“Ahh Rupert, welcome! Welcome! Come in. Set that down.”
Rupert did as he was commanded and set down the saucer adorned with a single glass of Port. He should have known–Lord Hood only ordered Port when he wanted to play the game. The study was stuffy, a poor imitation of a bygone era. Mahogany bookshelves lined the walls, almost certainly never opened, intermixed with mounted heads of wild lions and zebras, almost certainly killed by someone else.
Besides the roaring fire, Lord Hood emphatically underlined a word written in all capital letters on an ancient chalkboard. “Tell me its definition, Rupert,” he said, picking up the Port and standing behind his servant.
“Please sir, I have–”
“No, you must play along.”
Of course Rupert did; he’d never had a choice in the matter.
“Theriocentricity…” Rupert said the word aloud. It was not one he knew. “Hmm, the suffix of centricity is clearly defined. Therefore, I conclude that the prefix is either the rio or therio. Seeing as I cannot find a full definition of Theriocentricity within my lexicon, I am forced to surmise the definition is either a focus on wild animals or a focus on the city of Rio. I believe the latter may be slang if correct, which leads me to say the former definition is the correct definition.”
Lord Hood sighed and flipped the switch at the base of his android servant’s neck. Rupert went limp, waist bent and arms hanging before him as his eyes flickered once, twice, then closed.
“Subject six demonstrated reasoning skills beyond acceptable measures and the experiment has been terminated,” Lord Hood said into his recording device. “Oh Rupert, I had such high hopes for you. Still, I need docile servants. Can’t have wild, thinking beasts living within my walls, can I?”
———————————————————————————————————————
A/N:
For Raymond’s great little challenge! I really neeed to stop writing bastards and get back to Thaddeus kicking the shit out of bastards. Challenge below:
If you've enjoyed this, please leave a like and an insight below. If you really enjoyed this, tips to fuel my coffee addiction are always appreciated. All formatting is designed for desktops. Want to read more? Below are the best of the very best of my works:
About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
Keep reading
More stories from Matthew J. Fromm and writers in Fiction and other communities.
Past Lives
War made for odd couples. To Private Jim Mclellan, Sepp seemed a good man; better at least than some of the monsters he heard stories of deeper into the Reich. Real monsters. This Sepp almost reminded Jim of his uncle; the one from Wisconsin he met a few times at Weddings.
By Matthew J. FrommExclusive • 10 months ago
Day 4 of Quitting
If this is how sobriety feels, maybe it’s better to go through life a little buzzed… this, along with other hits like, I want to kill myself, I wish I was dead, and I’m going to throw myself off a bridge have been the only thoughts on rotation these past few days. I promise myself that if, in a month, I still feel like this (‘this’ meaning despondent, full of rage, and simultaneously numb) I can go back to smoking. Until mid-February though? Nicotine is off the table.
By sleepy drafts6 days ago in Longevity
Comments (11)
I loved this....we are all such slaves. Nobody wants critical thinkers.
Yeah, wouldn't want any of that thinking going on, far too dangerous
And I was imagining a medieval castle at the start! Excellent twist Matthew!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH What a twist! I loved it.
Hahahahahaha the way Lord Hood felt about Rupert is exactly the way I feel when I ask my friend a dumb question but instead of matching my vibe, he answers in an overly logical way, lol. Loved your story!
I see Lord Rupert has returned, in all his aristocratic odiousness. Great job using the word!
Now write the follow up where Subject 7 is not so easily subdued.
Ha ha, a docile servant is what he wants? Love it. And love the inclusion of Rio in the definition too. Who knows what we will end up with...
Once again, perfection, Matthew. Very well told <3
This made me think, I am with Lamar. I just finished the history challenge and am now brain docile. Yet your story has intrigued me.
Nicely conceived... And thank you for reminding me of this little challenge. I got nothing at the moment. Still fussing with myself over finishing one for the History challenge. Not sure if 4 days is going to be enough since I've barely started and the min is 1250... Ugh!!!