open starters

In Xavier's opinion a good holiday season included good food, laughs, company, and some good old fashion holiday cookie decorating. He had been counting down the days from the moment he saw the flyer last week, and the time had finally come to join in on some festive fun around Denver. Normally Xavier did not acknowledge Christmas much, he tried to avoid the holiday season altogether, but he wanted to try something in new this year. Well, he thought he did anyway, that mindset changed rather quickly upon his arrival at Sweet Encounter. Xavier had not expected so many people to be in pairs, or out with their family, for some silly reason, and he felt a wave of sadness take over him. This was a mistake, he told himself. He turns to leave when he accidentally bumps into someone, taking a small stumble back, X is quick to reach out in case the other person was also stumbling. "Woah! Hey, sorry! Are you okay?" He asks, concern in his voice, giving his best apologetic smile.

“In the spirit of entrepreneurism,” Tony began without any explanation, “I think I’m going to offer my services out this holiday season. Think about it – people are extra lonely during the holiday season. That or they’re visiting family and not looking to explain why they aren’t in a relationship yet. So, why not bring me along? I’m good at charming parents. I’m a decent actor. I think I’m fake boyfriend material, don’t you? It’s the perfect plan.” 

Atlas rarely went on dates and he felt like any time that he convinced himself to that he was quickly reminded why he didn't typically do this. Tonight was one of those nights as he sat at Hell and High Water, his eyes darting towards the door any time it would open to see if the person from his dating app would show up but every time it did, he quickly noticed it wasn't.

A sigh fell from his lips as he ordered himself another drink "Well this was a bust." He muttered more to himself than anyone else. This was definitely the reminder he needed that it was time to once again delete the app and to continue to focus on other things. "What a night huh?" He asked the person who was closest to him at the bar.

location: club 303 or any nightclub.

Naomi didn’t know why she was there. She felt too old to be there — nightclubs weren’t really her scene. There never had been, but after immense peer pressure from her friends, she caved. A fun night out would do her some good, she couldn’t remember the last time she allowed herself to let her hair down.

“Excuse me?” The blonde asked reluctantly, turning to the person next to her at the bar. “I’ll buy you a drink if you pretend to be my date. I’m trying to make someone jealous.” Her light eyes darted over to her most recent ex, their relationship (if you could even call it that) was brief but passionate, it wasn’t until things just started to get a little serious that they ghosted her.

“Please?”

location: green thumb cafe.

The day had been torturous. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. Not only did she spill coffee on her clean scrubs first thing in the morning, two of her surgeries got double booked by mistake, resulting in an uncomfortable conversation with her patients. Luckily, the situation was resolved with both parties happy in the end, but Marilyn was still embarrassed. She was dubbed as the best neurosurgeon in Colorado and there was no way she wanted to tarnish her stellar reputation.

After clocking off, she decided to treat herself to a much needed latte and a piece of cake. God knew she needed it. She wanted to decompress before heading home, she didn’t want to bring her bad mood home to her fiancè and sour his day too. That was the last thing she wanted.

Once she placed her order at the counter, her gaze surveyed the bustling cafe in hopes to find a table, but there was no luck. Only an empty seat in front of a stranger.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt you, but is it okay if I sit with you? I won’t bother you, I promise.”

Ella loved to decorate; it was one of her favorite things to do even when the occasion did not call for it. If you were to step into her place you would notice that she constantly was changing things up, and it only got worse during the holidays. Currently she was trying to decorate the shop a bit for Thanksgiving but also was putting a little Christmas spin; she was one of those people who started celebrating Christmas in July. As she was finishing up setting up some white lights around the outside of the shop's window a thought occurred to Ella and she steps back for a moment to look at the window. "Crap," she whispers to herself, letting out a small sigh of frustration. Had she accidentally just done more Christmas than Thanksgiving in her decorating? "Hey," she says, looking at the person walking by, "I need your opinion. When you look at these lights, are you getting Thanksgiving vibes? Or are you getting more 'this shop totally skipped right to Christmas' vibes?"

Marley hates shopping late at night. It's quieter, but that's the only merit when the shelves are emptier and there's less staff to help when she inevitably can't find what she's looking for. It's easier these days to pop into one of the many convenience stores along her journey home from Comic Quest and grab a few essentials to last her until she can next go shopping at a more reasonable time, however, that leaves her to make decisions like do I actually need a tub of ice cream or am I just tired and cranky? and, as she stands shivering in the freezer section, lightly dancing for both generating heat and a love of the song playing over the radio, "which flavour should I get?"

location: fall boutique & craft fair

"Come see our winter production," Kate stated, handing out flyers as she walked through the fair. It was a great place to hand out flyers as well as talk up businesses to donate time, money or supplies for their productions. "We can always use more volunteers or actors. Lots of positions open if you want to help out your community," she suggested, smiling as she passed more out. "Not a lot of people seem interested, but that's not going to stop me."