Life Finds a Way

Chapter 21

Although Clarissa's thoughts were turbulent, thinking of all the reasons why Hojo might want her to join Soldier, she was still able to realize this next step might cause problems. While they were walking her mind started to work furiously. If this paperwork was anything like what she was used to, she was going to be asked for a lot of personal details. It was partially a relief that she was found with nothing but her night clothes. At least they believed she had no part in getting into the building now and they couldn't reasonably expect her to have any form of ID.

That didn't solve the problem of the details she should know by wrote, the most glaring being her birthdate. She had already told Genesis that she was 38, her actual age back on earth. If what Minerva said was correct though, then this was probably the year 2000 on Gaia. If she gave her actual birthdate then that would make her a year younger than all three firsts. Her head hurt as she wondered if that was partially why she looked so different when she looked in the mirror. Had Minerva turned back the clock for her as well? If she had then it was just physical as she still had all her memories. Either way, Genesis knew her true age and if she didn't adjust the year it was bound to cause problems. She quickly did the math and decided she would just change her birth year to accurately reflect her age. She also wondered about the rest of her information. She had already gone with the truth about where she lived, and Genesis hadn't refuted her, so she would just use what she knew. It would be easier to keep it straight that way and if anyone asked why they didn't know where it was, she could just claim it was too small to be of significance. That fact wasn't too far off.

She could feel her palms sweating slightly. She knew there were likely to be a lot of things she didn't know. She was a fan of the entire FF franchise but being a fan and knowing every detail, especially as there was no telling how accurate those details were, was two different things. She knew some history points, but a lot of those were probably classified. Maybe she could claim selective amnesia. She almost laughed aloud at that thought but managed to keep it in. She didn't want to try to explain herself.

When they walked into Genesis' office, she noticed there were more papers on the desk than there had been. There was only one neat stack though. She tried to hide a laugh at the sight. She was sure this was the one Sephiroth had sent over. Genesis gave her a glare when he realized what she was laughing at but didn't say anything. Instead he took his seat behind the desk, booted up his computer and pulled up the application. "Let's get this finished with, shall we?"

It took them nearly an hour to go through all the forms. There were several things that Clarissa didn't have answers for that she should have, like her weight and other physical descriptors. She knew all those details before but none of it was applicable anymore. She also couldn't tell him which continent she was from. She was positive there was no Bayview on Gaia and didn't want to make something up and have it found out easier. She did give him all the same information as she had when they had gone to the restaurant. If he questioned any of it, he never let it show. She only hoped by the time he got around to digging up answers she would have a good excuse.

Once everything was finished he moved to take her back to the room, but she stopped him. "I don't mean to be nosey, but didn't Sephiroth ask you to have those finished this evening?"

He gave her a glare before speaking. "That is none of your concern."

She just shrugged at his obvious dislike of the question. "You're right, but I thought I would offer to help so you could get it done faster, at least if it is something I could help with."

She could tell his gaze turned suspicious at her offer. She rolled her eyes at him and spoke up before he could voice them. "No, I'm not trying to steal data. I only offered because I thought this extra work is my fault. It is, isn't it?"

At that his eyes widened slightly. "What makes you think that?"

"When it was Sephiroth in your apartment and not you, I assumed you had asked him to stay with me. If that is the case, then it would make sense if he gave you extra work as pay back."

Genesis was taken aback by her evaluation of the situation. If he didn't know better already he would have been on high alert, he still was to a point but more because she was still a complete unknown. He had underestimated her observational skills and had to hold back a laugh as he wondered if she wouldn't have made a better Turk than a Soldier. He didn't voice that opinion though as neither of them had a choice in that decision. "You are correct, although I don't require assistance. Besides, you will need to be up extra early in the morning, so you will need the sleep."

She waved off the concern. "Even if I had to be up at 5:00 there is no way I could go to sleep now. If you don't want my help why don't you just finish now instead of taking me back and wasting time. I can read while I wait."

His eyes narrowed at her comment. She obviously didn't understand the chain of command yet. That might become a problem. "You do realize that I will be one of your commanding officers."

She hadn't really thought about it yet and the thought made her grimace a little. She was not looking forward to any kind of combat training and she could only imagine what it would be like having to work with Genesis on top of that. She could see lots of pain in her future and the thought didn't make her want to bow down, at least not yet. "Not until tomorrow. For tonight, I was just trying to be nice. You can do whatever you want though."

Her sarcasm did not go unnoticed. He wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish but he was starting to rethink his enthusiasm for a student. He had conveniently forgotten that she had a way of pissing him off without trying. It was probably due to the fact that she had been much calmer since she realized her situation. He gave her a smirk before answering. "I hope you feel the same come tomorrow afternoon."

Clarissa paled a little. Up to this point she had felt pretty confident that Genesis was only trying to get to the bottom of her mystery and had no real desire to harm her. She was rethinking her smart mouth as she remembered he was known to have a temper and a thing for fireballs. She was in no hurry to get acquainted with either. She made a calming gesture at him. "I wasn't trying to piss you off. I just... sometimes I speak without thinking." She paused and looked back at his desk. "I was serious about the not needing sleep though, and the offer to help."

Genesis frowned at her words. She obviously understood the meaning behind his unspoken threat, but she didn't seem fazed by it. It could of course be that she didn't have the knowledge of his predilection towards flinging fireballs at cadets that pissed him off. Even so, she had moved immediately to disarm the situation instead of making it worse. It was this that reminded him that she was mature about it, most likely because she was older. That thought had him wishing he could be in her first classes with the rest of the cadets. He was sure they would target her, but so far, she had proven to have a sharp mind and tongue. He was almost gleeful at the thought of her turning that on the hapless boys.

Clarissa started to get a little nervous as she watched the red head's expression turn from upset to a smirk. She was positive it meant trouble for someone, she just really hoped it wasn't her. His next words didn't match that look though and it only made her confused instead of relieved. "Why don't I see what needs to be done and if you can help I will allow it. For now, you can see if there is something here you would like to read."

She didn't understand his change of heart, but she wasn't going to rile him up again. "Thanks; let me know if I can help." He gave her a nod before pulling the new stack of papers towards himself. She turned and left him to it, instead going back to the bookshelves that took up a whole wall. She pulled a few out that had interesting titles and was not surprised to find many of them were different poetry books. She put them all back. It wasn't that she didn't like poetry, but not tonight. She had to be in the mood for that, and currently was far from it. After pulling out several more she found one that caught her interest, 'An Analysis of Materia Types and Functions'. After her first time handling materia she couldn't help but be a little curious. She had never seen that kind of thing depicted in any of the FF7 games and wondered if it was normal for a person's first time to be like that. Genesis had seemed to know what to do so maybe it was. She immediately moved to the seat with arms, curling her legs up under her and leaning against the chair arm with the book propped up.

edit 11/14/2019