We're getting f¨cked up tonight

As Aurora was always fairly dedicated to everything she was doing, she didn’t allow herself many times to go out and enjoy herself. Her father had often told her to lighten up a little and do everything a woman around her age should be doing. Aurora wasn’t sure if a woman around her age would still go to a bar to get drunk, but she was surely not that type of woman to do just that. As a healer she expected herself to be aware and in control of her situation any time a day, especially when she was in another city. She had visited Norwyn so she could take care of Ve, preparing the proper potions for him so she could take off to Ishgard again in a few days, which she had done a few days ago. But now that he had told her that he wanted to go to Lemuria and that she had offered to come with him, she wasn’t sure if her services were needed anymore, regardless if she would be going with him or not. Now that her father had become sick, she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave Ishgard at all.

Aurora sighed as she looked at the bar in front of her. It sounded noisy already and Aurora wanted to turn around so she could go back to the inn she was staying at, but then she thought about what her father had told her. Well, one or two drinks couldn’t hurt, right? So after a slight hesitation Aurora took off towards the bar, entering the surprisingly spacy area. She looked around, seeing faces she didn’t recognize in the slightest, even though she had been in Norwyn multiple times already. She hoped the evening would go smoothly and that she wouldn’t run in some annoying people.

Aurora decided that the safest place to not run into trouble would be at the bar itself. So she picked a stool and set down, ordering a drink for herself. She contemplated whether she should talk to someone or just mind her own business. She didn’t even know why she entered the bar in the first place. She wanted to meet new people, but she was also a bit too timid to just walk to someone and start a conversation, especially since not a lot of people were sitting alone out here. She guessed she would just observe and see if the opportunity arose to engage herself in a conversation with someone.

It didn’t take too long for someone to come and sit down next to her. She wasn’t sure if she really needed the company. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. But to be honest: if she wanted to be alone, she shouldn’t have ventured into a pub like this. So she nodded at the man, giving him a smile. He looked older than her, with long white hair that suited him. His eyes were of an unusual color, but not bad to look at. Aurora was pretty sure that if she would have seen him around, she would’ve remembered. Although she was a resident of Ishgard, it was still impossible to remember every face that walked around here. He surely wasn’t one of her patients; she would’ve remembered him if he was. So who was he, really?

”I don’t mean to come across as some loner,” she said with a hint of amusement in her voice. ”I don’t do this kind of thing often, but lately I’ve been so busy that I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get a chance to meet people another way.” Although she had been lucky with encountering some people when she went on her walks to be alone, this was a much more effective way to get to know someone. Her mind wandered shortly to Sirach, wondering where the man was right now. He was one of those encounters she probably would never forget, but she wasn’t entirely convinced that it was for all the wrong reasons. Aurora forced her mind to focus herself back on the stranger sitting next to her. ”Are you from around here?” she asked politely, fixating her bright blue eyes on him.