sent him a howler to yell at him for sending so many letters
After what feels like forever, Héctor finally gets his Hogwarts letter on his eleventh birthday. He starts his first year when Ernesto starts his fifth year.
Ernesto spends most of that fifth year complaining to
Héctor about O.W.L.s.
Imelda is a second year when
Héctor starts his first year
The first time
Héctor sees Imelda, he instantly falls head over heels in love with her
He tries to hide his crush, but it’s extremely obvious
Every time he tries to talk to Imelda he blushes furiously and his eyes dart everywhere but her
Imelda thinks he’s a bumbling idiot and blows him off every time he tries to talk to her
Ernesto makes fun of
Héctor‘s obvious crush all the time. Héctor jinxes Ernesto every time he teases him.
(The jinxes are always something harmless, but Ernesto always acts all affronted by them anyways.)
Were all the songs in Ernesto’s movies also stolen from Héctor? I mean, Miguel thinks that he wrote all his own songs (pretty sure he stated that at one point but please correct me if I’m wrong), so it sounds like they were?
If that is true, I would like to offer the idea that both the song snippets in “Much Needed Advice” are about/inspired by his feelings for Imelda.
A feeling so close/you could reach out and touch it/I never knew I could/want something so much/but it’s true…
Please imagine an absolutely hopelessly lovesick Héctor singing about Imelda, being frustrated that he can’t figure her out, consoling himself with this song.
Only a song/only a song/has the power to change a heart
And I dunno maybe one of Héctor’s songs finally got through to her (the previous one? Un poco loco?) And she softened towards him, and he’s marvelling at how much a little song has managed to open her up and oh my God, he thought he was in love before but he is so in love now he can barely stand himself.
I think the idea would cross his mind, but Miguel has also grown as a character from his experiences by this point. No matter how much he misses his dead relatives, I think a subtle theme of the film is understanding that your family never really leaves you, even in death. And even if you may grieve for them, miss them so much that it tears you apart, seeking out the Dead in such a way would only make you and your living family suffer.
So no, I don’t think Miguel would seek out getting cursed again. Not intentionally. He knows the consequences of such actions, and also how disappointed Héctor and Imelda would be if he ran off from his living family again, even if it was just to see them.
Rather, he’d try to focus on making his ancestors proud by being a loving son, a caring brother, and a passionate, hard working man. In fact, I think if he ever ran into someone in a similar situation again, like if he and his friends went off and did something that could bring on a curse (you know, dumb teenager stuff) he’d be very against it and try to stop his friends from doing anything stupid.
Guys. Guys. We’re all missing what’s right in front of us.
Hector didn’t woo Imelda with “Un Poco Loco.” He had to have written it once he actually knew her better and had been with her for some time. The song he used to get her attention was the one Ernesto was singing in one of his movies at the beginning, when the lady stepped out onto the balcony.
Hector’s a serial nicknamer with literally everyone he meets. Ernesto, Imelda, Miguel, Chicharron, everyone. So much so that Imelda knows things are serious when he acually says “Imelda” rather than “diosa” or “querida”.
With Coco, though, there’s no nicknames. She’s always, always Coco, because there’s no sweeter name in the world he could call his daughter.
Edit: I do know that Coco is a nickname, but I mean more in terms of monikers rather than names you go by. (Like how he calls Miguel “chamaco,” etc.)
COCO SPOILERS COCO SPOILERS COCO SPOILERS (man I’m so sorry I can’t tag this so if you haven’t watched the movie yet, please don’t read further!)
Oh my God. You’re right! YOU’RE SO RIGHT.
Something that always seemed weird to me was just how broad Héctor’s chest and back looked at the photo, and it makes sense that they were Ernesto’s. It makes it all even sadder, thinking that they trusted each other so much as to share clothing. Perhaps the belt was the only thing that belonged just to Héctor, as the details on it are also on the movie logo (is that the correct way of saying it? Ahhh).
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING THIS, IT DEFINITELY CLEARS THINGS UP.
(Gotta add tags once I’m on my computer, and put this under a Read More)
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 