Post by morg on Jan 20, 2013 19:07:34 GMT -5
A Dangerous Game, Part 1
Welcome to the Camelot Club, located in Chicago, Illinois. It's 1922, the age of flappers and Prohibition... and the height of the mob era. With the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol now prohibited, powerful businessmen like the great Uther Pendragon have become powerful gangsters, producing, selling, and serving alcohol on the black market and in secret underground clubs like the Camelot Club.
Uther runs a dirty business, and is known for killing anyone who opposes him. But he is also a family man, with two children--his son, Arthur and his adopted daughter (who is secretly his real daughter), Morgana. Arthur is an honorable man, and he doesn't like the way his father runs the business. He wants to turn the business into a legal, legitimate one, and he has just the idea for a new product they can import--coffee. He is also in love with Guinevère, a waitress and lounge singer at the Camelot Club, even though he knows his father doesn't approve.
Morgana, meanwhile, is full of anger and resentment towards her adopted father, who she blames for the death of her father Gorlois, a former friend turned business rival of Uther's. He also kept her separated from her sister, Morgause, who now runs the LeFay organization in her father's place. Morgana is working with Morgause to bring down the Pendragon organization from within, then she plans to merge the two businesses, so that she will become the most powerful woman in Chicago.
New to the organization is Merlin Emrys, a young, idealistic man who has recently been hired as Arthur's right-hand man. He is also hiding a dangerous secret--he is actually a cop working undercover to find evidence against Uther. His father, also a cop, was killed two years ago by Uther himself, and he's determined to destroy the whole organization. But he is surprised to find that Arthur is a good man, who carries a great deal of guilt about his father's business dealings and wants to go legitimate. Merlin finds himself becoming friends with Arthur, and acting as his moral compass. But meanwhile, he also feels a dangerous attraction toward Uther's daughter, Morgana. He catches on to what she is doing and he means to stop her by any means necessary... but can he?
(I'd like to continue this in a series of threads. Since we don't have an Uther, I figure we can mainly focus on Arthur, Gwen, Morgana, and Merlin, along with Morgause, if she's interested, and Elyan. Any of the knights can also work for Uther, and any non-canons who would like to take part, feel free to PM me, and we'll see if we can find a place for you! Any new threads related to this story should be listed as "A Dangerous Game, Part X." Admin, I hope it's OK to do this here... I just thought it would be fun to reimagine the Merlin story in the 1920s. This was inspired by a recent photoshoot featuring Katie and Colin... they look so amazing together!)
Scene 1: In which Merlin, new to the Camelot Club, meets Morgana for the first time, before being hired as Arthur's right hand man.
Setting: The Camelot Club, a lush, dimly-lit nightclub located in an underground basement beneath Uther Pendragon's automotive factory
Time: Early evening, around 6 or 7:00.
Tag: Merlin
The dress was red silk, trimmed with red fringe. It swept over one shoulder, leaving the other bare, and skimmed over her body just enough to show off her generous curves. It was scandalously short, showing off her long, shapely legs, which she wore clad in black fishnet tights. Her arms and hands were covered in long red gloves, and her hair pulled back in curls, as was the current style. Morgana LeFay-Pendragon was dressed to kill, and she knew it. Uther would have a fit if he saw her like this, but Morgana didn't care. She wanted to be noticed, to shock everyone. Her father's men (she jokingly called them "the knights") would watch her with appreciation, knowing that she was strictly hands-off for the likes of them. She just liked to tease them.
Tonight Guinevère would be making her singing debut at the Camelot Club, and Morgana, having befriended the girl and encouraged her to try out as a singer, was eager to attend. There was also a rumor of a new member of her father's "organization" that Morgana hoped to meet.
The Camelot Club was the place to be... the hottest club in Chicago, and tonight there would be a celebration in honor of the recent defeat of another one of Uther's rivals. The man was probably now sleeping in the murky waters of the Chicago River by now, and Morgana ached for his family. He had a wife and two daughters, if she recalled. Morgana knew how they felt. Uther had also killed her father... she couldn't prove it, but she was sure of it. And even if he didn't do the deed himself, it had been on his orders. She sometimes looked at the"knights" and wondered which of them had been charged with the killing for Gorlois. Maybe Leon, or Gwaine. It didn't matter, though... because it was surely Uther's fault, and he was the one she blamed. And one day she would make him pay.
Dressed in her red dress, Morgana stepped out of Uther's apartment and into her car. She could drive the car herself, but Uther insisted on employing a chauffeur and guard to take her where ever she wanted to go.
"To the club, James," she said coolly, noticing how the chauffeur eyed her in the rearview mirror.
The club was on the South side of the city... a seedy neighborhood where many shady deals went down. But no one would dare touch the red Rolls Royce, knowing that it carried precious cargo. Uther Pendragon's adopted daughter was off-limits in the gang wars.
When James pulled the car to a stop in front of the warehouse, Morgana gave her hair a final fluff and added a touch of red lipstick before stepping out of the car. The night was warm, she noticed, and full of promise.
"Excalibur," she said, speaking the code word that allowed her to enter the club. Leon let her pass, and she was soon immersed in the crowd where the booze flowed and the sound of jazz music hung heavy in the air.
She immediately looked around for Guinevère, expecting that the young woman would be waiting tables before making her debut. But she didn't see Gwen. She did, however, notice a dark-haired man by the pool table, who was watching her with interest.
She looked at him for a moment. He was new... definitely not a regular. She knew most of them by now, and she knew that the regulars had been already taught not to look at her too long. This man was breaking that unwritten rule.
A smile spread slowly across her face. He was handsome, but awkward somehow. He seemed out of place. Morgana realized he must be the new guy. So of course, she must go over and greet him.
Moving slowly to the music, Morgana made her way over to the pool table. "You know, it isn't gentemanly to stare," she said.
