Post by Donzig on Dec 24, 2021 3:29:57 GMT -5
Warn your warmth to turn away
Here, it's December every day (I like that)
Press your lips to the sculptures
And surely, you'll stay (love like winter)....
A voice rasped from the darkness, and then light flared into being. A lantern burned atop a carved plinth of marble, a thin layer of frost and snow lay across it. The lantern was lifted, and as the light shifted it revealed a grim looking figure clad in battered leather. Light gleamed across a metal mask barely visible under it's hood, and it tilted as the figure slowly drifted forward. In the distance the streets were lit by the twinkling lights of Christmas, and snatches of Christmas music could be heard as the figure swept through the snow shrouded trees. He walked between the frost covered gravestones, a few marked with Christmas wreaths before a hand lifted to gesture absently as mist swirled around the mask with each word.
'They say religion is the opiate of the masses, Fizz. They say that if a people can not find a religion, a god to believe in? They will make one. And you have become their god, their hero, their chosen one. They expect you to save them from the future, from death--' a pause, and the masked head tilted with a faint shrug. '--from the inevitable.'
A hand lifted, a finger extended as though to prove a point as the grim figure of Donzig kept walking onward. Pausing to stare at a large statue of an angel covered in a thin layer of snow, and he sniffed before he looked to the camera. 'But now when they need you the most? You've fallen silent, you have no more jokes. No witty words, no little japes? No pithy remarks? You normally have so much to say, and I have been waiting for you. But all I hear is the silence, the fall of the snow, and the wind rattling through the dead trees. And the proud Vodka Fizz? Of him? I hear nothing.'
Donzig walked on, his lantern lighting the path as he shakes his hooded head.
'By now the people were counting on you to ride down here in your little golf cart, and spray your shitty drink! And show the world why Donzig isn't shit!' Donzig's voice rose to a shriek, the noise carried on the wind. A hand lifted, and he pressed a finger against his mask before he tilted his head. He shrugged, and then pointed back at the camera as he turned slowly. 'But you're a ghost! What happened, Fizz? What happened? Did Spike kicking the shit out of you in the Dragon's Den take the fight out of you? Did he cut off your fucking balls is that it? Because she is going to be really disappointed about that, my friend! Or is it me? Did you quit when you realized what I am? What I am going to do to you? Is that it?'
Donzig lifted a hand, and he tapped a finger against his temple as he purred.
'Fear is the mind-killer, Fizz. It makes you weak, it makes you break inside, it kills you a thousand times before you're even dead. But these people? They are counting on you, Fizz.' Donzig shrugged, and he paused in the shadow of a huge mausoleum as he glared from under his hood. 'You see while you are silent, and hiding somewhere in fear? They're afraid, they want to believe there are men who make the monsters go away! And where are you, eh? Fireside is counting on you, Dommy is counting on you! SHE is counting on you! And instead of being a man? Instead of being what you claim you are? You rode your little fucking golf cart out of here!'
Donzig kept walking, and in the distance there was a new sound. The sound of a shovel digging through frozen earth, a slow rasping noise that Donzig ignored as he shook his head.
'I am so disappointed in you. You were so brave when you were insulting me, you were so brave when you were full of righteous indignation! Or what about when you hid as security to get in your shots! But now?' Donzig tsked. 'You're as silent as a grave, why is that? Is it because no you're running out of time? That there is nowhere to hide from me in the four sides of steel? No Felix to run interference for you? Is that? Because let me tell you something--'
Donzig paused, and he lifted the lantern higher so it was closer to his face. The light of that pale flame gleaming across the steel of his mask, and he cocked his head with a shrug. 'I am not scared. All I am is eager for the great work to begin, I am eager to see the look on these people's faces when I show them that no fucking hero can save them! That no one, that nothing will stop me from doing what I want! That no one escapes the Scourge, that in the end we all have to pay for our sins! Even the great fucking Vodka Fizz can be broken on the shores of Oblivion!'
His voice rose to shriek, and he lifted his hand to ball it into a fist as he growled. 'I will liberate them from their false belief in you, Fizz! I will show them that you are no hero, no champion, not a god! Just a man, a flawed broken man, just like all of them! I will stand in that ring looking down at your bleeding carcass! And in that moment? I will know peace for a second, just a second! Because the Long Night is here! It's fucking here!'
A hand lifted, and Donzig tapped his finger against the mouth of his mask. Steam and frozen air swirling around his head, and he took a deep breath before he shrugged. A slow nod, and you could hear that odd rasping laughter. Like a dying machine, and he started forward again as that odd grinding and scraping noise grew louder. And Donzig sniffed, speaking in a whisper again. 'Long ago, Fizz, the world held it's breath. It was silent, it was afraid. Because change was in the air, they could feel it! And then it happened! A god was made flesh, he took the form of man! And the entire world was changed in one night, in one night! People had something new to believe in, something new that changed everything forever! And that is what is happening here, Fizz! I will change the XHF forever, but unlike that time long ago? There will be suffering, there will be pain! There will be blood, eh?'
Donzig shoved forward, and suddenly you could see the huge forms of the Oblivion Death Squad digging in the night. A hole was in the frozen earth, and piles of half frozen ice covered dirt were piled around either side of the empty grave. The Death Squad kept throwing shovels full of dirt, one of them in the hole as the other looked on as they kept working. And Sinclair Godfrey sat nearby perched on a pile of dirt, her coat pulled in around her as she looked up before bowing her head to Donzig. He approached the grave, lifting his lantern with a slow nod.
Sinclair Godfrey spoke suddenly, her cold voice echoing over the graves. 'Ghost of the Future, I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.'
Donzig walked around the pile of frozen dirt, and he lifted the lantern so that light fell across the face of gravestone. Carved into the cold surface of the pale white marble was a name, and that name was 'Vodka Fizz'. Donzig sat the lantern down, and he lifted a hand to push back the hood. Then his fingers sank into the eyes, and he slowly pulled it off to stare at the mask before he shrugged. 'This is easy part, Fizz. The fear. The waiting. The silence. The hard part comes soon, pain, blood, and suffering. And worse? Defeat. The death of self, the death of a hero, the death of belief. I can help you with all of, but what comes after? That you have to do on your own, Fizz. This will be my gift to you.'
A smile crept across that bearded face, but the eyes remained as cold and empty as the night. And Donzig licked his lips, rolling his shoulders as he leaned closer as he lifted the lantern once more. 'Merry Christmas, Vodka Fizz. You've earned it.'
Donzig blew, and the light died. 'See you soon.'
Here, it's December every day (I like that)
Press your lips to the sculptures
And surely, you'll stay (love like winter)....
A voice rasped from the darkness, and then light flared into being. A lantern burned atop a carved plinth of marble, a thin layer of frost and snow lay across it. The lantern was lifted, and as the light shifted it revealed a grim looking figure clad in battered leather. Light gleamed across a metal mask barely visible under it's hood, and it tilted as the figure slowly drifted forward. In the distance the streets were lit by the twinkling lights of Christmas, and snatches of Christmas music could be heard as the figure swept through the snow shrouded trees. He walked between the frost covered gravestones, a few marked with Christmas wreaths before a hand lifted to gesture absently as mist swirled around the mask with each word.
'They say religion is the opiate of the masses, Fizz. They say that if a people can not find a religion, a god to believe in? They will make one. And you have become their god, their hero, their chosen one. They expect you to save them from the future, from death--' a pause, and the masked head tilted with a faint shrug. '--from the inevitable.'
A hand lifted, a finger extended as though to prove a point as the grim figure of Donzig kept walking onward. Pausing to stare at a large statue of an angel covered in a thin layer of snow, and he sniffed before he looked to the camera. 'But now when they need you the most? You've fallen silent, you have no more jokes. No witty words, no little japes? No pithy remarks? You normally have so much to say, and I have been waiting for you. But all I hear is the silence, the fall of the snow, and the wind rattling through the dead trees. And the proud Vodka Fizz? Of him? I hear nothing.'
Donzig walked on, his lantern lighting the path as he shakes his hooded head.
'By now the people were counting on you to ride down here in your little golf cart, and spray your shitty drink! And show the world why Donzig isn't shit!' Donzig's voice rose to a shriek, the noise carried on the wind. A hand lifted, and he pressed a finger against his mask before he tilted his head. He shrugged, and then pointed back at the camera as he turned slowly. 'But you're a ghost! What happened, Fizz? What happened? Did Spike kicking the shit out of you in the Dragon's Den take the fight out of you? Did he cut off your fucking balls is that it? Because she is going to be really disappointed about that, my friend! Or is it me? Did you quit when you realized what I am? What I am going to do to you? Is that it?'
Donzig lifted a hand, and he tapped a finger against his temple as he purred.
'Fear is the mind-killer, Fizz. It makes you weak, it makes you break inside, it kills you a thousand times before you're even dead. But these people? They are counting on you, Fizz.' Donzig shrugged, and he paused in the shadow of a huge mausoleum as he glared from under his hood. 'You see while you are silent, and hiding somewhere in fear? They're afraid, they want to believe there are men who make the monsters go away! And where are you, eh? Fireside is counting on you, Dommy is counting on you! SHE is counting on you! And instead of being a man? Instead of being what you claim you are? You rode your little fucking golf cart out of here!'
Donzig kept walking, and in the distance there was a new sound. The sound of a shovel digging through frozen earth, a slow rasping noise that Donzig ignored as he shook his head.
'I am so disappointed in you. You were so brave when you were insulting me, you were so brave when you were full of righteous indignation! Or what about when you hid as security to get in your shots! But now?' Donzig tsked. 'You're as silent as a grave, why is that? Is it because no you're running out of time? That there is nowhere to hide from me in the four sides of steel? No Felix to run interference for you? Is that? Because let me tell you something--'
Donzig paused, and he lifted the lantern higher so it was closer to his face. The light of that pale flame gleaming across the steel of his mask, and he cocked his head with a shrug. 'I am not scared. All I am is eager for the great work to begin, I am eager to see the look on these people's faces when I show them that no fucking hero can save them! That no one, that nothing will stop me from doing what I want! That no one escapes the Scourge, that in the end we all have to pay for our sins! Even the great fucking Vodka Fizz can be broken on the shores of Oblivion!'
His voice rose to shriek, and he lifted his hand to ball it into a fist as he growled. 'I will liberate them from their false belief in you, Fizz! I will show them that you are no hero, no champion, not a god! Just a man, a flawed broken man, just like all of them! I will stand in that ring looking down at your bleeding carcass! And in that moment? I will know peace for a second, just a second! Because the Long Night is here! It's fucking here!'
A hand lifted, and Donzig tapped his finger against the mouth of his mask. Steam and frozen air swirling around his head, and he took a deep breath before he shrugged. A slow nod, and you could hear that odd rasping laughter. Like a dying machine, and he started forward again as that odd grinding and scraping noise grew louder. And Donzig sniffed, speaking in a whisper again. 'Long ago, Fizz, the world held it's breath. It was silent, it was afraid. Because change was in the air, they could feel it! And then it happened! A god was made flesh, he took the form of man! And the entire world was changed in one night, in one night! People had something new to believe in, something new that changed everything forever! And that is what is happening here, Fizz! I will change the XHF forever, but unlike that time long ago? There will be suffering, there will be pain! There will be blood, eh?'
Donzig shoved forward, and suddenly you could see the huge forms of the Oblivion Death Squad digging in the night. A hole was in the frozen earth, and piles of half frozen ice covered dirt were piled around either side of the empty grave. The Death Squad kept throwing shovels full of dirt, one of them in the hole as the other looked on as they kept working. And Sinclair Godfrey sat nearby perched on a pile of dirt, her coat pulled in around her as she looked up before bowing her head to Donzig. He approached the grave, lifting his lantern with a slow nod.
Sinclair Godfrey spoke suddenly, her cold voice echoing over the graves. 'Ghost of the Future, I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.'
Donzig walked around the pile of frozen dirt, and he lifted the lantern so that light fell across the face of gravestone. Carved into the cold surface of the pale white marble was a name, and that name was 'Vodka Fizz'. Donzig sat the lantern down, and he lifted a hand to push back the hood. Then his fingers sank into the eyes, and he slowly pulled it off to stare at the mask before he shrugged. 'This is easy part, Fizz. The fear. The waiting. The silence. The hard part comes soon, pain, blood, and suffering. And worse? Defeat. The death of self, the death of a hero, the death of belief. I can help you with all of, but what comes after? That you have to do on your own, Fizz. This will be my gift to you.'
A smile crept across that bearded face, but the eyes remained as cold and empty as the night. And Donzig licked his lips, rolling his shoulders as he leaned closer as he lifted the lantern once more. 'Merry Christmas, Vodka Fizz. You've earned it.'
Donzig blew, and the light died. 'See you soon.'
