36: Imperfect Recall, part I
“The guy’s a psychopath,” said Byron, sounding bored with the conversation already, “You’d be better of finding another guy to date. There’re plenty around.”
“Phantasia’s not dating Dante,” said Kaori, “Us girls aren’t like you boys, only hanging around with someone of the opposite sex when you want to sleep with them!”
“Hey, it’s the way of the world,” protested Byron, “Don’t call me out for acting natural, kay?”
“Dante’s not a psychopath either,” said Joel, “Man, you’ve gotta get over that. Just ’cause of that one night we took him out. One night.”
“The guy flipped out in the middle of the club!” said Byron. He turned to Phantasia and placed his drink and cigarette down so he could punctuate his description with dramatic hand gestures. “It was a total mental breakdown. Joel decided it would be a good idea to take Orpheus out and get him laid.”
“I didn’t say get him laid…”
“Whatever. So hey, we were all friends back then. This was when Shelley hung out with us, and Vincent and Blake too. They got involved with the Hawks soon after, probably because of this whole fiasco.”
“Get on with it,” said Joel. He slumped back in his chair, arms crossed, and glared at his friend with narrow eyes. Byron just waved a dismissive hand in his direction.
“Anyway, we’d got Dante to agree and took him to the club. Bad idea. Dante’s barely in there ten minutes before he’s having some kind of psycho-fit on the dance floor, pushing people around, insulting the bouncers, generally causing us no end of grief and embarrassment.”
“Dude, that’s way exaggerated,” said Joel, leaning forward, “Dante wasn’t doing any of that shit. You’re just pissed because that girl you fancied got killed that night,”
Byron slammed his hand down on the table, rattling everyone’s drinks. “Fuck off have I got an issue!”
Joel stood up, sending his chair crashing backwards, only for Kaori to tug at his arm and calm him down, no doubt having noticed the stern look the staff and other patrons were giving them. Byron sat back in his chair, scowling, his ethereal bonds with Joel straining under the weight of their disagreement.
“He’s still a psychopath,” he mumbled. Kaori and Lyra both glared at him, while Doyle watched the world outside the window and busied himself with a croissant.
The aura of the group as a whole was not a pleasant one and Phantasia emitted some calming waves to smooth over the cracks. How could they let something so meagre distort and corrupt their bonds of friendship? It was no wonder Dante thought so badly of himself if this was the sort of drama he caused just by existing! Maybe there were other issues at stake? Like how the gulf between Shelley and Kaori had been more complicated and interwoven with history than Phantasia first realised. Faye really would be useful right about now…
“Hey, Phantasia, can I talk to you for a minute?” asked Joel. He looked like he needed to escape the scene just as much as she did and she nodded her approval.
He ushered her down an alley, away from the prying eyes of his friends and fellow Ravens, and propped himself up on a short ledge.
