zg_shadows | Rent Day

Feudbringer sat in the front room, waiting patiently- he’d been out hunting earlier, and worked out a lot of his typical frustration at the world. He checked his watch, another one of the Weaver-toys that were actually very useful. The idiot was late. Which, upon reflection, was entirely in keeping with the rest of his personality. Still, he would show, as he wouldn’t want to miss his best source of supplementary income.

True enough, 10 minutes later, there was a rapid hammering on the door. Feudbringer opened it, and came face to, well, top of head with an older-looking man, with crooked teeth. He matched Shadow’s description, even down to the grey trousers, stained shirt and beige sleeveless cardigan over the top. Feudbringer’s sensitive nose wrinkled at the obvious signs of lack of attention to personal hygiene.

Taken somewhat aback at the appearance of this well-dressed, suited individual before him instead of the usual tenant, the landlord still pushed forward anyway, buoyed on by the false courage shown by many petty tryants.

“I dunno who you are, but tell that lazy shit Shadow, or his useless girlfriend that it’s rent time, as they bloody well ought to know by now.”

Suppressing the spark of rage that flared at the disrespect shown to his packmate, Feudbringer forced a small and said pleasantly, “Am afraid he is not in right now, but am happy to sort out rent issues with you, if you’ll be coming inside?”

“If I took time to hear every sob story from lousy idjits who can’t make rent on time, I’d never get any work done.”

At this point, the grubby landlord became aware of someone who had obviously come up the same way as he had- a tall, blond, unsmiling man who looked like he spent his entire time working out. He started to turn to look at him, then turned back when Feudbringer, no longer smiling.

“I insist”

Paling, the landlord looked around quickly, like the panicked rat he so resembled, but could see nowhere he could get to, and this wasn’t the sort of place you shouted for help in. Deflating, he headed into the front room, followed by the unsmiling blond.

Some of his good humour apparently returned, Feudbringer followed them in.

“We are now having discussion on rent, da? Ah, many apologies, am forgetting manners. Am pleased to meet you, name is Sergei, Sergei Andreyevich.”

A flicker of recognition at the name was followed by a muttered, “Oh fuck” from the increasingly worried-looked landlord.

“So, where was I? Ah, yes. There I am, busy with daily grind at work- is very busy in world of finance, not a lot of free time- when I am hearing from my good friend Shadow that reason he is too tired to work effectively is that he is working extra time to pay rent on flat. Am applauding work ethic, is joy of Capitalism, work hard, make more money for self. But I am thinking, surely he is living in little flat, rent cannot be too bad, da? Sadly, while he is like little brother to me, am sometimes thinking he is dropped on head too many times as baby. And so I ask Karl here”, he paused here to indicate the large blond man who had moved to stand in a corner, “to look into things for me. Am always pleased with Karl’s work he is, how do you say, ‘a real go-getter’ and ‘good with his hands’. And so he asks around, and he is coming back to tell me that obviously there has been some sort of mistake, as rent is twice as much as normal. But I am thinking, is probably simple clerical error. Isn’t that right?”

By this point, the smell of fear was probably event palpable to Karl, especially as, despite his jovial facade, Feudbringer was having a little trouble properly controlling his anger at the sheer pathetic nature of the worm responsible for causing so many problems for his packmate- not to mention at his packmate, for not being able to sort out such a situation himself. But he once again fought the rage back down and waited for the response from the man trembling before him.

“O-of course, just a mistake, I’ll fix it right away, okay? Please?”

“Good, good. Am so glad to know my friend has such understanding landlord. Is inspiration to see in this day and age. I am certain I will not be hearing any more complaints from Shadow, da?”, at this his tone flattened from his false-jovial tones and became altogether more serious and deadly, “Or rather, will not be further complaints more than once, is clear?”

Nodding shakily, the landlord start to leave the room, and Feudbringer followed. As they reached the entrance to the flat, he spoke once more, returning to the false cheerfulness of before.

“Oh, is one last thing- was almost forgetting…”

Fear etched on his features, the landlord turned his head, “Um, yeah?”.

“Was hearing from Karl that you are having bad luck with cards over at Chris’s”, Chris being the owner of a semi-legit gambling den in the nearby area- the manager himself was a small-time crook but very much a big fish in a tiny pond, “and was thinking it is hardship to always have to worry about finances, especially with unreliable types like Chris. So have spoken to him, and he is being very responsive to offer to pay off debt. So you are not having to worry about owing Chris money now. Is good news, da?”

The landlord, whose face had brightened briefly at the prospect of having that debt removed, suddenly fell again as another thought occurred to him.

“Um, if you paid off what I owed Chris, does that mean that I..now..owe…you?”

“Da! Is good to see you are able to use brain. Now, do not be worrying about paying it back now- am sure we can sit down and discuss it some other time. You are very busy man, as you were saying, so will not keep you longer. Dosvedanya.”

And Shadow’s landlord stumbled out into the night, with the realisation sinking in that not only had one of his more lucrative bits of skimming fallen through, but he was now in debt to the Russian Mafia.

Some days, it just didn’t pay to get up in the morning…

Rent Day

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