Personality
Calm | Reflective | Observant | Melancholic | Lonely | Workaholic | Introverted
She can be quite particular, with things needing to be 'just-so' for her not to fuss. More often than not, she is highly reserved with new faces, making it difficult to connect with her, but she opens up when comfortable.
Her voice is usually soft and sweet, although she tends to flatten it in professional environments, making her sound clipped and severe.
Appearance
Emily is put-together and stylish, with a trim, curvy figure. Delicately pretty, with soft walnut skin, and large dark eyes.
Presenting herself well is important. Her body language is prim: she stands up straight and walks with a steady, graceful cadence, never dragging her feet. However, she tends to blend with the background where she can. Her sense of fashion is very feminine: make-up, likes to smell nice, and prefers pencil skirts and blouses with heels for her daily workwear. She wears her dark hair down, but styled and out of her face.
In more casual settings, she still prefers heels, although she will usually pair these with skinny jeans rather than a skirt. Depending on how much she'd like to dress up or down, she will wear a blouse or a vintage t-shirt. Even her lounge clothes are carefully curated--she's not overly sentimental and she enjoys shopping for clothes anyway. Anything with a hole or too worn is quickly thrown out or donated, so her rotation of clothes remains fresh and nothing ever gets ratty.
History
Emilia Pepita Reyes was born in a run-down neighborhood in Florida, the second child to absent, distant parents. When she was still young, her mother and father separated, and married other people, leaving Emily and her sisters strung between two new families. A meek child, Emily went to live with her grandmother. The old woman was the only stability and love in her life and she remembers these years happily. Her grandmother taught her Spanish, how to cook, clean, dress, and a myriad of other life skills. Sadly, when she was fourteen, the older woman passed away. Although she did not have much, her children squabbled for years over their inheritance, and Emily and her sisters were forgotten in the fray. They were scattered to live with different family members.
Emily was sent to live with an aunt who preferred gambling and being out with friends. This was just fine by the young girl, who decided she would much rather be alone than pretend to have a family. At base, she had food, and a roof over her head. Unfortunately, with no guiding force in her life, the girl fell in with an unsavory crowd. Although she wasn't the sort to aggressively act out, Emily's adolescent and teen years still saw her in and out of cop cars, from a combination of her own apathy and bad influences in her friends.
Her future looked dim, which became a vicious cycle that fed into her apathy. Then, in her junior year of high school, she met a boy. It was an auspicious meeting--he stayed on the right side of the law, had ambitions and ideas for a stable life and he really liked her. What could go wrong? This was where she turned it around. For love and better life.
When it came time for college, Emily actually applied. She followed her boyfriend to Boston, emboldened by promises of marriage after graduation, and happy to get out of Florida. For a variety of reasons, things did not go the way of marriage. For her part, Emily discovered a love of learning in a subject she cared about which dominated her time. With her nose in a book, she did not notice that, for all his jealousy over her, her husband-to-be was stepping out. According to him, this was her fault for neglecting him. The break-up was impressively messy for both her and their social circle.
Fortunately, Emily had fallen in with a group of good people, better influences than the ones she had back home, and she ultimately decided to stay in Massachusetts. She pursued degrees in criminal psychology and criminology.
Unfortunately, it put her off from relationships altogether. She did try, though, still dreaming of that house with a white picket fence, a dog, and two and a half kids. She was in and out of relationships for years, serious and casual, but nothing stuck. After a few too many broken hearts, Emily decided the whole institution wasn't for her and threw herself into her work instead.
After graduation, Emily enrolled in the police academy, her heart set on becoming a detective, while a small part of her enjoyed the ironic twist of her life. She was assigned to Easthaven, and within a few years, achieved lieutenant detective with a specialization in criminal interviews and forensics. In 2020, she decided to return to school for a Masters degree in criminology.
In early 2021, she found a book of perfect circles in the Inkpot.