Nicole Primer/History

## Early Life

Nicole grew up in a monastery, surrounded by books. She had never set foot in a city prior to her job in Gremory's Bar.

### Meeting with the Poison Rats

Nicole was sent by the Holy Curia to Gremory's Bar to exorcise a devil there. Because the business card had no address on it, she accidentally stumbled upon the Poison Rats' hideout, believing it to be her destination. The Poison Rat gang mistook her as a professional toxicologist that they hired to torture and kill captives and made her prepare a "strong spirit" for one of their debtors to drink. Nicole, not yet realizing the situation, concocted a perfectly safe beverage instead. The Poison Rats try to subdue Nicole when they realize they have the wrong person, but Nicole takes the gang down and rescues the captured man, who subsequently gives her directions to Gremory's Bar.

### Gremory's Bar

Upon entering Gremory's Bar, Nicole sees a girl but immediately tries to shoot her with her rifle, deducing that she must be the target devil because of the red horns on her head. A chase ensues until a drunk woman, annoyed by the commotion, magically puts the two of them to sleep. After Nicole wakes up, the woman introduces herself as Gremory, the owner of the establishment. Gremory interviews Nicole before turning her over to the horned girl, whose name is Morgana Mordred, from earlier for training. Morgana tries to scare Nicole by proclaiming to be a Demon Lord, but the exorcist is unintimidated and even nicknames the supposed devil "Momo". Nonetheless, Nicole remains on guard just in case.

During training, Momo demands Nicole to serve her strawberry milk in her favorite mug. Nicole decides to use this opportunity to see if Momo truly is a devil and spikes the drink with holy water. Momo drinks the milk and faints, seemingly confirming Nicole's suspicions, but is soon discovered to be having an allergic reaction and subsequently taken to the ER. Next, Nicole uses a ward made of blessed thread, but that only results in Momo tripping over it and falling down. While treating the poor devil, Gremory tells Nicole not to worry too much, saying that accidents happen all the time in her bar because it is an "unlucky place".

Throughout the following week, Nicole continues her work as a bartender as she constantly deals with Momo's childish antics and behavior. Because things have been so casual, Nicole gradually forgets about her original mission to exorcise the self-proclaimed Demon Lord. When she does remember, however, she begins to wonder if an exorcism is really needed at all since Momo is otherwise harmless and innocent. Later, after saving Momo from a couple of thugs, Nicole asks Gremory about how she and Momo met. Gremory explains she doesn't know the little devil came from as she suddenly entered the bar one day and demanded to be treated like a queen (to which Gremory obliged apparently without question). Nicole decides she still has to exorcise Momo lest she disgrace the Council.

Just as Nicole is about to close the bar, an important-looking customer who Momo recognizes as the most influential cocktail critic walks in and orders the bar's signature drink, the Rainbow Lullaby. Nicole, having only made the cocktail once, is put under pressure and mistakenly adds holy water instead of orange juice into the drink, but the customer is highly impressed by the cocktail. Word gets out about this new drink, now called the "Rainbow Nicole", and Gremory's Bar surges in popularity. Gremory congratulates Nicole and gifts her a perfume that a "special rare ingredient."

Nicole begins to doubt whether she is worthy being an exorcist again but decides she must proceed with her mission. When Momo approaches her for some juice, Nicole aims her gun at her but is interrupted by a suspicious customer demanding to see Gremory. Gremory appears and tells Nicole and Momo to leave so that she and customer can talk privately. The customer asks for business advice and reveals Gremory's true identity as Lamia, a prophet famous in the underworld for her advice on how to revive dying businesses and connections to the Dark Council. Gremory refuses, as she no is longer in that sort of shady business anymore, so the customer gives her a veiled threat before leaving.

The next day, Nicole sees members of the Poison Rats exit Gremory's Bar and gets worried that they might've hurt Gremory. She rushes in and is relieved to see that Gremory is unharmed but gets alarmed when the barkeeper casually tells her that the Poison Rats kidnapped Momo. Gremory tells her not to worry and says that Momo will be fine, but Nicole is unconvinced and sets out to rescue the devil despite her earlier conviction.

Nicole goes back to the pub where she first met the Poison Rats and takes down all the guards there. When she arrives at the top floor, however, she sees that the other guards as well as their boss (referred to as Gentle Boy), the customer from the day before, are already down and the ceiling collapsed. The Gentle Boy panickedly explains that the room suddenly broke down and their guns went off on their own after Momo began crying. Momo tearfully embraces Nicole and apologizes for her behavior, and Nicole promises to keep her safe from now on, abandoning her exorcism duty. Afterwards, Nicole briefly returns to the Holy Curia and requests for more time to carry out her mission.

Some time later, Nicole takes Momo to a candy store. As they are outside, they see firetrucks rushing towards the direction of the bar; Gremory had drunkenly destroyed her own bar after she caught the Gentle Boy setting up explosives around the place.

### Relocation of Gremory's Bar

At some point, Nicole took Momo into her apartment.

Gremory's Bar is relocated to Ground One. Kim Hana enters and gets drunk, and Nicole has trouble trying to hold a satisfying conversation with her. Gremory quickly takes Nicole's place instead.

Nicole later plays a game of Truth or Dare with Gremory, where they reveal a bit about themselves. She revealed that her gun's name is Agathe, and that she's a bit insecure about her voice and bosom. They later drank up the entire bar between them and Gremory was forced to get more alcohol and cocktail ingredients from a winery. Gremory came back with fruit with teeth that becomes sweeter the more you pat it and becomes spicy if you yell at it, much to Nicole's delight. She then welcomes a new customer.

## References

1. ↑  Intro from the *Gremory's Bar* unrepeatable event.