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Eyes: Brown
When not at work, Nadine likes to wear what she would call a
nice and pretty things and her outfits are usually accompanied with jewelry,
usually a necklace and bracelet but she’ll never left home without her ear
rings (except when going to work). Personality: Nadine is still the
proverbial ray of sunshine but is prone now to bouts of depression and when
not at work, can spend days in her apartment, not going out, seeing anyone or
answering the phone. Being the manager of AJs has taken its toll, especially
in the aftermath of the hurricane but she still soldiers on with life and a
smile for those less unfortunate than herself. Despite the depression, she’s still the caring, thoughtful
person she ever was. She still doesn’t talk much about herself and is more
interested in listening to others, than sharing things herself. History:
Nadine was born to a couple of travellers, people who never stayed in one
spot long enough to make friends and be caught by the authority. They lived
in their own caravan but went about with several other families, so Nadine
always had someone to play with and talk to. Schooling was interesting and mainly consisted of learning the
various skills that the travellers had (needlework, pressing flowers, that
sort of thing) and little of what would be called ‘normal’ teaching. The
majority of the travellers were illiterate, her parents included, but there
was one couple who could read and write and they made it their duty to teach
the children so they would have these skills much wanted by the outside
world. Although the others thought it was nonsense, Nadine later on became
quite glad of them. She got to see many places though not as much as she’d have
liked and at only thirteen years old, she decided she’d had enough and ran
away from the camp. She was discovered a few days later, trying to hitch hike
to the nearest city and was taken back. This however made her more determined
to get out of there, bored as she was with never being settled, having a home
on wheels. A year later, she succeeded and found herself in New York
after bundling herself into the back of a truck when the driver stopped for
gas. Thrilled with having escaped, she then realised that she had hardly any
money and nowhere to go. Fear quickly set in and the first night she slept
rough, she wished she’d never had the crazy idea of running away from home. She spent a few nights on the streets, begging for money and
food until she was picked up by the authorities and taken to a home. It
wasn’t the nicest place on earth and some of the children there were a bit
rough but to Nadine, it was a home none the less and her time spent there was
remarkably pleasant; she just kept herself to herself most of the time and
passed time by helping the carers out with household tasks. At fifteen, she was fostered for a few months by a family who
had a couple of years previous lost a child. She was a little worried that
she would be compared to their child at first; the girl who’d died, Jane, was
about the same age as Nadine. But her fears proved unfounded. She lived with them for several months; the woman was a
teacher and helped Nadine brush up on her reading and writing skills as well
as teaching her basic maths, which was a godsend. When it was time to leave,
she was quite saddened but has a renewed hope that things for her would get
better. She returned to the home and stayed there until she was
eighteen and got turfed out. It didn’t matter too much though as by then, she
was holding down a steady (though not well paid) job and she managed to rent
a small room from a woman who lived on her own. She lived there for a couple
of years while she found another job, a slightly better paid admin junior
job, then moved into her own place. It was only a poky little place in a not
very nice area but it was hers. After working up the ranks a little and becoming a customer
service assistant, she managed to save up enough money to get a better place
and moved closer to work. It was at a works party when she met a man, David,
who would change her life for the better and worse. He was a charming young man, polite, well spoken and very
funny. She found his charm intoxicating and within a few weeks, they were
dating, a few months they had moved into his luxury apartment in the city
centre, a stone’s throw away from work. It was then she realised that he was
actually one of the managers at the company she worked for but it didn’t
matter to either of them. They kept their relationship secret; he taught her
things which proved useful in getting her next job. She taught him things
about her old way of life and although he didn’t need them to survive in his
world, he was fascinated by them. They got married in the April of 1987 in a small chapel in a
town outside of New York. She had no family there, he enough to make up for
it and it was quite easily one of the happiest days of her life. They decided
to move to the small town soon after, both weary of the city life, despite
being so young. She got a job at the local bank as a book keeper, the maths skills
taught to her by her foster mum and husband proving their worth a thousand
times over. He set up his own business, trading in cars and it became quite a
money spinner. They moved twice over a ten year period, gradually settling on
a large house on the outskirts. By then, the business was employing ten local
people and making a nice turn over. It was one night just after Nadine’s thirty-first birthday
that things went horribly wrong. David had been coming over from work, after
a successful day at the recently expanded garage, when his car collided with
a truck that had skidded on a patch of ice and ended up on the wrong side of
the road. He was killed at the scene, as was the driver of the truck and
Nadine’s heart was firmly broken. Having no idea how to run the business, she sold it to one of
the employees and then put the house on the market. It soon sold and Nadine
ended up with so much money, she didn’t know what to do with it. She gave
half of it back to the garage to help the business, something which came as a
massive shock to the owner and was nearly refused, then she bought a caravan
and moved away, putting the rest of the money in savings. Over the next ten years, she continually travelled, eating
into a large part of the cash she got from David’s death. She couldn’t bear
to stay in one place too long; she felt like a burden to people and even
years after David’s death, found it hard to make friends. It was as she was
coming up to her fortieth birthday that it finally dawned on her that she’d come
full circle. That her grief had caused her to run back to the lifestyle she
had spent so long trying to run from. With the cloud lifted from over her and this realisation, she
moved to the nearest city to where she was, New Orleans and sold the caravan
after buying a flat in the French Quarter, a lovely one bed place with a
cracking view of the surroundings. She went job hunting and found herself
looking in the window of a new establishment, a diner that had just opened
called AJs. She decided that waitressing would be just the thing after so
many years alone so when Drew offered her a job, she nearly took his hand
off. She’s been a part of the AJs family ever since and is much as
part of the furnishings as Bert, Ernine and Drew himself. She has no plans to
leave there or New Orleans; she’s finally found her home. When Drew was arrested, Nadine took temporary charge of the
diner, registering the business under the Preternatural Registration law and
helping staff get their identification. This meant AJs was off the radar as
far as the PRLOs were concerned but she knew for a fact they still visited to
check on patrons. Due to the fact the presence of the officers had driven
away some customers, she fought with the PRO to have the officers not search
on the property as it was damaging the business. She won, the first case of
its kind which lead to more diners getting an exception license. Further grief was just round the corner though, of a different
kind. A year after Drew had been arrested, the case finally came to an
untimely close, with the were rat committing suicide. He had been taken to
court for refusing to register and being violent (apparently) during
interrogations. This led to him being sentenced to life in a detainment
centre where he later died. His death sent shockwaves through the community
and Nadine spent the next year in mourning, putting the business on part time
hours whilst she holed up in her apartment. When the hurricane came, AJs wasn’t spared. It was completely
razed to the ground, causing Nadine further grief. But seeing how everyone
was helping out on the street and not giving up, Nadine canned the idea of
joining Drew and joined the helpers, helping to rebuild their lives. Once
things were getting better, she dug into her savings to rebuild AJs. It’s now
in the final stages and Nadine is having a plaque for Drew engraved to put
above the door of the new diner. AJs and Nadine have risen from the ashes and
will soon be open for business again. Strengths: She knows a bit about the preternatural community after
serving so many for so long and having a boss who is a lycanthrope. She has
no prejudices against any preternatural being and knows enough so she will
never accidentally out anyone. She is an experienced traveller and knows how
to look after herself. The loss of Drew has drawn out a determination in
Nadine which has been absent for many years. Her knowledge of the
preternatural community has vastly improved and she now owes a whole
bookshelf of books on the subject. She now can spot most lycanthropes and
knows how is outed and not. Weaknesses: She
fears anyone getting too close so has a tendency to push people away at times
and isolate herself. This has stopped her from making friends since David’s
death and means social events can be tricky. Though she is getting better
coping with this over time. She still fears people getting close, more than
anything now she suffers from depression and that Drew has died. She still
spends her time when not working on Ajs up in her apartment, brooding. Quirks: She
carries pens around in her beehive and has been known to carry other things
such as her purse in there. Always carries a small makeup bag with her
wherever she goes (it’s usually in her handbag) and is a big fan of western
movies. Also likes country music and her favourite drink is Long Island Ice
Tea. Other: Nadine is classed as
an NPC but is only controllable by Michelle. |
