#wmbk

more wmbk textposts because im am normal /silly

(in case anyone forgot: britta is the d1 girl Devon killed, Laverna is Claudius's favorite trainer)

We Must Be Killers: Tales from District 2 textpost memes because this series changed my brain chemistry

also hear me out: aroallo callista

The "let's pretend I don't have basic needs and human emotions" could also be a game they play at the centre honestly

Arthur's my version of the 3rd D2 Golden Trio / 30s Victors from @lorata 's wmbk verse that I meant to make a post about years ago and then forgot lol

important stuff first: Arthur won in 37, as the victor sandwiched between Hera/Odin and Callista/Nero. 

he was mentored by Luna, who for plot reasons also mentored Odin. 

due to the nature of him winning between two double victories, he was always in sort of friend limbo without a readymade Peer™, sort of a prototypal Claudius/Enobaria 

Hera and Odin try to bring him into the fold but the Arthur/Odin personality mash up DOES NOT go well

First non Offering victor bc they were phasing that out, as well as the first Career victor to come from a lowerclass background  (he’s a townie but poor; his dad was from one of those families that are trying way too hard to be D1/the Capitol, and hes the product of an affair. Art never met the guy but hates him for abandoning him & his mother.)

Arthur entered the Program at 9, which is probably the latest of all the Twos. (the stipend system was just being implemented and his mother had like 3 jobs to support them and he wanted to Help). 

everyone else were asshole rich kids and Arthur made it through the Centre fueled entirely on spite. he has a singleminded obsessive focus on being Better Than You All.  

Arthur is very popular in the Capitol, but nooot as much in Two. This is because the 1v1 ended up down to him and his district partner. not ending up with your partner wasn’t drilled into the kids at the centre then because it had never happened before, but it definitely was after. 

his district partner was an Offering; she was born for it and given to the district and she really, really should’ve won, but once arthur sets his mind to something he doesn’t back down, and he had to be Better. 

he thinks that Bellona would’ve had a much easier time as a victor

Arthur's the first Victor to go in for himself, instead of patriotism/glory/honour/[insert here]. after he won he clung more and more to loyalty to the Capitol as everything crumbled around him. (arthur is…. not really loyal to the district. the district didn’t like him after his win and he’d spent his childhood being abandoned by it too, so he’s a bit like… fuck youuu.)

his Games were on a sort of desert island setup, surrounded on all sides by endless water. lots of those horrifying-looking deep sea creatures but also like, pretty goldfish that will strip all the flesh off your bones. the mutations people were really flexing this year. he gets the sponsor gift of a sword and has a dramatic battle with a giant seaserpent mutt that is still shown in Best of Games compilations decades later.  

I imagine he has a weird relationship with the Fours after stealing their thing 

Arthur has negative interest in romance (see: his parents) but he could really do with a Friend. Callista winning works (they get on weirdly well) until Nero wins. Art decides this means that he’s not meant to have any friends ever and puts all of his singleminded obsession into getting a Baby of His Very Own. (Calli tells him he’s stupid for this, and she isn’t suddenly going to never want to see him again because of the Baby, but Arthur’s brain is stuck on being a Pair™.) 

he mentors in 45, 46, 47, 48, and then they make him stop.(the rule about not mentoring for more than 3 years in a row is arthurs fault & he is not sorry.)

he gets SO invested, everytime, and no amount of "kiddo, you need to chill and maintain some distance" actually does anything (he’s good at pretending, best acting scores of his year, but inside? no) (he killed his district partner and if he doesn’t make up for it everything was for nothing)

he doesn’t mentor again for like 30 years. 

Brutus winning immediately after Arthur is forced to stop is psychically tormenting. 

a lot of the higher up muttations people debuted in Arthur’s games, and he ends up with a wide circle of ‘friends’ and probably the biggest sponsor pool out of all of them. after he stops mentoring he focuses on gaining sponsorships and he is very, very good at it. by the 60s/70s Arthur is more likely to be seen in the Capitol than around the village, he is bopping around there so often. 

Arthur mentors once again in 71, as a last ditch effort for his life to have not been completely meaningless. (Calli also wants to mentor again, and it comes down to 2 really not needing one of Calli’s villains this year, and Arthur knowing how to play it. plus, Arthur coming back after 30 years is more intriguing to the Capitol/potential sponsors than Calli, bc Calli has mentored much more than Art and they know what to expect with her, while he’s more of a wildcard.)

in normal WMBK universes this is Creed/Rokia year, sorry. imagine this is an injured Creed au if this helps.

the kid wins and life means something. Arthur, who has previously been the village hermit who only went to village activities under duress, suddenly does a personality 180 and becomes HIGHLY invested in community, because baby needs socialise. the younger ones are So weirded out by this.  

Arthurs unofficial talent is his Fish. his house is covered in walls of aquariums, housing an array of pretty relaxing fish and also horrifying deepsea muttations he gets from his contacts in the Capitol. he shows pictures of his favourites (aka the most terrifying) to people like a proud father. watching people try to avoid him after getting caught by this is the 1 thing that brings him joy. 

for his official talent he makes really, really ornate sculptures which capitolites pay absurd amounts of money for. 

71 is a wildly unhinged boy mentored by Arthur (he hasn’t mentored since the quarter quell so the Capitol is SUPER interested in this; sort of a spur of the moment last hurrah for him, but he was intense enough that whoever was thinking of going up that year bowed out and let him have it)

devil-may-care kind of guy. would’ve been absolutely terrifying if mentored by Callista, but Arthur's watched Calli’s villains die every time and tones it down a bit. 

I kind of want this kids insane parents to have named him VICTOR as a baby and him having to change it when he gets to residential. he is happy to oblige because hes been getting shit for that his literal entire life. He’s renamed Percival. (kind of sophisticated/sexy without being an overboard Victor Name™, and hands him an array of easy nicknames in percy/perce/val. also having a mythological name is mandatory for an arthur kid.)

Arthur was the villages weird loner who never leaves his house and only talks to his horrifying “fish”, so the whiplash is HARD when after Percival wins he goes straight to mama bird mode and goes MY BABY NEEDS SOCIALISE and becomes HIGHLY invested in all village activities. Baby is going to make FRIENDS and LIKE IT. 

Arthurs intense laser focus mode is genetic and perce makes it his lifes mission to befriend robin. this unexpectedly works, and his how robin actually starts taking place in village activities and in public spaces. when perce wins robin is really hitting the Oh My God Hormones stage, which is hard for her bc perce is super hot. 

Arthur won in 37, golden years victor after Hera/Odin. Mentored by Adessa. First lower class/non Offering victor bc they were phasing that out (he’s a townie but poor; his dad was a higher up in district office and hes the product of an affair, was pushed into the centre as a win/win situation for the dad (if he dies good riddance, if he doesn’t they get a victor, womp womp). Arthur has negative interest in romance (see: his parents) but does really want a Friend of His Very Own. Adessa mentors for years and gets Nero, but its WEIRD because Nero already has a readymade friend in Callista. Arthur then focusses his attention to getting A Baby of His Very Own, by which I mean he mentors until they make him stop. (the rule about not mentoring for more than 3 years in a row is his fault & he is not sorry. hes the one the people training the mentor point at and go ‘do not follow’.) AND then after he stops mentoring Brutus wins, which is psychically tormenting. The 40s are a bad time for Arthur but they are a worse time for Adessa because she not only has a baby Nero but ALSO has to deal with her previously levelheaded golden Victor going completely off the rails. 

I think it would be interesting to have a role reversal with regards to persona vs. actual personality. Val was born to be Over The Top, but has to tone down his personality times a million to fit with his Games persona. He is 100% more unhinged without cameras. He contrasts Devon with his Kissing Killer stuff vs. his actual personality, but in the other direction. Val had really good acting scores so pulled it off to a T. 

His persona is more… predator lying in wait, while his personality is bitingyoubitingyoubitingyou. Percival is all cold smiles and indifference while Val does finger guns and makes necklaces out of peoples teeth. 

IN LIVING COLOUR -- Robin.

What's Alaina's relationship with the victors like? Also besides Devon who is the first one allowed to meet her?

I’m going to take a while to chew on the first question because some of her relationships I still haven’t had to time flesh out fully, but I can answer the second one! :)

So the first person to meet her besides Devon was surprisingly Enobaria! I’m currently writing this scene and will share it when it’s done. They knew each other beforehand because of the sparring, so Devon thought that it would be a grounding moment for Ally and he was right. It’s super cute, actually, they have a spar and then Devon joins in, and although Enobaria would NEVER say it out loud Alaina feels like she’s proud of her.

(assuming that Katniss and Peeta’s win still happened here)

Hi, welcome! :)

Katniss and Peeta did win the year before her, and I see that as the main reason for having the 12yo only games in the first place! I’m also toying with the idea of the reaping being deliberately pushed back to ensure that Prim is still 12 when it happens, but not sure if that’s what I want to do for sure yet.

Alaina does know things are fraught, but has NO idea it is to the level that it could bring down the Capitol. D2 and the Centre work hard to teach the kids that it the Capitol is invincible - saying ‘the districts are rumbling’ is safe, but saying that there’s going to be a revolution? NOOO.

After being reaped, she realises that there is a lot of pressure on her and the male tribute to play things right. The mentors are really on them and the Centre sends them with image trainers and PR workers to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. I think it’s likely that she just chalks this down to them being less trained, especially as then she’s just focusing on surviving. But it does give her this uneasy feeling.

Because from the moment I saw that I keep imagining an open concept with bright walls and a lot of natural sunlight.

Does she have any special requests when it comes to her house? like a big kitchen or a gym or a library?

She definitely does have a very open plan house with big windows, I also think her living room is one of those glass conservatory things that is attached to the back of the house so it’s almost like you’re outside anyhow.

I don’t think she necessarily asked for that more than Devon knew that’s what she would need. She was extremely drugged up and out of it when she came out of the Arena, so I don’t actually think she had anything in particular to say? She’s 12 and has no idea about any kind of interior design or what makes a house a nice place to live.

Now that I come to think of it, I don’t know if Devon would ask her in the first place. She really wasn’t in a good way when she came out and went non-verbal for a little bit (until Devon and the Centre image trainers that they brought out to the Capitol for her managed to coax her into it for the celebrations).

Alaina does like reading and does like school! But I don’t know if a library is particularly her vibe? Walls of bookshelves on all sides would feel quite claustrophobic for her I think. She probably has one wall that’s got built-in bookshelves in the living room. And Devon is keen to integrate her into village community and let her know that she is welcome, so if she is working out she’s going to the central Village gym.