EveJacks Simp

Elara wanted to dress Maven herself after dismissing his nurses and nannies when she blamed them for him being slow to walk, but she sometimes sincerely forgot to add red to outfits and instead dress him in pristine Calore black onesies and her hand-me-downs dyed in Merandus navy blue

When Tibe laughed about it after noticing Maven's navy blue socks one time at dinner, Elara was mortified and began to incorporate the actual colors of House Calore into Maven's outfits

Going back to the Nortan court being full of babies all the time, Elara would often engage in publicity stunts masked as queenly duties and attend noble baby showers, ceremonial presentations of court children as members of High Houses, birthday parties, etc. She'd bring toddler-aged Maven along with her, and this is how he got to meet noble toddlers while surreptitiously being supervised by Elara the entire time

As kids, Maven and Cal both learned the native languages of their neighboring allies within the continent. During official visits from foreign monarchs, the boys would greet their guests in their own languages. The visitors, trying to pander to the Nortan king and queen, gushed profusely at the boys

Maven wasn't a defiant pupil towards any of his private tutors or whenever he had group lessons with the other noble kids. If anything, he was quite disciplined and did exactly as his tutors asked of him

However, he rarely spontaneously shared with the class for the first year of his primary education. His instructors reported this back to Elara, and she then took it upon herself to chisel away at the part of Maven's baby brain that made him feel shy. Heaven forbid perfect Elara Merandus had a son who didn't know how to overcome his own shyness (and all the while, he's just seven or eight years old...)

So for his succeeding years in noble primary school and as a private pupil of the royal family, Maven was more spontaneous and chattier, having reduced feelings of shyness, but there was an artificial edge to his tone and he mostly just echoed Elara's teachings aloud

Elara also noted that Maven sounded eerily insincere at times after she cut away his shyness, so she then trained him to manipulate his tone of voice to suit particular emotions. She did this, however, without actually encouraging Maven to feel such emotions

So as a kid, he was a mere caricature of hollow expressions and inflections

If it was someone's birthday, he'd greet them with a big smile and give them a present prepared by Elara, but as soon as he turned back around, he'd drop his smile and return to either Cal's side or Elara's side. Whoever he saw first

This did result in some tension between Elara and a noble parent who commented on Maven being "peculiar" among other children at court. People started to mutter amongst themselves that Prince Maven was such a handsome little boy, what a shame he wasn't as bubbly or as enthusiastic as Prince Cal;

Never mind that Maven was otherwise praised by courtiers for being intelligent, mild-mannered, and good-looking. Any negative comment about her son clouded Elara's own perception. And Maven was devastated for feeling like he "failed" Elara;

Elara absolutely seethed at the comments that compared Maven to Cal, because it reflected on her image as both a parent and a queen. So as Maven grew into an older kid, she regularly sat around his (weirdly vast) closet and had Maven face a large mirror while she whispered various scenarios in his head and trained him on how to best react. She had him monitor his own facial expressions, the timing of his smiles and frowns, the tilt of his chin

Maven became acutely aware of his own face at an early age due to this mirror thing Elara had him do

He developed some intensely good active listening skills quite young, too. What with all of Elara's meddling

After noticing that Maven could seldom control his burner abilities as a child, Elara assumed that his inability to regulate himself stemmed from the fact that all his training was done in reinforced areas or outdoors, which gave him no consequences to consider. She decided to quietly "enhance" his abilities by training his fire the way a whisper would be trained: indoors and in crowds

This caused numerous courtier injuries and interior damages brushed off as accidents for years on end. Maven, having picked up being cheeky after Elara hammered it into him, used his royal prince privileges and his annoyingly big and apologetic smile to get off scot-free

Maven didn't learn to regulate and control the strength of his flame until he was about 10 years old. Which irritated Elara, because Cal was a natural at just 8 years old

But all the while, Maven simply did as Elara asked of him. He'd soften his smile on command in front of the mirror. He timed his blinks after Elara once said he "blinked too fast". He'd miss actual lessons just to be around his mom inside his closet, because to him, they were bonding. And she was giving him valuable lessons, wasn't she?

AS A PRE-TEEN / TEEN:

I think I'm giving Maven car guy attributes because I personally feel like driving is one of the crucial times where I absolutely cannot lose my presence of mind. I imagine that Maven, who was constantly manipulated mentally growing up, would seek a hobby that required being both grounded and mentally present

Just like any kid in their pubescent stage, here is where Maven first sought out his own autonomy and began seeking his own interests that were separate from Elara

After walking in on Cal and Cal's manservant tinkering with an old car owned by their grandfather, Tiberias V, Maven started to become interested in cars. Not repairing or refurbishing them like Cal does, though. But driving them

Upon asking, Elara told Maven that she knew the basics of driving but never needed to put herself behind the steering wheel. After all, the queen of Norta had a handful of chauffeurs. And so did he, as prince

This did not deter Maven's interest in the slightest, and after asking the ones closest to the royal family for anyone who could tell him more about the pristine but unused car collection beneath Whitefire Palace, Maven learned that his father was once an avid driver back in the day

So 12-year-old Maven mustered up the courage to ask his dad about driving, which made Tibe positively beam. Cal, after all, showed very little interest in actually driving the vehicles Tibe allowed him to refurbish with supervision, and Cal insisted that he was ready to tinker with airplanes at the ripe age of 14 (Tibe, sensible only because he's an adult where Cal's a literal teenager, obviously said no)

Tibe and Maven began to bond over cars more and more, which brought Maven closer to Tibe. Tibe shared that he had an affinity for cars because he grew up in the era of Norta where techies began churning out more vibrant, better-equipped transports that were then utilized by the royal family and nobility (Tibe chose not to tell his youngest son that he often overestimated himself in his youth and sought the thrill of driving drunk and crashing because it delighted him whenever he came out of crashes unscathed due to his burner abilities making him immune to death by fire)

Maven, intuitive as ever, clocked that his alcoholic dad was likely seeking cheap thrills to drown out some unspoken pains in his youth and expressed these thoughts to Elara. Who then, obviously, picked a fight with Tibe for "encouraging recklessness" in their son

Maven just wanted to learn how to drive, man

Once Maven and Cal were of age to train at the warfront in Corvium, Maven's interest in driving grew stronger. He was physically apart from Elara for the very first time in his life, which directly allowed him to explore his own curiosities more and more

He'd watch trained soldiers operate large tanks, personnel carriers, you name it!

I imagine the military city of Corvium was a hub of excess and Silvers both common and noble engaged in shady activity—which Maven and Cal were sometimes still exposed to despite their Sentinels’ best efforts to keep them away;

This is where Maven first witnessed the art of underground drag racing (My deepest apologies. There will be no lip syncing for your life in this one, though I do believe that sort of drag race also exists somewhere else in Norta too!)

I’d like to believe Maven fantasized about cars a lot and spoke extensively about them with his first crush, Thomas, who clearly harbored zero interest in manning military vehicles but listened to the annoyingly handsome little prince

Thomas was the one who first attributed Maven’s desire to drive with his desire to assert control over his own autonomy. This, however, was something Maven was quick to deny;

Maven was still at the stage of believing everything Elara had done thus far was out of love and concern for him as her son

Every summer when the royal brothers would return to palace life from their military education at the warfront, Cal and Maven would take their shot at emulating the races they witnessed back in Corvium. First, with remote-controlled toy transports they got as gifts. They’d make up rules and prizes, until it got to the point where they actively encouraged their noble peers to join in and place bets

Tiberias was amused by his sons’ antics. Elara, decidedly, was not

But it wasn’t enough for either brother, of course. When Cal first got his license at age 16, he took Maven out for a spin on one of Tibe’s personal cars. The brothers took to the dirt roads on the outskirts of Harbor Bay. They sure knew how to keep their Sentinels petrified!

One time, just before he was set to earn his own license, Maven shared his theory about their father’s affinity for driving with Cal—the one where Maven assumed Tibe was thrill-seeking because he came out of crashes relatively unscathed thanks to his burner powers—and Cal thought it would be a great idea to put it to the test

They both got minor injuries on impact

Cal, a sprain on his leg. Maven, well-deserved whiplash

But they did get to use their abilities to get them out of Tibe’s burning car, though!

Elara was livid, as per usual. Tibe gave them both a stern lecture as their skin healers patched them up

Another argument between Elara and Tibe resulted in Maven learning the basics of safe driving from his father (fucking ironic), whereas Cal got most of his driving lessons from a private instructor

For his 17th birthday, Tibe gifted Maven a beautiful vintage car. Cal was Maven’s first passenger, and they braved the packed roads of East Archeon—much to their Sentinels’ distress (so enamored by the idea that both brothers are a huge pain in the ass to deal with according to their Sentinels)

Whenever the royal family had guests visiting, whether it was nobles taking up residence in Whitefire or foreign dignitaries, Maven would be tasked by Tibe or Elara to socialize by giving the guests a tour of the grounds on his shiny new whip

But soon after Maven finally got the hang of driving, Elara managed to succeed in chiseling away Maven’s fondness and affection for Tiberias. Elara was quick to turn the tables against Tibe, telling Maven that his father was only choosing to teach Maven the art of driving because Cal was busy learning how to fly planes instead. Had Cal taken an interest in cars the same way Maven did, Maven wouldn’t be a priority pupil for Tibe to put in effort for

No matter how hard Elara tried to cut away Maven’s love for driving as a whole, she couldn’t quite manage it. I’d like to think Maven loving a new skill is something Elara tries not to mess with, for fear that he may regress. Again, heaven forbid Elara Merandus has a son who’s dim-witted and unable to do anything by himself

And on the flip side, having a son who was a skilled driver proved to be beneficial for Elara after all;

Maven would volunteer to drive Elara to her appointments and royal appearances. If he had to make an appearance somewhere in Archeon, he’d beg his Sentinels to let him drive

It was only after Thomas’s untimely death when Maven finally came to terms with Thomas’s statement about why Maven loved the idea and the feeling of driving so much—because it finally allowed him to have full control over his body, his brain, and his focus after spending his entire childhood as Elara’s mini-me

Maven never really stopped his habit of rehearsing speeches and micromanaging his own expressions as he grew into his teens and started taking on more civic appearances as the second prince of Norta

Some of his favorite royal duties include visiting care homes filled with Silver war orphans. Because who better to manipulate into propaganda than little ones? He’d read to the kids and make sure he gets photographed while doing so!

Another preferred royal activity of his is visiting art galleries and music halls on special Silver holidays

His least favorite royal duties are making appearances at geriatric veteran facilities. He makes up various excuses to get out of them whenever those engagements appear on his timetable;

This appearance, by contrast, is Cal’s favorite. Cal loves listening to all the past siege stories the veterans have for him

Spontaneity didn’t come naturally to Maven because of Elara’s mental prodding. Sure he can come up with speeches on the fly and please the general public, but that’s because the skill was hard-wired into him by Elara

His skill at making his concern for others appear sincere is something that he had to master for a long time. He wasn’t a great liar or manipulator right off the bat;

So the kind, mild-mannered, and even-tempered Prince Maven that Mare first met was a false demeanor of Maven’s that took years in the making to get just right

AS THE KING OF NORTA:

This was my favorite phase of Maven’s character in the canon series. Him as the king and main villain was quite, quite buzzy. He wasn’t afraid to be a complete bitch even to the girl he claimed to love. Compared to other YA villains in more recent popular novels, Maven has certain elements to his character that make him continue to stand out despite his story being published a decade ago

Due to various safety laws in Norta regarding vehicular travel for the monarch, Maven was obligated to either be chauffeured or have Sentinel companions at all times if he chose to drive himself

But to compensate for his frustration at not being able to drive himself around all that often, he commissioned a lot of new cars. Elara thought it was in poor taste for Maven to place these orders so soon after Tibe’s death

Maven, manipulative cunt that he is, said that his new collection was meant to honor his late father who taught him how to drive. Touching, I know

He barely drove any of his new cars in the first few months of his reign while Elara was still alive and constantly holding his hand through sovereignity

But he drove himself in Tibe’s old gift around the palace grounds after hearing of Elara’s death. He was not to be disturbed by courtiers, mourners, or even his guards

He then ordered that the car Tibe gifted him be scrapped soon after

Despite not having a body for him to bury, Maven ordered a civil ceremony to honor Elara’s memory. Court attendance was mandatory, and anyone who didn’t show up was profiled by Sentinels and personnel loyal to Maven and Elara

Maven wasn’t actually clueless about sovereignity or ruling Norta as Mare or Evangeline painted him out to be in their own POVs. I’d like to think neither girl knows the deeper ins and outs of Nortan politics the same way a true monarch or royalty would—as that sort of leadership training is reserved for members of House Calore to learn exclusively; to ensure total power over Norta remained in the hands of a Calore

In King’s Cage, whenever he wasn’t pestering Mare as his prisoner, he was actually engaging in many, many civic duties required of him since he was now the only active member of the royal family. He wasn’t just moping around the palace all day. His ass was booked and busy!

He learned how to cover his irritation and anger with smiles when he became the king of Norta. He mastered the art of a wide, calm grin while delivering acerbic words to anyone who tried to question his politics in court

Maven’s advisors and publicists (Yes, I do believe he had a team surrounding him as the monarch. But their loyalties were to Elara, really) often warned Maven about the optics of remaining unwed knowing that the rest of his immediate family were either dead or, in Cal’s case, a fugitive;

He was urged to marry Evangeline just a few weeks into him accessing the throne. Elara was the one who countered that it would be improper for Maven to marry so soon after losing his father. After Elara’s death, Maven came up with the same excuse when urged to marry Evangeline, stating it would be improper to let the time for mourning coincide with their wedding day;

One of the more trivial reasons as to why Maven didn’t want to marry Evangeline, even when he was still the second prince, was largely because he knew Eve would never let him have a say in her wardrobe. To me, Maven totally seems like the sort of guy who actually cares about what image he and his future bride would project if they stood next to each other;

And Eve looking powerful and not at all demure next to a king who’s already considered lesser, already known to have claimed the title only because the true heir was on the run? That would’ve made Maven look meek. It would’ve made Norta look like a country that could be overthrown by foreign invaders or even rebels

Maven is often given intel about rumors surrounding him, both in foreign kingdoms and within Nortan social circles. The most prominent rumor during his earlier months as king was how selective he was, seeing as he’d been engaged to Mare at 17, then breaking it off to then propose to Evangeline months later, and then remaining spoken for but unwed for months on end

His least favorite rumor was that he was holding off on getting married because he was impotent. That pissed him right off. He obviously ensured that rumor would not see itself get printed and distributed among the masses. Heaven forbid

After breaking off his engagement to Evangeline to instead propose to Iris, Maven gained a bit of public flack, especially within his noble court, as word spread that Evangeline actually witnessed the moment King Orrec sealed the deal with Maven through a marriage treaty

This means Maven had to work overtime to regain a lot of favor among his own nobles, even roping Iris into playing along quite often. Much to Iris’s annoyance (Can you see how much the two month gap between Maven’s engagement to Iris and their wedding day actually weasels its way into my mind?)

Maven had to deal with questions from the press about his two failed betrothals, and whether or not he had plans to sever this new one with Iris;

But now that he had the unsteady allyship Lakelands, he became a lot more selective about what he shared to the masses. Not that he was a messy public figure in the first place, but his more placid demeanor when answering press questions was mostly to appease the Cygnets;

Maven knew he couldn’t afford to lose this deal with the Lakelanders while Norta was at war with the Scarlet Guard, so he was quite active in planning his and Iris’s wedding. This is in stark contrast to how indifferent he was when planning his and Eve’s wedding before;

During meals with Orrec and Iris, Maven would be the first to broach the topic of the actual wedding ceremony. Again, mostly to appease the Cygnets more than an actual enthusiasm to marry Iris;

Iris, for her part, indulged in Maven’s performatively chivalrous queries about ring sizes and decoration preferences. After all, she was trying to appease her father as well

But regardless of whether or not his betrothed was at his side during a royal appearance, Maven remained immensely genial and appealing to the masses—he loved to talk about how he’d always wished to end Norta’s war with the Lakelands, and how elated he is to be welcoming the Cygnets as his new family;

This, however, also came with disdain from his own nobles. They hated the fact that Maven sought allyship with Norta’s century-old enemy. Moreover, they hated that a Lakelander would become their new queen;

I’d love to think that a good chunk of his political conflict as king happened because Maven deciding to marry Iris came with love from the masses of Norta, but also cane with bitterness from other High Houses

Maven consistently appeared for public engagements within and outside of Archeon even if it meant his entire day would require him to act as king. I’d like to believe his train of thought is that, the more he shows up for Norta as king, the quicker people will adore him

And just like my first headcanon post, Maven is a huge attention addict. Any adoration he lacked as a second prince, he tried to make up for time and time again as king

And that’s a wrap on my current Maven Calore headcanons! Man, this post was lengthy. Most of it is personal, purely just to assist me in my fic writing.