Astraea | F | 19 | Demigod | Mentions: Josh, Cal (direct)
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Astraea startled when Josh's friend- or at least, she was pretty sure they (she decided to call the person "they" for the time being, until she got their pronouns) were Josh's friend- spoke to her.
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"Yes, that's me," she replied to the first question, inclining her head a bit. The way Josh's friend was looking at her made her rather uncomfortable, as though they were taking in every inch of her, dredging up all sorts of information. Their smile was quite disarming, cheerful and friendly, which made her relax a bit. Just a bit though. Astraea didn't even know who they were, and there was still Josh to think of.
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Cal, she mused thoughtfully as they introduced themselves. She wasn't sure what to say to the "I’m glad you know my friend Josh" part, because she certainly was not in the least glad to know him. But she couldn't very well say that out loud, could she. Cal seemed to be a... how should she put this... decent person, and Astraea did not want to insult their friend in front of them. I'm just going to not say anything about that part, I guess.
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"Sure, you can pet her," Astra responded. "Her name's Phoebe." She lifted her hand to her shoulder, and, with a bit of coaxing, got Phoebe perched on her hand, which she held out to Cal. Astraea watched as they stroked the little bird.
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I hardly could, indeed, she thought furiously as she tried, and most likely failed, to keep her face straight. He says it like it's some kind of compliment. His cheerfully beguiling expression only served to heighten her annoyance, as did his next comment (Astrie? she thought incredulously. Is he serious? Nobody called her Astrie. It was either Astraea or Astra, and even then, people rarely called her the latter. Except for Josh. He certainly has a talent for irritating people, if nothing else. And do I look like a kid?) which was probably the point.
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"Don't call me that," she snapped, forgetting herself. Calm down! she scolded herself. "Don't call me Astrie, and don't call me kid. If you are going to talk to me, then call me Astraea, or don't talk to me at all." She glnced over at Cal, hoping that they weren't too offended on their friend's behalf.
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"At least I have a friend," she said coldly. "No offense intended," she added in Cal's direction. Gods, what was wrong with her? She needed to stop being so rude. But she Josh was getting on her nerves, and she also did not like the way he was staring warily at Phoebe.
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Next thing she knew, she was being dragged along with Cal and Josh. Well, not dragged, exactly. She could leave anytime she wanted, but that would definitely be quite rude. Although Josh was also being quite rude, assuming she would follow them with no questions asked. But Astraea could not deny that she was rather curious about where Cal and Josh was going.
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Rude, she thought irritably.
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Not that there is anything I can really do about it.
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As she ambled along, quite vexed and trying to seem as though she was walking here of her own accord behind Josh and Cal, absent-mindedly adding new sentences to her ongoing mental autobiography and perhaps exaggerating a bit here and there on Josh's level of annoyance, her trail of thought was, well, rudely interrupted by Josh's voice.
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Astraea cut him a sharp glance. "What does that matter to you? It's none of your business, and nor is it exactly the kind of business you're interested in."
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Ignoring the fact that he is, in a way, interested, but only just enough to bug me about it.