Post by Douglas Crane on Nov 21, 2021 23:59:23 GMT -5
The sounds of a child crying can be heard.
Footsteps follow, as if walking away from where the child is.
The crying turns to sobs and after a little while longer, a voice follows, that of the child, who sounds to be a little girl trying to control her cries.
Child: It is not fair… *deep sigh*, I don’t want to stay in my room.. *sob* I want to play some more. *sniff*
The footsteps come to a stop, and then another voice is heard, this one of an older man.
Man: You’ve played long enough, the time for games is over.
Child: But there are so many new shiny toys… *sniff* Some from the green box, some from the blue box. I want to play with them all! *sob*
Man: No, it is time to get serious; it is time we put some honor in our name.
Child: Huh? Honor? What is that?
Man: You are too little to understand, so for now, being good and doing the right thing will suffice for you. So honor us by doing the right thing and stay in your room little one.
The steps begin again, but just a few, then the sound of a door being slid closed follows, but not just any door, a jailcell type of door. It clanks loudly letting you know that is solid metal and that it has been locked. The child beings to cry again, and before long you can also hear her stomping with her feet and hands on the floor. As the tantrum continues, the steps begin again, getting further and further away from the cries and as they do, the man’s voice now echoes throughout, as if he was talking from a long, empty hallway.
Man: I hate to do this to you child, but with you at the helm, we won’t get far, we haven’t gotten far. . With you leading the way we won’t get the honor we search for while doing the only thing we are good at: wrestling.
Project: Honor seems to be the perfect fit for us to finally breakout of the darkness and come into the light, to show the world what we, Douglas Crane, are capable of. This place seems to be just like a coin, having two sides, one where the ‘purest of wrestlers’ fight, serving as the ‘proving ground’ for everyone wanting to show how great a wrestler they really are. The other side is where you are allowed to let your wild side out and let the crazy take over; where you can ‘fallout’ of the norm to stand out and show something truly unique about yourself and what you can do in different elements. We, us, Douglas Crane can definitely relate to a place like this, being, the way we are, and dealing with the things we’re dealing with.
That is why there is no better way to begin, then by making our debut at Fall Out’s 2nd Annual Purge. I know what a purge is, and I have seen the movies, and Project: Honor has incorporated all of the madness associated with it into wrestling… Though when things are as chaotic as they are going to be, I don’t know how much actual wrestling will go down in the small town of Whalan, Minnesota. I signed us up for the Proving Ground brand, but have no problem going into this Fall Out event and show our violent side from the very beginning...
…because make no mistake about it, when that alarm goes off, it’s going to take a whole lot of violence to make it to the very end, just to be one of the final two survivors. But to win the entire thing, is going to take a little something extra and I’m not sure some of my opponents have it. They could easily say the same thing about me, after all, they don’t know a thing about me just as I don’t know a thing about them.
I’m not going to pretend to know who my opponents are; when I see names like Artemis, Asher, Bezerk, Sinclair, Madden, Griffin, etc., etc. I see hollow shells. You see once a point a time I heard somewhere that you never truly know someone until you fight them. So I could sit here and go down the entire list of each and every wrestler in this thing, mentioning more guys like Crash, Puma, Bishop and so on and so forth but until I come across them in the purge, their names are meaningless… and if they fail to make an impression on me, their names will be quickly and easily forgotten… Only those who can truly make me feel something, and if possible, defeat me, I will carry forth with me and seek them down the line to perhaps face them one on one to see what they are truly made of. But I know I won’t get to fight each and every wrestler out there, I’ll probably only see a fifth of the field so there will be a lot of missed opportunities. I also realize that a reason for this is that most of these men and women are on a different brand than the one I chose. But all of this is fine, Rome wasn’t built in a day as they say, so I will not conquer Project: Honor in one either.
Though, doing what “The Molotov” Dickie Watson did last year is a feat I would very much like to duplicate.
But whether I do or not, I will make an impact, and the roster, whether from Proving Ground or from Fall Out, will take notice of the ‘ones’ called Douglas Crane.
A ding is heard right as he finishes speaking and finally we see something, a white line comes down the middle of your screen and then a small white light seems to ride that line from the top, stopping right at the middle. The little light starts to break through the line as that line gets wider and wider, letting the light behind it break through until it engulfs your whole screen.
After a while the brightness dies down, revealing a very fancy elevator as it is making its way up to the very top floor.
Relaxing Jazz music plays softly from the speakers on the ceiling.
There is a mirror in this elevator, and in it, we see a man wearing a red straitjacket, bouncing off the mahogany walls of the elevator, screaming at the top of his lungs, words that cannot be made out. His eyes are full of coldness and rage.
But the man who stands across from that very mirror, the man whose reflection is raging uncontrollably, is anything but.
That man wears a black suit with a silver shirt and a black striped tie that puts the ensemble together nicely.
His hair is blonde and short. His eyes are very blue and also very cold.
He is the owner of the voice we were hearing earlier.
He is Douglas Crane.
Crane adjusts the right cuff of his shirt and then looks up calmly at the numbers on the elevator as one by one they light up, getting closer and closer to the top. Unlike a normal elevator where the "L" for lobby is at the bottom of the floors, this one is at the top of the 60 story plus panel. The sequence of the numbers is all over the place as well, instead of going from 1 to whatever starting at the bottom, the numbers are all jumbled, and no real sequence can be identified.
He turns his gaze to the madness in the mirror and stares at it with his mesmerizing gaze and waits for his reflection to meet his eyes and when it does, the reflection goes completely still.
They stare into each other's eyes for a good long minute before the reflection begins repeating the same words it was just screaming at the top of his lungs.
Except that this time, he whispers them.
Except that this time, his words can be heard.
Release me.... Release me... Release me...
The whispers echo in the elevator, but Crane simply adjusts his other cuff without taking his eyes off his reflection, and then answers.
Crane: All in due time. Right now it is not your time, it is mine. It is my time to rise to the top and introduce us not only to the fans of Project: Honor, but to every single member in the roster… Both Proving Ground and Fall Out. The debut date has been set, the match has been given life and I could not think of a better way four our… my debut.
The reflection starts going crazy again, bouncing off the walls, repeating two very different words.
The Purge… The Purge…. THE PURGE!
Crane: The second annual purge event, yes. There, you will get to do as much damage as you want. But at the following event, Black Friday, I will be the one in charge, showing the whole world what we have to offer. I know a lot people will see the craziness, the madness, the multiplicity that is us.. But I don’t want them to get stuck on that, instead, I want them to see the great match technician that stands before them. I want the Proving Ground roster to realize that we, I, us… Are not just another new face coming through Project: Honor for a few days before moving on for whatever reason. No, I want the whole wrestling universe to know that we are here to stay.
The reflection paces back and forth never taking its eyes of Crane who stops speaking to it. Because of this, it begins asking Crane questions, questions that Crane seems annoyed by.
Where is the girl? Why not let her lead the way and let her get her hands on all these new toys? She could do better, she could have more fun, she-
Crane: Absolutely not, it is my time! She's had her fun playing around long enough and no way she could do better... Ultimately I am the leader, and I give us the best chance for success.
The reflection stops moving but continues to stare at Douglas Crane across from him until finally nodding in approval.
Crane nods back.
Crane: We have worked way too hard to finally make our debut.
We have worked way too hard to break free.
We have two events to get it right, if we do not win The Purge, then maybe when can win the Black Friday event. The Mall of America will prove to be a nice setting for all the mayhem we hope to release upon the Proving Ground roster.
The reflection interrupts him.
Three rounds…
Crane: Yes, three rounds, but if we are smart we will only need to be in the first two. If we hope to show anyone and everyone what we are made of, we need to survive the first round, and much like the Purge event, we won’t get the chance to face everyone as we will be placed in smaller groups and the job is simply to find a golden ticket, we don’t even have to fight anyone really. The list of names for this is not as long as the wrestlers in the purge, but there are still plenty of names here that could give us trouble. Many names that are established superstars and current champions but also wrestlers who are making their debut like us. It is this crop of wrestlers we need to make sure we do better than. We have to stand out, we cannot let any of them outshine us. But at the end of the day, this seems like a game of strategy, but we are here to fight, so we will definitely crack some skulls while we look for that golden ticket. If we take out many in that first round, the less wrestlers that will find golden tickets, the less wrestlers we’ll have to face in the second round.
Must win a box! Must win a box! We must…
Crane: There will be plenty of chances to win a box in the second round, but if somehow we don’t win one, we will get a chance to in that final round. We just have to make sure we are not pinned or submitted in the second round, otherwise that chance is gone.
We must be vigilant, we must be ruthless, we must…
Release the horror within…
Crane: We will, plenty of chances to do so.
The reflection starts to act up again, bouncing off the walls, repeating those same words from the very beginning...
Release me.... release me... RELEASE ME!
The elevator dings and both look up, both then go back to staring at each other and Crane smiles.
Crane: Soon.
The reflection smiles back.
Crane turns his back on his reflection, facing the doors as they open wide. The reflection just watches on as a bright light engulfs Crane as he walks out. When the brightness fades away, we find ourselves outside of a nameless 5-star hotel in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. Douglas Crane makes his way down the steps to where the valet attendant is, looking up at Carne sporting the weirdest smile you will ever see. The man is a short Hispanic male, in his late 30’s and wears your usual valet uniform. His hair is black and long, but currently tied in a pony tail. As Crane arrives to where he is, he nods respectfully as he continues to smile. Crane looks at him nervously, acting not like someone who is about to pick up their vehicle but perhaps, someone who is wondering if he will be given a vehicle. The attendant looks him up and down, his smile losing some of its brightness as he speaks.
Valet Attendant: Mr. Crane? Finally leaving us? I never thought the day would come.
Crane: Well, this isn’t Hotel California, I am allowed to leave, if the situation is right.
Valet Attendant: And is it?
Crane: You tell me.
Valet Attendant: Well, from what I hear you are heading for a purge… From what I hear, you are heading for a fight on black Friday. From what I hear the victims could be dozens, and from what I hear the rewards are many.
Crane: Yes they are.
Valet Attendant: But do you know which you want the most?
Crane: Well, the decision is not an easy one. There are two titles on the line, The Ascension and the Gate Keeper championships and if I happen to win either I have the choice to continue or leave the match. There are also 4 tokens that could earn me a shot at 1 of 4 different tiles should I fail in acquire any that night. But the main prize of the night is, making it to the end of the Purge and reaching for the Universal Briefcase.
Valet Attendant: Lots of prizes indeed, but you still haven’t answered my question. What prize do you want the most?
Crane grabs the attend by his cheap best and lifts him off the ground, bringing him face to face with him. You’d think the attendant would be scared, but he isn’t. He simply stares at Crane’s blue eyes with his brown ones.
Crane: I.. Want… it… All!
Crane drops the attendant who stumbles a bit before getting his footing. He adjust his clip-on bowtie and turns his back to Crane. He grabs a walkie and speaks some words in Spanish into it as Crane looks on attentively. After a few minutes, a nice looking Lamborghini Huracan Evo pulls up, dark red in color. The valet attendant points Crane to it.
Valet Attendant: That is what I wanted to hear Mr. Crane. Enjoy your ride and I do hope I don’t see you back soon.
Crane: Thank you, same here.
Crane makes his way over to the vehicle, gets in and drives away from the unknown hotel as the scene fades to black.
Footsteps follow, as if walking away from where the child is.
The crying turns to sobs and after a little while longer, a voice follows, that of the child, who sounds to be a little girl trying to control her cries.
Child: It is not fair… *deep sigh*, I don’t want to stay in my room.. *sob* I want to play some more. *sniff*
The footsteps come to a stop, and then another voice is heard, this one of an older man.
Man: You’ve played long enough, the time for games is over.
Child: But there are so many new shiny toys… *sniff* Some from the green box, some from the blue box. I want to play with them all! *sob*
Man: No, it is time to get serious; it is time we put some honor in our name.
Child: Huh? Honor? What is that?
Man: You are too little to understand, so for now, being good and doing the right thing will suffice for you. So honor us by doing the right thing and stay in your room little one.
The steps begin again, but just a few, then the sound of a door being slid closed follows, but not just any door, a jailcell type of door. It clanks loudly letting you know that is solid metal and that it has been locked. The child beings to cry again, and before long you can also hear her stomping with her feet and hands on the floor. As the tantrum continues, the steps begin again, getting further and further away from the cries and as they do, the man’s voice now echoes throughout, as if he was talking from a long, empty hallway.
Man: I hate to do this to you child, but with you at the helm, we won’t get far, we haven’t gotten far. . With you leading the way we won’t get the honor we search for while doing the only thing we are good at: wrestling.
Project: Honor seems to be the perfect fit for us to finally breakout of the darkness and come into the light, to show the world what we, Douglas Crane, are capable of. This place seems to be just like a coin, having two sides, one where the ‘purest of wrestlers’ fight, serving as the ‘proving ground’ for everyone wanting to show how great a wrestler they really are. The other side is where you are allowed to let your wild side out and let the crazy take over; where you can ‘fallout’ of the norm to stand out and show something truly unique about yourself and what you can do in different elements. We, us, Douglas Crane can definitely relate to a place like this, being, the way we are, and dealing with the things we’re dealing with.
That is why there is no better way to begin, then by making our debut at Fall Out’s 2nd Annual Purge. I know what a purge is, and I have seen the movies, and Project: Honor has incorporated all of the madness associated with it into wrestling… Though when things are as chaotic as they are going to be, I don’t know how much actual wrestling will go down in the small town of Whalan, Minnesota. I signed us up for the Proving Ground brand, but have no problem going into this Fall Out event and show our violent side from the very beginning...
…because make no mistake about it, when that alarm goes off, it’s going to take a whole lot of violence to make it to the very end, just to be one of the final two survivors. But to win the entire thing, is going to take a little something extra and I’m not sure some of my opponents have it. They could easily say the same thing about me, after all, they don’t know a thing about me just as I don’t know a thing about them.
I’m not going to pretend to know who my opponents are; when I see names like Artemis, Asher, Bezerk, Sinclair, Madden, Griffin, etc., etc. I see hollow shells. You see once a point a time I heard somewhere that you never truly know someone until you fight them. So I could sit here and go down the entire list of each and every wrestler in this thing, mentioning more guys like Crash, Puma, Bishop and so on and so forth but until I come across them in the purge, their names are meaningless… and if they fail to make an impression on me, their names will be quickly and easily forgotten… Only those who can truly make me feel something, and if possible, defeat me, I will carry forth with me and seek them down the line to perhaps face them one on one to see what they are truly made of. But I know I won’t get to fight each and every wrestler out there, I’ll probably only see a fifth of the field so there will be a lot of missed opportunities. I also realize that a reason for this is that most of these men and women are on a different brand than the one I chose. But all of this is fine, Rome wasn’t built in a day as they say, so I will not conquer Project: Honor in one either.
Though, doing what “The Molotov” Dickie Watson did last year is a feat I would very much like to duplicate.
But whether I do or not, I will make an impact, and the roster, whether from Proving Ground or from Fall Out, will take notice of the ‘ones’ called Douglas Crane.
A ding is heard right as he finishes speaking and finally we see something, a white line comes down the middle of your screen and then a small white light seems to ride that line from the top, stopping right at the middle. The little light starts to break through the line as that line gets wider and wider, letting the light behind it break through until it engulfs your whole screen.
After a while the brightness dies down, revealing a very fancy elevator as it is making its way up to the very top floor.
Relaxing Jazz music plays softly from the speakers on the ceiling.
There is a mirror in this elevator, and in it, we see a man wearing a red straitjacket, bouncing off the mahogany walls of the elevator, screaming at the top of his lungs, words that cannot be made out. His eyes are full of coldness and rage.
But the man who stands across from that very mirror, the man whose reflection is raging uncontrollably, is anything but.
That man wears a black suit with a silver shirt and a black striped tie that puts the ensemble together nicely.
His hair is blonde and short. His eyes are very blue and also very cold.
He is the owner of the voice we were hearing earlier.
He is Douglas Crane.
Crane adjusts the right cuff of his shirt and then looks up calmly at the numbers on the elevator as one by one they light up, getting closer and closer to the top. Unlike a normal elevator where the "L" for lobby is at the bottom of the floors, this one is at the top of the 60 story plus panel. The sequence of the numbers is all over the place as well, instead of going from 1 to whatever starting at the bottom, the numbers are all jumbled, and no real sequence can be identified.
He turns his gaze to the madness in the mirror and stares at it with his mesmerizing gaze and waits for his reflection to meet his eyes and when it does, the reflection goes completely still.
They stare into each other's eyes for a good long minute before the reflection begins repeating the same words it was just screaming at the top of his lungs.
Except that this time, he whispers them.
Except that this time, his words can be heard.
Release me.... Release me... Release me...
The whispers echo in the elevator, but Crane simply adjusts his other cuff without taking his eyes off his reflection, and then answers.
Crane: All in due time. Right now it is not your time, it is mine. It is my time to rise to the top and introduce us not only to the fans of Project: Honor, but to every single member in the roster… Both Proving Ground and Fall Out. The debut date has been set, the match has been given life and I could not think of a better way four our… my debut.
The reflection starts going crazy again, bouncing off the walls, repeating two very different words.
The Purge… The Purge…. THE PURGE!
Crane: The second annual purge event, yes. There, you will get to do as much damage as you want. But at the following event, Black Friday, I will be the one in charge, showing the whole world what we have to offer. I know a lot people will see the craziness, the madness, the multiplicity that is us.. But I don’t want them to get stuck on that, instead, I want them to see the great match technician that stands before them. I want the Proving Ground roster to realize that we, I, us… Are not just another new face coming through Project: Honor for a few days before moving on for whatever reason. No, I want the whole wrestling universe to know that we are here to stay.
The reflection paces back and forth never taking its eyes of Crane who stops speaking to it. Because of this, it begins asking Crane questions, questions that Crane seems annoyed by.
Where is the girl? Why not let her lead the way and let her get her hands on all these new toys? She could do better, she could have more fun, she-
Crane: Absolutely not, it is my time! She's had her fun playing around long enough and no way she could do better... Ultimately I am the leader, and I give us the best chance for success.
The reflection stops moving but continues to stare at Douglas Crane across from him until finally nodding in approval.
Crane nods back.
Crane: We have worked way too hard to finally make our debut.
We have worked way too hard to break free.
We have two events to get it right, if we do not win The Purge, then maybe when can win the Black Friday event. The Mall of America will prove to be a nice setting for all the mayhem we hope to release upon the Proving Ground roster.
The reflection interrupts him.
Three rounds…
Crane: Yes, three rounds, but if we are smart we will only need to be in the first two. If we hope to show anyone and everyone what we are made of, we need to survive the first round, and much like the Purge event, we won’t get the chance to face everyone as we will be placed in smaller groups and the job is simply to find a golden ticket, we don’t even have to fight anyone really. The list of names for this is not as long as the wrestlers in the purge, but there are still plenty of names here that could give us trouble. Many names that are established superstars and current champions but also wrestlers who are making their debut like us. It is this crop of wrestlers we need to make sure we do better than. We have to stand out, we cannot let any of them outshine us. But at the end of the day, this seems like a game of strategy, but we are here to fight, so we will definitely crack some skulls while we look for that golden ticket. If we take out many in that first round, the less wrestlers that will find golden tickets, the less wrestlers we’ll have to face in the second round.
Must win a box! Must win a box! We must…
Crane: There will be plenty of chances to win a box in the second round, but if somehow we don’t win one, we will get a chance to in that final round. We just have to make sure we are not pinned or submitted in the second round, otherwise that chance is gone.
We must be vigilant, we must be ruthless, we must…
Release the horror within…
Crane: We will, plenty of chances to do so.
The reflection starts to act up again, bouncing off the walls, repeating those same words from the very beginning...
Release me.... release me... RELEASE ME!
The elevator dings and both look up, both then go back to staring at each other and Crane smiles.
Crane: Soon.
The reflection smiles back.
Crane turns his back on his reflection, facing the doors as they open wide. The reflection just watches on as a bright light engulfs Crane as he walks out. When the brightness fades away, we find ourselves outside of a nameless 5-star hotel in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. Douglas Crane makes his way down the steps to where the valet attendant is, looking up at Carne sporting the weirdest smile you will ever see. The man is a short Hispanic male, in his late 30’s and wears your usual valet uniform. His hair is black and long, but currently tied in a pony tail. As Crane arrives to where he is, he nods respectfully as he continues to smile. Crane looks at him nervously, acting not like someone who is about to pick up their vehicle but perhaps, someone who is wondering if he will be given a vehicle. The attendant looks him up and down, his smile losing some of its brightness as he speaks.
Valet Attendant: Mr. Crane? Finally leaving us? I never thought the day would come.
Crane: Well, this isn’t Hotel California, I am allowed to leave, if the situation is right.
Valet Attendant: And is it?
Crane: You tell me.
Valet Attendant: Well, from what I hear you are heading for a purge… From what I hear, you are heading for a fight on black Friday. From what I hear the victims could be dozens, and from what I hear the rewards are many.
Crane: Yes they are.
Valet Attendant: But do you know which you want the most?
Crane: Well, the decision is not an easy one. There are two titles on the line, The Ascension and the Gate Keeper championships and if I happen to win either I have the choice to continue or leave the match. There are also 4 tokens that could earn me a shot at 1 of 4 different tiles should I fail in acquire any that night. But the main prize of the night is, making it to the end of the Purge and reaching for the Universal Briefcase.
Valet Attendant: Lots of prizes indeed, but you still haven’t answered my question. What prize do you want the most?
Crane grabs the attend by his cheap best and lifts him off the ground, bringing him face to face with him. You’d think the attendant would be scared, but he isn’t. He simply stares at Crane’s blue eyes with his brown ones.
Crane: I.. Want… it… All!
Crane drops the attendant who stumbles a bit before getting his footing. He adjust his clip-on bowtie and turns his back to Crane. He grabs a walkie and speaks some words in Spanish into it as Crane looks on attentively. After a few minutes, a nice looking Lamborghini Huracan Evo pulls up, dark red in color. The valet attendant points Crane to it.
Valet Attendant: That is what I wanted to hear Mr. Crane. Enjoy your ride and I do hope I don’t see you back soon.
Crane: Thank you, same here.
Crane makes his way over to the vehicle, gets in and drives away from the unknown hotel as the scene fades to black.
