Even Demons Can Be Saved

I Promise I Won't Kill Him... Much

Eve did her best to be polite to Genesis during lunch. It involved a lot of pretending she didn't hear half of what he said. If he wasn't talking about his own accomplishments and skills with materia, then he was trying to ask her out. At least he had resorted to doing it subtly. It helped her pretend she didn't understand what he was getting at. After fifteen minutes of it, she was getting to the point that she knew it would have to end quickly or she was going to throttle him. With that in mind, she finished and stood. He gave her a questioning look, but she just motioned toward the door with her head. "I thought it would be good if we can go ahead and get started. I didn't want to waste more of your time than necessary."

He scowled slightly, but she was glad that he was too much of a gentleman in all the other ways to call her out on it. She wanted to roll her eyes when he offered to take her tray. She politely declined before they left, and she followed him back to the 49th floor. She wasn't thrilled that the lessons had to take place on the Soldier floor. At least not until he took her to a large room with one big door. She wasn't sure until he pulled his phone out, but once the room started to change, she couldn't have hidden her awe if she wanted to. She tried to reign it in when he gave her a knowing smirk. She had a sneaking suspicion that he brought her to the VR room to try and impress her. She ignored it like she had everything else. She really hoped he would eventually get tired of it and stop.

He had brought up a program that simulated several different types of monsters. Luckily, it must have been designed for beginners, because none of them moved, other than a tail twitch or yawn here or there. It made them seem more realistic.

She was pulled out of her contemplation of them when Genesis handed her a small cloth bag. She gave him a questioning look, and he smirked at her before he explained. "There are four basic materia in that bag that have been assigned to you to use during our sessions. Once you learn the basics, you can talk to Tseng or Veld about procuring different ones. For now, I don't want you touching any of them with your bare hands until I give the say so. Do you understand?"

She had to fight not to roll her eyes, so she settled for giving him a nod. At that point, he removed one of the green orbs from his own bangle and held it up for her to see. Her eyes widened, and she took a step back. The last thing she ever wanted was to touch one of his mastered materia. Genesis didn't seem to notice the distance as he started speaking. "For most people, they need to work to develop enough spiritual energy to push their will into the materia to produce results. For me, that is not an issue. The materia tells me how to shape each spell, or at least that was how I started. It should be the same for you, but you cannot let it consume you. No matter what, you are still the one in control."

She nodded her understanding, and he pointed to the bag. "I want you to roll them all out onto the grass without touching them and then try to identify them by their feel. You should not need to touch them to do so."

She knelt and dumped the contents of the small bag out. Luckily the VR setting was in an open field, so the grass kept them from rolling far. She held out a hand over the closest one and closed her eyes. It helped her concentrate on what she was hearing. She smiled when she realized that if she held her hand close enough, she could still hear what the orbs were saying. After a moment, she looked up with a grin. "This one is fire."

He nodded and pointed to the rest. "Identify the others now."

She gave him another nod and proceeded to identify a lightning, ice, and cure as well. Once she was done, she stood. "What's next?"

He pointed down again. "Start with the cure. Listen to it like you just were until you can understand the instructions. Once you feel comfortable, I want you to pick it up and show me."