Chapter Text
Anya Forger wakes up in her bed. Obviously. It’s the morning, and bright rays of sunlight are streaming into the room through her window. Yesterday was Sunday, so today was Monday, and she had school. She mentally pouted about this fact. Sure, she liked school, and was excited to go, but it was just so boring sometimes. Like, there was a reason she’d fall asleep in class.
She sits up, still half asleep. She wipes the drool from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, and tries to shake herself awake by turning her head right and left back and forth. It really only makes her dizzier, but more aware.
The sound of hustle and bustle comes from the kitchen, her father has probably already begun making breakfast. Yor is in the bathroom–No wait, she’s walking out now, and into the living room, where her husband is.
Anya stumbles out of her room dazedly, collapsing into Bond and muttering incoherently. “Oh wow there’s a big fluffy monster… Mama, papa… save me…” The dog startles and begins looking around, not realizing that she was, in fact, talking about him. What’s it called? Sleep blindness?
“Anya, go wake yourself up.” Loid says while grabbing plates and setting them on the table. She waddles to the bathroom, performing her daily routine.
The water grounds her back to reality, and she goes back to her room after washing her face and brushing her teeth. The uniform is neatly tucked inside of her wardrobe, as are all of her other clothes, and she takes it out. It has no wrinkles, the fabric is smooth.
After putting on her school uniform, which she noticed she actually fit perfectly now, although they had bought it at a larger size when they had gone to the tailors, she walked to the living room again. For a brief moment, she had considered the possibility of showing off how much taller she had gotten, but she still couldn’t reach the sink without a stool, so she brushed it off simply.
She’d definitely show off how tall she was at school though, everyone would be super surprised and amazed and in awe. Even if she was already one of the shortest in her grade. ( Because she wasn’t six when she entered, goddammit, she was five. But nobody knew that, and nobody had to know that, so she was just a really short six year old. )
Bond was in front of her, casually laying in the hallway, and she petted him for a few seconds. This caused her psychic abilities to trigger, and what had happened the day that she had met him happened again.
Her father was no longer in the family. His silhouette was glitchy and distorted.
For a few seconds, she didn’t react. Just processes. Then, she realizes, as if having an epiphany, and then reconnects her telepathy.
A hospital, an IV drip, and a doctor. A new disease, transferred specifically via the bite of an erratic animal. Specifically, cattle. There isn’t a cure, not yet.
A disease? From cattle? How would he even catch that? Well, no matter, she has to prevent this tragedy, as agent Starlight! Yes, she gave herself a cooler name, because she realized that agent Anya wasn’t secretive at all! She needed to keep her secret identity.
Anya walked into the living room with newfound determination, and was about to start reading her father’s mind, until she saw omurice.
Yeah, she was distracted by food. Could you really blame a girl for her priorities?
She ate a delicious breakfast, and then started reading her father’s mind.
“ Handler gave me a new mission… But it’s in the countryside, and I’m afraid it’d take too long… Perhaps I should let another agent take it. “
“ We are having a bad personnel shortage though. It could be disadvantageous for us to send a different agent on the job. But will Yor and Anya be suspicious? This could impact operation Strix. “
“ This concerns the matters of the Desmond and Blackbell group’s dealings though… Anya’s friends with the daughter of the Blackbell Corporation's CEO, and the Desmond group could literally send our two countries into war. How do I uphold peace while continuing to be inconspicuous? “
Wow. Her papa was a huge overthinker. He keeps throwing out all of these big words, and she can only catch about four or five of them in each sentence. Like, what did inconspicuous even mean?
Okay, she knows how he could catch a disease from cattle now. The countryside. If she says a few words to encourage him to be more careful, he won’t catch any evil germs.
“Papa. My friends told me there are bad germs in the cow animals in the countryside.” Her eyes are wide, and she’s staring unnervingly at him. Though, she probably doesn’t realize that herself.
“They did? Well, how come?”
“ A disease? In the countryside? What are cow animals? Probably normal cows, but why add the animals? Does she mean cattle? Well, that would make sense, considering that she has such abysmal scores in language. “
Anya stiffens in dread when she hears her dad insult her grades so casually. “The cattle have a new disease that has no key yet.” It was key, right? Not cure. Yep. Key. Sounds similar enough.
“ I should probably prepare extra precautions then. Although I doubt that it’s true, I need to take in every possibility. Even the most unworldly claims deserve some recognition. I’ll ask Franky to do some research. “
“I see. Well, it’s time to go to school now. Look, your friend is there waiting for you.” He points at Becky, who is waving at Anya with a smile on her face. When she sees him looking at her, she blushes and starts dramatically posing.
Anya runs over to her, and the two girls ride off in the car. “Have a rice day, papa!”
There’s some blabber about a dreamy guy (( Loid, but he doesn’t realize )) before they leave. He brushes it off, and starts walking back towards their home.
Yor walks out of the apartment in her city hall uniform which she has a coat over. It’s getting colder as it approaches winter in Berlint.
“I’m going to work now!”
He nods in acknowledgement, and returns to his own room to prepare for the mission that he’d been assigned. He would’ve been out of the door immediately after Yor was gone, but after hearing Anya’s words about a new, incurable disease, he decided that taking more precautions would prove beneficial.