Dirge sat on the dirty, hard plastic bus seat as the bus made it’s way through the city. Cerberus sat at her feet while she clutched a garment bag. She had several last minute errands that she had just wrapped up. Thankfully she found what she was looking for before the upcoming Court.

Things had been crazy lately from fulfilling obligations to Circe for their Samhain ritual and then Reeve Culler and the Rev’rend investigation she was surprised that she had found the time for shopping and to practice her performance. She had to travel over most of the city and check several locations, but she had finally found a Salvation Army store that had a few dresses acceptable for her to perform in. They would not win her any acclaim, but they shouldn’t get her laughed off the stage either. She planned to show them to Obsidian as a final judge especially since Dirge could not actually see what they looked like. There were many things she could infer about them, the quality, the fabric, the cut, the way they fit, it all seemed correct for the type of dresses she was looking for. Besides, in a city like Sacramento a lot of really nice stuff is donated to the Salvation Army and most of it free or very low cost to folks like her.

With her clothing resolved her mind drifted to the coming event. She had not performed at a formal event before an audience since her mortal days at the Opera and it unnerved her like never before. Especially when dealing with the realities of her clan and the difficulties her kind faced communicating with others. There would be many kindred there watching the poor little plain girl stand up next to all the beautiful kindred of the city. A hunt whose blood seemed to interfere with her delivering a moving performance almost at random and frequently at the most inopportune times. She was confident that she would not make any mistakes; she was a professional after all. It was the possibility of delivering a perfectly done yet flat performance that moved no one that horrified her. The way she saw it she could quite possibly end up humiliating herself in front of the entire city.

She bit her lip nervously as she thought about it. For a brief moment she considered backing out and making some excuse for not performing. But, she had already told the Hierophant that she was a singer and the woman made it clear that she looked forward to Dirge performing. Besides she already had the piece picked out and had been practicing it.

The bus stopped in front of Obsidian’s church and Dirge stood up and collected her things. She followed Cerberus off the bus. There was a lot of her mind and she still needed to find Obsidian and finalize her wardrobe. The night just kept getting worse the more she thought about it all. She just wished that Court was all over and she could crawl into a hole somewhere to hide.