Chapter 6: The World’s End
She didn’t, but Phantasia laughed along with her. Human genders – like many elements of their society – were rather more complicated than what she was used to.
Doyle had sidled along towards her and was holding out the drink he’d brought, waiting like some sort of royal-aide-in-training for her attention and acceptance. The drink – a black, bubbling liquid – looked harmless, and she gulped it down in one shot. When she saw her friends’ expressions, she wondered if they’d realised she wasn’t human.
“That… wasn’t what I was expecting,” said Doyle, who now found himself holding Phantasia’s empty glass.
Lyra snorted and began to leave. “Well don’t come to me when you start falling all over the place again,”
Kaori giggled and dragged Phantasia aside, along with a surprised and reluctant Lyra. The boys didn’t follow them, so Phantasia assumed that this was more of that gender-related behaviour she wasn’t used to yet. After a few turns, they entered a small room with mirrors. Kaori began adjusting her appearance, while Lyra sat on a ledge, her feet swaying.
“I can’t believe you downed that,” said Kaori as she fiddled with the pink ribbons in her hair, “That stuff is vile!”
It only then occurred to Phantasia what she’d consumed. One of those human drugs that changed their behaviour, but did nothing for faeries. If only she’d known beforehand, she could have put on a better act! How was she to know that Doyle would ply her with such a thing? And why was he making her drink something like that in the first place?
“Is it normal for Doyle to give people that stuff without them knowing?” she asked. Maybe it was. Humans had strange behaviours after all.
“For Doyle, yeah, pretty much,” said Lyra. She was scowling, her pale hands almost as white as Phantasia’s as she gripped the ledge. “Should expect it in a place like this, though. Pretty much all anyone drinks. Especially on a night like this, when it’s mostly us teenagers. Gotta have their escapism and everything,”
“Lyra avoids the drink,” said Kaori, “That’s why she’s always so moody and inhibited!”
“Fook off,” Lyra snapped back.
Kaori finished playing with her hair and turned around, resting against the sink. “Anyway, Phantasia, about what happened back there. You really didn’t have anything to drink? It just happened?”
Phantasia quickly explained, as best she could without revealing her true nature, what had happened.
Lyra was standing by an old machine on the wall, prodding it with her fingers and taking great delight when parts of it made odd noises. “Definitely sounds like Dante. He flipped out in the middle of the dance floor and kept babbling on about that bloody mural too.”
“It’s creepy though, you gotta admit,” said Kaori, as she adjusted the tribal markings on her face, “Still; you’re all right now, at least. Now, about the thing we told you about…”
“Not that crap,” snorted Lyra.
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