In truth Aphid was as much a stranger to these parts as was Kiki, Therion and Aral, well maybe not Aral. He was from the far South, the territory of the Gabbahtron and until he had been sent on this pointless mission of theirs, he had never before even seen the Dune Strip. Aphid, and the small group of teens that he had arrived with had only been inside of this town/city/cluster of buildings for about a day when these people arrived or this hallucination started.

However, he had spotted a ride motor when out forging for drugs in the area. He had in fact pointed it out to the others and mentioned that they should come back later and redecorate the thing in a way that would reflect more of the Psychoraver lifestyle, none of this dull black paint or chrome finishing, the thing needed bright colors, descriptions of various sexual acts written across the side and whatever garbage they could find splashed across the top. That was how it was done.

The only problem was that instead of dealing with the ride right then and there, they continued on their search for drugs and forgot about the thing. A 'Later' was assigned to it and that had been that.

Now these hallucinations or whatever they were wanted to see the thing. He had to stop and think for a minute about which direction they had come from and from where he had seen the motor last. "That way." He pointed West, down a side street. "I think I saw it down there." Or was it the other way?

He shrugged and headed off in the direction that he had pointed in.

Kiki was excited about this adventure and all her new friends. While the talk of ride motors had transpired, a topic that she knew nothing about, she had simply began to hum an old children's tune to her stuffed companion. When it looked as if the others had decided on what they were doing and where they were going, Kiki began to skip off down the street in the direction which Aphid had pointed. "Wha a beautiful day to skip an' play..."

He stared at Aphid's back as the teen led them in a sloped-shouldered walk towards the presumed ride motor, and found a keenness riding in his mind. It was not that he disliked the boy, for that would make no sense; but there was a certain hazy uselessness about the kid that gave Therion a rather cold distaste. On a level of worthy of being a tool played by the monster, Aphid did not even merit ranking.

And yet here he was. Better to leave the brat-child to Kiki, who seemed quite pleased with the situation. Speaking of Kiki, it wasn't as if she were too much better, but she at least harbored something monster wanted, and needed.

And Aral, the non-entity that he was, was still too opaque for Therion to even begin considering. More like a double edged knife, that one.

Monster realized shortly thereafter, on the heels of Aphid, that he was pointlessly speculating for the upteenth time since he'd been spat out of the abyss, endlessly ruminating over possibilities, calculating terms without having collected all of the parts he needed for such an effort of thought. Worse than a human. He sneered at himself, and set himself to nothing until they reached the ride-motor.

Which, as it turned out, looked like a pile of junk, the sort that once upon a time Therion would have thoughtlessly accepted as mere trash, and he felt himself suddenly stop, and swing towards Aphid on a stiff neck. "This." The question was deadpan, not really even a question, and the man-monster stood quite erect as a schoolmaster as he rounded on the poor teenager whose greatest mistake had been simply to awaken to a newly minted imaginary friend. Therion arranged his features into the scowl that would signify displeasure without having to waste more breath on the poor fool. He scuffed his foot in the gloomy darkness.

"Very well then. Get it running."

Walking. I hate walking. Aral's mnd groaned ungrateful for his chance to be out an about. He rarely was able to just move about in the world like everyone else, sometimes because he did not have to power and other times because he had nothing to do. Playing with the humans a fun but he was only a visitor out on their streets and in their buildings. His home was in their minds, while they slept, where he had the power to make them do what he wanted. They moved when he pulled the strings and so everything he did aided in his enjoyment.

This walking though just overwhelmed him with boredom. Mind numming boredom.

Without even registering it his mind started to act without his full consent. Searching. Searching for some asleep mind he could enter and fade away into. Aral as a whimsical thing didn't even notice his fun seeking mind till his body started to flicker ready to move onto something it picked up. Damn.

He stopped himself before anything else could happen and his body soldified completely again. Swallowing he looked around happy he slowed subconsciously slowed down and so was behind the group. Happy his little moment of carelessness was most liekly missed by his new toys. He needed to continue to seem like what he wanted them to think he was. Not a careless human. It was true humans made mistakes, but he hadn't been human in years. Perfection in his manipulation was needed.

" You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Shaking his head at Therion's words and how the man seemed to self elect himself as leader. Not wishing for any arguement he walked over to the pile of trash that was their ride and frowned. " I think I was some type of engineer. Human how good are you with mechanics. I hope so since I can hardly remember anyhing."

Aphids knowledge of ride-motors extended as far as the ability to point one out and well in this case, the ability to remember where he had last seen one. He couldn't explain the inner workings of the thing anymore than he could explain how to turn the thing on or how to operate the thing. He just knew that they went and well, that was it.

"Uhhhh..." He stood there with his mouth hanging slightly ajar and scratched the greasy clumps of hair that hung from his head.

Kiki on the other hand was excited to see the ride-motor. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had last seen one, but she remembered all the fun she had had as she flew by tall buildings at a speed much faster than she could ever travel by foot. Of course, that ride-motor had been far prettier and shinier than this one, but that didn't stop her from letting the others know just how much she antisipating enjoying the experiance.

She ran up and touched the rear door nearest herself, well not so much touched it as she ran up to the thing and began to fade and turn this fuzzy/shimmery blur of colors as she fought to occupy the same space as the vehicle. For Kiki, she would feel what felt like she was trying to push herself through a thick, heavy curtain before emerging on the other side. And when she did, she found herself inside of the ride, sitting on the back seat.

"Let's go." She said through a giggle as she pressed her face against the glass of the window, looking out at the others.

The gloaming quarters had never been much for looks. Light was sparse, and the inhabitants of the dark land like as not went without more than not. Dirt and grime were as much a part of life as anything, for without the light of the great sun there had been adaptations over the years to a paler and grosser existence; secrets as common as the next. There was no day to chase away darkness' nightmares.

Trash was left to rot where it was thrown, and years worth of detritus gradually degraded into slime and worthless chaff that in turn became the ground's soil, though that was not quite what it was. This was what the small group stood upon, layers of civilization's castoffs. The jist of it was broken pieces of wholes no longer remembered, scattered in the dark and splashed with grotesquery. This was what monster had to work with.

The only light to visit them exuded faintly from Kiki's flickers when she brushed up against objects more solid than she, and even that was not much. Yet, the eyes of those humans unlucky enough to be born to the gloaming were used to such a thing, it might be enough. Therion was able to mutate his own eyes, so the vague shadows within shadows became grey differences that in turn formed recognizable things.

There were other options, he knew reluctantly. Other options he had no wish to share with the untrustworthy beings that travelled with him. He glanced at Kiki. She wasn't exactly untrustworthy, but she was so wrapped up in her little-girl delusions that he felt she would not threaten Therion's purpose. A tool.

"None of you can make it move? I prefer to have only the useful travelling with me. If there is nothing for you to offer to myself, or to Kiki, best you leave now." His voice sounded like a grim challenge, even to his own ears.

Disgust, anger, frustration, all emotions that could easily be confused and even with years and years of watching and observing Aral knew he could never always get the differences right. Some people were just to good at not letting their emotions control their muscles. Therion was one of those people and Aral liked having a nice little challenge. Humans were just so open. Like that old saying, " Wearing your heart on your sleeve." Fun.

His amusement blocked out the insult to his person and had Aral grinning at Therion completely unfazed. "My my it seems someone needs a nap. I mean whose the one who politely asked us to fix this instead of doing it himself? Your definition of useless is a little mixed up." Giggling profusely Aral turned his head away and paid no more heed to the overly impatient creature.

His time alone or in dreams was really messing him up. Nothing should be this amusing.

" Well Mr. Human if you can't help and if I can't remember if I can help then I guess we should just move some of that shit around and see where it gets us. Aral bobbed his head as he looked around almost seeking permission for his plan. " Good plan good plan." Slapping his hands together he moved forward his face screwed into concentration as he threw up the hood and looked at all the metal and scraps inside. " Oh lordy."

Aphid just didn't know what to make of being called Mr. Human or just about Mister anything. That was a title that was used to address old men and bratty little kids, of which Aphid was neither. He was still in that awkward boy-man phase of his life where he wanted to be treated and regarded as an adult and viewed as a man, but he still didn't really understand what that meant. He was his own person, made his own decisions and if things didn't go his way, he backed out of the situation or blamed it on others.

Having been conceived, born and raised within the confines of the Psychoraver lifestyle, Aphid never had anyone to teach him to be responsible or what it meant to strive to be something better than what he was or to really even try at anything. He was just one of the many and although he could make decisions on his own, it didn't matter what he did because at the end of the day, he wasn't any better or worse condition then where he started. He just didn't really see the point in most thing.

Religion was lost on him. He also had his doubts that what the Gabbahtron had preached had really been the awe-inspiring greatness that everyone else seemed to think it was. For him, Aphid just really didn't know what to make of it. Sure the partying was fun and the drugs were great, but beyond that he didn't feel spiritually enlightened, maybe just high or drunk.

So he dug his dirty fingernails into the greasy scalp atop his head. His fingers became temporarily trapped within the tangled lumps of dark hair, but with a tug he was able to pull them free with only a few strands of hair.

"Knock that mister shit off man and I might think about helping you."

Upon looking under the hood of the ride-motor, Aphid knew that he hadn't the foggiest idea of where to start on such a project, let alone what he would do. So he stood there trying to act cocky and feel important.

Kiki on the other hand was bored. She had been told that she was going to go for a ride and the others were just standing around looking at the ride. "Come On." She whined from the backseat.

Therion was not impatient. He was used to waiting for certain things. One could not build oneself an empire and puppets to play with simply over night, that was true, but to wait on a ride because the walking would take too long. . .this was new. This was stupidly new, and not something he intended on ever having to do again. He had no concept of how long they might possibly have, for the abyss did not treat kindly those it challenged. And since it might have killed him as easily as challenged, well, there was much to lose. He was ready for it.

He was not prepared to wait for a ride.

He'd intended to prove that they were, indeed, useless, and that useless people should shut up and go along with their betters, but instead they had dug in their heels and were even now bickering. How sweet. How long did they have? They could have been going already, if Therion were in the habit of showing his hand to strangers for no price at all, so instead he had goaded them. The price of that was waiting.

He glowered sulkily at the darkness, remembering a time when he had used such tactics to get what he wanted. Kicking at the ground would follow next. He would not do that. For now he must be remote, unreachable, untouchable.

He would give them an hour, he decided, and then he would take matters into his own hands if the task he set them turned out to be impossible after all.

" Okiee dokie." Aral just grinned and shook his head not really convined that Aphid would have anything of true importance to say. He was a mere mortal amongst immortal oddities. He couldnot say something that Aral hadn't heard a century ago and would end up hearing again within a century.

The world truly moved in circles. Very fun circles.

At the opened engine Aral looked from Aphid to the engine and back again. Without much of a thought Aral closed his eyes and tried his own tricks on himself. If he could dissect another person's mind then he should be able to work his 'magic' on someone he knew even better, himself. Yet as he felt his mind buzz the colors came in multitudes he could hardly understand and finding something that linked him to his past seemed impossible.

Instinct and reaction. Instinct and reaction.

His hands of solidfied shadow and some other matter he knew nothing of fell down on the metal parts and he breathed. This is some cheesy bullshit. Against some little voice squeaking inside him Aral conntiued his touching and breathing until he started moving some parts where his mind thought they belonged. In the end he'd either be right or they'd be just as bad off s before. Or maybe he'd make something ignite and he'd kill Aphid and make him and the others disappear in their own immortal way.

Kiki sat somewhere in between sitting on the rear seat of the ride-motor and sitting in it. The part of the seat that would occupy the same space as her butt and dress were, shimmered and faded back and forth from sight. One moment there would be seat, then next would be the girl and the folds of her dress underneath her. For Aphid and the other creatures of the Abyss, it would be obvious that Kiki's very presence in the physical world was a constant struggle to maintain space. She lacked any sort of physical body, allowing her to preform acts like climbing through a closed car door or sitting within a seat, but the physical world fought her at every turn. She was not suppose to be here, she was not suppose to be able to do the things that she did, but yet there she sat kicking her feet in the empty space behind the front seats and the floor.

She was bored. She had been promised a ride in the motor and yet she just sat there while the others leaned over the front of the thing doing, whatever it was that they were doing. Kiki's age or rather her mental age kept her from being even remotely interested in what the others were doing. To her it was boring grown-up stuff. Mr. Cuddles was more entertaining than the grown-ups. Mr. Cuddles could be hugged and talked to and tossed up into the air to bounce into the ride-motor's ceiling and fall back down to her.

In all reality, the stuffed bear needed not fall back down to Kiki each time she threw it into the air. Like herself, it was a thing from the abyss and need not follow the rules of physics or gravity for that matter, but little did Kiki know of such things. What she knew was that if she threw something up into the air, it came back down, that's what happens when other kids throw things.

So she sat there playing with herself when she heard the sound of the ride jump into action. The front of the vehicle made a loud noise and then another, before it mellowed out to a more rhythmic sound. Whatever they did, they made the ride-motor turn on or come back to life. This renewed Kiki's level of excitement once more and she dropped her bear to the floor to jump up on her seat and call to the others through the space between the two front seats. "Come on. Let go!"