Chapter Text
Name: Dulcinea Guzmán
Nickname: Dulce/Dulci
Age: 15
Birthday: September 14, 1934
Gender: Female
Place of Birth: Encanto, Colombia
Appearance: Dulcinea has thick, brown, wavy, waist-length hair. She has dark olive green eyes. She has a mole under her right eye, at the left corner of her mouth, and on the right side of her neck. She has a demure and elegant appearance.
Backstory/Lore:
When Dulcinea was around 2 years old, her biological mother passed away from illness. Her biological father had already been out of the picture since her birth, leading to her mother being the only one to take care of her. After her mother's passing, she became an orphan and got taken in by the church. For 2 years, the church raised her until someone was willing to adopt her. She spent her time helping out the church personnel. The activity she enjoyed the most was arranging altar flowers with the florists and parish volunteers.
Señora Guzmán heard about Dulcinea's situation one day and went to the church to go visit her. Señora Guzmán always wanted a daughter, but she was too old to bare another child. So she decided to adopt Dulcinea when she was 4.
Growing up, Dulcinea was timid and quiet. This led to people believing that she couldn't speak. She preferred to be around people she was familiar with like the Guzmáns, and the people at the church. She often found herself following Señora Guzmán or Mariano wherever she went. She was afraid of being alone, this was probably because it reminded her of her biological mother passing away when she was 2. Even after being adopted, she still yearns for her mother's voice, her scent, and her touch. She tried to find it in Señora Guzmán, but it didn't feel the same.
Mariano was around 14 years old when he met Dulcinea. He grew up being an only child, and ever since his father passed away, well, he was the one who took care of his mother. He simply had so much love inside that he was willing to give, that was why having a younger sister wasn't all that difficult for him to process. He took care of Dulcinea like she was truly his sister. When Dulcinea felt scared and wary, he was the one to comfort her first. This made Dulcinea trust Mariano during the first few weeks of becoming a Guzmán. He was someone she could trust.
Since the Guzmáns were close family friends of the Madrigals, they often spent time with them at the Casita. This was when Dulcinea first met the Madrigals, particularly Mirabel and Camilo. Gradually, they became friends. Mirabel and Dulcinea bonded through shared interests, both of them like to draw and create things. Dulcinea and Camilo got along because Camilo talked for her, and constantly makes her laugh. Mirabel and Camilo never forced Dulcinea to talk, unlike some people. They let her point at things she liked or wanted, they let her speak when she wanted to, and they never pressured her into talking. They simply just let her exist the way she wanted to.
As she grew older, the Guzmáns worried that she might have been too withdrawn. They feared that she might get bullied by other kids. Because of this, they tried to somewhat coax her into talking to more people. Mariano would introduce her to his friends, and Señora Guzmán would suggest people that she could befriend. Dulcinea knew this was done without harm intended. After many, many, failed attempts, they just realized she preferred to talk to people in her own pace and time.
Dulcinea prefers to have a small inner circle of people she trusts. That inner circle consisted of the church personnel, elderly women, the Guzmáns, and of course, Camilo and Mirabel. Those were the people she knew from childhood, the people who took care of her when she was an orphan, and people who let her be herself.
Even after getting adopted, Dulcinea still visits the church. That was when she discovered wood carving. She saw a wood carver outside the church one day and got interested. Slowly, she started to pick up the hobby after a few lessons from the wood carver. She started making little figurines, which were mostly rabbits. Once she was skilled enough in the craft, she started to make more than little figurines. It expanded to utensils that she gave to the elderly women, a wooden brooch for her mamá, a little box for her trinkets, and little trinkets for Mirabel and Camilo to keep.
Dulcinea has always been fascinated by rabbits. She didn't exactly know when it happened, perhaps it was the day she found rabbits behind the church. She sat with the rabbits for who knows how many hours. The Guzmáns couldn't find her, then they saw her with not one, but 5 rabbits. She had named them individually, Canela, Pelusa, Bombón, Cielito, and Bebé. Ever since then, she visited these 5 rabbits every day. She brought them food, and occasionally made wooden toys for them to play with.
