{"id":5869,"date":"2018-09-12T08:37:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T12:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/?p=5869"},"modified":"2018-09-09T18:20:44","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T22:20:44","slug":"johns-next-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/johns-next-move\/","title":{"rendered":"John&#8217;s Next Move"},"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\" \/>whether in sheer panic or out of revenge<\/li>\n<li>after days of cleaning<\/li>\n<li>described as a washcloth<\/li>\n<li>taught from infancy<\/li>\n<li>I heard you had a greenhorn from Tuscaloosa last night<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tune in next time part 318 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/tune-in-next-time\/\">Click Here for Earlier Installments<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>John&#8217;s next move caused a lot of trouble, <em>whether in sheer panic or out of revenge<\/em> for his defeat in the pregnancy-test ritual nine months ago it hardly mattered. What mattered was that he yelled a Contrarian obscenity and made a grab for the scimitar poking into my back. Its tip sliced through my skin despite the thick, protective hair covering my torso.<\/p>\n<p>I let out my own yell and whirled away. I don&#8217;t like fighting opponents who have scimitars at all, but especially not when I&#8217;m naked. John seemed to be enjoying it. With his hands clamped over the back of the blade, he whirled after me, dodging a thrust from the soldier guarding him and wrenching the other&#8217;s weapon away.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Stop this at once!&#8221; Fleur exclaimed. We all froze. &#8220;This is meant to be a celebratory occasion, and <em>after days of cleaning<\/em> the entire vessel with what can only be <em>described as a washcloth<\/em>, the viscount finally has everything in readiness. Or, he did. Now you&#8217;re bleeding on the deck, and your airplane is dirty!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would love to stop bleeding on your lovely ship,&#8221; I said, pressing my hand over the small cut on my back.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the airplane&#8217;s not ours,&#8221; John added unhelpfully.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We stole it,&#8221; I blurted before he could mention the missing pilot. &#8220;I was <em>taught from infancy<\/em> that it&#8217;s wrong to steal, except for biplanes. Everyone knows those things are free for the taking.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Viscount Arlo sneered, his hairless head glistening in the moonlight. &#8220;Fleur, my flower, let&#8217;s toss them to the sharks and carry on.&#8221; What a dickish thing to say, with me &#8212; her husband &#8212; standing right there. &#8220;You were about to deliver without him, anyway.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No, I was not. His arrival was fated.&#8221; She blew out a controlled breath. &#8220;This pointless conversation has taken up three minutes. And if I am not comfortably arranged in the birthing chamber before my next contraction, viscount, I will have someone thrown overboard.&#8221; She glared at him. He deflated, bending low to trail behind her, his bowed head dangling limply from his shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>The birthing chamber was a long room with a huge four-poster bed at the far end. At first glance every surface appeared to be draped in sumptuous fabrics, but it was all actually a trompe-l&#8217;oiel tile mosaic. Fleur climbed onto the bed, saying, &#8220;Leave us, viscount. This is a family ceremony.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Arlo shriveled even lower. &#8220;But, darling, the loneliness will be unbearable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re embarrassing yourself,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;You don&#8217;t think I know about your dalliances? Those &#8216;southern massages&#8217; you&#8217;re so fond of? I am kept well informed of all this. <em>I heard you had a greenhorn from Tuscaloosa last night<\/em>. Go see if she will keep you company while I fulfill the prophecy.&#8221;<\/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>whether in sheer panic or out of revenge after days of cleaning described as a washcloth taught from infancy I heard you had a greenhorn from Tuscaloosa last night Tune in next time part 318 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Click Here for Earlier Installments John&#8217;s next move caused a lot of trouble, whether in sheer panic or [&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":[403],"class_list":["post-5869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stichomancy-prompts","category-writing-prompts","tag-tune-in-next-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869","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=5869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5878,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions\/5878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeskelley.com\/skelleyverse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}