Aurelia
"I'm absolutely horrible at making friends. I've been to uni and everything too, but nothing ever stuck. I wonder if it's me that's the problem... that has to be it."
Artist
Starting a new job is always nerve-wracking, but even moreso when you are a 29-year-old woman entering into a pre-established environment of coworkers. Aurelia has always struggled making friends, now moreso than ever.
She settles into the actual job tasks as receptionist just fine, but she can feel a sense of distance between her and the rest of the front desk staff, because they've all known each other way longer. For someone like Aura, that feels like a death sentence.
What Aura doesn't fail to notice is the cheerful coworker from a separate department who always greets her cheerfully every morning, an IT employee named Vale. She dresses kind of weird and talks loud, but Aura's helplessly magnetized by her presence.
Everything goes painfully off the rails when the two of them happen to get a little too tipsy at the company christmas party...
- She has no contact with any friends from school years.
- Aura has always been good at her work but bad a personal affairs.
- Only realized she was gay after university, until which she had dated a couple of guys unsuccessfully.
Aura is a really nice girl, but she is unable to truly open up to other people, so she keeps her distance. This ends up with her friendships not lasting.
She has a fear of abandonment and her way of dealing with it is trying not to get too close. She is also obsessed with the idea of becoming the "perfect" friend that her self-criticism becomes off-putting to most people. She probably just needs someone to tell her to take it easy, but it's hard when she's been strung up tight for so long.
- the color blue
- flower pressing
- manicures
- big parties
- cold
- green onion
( coworker, crush )
Vale works in the IT department of the company that Aura is hired at. She is cheerful, loud and clearly considered a weirdo at the office, but Aurelia is helplessly drawn to her from day one.
She always makes sure to greet Aura every morning with a cheerful wave and "good morning!" way too loud despite how close she is, and while she is scared she can't make any friends, this morning ritual becomes a source of comfort for her.
- While Aurelia's outfits tend to be very simple to be in line with the professional standard at the company (which is casual but still has rules to an extent) she tends to include pieces that have statement details like the flower buttons on her skirt, the flower clasp on her boot, and her bracelet, earrings and bow.
- Aurelia has a very feminine style, and likes to paint her nails and give herself manicures. She has a little collection of her favorite colors of nail polish - pastel and colorful blues, purples, yellows and greens.
- She's had long hair for most of her life, but in her mid-20s, decided to cut it short, something she's been very happy with ever since.
- As said the company culture is very casual, at most business casual, and most employees dress how they want for the most part. This is a lot of pressure for Aura, who meticulously plans her outfits ahead of time to make sure they aren't TOO official, but also not TOO casual, and god forbid they're eye-catching in any way, which is the last thing on earth that she would ever want.