Chrysalis Days; Forth Shift; Video; Prerecorded
[The feed begins, with Chouno appearing to be quite cheerfully sitting in a nice comfy chair. It's in his lab, and thus everything around him is white, aside from the shelf behind him covered in purple vials, each one containing a tiny metal embryo.]
Hello, everyone. My name is Chouno Koushaku.
[He gives a friendly little wave. What a sweet heart, right?]
Very few of you have ever heard that name. But that's alright. It's the name of a corpse. The name of a caterpillar living every day crawling in the dirt. No one cares about that caterpillar's empty existence-without the power to protect even its own life, it simply drags itself around and lives based on luck.
[Chouno smiles as if at a private joke when he mentions luck.]
But, my luck ran out a long time ago. My life ran out a long time ago. Living every second with the dark stench of death heavy in my nose-...Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself.
[He takes a deep breath, running a gloved hand through his hair.]
I was born with every quality a human desires-every quality that can be used to decide which human is worth more than another. Money, a noble family, reputation, intelligence, a beautiful body. A lot of you may not know this, but the the suffix 'shaku' denotes noble blood. It was given to me as I was born to surpass my great-great-great grandfather, the founder of my family's fortune and the reason my family held such height in the world. But even my own family called me 'Chouno', and never 'Koushaku'-as evidence I was the successor, my name itself became a representation of my family.
[Very slowly, Chouno turns his face from camera, staring at a vial he now holds in his hands.]
Family-the greatest family on Earth. That was my purpose. To be 'Chouno', and raise my family higher than anyone else.
But then I became sick. At first, they said I would live to be fifty. Then a few years later they said forty. Then thirty and then twenty five. The last time I was given an accurate figure on my life span, it was twenty years old.
[He turns his eyes back to the camera, no longer the gentle purple wideness, but horrific black screwed up messes, like looking a pile of drowned corpses rotting in water in someone's eyes.]
I am nineteen years old. I couldn't achieve my purpose to become the successor of the family, and everything that made me worth something as a human suddenly didn't matter anymore. I became trash. I might as well have never been alive at all. I lost all connection to humanity I ever had.
[Very slowly, a smile spreads across Chouno's lips.]
But, I couldn't let go of my life. As meaningless and empty as it is, it is the only thing I have ever had. When everyone turned their back on me, the only person left who would never abandon me was myself. So, that pathetic caterpillar crawling in the darkness with no one to look over him found it. He found it! The magnificent power of Alchemy. The power to create homunculi, the power to create new life! Who cares if Chouno Koushaku's empty life was never worth anything!? Who cares if everyone would have been better off he just died!? He could create a new life with his own hands! That caterpillar could transform into a beautiful butterfly and fly higher than anyone else!
[He has to pause here, coughing into his hand, disgusting wet retching as blood trickles through his finger tips. Ragged breathing follows, for at least a minute.]
And that's why I did it, and that's why I'm doing this too. Because more than anything else, more than anyone else, I want to live. And for me to live, some of you will just have to die. That's only natural.
[That smile returns, this time accompanied by an illusion of fangs, his madness flowing from him with such intensity that the mind just couldn't believe him not to be a monster, his toxic eyes raging with delight.]
So this is an order to all homunculi on the ship to go wild. We're having a party! Eat as much as you want, because whilst we're bringing the fire works, the guest as providing the food! With the knowledge that the word 'carnival' originates from the word 'cannibal', lets all have a wild time!
((ooc:Backdated to during this. It's prerecorded, so no replies, but yah know, go crazy on the discussions here if you want.))
Hello, everyone. My name is Chouno Koushaku.
[He gives a friendly little wave. What a sweet heart, right?]
Very few of you have ever heard that name. But that's alright. It's the name of a corpse. The name of a caterpillar living every day crawling in the dirt. No one cares about that caterpillar's empty existence-without the power to protect even its own life, it simply drags itself around and lives based on luck.
[Chouno smiles as if at a private joke when he mentions luck.]
But, my luck ran out a long time ago. My life ran out a long time ago. Living every second with the dark stench of death heavy in my nose-...Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself.
[He takes a deep breath, running a gloved hand through his hair.]
I was born with every quality a human desires-every quality that can be used to decide which human is worth more than another. Money, a noble family, reputation, intelligence, a beautiful body. A lot of you may not know this, but the the suffix 'shaku' denotes noble blood. It was given to me as I was born to surpass my great-great-great grandfather, the founder of my family's fortune and the reason my family held such height in the world. But even my own family called me 'Chouno', and never 'Koushaku'-as evidence I was the successor, my name itself became a representation of my family.
[Very slowly, Chouno turns his face from camera, staring at a vial he now holds in his hands.]
Family-the greatest family on Earth. That was my purpose. To be 'Chouno', and raise my family higher than anyone else.
But then I became sick. At first, they said I would live to be fifty. Then a few years later they said forty. Then thirty and then twenty five. The last time I was given an accurate figure on my life span, it was twenty years old.
[He turns his eyes back to the camera, no longer the gentle purple wideness, but horrific black screwed up messes, like looking a pile of drowned corpses rotting in water in someone's eyes.]
I am nineteen years old. I couldn't achieve my purpose to become the successor of the family, and everything that made me worth something as a human suddenly didn't matter anymore. I became trash. I might as well have never been alive at all. I lost all connection to humanity I ever had.
[Very slowly, a smile spreads across Chouno's lips.]
But, I couldn't let go of my life. As meaningless and empty as it is, it is the only thing I have ever had. When everyone turned their back on me, the only person left who would never abandon me was myself. So, that pathetic caterpillar crawling in the darkness with no one to look over him found it. He found it! The magnificent power of Alchemy. The power to create homunculi, the power to create new life! Who cares if Chouno Koushaku's empty life was never worth anything!? Who cares if everyone would have been better off he just died!? He could create a new life with his own hands! That caterpillar could transform into a beautiful butterfly and fly higher than anyone else!
[He has to pause here, coughing into his hand, disgusting wet retching as blood trickles through his finger tips. Ragged breathing follows, for at least a minute.]
And that's why I did it, and that's why I'm doing this too. Because more than anything else, more than anyone else, I want to live. And for me to live, some of you will just have to die. That's only natural.
[That smile returns, this time accompanied by an illusion of fangs, his madness flowing from him with such intensity that the mind just couldn't believe him not to be a monster, his toxic eyes raging with delight.]
So this is an order to all homunculi on the ship to go wild. We're having a party! Eat as much as you want, because whilst we're bringing the fire works, the guest as providing the food! With the knowledge that the word 'carnival' originates from the word 'cannibal', lets all have a wild time!
((ooc:Backdated to during this. It's prerecorded, so no replies, but yah know, go crazy on the discussions here if you want.))