(no subject)
OUT of CHARACTER
Name: Kait
Other characters: none
IN CHARACTER
Name: Valerius Tor
Alias: none
Fandom: OC
Canon point/AU: Current Panem
Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
putamadre
PB: Iker Casillas
Age: 33
History:
Every little kid in District 1 wants to be a Tribute, and little Valerius was no exception. District 1’s trainers watched everything they did - how else to decide who would be a future volunteer? As the kids got older, they started to learn that they had to distinguish themselves. Valerius’ marks were above average, but not the kind of phenomenal that the D1 trainers looked for. After one particularly disastrous day, he went to unwind, by kicking balls into a net in a variety of ways.
As it turns out, he had enough skill and (quick) variety to get Noticed.
He was taken to the training facilities and introduced to the girl in his year. He didn’t train alongside her - no point in getting attached - but they did learn how to use their talents to complement each other. Games that can come down to the final two being from the same District are the most dramatic, after all. When it came time for the Games, he was confident, and sure he was ready.
Actually being there was different. Valerius eventually won his Games by using a ball he’d been gifted. He dropkicked it as hard as he could at his opponent - Emmett, a relative underdog from District 6 - only expecting to stun him. He definitely wasn’t expecting the ball to explode on impact, and he couldn’t look away from the blood stain that used to be his opponent’s upper body as he was all but dragged out of the Arena.
As much as he wanted to leave after that, he couldn’t. There would always be other Tributes to mentor. At least one of them wouldn’t make it back, so he told himself not to care, not to get attached. Combined with his always being hard on them, he quickly got a reputation for, well, being an asshole.
Former Victors are still handled through their Escorts and their staff, and it was inevitable that eventually he'd meet all levels of them. He hadn’t known what to make of Sergius when he met him. Consider all the victors from D1; why would anyone care about him that much? He’d been too stunned to crush it at the start, and couldn’t bring himself to do it later. At first, he wished he had, because he didn’t and still doesn’t think he’s the sort of person someone would want to look up to. He decided he’d keep him around as a distraction at first, but before he knew it, it had become a real friendship. Later, when he went back to District 1, pretty much everyone expected that Sergius would go with him.
Not long after Sergius became District 1’s acting escort, Valerius was called back up to the Capitol. The influx of foreigners arriving to represent District 1 had started to become greater than their average quality, and whatever he’d done being a mentor had noticeably worked. One in his position cannot say no when the Capitol calls, as much as one might want to, so, naturally, he went back. It hadn’t been long enough, as far as he was concerned.
Fucking fireworks.
Presentation: He hates everyone.
That's the impression he gives out, at least. There are plenty of clips in the Capitol’s archives of other D1 Victors, or even his own Tributes, trying to get a rise out of him but all they ever get is an exasperated glare - or, if it’s something particularly egregious, pointed ignorance. Some people in the Capitol joke about it, but of course he doesn’t actually hatefun his life; he’s a Victor, so why would he?
While it may actually be mostly inaccurate, it works for him. If people think it, maybe they’ll talk to the other D1 victors and leave him alone. That said, he’s never particularly mean - in fact he’s usually surprisingly nice. He doesn't smile or compliment people often, but when he does, he means it 10000%.
Motivations: He really really hates everyone.
Actually he doesn’t; he just has very little patience for people that he knows aren't working as hard as they can. He knows you can do better so please start doing as well as he knows you can and stop screwing around. He’s just as hard on himself as he is on everybody else, though. He hates feeling like he’s being useless, but he hates just as much that aside from mentoring new Tributes, just about the only other thing to do is sit there and look pretty. After he spent the majority of his teenage years training as hard as he could, he can’t just sit still. Even though the Capitol is how it’s always been, and nothing has changed since he’s been there, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get their lifestyle.
At the same time, though, he has a seemingly infinite amount of patience. He’s very rarely actually pissed off; instead his general mood is some combination of resigned and exasperated. He isn’t a pot of constantly-simmering rage, but if you’re what causes him to boil over, run. It’s tough love, and while he may be harsh, it’s never anything more than what he knows his Tributes can handle, or they wouldn’t be there. The key is that he feels responsible for them, and wants to see them do well - for their sake, not his; after all, he’s already proven himself.
He doesn’t drink. At all. He doesn't want to fall into using it as an escape. The only way he'd know for sure if he would is to have one, and he doesn't want to find out. He doesn't use drugs either, for the same reason, but it’s incredibly tempting, even now.
Being a Victor doesn’t come without scars. Valerius was lucky enough to escape without any real physical ones, but his mental state is, to put it simply, a mess. He never was the type to talk to people, and the Arena guaranteed that that wouldn’t change. A lot of what he’s going through he hasn’t told anyone, especially because it would help, tying directly back into his survivor guilt. He’s got severe PTSD, still, but he can’t say anything about it because at least he’s alive. Due to his win, he’s also triggered by loud noises, such as fireworks. Spending time in the Capitol is always a real blast.
Finally, he doesn't get why anyone in the Capitol would care that much about him in particular. He's a Victor, and the Capitol is the Capitol, but as he sees it, his win was an accident. Luck, some might say, though sometimes he's not sure if it was good or bad.
Setting: Valerius hasn’t had any real agency since he won the Games. Sure, he could mentor however he wanted, but that’s what he does because that’s what the Capitol wants him to do. Going back to District 1 meant his leash was much looser, and he’s very much not looking forward to being under that much scrutiny again. He hasn’t seen his family since he went off to train to volunteer, which would have been his only obstacle to openly rebelling. If something or someone crossed his path and that was the result, he would have exactly zero problem going right along.
SAMPLES
First Person Thread:
[His expression is stormy, and it takes him a minute or two before he talks. It's impossible to forget that the Capitol is watching everything he says.]
These Games... I don't see why anyone here would be complaining. [But the Capitol can kindly go get fucked.]
Don't you all like the glamour and drama and here it is, constantly, year-round. Silver platter. What if a Tribute came from dead last to Victor the next time? Well. That's dramatic, isn't it?
But I'm jealous. Julia, Emmett, all the others, they can't come back. The new Victors? Don't have blood on their hands, not like me, or any of the rest of us who won before all this. The new Tributes? Don't even understand what they're doing for the Districts they're representing. They can't fucking die; they can't know what it's like to fight for their lives if all that happens when they lose is a fucking slap on the wrist. [Deep breaths, deep breaths.]
They didn't ask to get dragged from who-knows-where for this. I can't hate them for it. But seeing them perfectly fine a week after a throat's slit or a skull's bashed in makes it really fucking hard.
Prose:
Not this shit again.
There are several reasons he can think of - a test of loyalty, to make sure he can still fit the part, maybe even just because. None of them fucking matter. He sighed. Just get it over with, he tells himself. Even if they did decide to throw him back into the Arena, nobody would stay dead. He doesn't know what they want or what they're expecting, but he's damn well not going to just stand there. He can still fuck them up if he really wanted to. If only they would take it that way.
It was just how he’d remembered it; cold, sterile, the Gamemakers behind the glass, all the weapons anyone could think of just laid out. He picks up a knife, and it all comes back. He's calm, detached, taking all the time in the world to go over to the dummies, and the next thing he knows, there's one that's a pile of straw. His breathing is heavy. The knife clatters on the floor. He glares at what used to be the dummy, and gives the straw a kick that looks more nonchalant than he's feeling.
He almost laughs. If they wanted to be sure you can't take the Arena out of the Victor, he doesn't know what else to give them.
What is your character scored: 10/11 because lol career
Token: His token was a necklace that his family gave him when he picked to go Tribute training. It’s nothing fancy, barely more than just a chain. He wore it up through his Victory, when wearing it afterwards would just put him back in the mindset of the Arena. He still keeps it, though, since it was the last thing they gave him.
Additional information:
Past victor:
Valerius and Julia, his fellow D1 Tribute, fought in an arena that was made up of snowy hills. Soon after the Games started, they entered into a final four alliance. After a skirmish with another shortly after the Games started, they were the only two left between the two groups. That only lasted a few minutes more, though, since she’d gotten a mortal wound. She asked him to kill her sooner, and not let her linger, but in the end, all he could do was watch as she wished him luck, then slit her own throat.
Her death planted the first seed - they were both Careers; she should have tried harder to stay alive, and he should have had no problem killing her. But she didn't and he couldn't, and it just didn't sit right with him, though it wasn't until after the Games that he would start to realize why. Valerius killed more Tributes before making his way to the final two.When he won, instead of relief or pride, all he could think was that it was an accident. It made him start to think about what the Games really were, that what had happened to Julia or any of the other Tributes could have easily happened to him.
He closed himself off even more after that, and very quickly became disillusioned with the Capitol and their politics. The only reason he watches the Games now is because he feels like he owes it to the Tributes he mentored, and he stops watching when they die. He’s not stupid - or suicidal - enough to voice any of the anti-Capitol sentiment he harbors, nor has he quit to open rebellion. After being away from the Capitol, his hate for them has cooled down, but at the same time, not abated.
Hunger Games AU and OC:
Valerius is from District 1. Like with the Capitol, he’s grown disillusioned with the way his District treats the games. There are other things to love about District 1, like its own culture, or its climate, and most importantly, its quiet. It’s far from perfect, especially with its fascination of the murder games, but it’s home.
Name: Kait
Other characters: none
IN CHARACTER
Name: Valerius Tor
Alias: none
Fandom: OC
Canon point/AU: Current Panem
Journal:
putamadrePB: Iker Casillas
Age: 33
History:
Every little kid in District 1 wants to be a Tribute, and little Valerius was no exception. District 1’s trainers watched everything they did - how else to decide who would be a future volunteer? As the kids got older, they started to learn that they had to distinguish themselves. Valerius’ marks were above average, but not the kind of phenomenal that the D1 trainers looked for. After one particularly disastrous day, he went to unwind, by kicking balls into a net in a variety of ways.
As it turns out, he had enough skill and (quick) variety to get Noticed.
He was taken to the training facilities and introduced to the girl in his year. He didn’t train alongside her - no point in getting attached - but they did learn how to use their talents to complement each other. Games that can come down to the final two being from the same District are the most dramatic, after all. When it came time for the Games, he was confident, and sure he was ready.
Actually being there was different. Valerius eventually won his Games by using a ball he’d been gifted. He dropkicked it as hard as he could at his opponent - Emmett, a relative underdog from District 6 - only expecting to stun him. He definitely wasn’t expecting the ball to explode on impact, and he couldn’t look away from the blood stain that used to be his opponent’s upper body as he was all but dragged out of the Arena.
As much as he wanted to leave after that, he couldn’t. There would always be other Tributes to mentor. At least one of them wouldn’t make it back, so he told himself not to care, not to get attached. Combined with his always being hard on them, he quickly got a reputation for, well, being an asshole.
Former Victors are still handled through their Escorts and their staff, and it was inevitable that eventually he'd meet all levels of them. He hadn’t known what to make of Sergius when he met him. Consider all the victors from D1; why would anyone care about him that much? He’d been too stunned to crush it at the start, and couldn’t bring himself to do it later. At first, he wished he had, because he didn’t and still doesn’t think he’s the sort of person someone would want to look up to. He decided he’d keep him around as a distraction at first, but before he knew it, it had become a real friendship. Later, when he went back to District 1, pretty much everyone expected that Sergius would go with him.
Not long after Sergius became District 1’s acting escort, Valerius was called back up to the Capitol. The influx of foreigners arriving to represent District 1 had started to become greater than their average quality, and whatever he’d done being a mentor had noticeably worked. One in his position cannot say no when the Capitol calls, as much as one might want to, so, naturally, he went back. It hadn’t been long enough, as far as he was concerned.
Fucking fireworks.
Presentation: He hates everyone.
That's the impression he gives out, at least. There are plenty of clips in the Capitol’s archives of other D1 Victors, or even his own Tributes, trying to get a rise out of him but all they ever get is an exasperated glare - or, if it’s something particularly egregious, pointed ignorance. Some people in the Capitol joke about it, but of course he doesn’t actually hate
While it may actually be mostly inaccurate, it works for him. If people think it, maybe they’ll talk to the other D1 victors and leave him alone. That said, he’s never particularly mean - in fact he’s usually surprisingly nice. He doesn't smile or compliment people often, but when he does, he means it 10000%.
Motivations: He really really hates everyone.
Actually he doesn’t; he just has very little patience for people that he knows aren't working as hard as they can. He knows you can do better so please start doing as well as he knows you can and stop screwing around. He’s just as hard on himself as he is on everybody else, though. He hates feeling like he’s being useless, but he hates just as much that aside from mentoring new Tributes, just about the only other thing to do is sit there and look pretty. After he spent the majority of his teenage years training as hard as he could, he can’t just sit still. Even though the Capitol is how it’s always been, and nothing has changed since he’s been there, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get their lifestyle.
At the same time, though, he has a seemingly infinite amount of patience. He’s very rarely actually pissed off; instead his general mood is some combination of resigned and exasperated. He isn’t a pot of constantly-simmering rage, but if you’re what causes him to boil over, run. It’s tough love, and while he may be harsh, it’s never anything more than what he knows his Tributes can handle, or they wouldn’t be there. The key is that he feels responsible for them, and wants to see them do well - for their sake, not his; after all, he’s already proven himself.
He doesn’t drink. At all. He doesn't want to fall into using it as an escape. The only way he'd know for sure if he would is to have one, and he doesn't want to find out. He doesn't use drugs either, for the same reason, but it’s incredibly tempting, even now.
Being a Victor doesn’t come without scars. Valerius was lucky enough to escape without any real physical ones, but his mental state is, to put it simply, a mess. He never was the type to talk to people, and the Arena guaranteed that that wouldn’t change. A lot of what he’s going through he hasn’t told anyone, especially because it would help, tying directly back into his survivor guilt. He’s got severe PTSD, still, but he can’t say anything about it because at least he’s alive. Due to his win, he’s also triggered by loud noises, such as fireworks. Spending time in the Capitol is always a real blast.
Finally, he doesn't get why anyone in the Capitol would care that much about him in particular. He's a Victor, and the Capitol is the Capitol, but as he sees it, his win was an accident. Luck, some might say, though sometimes he's not sure if it was good or bad.
Setting: Valerius hasn’t had any real agency since he won the Games. Sure, he could mentor however he wanted, but that’s what he does because that’s what the Capitol wants him to do. Going back to District 1 meant his leash was much looser, and he’s very much not looking forward to being under that much scrutiny again. He hasn’t seen his family since he went off to train to volunteer, which would have been his only obstacle to openly rebelling. If something or someone crossed his path and that was the result, he would have exactly zero problem going right along.
SAMPLES
First Person Thread:
[His expression is stormy, and it takes him a minute or two before he talks. It's impossible to forget that the Capitol is watching everything he says.]
These Games... I don't see why anyone here would be complaining. [But the Capitol can kindly go get fucked.]
Don't you all like the glamour and drama and here it is, constantly, year-round. Silver platter. What if a Tribute came from dead last to Victor the next time? Well. That's dramatic, isn't it?
But I'm jealous. Julia, Emmett, all the others, they can't come back. The new Victors? Don't have blood on their hands, not like me, or any of the rest of us who won before all this. The new Tributes? Don't even understand what they're doing for the Districts they're representing. They can't fucking die; they can't know what it's like to fight for their lives if all that happens when they lose is a fucking slap on the wrist. [Deep breaths, deep breaths.]
They didn't ask to get dragged from who-knows-where for this. I can't hate them for it. But seeing them perfectly fine a week after a throat's slit or a skull's bashed in makes it really fucking hard.
Prose:
Not this shit again.
There are several reasons he can think of - a test of loyalty, to make sure he can still fit the part, maybe even just because. None of them fucking matter. He sighed. Just get it over with, he tells himself. Even if they did decide to throw him back into the Arena, nobody would stay dead. He doesn't know what they want or what they're expecting, but he's damn well not going to just stand there. He can still fuck them up if he really wanted to. If only they would take it that way.
It was just how he’d remembered it; cold, sterile, the Gamemakers behind the glass, all the weapons anyone could think of just laid out. He picks up a knife, and it all comes back. He's calm, detached, taking all the time in the world to go over to the dummies, and the next thing he knows, there's one that's a pile of straw. His breathing is heavy. The knife clatters on the floor. He glares at what used to be the dummy, and gives the straw a kick that looks more nonchalant than he's feeling.
He almost laughs. If they wanted to be sure you can't take the Arena out of the Victor, he doesn't know what else to give them.
What is your character scored: 10/11 because lol career
Token: His token was a necklace that his family gave him when he picked to go Tribute training. It’s nothing fancy, barely more than just a chain. He wore it up through his Victory, when wearing it afterwards would just put him back in the mindset of the Arena. He still keeps it, though, since it was the last thing they gave him.
Additional information:
Past victor:
Valerius and Julia, his fellow D1 Tribute, fought in an arena that was made up of snowy hills. Soon after the Games started, they entered into a final four alliance. After a skirmish with another shortly after the Games started, they were the only two left between the two groups. That only lasted a few minutes more, though, since she’d gotten a mortal wound. She asked him to kill her sooner, and not let her linger, but in the end, all he could do was watch as she wished him luck, then slit her own throat.
Her death planted the first seed - they were both Careers; she should have tried harder to stay alive, and he should have had no problem killing her. But she didn't and he couldn't, and it just didn't sit right with him, though it wasn't until after the Games that he would start to realize why. Valerius killed more Tributes before making his way to the final two.When he won, instead of relief or pride, all he could think was that it was an accident. It made him start to think about what the Games really were, that what had happened to Julia or any of the other Tributes could have easily happened to him.
He closed himself off even more after that, and very quickly became disillusioned with the Capitol and their politics. The only reason he watches the Games now is because he feels like he owes it to the Tributes he mentored, and he stops watching when they die. He’s not stupid - or suicidal - enough to voice any of the anti-Capitol sentiment he harbors, nor has he quit to open rebellion. After being away from the Capitol, his hate for them has cooled down, but at the same time, not abated.
Hunger Games AU and OC:
Valerius is from District 1. Like with the Capitol, he’s grown disillusioned with the way his District treats the games. There are other things to love about District 1, like its own culture, or its climate, and most importantly, its quiet. It’s far from perfect, especially with its fascination of the murder games, but it’s home.