Looking for Bjorn Ribsplitter - Aesha!

[Alain d'Caldaera]

OOC: Here we go again, Aesha.

The first Brightening of the Month of Optia in the Season of Spring, of Era I of the Celestine Mandate (Current Pattern)
Era X Post Fractum in the Age of the Darkening, the Mageocracy of Julos the Mad

( I do that right? I just copied and pasted most of it. )

Alain made his was out into the streets, searching for the address that Joy at the Abestat Chamber of Commerce had given him the day before. He had figured to make his way down to the docks, as he had been there previously with a guide, and assumed the dwarven man by the name of Bjorn Ribsplitter would be present at his property during the busy day as the powerful engines of the trade machine began to churn in the town of Abestat once more. He held the piece of paper tightly in his hand as he explored the eastern part of the city.

[Aesha]

The docks were, as ever, busy and thronging with the masses either eager to get in or out of the merchant city. Alain managed to push his way through the east gates, briefly stopping to get the nod from the female Dorin soldier that was so usually stationed there.

The docklands of Abestat were quite large, and although thin, spanned the entire length of the city in the small strip between the town walls and the Great Sea beyond. The address on the slip of paper that Joy had given Alain indicated a small building, along a narrow street that was nearer to the city walls that the jetties that lead out into the ocean.

The streets itself was quite dirty, and as Alain walked down it towards the number indicated on the paper, two very urchin like boys, no older than about 12, ran down it, swerving to avoid him at the last minute.

Eventually, Alain arrived at the right address. It was a three storey building, wedged between too other non-descript contructions that looked almost identical. It seemed to be an office block, of sorts. On the front door, two small plaques had been screwed into the stonework, reading:

Bjorn Ribsplitter - Property Management - Second Floor

Below it, a similar looking sign read:

Neeley Mason - Shripwrights - Third Floor

The door to the building, a rather poor looking thin wooden affair, had been propped open, leading into the interior. In the slightly dingy room, all Alain could see was an abandoned looking desk and a staircase leading up to the further two offices.

[Alain d'Caldaera]

Alain offered himself a full smile as he made it to the building that that the address on his parchment indicated. He stood out front for a few seconds, before of course venturing in to see what the interior of the seemingly office building held for him. Noting the vacant desk, he made his way straight to the stairs. Bjorn Ribsplitter would be on the first section up from the ground floor, and he was nearly there.

Alain's eyes eagerly shot about, just kind of checking the place out for he was sure to be here often in the future.

[Aesha]

The interior of the building seemed to continue it's plain, slightly dank and gloomy theme as Alain made his way up the stairs to the second floor of the building and the office of Bjorn. The stars were simple, wooden and uncarpeted, and tended to squeak quite alarmingly as Alain put his weight on them to travel to the next step upwards.

Upon reaching the second floor, there was a small hall with a door situated right in the middle of it. Apart from the stairs continuing to lead upwards to the next floor, presumably to the shipwrights, that was the only other exit in the current vicinity. Pushing it open, it, like the stairs, gave a squeak that suggest the hinges were in need of oiling, much like the entrance on the ground floor.

Beyond the door stood a plain looking office, though it was a little more occupied than the one downstairs. Various bits of mismatched furniture had been place in the room, for a start. They all looked quite old, and had a second, or possibly third hand look about them, like the owner had scrounged around for the cheapest bits and pieces he could find. The floor was once again just plain wood, and two desks had been set up, with seats both in front and behind them. One desk had been situated right in the middle of the room, and the other, towards the back left hand corner, surrounded by some cabinets built of a wood of a light hue, possibly beech.

The room also contained two dwarves. One was seated behind the first desk, and the other was rooted around in one of the cabinets, making it hard to get any kind of significant look at his features. The one at the desk had a typical dwarfy beard, though it was shorter than how they were usually worn, and the hair only had about three inches of growth maximum. His hair was of a very dark brown colour, almost black, and he had bluish coloured eyes. One notable feature was his nose, which was quite overly large, and wouldn't have a problem hiding in a bowl of strawberries.

He looked up from what he was doing - nothing in particular - when he noticed Alain entering the room. He gave the human a nod.

"Serale! Welcome to Bjorn's Property Management. Can't say I've seen you before. Looking to rent a place, perhaps? Er... if you're lodging a complaint, that's me brother Norey's department."

[Alain d'Caldaera]

When Alain entered the room with the two dwarven men occupying it, he smiled as he knew he had come to the right place. He walked right up to the desk and extended his hand to the man as he noted the cheery-looking dwarf's features. "Serale. Indeed I do need to inquire about some property. I take it you're Mr. Ribsplitter? Joy at the Chamber of Commerce referred your name to me."

He waited for the man to shake his hand before he continued. "I'm looking into starting an importing and exporting business to rival the Trade Winds, and hopefully you're the one who can get me started." He smiled, Alain offering quite a pleasant tone of voice to the dwarf, hopefully this would be the beginning of an equally pleasant business friendship.

[Aesha]

The dwarf nodded at the mention of his name, though still looked a little shady since Alain didn't mention his business with the establishment right away. When the human mentioned starting up his own business, it became apparent to Bjorn that he wasn't there to complain, and the dwarf immediately became an amicable fellow, and nodded his head at Alain's query.

"Ahhhhh, certainly, certainly, i can help yer, no problem there."

He paused to shuffle a few bits of paper that had been left on his desk in a meaningful manner, whilst give Alain a critical once over with surprisingly perceptive looking eyes.

"Well now, since you've come to me you're looking for a place to rent, aye? What d'you have in mind? Something small or large? Or inbetween. I specialise in warehouses, and things in the dock area, but I've got one or two other properties in the actual city and a couple of office type buildings such as this one too. Do you have a specific budget?"

[Alain d'Caldaera]

Altough the look on Alains face would portray him as taking more of a curious angle on this whole situation, it also gave way to quite a serious undertone that made him look to be quite reliable at the same time.

"Like I said, I'm looking into starting an importing and exporting business going. But the hook is, I'm not really sure what I'll need just yet, or when I'll need it. So perhaps just to look at all my options and the such before I get all of that started. I wouldn't need something too large right now, if anything." He stood there with good posture, pondering a bit with a sort of absent-minded smile on his face. "Maybe you could describe your properties to me, and how much each will cost me?"

[Aesha]

The Dwarf nodded understandingly at Alain's request, obviously having heard much the same thing many times before, from many different people. Before answering he gestured to the chair next to Alain, indicating that the man should sit down for comfort. His explaination of various different properties might take a little while.

"Well, Mr, er... I don't believe you introduced yerself?" He paused a moment, waiting for Alain to inform Bjorn of his name before proceeding with the explanation. "Well, I assume you want something dockside? I've also got a couple of places in the actual city for rent, which are a bit less expensive because of the inconvience of hauling everything from the docks through to the city and back again. Anyway, I'll tell you about the dockside stuff first."

He rummaged around amidst the parchment covered desk for a moment, then pulled a bit out.

"Ahhh, yeah, this is one of me larger properties. It's a full warehouse for rent. I also rent out partials, see. Anyway, full warehouse to call your own. Not right next to the harbour, but along the backwall of the city so you'd probably need a cart or something to haul your goods there if that's what your looking to do. It's pretty large, though I'd call it more of a medium size, really. But not small. Hmmm, admittedly, this ain't really a beginner's thing. It costs 40 crowns a cycle to rent. I've got other things if you're not interested in that, though?"

Bjorn paused, and waited for Alain's opinion on that one particular warehouse before proceeding with the talk.