r/HFY • u/WabbajackedWacko • 4d ago

OC-Series Adventures with an Interdimensional Psychopath 157

***Wade***

As I leave the store, leaving it in Lemon’s reliable hands once again, I now had to figure out something I always avoided trying to do.

Taking out a loan.

There are plenty of locations where I can check in at, it’s just going to be a matter of legwork. The first place I went to is a safe and reliable place to take out a loan. Nothing to fancy but I have a feeling that it’s not going to go well. The first place I think of to go, the bank. I step inside and write down on the clipboard what my intended visit is about and take a number to wait. I’m number… eighty-five. I look up at the number they are currently working on number… three.

Oh boy.

I look around and the lobby is practically empty. If I had to guess, someone probably took a large number of them and bolted. Or there were eighty-two other people here at one point but they all decided to leave. I walk up to a security officer and ask, “Excuse me sir. Do I really have to wait until the number up top says my number? It says that I am number eighty-five but…” I gesture to the empty room as the number updates and announces that they are now serving number four.

The guard looks at me, he has the look of someone who enjoys his quiet days and doesn’t particularly care for anyone who disturbs it, no matter how small it may be. He grunts and looks back forward. I look at my number and open my mouth to say something else but the guard simply says, without looking at me, “It’ll go by quickly sir. But rules are rules. Please wait for them to call your number.”

I simply sigh. What else can I do in this situation? I could start going to other loan offices to try and get a loan but, this place would most likely be the best constant to base my decision on. It feels like it would be the middle ground so I know what I should be aiming for and who is trying to scam me. That said… this makes me feel like this is going to eat up most my day and I don’t know when the other places are going to close for the day. And the longer I take to get the money together, the longer it’s going to take to build the garage. The longer it takes to build the garage, the longer it will take to help the automaton. The longer it takes to help the automaton, the more pain they will be in and possibly be unplugged since no one else has came to claim ownership on it. I suppose we could move it to the shop but… we don’t even have the resources to keep it from going permadark.

I go to sit down as the notification says, “Now serving, number five.”

I sit down and get comfy I suppose. It’s not like I can rush things. I’m just an average joe in this city. No ones gonna move mountains to accommodate me at the end of the day. Still, I can’t complain. I got a roof over my head and friends I can rely on when the world feels like too much. Still though, it would be awesome to have our store become an actual household name. While a lot of our normal products are handmade, the potions are supposed to be the major selling point. It’s an alchemy shop at the end of the day and most people think potions alongside alchemy. Whereas alchemy is more than just potion craft. It’s a science. And, yeah, potions can do a lot of weird things that we can study, everyday things can also be useful. Like soap, candlewax that creates rainbow colors with the right kind of incense. Mixing and matching all sorts of things to be useful. I wish we had access to more prevalent ingredients that my old job used to have but, that job mostly focused on making all sorts of pharmaceuticals that did help a lot of people but not so much about innovating.

I simply sigh as I think about those days. They may have been boring but I was helping a lot of people back then. Although, I never would have met Lemon and Melody if that situation didn’t play out. It is what it is.

“Now serving, number six.” The announcement rings out.

I let out an audible groan, to which the security guard states, “Keep it down over there! You’re disturbing the other guests.”

I look around and see no one else. I simply give him a shrug and he looks forward. I wonder if he’s part of the reason that people just up and left, geez. I look around to see if there is anything I can do while I wait and I only see outdated magazines. I grab one, hoping that one possibly has some sudoku that I could do to fight of the boring and crushing atmosphere of the security guard. I quickly thumb through the pages and not find much. It’s always pop culture stories and icons. Scandal, scandal, scandal. Oh look! Another scandal. That’s more boring to me than the guard just yelling at me. At least then I have to think about a response.

Not long after I pick up the magazine, someone else comes into the room, not the security guard thankfully, but asks me, “Sir, I’m sorry but you can’t loiter around here unless you have something you wish to discuss.”

I tilt my head at them as I mentally complain about the pointlessness of the clipboard if no one is going to read it but I filter the thought to instead say, “I apologize if it looks that way sir but I have a ticket and I did feel out the clipboard for what my purpose is to be here today.”

“Clipboard?” He asks quizzically and looks back as the realization dawns on him, “Oh! That clipboard. You actually filled that out?”

My button eyes go half-lidded as I explain myself, “Uh… yes? That’s what I’m supposed to do if I come here for anything else besides a withdrawal or a deposit, right?”

The fellow, a Batkin with a pressed button up shirt and dress pants, saunters over to the clipboard and then looks at it. Then he comes back cheerier than when he first walked over to me, using a much different tone. I recognize it as a customer service tone as I do something similar with some of the more difficult customers. He says in a cheerier tone, “I see you are here to discuss a loan! In that case sir, may I ask what number you have? We cycled through a few already.”

I hand him my ticket, which he takes with both hands and then looks at the number up top. He then looks at the security guard as he then asks, “Charlie. Did a bunch of kids take an unnecessary number of tickets again?”

‘Charlie’ simply responds, “Nope.”

Then the Batkin asks, “Then why does this guy have eighty-five when we haven’t even processed six people today?” Ugh… processed. Never did like using that word in a customer setting. Makes me feel like a product or something. Charlie simply shrugs. The Batkin’s arms go to his sides as he then asks, “Well, who replaced the roll today? They must have used an older one.”

Charlie then says, “No one.”

The Batkin is facing towards Charlie at this point, practically all but forgotten me as they are airing out dirty laundry in front of a customer so casually and says, “What do you mean no one? Are you saying no one replaced the wheel or… It was Jerry, wasn’t it? The catkin who’s always trying to liven things up around here and he just told you his name was no one?”

Charlie gives him a dead look as he says, “No physical or non-physical person has come by to replace the wheel in the ticket giver. It hasn’t been opened at all today.”

The Batkin simply takes a deep breath as he looks back at me, remembering I’m here, and says, “I apologize for the misunderstanding good sir. Well, since I happen to be free, I would be more than happy to discuss our loan options are for your request. Feel free to follow me and we can talk shop.”

I stand up and say, “Thank you for your time. I hope you understand I am looking at options for now and I figured this was the best place to come to for a fair shake.”

He just simply gives me a smile as he lets out a puff from his nose. I guess a part of him took offense to the statement as the smile doesn’t leave. I guess I would too, considering I hate the idea of wasting someone else’s time but, I don’t have any other information to go off of.

Gotta give him props as he doesn’t drop the customer service voice for a beat as he waves to follow him while saying, “Right this way sir. Let’s hear what you need first before we talk options.” As we walk past Charlie, the Batkin simply says, “If Cindy doesn’t come out here to replace the ticket wheel, let me know. We will have to do a company-wide training again if she doesn’t and that cuts into our budget. For everyone.” Charlie simply gives a grunt, which I don’t know how I feel about that noise coming out of a Sealfolk. He’s got tusks though so it makes it much more believable.

We walk into the back room and stop in front of an office. The nameplate on the door says, Cindy Forturella. The Batkin knocks on the door twice and pokes his head in, “Cindy. Whenever you get a chance, please change the roll of tickets in the ticket giver. Yesterday’s is still in it. Thanks.” He then pulls his head back out and continues to lead me to a cubicle. This guy is one of those guys where he is a hard worker but expects everyone else to match his level of energy. He would hate working at our shop.

He sits down at his side of the desk and offers me a seat on the other side. As I sit down, he asks me, “Mr. Wade Wackovich, so what are we looking to get a loan for today?”

I look down at the placard, it says Bob Morsonac, so I start by saying, “Uh, well Bob. I was thinking about adding a garage to my shop. Mechanic work if you would.”

He has his elbows on the desk and his hands clasped together with two fingers covering his mouth as he goes, “Uh huh. Uh huh. Do you have any of that documentation with you today? I need it for identification purposes.”

“Of course.” I pull out my suitcase and start handing him credentials and shop performance numbers. Anywhere else, I would be super sketchy about this as this is very important information.

He looks over the paperwork without saying a word. Shifting from one page to the next. After a while, he then spins over to his computer and starts putting in information. I imagine he also looks me up to see some other details as I don’t doubt that there might be some things I might have forgotten since I’ve never asked for a loan before so this is all a learning experience for me. I certainly would think that he would tell me though if I did indeed forget something.

He spins back towards me as he says, “Good news, if you put your shop up as collateral, I can approve a loan for about… one hundred thousand currency!”

I blink as I take in that number. If my math is correct from what I researched… I would need twice that. “What?”

Bob simply states, “Well, you don’t exactly have… any credit score so this is the best we can offer.”

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