choosetruth | ic contact post (entranceway)

You're not. I was expecting you.

[She tilts her head, looking Julia over. She doesn't know what this about, but... Julia does not look happy.]

Is everything okay?

Generally? Sure. But...

[ She takes a seat. Julia is a lot of things--stubborn and surprisingly optimistic being among them--but she's never been particularly introspective or embarrassed by much of anything.

Except for this. This is embarrassing. This is the type of thing she doesn't think too hard about because it makes her wonder what kind of person she actually is. ]

There's something I need to talk to you about. I've been putting it off for a while because I haven't wanted to admit it to anyone here, but... I work for you now, more or less, and you deserve to know if I'm going to keep writing for the blog.

[Georgia raises an eyebrow behind her sunglasses. She won't make any false encouraging claims. If Julia's this nervous about telling her, it might be really bad, and Georgia won't promise it'll be okay until she knows what she's referring to.]

Well, you know how I feel about honesty.

[She's glad Julia's coming forward before the Mansion tears it out of her. Whatever it is.]

Yeah, I do. That's why I even came here at all.

[ She lets out a breath, rolling her shoulders. ]

Before I worked in Chester's Mill, I was in Chicago. I worked for a paper there. The reason I left Chicago is that I was fired. For lying in an article I wrote.

Oh.

[Georgia's face is almost completely motionless. Shaun could catch the tightness of her eyes behind her glasses and the barely-there twitches in her lips, but to anyone else, she may as well be carved out of stone.]

Did you do it?

[ George's expressionless face doesn't help matters. At least Barbie had looked thoroughly disappointed in her. As far as Julia is concerned, she deserves it. ]

Yes.

[ She looks away, unable to even look at George. She knows how much the truth means to her, which is why she's admitting all of this in the first place. She didn't have to; it's not as if work in Wonderland required references. But it's still the right thing to do. ]

I was covering a local election. A source gave me information that pointed to one of the candidates being corrupt. I knew the documents were probably forged and I ran the story anyway.

Why?

[She can't help some emotion leaking through. This is the cardinal sin of journalism. It's not even stretching the truth, it's flat out lying. It's everything George hates, and here someone she likes is admitting she did it.

It's hard for her to process. She doesn't want to process.]

[ Julia Shumway, the pillar of someone who is incapable of being embarrassed, is definitely embarrassed right now.

Maybe it's Wonderland and the introspection it's forced on her. Maybe it's the fact that this is the first time she's worked for someone since Chicago, someone she actually respects. The fact that her answer is awful doesn't help. ]

Corruption is front page news. I had an editor to impress and I let my ego get in the way of my integrity. It wasn't the first time, but it will be the last. [ Her ego isn't going anywhere, but her integrity is staying put. ]

[Wasn't the first time.

Georgia takes a steadying breath.]

Damn right it will be the last.

[Her voice is terrifyingly even.]

I won't fire you. People have done all sorts of things before they came here, and if we're not going to lock up former murderers, I suppose I can have a former liar on my staff. But I will be fact checking your work personally from now on. And if I find out you've lied again?

[She pulls her sunglasses off, glaring at Julia with her dead-looking black eyes. The light stings. She doesn't care. Some things are worth the headache.]

You're gonna think back to your old editors firing you and realize you got off easy.

[ Julia worked in Chicago, and then suffered under the Dome. She's seen some scary things. But nothing has quite affected her quite like this. She averts her gaze from George's terrifying gaze and sinks back into her chair, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment and unease. ]

I understand. [ She certainly deserves it, and the least she can expect is having Georgia single-handedly fact check everything she writes. It's better than the alternative, which is her not being allowed to write at all. ]

And I am sorry. I never wanted to disappoint you.

[ She cares a lot more about what George thinks of her than she cares about impressing her, which is saying a lot. ]

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