Avril disappeared in a flash of kitsune fire. Her eyes filled with a look that said she was a lifetime away from the present. She slipped into the back streets of Spiral City, avoiding the crowds. As far as anyone could see she wasn't there. She sighed shaking off those distant memories. As she was walking around she started to make a goals list in her head.
Goal 1
check for suitable store spaces to rent in areas of high flow traffic on foot.
Goal 2
find a reliable assistant to manage the stores front.
Goal 3
Find a blacksmith with proficient skills in forging. blacksmith must also be familiar with forging black mountain metal.
Goal 4
Find an opportune time to drop hints to father about Gabriel being a culprit in her attempted murder.
Goal 5
Use connections with her father and brother to advertise armory store once set up.
that was plenty for the time being. she looked around at where she had walked to as she was lost in thought. Her nose twitched with anxiety. the ground was covered in grimy sludge that was made of bodily fluids and mud. the buildings around her stunk of perfumes and her sensitive ears could hear the sounds of men and women under the covers. the sounds made her shudder in disgust. the sounds she heard drew her back to her distant memories.The district she was in she new all too well. It was the same for every city. a red light district. always hidden away in the crevices, it was a place where women shattered, and men slaked their desires to dark to be shown in the light. She had been here once. This was where she had been thrown away. at that time she had just run away from her foster family that had thrown her out. She had still been going to school at the time. It had been August, and the hot August sun had been beating down all day making New York into a melted puddle of tar and tin. Avril had been sitting on the side of the lake by her school. The recess bell had just rung, and it was the 6th week in school. Avril had just turned 15 at the time. Sighing to herself Avril stood up slowly. She had been thinking about which homeless camp to sleep in tonight, and how long she should wait into the night before she could sneak into the camp. It was always dangerous to sleep in homeless camps because there was always a chance some lowlife would try to do something to you. especially if you were a young decent looking girl with no one looking out for you. She started to walk back to her school, when a young man bumped into her. "My apologies, young miss. Are you all right?" Avril looked up wearily at the tall young man before her. His eyes a pale green, like a cats were sparkling with life. His hight made Avril have to crane her head back more than she usually had to. He had to be at least 6 ft. tall. "I'm fine, thank you." She brushed him off, moving around him deftly. As she walked swiftly towards class, she heard him call out " miss!! wait a second!" then long purposeful strides could be heard behind her. Avril had grimaced, wishing she hadn't drawn his attention. After all, social services were probably looking for her. She had made it a point to have an alias as her name on her school records, and to use cash and a fake address for her transcripts to go to this school. she had even switched to a new school after she ran away . The tedious process was about to be ruined by this douche who just couldn't leave well enough alone. She had turned around and raised an eyebrow in question at him at the time. " Your that new student right? the one who sits in the back row?" "Yes, so what?" he looked at her "I'm in your class! let's go to math together ok?" Avril looked at him like he was crazy back then, but he had just smiled dazzlingly and grabbed her hand as he started towards the math department. "By the way, my name's Gage. Yours is Avril right?"her tone one of hesitance and distrust she said slowly "Yeah...". That was the first meeting of the man who had ultimately destroyed Avrils' life. As Avril drew herself out of her reverie she walked towards the main street trying to block out her other memories trying to shove themselves to the forefront of her mind. She walked towards her house at a slow pace, looking at the creatures and stalls lining the streets. The brick dome shaped houses sat behind the endless vendors selling their wares. She looked closely at the way the shops lining the streets were set up. each shop had temporary stalls set up with the main buildings behind them. Avril with curiosity in her eyes went up to a shop that had gleaming weapons and sheaths that coated the stall in front. She looked at the merchant who was Hawking his wares. "Excuse me, Mister may I have a look inside the main building?" Avril asked kindly while flashing a small smile at him. The merchant, who looked to be 30 years old, if not a little older looked at the dainty kitsune standing before him, smiling at him while not showing her teeth. Her stature made him frown, she looked like she would blow away if the wind came up too suddenly. The Merchant looked at her, carefully smiling back. "Of course you may miss. Please let me show you around my shop." He quickly called out to his shop hand to tend the front stall, and went forward to show the young kitsune inside. As Avril walked forward, she looked at the entrance. it never hurt to look at the competition in her surroundings. especially since she was in a new world. New ballgame. Of course all of the things she new from business in her modern world would be helpful, but being to revolutionary would draw unwanted attention. That was a dangerous thing on her part. Avril walked into the entrance of the main building. the store was set up haphazardly. the knives and small sword's mixed in with each other. The arrow types were also mixed in with each other. The store was not horrible, but the flashy jeweled weapons were mixed in with the duller more work oriented weapons.The shop keeper was also not a good seller of his Ware's. He stood stoically in the background. When Avril asked him he replied in a short polite manner. After stopping by several more weapons stores she found that all of the stores were similar in manner to one and other. She had noticed that each store had a specialty of it's own, but not enough to compel people to buy at a specific store. Avril had also spent some time on her way back to her house looking at available spaces. She had only found two suitable places for her to rent. However the location of the first one was in a back alyway and the second while in a better location was much pricier than the first option. Avril weighed the pros and cons trying to asses which one would suit her needs better.
"I guess I'll have to pick the second one.." Avril mumbled under her breath. She chose it partially due to location, but in other aspects it was also larger and more compartmentalized. The back section was completely shut off from the first. Added to that the back section of the store was designed like a hotel. long corridor's lined with rooms and a staircase adjoining the first and second floors. There was also a small back yard with a pit for what looked like a fire. Avril wanted to build a smithy in the yard so the processing and shaping of the materials Gabriel brought to her store could be done right there. It was also convenient to not need to run back and forth between the smithy, Gabriel and his goblins, and the store front. She had also liked the first place as it was similar but looking at the traffic flow and how run down the back section was,she was unsatisfied. She would have to do renovations after renting it which didn't sit well with her. Of course she was gonna have to do that in any store she chose, but the less work she had to do the better. Smiling Avril started negotiating with the old man renting the store out. They settled on an amount of rent per month, and ironed out details for her contract with the guy. She found him quite interesting. He had dull green scales rimming his eye sockets,and his eyes which had elongated pupils were the color of the sun. His back hunched over, and his hands which he had clasped before him had sharp obsidian nails curving in. Every time he coughed or hummed smoke would curl out of his nostrils. He was a lizard dragon hybrid from what Avril could gather. His rough accent sounded like gravel. He was a bit crotchety about rent and rules she had to follow but kind non the less. As Avril walked out she smiled. She was well on her way to her first store being opened up.