{"id":5287,"date":"2017-12-13T08:16:06","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T13:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/?p=5287"},"modified":"2017-12-10T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T20:48:29","slug":"the-black-velvet-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/the-black-velvet-room\/","title":{"rendered":"The Black Velvet Room"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-24\" src=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/k-avatar-e1443983846496.png\" alt=\"by Kent\" width=\"81\" height=\"81\" \/>with a canine-skin collar<\/li>\n<li>various scenarios with his colleagues<\/li>\n<li>it would be a shining white box<\/li>\n<li>&#8211;Don\u2019t be modest<\/li>\n<li>finally agreed to wear it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tune in next time part 240 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/tune-in-next-time\/\">Click Here for Earlier Installments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The black velvet room, with its distressing noises and aromas, was breaking down my concentration, cutting me off from all my Academy training. I couldn&#8217;t even find my way out anymore. Confusion and panic rose in my head; it was like a toilet backing up.<\/p>\n<p>My mind retreated from the awfulness of the present moment, and I was swept back into a memory from childhood. I sat on the floor in Father&#8217;s office, playing with John and Jason. We had Matchbox cars. Father presented his current mistress <em>with a canine-skin collar<\/em>, then sent her out and discussed <em>various scenarios with his colleagues<\/em>, debating the best way to deliver the next quarter&#8217;s bribes. Someone said they&#8217;d get the most bang for their buck if <em>it would be a shining white box<\/em> filled with gold coins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No, I have a better idea,&#8221; Father said, staring at me. &#8220;Son,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I have an important job for you. Tell me you&#8217;re prepared <em>&#8212; Don&#8217;t be modest<\/em> &#8212; tell me you can do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Father spoke to me like that for an hour, browbeating me about acting as his mule. The colleagues left, and the mistress returned with the collar. She distracted Father from me, at last, when she <em>finally agreed to wear it<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>bonus points for using them in order<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Stichomancy Writing Prompts\" href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/stichomancy-writing-prompts\/\">about stichomancy writing prompts<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/stichomancy-writing-prompt-generator\/\">try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>with a canine-skin collar various scenarios with his colleagues it would be a shining white box &#8211;Don\u2019t be modest finally agreed to wear it Tune in next time part 240 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Click Here for Earlier Installments The black velvet room, with its distressing noises [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319,4],"tags":[91,403],"class_list":["post-5287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stichomancy-prompts","category-writing-prompts","tag-bonus-points","tag-tune-in-next-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5287"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5301,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5287\/revisions\/5301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}