Even the Oldest Profession has Job Interviews.

[Saffron]

O I R A N G U I L D H O U S E
F L O A T I N G R O C K G A R D E N S | R Y L O T H


Few ever were invited into an Oiran Guildhouse Temple. No client would ever be serviced at the Temple, for it was a refuge. A sanctuary. A training center.

Here, laughter could well be heard alongside the soft melodic sounds of singing, the plucked strings of a harp, and the low murmur of devotional prayers to Inari the Reviver.

This was a Companion Guild House, where the oldest profession in the 'Verse has one of the oldest and most respected cafarel houses.

A Companion is a skilled, well-educated and well-respected member of a guild of professional courtesans and entertainers, somewhat similar to a Zeltron cafarel. While they do frequently engage in a form of state-sanctioned prostitution, they are nonetheless treated with a great deal of respect and deference from nearly everyone in the 'Verse.

Registered Companions are culturally well-educated with training in a number of areas, including psychology, music, fencing, and languages, as well as unarmed martial arts. In the Outer Rim planets, Companions were typically trained from a very young age, either accepted as slaves or refugees under Danger' Arceneau's care.

Which is exactly what would bring a new batch of potential trainees to the large wide double doors that was the entrance to the Floating Rock Garden Oiran Guildhouse on Ryloth.

The low hum of ship engines would fade into the background, the soft cloud of dust settling from the Guildhouse Freighter used to transport initiates.

As the low whine of hydraulics would lower the ramp, the two large wooden doors would slowly start to slid open, pushed inwards by two great Herglic guardsmen. Slow heavy steps would inch a wider path, until finally the still feminine form of a petite young woman would appear. Pale blue glistaweb silk would float lightly around her slender legs, falling from the empire waist in an old Tetan style robe. The crown of her head had soft tendrils of blonde hair pinned, with stray strands flanking her heart shaped face.

A light smile would dance over Saffron's lips, and in her eyes lay a warm welcome.

"Greetings," she would say, the tamber of her voice drifting over like a song.

"Welcome to the Oiran Guildhouse. My name is Saffron."

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Saffron"]

One couldn't live her whole life under the umbrella of her parents - Fable had realized that a long time ago. As much as she adored her adoptive mothers, she didn't want to be a burden to them now that she was 'adult', and had long been searching for a line of work that wasn't completely mercenary. There were lines she had crossed before, and few of them were healthy - most of them were on a battlefield. Research had led Fable dangerously close to Mercenary work, but it could be said that Danger had led her away from it. Rather, one Danger Arcenaeu, and the various companies she owned and ran.

While Fable balked somewhat at the idea of becoming a Companion, even she had to admit that she did have a somewhat specific skillset that was suited to the job. So she'd reached out to the Oiran companion house in hopes of a job interview. Actually GETTING to the guild-house was something more of a pilgrimage across the beautiful landscape of Ryloth. Fable didn't dare land a shuttle in such scenic a location, so she'd walked - up winding stairs, across breathtaking vistas, floating masses of land and into the clouds where a refuge was found and a woman waiting.

The blonde that greeted Fable was the very picture of grace and poise, a paragon of femininity. Diaphanous robe, elegant voice, and one of the only occasions Fable had seen where a person was wearing a crown without looking like some kind of imminently punchable idiot. Compared to her, the clone felt she must look a beast; sweating slightly from her hike, in heavy boots and a black armored coat, hair tied back in a lazy, somewhat sloppy ponytail. She HAD a proper change of clothes of a real interview, carefully packed in the bag over her shoulder, but Fable was suddenly struck with the idiot notion of bringing them. Had she been hoping to change in the bushes before knocking on the front door? Would she ask to use the bathroom when the blonde queen had already seen her looking like some sort of lost explorer?

Suddenly doesn't seem like it was such a good idea to appreciate the view now, does it, stupid girl?

Fable stood up straight and bowed her head slightly in deference, the arm not holding her bag locked to her side. "V-Verily, it is the most honorable of states in which I find my humbled, lowly self upon your hallowed step, honorable miss." She spoke carefully, trying to effect the same confidence and histrionics her mother seemed to throw out so naturally. It wasn't the best style for her. "The name of this weary p-pilgrim is Fable Caromed, if it pleases your honorable self - and though you have no reason to shine the light of your honorable attention upon me for a second more, I have come to ask, with the utmost respect, if you... maybe have an application or something I could fill out?" She finished in a more casual fashion, offering a nervous smile. "If you're hiring, I mean."

 

[Saffron]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

Well, this was something new. And interesting.

Saffron would watch the younger female, bemused and heavily curious at her introduction -- and where exactly did she come from?

A look would be spared to one of the guards to her right, already another would start walking towards the woman, as if to take her into custody.

"Wait," Saffron's voice would cut the confusion. Glistaweb fabric would slink and cling to a slender form with the slow amble of Saffron's walk. Hazel eyes would watch the young brunette with avid curiosity as well as a tinge of mirth.

If anything, the confidence and histrionics of her tamber had sparked the elder Companion's pique.

"Greetings Fable Caromed," the soft welcoming voice would float over with a near whimsical air. "...There is no application per se..." her grin grew wider.

"And in a sense... we are hiring. But answer me this..." her head would cant to the side, amused scrutiny in her golden eyes.

"... how ever did you manage to climb up here?"

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Saffron"]

When approached by a grab-intending guard, Fable couldn't help but take a half step back and assume a more defensive posture. It was ingrained reflexes, and when you spent your free time occasionally grappling with the goddess of war incarnate, you tended to have some ingrained reactions. Thankfully, Saffron called off the guy before he had a chance to manhandle her and possibly throw her off of the breathtaking floating castle she'd been so enjoying.

Right. Question. Get your stupid mouth going, idiot girl.

"I... I climbed." Fable replied with slightly wide eyes. "I saw the big... Tether... Things keeping this castle from I guess floating off and thought maybe that was the way to get on, but then I figured they were pretty important and likely watched and I'd get blasted if somebody saw me climbing them..." she rambled, gesturing wildly. Fable talked with her hands and always had - a necessary habit when your mouth didn't always want to work properly. "...so then I remembered that, um, not that I FORGOT but I'm sort of Mandolorian so I had a grappling gun on me..." as if to demonstrate, Fable opened her jacket to reveal a modest grappling hook and a spool of thin, heavy-duty climbing rope. "...but it didn't reach far enough so I wound up climbing part of the tether anyway and then using the grappling hook to get off it as soon as I could."

The girl took a deep breath after that. "...Sorry." she added for good measure. Just in case she'd broken a rule or something. Trespassing, most likely.