"What!?" Astra repeated, prickling fury etching itself in her stomach once again. "What do you mean 'we're not going in'!? Did you forget about the letter? The entire reason we came out here is to hand that thing over to Steven!"
[...]
{2 paragraphs, Astra arguing mad and tired}
[...?]
{5 Paragraphs}
"You're doing it again," Astra said, fists clenched tightly at her side. "Both of you. Back at the gym and now here? Why do you keep doing that!?"
[???]
Both of them blinked, confused. "Doing what?" May asked.
"That!" Astra repeated, voice raising as she gesticulated wildly at them. "You—you keep deciding things without me!" She pointed at Brendan, arms shaking. "You dropped out of the gym challenge without even talking about it, and then you," she continued, whirling on May, "Stole the first challenge with Brawly before I could even get a word in! And now you both just decided we're not even going to try going inside like my opinion doesn't even matter!"
[!!!]
Brendan shared a wide-eyed glance with May, the two of them shifting uncomfortably.
"Astra," Brendan started, "I—we both had our reasons for doing that, and—I mean, they were all to your benefit, weren't they? I'd have been out anyway, May probably would have gone first in any case, and we really aren't prepared for spelunking—"
"I don't care!" Astra yelled, glaring at them through blurry eyes. Her pulse throbbed against her skull, stomach churning with a heat far greater than the spice of her Leppa berries. "I don't care if I benefited from it and I don't care if the gym and these damn caves would turn out like this anyway! I wasn't allowed to have a say in any of it! You two just acted like I wasn't even there, like—like—"
[Youngling!?]
"Like I'm a kid who can't make my own choices!" Astra screeched, panting despite her lack of corporeal speech.
[░▒▓▒░▒▓ status?]
"Well maybe you fucking are!" May roared in response. She stomped forward, glaring right back at Astra. "You're the one who kept pushing forward after that mess in the Town Hall, and even after you collapsed in the damn gym! Even I could see you were freaking out, and for what? You wanna burn out so hard you go up like a road flare? Am I supposed to just let that shit slide!?"
There was a haze in Astra's head again. Nothing coherent formed in the mists, and the red blob in front of her was barely visible in the dark cavern. Was she leaking again? She couldn't seem to care.
[!!!!!]
"That—"
"That's enough, May!" Brendan ordered, stepping between the two with arms outstretched as if to physically separate them. He glared at May, the girl's gaze flicking between him and Astra before she finally backed up a step, a thunderous expression on her face. Brendan exhaled, dropping his arms as he turned to Astra.
"Look," he said, exhaustion and mild panic scribbled on his face, "It's just—yeah, we screwed up, and it wasn't right to do that, but we were only trying to help as best we thought we could. Astra, listen, we're on your side, here! We've tried reasoning with you since the Town Hall, but you just kept ignoring us. Something has to give; if you keep insisting on making terrible choices that put yourself in danger, then—"
"Danger!?" Astra asked, a dark, bitter laugh congealing in her throat. "You think this is dangerous!? I've been in fucking danger since the day I left home!"
[░▒▓ left home!? ░▒▓▒░▒▓▒░▒▓▒ DANGER!?]
"Right now the only one who's going to be in danger are you two if you don't stop refusing me my say!"
[░ Refuse ░▒▓▒! ░▒▓▒░ REJECT ░▒▓▒░▒▓▒!]
"And deciding what I'm allowed to do!"
[░▒▓░▒▓▒ NO MORE ░▒▓▒░▒▓░▒▓▒!]
"Like I'm one of your stars damned Poke—"
[RESCUE! ░ ▒▓ ▒░▒▓▒░!]
