Achille swirled like a capstan and glared haughtily at his associate, as a raptor might, confronted by a particularly bothersome rodent.
“Um?”He repeated, a brow stretching in damming incredulity. “I pay you to work, eat, sleep, make merry and all you can offer me is a meagre, miserly monosyllable? Um? Um is an err, a slight, a deficiency. There is no place in civilised discourse for mere “um”, as it informs of nothing except self-insecurity, stalling, delays and a procrastinatory mind-set quite unsuited to the modern workplace.”
“…Um? A bombastic waste of linguistics. Millennia’s of verbosity and the human race spews up “um”, regurgitated unwanted into the ears of the listener. “Um”; a crawling, cockroach that permeates the tongue and pins it to the pallet, making mutes of otherwise discerning men. “Um”, that whore, that easy sleaze, will open her laps quite readily for the undiscerning but offers little pleasure in her crannies. Um is a tartar, a barbarian, and desires exile. There is no place in this fraternity for “Um”, Satan so help me.”
The grimace transfers into a more traditional, lyrical grin as he clapped the startled Sournois on the shoulder.
“So Devious, what little bit of the tit were you willing to communicate, hmm?”
“Do tell, I am all ears.”
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)
![[Image: XTF1d6x.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XTF1d6x.png)