The Loan Shark (A Chapter from "Helping Out")

[Alice2015]

The Loan Shark

(A chapter from "Helping Out")

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Explanation: This is a conversation between 3 characters (possibly more) that takes place within the main thread of the roleplay, "Helping Out". It begins at the link above, and when it finishes, you can use the link again to return to where it started so you don't miss anything.

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Clara Wilson introduces Viola Dean to Serena, Toland's loan shark
The Black Hole Tavern
Saturday, March 22nd
5pm

(OOC: This post continues the interaction between Viola and Clara that began clear back in Post #47 (of the main thread) on Saturday afternoon and continues from "Serena's" post #58 (also from the main thread.)

Viola watched Vance Littleton as he finished serving one of the tavern's few patrons before coming to her end of the bar to see what she wanted. "Pitcher of one of your better beers, please, and three glasses. Oh, and you might as well give us three whiskey shots. This might be a rather interesting evening, and I want to be well lubricated for it."

She noted that Vance himself noted she was asking for three of each item, despite her having come in with only one other person. Clara Wilson was sitting in the corner table to which Viola had gestured her, wanting privacy. To Vance and knowing that he might be curious, Viola said, "Don't ask."

He got her order, and she returned to the table. Viola looked around the place, finding a fairly sufficient crowd on hand. She'd learned through her discussions with Vance that despite the Three Strikes that had so damaged Toland -- the 2008 financial crisis, the 2013 hedge fund fucking (which of course was Viola's dad's doings), and the 2019-20 COVID lockdown -- the night time crowd on Saturday nights was still relatively large, consider the drastic population loss that Toland had taken. The one thing people continued to do even when times were hard was drink and get drunk.

Both women had downed their shots and were halfway through their first beers when Viola caught sight of a woman entering, then stopping to look about. She was a beautiful thing, shapely, with a stunning face and -- Viola could tell instantly -- a story worth listening. Viola immediately found herself hoping that this wasn't the woman for whom she and Clara were waiting; Viola didn't often sleep with other women, but when she did it was typically a fiery affair that was remembered by both parties for quite some time to come.

Still looking toward the woman, Viola nudged Clara's foot and nodded her head toward the entrance. Clara looked, then drew an anxious breath. Looking away, as if she honestly thought that not seeing the newly arrived woman would make her somehow disappear, Clara mumbled, "That's her. That's Serena."

"Wave her over," Viola said just loud enough to be heard over the music coming from a Bluetooth speaker connected to someone's phone; Vance was still awaiting the arrival of the new digital jukebox.

Clara forced herself to turn back, making eye contact with and gesturing to the woman who'd already spotted her. As the loan shark approached, Viola gestured to Vance to bring another round of drinks and a second pitcher. At the table beside them, a pair of men who'd attempted to pick up on Viola and Clara but had been told Maybe another night, had just finished their own pitcher. Viola gestured for Vance to bring them another pitcher, smiling to them as they thanked her with pleased surprise.

"Please, sit," Viola told the woman. "I got you a shot and a glass, and there's more beer coming if that's your poison."

"Thanks for meeting me," Clara said meekly. It was all too obvious that she was afraid of Serena. She kept the introductions simple: "This is Viola."

The new girl to town reached out a hand, smiled, and said, "Good to meet you." Viola didn't know whether the woman would take her hand or cut it off, but she'd never been afraid of people she didn't know well. It was the people Viola did know well that could sometimes scare the shit out of her.

The beers and shots arrived, and looking up into Vance's face, it seemed obvious to Viola that he, too, was aware of and quite possibly afraid of the loan shark. Or maybe he was just afraid for Clara, Viola, or the both of them. Viola found it intriguing that a 290-pound former NFL lineman would be concerned about a woman who Viola put at maybe a buck-twenty, buck-thirty at most.

"I'll get right to the point, Serena," Viola said. "Do you mind if I call you Serena? Clara didn't give me your last name." She looked to the shrinking woman, then back to Serena. "Clara tells me that she owes you $8,000, and I'd like to know what would be involved in me buying that debt from you."