"More fool you," Ishtar grumbled, stubbing out one of the cigarettes in the sticky droplets of blood on her palm and slipping it back into the case. She rolled perfumesd smoke around her mouth, slipping it back out into the protean air through carmine lips.

She watched Baraq's mask crumple into dimensions she couldn't fathom, while the walls shifted and twisted in the darkness at crazed angles. "This place is enough to give you motion sickness. I really don't like it at all," she added petulantly. Still, she sighed deeply, smoke billowing around her, it could be worse. At least she wasn't on her own with this evil, sickening darkness. Even a high and insane man... person... being... whatever he was, who talked to himself and seemed to think she was imaginary was better than no-one.

She looked across at him as he doubled over. "Oh bugger." She crouched down and looked him in the eye. "Look at me, breathe. Slowly. Don't throw up..."