New Oania was a strange place. Mostly because it was so green. It was green fields to green forests to green fields again. It took her about a week to make her way to the current Homefree base located in between Thalia and Opryke.
She had asked around for the Retainer jobs and they pointed her to a purple tent with a gold cross set in the center of a sun whose flames licked the twelve corners inside a dodecagon. She pulled the flap at the entrance open. "Hello?"
A man got up from his chair. He was wrapped in a baggy purple suede jumpsuit. It was extravagant considering he was a part of the Homefree. Well known for their dingy attire, dirty complexioned folklike faces, and an unmistakably earthy odor. "No, no, no."
"I would have knocked or jumped through the wall, but I was sure it would fall over." Bliperilla backed out slowly. "I'll knock, I guess."
"Get in here! What do you want?" He looked her up and down. "Definitely a girl. How old are you?"
"I'm Eighteen but I'll be 19 in a few months." She said as she didn't understand what either of those things had to do with being a Retainer.
"No, no, no! I'm done sending young girls to their deaths as Retainers. The people around here give me dirty looks and from those dirty faces it's an extra dirty look on them."
"What do you mean? Aren't you a Homefree?"
"Yuck! No way. My name is Giuseppe. I am a recruiter for the Retainers, and this is my moving base. I mix in here and there. It's just safer for me. I get paid directly by The Man with Many Names, Ouroboros."
"Isn't that just one name? And its stupid."
"No no no. You don't get it do you? You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm done with sending girls to die."
"You mean anyone? Not just girls, right? I mean boys die, too?"
"No, the girls are the ones that get me the looks. You could kill a boy in anyway you want and nobody would shed a tear or bat an eyelid. It's the girls no matter what age, 'that's someone's daughter' they say. Nope, nope nope."
"Well, that's ridiculous, isn't there anything I could do? I came to Oanid to become a Retainer!"
The man looked down at the papers on his desk. "I mean I do have a recurring job."
"What does that mean."
"You know I don't think it would be a great fit for someone with your energy." He took a seat and pulled the parchment up to his face.
"I'll do it. No matter how dangerous or mundane. I want to have adventures as a Retainer. I was a Pirate with the Robs Bend Pirate Fleet under his daughter Roberta."
"Yeah, you and every other girl to walk in here. I served under Roberta, and I fought alongside her and this and that. It's all good until I get a letter for a replacement."
"But..."
He cut her off. "Anyway. The job I have is incredibly mundane and requires a lot of cleaning and cooking. You can cook right?"
She was going to say that she cleaned the decks of the ship every day and cooked all the meals. "I have cleaned before, and I know how to make edible food." Was all she said, afraid of scaring him off.
"It's for a Housekeeper. The jobs usually require a little bit of fighting experience, and the job doesn't come up often as most housekeepers are old and have served the same houses since the start of the Retainers."
"Is that all?" She was disappointed. "Why can't you give me a job with Rob and Hood or The Bashers."
"You can't handle that! This is all I have for you. You should be happy I'm willing to give you this much." He was exhausted by the conversation, but he could see Bliperilla writhing. "How about this, give me three months. If you can stomach the life for three months, I'll transfer you somewhere else."
Bliperilla nodded.