"Loyalty" commentary & notes

References:

- The plot is based around "Second Chance Hero". Shocking, I know.

General:

- I wanted to write something about Norman and his son. A little while ago I decided to try looking for some Norman-centric fanfics on Fanfiction.net. There were none. And one fic I came across depicted him as an incestuous pedophile. If there had been a bunch of positive stories about him out there Loyalty would've been written regardless, but the fact that it's the exact opposite situation just gave me extra incentive to write it.

I'm a fan of the daemon concept that's presented in the books that I'm crossing over with Ultimate Spider-Man here, the His Dark Materials series, not so much the rest of the books (which I suspect is the case for a bunch of people, because when I typically see HDM crossovers, they usually just use the daemon concept and that's all). I liked the first and even the second book as a kid, but the third one really confused me at times and turned out to be my least favorite entry. As an adult, I don't like any of them. 

'ETA: Okay, let me go more into why I don't like this series. I don't recall much of the third book, The Amber Spyglass, something I can't say for the first two books. 

Stuff I distinctly do remember about it? Well, it had big (excuse my French, but this is the most fitting description I can give) "Fuck you mom/dad/grandma, stop showing the pastor my Twitter account!" energy. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are both despicable characters; they did not deserve redemption. Oh, and Will and Lyra having sex, and that saves the multiverse. 

Will and Lyra are twelve years old. Mmm-hmm.

Looking at reviews for The Amber Spyglass over on Goodreads, I saw critics make some excellent observations. One I'll share here is that Philip Pullman doesn't seem to be anti-religious. He just rejected organized religion and replaced it with a religion he made up for HDM, topped off with some New Age woo. Angels, Dust, witches, daemons clearly represent souls... those are all concepts either from or inspired by religion. If you're allowing room for the supernatural to exist, then you're opening up the door for just about anything, and that includes God.

All that said, the idea of having your personality be represented by a talking animal (I headcanon that they also represent one's subconscious) is a really cool idea. So I figured why not toss two things I like together? It's really fun to think about what kinds of daemons our favorite characters might have.

Fun facts:

- Daemon talk time. I'm pretty sure some people choose animals simply because they like them and think they're cool, not because they actually fit a certain character. For example, I saw a fic once where Harry Potter had a husky daemon. Now, I'm not even an HP fan and don't feel like a husky is really appropriate for him. I don't know what kind of animal he'd have, but husky seems like it was picked simply because the writer liked them.

I also think HDM is too on the nose about daemons."OMG that person has a rat/polecat/snake daemon so they must be the evulz!" "All servants have dog daemons, so that means they're born to serve others!" Wow. So if you wanted to be an archaeologist and your daemon settles as a dog, boom, that's it, you have to go work as a maid or something instead? What? What's up with these British children's books authors treating classism as something perfectly natural and even acceptable? HDM, Redwall, Harry Potter... I'm sure people can toss me some more titles. Even "evil animals" have their good qualities, and the reverse likewise goes for the "good animals". For example, rats are adaptable and pretty smart. Wouldn't things be more interesting and nuanced if a totally normal person had a rat daemon, and they had to go through life being side-eyed simply because his/her daemon happens to be a rat? So I really don't even like how Philip Pullman handles his own concept.

- Onto why the USM characters got the animals that they did in here. Right off the bat I knew Norman's daemon was going to be something predatory. On a whim I looked up the symbolism of the cougar as a totem animal at What's Your Sign.com, It's traits are said to be action, strength, nobility, patience, silence, decision, leadership, guardianship, and self-assurance.

Puma meaning (as well as symbolism of mountain lions or cougars) speaks to us of inspection, observation and scrutiny. In the wild, this creature will stare at an object, unmoving [sic], for what seems like an eternity. Further, she does this with stillness, patience. To those of us who heed the puma as a guide, we would take great care to observer our own lives with the kind of intese [sic] focus the puma does.



People who have identified the puma, mountain lion, and/or cougar as their animal totem are people who typically come into this world with a spiritual knowing. Those who attract this animal totem have a deeper understanding of spiritual things. They are very psychic, intuitive, and are likely to be artistically inclined.

Furthermore, the puma is a very protective energy. If you have this creature as your animal totem, you are blessed to have such a fierce and aggressive guardian with you. When called upon you will be amazed at the resourcefulness and assistance the puma meaning can offer.

In closing, it is important to recognize the puma and it's relatives are cats of sudden, vigorous action. This being the case, those who share the puma as their totem should be mindful of their tendancy [sic] to lash out too quickly, or act out in haste. Call upon the patience and observation of the puma before taking action in order to avoid quick and unsavory consequences. 

Sounds quite a bit like Norman to me.

Harry's daemon was hard to pick. He's sort of generic I guess, and they didn't develop him as much as I thought they could've. I do like him more here then I have in other continuities. I've never disliked him, but he was never someone I got excited about or anything. I think the "rich kid who tries to buy friendship and isn't that great at school" approach has more potential then "he's a geek like Peter too!" I did consider all his qualities before deciding that his loyalty, especially to Norman and his hopes for their relationship to improve, was noteworthy. So Harry was going to have a dog, which, in the world of HDM, would be a startling choice for someone from such a privileged background. I thought I'd play around with the silly "only servants have dog daemons" deal. That choice also helped the story come together.

But what breed of dog? Right off the bat I said no to the German shepherd, the Siberian husky, or anything husky-like due to their overexposure, the husky/spitz types especially, and just being overrated in general (JUST MY OPINION PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME DEATH THREATS). Sighthounds can be very lazy dogs, but when it's time to go, they can go. Sounds like Harry to me. I picked the whippet over it's more well-known cousin the greyhound.

Since Norman's father Amberson was a horrible person in the comics, again, I went with an intimidating animal, the European eagle owl.

Spider-Man gets a spider monkey! It might be uninspired, but I wanted an animal that could keep up with him all over the city and be easy to get around with. Plus, I think a monkey matches his personality. I don't know exactly how old Peter and Harry are off the top of my head, but I do think they're old enough to have settled daemons.

- Several of the daemon's names in HDM canon have a special significance behind them. It's no coincidence that both Osborns' daemons have names starting with the letter A. Astrakhan comes from a book I'm reading about pre-Communist era Russian rulers, and is a city in that particular country. Astra is Latin for "star", and Khan refers to a ruler in Turkic and Mongolian culture. It sounded like a good strong name for Norman's daemon.

I can't recall how or why I chose Aloisa, but it means "famous warrior".

That's pretty much it. My next HDM fusion will more then likely either be about the USM version of the Rhino or Big Hero Six.

ETA: I would like to revisit the "What if some fictional characters had daemons?" concept again!

Block well. Block hard. Block often. ❤️

This is still a hill that I will die on.

----

So I'm not the biggest fan of the Fanfiction subreddit... over on Reddit. But one of the good things I have gleaned from it is how its made me much more comfortable with a certain concept I'd shied away from previously: blocking other fans who become problems. Blocking generally seems to be regarded with contempt by many. People believe it's done to silence someone you don't agree with, it's cowardly, exclusionary, etc. But several Reddit posters repeatedly championed blocking for peace of mind in fandom (or anywhere online I guess).

I've been doing it for a while now. It's so pleasant to be able to post something with the knowledge that weirdos aren't going to be able to show up to ruin your day.

So I like to think I'm fairly lenient when it comes to people commenting on my stuff. I mean, fic writers these days (or at least many of the ones on R/Fanfiction do) legit get upset when someone gushes over their fics and say they want to see more. But a comment like that wouldn't make me bat an eye. Neither do I mind having things suggested to me as long as it's nothing whacked out; IE: "My OC needs to come in and start tickling [insert character name here]!"* Mmm, let's not and just say that they did. Heck, I'm fine with one word comments! I just think hearing what people have to say about your work can be really interesting.

However, I will block without comment a person when I encounter the following types of people or behaviors:

-- People being demanding or inappropriate with their comments. This includes fans who freak out about other fics not written by them/or a BNF because they can't tell the difference between headcanons and the actual source material, therefore your fic is wrong in their eyes, fans becoming aggressive over ships, "this didn't happen in canon!", etc. That's not fun to deal with and doesn't help me become a better writer (or artist, in the case of pictures). So meet my dear friend the block button.

-- People with mental/emotional/personality problems and, who, as a result of this, cannot control themselves (or will not seek the appropriate help in order to be able to do so), communicate badly and reactively, state things poorly, are abrasive or creepy, or all the above. As an example of what I mean, some years ago there was this one person on deviantART I was starting to get to know know who lashed out at me twice -- the first time was because I said I like a character she hates. Then, she got into a fight with another user (which she instigated, might I add) and noted me in order to vent/seek sympathy about it. When I wasn't like "aww poor babey" at her (I can't recall exactly what I said, but it wasn't anything antagonistic, I know that much), she flew into a rage. So I finally quit speaking to her. Only later on did I discover that she had a history of harassing people on the site for no real reason and wallowing in victimhood afterwards. Afterwards, she acted like nothing had even happened, left a sappy comment on a pic of mine's, then noted me several times to hawk some discord she had or update me on her life. At first I would delete them without response, but it quickly became clear that she wasn't going to stop contacting me. So I eventually blocked her. 
 
People like that girl and even other people around them expect you to simply tolerate their bad behavior, and in some cases, either enable it, be their "fandom mom", or their emotional punching bags (that girl BTW still gets a ton of people who pour out their sympathies for her and treat her like she's the most misunderstood, marvelous human being in the world. It's really weird). No. That is not my job. I get online for fun, not to play therapist or mommy or whoever. Sorry not sorry if that sounds insensitive, but seriously, I'm not a therapist. I have problems of my own to deal with. I can't help these kinds of people with their issues, and they'd be much better off if they looked for people who actually could. 

-- People who have overly aggressive/pompous/etc profiles, or who leave such reviews and comments on other peoples' work. I will say I actually like these kinds of folks, because they let everyone know right away what kind of people they are.

So as you can see, no one is being blocked for having a differing opinion or anything like that. People are being blocked because they're absolute nightmares to be around however. Let me ask, is it cowardly or childish to block a person who tells you that you deserve to be raped to death simply because you wrote a story about, say, nonexistent magical people they read and didn't like (thankfully that hasn't happened to me, but I have seen and heard about other people being told horrible things like that before)? 

"Why don't you try reasoning with them first?" Because that doesn't work a lot of the time. I wish it did, but instead, you end up getting people who are manipulative and will turn things right back around on you, just plain do not want to listen, will block you because you don't think they're the Second Coming, and so on. You have screwed-up people who enjoy the fact that they've gotten under your skin with their remarks. Remember, don't feed the trolls. Truthfully, these days, I don't even engage with other fans in my fandoms unless they say something to me first. Fandom is often stifling and outright annoying to me.

But anyways, if something or somebody in your fandom makes you uncomfortable, even if that person doesn't speak to you or you don't follow them, block them. Block. Block. Block! It's your internet experience, and you have every single right to tailor it to your tastes.

*In case I get accused of kinkshaming, tickling is one of the milder fetishes, but bringing up any fetish in public without prompting to total strangers who show absolutely no interest in them is just not appropriate behavior, sorry.

The Character Corner: Esteban, Part One

 

Spill that tea, brah.

Before I begin, I feel like I should say these kinds of posts aren't really even true character analyses. They just cover what I think about a particular character, how the fandom perceives them and my thoughts on that, my theories and ideas for them and how they originated, and my preferred romances for them.

Now, if you think Esteban is evil or deserves punishment or what have you, then I'm probably not going to be able to convince you of anything or vice-verse (plus, you're more then likely gonna get really mad at me for several of the things I'm going to say in this post). You're better off going to go look at the 90,000+ Elena ship fics on Fanfiction.net and Archive Of Our Own. For those of you willing to listen to my TL;DR verbal diarrhea though, please continue.

(And yeah, I swear some in here.)

What a fascinating character he is. It's a damn shame that the number of times he's actually used to his full potential in canon I can count on one hand. He exists mostly just to be made fun of and for the other protagonists to be favorably compared to (and later, to serve as one of the third season's major antagonists). It would be so amazing to see a kids' show that says "It's okay to be introverted, and it's okay to be afraid of stuff, just as long you don't let it stop you from doing the right thing." 

Oh wait, I guess Steven Universe has done all that. Unpopular opinion time (which there'll be plenty of in here): SU, even with its flaws, is still a way better show then EoA is, IMHO.

Like everyone else, my first exposure to Esteban was in "First Day Of Rule". Right away I noticed that he wasn't enthusiastic or constantly smiling like everybody else was. He was grumpy and sarcastic, and it was kinda refreshing. He was different, and that made me want to keep watching further to see what was going to be done with this guy. Really though, in the early episodes, watching him turned out to be very cringey. No way around it. His depiction swung between being this Machiavellian schemer, right down to being shown skulking in the shadows in FDOR, to acting like this complete and utter doofus the other half of the time. What was that one episode where that dude from Satu was visiting, and Esteban was dancing around in front of him like he was having an episode? That's the kind of cringe I'm talking about. I'm not sure what the writers were going for, but the show felt like a knock-off of Sofia The First (Cedric = Esteban, Sofia = Elena), and I actually l feel like the latter is the better series.

Things did start improving as EoA went on, as the writers did give him a few moments that cemented him as more then just "Cedric, but Latino" as well as the standout character of the series for me (off my head, the entirety of "King Of The Carnival", his interaction with Isa towards the end of "Three Jaquins And A Princess", to name a couple). I touched on this earlier in my story notes, but Elena of Avalor does have several episodes that I genuinely like, even now. I remember my saying at the subreddit that I was worried the writers weren't going to be able to sustain that momentum. And sure enough, when it got to the arc where a major villain came back, it turned out to be one disappointment after another. Then after four or so episodes of this they abruptly switched back to the slice-of-life style episodic storytelling without even acknowledging what had just happened. It was really bizarre, and to top it all off, these episodes ranged in quality from "okay, but I don't care about any of this" to completely pointless.

In general, I don't like the third season (wasn't the show always pushing "familia" and forgiveness before than?). I feel Esteban's characterization went off the skids there, plus they assassinated not just his character but Doña Paloma's as well by having them both team up to try and one-up Elena yet again, even though previously they both had respectively come to a better understanding with Elena. But nah, screw character development, time for some forced conflict instead! Or how Esteban was stated to be the guy who had held the kingdom together during Shuriki's reign? I don't like how the show retconned this and talked like he hadn't done anything in an effort to make him look even worse then he did already. And Victor was allowed to come back and be Mateo's apprentice? Did that seriously happen, or is that just fanon? If that is canon, then that's some straight-up bullshit.

At any rate, I think Esteban has immense potential if one just chucked the buffoonish stuff and gave him a more consistent personality. He's a compelling character because he's done legitimately crappy things, but also has genuinely sympathetic qualities, instead of either being all one thing or all the other. I think that people, for all the clamoring we've seen for years about wanting more complex characters, especially in Disney, ultimately just prefer simplistic characters with desirable traits in order to be able to project themselves onto said characters. I aim for something a little more complex in my depictions of Esteban while relying on the basic framework EoA gave us. If I change something, it's usually because I thought it was either dumb or goes against what we viewers were told before (I.E.: not having him be a dumbass in my storyverse. No, I still have not gotten over this man throwing unwrapped tamales into the oven).

But at the same time, I don't take everything the shows says super-duper literally either. A ton of it focuses on Elena and her POV, so even up to the end Esteban is still kind of a mystery (I mean, do they ever show what his parents even look like? We saw Elena and Isa's parents several times). Case in point, I know fans literally think Victor was his sole friend outside of his family because the show just barely touched on his childhood, but I don't buy that. In my AU, he does have more friends. Reserved people can have friends, even if it's just a handful of people.

I'll discuss another bit of canon I totally ignore. Remember when he prevented Shuriki from attacking Elena and Sofia in "Secret Of Avalor", then threw Shuriki's wand over to Elena? But oh no guiz, he's a huge coward, even though what I just mentioned indicated he's willing to act when his loved ones and innocent people are in danger. I also point to when those enchanted vines were attacking the palace, and he and Francisco were out there hacking away at them. In my fics, he's more super-cautious then anything. He's not about to pull an Elena and just run up on bad guys -- not before analyzing the situation or coming up with a plan first (so he has more in common with Isa then he does Elena), and that is if he just can't have the guards do it. There's nothing wrong with that Elena, that's what the guards are literally there for. *eyeroll* FTR, I also plan to play up an "opposites" angle between him and Elena in a couple of other ways: I.E.: she's a swordsman... girl, while he prefers the musket and enjoys target shooting.

I do intend for my Esteban to actually possess a sense of humor. We did see him try to joke around that one time with Isa in "King Of The Carnivale", and he's had some excellent snarky comments here and there, but otherwise, he was set up to be the humorless killjoy as yet another way to make Elena and the rest of the perma-happy characters look good (refer to Isa's reaction to his joking around). So I made him dry-humored to counteract that (plus I prefer dry humor and find it works really well in prose form). I think it fits his personality.

Now I'm going to discuss something I've seen in relation to Esteban on places like Tumblr -- the people who say that if you feel bad for Esteban, it means that you okay everything he did, and outright imply that you yourself are immoral for liking an "evil character". This is such a bizarre mindset. Yes, people should not idolize people who do bad things, but... Esteban is a fictional creation. No one was actually hurt because he isn't real, Avalor isn't real, etc. I've just been waiting for someone to come along and scold me for writing fics that are sympathetic to him (even though I don't shy away from pointing out his faults or how he did something terrible). as well as the elements of Catholicism, like I previously mentioned It doesn't help matters any that a bunch of people project onto Elena like an IMAX or view her as their fictional squeeze, so any slight against her must surely be one against them as well. Esteban did something that hurt Elena, and you like Esteban? Well, why would you support an evil murderer, unless... you're pro-murder?! Uh... 'kay. LOL. 

I think calling people like myself who sympathize with his story bad people is simply just a way for them to bully someone for liking a character that they hate (also, aren't these the same people who want Loki, Scar, CP9, and all those other bad guys forgiven?). Fandom purity culture really is all about control, entitlement, and getting off on putting your boot on somebody else's neck. It's sad that other people seem to listen to this rabble instead of just ignoring them, calling them out, etc. Unfortunately, most Esteban-centric fan art is located on Tumblr. I'm still trying to decide if I want to plunge back into that mess or not...

I consider Esteban to be a tragic character. He's this incredibly flawed person who's recognized his wrongdoing and struggles to atone (so yes, I do approach him as a repentive character, not as a villain or anything like that. Sorry not sorry, EoA fandom). I find that not only deeply gripping, but something to respect. He strikes me as being this isolated, lonely figure with no one around to really talk or relate to, even prior to falling out with his family. His "friends" in canon (and canon compliant fics) are people who I don't feel he has much in common with or even get him (Naomi and Doña Paloma). The person he's closest to is Francisco, and even then at times there's this gulf between them. I would really love to see more fics about his going on journeys of self-discovery and finding new happiness -- with or without his biological family (I love found family stuff too) and Elena's friends. I value things in which he does finally achieve real happiness instead of just continuing to live out his days in... well, I'd call it a purgatory. However, I've seen only one story to date in which I thought he succeeded in that regard. :(

I'm not close to my own family. I'm not going to get into why much further then that other than one reason for this is that I don't have much in the way of common ground with them. So I see where Esteban is coming from when he feels like he's only second-best compared to Elena and such. That's not a good feeling to have. And it's not that hard for me to look at his relatives and go, "Yeah, they probably did some crappy stuff to him." Not outright abuse, but Esteban was expected to go along with the program with no fuss. Add in the factor of my interpretation of Esteban being gay (per my main series, anyways) and a bit of an oddball, and that just adds more pressure on him. Sounds like EoA was like, "Well, Esteban wasn't treated right... but maybe that's just how he feels and they really didn't anything wrong!" Y'know, that half-assed fence-sitter way of trying to absolve them of any wrongdoing while not outright condemning Esteban for his feelings either. Because God forbid the protagonists you want the audience to like have any imperfections or make any mistakes. Look, it's okay for your main characters to have flaws. Really. That just makes them more interesting. I'm tired of the fanbase ignoring all their missteps while constantly condemning Esteban for his. I don't go along with the "perfect wonder family" portrayal the show uses, and I do intend to explore that further (especially Lucia, who the writers seemed scared to make anything less than "awesome grandma").

Speaking of the f-word, whew boy... well, if you've gotten this far and you're not pissed at me yet, then good for you. 'Cause you might get mad about what I'm going to say next. In terms of storytelling, I feel the family honestly holds him back a lot of the time. What I mean is that he can't go places or undergo his own character journey (literal or otherwise) because his identity is tethered to them. I'll be blunt: they're not why I watched EoA. Never have been. I've gone off Luisa's character since the third season and have never cared for Elena (although I tried to in the beginning), to mildly put it. But Francisco is fine and I don't mind Isa too much, although I do think her episodes are boring. Sorry. Neutral towards Raoul and Lucia, since they're just blank slates. So that's why I don't romanticize or fixate on the Castillo-Flores like fandom does. I get that family is one of EoA's major themes, but I'm not really interested in them. I don't even want Elena or Luisa to die or anything like that. My reaction to them is just "Go away. You two are really annoying and taking attention away from my favorite character." (The rabid Elena stans do not help her case any in my eyes.)

I haven't seen any fans discuss the fact that Esteban knows how to pickpocket, or can dance his way through the booby traps in the royal treasury because he literally designed them himself (who taught him how to build booby traps in the first place?? That's both insane and amazing), his time in Satu, or other ideas delving into who he is (there is one specific thing I could add here, but I'm not gonna say what because it'd spoil upcoming stories. It's something I've NEVER seen anyone ever bring up in relation to Esteban). All that stuff could be very easily mined for new story material, but people ignore it because everything has to be all about his relationship to his family, Naomi, Victor, Armando, and Doña Paloma. Granted, yes, his earlier betrayal is a very interesting bit of character drama and relates to his family. But the family should not define who he is.

I circumvent this issue by giving Esteban his own corner of Avalor/the EverRealm to actually evolve in, as well as a cast of supporting characters and friends uniquely his own -- not his relatives, not Elena's friends, not the servants, but his own (though that isn't to say that these new characters aren't also friends with or won't become friends with the other protagonists). Also, I find it pretty weird that we have a nearly sixty-year old man often running around with teenagers. Naomi, Mateo, and Gabe are Elena's friends. No, Armando shouldn't be Esteban's friend either. Ugh. That's also why my EoA fics will either be AUs or crossovers. It's pretty easy to have Esteban mingle with completely new faces, instead of characters I'm bored by if not outright dislike.

I've seen at least two or three people pushing for him to get with Cedric, Armando, or Higgins. Even barring the age difference, those just aren't ships I can get behind. I'm not even against noble/servant ships in fiction, but in this case it doesn't work at all. For one, EoA had a whole episode demonstrating that Esteban didn't really respect anybody that wasn't nobility ("Finders Leapers"). And look at Esteban. I admit this is just how I see the character, but everything about him suggests somebody who'd appreciate a partner not only on his level intellectually, but was attractive as well. Armand and Higgins are certainly neither of those things. I'm sorry, but they're not. What would Esteban even have to talk about with either guy? And Cedric, while brainy, ain't exactly a looker. Maybe I'm the wrong person to be saying this, but I really don't understand why some EoA fans are so fixated with minor characters like Armando either.* He's just a really bland stock character. At least with, say, My Little Pony, fans can take minor characters like Yona the yak or that one pony that DJs (Vinyl Scratch) and make up some crazy backstory and stuff for them. I feel like things are so much more limited with Armando.

Also, the same person who was pushing for an Esteban/Armando ship said that the royal family needed to be overthrown, because they equate monarchy with a benevolent dictatorship (if you don't like monarchies, then why watch a show about princesses in the first place, lol?). But you're perfectly fine with a nobleman having a romantic relationship with a servant who is very much a submissive, subservient yes-man to him? Like, no troubling power balance dynamics there? I mean, sorry person if you ever happen to stumble over this, but your logic genuinely baffles me.

The logic for Esteban/Cedric seems to be "OMG they both have issues with the rightful rulers!!!", but that seems like a pretty shallow basis for a romance. Is there anything more to this ship then them discussing their pasts? Why on earth would they even be drawn to each other (honestly, I don't think they'd care for one another very much if at all).

I really do hate that so many fans nowadays are so adverse to OCs -- limiting the options for romantic partners solely to other characters from EoA and StF. I've yet to see any canon ship for Esteban that I've liked. "Incestuous" is the the wrong term to use for it (well, not for the folks who actually want to have him to get together with Elena -- which I can't even with), but these pairings do tend to feel hella contrived for one. I just don't get people who want him to be with Naomi, and most of them aren't even trying to use some sort of AU scenario. Like... this is why bringing OCs in would be welcomed with open arms, so that we're not shipping teens with (near) 60 year olds/or blood relatives. I have seen a few Esteban/OC fics and so far, one piece of fan art (which is pretty cute) though. The fics themselves are a mixed bag of promising and then not very good.

This is why I have a strong preference for bringing in characters from others canons or OCs as friends/love interests for Esteban. Actually, one canon character I'd love to see him with is Baileywick. That could be interesting. He is a servant and average-looking, yes, but he's also a cultured, intelligent dude. He's cooler-headed then Esteban is as well as more down to earth, which I think are two good qualities for a partner of Esteban's to possess. And no, it would not be an insta-love situation for either, but a slowburn situation. At least that's how I'd play it anyways.

Also, not gonna lie, but Esteban is good-looking... for a cartoon character, lol. And I'd definitely add his voice to the list of reasons why Esteban appeals to me. Christian Lanz did such a great job with him. I wonder if I'm the odd person out in that I actually pay attention to characters' voices and feel that a talented, fitting voice actor is just as important as a good design and personality?  

Addendum: In my fics, Esteban's last name is not Castillo-Flores. That's Elena and Isa's last name. Since Spanish surnames combine the mother's first surname and the father's first surname, it'd have to include his dad's surname. And since the father is a non-entity in the cartoon, I decided to make his surname Bandera-Mazariegos. So Esteban's surname in my works would be Bandera-Castillo.

*You wanna write about Esteban hooking up or whatever with Armando, Naomi, Shuriki, etc, or like the idea of such? Hey, you do you. But none of those relationships jive with me.

"To Catch Up With The Sun" Chapter Three notes

REFERENCES: 

N/A

GENERAL:

- I went ahead and made Esteban's Elena regent here. Since Elena has not been officially crowned as queen at this time, realistically, he should be her regent. When he was reflecting on his circumstances at the start of this chapter, Esteban wasn't blowing smoke -- in the real world, nobles really didn't have very many options available to them. The following info comes from someone I was speaking to who knows a lot more about this subject then me:

• They were not allowed to own businesses because it was viewed as "disgraceful", and was even illegal in some places. So either Luisa won't be an aristocrat here, but just someone who comes from a wealthy family, or I dump the chocolate shop thing or whatever it was she had in canon.
  
• They could join the clergy, but that came with issues of its own (what kinds of issues I'm not sure of though), especially if you lived in a Catholic country. 
• They could look pretty and sponge off their relations who did have money. XD
• If they couldn't support themselves or if no one else was willing too, they'd be dirt-poor and turn to things like literal mercenary work, subsistence farming, or even banditry. And most nobles would apparently turn to brigandry before "breaking caste" and shaming themselves by opening up a business. 

So someone like Esteban would be expected to either govern a fief, take on an administrative role within their country's government (like he's presently doing), or join the military, and be a model noble at the same time. The following is something else I was told and which I thought I'd share here:

"I do want to observe that nobility has nothing to do with wealth or power, everything to do with blood and/or title. A noble could be dirt-poor, and a commoner be running the kingdom behind the scenes. (And the noble would probably still look down his nose at the commoner.) Though on the other hand, commoners who gained wealth and influence were often given (or purchased) noble titles."

- I'll discuss the new Grand Council more and why I chose to adjust the membership later on, as they'll officially debut "on-screen" in my upcoming story (hopefully. If I can make it not feel shoehorned).

- Have another shout-out to Sofia from Sofia The First, courtesy of Elena and Esteban! Anytime anyone brought up an issue with the character of Elena on the EoA subreddit, a number of the stans there were quick to yell, "Oh yeah? Well, look at what a Mary Sue Sofia is!" and just trashing her. To me this just felt like them trying deflect all criticisms of Elena, no matter how reasonable and constructive they were. The subreddit didn't used to be that way, and I'm not sure why it turned into such a hivemind of rabid fanatics who flipped out anytime you went, "I liked that episode, but it could've been better." And IMHO, yeah, as STF went on, things with Sofia did get to be a little too much, but what saves her character for me is that she continued being likable.  

But yeah, all the salt made me make sure to give Sofia lots of praise for rescuing Elena and helping to restore Avalor. ;) Plus, the Flores totally seem like the kind of people who'd feel really grateful towards Sofia and her family. Think about what would've happened if Sofia hadn't been called to Avalor. I'm guessing the rest of the fandom doesn't have a hateboner for STF, because I do recall seeing a bunch of STF/EoA crossovers on FF.net before. Heck, I'm hoping to do a few in the future myself.

- I'd be all too happy to explain what I was going for with Elena's behavior in the scene where she gets overly excited about seeing birds and the sky (which I suspect put off two readers. ETA: You know, now I have a sneaking suspicion about why one of them reacted the way they did, but I won't get into it here). My line of thought is that having been stuck inside the amulet for that length of time has messed with her head some. Now, she's finally free and gets to see all the things she's missed -- nature and everything else -- again. So yes, she is a bit loopy, but it's not gonna be a permanent thing. By the time the sequel takes place, she'll be more like the Elena we see in the cartoon. It's just my own conjecture, since EoA never discussed what it was like for her in there. I thought it'd be really interesting if there were actually some repercussions or side-effects from that whole experience. Heck, I'm just spitballing here, but maybe she has claustrophobia now.

- Yes, I think Esteban would be facing some citizens who don't quite trust him. In their minds, he was Shuriki's willing right-hand man.

- Man it was hard to end this thing. And it did feel weird, because as events in the show progressed and I heard about what was going on, it seriously dampened my enthusiasm for any protagonist not named Esteban, Francisco, or Isabel. I do feel that by admitting to that here and elsewhere in this blog, if anything even remotely troublesome happens to the rest of the cast in my upcoming fics, some people are going to automatically assume malice on my part towards them. I've seen readers flip when somebody wrote a Pokemon fic in which Ash caught a cold and accused the author of bashing him. Let me emphatically state that I don't believe in character bashing, even of characters I personally dislike. I try to be fair towards them and show that they're human too. And I felt like I was being pretty fair towards the other EoA characters here. 

At other times, if I don't want to be bothered with characters I don't care for or don't need them for anything, they'll either "be on vacation/visiting elsewhere/busy with work/etc" ("Where's Luisa?" "Oh, her nephew took sick, so she's off visiting!"), or I bring my preferred characters around characters that I do like/or don't mind, like I will do with Esteban in my My Little Pony and Disney crossovers. Problem solved.

This goes for anything I write in.

FUN FACTS:

- For my storyverse, I knew I wanted to give Esteban some more hobbies, since he didn't have very many in the show. I immediately landed on the idea of him being an equestrian, since it's something I don't think a lot of people believe he'd like. I've seen a screencap of him with a black horse, but aside from my not knowing what the context of that image is, I have no clue what EoA has him thinking about them or if he can even ride/do so well. Now, I headcanon that if EoA took place in modern setting he'd be a car aficionado (sports cars specifically), but since cars don't exist in canon proper, it'd only be practical for him to know how to ride horses. I thought it'd also be a good way for him and Elena to bond. AFAIK, he didn't have a horse in the show. But I noticed I just enjoy giving my protagonists pets or other creatures to bond with, or giving them a fondness for animals/or certain animals. So in this setting, Esteban isn't simply limited to just being a shipping tool, a "bad guy", or Elena's stuffy ass of a cousin. He is totally capable of forging a loving bond with a "lower animal". 

Atrevido (his first horse) means "daring" in Spanish, while Arpegiar is a musical term: a type of broken chord in which the notes composing a chord are sung or played in either a rising or descending fashion. 

Prior to the film Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron, I'd never heard of a buckskin horse before. It's such a striking color pattern. So that's why Arpegiar is a buckskin. Initially he was going to be a breed of horse called a paso fino, which originates from South America if I'm remembering rightly. Then I went to YouTube to check them out in action:

This is their natural gait. Gorgeous animal, but that is not a horse meant for stealth. If Esteban ever wanted or needed to sneak off for whatever reason, he'd probably be better off just leaving the horse at home, lol. So I just went ahead and made Arpegiar an andalusian horse instead. I doubt Canela actually is a lusitano in canon or not, but both her and Arpegiar's respective breeds are sometimes referred to as "Iberian horses." The lusitano hails from Portugal, while the andalusian is Spanish.

Oh, and I guess this is my headcanon on how Elena got Canela. Isabel doesn't seem like she'd really care about horses. I do remember liking the fact that she enjoys drawing though.

- Meet some more of the Flores' servants, Antonio, the (only named) stable hand! I figured it'd be both realistic and kinda funny to give Gabe some competition for Elena's attention. Of course, Esteban cockblocks him too. XD

"To Catch Up With The Sun" Chapter Two notes

References:

- The title of this chapter again comes from a line in the song "Time" ("Home, home again, I like to be here when I can"). The idea is that the palace hasn't felt like home to Esteban in the longest time, but with the return of his family, it's beginning to feel that way again.

General notes:

- I didn't discuss this the last time, but I wanted to explain why I made the choice to write TCUWTS in second person perspective. It's thanks to being inspired by this Steven Universe/Kim Possible crossover, Sky Blue, Ocean Blue. Apparently it isn't a very popular style with some people, but I personally found it to be really interesting and engaging. Second person perspective has a more intimate feel to it, and with the story delving so deeply into Esteban's life and why he is who he is, I wanted to try it out for that specific reason. I did try avoiding the usual mistakes people make with both this and first person POV; I.E.: having Esteban know stuff that he has no business knowing. Everything is entirely from his perspective, so yes, that means that some moments and things are colored by his opinions/thoughts/etc. He can only guess at how someone else is really feeling. The next story in this series will be in one of the assorted third person POVs, I promise.

- I know nobody in the show ever considered the possibility of Shuriki surviving, and some people might think it's too much for Esteban to worry about her still lurking around (whereas we see in the final chapter Elena being very dismissive of the idea), but considering the fact that she destroyed his life, he's seen what her magic is capable of, and her body not turning up, yes, I can see him being that paranoid. 

Also, I think Shuriki would've, for all intents and purposes, made Esteban feel like a hostage in the palace. In the real world, there's been cases of kidnappers holding their victims hostage for years, and overtime feeling comfortable enough to start allowing them a little more freedom.

- Initially I was really confused as to why Shuriki would leave the portrait of Isa and the grandparents Flores just hanging there in the throne room. If she wanted to leave it there just to screw with Esteban, then why hide it? It took my going to the Disney wiki to learn that Alcazar magicked it so that it couldn't be moved or tampered with. Okay, that's perfectly fine as an explanation, but I never would've known that because EoA never stated that anywhere in the show AFAIK. You think that would've been explained or come up at some point.

- I guess the other Floreses (... would you say Floreses? Flori, lol?) never thought to ask about Victor after they returned in the show. Neither they nor Esteban seemed too shocked to see that he had a kid either when he popped up again.

- The show itself and sites like TV Tropes make it seem like Shuriki put Esteban to work running Avalor all by himself. Realistically though, he would not have been the only person doing every single job. Running even the smallest kingdom can be tough and complex, which is why royalty have people working under them to help, such as Tomas (Victor's pop per my setting), and they in turn have people who work for them. This is partly why I brought in Rodolfo as Finance Minister.

- Yes, I do believe that out of the entire family, Esteban is closest to his grandfather. We got that one scene in the show where Esteban and Francisco were hanging out watching the olaball game together (with Esteban wearing face-paint -- that slayed me), or Francisco's being the only one not voting to exile Esteban (although after that, did he or anybody else ever really talk about Esteban and what happened? The overall impression I'm left with is that unless the episode actually had Esteban crossing paths with them [like "Dreamcatcher"], none of the other protagonists ever act like what happened affected them any). Initially I intended to have Esteban interacting with Luisa here instead, but I couldn't think of something they could bond over. Uh, now I just headcanon that they love one another, but just really don't have much in common, especially since Esteban's no longer a cute little kid (TBH, I don't think either of the grandparents were really fleshed out as characters, so I feel comfortable adding my own stuff to them). Luisa and Elena, on the other hand, do seem to have fairly similar personalities, so yeah, I see those two gravitating towards each other more.

 - I wanted to name the song that Esteban and Francisco play together to add more detail, but 1) I am not a musician, and 2) I don't speak Spanish (barely. Certainly not enough to hold a conversation).

Also, real-talk, but I think villains who hate music simply because "Rrragh I'm the bad guy!" are kinda goofy. I may try to further flesh out Shuriki's reasons for hating it in future installments.

- I wonder if anyone ever considers just how rough Francisco has had it. Both his daughters are dead. It seems like the family would have more relatives out there though (something I lightly referenced in this chapter). What about people from Raoul's side? Esteban's father? Don't Francisco and Luisa have any siblings, nephews, nieces, etc? I refuse to believe that they're all single births (hmm... that'd be mighty convenient and pat). Personally, I'm really "ehh" at Christobel's existence (but the episode he shows up in is hot garbage to me anyways). If I ever do decide that I need him, maybe I'll retcon him into someone from Esteban's dad's side of the family or something.

Don't think people really think about the friends Fransisco and Luisa more then likely lost to old age and such during their imprisonment (hey, might as well call it an imprisonment) either.

- This chapter acknowledges something I've never seen an EoA fic discuss (I think the show very lightly touched on it with the "Gabe not liking sports" thing that one time, but didn't go all the way there) -- machismo. Not to hate on people for not exploring it -- could be that some people don't feel comfortable tackling a subject they may not be familiar with or something. Again, I feel it's something that would add more layers to Esteban. I think in this setting, where I approach Esteban as a gay man, he'd wrestle with and be insecure about whether or not he was a "real man". Francisco is the idealized man in their culture -- strong, he was this badass soldier, he has a wife and kids and was a good dad. Esteban doesn't have any of those things to his name. 

Even Francisco himself is unknowingly a victim of this mentality -- I headcanon him as someone who doesn't really like to appear vulnerable because he thinks he has to always look strong for everybody else. But it was a moment where he saw his grandson was really hurting, so he was willing to lower his defenses because of his love for Esteban.

Aww. I really like their relationship.

 - I decided Esteban has the rank of duke here (inherited from his father), the highest rank among Spanish nobility, right under your princes, kings, etc. He needed a place to be duke of, since you just can't have a title and not have it be connected to a locale. Vila Rica was the name of an old town in Mexico that's no longer in existence.

In Spanish, all lords are referred to as "Don", so as part of the royal family, Francisco would also correctly be called "Don Francisco" (BTW, I need to choose a rank for Francisco, since the show never says what he is). If you'd like more info about Spanish nobility, then try starting here. "But OLU, Wikipedia isn't a reliable source." Then go to the bottom of the page. There'll be links to other sites and resources, and they're usually pretty trustworthy.

- I don't think the show ever answered the question of whether or not Esteban is actually of the Royal House/Blood. We know his mother is Queen Lucia's sister, but is his father also a part of the royal line? I just went ahead and said yes (even though that means there probably was some intermarrying among the family in the past in order for that to be the case, like cousins. No, I don't want to focus on that in the fics or elsewhere, it's gross. It was a different world back then, but it's still gross to think about, lol). That gives Esteban a stronger claim to the throne and fuel Raoul's paranoia.

ETA: Okay, so apparently he's only related to Elena through his mother (her aunt). Well, this is an AU, so this won't be the last time I muck with canon. XD

- So the, uh, thing with Esteban and Shuriki actually hails from a short story written by JB Blackwood. However, said story is sadly no longer online. I think it's an idea that makes a ton of sense though. You have this good-looking guy and a psychopathic, power-hungry sorceress -- I can totally see her making gross comments at him and even forcing herself on him. No, neither certainly has any feelings for the other within my works. If someone else wants to ship them in their fics then they can, but I do not. Sorry. Also I could be wrong, but I don't see male rape perpetrated by women getting touched on very much in fiction. Certainly not fanfiction. 

I didn't want to outright say "she raped him", because I like being more subtle then that, but I do worry about being so subtle that readers won't catch it. I've had people miss stuff in my fics before that I thought I'd made pretty clear.

- We don't see Esteban in the scene in "The Secret Of Avalor" where Luisa gives Elena her amulet, but I imagine he most likely was present. As I worked on that part where he's recalling that moment however I had the same question Esteban did in the fic -- why is Elena the only one to ever get magical doodads in the show? Why not him and Isa too (that might make for an interesting AU in another Esteban fic idea I have)? Considering all the malvagos and other crazy magical stuff in Everealm, everybody should be packing some form of proverbial heat. Or something.

- I love writing dream and nightmare sequences. They're the best because you can get so surreal with them. XD

- I admit, I probably should've used the term malvago in the story at some point. I didn't. I'll try to keep it in mind for later fics.

- Suicide is considered a mortal sin in Catholicism. That plus general fear is why Esteban never acted on his old thoughts about jumping off the parapet.

- When I saw that EoA made Esteban thirsty for the throne, my reaction was "Why are they trotting out this old canard again?" I swear, if you're royalty in the Disney-verse, um, go ahead and kill your relatives and castle/palace staff, because A) they will either want to take over, or B) help somebody else take over. My original intention was to drop this element of Esteban's character, as I've always felt canon handled it very badly and awkwardly. However, someone very cleverly talked me out of doing so by spinning it as "ambitious male relative in line for succession, but the king changed the laws so his daughters could inherit the throne instead." I likes me a little juicy royal drama. Plus, now Esteban has real reasons for feeling the way he does instead of... whatever it was EoA was trying to do. Like, he wanted the throne there just 'cuz, y'know "I'm shady and way cooler then Elena, and the audience needs somebody to hate!" Then he stopped wanting the throne (after that Fountain of Youth episode, I believe it was?), but then in the third season randomly decided towards the end, "No. Let's go get that throne after all, because my dream was always to be king!" 

I just. Wut. I wonder would things have been better if Disney hadn't announced they were canceling the series after the third season? Again, did not want to make Raoul into an outright awful man. Between his sister-in-law's kid and his own, he picked his own.

The same person who suggested going that route with Esteban's behind-the-scenes scheming also supplied the idea for Esteban setting aside his own dreams in order to please his family (something which he mentioned once in the show, but which was never further explored -- who's shocked by that, lol?). And I wanted to play around more with Esteban's insecurity over constantly playing second fiddle to everybody else -- Elena, Victor, etc. Again, better motivations for his turning heel like he did, and therefore, makes for a way more compelling story (canon messed up there again). 

- I also envision Victor as pushing Esteban towards the dark side. Let me break it down for the Canon Cops and anti-Esteban folk -- no, that does not mean Esteban is absolved of everything he did. In "The King Of Carnival", the grandparents Flores made it pretty clear (to me) that they didn't like Victor, I doubt they were shy about their feelings before (and with his apparently being known as a frickin' thief around the palace, I'm sure the rest of the family didn't like him either, or had misgivings about him), it pissed Victor off, and he was like "I'll show them." And it was easy for him to light the powder keg that was Esteban, as he was already having issues with his relatives. I don't know, sounds like a Victor move to me.

Again, that is all just my headcanon. If people don't like it, then they're certainly more then welcome to go read something else. Just sayin' -- EoA isn't the first fandom I've been in where people are hella eager to tell you that you're wrong because X, Y, Z/or fancy themselves the morality police.

Fun facts:

- I saw a one-shot which had Francisco teaching Esteban guitar (I'm sorry, I don't know the name of the story). Made sense to me for that to be case!

- I headcanon that iris purple and silver are Shuriki's official colors, given that the palace was prominently decorated with those two colors in "The Secret Of Avalor".

- Until recently, I had no idea that the world Sofia The First and EoA occur on is called Everealm.

"To Catch Up With The Sun" Chapter One notes

I'm finding that many of my stories stem from things I don't like in canon/fanon, as well as a desire to see the kinds of storytelling elements I prefer. There aren't many good stories around in the EoA fandom which actually focus on Esteban (I've seen a scant few I like or which seem promising, but that number is more then likely less then ten in total), and often he gets shipped with a canon character I don't like in a bunch of them. 

I remember initially playing around with the idea of doing a story that stuck closer to canon. But after realizing that EoA's writing was just going to continue to disappoint (aside from a handful of decent episodes sprinkled here and there), I decided the AU route would ultimately work better for me. I think taking the characters in a more adult direction makes them more fascinating to follow. Looking through my blog, I see that I've had this idea since December 2018 (a three chapter story I only finished this year... =D). It originally stemmed from a few people at the show's Reddit community saying that it would be interesting to see what it was like for the Castillo-Flores to deal with everything that happened after being reunited. 

Uh, a lot has changed since then. Still liked the idea enough to develop it however, in part because I realized I needed a way to show how my universe was different from the show's and set things up. With TCUWTS done, I can now move onto other stories set within this AU (which I still need to name. I've been jokingly calling it Esteban Of Avalor).

My take on the EoA world is intended to have more historical elements and less... goofy stuff, but still maintain that Disney flair. It's sort of a kinder, gentler version of our world (for example, there was no slave trade carried on by any of the major world powers, probably not a Crusade as we would know it, etc), but only up to an extent. Like, it's still not a place where you can really run around openly as a gay person (well, unless you're rich like Esteban, and even then most people don't actually know about his sexual orientation XD). It's also not set in any specific time period that we'd recognize from our own world history. 

I saw people at the subreddit saying EoA is set in the 1800s (I think), but I don't believe that anymore. For one, there are still knights in plate armor running around in Enchancia. Knights had gone the way of plague doctors well before the 1700s. Much of the fashion in both series also looks newer then the Middle Ages, but too old for the 1800s. Of course, it could also be that they took a lot of stylistic liberties with clothing too. At this point I feel pretty comfortable in saying Disney just pulls whatever from the past and throws it into Sofia The First and EoA. That's not me hating on them for that; I mean, that's one way not to tether your fantasy series to a certain time period. It's it's own thing.

Also, let me say here and now that just because I criticize the show/or most of its characters does not mean I personally hate if you if you do happen to like them. I fully support your right to enjoy them. I only take issue with fans if they feel the need to belittle me/other people for not agreeing with them, or are otherwise behaving inappropriately.

- The story title is taken from the lyrics of the Pink Floyd song (which is one of my favorite of theirs) "Time". Originally I had been calling my fic When We Dead Awaken. One day I happened to be listening to "Time" though and thought some of the lyrics could apply to Esteban's situation. Like TCUWTS, the song also deals with the theme of the passage of time. Here's a character who's fixated on his lost youth and fears old age. In the story proper a few times I allude to the idea that at one time Esteban was this kid who thought he has all the time in the world... but before he knows it, that's not the case anymore. He's nearly sixty. 

Each chapter title are lyrics taken from "Time". Here's the part that inspired both the title and the first chapter:

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

And here's the song itself if anyone's interested: 

 

- You know that river that runs by the palace and which Shuriki ended up falling into? I have no clue if it's ever been given a name in the show or not. I didn't see anything about it, so I just went and named it myself. Mitotiqui is a Nahuatl word meaning "dancer".

- I have no clue where Castillo-Flores as a surname for Elena and her family originated from. I just saw it someplace and was happy I didn't have to come up with my own surname for them. It mean "castle flower", which is cool.

- "Don" is Spanish for Lord. Ergo, when people are calling Esteban "Don Esteban", they are calling him "Lord Esteban", which is appropriate for a man of his station. Also, in the show he's simply just the Chancellor, but I refer to him as "Lord Chancellor" here for extra fanciness, lol. It's something I borrowed from the Brits.

- Another thing I really wanted to do was add more palace staff and people who the Castillo-Flores knew/or know as a way to flesh out the world. Unless it was some kind of special occasion, I remember the palace almost always looking huge and empty. A real palace would have servants, courtiers, guards, etc all over the place. Same for the city itself (this kinda seems to be a reoccurring issue with modern cartoons, I've noticed). I'll make a character list so readers can keep up with who's who.

- For the life of me I couldn't justify any reason as to why Esteban would have Higgins/or Armando working for him in my setting. Like, my Esteban's intelligence is supposed to be pretty consistent (unlike the series) and he's a pretty pragmatic dude, so he'd want to have a competent manservant, y'know? If you haven't seen the show, then Higgins and Armando both are just your standard goofy bumbling sidekicks, nothing more. Not only that, but I don't even know what Armando was doing in canon at this point, since he has like a hundred jobs there. Like, he's a personal servant, a puppeteer, and a cook who gets on some kind of committee in the second season?... And to top it all off, he's not that strong a character to carry whole episodes by himself, so I don't care about him and only became more and more actively annoyed that canon kept shoving this boring unfunny doofus into my face and telling me to care. Time wasted on Armando-centric episodes could've been spent on more worthwhile characters, or moving the plot forward.

I'd ask whatever happened to Higgins, but that'd actually require me to care about him. He was the same character as Armando, but white I guess. Thankfully, the freedom of fanfic allows me to replace them both with someone else entirely (Sancho). I will enjoy making Armando a very minor bit player on the periphery of things.

- That bit with Esteban thinking about executioners not being successful in decapitating prisoners the first time around? That is actually something real that I've heard before... probably in something discussing Henry VII and his wives, if I recall correctly.

 Also, high treason refers to acts of treason committed against a sovereign.

- From what I understand, rice pudding (arroz con leche) is a popular comfort food in Mexican culture. Have a recipe.

- Poor jaquins. They were not used well. I remembered in one episode (it might've been the special where Elena goes to Vallestra) it was stated that they were the guardians of Avalor -- okay, so why did all we see them do was pester Shuriki in "Elena/Sofia And The Secret Of Avalor" then? If you knew Esteban was the last member of the royal family around, then why not just grab him, fly him somewhere safe, then go back and attack Shuriki? I'm sure Esteban would've been more then happy to provide info to them in order to aid in a successful revolt. But no. They were just cute animal sidekicks who were cheerleaders and transportation for Elena. There's writing a show for little kids, and there's making characters stupid because you can't write. If they'd tried putting up a fight against Shuriki then that would've been something at least. They never really did anything to make me believe they were these stalwart guardians, much less be taken seriously as such. And I was actually intrigued by Cruz and his sister, but they were wasted too (you wasted A.C. Slater, writers!)! 

Uh, I have different plans for the jaquins here. Also, because I'm not limited by a Y-7 rating, expect to see them, as the kids say, "tear shit up."

- I wanted to add more depth to the feud between Victor and the Castillo-Flores clan. I do not see the guy as having any interest in religion, and that would not make him kindly disposed to a bunch of staunch Catholics (Francisco the traditionalist, anybody?). Does anyone remember it being stated that Victor's father was the royal treasurer? Was that ever brought up again?

- I don't think a person confronting a sorceress by themselves without some kind of backup or protection is smart, no (IMHO, Esteban would think the same). Yes, I still feel that way even if the other protagonists keep on telling us how awesome and brave said person is for doing so. I'm guessing Elena just charged in like she was just gonna straight-up body Shuriki with no strategy or plan because that's precisely what she did when Shuriki returned. She's a really frustrating protagonist to watch. :-/

- So initially my fics were going to be neutral towards the issue of the characters' religion. If EoA's Reddit community is anything to go by, I feel like several of the fans would react negatively to the religious elements. But a person I knew made the argument that Christian analogues do crop up in fantasy settings, such as Lord Of The Rings, The Chronicles Of Narnia, and Dawnflight. And EoA itself did seem to be implying that the characters are Roman Catholic, considering the fact that they observe Carnival ("King Of The Carnival"). And they are Latinos, so... more then likely, Catholics. Come on, if Hanukkah is a thing in EoA, then why not Catholicism?

I hope people are not going to take any of this and accuse me of being okay with the bad things the Church has done, even though there is absolutely nothing in TCUWTS to even suggest that. Nor do I think that an EoA fic is really the right kind of vehicle to criticize the Church with. One could probably better do that if you were say, writing for the series Evil (a more grounded series that does deal with real world social commentary). But it is the Internet, so I've resigned myself to someone saying something eventually.

I thought it'd be a nice change of pace from what we tend to see in fiction (the Church practically declaring war on anyone who uses magic/magical creatures) to have the Church here view good magic as a gift from God instead. It's just something you don't see too often. The more I thought about it, the more I think introducing religion wouldn't just add more depth to the cast, but give insight into how they engage with the world around them, other people, and even see themselves. I'm not Catholic, but I do find the architecture of their churches beautiful and the services have a certain... gravitas to them. And there's another reason why I wanted to touch on this matter...

- The chapel scene in my fic was inspired by this: link It's a really memorable moment in the movie, and you have no idea how much I just love the twisted juxtaposition of a character pretending to be pious and sitting in church while dark things are going on outside (though in Esteban's case, I make it clear that unlike Michael, he didn't know that anyone was going to get axed. He is a lot of things. Psychotic isn't one of them. Even EoA for all its flaws usually makes that clear). No one gets baptized in my scene, so I devised the idea of Esteban and Victor going to Mass early as a cover story instead. I was told about the Confiteor, a prayer in which evil is rejected and which occurs early on as a ritual cleansing before the Sacrament, and wanted to specifically feature it in place of Godfather's baptismal prayer. I don't know how canon played it or if they even did, but I knew I did not want to have a scene with Esteban and Victor sitting around sneering and cackling evilly because OMG SO EVUL. That's very cartoony and lame.

I'm actually not sure if Victor knew Shuriki was going to kill the king and queen or not.

- I figured Esteban would have pet names for his grandparents, so I did some Googling and landed on Lita and Papito respectively for them. He also calls Francisco "old man" (in his head), something which started out as an insult but morphed into a term of affection with time.