Chocolate

Elio stares out his window, his gaze lowered down at a robotic pigeon perched on the wall with its kinetic claws scratching the outside of the building. It left faint marks on the weathered surface. He turns away from the window, extending his hand to press a button embedded on his desk. The smile from earlier still lingering on his face.

“Call my ride, I’d like to head home.” his voice carried in the empty room

In response a hologram materializes of a guard in a suit appears above the desk. The figure stands at attention.

“As you wish, sir,” the hologram says before dissolving into particles.

Later as he steps out of the vehicle onto pavement and takes a deep breath of fresh air, letting the natural atmosphere of his home far from the city relax his body. The city's skyline stretched far from him. The neon colors still were visibly vibrant reaching towards the darkening sky. There was still the occasional whir of drones passing ahead, but it was not remotely close to what it is like in the city. Elio’s cyber implants in his eyes adjusted briefly.

"Ah, it feels so good to be home again," he says, making his way to the front door of his awfully large mansion. The front lawn was decked out with statues, holograms that never faded, some of the sculpture accompanying the foundation depicted variations of animals in an abstract manner. The garden was filled with a variety of plants, some made from the earth, the others were man-made in labs. The variety of plants created a beautiful site. The front door of the mansion opened automatically after scanning the man's body. He walks through the corridor humming a sweet tune underneath his breath.

“Welcome home sir,” The robot guards beyond the door say in sync bowing towards him

“Right back atcha!” Elio says jokingly as he moves down the hall.

“My sweet Lucious, where areeeee youuuu?” his singing travels through the mansion.

Luscious begins to hear his dads voice down the hall and makes an unamused face, continuing to stuff his face with divinely crafted pastries made by the maids while playing a game. The game was left on pause. From the twenty varieties of chocolate placed delicately in a golden cast container, he selects a random chocolate. All the chocolates were visible the same on the exterior, but each had a different flavor. He brings the piece of chocolate up to his face examining it closely. Luscious gives it a quick lick before shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Mid chew he realized he selected a strawberry chocolate vanilla swirl, his face started twisting in disgust.

"BOO!" Elio sneaks up behind his son, placing both hands on his shoulders. Lucious spins around and spits out the chocolate directly onto his father's face. Elio blinks blankly.

“Son, be sure to keep the couch clean. I understand you enjoy your sweets, but that's no excuse to be a slob, especially since I’ve hired a great staff to care for my lil munchkin,” Elio says, completely ignoring what had just happened.

“How disgusting, Father, I’ve told you multiple times to not have the chef make these kinds,” Lucious says scoffing. He removes his fathers hands from his shoulders and turns to his game proceeding to unpause it. The game was an intricate rhythm-based challenge that required precise timing and coordination. Players need to press the buttons in perfect sync with the musical beats. While it seemed like any other rhythm game at first glance, this one had gained popularity and is recognized across the world, making it a part of pop culture.

A maid rushes over to Elio, her uniform rustling as she approaches. “Let me get that for you, sir,” she says in a nice voice, carefully wiping his face with a pristine cloth making sure to not smudge the rich chocolate across his face.

“Thank you, Miss Rose”, he says genuinely, turning towards her slightly to flash a smile. She smiles before moving back to where she was positioned earlier by the room's door.

“Lucious I have a special gift for you, my love” Elio says, barely able to hide the excitement in his voice.

“Hmm,” Lucious responds with complete disinterest. His fingers remain in movement across his holographic screen pad.

“I managed to track down an old game from 200 years ago, I thought you’d like to give it a spin,” Elio says.

“Mmm sounds terribly boring, I doubt a game from that long ago is even playable anymore, let alone engaging enough to hold anyone's attention.” Lucious continues to smash buttons on his game, his fingers appearing to dance across the screen as he steadily gets closer to breaking his previous high score record.

"Well, that's quite a shame. I really thought this particular one might catch your interest," Elio says teasingly.

Lucious goes completely silent for a while. His game screen suddenly flashes across the screen in a bright glowing light, displaying “NEW WORLD RECORD BROKEN” in an animated sequence. He lets out a big satisfied exhale.

“Why’s that?” he says unamused, yet in a slightly good mood from his achievement.

“It’s what you might call a rhythm game, of sorts,” says Elio.

“So what? I've already played all the ones on the market and mastered every single one,” Lucious declares before grabbing another chocolate from the container. He hesitantly shoves it into his mouth, the chocolate's delicious caramel flavor dissolves in his mouth leaving him pleased.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Elio responds with satisfaction. Lucious throws his head back onto the couch to stare at him.

“Although I think it’d be more fun to transform this thing into something entirely new and unique.”

He positions himself in front of his son towering over him. his height causing him to cast a shadow down onto Lucious along with the couch consuming them both completely. “I’m quite sure you can gather a collection of different friends to play with,” he affectionately rubs the top of his son’s head. Slowly, Lucious' face morphs into an unsettling menacing smile.