*hums* I GET A KNIVES PLUSHIE!!!! *huggles Sami tight* WITH a bell, too. *grins* He's going to be going everywhere with me for awhile.

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She made one more quick stop to pick up some makeup, then headed off for their rehearsal spot to pick up her bass. Their gig was supposed to start at six, so she carefully placed her dress and makeup in the case and started lugging it across town. Her patience was unusually thin today, and she silently started cursing the bass before she was even halfway there.

Stupid case, stupid size. Why would anyone need to make an instrument so big, anyway? It wasn't that it was heavy, just awkward. And people stared at you when you carried something so huge. She rolled her eyes and sighed, looking at the sidewalk immediately in front of her so she wouldn't have to meet their eyes. She felt foolish, out of place carrying something so large and obvious. To bad there wasn't a blues piccolo. Or that she couldn't play the harmonica and sing at the same time. They had tried that idea a few months ago, but it had limited their choice of songs too much. So, she was stuck with the bass.

Soon enough she made it to the club. She knocked on the back door and waited for someone to come and open it. As she waited, she checked her watch and cringed. It was already 5:30, and she wasn't dressed, her bass wasn't tuned and no one was opening the door. She knocked again, and kept knocking until she heard someone coming.

It was Tom, the drummer. "Hey, wondered if you were coming. You're almost on time, even," he teased as she slipped past him, accidentally knocking him in the arm with her case.

"Ow," he whined, miming great pain as she stood in the hall and looked for a place to get changed.

"Ladies room is down the hall and to your left. Stow the bass along the wall here and get moving, woman." He swatted her behind as she leaned over to set the case down. She elbowed his shin in return, grabbing her dress and dashing down the hall.

"Don't take too long," he laughed after her. "No time for 'just a few more minutes,' all that ladies stuff they do, 'k?"

She took enough time to spin and stick her tongue out at him, then ducked into the ladies restroom. The dress was easy enough to shimmer into, requiring only enough flexibility to zip up the back. She quickly pulled her hair into a bun, leaving down only a few tendrils to soften the lines of her face. Leaning close to the mirror and wishing that the light were just a bit better, she carefully applied the bright red lipstick and dark brown eyeshadow, then brushed at her eyelashes with mascara until she was fairly sure that the floodlights wouldn't wash her face out. In this light it looked more like clown makeup than anything to make her look pretty, but she knew that just a touch of color wasn't going to be enough tonight.

She tugged at the shoulders of her dress, quickly making sure that it fell right. She stepped forward to pick up her clothes, then paused.

She had no shoes. And no time to get shoes. She sighed out a soft curse, then looked at her toes, peeking out from under the hem of her floor length dress. She sighed again, mind racing through options, then folded her shirt and pants and entered the halls again. She placed her clothes by the side of her case, then stopped Dawn as she went by.

"I need a stool," she demanded.

She nodded, distracted, then went off towards the front of the place. She hoped that she had actually heard her, but didn't have time to follow after her and make sure that she had listened.

Instead, she took her bass out of its case and started tightening the strings, tuning it by ear until it was ready to be played. When they had started playing together Dawn had been certain that no one could tune something accurately her way, but after comparing her bass to the piano multiple times, she had been convinced that Anne did actually have a good sense of pitch. Finally, at 5:56, she was ready. She sighed, brushed at her shoulders and hair, tugged at the dress again, wiggled her toes, rolled her eyes, then went out on stage. She wished that she had enough time to be nervous, but time had run out.

Someone in the club wolf-whistled as she walked on, and she didn't suppress her smile. She turned out and looked, wondering if she could see who it was, but the lights were too bright for her to see anyone out there. It was probably Tom, she decided as she took up her place on her stool, tucking her feel decorously under the edge of her skirt so her toes wouldn't show. He was always such a tease.

She grabbed the mike and adjusted it until it was at just the right spot, then moved the bass around on her lap until her hands fit comfortably around the neck and the body. While she situated herself, Tom took up his place at the drums and Dawn her place at the piano.

Tom started, picking out a rhythm, repeating it after a few measures. Dawn came in next, picking out a melodic line, and then Anne found her place, harmonizing and adding depth to the sound. They warmed up for a few minutes, just playing to play, then Dawn started hinting at the first few bars to one of their songs. Tom adjusted to the beat, and Anne to her place, and off they went.