Morning Mist and Silver Sun by StarSpray

Jazz Age

Maglor's hanging out in NYC in the 20s, playing in speakseasies, meeting characters from Great American Novels. As you do.

Written for the 2019 Back to Middle-earth Bingo, for the prompt "America between the World Wars" on the Maglor in History card, and the prompts "bruise" and "grape jelly" on the Color Burst: Purple card.

There was certainly a lot of alcohol in New York, Maglor observed, in spite of it being illegal. Even the finest of bars had trap doors and secret exits in case of a police raid. This made it all the stranger to see a man he knew for a fact to be a police captain sitting with friends and sipping tumblers of whiskey in the far corner. At least, he thought as his fingers flew over the piano keys, that meant no one was likely to get arrested that evening.

When they took a break to have a drink themselves, they discovered that one of the patrons had brought them a round. Once they had their drinks the bartender pointed out the patron in question, a man nearby holding court at one of the larger tables, laughing louder and talking faster than any of his companions. His suit was the color of grape jelly and his tie the color of a bruise. As Maglor tried to take his measure the man looked up and caught his eye. He grinned, and excused himself to come to the bar.

He had a proposition for their small band, he said. He held private parties every so often at his home, he said, and he liked the sound of their playing. Would they be interested in entertaining his guests? He could pay them, he said, better than any speakeasy. Maglor sipped his drink, wishing it were not hard liquor but wine light and sweet, and let his companions bargain with the man with too-bright eyes and too-big a smile. It was not a long or difficult conversation. By the end of it, they were hired to perform at a certain large mansion on West Egg. Their new employer, one Jay Gatsby, clapped them all on the shoulder and bought another round of drinks to celebrate.