Redamancy

Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

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TW///Medication///

The incident wasn't mentioned at dinner, or the movie afterwards, and Astrid pretended that she couldn't hear them talking in the kitchen while she picked said film. Instead, she watched Coraline till 20:00 with her family, then retreated to her room with Bagheera for Criminal Minds till midnight.

Meds taken, Astrid bid her family a good night, fully intending on going to sleep, only to be interrupted by her ringtone. You Spin Me Round by Dead Or Alive was only one persons ringtone, and she knew he would have questions. Shifting on her bed, she answered and held the phone to her ear.

"Hi Toby," she whispered, "I'm warning you right now, melatonin is already in my system."

"Oh, sorry Ari, I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Ranboo's here too by the way."

Astrid cocked an eyebrow. Ranboo? She hadn't heard that name before. "Let me join on my pc," she responded, all thoughts of sleep diminished. She threw off the blankets and hung up before Tubbo could protest.

Yay meeting new people at one o'clock! This can't possibly go wrong!

Hush.

Sitting down, powering up the tower and monitors, putting on headphones, turning on the mic, and typing in the password was fluid from practice. She huffed as discord opened, blowing a singular curl out of her face. Rejoining into the call took a little more courage now that she was more or less awake. Astrid never thought she would be meeting someone at one o'clock but here she was. Tubbo had his camera on when she joined, resulting in Astrid turning on hers as well.

"Well?"

"Well what," she replied.

Tubbo rolled his eyes. "Well how are you doing?"

Astrid smiled softly, "I'm fine Toby. Everything was privated before anything happened and I haven't opened social media since, per Nikis request."

Tubbo nodded then remembered the third member of their party. "Astrid, this is Ranboo. Ranboo, this is Astrid, Phil's..." he hesitated. Astrid wasn't biologically Phil and Kristen's child, but they practically treated her like one.

"Child. I'm Phil's child," she chimed in, "It's lovely to meet you, Ranboo."

On the other side of the world, Matthew was stunned. He had argued against calling the girl due to the late hour, but Tubbo insisted that she wouldn't mind. When Tubbo put his phone to his ear, Ranboo looked for something to busy his hands. Anxiety settled in fully when Tubbo said that she'd be joining them shortly.

At first, her camera was off, but that was only at first. The picture loaded and Matthew felt like time stopped. The only thing he could process was how gorgeous she was. Her hair was mostly unbound with the exception of the upper back pulled loosely into a clasp. Her fairy lights made her ginger curls look like they were on fire, a few dangling in her eyes. Her face was soft, no blemishes but freckles were abundant across her nose. They stretched under her eyes and in between her eyebrows. Round, Harry Potter-like glasses rested on the end of her nose. Muddy green eyes peered over the rims at her monitor.