Life in Panem could never afford to stop.

In the districts, there was always work to be done.

Products to craft and export to the Capitol. The watchful eye of a Peacekeeper, making sure that quotas were meant. Boxes stored on trains and carried off. Of course these lovely goodies were never meant to stay in their homes. Rarely could the district keep their coveted creations.

Because who would ever deny the Capitol of their bread and circuses?

Oh, if only they realized how much effort it all took. Crates made of trees chopped down in District 7. Secured with twine produced in District 8. Thrown on a train constructed in District 6, run on renewable resources provided by District 5. The Avoxes on the train were sustained by a diet of fish from District 4, fruit from District 11, and steak from District 10, whose cows were fed from District 9 wheat.

Contact between trains happened via District 3 technology. They passed into the stations constructed of stone and adorned with District 1 jewels. Security consisted of Peacekeepers trained in District 2. And teeny weeny District 12 existed too, but coal mining was starting to grow irrelevant.

Truth was, people in Panem were irreplaceable.

Did the Capitol know about any of this? Did they understand all the hard work that went into the luxuries they carelessly bought and wasted?

If you asked Nero Snow, he'd mumble something about being an ignorant Capitolite and shoo you from his home. Then he'd slam the door behind you, lock it, and draw the curtains over his windows.

The man himself was lying across his couch, staring lifelessly at the TV. There was nothing interesting to be shown. Just newscasters interviewing each other about the 101st Games, to start in about a month. Gossip about Cassidy Tayori, whom they had nicknamed "Panem's Sweetheart". Questioning the aces President Snow and Head Gamemaker Leigh-Snow had up their sleeves. Rumours about the other two Head Gamemakers, who had apparently quit.

Porthos and Aramis quit? Good for them. Now they got the chance to be normal and live out the rest of their lives by their own rules. Nero was sick and tired of losing family members to political mind games.

It had been a long time since the President's father first became disillusioned with Panem. When was it? When he attended his father's will reading? He heard Coriolanus skip over everyone entirely to hand the title to the baby of the family, little Rosalina. She wasn't supposed to be able to handle it. Nobody puts the government in the control of a child.

That was the last time Nero was ever seen in the public eye.

Or was he first broken when he made his debut on the biggest stage in the Capitol? He had been trying this routine so hard, under so many teachers, and he had every little detail memorized. His feet ached and his legs were sore, but it felt so good. He had danced his heart out, as if he didn't have a care in the world. Then he stopped and waited for the applause he rightfully deserved at the time.

Like he hadn't betrayed his father by running away from his duties.

Like he wasn't completely out of his element in a side of the Capitol he'd never belong to.

There would be no standing ovation for a traitor.

That had to be the worst night of his life.

There was a knock at the door, then it opened seconds after. Clearly, the visitor didn't care about whether or not Nero had time to get up and answer.

"Dad? I'm here! You better have cleaned up your living room!"
Nero didn't respond.
"Do you hear me? Where are you anyways?"

Maximus was soon standing across from the couch, blocking Nero's view of the TV. He carried with him a bag of groceries. He was wearing a dress shirt and neatly ironed slacks. "Well, this certainly looks better than it did yesterday. Anyways, do you mind giving me a hand in the kitchen? We're having an important dinner tonight."

Sure. When was the last time Nero Snow had anything important in his life? But this was his house and he couldn't just let his son do all the work. He hadn't been in the best of moods lately and seeing Maximus washing dirty dishes in the sink filled him with a pang of guilt.

Maximus had given up a huge part of his life to take care of his father. Nero rarely had anything in common with his prim and proper Snow children, but if he and his son shared some kind of common ground, it was their distaste for the late Coriolanus Snow. Leave it to Maximus to be the difficult child, to rebel and snark back until he got his way and was deemed too unfit for politics by his grandfather. He quietly slipped from publicity and nobody bothered to hunt him down.

Not to say Maximus wasn't doing well for himself. They all had money. His last name gave him plenty of connections, but he had a tendency to flutter from job to job, rarely staying in any occupation for longer than a few years.

In the kitchen, Maximus quickly put together two sandwiches for lunch. They sat down and began to eat. Finally, in a weary and hoarse voice, Nero asked a question. "What is the occasion?"

"Rosalina is coming over for dinner tonight."

Oh.

Well...shit. That probably meant she had some kind of business to deal with in the area, and Nero accidentally got caught up in it. No way she'd just take time out of her busy day to deal with him. And he really didn't want to make his daughter feel like he was wasting her time. He was tired of being pitied by everyone.

Maximus seemed to get it. "Hey. It was her idea. She called me and asked and I said that we were both free tonight."
"Ah…"
"Yeah. That's all I know. Not sure what made her decide but...what should we serve?"

They settled on steak and lobster tails, along with Caesar salad on the side and personal lava cakes for dessert. The cakes had actually been baked by Porthos, who sent them to his cousin as some kind of gift. Maximus went to the basement to find a nice bottle of wine that hadn't already been opened and chugged from by Nero.

At least he wasn't drinking as much as he did in his thirties and forties. Nero kept telling himself he was eventually going to kick his alcoholism for good and clean himself up. Do it for his children. Get his life back on track once and for all.

But it was just so easy to relapse…

Rosalina showed up just after 7. Instantly Nero felt under dressed; the finest clothing in his closet was really never going to compare to her wardrobe. At least he could give the impression he wasn't some washed up drunken has-been who fell from grace a long time ago.

"Good evening, dear."
"Good evening, Dad."
"Would you like to come inside?"

"That would be nice." Rosalina slipped off her coast. Nero hoped she didn't expect an Avox to take it for her because that was not a luxury here. So she just hung it up on the rack behind her and they both silently agreed to pretend things were not awkward. "Do you know where Maximus is?"

"In the kitchen."

It was like watching a young woman suddenly morph into a little girl. The second she stepped foot into the kitchen, Rosalina tackled her big brother, where he was standing at the stove. Maximus barely had enough time to turn around and catch her. Rosalina wrapped her legs around his waist and he grabbed onto hers to support her. The two siblings held on to each other tightly.

The President would never act like this in public. This was not public. This was family.

At least Maximus was. She never hugged her father, never held his hand, never kissed him goodnight, never gave him any kind of physical touch. Their relationship never demanded it. Nero wasn't that kind of guy anyways, more likely to shy away from outstretched arms than to fall into them. Physical touch made him squeamish. Yet he wondered if Rosalina was here to see him or her brother.

"Maxie! Oh my goodness, I've missed you."
"Hey Rosie! Missed ya too. So glad you could be here with us tonight."

Us. Right. Rosalina peeked over Maximus's shoulder, locking eyes with her dad. Nero just nodded. Really, what more could he do? He was only the father of the President in blood, and that was it.

Dinner was quiet. Nero was used to silent mealtimes because he rarely talked and Maximus usually didn't bother to keep up the conversation anyways. But at least the food was good. Nero couldn't remember the last time he had eaten something so formal. Sometimes, a fresh lobster tail could easily cost quite a few coins, especially if 4 was having flooding troubles again and couldn't afford to ship as much seafood to the Capitol.

They dug into their cakes, Rosalina careful not to let warm melted chocolate ruin her makeup. The wine made a decent pairing, though Nero had noticed Maximus's insistence on pouring the glasses and giving his dad less to drink. It was probably for the best, anyway. No need to make a drunken fool of himself in front of his daughter.

For a moment, he could pretend they were a normal family and that nothing had changed. Like a normal family, they'd gather together at the table for meals. As if they wouldn't all be going their separate ways tonight, like total strangers.

Rosalina wiped at her mouth with her napkin. "Well, thank you both for tonight. That was a lovely meal. Unfortunately, I must make my departure."
"Can't stay for one more glass of wine?" Maximus teased her.
"I really wish I could, but you know how it is. I leave the office for one hour and everything is thrown into disarray. Could barely arrange for security to drive me out here; they were so worried."

The smile on Maximus's face started to fade, but he quickly forced it before Rosalina noticed. "I understand. I hope you had a nice time. We'll see you around, Rosie. Right?"

"Of course." And then she was gone, off to the world of Capitolites and glitter and gold and Snow. Maximus soon had to leave as well. Nero would be a fool to think either of them could stay forever because good things rarely lasted in Panem.

He sat back down on the couch, too tired to put away the drying dishes or change into something comfier. Sometimes, if Nero felt way too exhausted to move to the bedroom, he'd crash here. He was used to being by himself, even if it did suck sometimes. His thoughts could be so intrusive.

His brain's favourite trick was to whisper into his ear a bunch of life. Your children are only pretending. They're disappointed in you. They hate you. You're a terrible father who was never present for the things that really matter.

"Shut up," Nero sighed.
You've only been good for one thing and that's letting your family down. No wonder your own father never believed in you. You waste your life away wine bottle after wine bottle.

"I said, shut up."

His brain stopped. For now, at least. Nero considered turning on the TV to drown himself out should those nasty thoughts come back, but no. It wasn't worth it. All this news and gossip and shit about upcoming Games was not going to do him any favours. It would just make him feel worse. Athos and Rosalina were always way in over their heads when it came to the Games. Someday, the districts would bite back and it would all come crashing down.

Except life in Panem couldn't afford that, could it? They needed the districts. Without them, the Capitol's foundation would crumble into the sea.

This time of the year always sucked anyways.

Another prologue, though slightly shorter than the previous ones, to meet a couple more characters in the Capitol, mainly the rest of the Snow family.

I'm also announcing the due date for all submissions, both tribute and escort. The day afterwards, I will post the final prologue, along with the cast list and the blog link. My profile will be updated shortly afterwards to reflect this.

The Death of a Star due date is: Friday, June 12th.

The reason this will be the last update between now and the due date is because there's really only so many prologues one can write. On top of that, I have a stockpile of about half of the introductions waiting to go, with only escort POVs to add. I want to get my stockpile a bit larger so I can try and maintain a consistent speed as we go along. I also want to devote a little more time to wrapping up HGG.

I'm also refining the DoaS blog and making sure it's good to go. Due to the story's format and the fact that only my characters will be getting POVs, I invite everyone to write from their own tribute's POV and send me those scenes. They can be an introduction, an alternate exploration of the pre-Games portion, or even an AU if you want. I will collect any scene sent to me and post it on the blog as additional reading. Reading the blog will not be mandatory and you are not required to write extra content if you don't want to, but it's a way of getting to know the non-POV tributes a bit better. DM or PM me if you have any questions.

So that's all I have to say for now. Again, the due date is June 12th. If you have any concerns about this or are worried you might not be able to meet the deadline, please send me a PM on here or a DM on Discord and I'll work something out with you.

See you all on the 13th! Happy submitting!

-Vr