This night Nick slept more or less well. He had attacked his brain in cross-questioning the whole evening, thus he was tired enough to fall asleep in seconds. The next morning he forced his thoughts out his head and solely focused on the upcoming job. He got up, showered, ate and dressed in his new clothes. Sitting down on his bed, he realized he had still some minutes until he had to go for the bar, so he pulled out the radio station from under his bed and switched it on.
"Handsome Fox to Buffalo Butt, do you read? Over."
"For the last time, your codename is Foxtrott and we are Central. And also we don't use vocabulary like Over, Out or Roger."
"Aw come on, nothing about a little fun at the workplace."
"Shouldn't you be heading to your workplace right now?"
"Calm down, I have some minutes until I have to leave."
"I swear to you Foxtrott, if you fuck this up, I will make you suffer."
"Are you still that mad about my prank?"
He heard Bogo angrily sighing. "Yes. Now go find me a suspect." Bogo closed the channel.
Pfft. Goddam buffalo.
In lack of other options, he got his jacket and headed to his new work place. He walked, since the flat, the ZPD rented for the time of the investigation was just a few blocks away from the bar. He soon saw the neon lights reading '(T)Rusty Mug' and he walked up to the building. It looked not much older than the other buildings in this district, but it sure looked more damaged and run down. The old brick house had many cracks in its walls, on one side graffiti were plastered all over it and the once bright red bricks had become darker and dirtier over the time. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, falling into his role.
My name is Marty Vulpes.
I plan to become a bartender in Zootopia.
I apply for a job at this bar.
He lifted his gaze and opened the dark wooden door.
On the inside he was greeted by a surprisingly clean interior. Aside from the dusty floor, the bar was pretty tidy with black tables and comfortable looking red seats arranged at the sides of the room. At the wall in front of him was one door on each side of a long counter. Behind said counter a black bear, wearing a grey tee under an apron, who polished a glass in a cliché manner. The bear seemed to notice him.
"A bit early to go into a bar, isn't it?"
Nick had arrived at eight in the morning. He chuckled and shook his head.
"No, it really isn't." He pointed towards the 'help wanted' sign in one of the windows. "I was actually planning on applying for the bartender job here."
"I already thought, nobody would consider it." He reached out his paw. "I'm Ted, nice to meet you."
"People call him Teddy." A voice from the other side of the bar side. Nick turned towards the voice's origin and discovered a wolverine in a mechanics overall, resting his arm on a jukebox.
"Actually only you call me this."
"You like it, don't you?"
"Roy, stop embarrassing me in front of Mr…"
"Vulpes. Marty Vulpes."
"Excuse him, he is an idiot."
"Hey!"
"Shush Roy, I am having a job interview here."
The wolverine rolled his eyes and concentrated on fixing the jukebox again. Teddy turned to Nick again.
"You still want to work with us?"
"If the only thing I have to worry about is nagging, sure." Nick said jokingly. The bear chuckled only shortly and moved around the counter and guided Nick to a table.
"Take a seat, please. I guess we have not much options, but I have to do some kind of interview."
"Sure go on."
"So do you have any experience in working as a bartender?"
"Back in the countryside, I worked regularly as waiter at my dad's bar. Sometimes I had to jump in as bartender too."
"Countryside? Which town do you come from?"
"Fangston."
"Well if that isn't a coincidence, Roy's mother is from Fangston. Isn't that right, Roy?"
"Step-mom." He put emphasize on the 'step'. Seems not to have the best relationship with his parents… Teddy continued.
"Anyways, why did you come to Zootopia?"
"Well in a city like Fangston, you don't really have many opportunities. I wanted to work in a club in Zootopia since I was twelve. I think this would be a good start."
"Moved just recently?"
"Yeah just some weeks ago."
The bear looked at him and seemed to think. Nick heard the constant sounds of Roy fixing the Jukebox and time seemed to drag on and on until the bear lifted his gaze, put both paws on the table and stood up.
"So far, I guess you meet all requirements. Just need to pass the boss fight."
"Boss fight?"
Roy has already stopped his work and opened the door on the left of the counter, revealing a mammal. The coyote had brown ruffled fur with lots of grey in between. He wore a long coat of grey colour over a green tee and black pants. The coat also put emphasize on the most noticeable trait of the old male.
His whole right arm was missing. After the shoulder was just the unnaturally thin looking sleeve of the coat. He walked up to Nick and if it wasn't for Nick's observing yet subtle watch one could have missed that he was limping. He dragged his right foot a bit when he walked, but sure attempted to cover it and it worked good.
All over the Coyote was intimidating if he did not inject Nick some respect. He desperately tried to stop his neck hair from standing up. Coyotes were known as natural enemies of foxes and especially with an older and way way grumpier example of this species, Nick could not be sure to be not thrown out of the nearest window.
But instead the coyote walked over to him and smiled.
"Since I am in a certain condition, I prefer not to shake hands, if you're ok with that."
Nick was slightly surprised by the friendly, yes almost fatherly tone of the coyote. He covered it up and smiled back.
"I don't mind at all."
"Great, so you want to work here?"
"Yes, I would love to."
"Are you an alcoholic?"
"What, no!"
"Good." He turned around again. "You can start tomorrow. 8 AM."
Nick stood there for a second as the coyote proceeded to walk back into whatever was behind the left door. He exchanged a look with Teddy, who grinned and went back to the counter again. Roy already started repairing the Jukebox again. So he turned around and left the building.
Well I never had a job interview, but I guess this went not horrible.