Morgana’s Gift
by Corrupting Power
Intermission One — Born To Run
A short nap, as it turned out, had morphed into a long sleep. Kevin didn’t normally go to bed at five in the evening, but as soon as he’d crawled into that massive king-sized bed, he’d put his head down onto the pillow and passed right out and slept until morning. He had been sure he’d gotten into bed wearing most of his clothes, so he was sure surprised when he awoke completely naked, except for the ring, naturally. By the look of the sky outside of the giant window overlooking Los Angeles, it had to be early morning, with the sun just breaking on the horizon. That was the second thing he’d noted when he woke up.
The first had been that Ashley was slowly bobbing her head up and down on his cock, her tongue taking its time in slathering every inch of his shaft. It was a leisurely pace, as if she was simply enjoying his morning wood without trying to intentionally awaken him. She was on her knees, completely naked except for the collar around her throat. Sitting next to her on the bed was Elizabeth, who stroked the girl’s hair from time to time. “She insisted she be allowed to wake you, sir,” Elizabeth said to him. “I assured her you wouldn’t mind too much.” She had changed from a business suit into something significantly more casual, a large t-shirt hanging over what Kev assumed had to be shorts.
“It shouldn’t be an every morning kind of thing,” Kevin said, “but I wouldn’t mind it once or twice a week.” Now that he was awake, Ashley had dialed back on the hesitation to her pace, and was thrusting her face onto his cock faster now, glucking each time the tip of his shaft hit the back of her throat. The girl clearly knew what she wanted, and didn’t want to wait for it, not that Kevin could put up all that much in the way of resistance.
“You hear that, Ashley?”
She pulled her head off, hovering just over his cock so she could speak. “Yes ma’am.”
Elizabeth swatted the girl hard on the ass. “Don’t tell me. Tell him.”
“Yes sir, I won’t do it every morning. Twice a week.” And then she immediately dove back to her task, wrapping her lips around his dick as if it pained her to take her mouth off of it.
“She’ll probably just end up fucking you awake at least once or twice a week as well, if you don’t tell her not to, although once there are more women in this bed, we’ll be able to keep her in check a bit better. Such a thirsty little slut, but then I knew she would be.”
“How did you even find her?”
“Her mother is my old college roommate,” Elizabeth said with a smile. Kevin was surprised. He’d guessed that Elizabeth was in her early 30s, but if she had a college roommate with a daughter going off to college herself, she had to be in early 40s instead, not that he minded. As if reading his mind, she continued. “Hopefully that doesn’t make you think I’m too old for you, but I’ve watched Ashley grow up over the years. I’m even her godmother. She needed someone older to talk to who wasn’t her mother, so I know all of her dirty little secrets. And when she wanted to dabble in more sapphic delights, I was a safe outlet for her. She had been complaining to me the day after my first meeting with Ms. La Fey that she’d been having such rotten luck with boys lately, and hoped that LA would be better in the fall. She’s from Ohio, and moved in with me so I could present her to you. If you’d decided to pass on her, she would’ve just moved into the dorm from my place in August when classes start.”
Having a conversation while being blown had never been a challenge Kev had been presented with before now, and he was thankful Elizabeth was doing most of the talking, as he could feel Ashley’s tongue slathering over his cock, her cheeks denting in when she inhaled hard on his shaft. “Her mother isn’t going to mind... all of this?”
“Oh, you won’t keep her forever, sir,” Elizabeth said with a sultry laugh. “Ashley will stay with you throughout college, but once she graduates, she’ll head back into the boring real world and try to find someone to settle down with. Sooner, I suppose, if the opportunity presents itself while she’s in school and you decide to allow her.”
“If I decide? I have that kind of power?”
“Sir,” Eizabeth sighed, a wry smile implying the slightly disappointed tone was more in amusement than actual dismay. “For the time being, you own her. She’s yours. Dye her hair if you want, or pierce her nipples. Make her answer the door completely naked when you have pizza delivered. I mean, if you decide you actually want her to stick around her entire life, I suspect she would entertain the idea, but I somehow anticipated you would eternally rotate in new fucktoys into your stable, so you always have a coed plaything in the first position.”
“You make me sound so cruel, Elizabeth, as if I’d kick her to the curb.”
“She’s getting something out of it, Kevin. You’re giving her the sexual experience she wants for now. Beyond that, you’re also giving her a place to stay, food to eat and paying for her college, out of your sizable resources.”
“I am?”
“It’s part of the setup that Ms. La Fey suggested,” Elizabeth said. “She made a point to help me out with a few key details.”
Almost as if their conversation was challenging her moment, Ashley started to thrust her face into Kevin’s crotch as quickly as she could, bobbing her head fiercely, her tongue wildly slashing across his skin. He couldn’t resist long, and in moments, he found himself blasting a load of hot cum into the girl’s mouth.
Ashley pulled her head back, her lips pursed tightly together, and looked up at Elizabeth before getting up onto just her knees next to the older woman. Elizabeth leaned in and pressed her lips against the girl’s, a searingly erotic kiss between the two, as Ashley passed some of his cum into Elizabeth’s mouth, making her tremble for a long moment before the two broke the kiss.
“What’s he taste like to you, ma’am?” Ashley asked her.
“Like Macallan 25, smokey and yet vital and domineering,” Elizabeth answered. “I can’t wait to have an entire dose all to myself, but good things come to those who wait.” She rubbed a circle onto the young girl’s bare back. “Go and get dressed now, Ashley. We have a guest planned for later today, and it simply will not do for you to walk around wearing only that.”
“I’ll go hop through a shower,” she said, crawling off the bed.
Kevin and Elizabeth both watched the girl’s ass sway as she walked away from them and headed into the bathroom. “Every day you let her keep that cherry, sir, is a goddamn shame, but she is yours to do with as you see fit,” Elizabeth sighed. “Know that she’s very eager for it, though.”
“I’ll get there soon enough, I’m sure.” Kev slipped out of the bed and moved over to the walk in closet that was bigger than his old living room. “Some of these clothes aren’t mine, but I know at least some of them absolutely are. I don’t know where you’d even find a Tangerine Dream t-shirt these days,” he said, his fingers brushing against the aforementioned shirt which hung from a clothes hanger. “I’ve certainly never hung them up before.”
“After you passed out, Ashley and I took your keys over to your place and packed up some of your essential things to bring here. Clothes, your instruments and your cat. He’s resting quietly in the living room. He seemed quite nervous when we brought him here, but we brought him immediately into the bedroom and let him sit on the bed with you and that seemed to calm him right now. He’s been exploring since then, I think. Later today, we can go over what else you want to bring and what you want to donate.”
“Yeah, Stu’s pretty unflappable. Once you showed him that I’m here, as long as he can find food and a litter box, he’ll be fine.” Kevin opened a series of drawers, finding pajamas, sheets, and eventually underwear and socks, grabbing a pair of boxers to tug on, followed by some white gym socks. The next drawer down was full of jeans and slacks, so he grabbed a pair of loose fitting Levis and pulled them on before he went back to the Tangerine Dream t-shirt, sliding it off the hanger and over his head. “What did you mean by ‘donate?’”
“Most of the furniture is, if you don’t mind me saying so, sir, a little beneath you at this point, but I wasn’t sure if any of it had sentimental value. Couches, chairs, beds, we have the house nice and stocked with much better than what you had at home. Books, CDs, vinyl and such, we can someone bring all that over, but I think your days of needing that wobbly kitchen table are over, don’t you?”
Kev tugged on a pair of his favorite leather boots as he nodded. “I suppose that’s true. Bring all the posters from the walls, the vinyl, the CDs, the books, oh, and I’ve got a handful of coffee mugs that I want. My computer as well. I’m sure you’ve bought me the newest high tech monstrosity, and that’s fine, but I still need to get all my data off the old one.” He glanced at Elizabeth, as a thought occurred to him. “Are you living here as well?”
“I’m staying in the guest house out back until you decide whether to bring me on board or not, sir, although I do keep an apartment downtown.”
“Elizabeth,” Kevin sighed. “Can you please drop the pretense that I’m not going to bring you on as my majordomo? You’ve set up this house incredibly well, and you know enough about me to know that if I woke up in a strange house, the first thing I was going to be worried about was if someone had fed my cat. You’re on my staff. You’re the head of my staff. Get used to the idea.”
Elizabeth both smirked and blushed a little. “Yes. Well.” She seemed almost uncertain what to say next. “I’ll still wait until after you’ve brought one more member into your household before I officially get my locket, just to be certain. But I’ll bring my things from the guest house into the main house when you’re having your meeting this afternoon.”
The two of them had walked from the bedroom out into the hallway outside, as Elizabeth was starting to take him on a tour of his new home. He was certain the layout was going to challenge him for a while, but soon enough, he would be able to think of it as home without it feeling like a lie. As they made their way down the stairs and past the entryway, Kevin noted with approval that the Picasso that had been hanging there had been moved. “Who am I meeting with?” he asked her, as they headed into the living room, or, he supposed, one of the living rooms.
“Director Emily Rouchard and actress Alice Karteaux as I mentioned to you yesterday. They’ll be here to talk to you about the film and go over what they’re looking for in terms of score. They have a four o’clock meeting, with dinner being catered in, depending on how long the meeting goes. Ms. Rouchard is quite particular about what she wants from a sonic perspective, so the meeting may well run into the evening. She took a bit of convincing, but after I played some of your work from “The Devil’s Confession,” it wasn’t too hard to...”
“You heard that?” His Burmese cat, Stu, hopped up on the couch as Kevin walked by, leaning his head to butt against Kev’s hip, a none-too-subtle signal for him to pet his companion, which Kevin did. “I’m pretty sure that film had negative ticket sales.”
“I sent her a copy of it for her to watch, just so she could hear the score. She told me she thought the movie was trash, but was especially impressed with your use of a Hammond organ to make it feel so timeless.”
“I did it all digitally, but I’m pleased she recognized the sound,” he said as he moved to sit down on a couch, Stu climbing into his lap as Kev continued to pet the cat, who had worked himself up into a steady purr.
“Did you want me to track down an original Hammond organ for you?” she said as she moved to sit down on the other end of the couch. “It wouldn’t be too difficult.”
“I appreciate that, but they are a beast to maintain, and I can get the sound I want digitally with far less muss and fuss.”
“You do have quite the love of vintage gear, Ashley and I noticed, when we were packing up your things. Five full boards worth of guitar effects pedals seemed, to my eyes, a little excessive.” She reached over to the coffee table and picked up a tablet she had left there earlier, flipping open the top of it and bringing the computer to life.
“Each one is a different tool for the toolbox, Elizabeth.” Stu seemed pleased that his master was awake, and settled comfortably, gingerly kneading at his leg with his paws while he continued to purr. “You said yesterday that you imagined this house will fill up rather quickly. What did you have in mind?”
“You’re going to need a staff, sir, who should also be part of your harem. You’re going to need a housekeeper, a gardener and cook, to start with. Perhaps one woman could take on two of those jobs, but not all three.”
“I trust your judgment, Elizabeth.”
“Thank you, sir, but you’re going to need to make decisions yourself. I also personally think you’re going to be in need of a personal trainer, just to make sure you’re staying fit and healthy. You may also wish to consider bringing on a bodyguard, a lawyer and a physician. I would’ve said you would need an assistant and an accountant as well, but I will be able to fulfill both of those duties for you myself.”
“Why not a chauffeur as well?” he joked.
“I considered that, sir, but I decided that if you were to bring on a bodyguard, she would also be able to double as your driver.”
“Fuck, Elizabeth,” Kevin said, “I was kidding.”
“Sir, you’re basically going to be Hollywood royalty overnight. Once you start working on Ms. Rouchard’s next movie, you’re going to be one of the most sought after composers in the industry. You will be able to pick and choose your projects. Expect to be invited to all of the kinds of parties you never were before, and that means you’re going to need at least a bit of protection. I wouldn’t worry too much about things like TMZ, though. They’ve never seemed to care much about composers.”
“So how many members of my harem have you lined up candidates for?” Kevin said. He had decided mentally just to go along with whatever fever dream he was having and enjoy the ride.
“Tomorrow you’ll meet my primary candidate to serve as your personal trainer and cook. And next week, I’ve got a couple of meetings scheduled for you with candidates I think you’d quite like as a bodyguard/driver. Those seemed like the most immediate needs. Other than that, I’ve done my best not to work too far ahead.” Ashley tapped on the tablet a little bit, as if making notes for herself. “I’ve learned a lot about you, Kevin, but there’s a limit to what I can learn from afar.”
“How did you learn so much about me anyway?”
“Research. I interviewed your former bandmates, your old classmates and roommates from college, reached out to what little surviving family you have, as well as talking with the people you’ve done work with for the last year as you tried to transition from being a rock musician to a composer. Oh, and naturally, I reached out to your former partners.”
Kevin shook his head a little. “I’m sure that was a nightmare all by itself.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Elizabeth said, a mysterious smile flitting across her face before quickly vanishing. “I don’t think you knew them all quite as well as you think you did. But we’ll put a pin in that for another day. Beyond all that, though, there is only so much you can learn about a person from resources outside of that person. So as we spend more time together, I’ll have a better understanding of what you are and aren’t looking for as I work towards my ultimate goal.”
“Ultimate goal? That sounds a little ominous.”
Elizabeth shook her head with a smile. “Not at all, sir. Despite the fact that you wanted your own ethical harem, you also wanted that thing that so many men want—a wife. Finding a woman worthy of being your wife will take some doing, especially one who will be accepting of, well, all of the rest of your life. It’s a difficult task, but one I feel certain I’ll be able to overcome, in time.”
“You aren’t considering yourself for the job? Or Ashley?”
“Sir,” she said, a rather formal tone dropping into her voice. “You’ve already offered me exactly what I want, the position of power behind the man of power. I will organize your life, manage your business and tend to your finances, and not only will you compensate me well for it, you’ll also be so kind as to fuck me stupid on the regular. That’s what I want, sir, to be your professional support.”
“So what do I need a wife for?”
“Emotional support, sir, and someone to be your equal. I will always be one step behind you. Because that’s what I want, that’s where I want to be. I’ll be logistics for you, but I won’t ever be your decision maker. You will make your own decisions. You will be in control of your life, and the good and the bad will arrive at your hand. A wife will help you make decisions, but that isn’t a job that I want. Sir.”
Kevin nodded. “Honest and upfront. I can appreciate that, Elizabeth.” Stu finally seemed like he’d gotten bored on Kevin’s lap and hopped off, his tail swishing as he started wandering down a hallway. “All right, why don’t you give me a formal tour of, uh, well, our house, I guess?”
“No need to be afraid, sir,” she said as she moved to her feet, tucking the tablet under one arm. “It is, in fact, a very, very fine house.”
“I might’ve said it’s in the middle of our street, but I appreciate the reference.”
“We aren’t in the middle of our street, though, sir. We’re at the end, and our driveway leads up to a cul-de-sac, along with two others.”
“Touché.”
Over the next hour, he found it surprising how accurately Elizabeth had been able to predict his tastes and preferences. The house was well laid out, and while some furniture had been bought, many of the bedrooms were currently unfurnished. Elizabeth told him that she suspected each of his partners might like their own room in the house to do with as they saw fit, and so none of them had been decorated as of yet, although Ashley did have some furniture being delivered tomorrow.
The house had a five-car garage attached to it, although only the Tesla he’d seen out front and his shitty Corrola were in it for the time being. “You kept the Corrola?” he laughed, seeing it in the garage as he shook his head, almost in shame that he’d ever driven the damn thing.
“I didn’t want to get rid of anything without your say so, sir.”
“It barely runs on a good day, smells off spilled beer and machine oil and the front bumper might fall off if you look at it the wrong way. I don’t even know how you got her to start up to drive her into the garage.”
“We, ah, actually had to push it in neutral. Neither Ashley or I could manage to get the engine to start.”
“There’s a trick to it. Doesn’t matter.” He waved a hand at it. “Get it out of here. Have someone come haul it away for junk and spare parts, if it’s even worth that.”
“Very good, sir.”
The doorbell rang, as Kev glanced at his watch. “I thought you said the meeting was at 4.”
“That’ll be lunch being delivered, sir. I had Tacos El Tamix ordered, as your old bassist, Kelly, said it was one of your favorites.”
“Oh hell, then let’s eat. I’m not gonna let that go cold.”
Kev, Elizabeth and Ashley enjoyed their lunch in the dining room, although he had to admit, they did feel a little outdone by the empty space. The dining room table was big enough to fit five on each long side and two on each narrow side, so with just the three of them, it felt like they were barely using the table.
Over the course of the meal, Kev spent a bit of time doing his best to get to know Ashley and Elizabeth, although Ashley was far more forthcoming about herself than Elizabeth was.
Ashley had grown up in Cleveland, daughter of a single mother who had been increasingly strict throughout her senior year. She’d had a few boyfriends, one of whom had been rough with her, which she liked at first, but he had taken too far one night. Elizabeth had put an end to that boy the next day, making sure he was terrified of even going near Ashley again, much less laying a hand on her. Ashley had also needed to have an abortion a few weeks later, which she naturally hadn’t told her mother about, and Elizabeth had helped her through. That immediately made Kev grow nervous before Ashley assured him she was on the pill now, so it wouldn’t be a problem for them, which put him back at ease.
She hadn’t come to LA with hopes of being in movies or any such nonsense, but because UCLA was a great school. In fact, the girl told Kev she hoped to be a veterinarian after school, but that she was also open to finding herself while she was in college, if another life path beckoned to her. She’d never left Ohio before she’d moved in with Elizabeth, and the first day she’d arrived in California, she’d made her godmother take her down to the ocean, so she could swim in the Pacific for hours.
Every time Kev tried to circle the conversation around to get a bit of history about Elizabeth, the older woman had simply redirected back to Ashley, but not in any way that Kevin could get upset with. In fact, he had to begrudgingly admire the skill with which she could control a conversation and not make it feel forced.
Ashley was also insatiably curious to learn as much as she could about Kevin, so every moment the conversation seemed to lull even the slightest, she pounced on him to pry more of his history out of him. It seemed Elizabeth hadn’t told her much.
It surprised him how much she genuinely seemed interested in his rather dull backstory. He’d grown up in Colorado and moved out to California after high school with a couple of friends in his first band, Broken Souls, trying to get noticed by a record company.
Broken Souls had only lasted about a year, and Kev had been attending the Los Angeles College of Music while also working as a busboy at one restaurant and a bartender at another. After Broken Souls had come Sailor Lemmy, his next band, which had lasted about two years, followed by nearly a dozen other unsuccessful bands until his last one, Truth Knife.
They’d actually landed a record deal and recorded an album, although half of the band had been so drunk or stoned that Kevin had played their parts for them for much of the album, except for Kerry, who’d never let her partying get in the way of her ability to drum, which was for the best, as Kevin was a terrible drummer.
The label had been optimistic about the album, “Wayward Dreamers,” before its release, but the same week the album came out, the label had folded, the founder having fled the country with most of the company’s funds, leaving everyone else to hold the bag.
While Truth Knife had played a handful of gigs opening for bigger acts, without the weight of a label behind them, the album had been dead on arrival, and they’d been on their last legs the night Kevin had saved Morgana La Fey’s life. A week after that, they’d played their final gig, and had a blowout argument about the usual—how half the band wanted to be in a band to make music, and how the other half wanted to be in a band just to score drugs. When the band had officially called it quits three weeks later, it had basically been a formality. Nobody even wanted to see each other after that.
Ashley had virtually demanded that he give her a signed copy of the album, despite her never having heard a thing he’d played. He wasn’t sure Truth Knife was going to be Ashley’s speed, but he’d learned not to judge anyone’s musical tastes for them. The band had been a sort of psychedelic prog metal band, and Kevin had often said the closest similar band he could think of to their style was Tool, although Kevin’s style leaned a lot more heavily into electronica than Tool ever had.
The more he talked about the band, the happier he was to be apart from them. The interpersonal drama of the other members had consumed all of the talent they’d had, sucking all of the oxygen out of the room, until they were all suffocating each other.
Pivoting slightly from that, Elizabeth had pointed out that she could also likely get him work as a session musician, if he wanted, or he could take a try at being a record producer. Kev said he might not mind the occasional session gig, but had no desire to be a record producer. “I didn’t even like our producer, Elizabeth, so I don’t think I’d be a very good one.”
She nodded and typed onto her tablet, clearly making a note of it. “You’re the boss, sir.”
“You know, I’m not going to let you dodge talking about yourself forever, Elizabeth,” he said with a smile.
The doorbell rang and Kev glanced at his watch in surprise. They’d been talking for hours now, and his watch read 3:48 pm. The time had just flown by. “It looks like your four o’clock is here a little early, sir,” she said with a smile, as she stood up. “So I’ve won this round. Ashley, clean up the table. Kev, I’ll bring them to you in the meeting room we were in yesterday. Why don’t you go and make yourself comfortable there?”
“I can meet them at the door,” he said, shaking his head.
“You truly don’t have to, sir.”
“Elizabeth. I am not going to be one of those fucking snobs who doesn’t answer his own door at least some of the time. Let’s go.”
The two walked down the hallway from the dining room to the front door of the house. “Why didn’t they have to buzz at the gate like I did yesterday?” he asked her as they made their way to the door.
“I knew they were coming, so I opened it remotely about half an hour ago on my tablet.”
“That thing controls the whole house, doesn’t it?” he said, nodding towards the tablet she kept under her arm.
“You have no idea, sir,” she said, as they reached the door.
Once the door opened, Kevin took a good look at the two standing on his doorstep. They served as quite the contrast to each other.
On the left stood Emily Rouchard, an indie director of no small renown. She was the daughter of legendary multiple Oscar winning director Otto Rouchard and had tried her hand at acting as a teenager, only to get such horrible reviews that she had withdrawn from acting before emerging as a talented director a decade later.
She was slender, with a pronounced nose, jet black hair framing her face in a sharp bob. Her husband played drums in an indie band called Ring of Osiris that Kevin quite liked. She was dressed in a loose blue button up shirt and black slacks, which made Kevin feel a bit more at ease that he wasn’t supposed to be dressed up for the meeting.
On the right stood Alice Karteaux, one of the hottest actors working right now, in every possible way. She’d briefly had a career as a model when she was a teenager, and had moved from New Zealand to Hollywood to strike it big some twenty five years ago. Her first few films had been minor successes, although she’d mostly been a supporting player. The accent had faded quickly, although there were still hints of it when she would be interviewed. A supporting role up against actor Albert Lomax in a film called “Winding Bullets” had been her big break, and she’d said in numerous interviews from that moment onward she’d decided to trust directors over scripts and studios any day, and twice on sunday. Since then, she’d done an overwhelming number of action movies, most of which Kev had seen dozens of times. Her most recent one, an action film that also happened to be a period piece in the 1960s, was one his top ten films of all time.
Alice was statuesque to say the least, well over six feet tall, and yet, still incredibly feminine for being muscular and toned. She had on a fashionable top that still screamed activewear and a dress that flowed past her knees. She was gorgeous in a way that was almost too much to look at, confident and strident, as if daring anyone to look too long, or look away, it was hard to tell. The last gossip he’d seen of her was that she’d broken off a three year relationship with Max Morris, a triple-Oscar winning actor about ten years her elder, although he did remember his bassist commenting that some article had said she was still single some two years after that breakup, waiting for some guy to “man up and grow a pair.”
“Good evening, ladies,” Elizabeth said to them. “I hope you didn’t have any trouble finding the place?”
Alice shot her a warm smile. “I mean, you could have just told us you had moved into Roland Felton’s old house. Is this the composer in question?” she said, waving a hand in Kev’s direction. “Hi, I’m Alice.”
Kev glanced over at Elizabeth. “You didn’t tell me Roland Felton owned this place before I did, Elizabeth.” He took Alice’s hand and shook it, almost laughing a little. “I think you’re one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, but I appreciate the introduction. I’m Kev.”
“Don’t dismiss yourself so lightly,” Emily said. “After hearing your work on “The Devil’s Confession”...”
“You know that’s just a film school student’s first project, made with a budget of about ten grand, right? It was a crap movie, but I did the best I could.”
“I wasn’t interested in the film itself, Mr. Bishop, merely how the music complimented the visuals.”
“Please, call me Kev.”
“Well, Kev,” Emily continued as Elizabeth brought both women inside the house, starting to lead them down the hall to the conference room, “after that I did a little homework of my own, and managed to track down a copy of Truth Knife’s album, and that sound is a lot of what we’re looking for. Sort of metal but with flirtations of electronica and synthwave.”
As they entered the conference room, Kev was surprised to see that his laptop was already resting next to one of the chairs, a little MIDI keyboard attached to it, his usual setup when he was demoing things for potential clients. “The band broke up months ago, but I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard to lean back into that sound again.”
“Excellent, but with more electronica, more synthwave, more sort of retro sci-fi,” Alice said. “This is going to be a big science-fiction action movie, but with a lot of throwback in it. Less actual sci-fi and more like what 1982 thought sci-fi was going to be.”
“Oh, the Blade Runner/Alien aesthetic.”
“Yes!” Emily said, sliding into her seat. “Finally, someone who speaks my language! It’s John Woo meets John Carpenter meets Ridley Scott, but with a kick ass heroine right in the center of it.”
Kev moved to sit at his computer as Alice moved to sit on the other side of him. “While it doesn’t surprise me you’re making another action film, Ms. Karteaux, I have to admit, it comes as a bit of a surprise to me that you’re the one directing it, Ms. Rouchard. You’ve mostly done two and three handers, small casts and low budgets. What you’re talking about must have quite the effects budget.”
Emily casually waved her hand. “ILM is handling all of that this time around. The movie’s an adaptation of a novel called ‘The Desperate Disintegration’ and there was a giant bidding war for it last year.”
“I’m afraid I’ve never even heard of it.”
“It’s not out yet, but the prepublication copies were floating around the desk of every major studio in this town, and when I saw it, I knew I wanted to do it. It’s weird and warped and freaky,” she cackled with mad delight. “If anyone else got their hands on it, they’d sand off all the rough edges...”
“Which are the best parts,” Alice interjected.
“Which are absolutely the best fucking parts! So I knew I couldn’t win a bidding war on my own, so I brought the novel to my good friend Alice here...”
“And I said I’d sign on as the lead, but only if Em could direct it...”
“And here we are, talking to you, seeing if you’re going to give me that Truth Knife meets Vangelis sound.”
Kev had been tampering with his laptop and keyboard while they’d been talking. “So, here’s an initial thought...” He hit the play button and a whipping melody, steeped in Moog keyboard effects, danced through the room, while a subtle electric guitar lead line flickered in and out around the background. “Something like this?”
Alice slammed her fist on the table. “Goddamn, I knew we found our guy. We were listening to the Truth Knife CD in Em’s car on the ride up here, and I kept saying, if he can lean into the synth stuff more, we’ll be on our way.”
“How far out are you?”
“We finished principal photography a month back, so we’re editing it together now while ILM builds all our effects. I could show you a rough cut as early as next week. It’ll be like four hours long and full of placeholder pre-vis, but you can still get a general idea of where we’re going and start putting together some themes and a general blueprint for scoring it,” Emily said. “You have a screening room here?”
“We have a very nice home theater room, although if you needed to preserve security, Kev could come down to the studio lot and watch it there,” Elizabeth answered.
“That’d probably be best,” Alice said, “just because the studio is very paranoid about security. We’re planning on a release next April, at the start of the summer blockbuster season.”
“I’ll be constantly editing and reworking until then,” Emily said, “but Alice has been very protective of this project, so she’ll happily watch it with you and give notes. We may have to do some reshoots in a few months, but other than that, Alice is keeping her schedule pretty clean so she can keep tabs on the movie as much as possible.”
“You seem pretty invested in this movie, Ms. Karteaux,” Kevin said.
“I’d better be. I’m an executive producer, in addition to being its star. So it’s my money that’s paying you.”
“I hope I’m worth every penny.”
“If you aren’t,” Alice said with a wolfish grin, “you will be once I squeeze it out of you.”