Eyes on the Prize

[sivilia]

"I don't think you're understanding me," he muttered, as he held the phone to his ear. "I thought I told you to bring the money to me today. I don't see the money. I need that money."

"I can't, Ryan. I'm trying. I just can't."

Ryan roared fiercely into his phone, and then slammed it into the ground in a rage. Everything had taken a turn for the worse in the last few months. Ever since he had bought the club. It was supposed to be a family business, but it turned out that "family" didn't mean anything to anyone anymore. One fancy bit of skirt, and suddenly blood ties no longer meant anything? They had both put in a hundred thousand dollars to buy the place, but that was all the money they had left. They'd done a good job turning the place around, transforming the once seedy nightclub into a busy, thriving empire, but his brother had chosen her - a woman - over him. Ryan couldn't afford it. The business was too heavy a burden for him to uphold on his own.

Loans. It was the only way. As soon as Jimmy had told him that he was pulling out of the business, taking his half of the business' worth with him, Ryan could see everything collapsing around him. He'd gone to a loan shark to get the funds, but the date to return the money was too soon, and the money wasn't coming back fast enough. Drug dealing, theft, he had tried it all, but the money was still accumulating too slowly. So he decided to loan money instead, to the addicts his own drugs had created, and taking everything they were worth when they were inevitably unable to pay. It did a lot for him financially, but he was still too short. All he'd succeeded in doing was bringing the club back to its seedy roots.

Without thinking, Ryan walked across the club and towards the door, and exited immediately. It was nice to get the fresh air, but he didn't have time to wait. He needed to get money, fast. As he hurried off, he hit something. Turning to see what he'd bumped into, he was surprised to see a woman sprawled onto the floor.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. This is inconvenient, he thought, but he offered her his hand anyway. "Let me help you up."

 

[Kinton Nyr]

One second, Mimi was walking down the street. The next, she was sprawled out on her ass on the pavement. Could today get any worse? Well, it appeared not. She'd only just spent 300 bucks on her new sunglasses, but there they were, next to her, shattered on the ground. They were designer, too. As she looked up, she noticed that the man who had appeared out of nowhere was stretching out his arm. He didn't look too pleased, but she supposed he didn't plan it either. She took his hand, forcing a smile.

"Thank you," she grinned, as she pulled herself up, but then showed him her sunglasses. "You're gonna have to buy me a new one now!"

She giggled as she said this, so that he knew she was just joking, before putting the broken sunglasses into her bag. It was real leather, and felt just as expensive as it looked. Once she had put it in, she began to walk away from him, heading off in the direction she had been going in before.

 

[sivilia]

Ryan frowned. As the girl showed him her sunglasses, he paused. He didn't know whether he was expected to be apologetic for breaking them or not, or whether he had the time to ask. He was about to hurry away from her, back in the route he was heading, but his eyes followed her hand down to her leather bag. It looked genuine. Before he had the opportunity to get a closer look, she was walking away from him.

"Wait," he said quickly, almost grabbing her arm, but he decided against it, and hurried to meet her pace. "I owe it to you to buy you a new pair, but I don't think I have any money on me right now. Let me get you a drink instead, and we can settle the differences."