Morgana's Gift Pt. 01-05

"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director Otto Rouchard and had tried her hand at acting as a teenager, only to get such horrible reviews that she had withdrawn from acting before emerging as a talented director a decade later.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."

Chapter 2 -- Tuesday's Gone

Before midnight, Emily Rouchard had sent over the contract, officially signing Kev to be the composer for her upcoming movie, offering him more money than he'd been offered to do anything. He was a little surprised by the number, but Elizabeth assured him that while the amount was high, it wasn't unreasonably high. He'd naturally signed it and set it back. His first appointment was to meet with Alice at the beginning of next week, where he'd see a rough cut of the movie, and could take notes while he did.

He'd been tempted to stay up late and explore the house more, but Elizabeth had made sure he didn't, assuring him that his morning tomorrow would start relatively early for his interview with Elizabeth's next candidate. So he'd crawled into bed and Ashley had snuggled up against him on one side, while Elizabeth had agreed to slide in against his other.

True to her word, Ashley had woken him up in the morning without blowing him, instead putting on coffee, even going so far as to run out for bagels before she'd gotten him up. Elizabeth had also awoken before he did, and she'd helped make sure the house was in order. So he'd woken up to the smell of coffee and his cat, Stu, was nuzzled up against his side.

"You finding the new house okay, Stu?"

The cat stretched in response, but offered no other answer.

"Fair enough," Kev said, climbing out of bed. He hopped through a shower and threw on some clothes, before finding his way into the dining room, or at least what he thought was the dining area. "Bagels, huh? Good choice."

"Might be one of the last time we order things in, if you like your next candidate," Elizabeth said, as Kev moved to sit down at the table. "She's reportedly quite the cook."

"But she's not just going to be a cook, you said?"

"No, she'll also be your personal trainer. If you like, that is. She's been a personal trainer here in LA for about a decade, but she insists that training isn't enough, and that she needs to help keep her client's diet in check. She's supposedly a hell of a cook as well."

Kev laughed a little bit. "That's about what she does, not who she is," he said, as he started to snack on one of the bagels. "Aren't you going to tell me anything more about her?"

Elizabeth shook her head, smiling at him, as Ashley poured him a cup of coffee. "I'm not going to tell you much of anything about anyone in advance of you meeting them, sir." Ashley poured her one as well. "It's unfair of me to set expectations for you, so I want to let each girl speak for herself."

Kev smirked. "Is that always going to be the case? Because I'm certainly going to want you to do a bit of recon and make sure I'm not heading into utter chaos."

"Oh, I can't promise they won't be chaotic, Kev," Elizabeth said. "But they won't hurt you, and I think they'll be generally a good match, based on what I've learned about you."

"I truly wonder how much you've learned about me. I mean, I try not to spend too much time talking about myself."

"No kidding," Ashley interjected. "We practically had to pry it out of you yesterday."

"Well, I've been taught it's not polite to talk too much about yourself, so I try not to do that."

"When you're picking partners, Kev, that's not generally true," Elizabeth said.

After they finished breakfast, Kevin decided to take a tour of the house on his own. The place was huge, and overlooked Los Angeles with a hell of a view, the kind of view he'd dreamed of since he'd moved out to California. He'd never really thought it was going to be possible, but in the span of just a few days, his entire life had been upended. He loved the way it overlooked the city during the day, and couldn't wait to see it at night. He'd been tempted to sneak out of bed and look at it the night before, but decided that he wasn't likely to be able to get clear without waking either one of the girls.

"You'll love it at night," Ashley said, as she moved out onto the porch to stand next to him. "It reminded me of this old movie I must've watched a dozen times. It's called 'Heat,' with DeNiro and Pacino. You ever seen that movie?"

He chuckled, shaking his head a little. "Are you kidding me? I love that flick. But 'old movie?' That film came out in '91."

"That's before I was born."

Kev mocked a wince. "Don't I feel like the old pervert now."

"Oh, don't feel old." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Feeling like a pervert's okay, though?"

"Definitely," she giggled. "I like perverts."

"You have any inside info on this meeting I've got in an hour or so?"

"Just a name, nothing more."

"Well, that's more than I have now," he said. "Spill."

"What's in it for me if I tell you?" she said, swaying her hips from side to side. She'd only put on sweatpants and one of his t-shirts, and the whole outfit was undeniably sexy. "I want something in return."

"What do you want? I know a guy who can probably bankroll your college education for you," he said, after leaning in to pretend like he was whispering a secret.

"You're already doing that, so I suppose I can tell you. Her name is Natalie. She's going to be here pretty soon, though."

Kev glanced at his watch. "How so? I've got like an hour."

"Oh you haven't figured it out yet, huh?" Ashley clicked her tongue with a smirk. "Then I suppose I can spoil that one for you, as well. Elizabeth's always got things booked like fifteen to thirty minutes earlier than she says she does, so you're never getting too anxious waiting. Sometimes it's just like five minutes earlier than she said, but sometimes it can even be like an hour earlier."

"That sounds horrible for a personal scheduler," Kevin groaned.

"She knows how to keep you on task, though. So you'll work it out."

"What are you going to do to keep yourself busy for the next month until classes start?"

Ashley flicked her hair back over her shoulder. "You, mostly." She giggled, then rolled her eyes in his direction. "Don't worry, I'll make sure I get familiar with the campus, and figure out how long it takes me to get to and from school so that I'm not late."

"We're in the hills, so it won't be too bad, but never underestimate the living hell that is LA traffic." The two stood in silence for a minute or so, looking over LA while the sun continued to rise higher in the sky. "What can you tell me about Elizabeth?"

"She'll be good for you, sir," she said. "I think it's smart that you decided to just move her in already, rather than make her wait. I know she wanted to prove herself to you, but by now, you have to know she's very capable."

"Yeah, I got that. I was worried that Emily Rouchard was going to show up here with some lofty expectations about what I was capable in terms of scoring, but apparently Elizabeth had gotten her a copy of the Truth Knife CD."

"What did you think, Elizabeth was going to over promise just to score you a gig? That wouldn't make any sense. Otherwise your first gig would be your last."

"Sure, but does that matter?"

"To you it does," Ashley said, her hand smoothing over his back. "So it does to her too. I know it's weird having someone looking out for you this much, but you're just going to have to get used to it, daddy."

"Don't call me that."

"Oh, you can't lie to me, but I won't do it front of other people, if it makes you feel any better. Anyway, I'm going to take the Tesla down to campus and pick up my books today, so I'll be back in time for dinner."

"You don't want to be here to meet Natalie?"

Ashley shrugged. "Either she'll be here when I get back and I'll be sharing a bed with her, or she won't, and I won't have to learn her face at all." She headed back to the doorway. "Besides, if she's gonna be your personal trainer, she might be all crazy ripped."

"Somehow I think you and I envision personal trainers very different," he laughed. "Besides, if that was true, she'd probably be named Natalia or something."

"Yeah, I guess. Have fun!" Ashley skipped off the balcony and headed inside, just at the same time that Elizabeth walked out.

"She's going to be a handful, that one," she said, moving to stand next to him on the balcony. "But somehow I think you're going to like her that way." She nudged his hip with her own. "You doing okay?"

"The thought of someone telling me what I can and can't eat is a little worrying, I have to admit."

"Don't think of it like that," she told him. "Think of it as someone who's going to help shape what you already like eating into a slightly more healthy form."

"I've practically been living off Arby's for the better part of two years, Elizabeth. It's not exactly easy to just walk away from that life of glamour."

She laughed, recognizing that he was kidding. "All I can tell is what I've already told you, Kevin. Be yourself, be honest about what you like and what you don't, and all of this should be relatively painless."

"But she already knows about..." he said, gesturing around him, as if trying to find the words to say it.

"Yes, she's absolutely on board with fucking your brains out every chance she gets. Hell, she's practically been trying to get into my panties for a year, so I'm sure that'll help, too."

"Oh has she now?"

The doorbell rang, and Elizabeth smirked, giving him a wink. "That should be her. Why don't you meet her in the front living room?"

"How many living rooms do I have?" he called after her, but she didn't answer. He almost considered waiting to see how long it would be before Elizabeth would come and get him, but he decided he didn't want to be rude, so he wandered back inside of his own house that he barely knew the inside of.

The front living room turned out to be basically right next to his front door, and he'd walked past a couple of times in the last two days, but hadn't taken the time to familiarize himself with it all that much as of yet. It was nicely decorated, with a couple of couches in a V formation, with a wedge shaped table between them. If there was a television in the room, it wasn't readily apparent.

What was readily apparent was that he wasn't alone in the room. Sitting on one couch, facing towards him, was Elizabeth, who had a sheet of paper in her lap that she was reading from. With her back to him was another woman, whom he assumed had to be Natalie. "Ah, there's the lord of the manor now. Mr. Bishop, I'd like you to meet Natalie Yu."

As the young woman stood up and turned around, Kev was able to quickly give her a once over. She looked to be in her early thirties, clearly of Asian descent, but not rail thin, to his delight. She had a gorgeous mane of hair, dark but in waves that lightened up the further down it got. He immediately noticed her face was dusted with a generous helping of freckles, and she had a warm, almost mischievous smile upon her face. She was dressed in black yoga pants and a black stretch top that clung to her generous curves well. All said and done, she reminded him of the type of girl he'd occasionally seen when scrolling through the hot section on Instagram.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Bishop," she said, extending a hand to him.

"God. Please. Call me Kevin or Kev," he said, taking her hand in his to shake. "Call me Mister Bishop again and this interview is absolutely over. Got it?"

She laughed, nodding. "Got it, Kev. So how do you want to start?"

"Well, tell me a little bit about yourself and why you want this gig."

"Sure," she said, letting go of his hand. "So I moved out from Kansas City about a dozen years ago, and originally wanted to be an acrobat. After about a year, I relocated to Las Vegas and joined Cirque Du Soleil, where I was part of Zumanity for a couple of years."

"That's their erotic show, Kev," Elizabeth said.

"I know what it is," he said with a smile. "Never saw it, although I saw Ka a couple of times."