Originally Posted by Hera

Emily was well accustomed to the feeling of being watched, both directly and indirectly.. and frankly, there was nothing subtle about the journalist eyeing her off. The tone of his voice and smug expression also left little to be desired, resulting in her giving him a look which clearly indicated she was not impressed. Honestly.

Listening to his irrelevant opinions, Emily scanned the headlines on the various news publications, nothing catching her eye. Turning away from the stand, she indulged De La Garza by offering him one of her signature grunts. Still not impressed. Still not caring. "Forgive me, but I don't take conjecture or defamation lightly," she would know, it was an MLE thing. He had no hard hitting evidence that Wes was involved in anything, the man had earnt her respect and that aside, she trusted Izzy's judgement.

Wasn't it clear? Why else would she duck into a quiet store for take away food? "I'm not keen on people," she mused, "the idea was to find a lonely bench in the park and enjoy some peace and quiet." You know, away from pompous journalists. Ahem. So yes, this is why she was surrounding herself with normal things today, yep.

Emily raised a brow, he was insisting? The prospect of better food, for free, did tempt her, she wouldn't lie. But she wasn't the most trusting of people, and the man hadn't done himself any favours with the article. To his credit - at least, her image hadn't been terribly tainted, no, he just made it sound as if she was set up to fail. Not something she wanted to hear. There would be no failure on her part, thank you kindly. "Look, if you're after another interview, official channels only... I don't have time for this." She had time to eat, and eating is what she would do.

Originally Posted by Hera

Oohhhhh burn. Was he implying she was closed minded? Is that where he was going with this? Emily took a moment to observe him, giving him a once over -head to toe. Nope. Not worth her time. "What would you know?" It was a legitimate question. He didn't know her or the way she thought, and he certainly didn't know that she was perhaps one of the greater skeptics in the Ministry, she trusted few people, truly. But it didn't matter, she was all for removing herself from this conversation. With the smallest of nods, Emily made to move past him, only having taken two steps before his next statement stopped her in her tracks. She could filter out the sucking up/complimenting part, because it was a load of drivel coming from him, but he did raise a fair point.

It wasn't enough to plant a seed of doubt in her mind, no, he didn't have all the information. She could, especially now, see some areas where they'd gone wrong. Funds squandered, people overpaid, resources had been scarce - that had been one of their key issues. Not anymore.. or at least, not once it was back in check, measures had already been taken to remedy that. "I have, but it's easy enough for you to judge and be wrong, looking in from the outside." She'd have invited him to walk a mile in their shoes, but she didn't want him anywhere near level two, or her.

Emily shook her head, yeah, right, not in the business of ruining reputations at all. Because his actions had done so well to help enforce security. He was ridiculous. "And like I said in that interview... I'm on it." Things were in motion long before he turned up to quiz her. His article did nothing for the greater good.

Be more social? To read them and find them? HA! What a load of croc! Emily let out a chuckle, definitely amused by his cluelessness. Pffftttt. "Yep, because our most wanted just love catching up for drinks after work." No. Social. No. It wasn't necessary to read people. Reading came from deducing, which came largely through observation, and yes, sure, interaction... via interrogation preferably. "Once you have formal training in criminal profiling, let me know." As for the beauty part, Emily rolled her eyes and continued walking toward the counter, stopping briefly to grab a chocolate bar, or maybe two... Merlin knew she deserved it after putting with this one.

He kept talking, and she kept listening... Why? Why did she bother? She was psyching herself up to ignore him, purchase her food and be on with it... and then he had to go and say that. Of all things. She turned on her heel so fast her head might have rolled. "Lack of intelligence," she repeated, eyeing him. He had no clue. No clue at all. Not to mention he was contradicting himself, lack of intelligence, lead by beauty and brains... please. "I've been with the DMLE for close to ten years now, I promise you intelligence wasn't handed to me with the title." So he couldn't judge her or her people. Half of them weren't so bad. "And fat lot of good beauty will do you..." she muttered, moving on again.

The lunch offer, was becoming less and less appealing, especially if he was going to continue to insult her and flatter her at the same time. He lacked class and finesse. It was a real turn off, waste of time and energy.
"You insult me, call it friendly, and expect me to go along with it?" she questioned, placing her goods on the counter for the clerk, rummaging in her pocket for the bills she'd slipped in there. Sure she'd have lunch with him, in his wildest dreams. No, she was most definitely going to the park. Breathing space would be appreciated, she only hoped he wasn't the lost puppy type, she didn't do well with others chasing after her.

Originally Posted by Hera

And so he continued to be utterly ridiculous... that being said, having journalist friends wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She eyed him skeptically. "So... if I was to friend you, you'd help me?" she asked, tempted to see what could come of it. The man was all talk, but intel was intel and if he was half as snoopy as she knew some journalists could be, then he might be useful for something. Emily made an executive decision to ignore his sweetie comment, decking him would be counter productive to his proposed friending idea. Not that was would be his friend. It was an idea. But she did wonder... "so what fact do you have to support your claim that Mister Ferguson was corrupt?" Hhhhmmm? Where was his evidence? He'd written it, so where was the proof?

Jorge's continued flattery got him nowhere, she wasn't interested, it wasn't how she rolled, rather she waited patiently for the clerk to scan her items... honestly, what was taking him so long? It wasn't alchemy! He was right about finding someone who knew someone who would then know others... but the point he was trying to make was moot. One did not simply engage in such behaviours with criminals, or suspected criminals... or at least, not very often. She couldn't deny it didn't happen, but it wasn't as casually as he made it out to be.

The fact that he thought writing the 'truth' was rewarding amused her to know end, and she couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. "Flapping your lips and flexing your wrist is rewarding? Oh please.." again, he was rather good at being ridiculous. She began fiddling with the notes she extracted from her pocket, uncrimping them to note their values. His comment about her having brains and others getting in on favours, slid right off her. Again, she wasn't interested.

She knew Jorge was stubborn and persistent, that much she had figured from their interview, but she thought she was handling this ignoring thing quite well, that he'd get fed up and leave her be. Apparently not. Her hazel eyes locked on his, an eyebrow raised skeptically. So he hadn't meant to insult her, well he hadn't done a very good job at that. "Mmmmmm..." she grumbled, again, ignoring his flattery. Interesting? Her? Pfffft.

...
...

And Merlin, now he was paying for her? "That's not necessary," she tried to protest, even though it was futile. "Fine, thanks." Annnddd she supposed if he wanted to tag along to her lonely park bench... she could hardly say no. She'd handle it. Noticing a charity collection tin on the counter, Emily stuffed her modest wad of notes into it.