Or, you tag HELPFUL THUG for an attack.  "That thug is being helpful and distracts the enemy long enough for me to get a good jab in."  And now the aspect is gone or whatever.

This is what ended up happening, though the HELPFUL THUG aspect stayed for other paid invokes. If it the tag is spent in this way, then should it go away? If used in any of the other ways, like invoking it for effect, would it stick around until it is overcome? 

I want to share an update on my first Dresden scenario. We spent the first two sessions building the city of Columbus, Indiana, and the characters. The third session we started with the characters meeting at a new fast Greek/Asian fusion restaurant (think Fazoli's) to discuss the local problems with a RCV-developed drug called Red Moon making its rounds through the city. I used the d20 Modern Urban Arcana adventure at the back of the campaign setting as a guide. The PCs stopped a brawl between some unruly kobold gangs. Some issues that came up were grokking how maneuvers work, and tagging of aspects placed on baddies. I used the kobold stats provided in this thread. They were super useful! Thanks to all who helped!

And I may, in my turn, have completely misunderstood what the OP envisioned.

Here's the crux of it:  Why in the world are these supernaturals (Kobolds) working as "staff" in a public cafe/restaurant???

Brownies clean, it's just their nature.  Cobbs make and repair shoes, and that's THEIR nature.
What kind of supernatural being waits tables, busses dirty dishes, does the barista bit, etc?

And keeps regular working hours?

In jobs that bring them into frequent contact with non-clued mortals?

In the Dresden'verse, I keep WTF'ing...

So it looks to me like they are trying to "mainstream:"  trying to life a day-to-day life largely as if they were mortals themselves.  Working and living alongside mortals.  Passing as mortals.

Maybe that's just me, misunderstanding the OP ...

I guess I should clarify that I am including things outside of Dresden Files canon to make the setting my own. Not a lot, mind you, but things like kobolds and other D&D creatures that were taken from real world mythology and folklore. In my version not all creatures come from the Nevernever, and have always been of Earth. I will most likely pull a bit from Supernatural and similar shows as I have seen done on several PBP games here and on other sites.

Taran, you have mentioned hobgoblins in your posts. To my knowledge, there are only goblins statted in Our World. Are you referring to hobs (which are nothing like hobgoblins) or is that just what you refer to them as?

Another possibility that could work in this instance is an ongoing disguise spell anchored to the building's threshold/wards.  Especially given the kobolds craftiness and natural penchant for bunker fortifications. 

I like the idea of a ward that disguises them as human teenagers as they enter for their shift. In the adventure background, the restaurant is owned/run by a dwarf who is trying to help Shadowkind find jobs. So maybe the owner is an enterprising practitioner who used his ties to a svartalf to ward his restaurants so he could hire monsters trying to stay on the straight and narrow. All non-humans who enter are glamored to look human so they can eat and work peacefully. At some point during the gang intrusion it gets overloaded and fails, and chaos ensues.

The premise is that a group of kobolds hold an after hours fight club for clan/gang dominance. One crew works at the restaurant and the other group comes in to settle a score while the PCs happen to be there. Thanks for the write-up! I was researching mythological kobolds and there is a trap-making miner type that this would work for!

I have glanced at Night Fears and Neutral Grounds, but didn't care for either. Are there more than those two?