Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with a brand new chapter for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Death! This is our last prologue, prologue Chapter #5: Desperate Breathing Tactics. I am so excited as with this being our last prologue chapter means we'll have met all the Capitol characters who you will see again cause my SYOTs always have a subplot, but also it means we get the tribute cast! They are at the bottom of the chapter, and will also be on my profile, but please do read the chapter as this will satisfy some questions you may have, and also learn a bit about the process that will be taking place. I am very excited for this story, as I must admit, this cast is stacked, and it makes my Slaughter and Bullets casts, which are amazing by all means, look not as good in comparison, you guys really poured your heart out into this and it means so much to me, so thank you. Hope you all enjoy Chapter #5: Desperate Breathing Tactics.

"The mind, once enlightened, cannot again become dark." ~ Thomas Paine

Adriane Lantham: District 1 Escort P.O.V

She is very lucky, and has been immensely blessed by the gods, for this to be her first district assignment, the wondrous District 1. The excitement is in the air, the bubbling of emotions and happiness rising higher and higher into the air until she can no longer breathe anything else except the joy that is being flushed into her veins. The day is perfect for what is about to occur, there not being a single cloud in the sky - "What a shame," she says to herself, in her head, "The clouds won't get to witness this glorious day, what a shame." - and the sun is beating down atop her head in all of its furious strength, coating her body in a warm cocoon. Reaping day, something she has been trying to push into her verbiage as much as she can over the last few weeks, is finally here.

Adriane Lantham, in her newly appointed title of Escort for District 1 stands on stage, said stage attached to the Justice Building, it a bit worse for wear, but it has been power washed like crazy over the last few weeks, facing the courtyard. Peacekeepers and other district citizens are milling about, pulling up banners and streamers, tying balloons around the tops of light fixtures, or establishing the home base table, one that stretches over the mouth of the entrance to the square, it being covered in a picnic tarp. It is glorious, for Adriane, to see all these good people doing the work for their country, it is wonderful. She wants to clap giddily to herself, as she oversees the preparations, but there are her own preparations she must face as well.

However, if he hadn't been standing there, maybe it'd feel less like she had a shadow watching her every movement.

There's a tablet in her hands, something non-descript, hot in her hands as the sun beats down on her, she tapping away through a menu, not bothering to look up. "Mayor Calvary, if you're just going to stand there, I suggest you do something useful, like check the microphone," she shakes her hair, bright, bright almost jade colored locks dancing against her back. "If not, please get off the stage as you're distracting me."

Mayor Friedrich Calvary, or as Adriane likes to call him, Mayor Runaway Horse, sucks his cheeks in, blonde hair even brighter in the sun. He ducks his head some, slinking back against the corner of the Justice Building with a shallow smile. She can see him in the reflection of the tablet, dressed up and all, but for Friedrich, that is not saying much. While Adriane is blessed and happy to be working for One, they being the smartest district after all in leaving those accursed rebels to die painful deaths, it is dampened by the fact that he's the one she must work closely with. She's considered asking President Israel to just end the man's life, but he wouldn't listen to her even if she tried; she wouldn't even be able to get into the mansion at any rate, for she is not important enough.

"Not important enough," she grumbles to herself. "I'm just overseeing the first reaping of the Hunger Games, totally not important at all."

Friedrich steps out into the sunlight, and she looks away from the tablet for a moment, only barely stealing a glance over at him. He gives her the creeps, always has, and for a man holding so much power, he's quite the coward, quite the man to bend onto someone's else will, and unable to hide the skeletons he keeps in his closet, they collecting dust and rotting away with rust. "I'm- I'm just," he starts stammering, causing Adriane to roll her eyes. God, this man is useless. He's only alive because he listened to Emrick, that is the only reason, as Cain Passionia advises him to spare the loyalists, even if they had at one point forgotten where their identities actually lied. "I'm just observing," Friedrich finds his footing, almost lifting his chin triumphantly with a smile.

"Well, you are being a nuisance to me, and I'm the one who needs to make sure this show gets on the road," she tells him pointedly, again reverting her attention back to the tablet, scrolling through a wave of names, though the glare is making it a bit hard for her to read them. "It is your job to make sure every citizen gets here, and that all of the eligible tributes in your district are here too," The verbiage of the word tribute might be a bit harsh, as she can see Friedrich wince slightly, but it is no bother to her. They are tributes now, kids and teenagers, and adults, as eighteen year-olds are adults here in Panem, that are facing the errors for their sins. Adriane would like to see President Israel ask every citizen in the districts if they'd prefer to all be executed by a firing squad, or to go the more peaceful option in the Hunger Games. "You know the rules, after all."

"Yes, I've made several announcements about them," Friedrich responds back, his reflection pinching the bridge of his nose, he sounding tired. As if she would care about his sleeping schedule. "All eligible for the reaping between the ages of twelve to eighteen need to arrive in the town square by noon. You will have your blood drawn to be registered on file, and we will not start until every eligible candidate is accounted for," he speaks it like a machine, Adriane wanting to turn around and bash him in the face, he'd most likely deserve it at this point. "For any of those who are caught skipping, the punishment will be harsh, and the chances of you being selected next year will be heightened."

"If you spoke like that in the announcements for how you said that back to me, I'm sure no one will show up," Adriane says dryly. "It sounds like you don't care about making this run smoothly, and as your escort, if I sense things aren't going well I'll have to report them to Em-"

She never even gets to finish the name before Friedrich's eyes are bugging out of his head as if she had swallowed him in a bear hug, and he's waving his hands back and forth like crazy in a windshield wiper motion. "No, I care Ariana!"

To which she cuts in with, "It's Adriane, you dolt!"

"Emrick has no reason to-"

"Oh, just shut up Friedrich!" She has no desire to listen to him ramble, because once he starts, she'll never be able to get him to shut up, and right now she could use a bit of that. She makes a mistake even talking to him, but it is that or having him stand there the entire time just looking at her like the creep that he is, and she's not about to have him do that. Knowing how he is, he'd make a mess of the home base table, or knock down one of the stage lights. Again, why is he even alive? Adriane wishes she had the power to pull strings back in the Capitol, but she simply is a low life citizen with something called gift of the gab in which it keeps on elevating her higher and higher until she's touching the sky. Maybe one day, just maybe.

She finishes scrolling through the names on the tablet. There is a bit of confusion in the Capitol for what is to happen when the reaping begins. After everyone is accounted for, and the Head Peacekeeper of One gives her the go-ahead, she is to step up to the microphone in the center of the stage and begin her speech. Something about it being a huge honor for them to be selected, reminding those what has been lost on the account of their sins, and some other dealings before she gets into what President Israel has called The Calling of the Culled, which sends shivers down her spine. On the tablet, which will be projected onto the two screens behind her, is a list of names, divided between the boys and the girls, where she'll tap the button in the middle of the screen that says Generate.

On the screens behind her, the footage will be shown, names passing by until one is selected. Adriane has heard that there's a bit of rigging that'll be happening for some of the districts, but she is fairly certain that a few of them will be out there, idiots who have stepped on the wrong toes or burned bridges they shouldn't have, and they've reaped the consequences. There might even be a few volunteers - oh how she hopes there are some in One, what a delight that would be! - but Adriane doesn't pity them in the slightest, as that is how she will spot the idiots in the crowd, people who most likely do not realize they are signing a death wish, the chances of any of them actually winning the Games, one in twenty four after all being hilarious.

She'll have to do the best she can to not burst out laughing if someone does indeed volunteer.

"You'll have to educate me, Miss Lantham," Friedrich pipes up again, clearly incapable of following orders if he is to speak once more after she shuts him down; he is not a well-trained dog, and needs to be put out of his misery with a bullet between the eyes, as that'll bring any bitch to heel. "On what exactly your position is, as the word escort makes me think of something other than that."

Oh, if she could execute him on the spot. It takes all of Adriane's mental courage to not tackle him into the ground, but if she were to do that it'd ruin her hairdo and ruffle up her liquid gold dress, "No, dickweed, it is not sexual," and then, as she cannot help herself but continuously get barbs in, "If it was, they would've asked you and your whoring tendencies," she sees in the reflection that he wrinkles his nose in disgust, about to object, but Adriane has let him talk on long enough and it is starting to get old. "As an escort, I will be accompanying the tributes to the Capitol and by their side every step of the way. President Israel wants to implement something called the 'mentor system' sometime in the next few years, but for now, it'll be just me."

"I pity them then," Friedrich mumbles.

She swivels on her heel, glaring at him. "What did you just say?"

"I pity you, then," he reiterates, smiling.

Adriane sets her tablet down on the stool that is up against the microphone stand, and next to it a glass of water that almost tips over. She expects herself to be doing a lot of talking, so luckily she's been practicing in her apartment at night, doing it so often and so loud that her neighbors down below her keep banging on their roof to get her to shut up, but it is asinine and futile for anyone to think she's going to allow the opportunity to rise through the ranks slip through her grasp. Friedrich shirks away from her a bit, trapped between the one of the open doors for the Justice Building, and her advancing form. When she returns to the Capitol, she already knows she'll be putting in a complaint, as he's just going to be getting in the way for years and years to come, already living on borrowed time most likely.

She jabs a finger into his chest, and he flattens against the bricked side of the building. "You are not going to mess this up for me, you understand?" and Adriane turns around, sweeping a hand across the courtyard. "These Peacekeepers are loyal to me, and not you. If you cause one single mistake or fuck up I won't hesitate to have them shoot you dead," the mayor's eyes turn as wide as saucers, and she can smell the fear radiating off of him. Good, he has no idea what his mistake of allying with the rebels had cost her, as she waves goodbye to her Peacekeeper father who comes back in a crate with three bullet wounds on the side of his head. She wants to put those same bullets in Friedrich's head, it might undo whatever blockage he is experiencing. "It's the least you deserve," and she removes herself away from him, scowling. "Traitor."

There's a pause on the air, and suddenly the sun no longer feels as comforting as it beats down on the back of her head, as Friedrich's eyebrows furrow together and his mouth twists into a sneer. "Don't be so sure of that, Ariana!" She almost corrects him. He leeches himself off of the wall, pushing her back some, she wobbling into the table, the glass of water tipping off of it and shattering, but the tablet stays there; she has no idea what she'd do if the tablet broke. Her surprise croaks in her throat as Friedrich storms away from her, to go back inside.

"Hey," she yells at him, "Come back here!"

"Go fuck yourself!" Friedrich screams back at her, and then he slams the doors shut to the Justice Building, they echoing along the buildings lining the courtyard with a ghastly echo.

Adriane takes a step forward towards the doors, teeth clenched together, she turning her left hand into a fist as she utters a hiss. Screw him. Screw all of the district traitors; this is their punishment, and they deserve it, no matter what anyone says. She's much preferring this way of execution, rather than lining them all up to die, as she'll be able to see the fear in all of their eyes, be able to laugh herself to sleep when a chosen culled cries out in terror, and she'll hear the sound replaying in her ears forever and ever.

Friedrich Calvary is living on borrowed time, for sure.

She huffs to herself, pulling down at her dress, knocking an aquamarine curl out of her eyes, turning back around to the microphone. With a heeled foot, she kicks away at the chipped water glass, it tumbling off the stage and shattering further in front of the steps. Hopefully whoever is selected has shoes on, whoopsie. Adriane taps the microphone, and she's been speaking long enough to know that is not something you do, but she relishes in seeing everyone in the square wince at the harsh feedback rebounding against the cobblestones.

"Testing, testing," Adriane booms into the microphone, preparing her thousand dollar smile. It sounds good to her!

"Welcome, welcome boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, to the very first reaping of the annual Hunger Games!" she shouts, holding her arms out, and there's not a single clap or cheer or anyone other than the Peacekeeper staring back at her like she's lost her mind.

However, it is true. The time has come for the first annual Hunger Games, where the tributes are able to chase their life, liberty, and the pursuit of death... where some might even volunteer for it.

Adriane's lips curl into an even larger grin, for she can taste the copper tint riding the wind, and that in just a few minutes, the first arrivals will come to check-in and be penned up like cattle.

Can you taste it? Can you smell it?

The death on the air is tart, as Friedrich Calvary practices desperate breathing tactics in his cushioned prison, and Adriane Lantham drowns in it all.

May the Games begin.

God help them all.

Tribute List (Boy - Girl)

District 1: Catalus Drachma [Submitted by Manny Siliezar] / Cecelia Blackstone [Submitted by A Proud Bibliophile]

District 2: Magnus Winterthorn [Submitted by Audmirable] / Portia Beninblade [Submitted by WhateverIsOpen]

District 3: Jasper Overheart [Submitted by ParanoidSylph] / Vesuvia Vocanova [Submitted by Platrium]

District 4: Orion Maythorpe [Submitted by jimster920] / Diana Kratovska [Submitted by Firedawn'd]

District 5: Zachary Edison [Submitted by GreyShade] / Kileigh Katsaras [Submitted by LiveFreeOrDie]

District 6: Pierce Alversway [Submitted by Merlin's Brown Jacket] / Porscha Watanabe [Submitted by thornehub]

District 7: Sylvan Adello [Submitted by In Writing] / Nevaeh Davoli [Submitted by dyloccupy]

District 8: Niklaus Peverell [Submitted by timesphobic] / Poem Cavalli [Submitted by LordShiro]

District 9: Gemini Lennox [Submitted by Apple1230] / Camilla Rodriguez [Submitted by Reign of Winter]

District 10: Calen Kinegrove [Submitted by silversshade] / Nokomis Yanaba [Submitted by Ripple237]

District 11: Dill Waylon [Submitted by A Mad Tea Party] / Cassiopeia Grey [Submitted by ZeroIsANumber]

District 12: Ramses Boskov [Submitted by Guesttwelve] / Kai'sa Shadow [Submitted by Rune Whisperer]

That is our full tribute list ladies and gentlemen, and I must tell you it has been an absolute blast in getting so many amazing submissions, and I've received more submission than I did for Bombs and Bullets which is also crazy. The tributes that I moved around to take into account their backup districts were Orion, Diana, Zachary, Ramses, and Kai'sa. To those who did not get in, I am very sorry, I took no pleasure in excluding anyone, and you are more than welcome to submit them elsewhere, if you have to rework them. It was crazily competitive, which is why I asked for back-up districts, and this is really the first time I've had to move this many tributes that I wished to use/write. To those that got in, thank you for your incredible submissions, as I have quite the stacked cast that I cannot wait to write. I am once again ecstatic to have twenty-four individual tributes from twenty-four individual submitters, just like for Bullets, so it means a lot to me that it was able to happen again.

For the chapter, this was our last prologue, and I've filled out the Capitol cast with an escort for D1 - sorry, I just love District 1 haha, my apologies - named Adriane Lantham. For the pre-Games, each tribute will receive three POVs instead of my usual two: and I am aiming for the bloodbath to be Chapter 21. Six chapters will be Intros Round I, four chapters will be Round II, and five chapters will be Round III. I am doing these selections via careful planning rather than random beforehand, since I am doing multiple POVs, just to get things right. Our first tribute intro chapter, the next one, #6, will be four POVs of Jasper Overheart, Nokomis Yanaba, Catalus Drachma, and Porscha Watanabe, where we're going back in time to a day before the reaping.

I want to thank you again for submitting, and reviewing, and following and all of that jazz, it really means a lot to me. For those who have gotten tributes accepted, although I am not expecting people to make this story their life, it would be nice to see some effort put in, whether it be reviews (preferred), or PMs, or voting on polls, just to know you're reading. Expect the first intro within the next couple of weeks as I take some time to focus on Bombs and Bullets, which is approaching it's end soon. Cannot wait to see you all again with Chapter #6: Eve of the Reapings. Love you all so much! Bye!

~ Paradigm