Tales of a thug

[smirkythug]

A video file containing an interview with Smirky is contained in one of the databanks aboard the Asylum. It was recorded by a news reporter looking for a story, but it was never released. It features a short, lightly built man sitting in a comfortable-looking armchair in the center of the picture. The interview is taking place in a small dark room with rusty metal walls that are covered with piping. A low hum can be heard in the background, suggesting the room is inside a space ship. The man is wearing a ragged grey suit, black and worn leather shoes and a dirty clown mask with a smiling face painted on it. The eyes visible from the holes on the mask are cold and calculating. The reporter, who is apparently behind the camera, asks Smirky to tell about his life in a slightly shaking voice. Smirky starts explaining the events of his life to the camera from his armchair.

I had to work hard for my current position as one of the leading clowns of this little circus of ours. I couldn't have even imagined making it this far in the entertainment business when I was younger. It all started with my childhood dream to become a clown one day. I used to watch all the circus shows that were on the holo-vision, paying attention to only the clowns that were performing all kinds of amusing things in front of the audience. You could say that was when I started studying the art of entertainment.
But that was only the beginning of something bigger. After I finished my schools, I went into a local clown school near my home. That was where I learned all the basics. Face-painting, using hugely oversized pants, red noses, all that stuff. But that wasn't enough to satisfy my needs either. So, at the age of eighteen, I applied and got into the National Entertainment Academy on New London, the very best educational facility in all of Sirius when it comes to entertainment. I spent many years there, working hard for my future. I had to sell my family to slavers to fund my studies there, but that's the price of success I guess.
And success is what followed my years in the NEA, as we used to call it. After only a few months of graduating with full marks from that place, I was contacted by Joker and his merry thugs, who wished me to join them in spreading entertainment to the furthest reaches of Sirius. I naturally accepted the offer. How can you say no to something like that anyways? And I can't say that this was a mistake, it's really been a wild ride. Well, I guess everyone already knows what's been happening since then. If you don't, go and watch the news.

After finishing his tale, Smirky takes a small handgun from behind his back and, without a word, shoots the reporter. The man, still out of sight, lets out a brief scream of terror before the bolt of energy hits the reporter. A few drops of blood spill on the floor in front of the camera. Then, the falling man hits the camera, causing it to fall down onto the floor, facing a nearby wall. After a few moments of silence, the video file ends.

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