“No Rest for the Wicked”

It was somewhat a shame to Nicole that she could not ride her all-muggle motorcycle into Diagon Alley and right up to the nightlife haunts she frequented both as an employee and as a patron. So, she had a friend drive her to the approximate location of The Leaky Cauldron and promised she would call once she’d had her fill of nighttime fun. Shelly’s sitter had been informed to be prepared to stay the night so there was nothing to worry about should she crash at a friend’s place for the night instead.

Unfortunately, while a friend did drive Nicole to her approximate destination, the woman couldn’t help but acknowledge as she walked toward The Patronus (and several other establishments on the Nightwalk Green) that she was in for a night out on the town – for now, at least – by herself. At least by nixing the small cluster of friends she had it eliminated the chance of embarrassing herself by being dared to dance. Dancing wasn’t exactly her forte so this was something of a relief. Yet being by herself could be seen as a potential vulnerability to exploit. Perhaps, although rather selective, the witch would pick out a drinking buddy for the evening. The appearance of weakness or being vulnerable was not an option for this witch, despite the intent to consume copious amounts of alcohol, and one ‘friend’ was better than none.

She knew that even if someone dared to make trouble they would discover soon after that it would be a grave mistake. Although her black jeans and cropped camouflage tank top were of size and design meant to flatter her figure in a "tough chick" sort of way, Nicole always had a few weapons on her. Most of them were tucked into her black leather jacket or slid into holsters within her combat boots. On the belt of her jeans were the usual accessories of a nightclub security guard (Nicole does not appreciate the term ‘bouncer’ when in reference to herself), as she was sometimes prompted to duty when she technically wasn’t supposed to be. That made for a few interesting speeches upon escorting out a troublemaker whilst being a little tipsy herself.

No sooner had that thought left Nicole’s mind she reached her destination. Green eyes narrowed as she noticed one of the other part-time bouncers on duty asking a young witch for her identification. Nicole had observed this particular bouncer before and felt the guy barely knew the difference between a Dachshund and a ferret. Either that or he only looked at the expiration dates. Nicole didn’t really care which was the case as they didn’t really get along when forced to work the same shifts. Thankfully, tonight was not one of those nights.

Nicole sped up her pace, and almost didn’t make it as the wizard was about to let the girl inside. “Wait a minute, let me see that,” she muttered, plucked the card from their hands, and glanced at it. Sure enough: he was about to let a minor traipse into the establishment. With a sigh Nicole pushed the burly guard aside for a moment and stopped the younger witch in her attempts to trek onward, handing back the identification card with a scowl. “Go back and try it again, honey. That’s about the worst glamour charm attempt I think I’ve ever seen.” The picture didn’t even match the girl at all!

“I’m a metamorphmagus,” replied the girl with an indignity that didn’t sound quite right. In fact, it was a little over the top.

“Really? I have a friend that’s a metamorphmagus. Let’s see you do something then. Surely if you’re going to brag about it you’d want to back it up, what with the ability being so rare?”

“I don’t feel like it right now...” faltered the teen.

“Right... Well, ‘Miss Metamorphmagus,’ I think you and your friends had better get going before I floo-call your parents,” Nicole answered in harsh disbelief, revealing her security guard’s badge on the inside of her jacket. The outside of her jacket was peppered with military service pins. Badges and pins she had earned were in their proper places, but Nicole also donned some of her father’s pins, which were the ones “peppered” on the jacket as mentioned. It was almost as if the pins carried his protection even though that made no logical sense at all.

A smirk tugged and twisted itself onto the witch’s face as the youth whose age was in question flushed a deep scarlet. As the girl took off with her gaggle of similarly too-young friends, Nicole couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what Shelly would be like when the child grew up. To be honest: she hoped not. “You owe me one...” Nicole chuckled as the night’s regular bouncer returned to his designated post. There was a slight scowl on the wizard’s face.

Climbing the few stairs into the nightclub, Nicole found the place pleasantly busy. It took a few moments for her ears to adjust to the volume of the music and the rumble of many voices speaking at once. Taking one of the few empty seats at the bar, Nicole ordered a small taco salad and her favorite drink. The witch learned early on that it was never a good idea to drink on a relatively empty stomach.