Sheep in Wolf's Clothing [closed]

"Ah, my bad," Rei said with a patient smile when the blonde so eagerly corrected her. "So-ko-lo-va," she enunciated every syllable, especially the first two that she had lazily messed up on. Lurking behind the polite tone was a bit of sarcasm, as if she wanted to hint at the idea that she really didn't care that much about the specifics of the newly graduated student's name.

Rei regarded the woman with a cool stare, distant, navy blue eyes rolling over the relaxed posture before holding Sokolova's stare. She nodded along to the jokes and too-friendly tone, keeping her smile and apathetic expression. On most days, she maybe would have laughed along with the carefree woman -- maybe even asked for her to grab them both another round -- but not today. It was, after all, her first chance to make a good impression as a seated officer within the First. If there was anything that defined Rei, it was her astounding performance in the mundane. That included interviews that very quickly looked like they were going no where.

"Yes, this is your file," the Officer said as she tapped the folder in front of her. She flipped it open to a seemingly random page and glanced down at it. "It's nothing really worth reading again -- just you're subpar performance within the Academy and a few briefs on the mock missions you were assigned during your evaluations."

She purposely chose to cut out the details about how she had already marked denied at the very end of the report she had begun to fill out. C'mon: the woman before her couldn't even manage to do homework consistently and she wanted to join the administrative division? There was gutsy and then there was just plain stupidity.

With a delicate hand, Rei closed the folder once more, folded her hands yet again, and then smiled at the interviewee.

"I'm surprised you haven't looked into the Fifth," she said with no amount of subtly. "Their comradely and... lax nature seems like an absolutely perfect fit for you. Or perhaps the Second? I see you had wonderful marks on your athletics and reflexes on the field. Someone as light on their toes would do well in a recon-esque Division."

Her words hung in the air for a long moment, a daring gaze keeping the blonde silent for only a moment. Only when Sokolova inhaled, lips parted in preparation to argue against the far better choices, did Rei hold up a hand to silence her. Gently, like an ever-so-patient mother, she closed her eyes and shook her head. Another moment of silence. She opened her eyes and gave a tired smile.

"The First does not have a lot of opportunities for someone like you," she said bluntly. "At best you could be assigned as a low ranking warden in the petty jail, but even that requires a hefty amount of what you would consider boring work. If your actions in the Academy and the way you're treating this interview are any indication, I'm not sure if even that would be a good fit for you."

There was more to be said, it was obvious in the way Rei's tone lingered like a cliffhanger, but nothing else came. The awkward suspense coated them both until Alexandra decided to chime in with, what Rei could assume was, a half-hearted apology, or excuse to help salvage what was left of the meeting.

[572]

"The various departments?" Rei repeated with a slightly quirked eyebrow. "Ah, well, I guess it was a bit hopeful to assume you had studied up on the job you're applying for."

She dropped another glance to the death sentence that was the interviewee's file. Her fingers tapped against it thoughtfully and then she leaned back into her chair. Slowly, she exhaled and then glanced around around. Maybe she should have taken Sokolova up on her offer for a stiff drink; it seemed like the officer was going to need it by the time this was through.

"Well, first and foremost is the most populated branch of the First: the Administrative," she began as her attention swung back to the careless, college girl. "For the most part, it's what you'd consider an office job. Paperwork on the other Divisions needs to be recorded, filed, and then locked away. Especially sensitive material will need to be approved by an appropriate officer before being hand delivered to the Library in the Fourth. You'd also handle the various reports that are sent in by Shinigami whilst they're in the field. This requires a trained eyed to pick out choice information, separate it from the rest of the nonsense, and then make a judgement call based on how successful the field mission was. Your analysis would then be sent to the appropriate officer of the proper Division."

At this point, even Rei started to get a bored look on her face. Still, she persisted, if only to thoroughly convince just how wrong Sokolova was for coming here.

"The second largest group within the Fourth is the Spiritual Arts Academy," she said with an unenthusiastic tone. "You should be quite familiar with the place given you extended stay." She let the sharp words linger for a moment before she continued. "You would work closely with the Third Seat to evaluate incoming applicants and decide who gets accepted into the Academy. Additionally, you would work with teachers at the Academy to coordinate mock missions, evaluate students, and, at times, serve as a mentor to problem students. Additionally, you would help with the associated paperwork of Shinigami graduating the Academy. Similarly, you'd process their initial requests for Divisions before passing them onto said Division. At times, you'd also process requests for transfers."

Wow this was droll. She almost wished she was back in her office doing that crummy paperwork. Even worse was the fact that she had forgotten to bring along a glass of water. She licked her lips and inhaled sharply.

"Lastly, the department I reside in and the one those in the administrative thought you'd have the tiniest sliver of hope for: what we like to call the flex department." She gained a bit more life to her tone at this stage, if only because a second wind was hitting her -- this talk was almost over, so she had to finish it strong. "This is where the miss-mash people like yourself try to come crawling to because they couldn't quite make it into the Division they wanted, or were forced into becoming a Shinigami for their own reasons. We have a bit of everything, but you'd mostly be spending your time in another Division to help with their duties. You'd float between Divisions to provide aid as needed and likely transfer out in a year or so because you realized that the other places are way cooler."

Okay, maybe a bit of spitefulness there. Certainly, transferring from the Second had been a huge life style change for Rei. She had lost many friends and a rather exciting job that kept her on her toes at time. But, sacrifices needed to be made for the greater good, she supposed.

"Alternatively, you can request special permission from the Lieutenant or Captain to fit into a more specialized role within the First, like I have. This can include things like being an Executioner -- like me -- a warden, career adviser for students, or any other sort of niche role you could probably come up with." Rei gave a shrug, as if this wasn't even an option for Sokolova. "The First is very flexible, but also has very high standards."

Whew. That took a bit longer than she had hoped. Rei glanced towards the table that was sporting a few drinks. She wondered how bad of an example it would set if she got up to get a drink.

"So, with all of that laid out in front of you," Rei concluded as she tore her eyes away from the bar. "What stands out to you?"

[765]

Yeah, she was definitely having a bad day. Even an idiot would figure that out. And, certainly, having someone like miss So-ko-lo-va being the center of her focus for the next while wasn't helping. They were polar opposites in almost every regard and, in this case, opposites were not attracting. In fact, Rei found herself wondering if there was any sort of dark secrets she could find on this woman to justify paying her a visit in the dark of the night.

The thought made the corner of her lip twitch up for the briefest moments. Her expression settled back into that bored, distant gaze when the blonde cut in with her overly peppy tone. It made her want to vomit, but she suppressed the urge. For now.

"Yes, I'm sure you'd usher in the next, great wave of Shinigami," Rei said with poisonous sarcasm. "Like I said," (though I doubt you were listening, she mentally added) "that's not a decision I can make. You'd have to run that by the Third Seat -- the Head of the Academy -- or make a petition to the Captain-Commander himself."

She didn't have high hopes, but at least the conversation was almost over. The officer tapped her fingers against the folder on the table and then let her attention wander. She could probably leave, but... She rolled her eyes. Last thing she wanted was miss So-ko-lo-va passing on a bad review of this little thing. She swung her attention back to the recruit and managed a genuine looking smile.

"Before you go rushing off to there, would you like to, ah... work on your interviewing skills with me?" She offered. "I can give you some tips on how to appear like a better candidate for the position; you're not the only person to want the job, so you'll want to look as good as possible."

[311]