CHAPTER III. PROLOGUE III

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

LYSISTRATA VICKERS (33) - CO-HEAD GAMEMAKER

Lysistrata tried her best to focus on her painting, a white stallion, proudly standing in the middle of a grim forest. Despite there being visible violence surrounding the horse, it stood strong, as it knew that if there was a will, there was a way, and it would be able to overcome the struggles it had previously been presented with. Lysistrata had always loved horses, and despite them being way way in the past, some of her fondest memories had been riding bareback on a horse similar to the one in her painting in her backyard, with her father behind her, ensuring she wouldn't fall off. Of course all of this was well prior to the war, when Lysistrata was able to enjoy the simplicity of life, and it had been close to thirty years since she had last ridden a horse. Granted, any toddler would be able to enjoy life's simplicities nowadays, but more likely than not, they'd soon realize that they were born into a society that operated to oppress them. As unfortunate as it was, all Lysistrata could do was be happy she was placed high enough on the social pyramid that her issues were somewhat irrelevant. She worried about being an admirable Head Gamemaker now that Coriolanus had moved on, and being a good wife, but she overall had it way better off compared to those whose trauma from the war involved losses far more significant than the loss of the ability to ride horses.

"What are you painting?" Lysistrata's wife, Clemensia peeped into their bedroom where she was sitting on the window seat with the curtains opened halfway and a large canvas in front of her, "The Snows are coming to dinner soon, you know!"

"It's not finished yet!" Lysistrata turned the canvas away, "I'll show you when it's done."

Lysistrata never liked Clemensia to see her art before it was done, but unfortunately, she wasn't too good at finishing paintings so their penthouse was filled with turned around cavasses that Clemesnia would secretly peek at while Lysistrata was asleep. Lysistrata was aware of it, and found it wildly less embarrassing than being awake while Clemensia saw. She'd been painting a lot lately, so the hallways had more clutter than usual, meaning she'd spent the whole afternoon cleaning up, only to start another project she'd likely never complete. She wasn't blind to the fact that most of her painting came as a result of being nervous for the Games, but saying that aloud would make the fact that the reapings were the very next day, all the more realistic.

"You're allowed to say you're nervous," Clemensia sat on their bed, fluffing the pillows with her hands, "I am too!"

"You don't seem it," Lysistrata rolled her eyes, reflecting on the fearlessness her wife had shown ever since it was revealed they'd be taking over the Head Gamemaker post together, "I don't know why Coryo didn't just have you take the entire lead."

"Don't say that!" Clemensia threw one of the pillows off the bed at at Lyistrata's knees, causing her to flinch but luckily not knock over the canvas, "He had both of us do it because he knows we can both do amazing things together!"

Clemensia was right on that one. Togetherness was definitely a consistent theme in their twelve year long whirlwind romance. If either of the two had been asked where they saw themselves in the future when they were eighteen, married to one another and being Co-Head Gamemakers would have been the last thing they'd say, yet here they were. Once Coriolanus took over as Head Gamemaker and had them assist him, they began spending more and more time together, and before either of them could even think twice, they were kissing under the table while he was in the restroom and planning their future together. While Lysistrata painted, Clemensia was an amazing songstress, often taking inspiration for her lyrics in her paintings. They were rarely separate nowadays, but neither minded, as it truly was a treat to have your best friend and most passionate lover wrapped into the same person.

"Hopefully he's right then," Lysistrata groaned, knowing that if she continued to semi-mope her wife would compliment her, which was her favorite thing.

"You're the best!" Clemensia exclaimed, Lysistrata thrilled her plan had worked like a charm.

"No I am not!"

"Yes, you are." Clemensia got off the bed and stroked her wife's chin, "You're so good."

Lysistrata could tell she was trying to initiate sex, and while she obviously wasn't opposed, she did really want to finish her paining, and the Snows were likely to arrive soon.

"You'll have to wait until after dinner," Lysistrata put down Clemensia's hand, "We have people to impress."

Clemensia whimpered as she got up and left the room. Lysistrata looked at her painting once more, and then at her wife. She examined how the horse was just the bottom half without a head and then looked at Clemensia once more. She combined the images in her head then came up with the most brilliant idea for how she'd finish her painting.

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the final prologue! Next up is, you guessed it, intros/reapings! I received over 40 submissions, so I'm very sorry if your tribute didn't make it, and I hope you read the story anyways. And now… without further ado…

The Tributes of A Perfect Union: The 26th Hunger Games

District 1: Eros Fortuna (18) and Fila Ollaris (18)

District 2: Bellerophon "Bell" Christos (18) and Moira Mikkel (18)

District 3: Edison Montparnasse (18) and Liana Taylor (15)

District 4: Kingston Havlock (18) and Lana Lotus (18)

District 5: Clancy Dietrich (17) and Ares Krishnan (17)

District 6: Camber Yaws (15) and Sperry Holster (16)

District 7: Palmer Adams (18) and Marcel Hemlock (16)

District 8: Challis Lam (15) and Teresa McClean (18)

District 9: Alarico de Oro (18) and Saffron "Saf" Aldeniz (17)

District 10: Alabastor Contreras (12) and Piper Sanderson (16)

District 11: Pith Plastid (15) and Delphra Kirk (17)

District 12: Morgan Barrow (13) and Etta Wiseman (15)

I find that doing reapings in a linear order can be sort of boring, especially because you basically get all the careers all at once, so in an attempt to vary the order, I did a sequence randomizer to get the following order for the reapings.

5, 1, 7, 2, 6, 3, 10, 12, 8, 4, 9, 11

So that means that District 5 is up first and should be published within the next few days. I hope you're as excited as I am to get this show on the road!

See you then,

Lindsay