Don't forget to be awesome

@theharmonyjones

Matt decided to go to the Winter Market on a whim. He thought he would be working the late shift so he didn’t actually make any plans to go. However, when his work schedule changed at the last minute, he decided to pop in to see all the festivities. He was walking through the market, peeking at all the local vendors when he saw Mic nearby, and immediately went up to him, not wanting to be alone in the crowds of people. “Mic!” he exclaimed. “Wanna go decorate some cookies?” he asked with a mischievous grin.

Asher nodded his head looking at the guy, “yeah I honestly don’t understand why or how we do it” he said laughing. “Cause I know I’m not eating all this chocolate” he said laughing, nodding his head toward the guy. “Yeah honestly they are all 25 to 50% off and they are good decorations” he said thinking to all the decorations through the years. “I’ve never thought about that, but I will look into it throughout the year, cause I could use more Christmas decorations” he said admittedly. “Oh yeah one of my close friends is a barista, so I know I’m always getting the good drinks” he said laughing. 

Matt looked down at the large bag of candy in his cart. “I don’t know man, speak for yourself because I’m definitely going to be polishing this off myself,’ he said with a laugh. He unfortunately had a massive sweet tooth and was known to always have some sugar on him, whether it be tucked away in a cupboard or in his work bag, he could always get you a sugar fix. “Do you think that friend could be my friend too, because I still don’t have my coffee hookup in town and I need one before the peppermint lattes comeback,” he joked. 

“It’s one of those things that can be hard to wrap your head around. Different things are hard for different people.” Luca replied as he’d always been good at that sort of thing, but there were other concepts in school that through him for a loop. “Exactly, because then people would know not only the local businesses, but also who they need to go to if they need help with something.” He added as it seemed like a win-win idea to him.  “I can imagine that would be hard in a place like this.”

“Yeah, it was definitely a doozy,” he laughed, taking a sip of his coffee. “Exactly,” he agreed, “Navigating this town when I first moved here was next to impossible. Thankfully I figured it out because I’m perfect and have no flaws, but it was like trying to navigate a foreign country with how everyone was intertwined,” he joked. 

“Ah, true. Yeah, that makes sense. But, the thought was cool while it lasted.” she shrugged, laughing a little. Nia wasn’t one that usually kept facts like this one stored in her brain, so she always was intrigued by the facts told to her by other people. “Honestly, I’d love to hear them. Any fact or pointless shit you’ve got, I’m all ears.” 

“In your defense, science is trying to bring them back, even though there is an entire book and movie franchise to tell us why that’s a horrible idea,” he said with a small smirk perched on his lips. He leaned forward, propping himself up on his elbows on the table. “I have this theory that NASA isn’t looking for life on other planets, but for a planet that is hospitable when we destroy the planet. Otherwise, why would they be looking for planets with similar conditions to earth and planets with water?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Based on just basic evolution, an organism could evolve to need helium or whatever instead of water.”

“That is fair enough, I understand economics isn’t for everyone.” Luca replied as he’d more or less just been thinking out loud anyway. He was interested in figuring out if it an ideal people would like. “I think supporting local is just so important.  It would be cool to like include a list of locally owned businesses with the packets of money maybe.” He added with a small nod. “Maybe they need to come in some sort of welcome package for people just moving here.”

“Oh yeah and it’s definitely not for me. Econ was the only C I ever got in college, it was super embarrassing,” he admitted with a a chuckle, leaning back in the seat and getting comfortable. “Ooh that would be a good idea! With like a little blurb about who runs the place! Get people aquatinted with the town and everyone in it,” he suggested. “I feel like I was so lost when I moved here because it felt like everyone already knew everyone.”

Oh, look! It’s [MATTHEW “MATT” PETRACCA]! I heard they’re [33], a [MALE], and use [HE/HIM] pronouns, have been in town for [ONE YEAR] and are actually from [FLORIDA]. They are currently working as a [PEDIATRICIAN] and living in [DOWNTOWN BRIDGEPORT]. You know I personally think they look like [GRANT GUSTIN], but that’s crazy, right?

TW: Divorce, Cancer

Beathe felt relived to know she hadn’t been off any kind of inconvenience for him. She was used to New Yorkers, and they tended to get grumpy if one took too long to order. “Oh, sorry –” Bea said with  a soft chuckle. “I was just making sure in case I was keeping you from anything by  being slow to decide.” She excused herself further before pushing some strands behind her ear as her hues glanced back up at the board. She looked back over at him as she spoke before carefully shaking her head while her cheeks turned slightly pink. “I can’t say I do..” She said, “You  can always just.. Order a small one maybe?”

“Oh, no you’re not keeping me at all. I’m the world’s most indecisive person when it comes to things like this, so don’t even worry about it,” he assured her, awkwardly getting out of the way of a patron trying to get around them. This person clearly didn’t have time for their dilly dallying in line trying to figure out what to get. “You’re right, maybe I will get a small… I feel like they should make the coffee equivalent of a middle cone for situations like this. Or when you just don’t want to commit to a full cup of coffee, you know?”

“I mean that isn’t the same situation thought.” Harper replied with a small shrug. “While it has been replaced over time, as no point was it not a ship.” She added as she felt that he was really comparing apples to oranges at this point. “Dinosaurs were once a real creature that were roaming the earth and doing things. Plastic dinosaurs were never alive in the same sense that full size actual dinosaurs were.”

“That’s true,” he agreed, picking up the straw wrapper and fiddling with it in his fingers. “But, the components of them that were real dinosaurs were alive and roaming the earth. So, at what point would they stop being real if they once held life?” He asked, not sure if he was even making sense to himself anymore. 

“You know, I think you may be onto something.” Nia nodded, honestly have never thought about it before. “I - yeah, I think you’re right. With that thought in mind I think it does make them real dinosaurs. But an even better question is if that’s the case does that mean that dinosaurs aren’t actually extinct? And that all of these plastic dinosaurs bring us out of extinction or is that too much of a stretch?” the thought passed through Nia’s mind and the second she asked it she laughed. “I like the way you think. What other random facts or theories do you have floating around in that brain?”

Matt paused and leaned back in his chair to think about what she was saying. “I wouldn’t go so far to say they aren’t extinct,” he said after a moment. “Because that would imply that they’re living. A skeleton would still be a real dinosaur, but I think in order for them to not be extinct, they would have to actually be alive, Jurassic Park style, you know?” He offered, taking a sip out of his coffee. “Do you really want to open that rabbit hole? Because there’s a lot of dumb shit floating around in my brain,” he joked. 

I mean, you’ve got a point there.” Luca replied as he was trying to humor the man. It was interesting to hear about Matt’s opinion on this. He had never really thought about it that way himself. But in a way plastic dinosaurs were the closest thing to real dinosaurs that they were likely going to see in their lifetimes. “To be fair, I am sure that at some point someone is going to bring dinosaurs back. Which I think we have enough movies to prove it’s a bad idea, but it’s still going to happen.” Luca added as he was sure that if someone thought that it was going to make money that someone would do it.  

Matt was about to mention how there were both book and movies about how that would be a terrible idea when Lucas mentioned that. “I mean, it definitely is going to happen,” he agreed. “And quite frankly, I can’t say I wouldn’t go see them if they were brought back,” he admitted, taking a sip of his coffee. “I would be the idiot who is there on opening day of Jurassic Park, which is dumb, but I also, who wouldn’t want to see a dinosaur in person?” he asked. “And plus, it would probably be okay if they just tried to bring the sea creatures back, right? Just put them all in an aquarium. I feel like there would be much less escaping of animals.”