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Kindertag, also known as "Children's Day", felt like just another reason for parents to spend money on their children. Still, most of them wouldn't let the date go unnoticed and would charm the little ones in gifts congratulating them on their achievements.
Anya was no different. Being the only child in her family consisting of Mama, Papa, Uncle Yuri and even Scruffy, she was spoiled rotten. From Mama she got a pair of cute red shoes, a big sheet of glittery stickers and a new pen with a cute pompom on it. Papa gave her a set of four small penguin plushies that would do perfect minions for Agent Penguinman and the Bondman's espionage kit with radio coms and everything. Scruffy had played safe with a couple of comic books and a bag of candies. Uncle Yuri had given her a big box that she didn't open yet.
Taking out the wrapping eagerly, she found herself staring at a peach colored cardboard box with a plastic film on the front. Behind it, plastic blue eyes stared at her.
It was a doll!
"Wow!" She tried to open the box excitedly. "New agent!"
Yuri tsked, helping her with the difficult unpacking. They were all sitting on the floor surrounded by the remains of wrappings and her new possessions. Yuri had hoped she would be a little less weird if she played like a normal girl for once, but it seemed his niece just wasn't cut for it.
"This is not how you're supposed to play with it." He muttered finally opening the box and freeing the doll from it, handing it to Anya. It was scented with lavender.
"No?" She raised an eyebrow, holding the toy.
"She's so cute!" Yor gushed by her side, letting out a giggle. "She took after Loid."
Her Papa and the doll kind of looked like each other. They both had blonde hair and blue eyes, but her doll's was curly and fluffy. Her height was around 15 inches and she wasn't heavy. She was dressed in a delicate white cotton dress with details in pastel pink, the same with her shoes and socks. She was a very cute doll indeed.
"No, it's a baby." Yuri rolled eyes, unpacking the extras that came with the doll. A feeding bottle, a plastic hairbrush, a second plainer dress. "You do normal stuff with it, like feeding, putting to sleep, et cetera."
"Oh." She faced the doll properly now. Apparently, if you laid it down, she closed her eyes. So cool! "So I'll be a Mama?"
"Yeah, I think that works." Yuri shrugged it off.
"Aww, this reminded me when I was little." Yor smiled nostalgically. "I had only one doll, she was a rag one. But I protected her fiercely!"
Loid chuckled, deep down endeared at the confession.
"Toys were quite expensive back then, right?" He looked at the girl with a soft smile. "This is a very pretty doll, Anya. You should take very good care of it, okay?"
Anya blinked, staring once again at the gift with interest. She never had a human looking doll before and she never played as a Mama. But this baby needed one just like her when she was alone! She couldn't leave her alone.
"Okay!" She said hugging the toy cheerfully.
Anya would be the best Mama!
-*-
If Loid had to answer sincerely on whether he believed Anya would play with her new doll the "proper" way, he would say no. He was far too used to her outlandish play plots of spies, adventures and castles to consider her quietly feeding the baby, like Yuri suggested.
Imagine his surprise when, three days in a row, he found Anya putting the doll to sleep over a pillow and even covering it with a handkerchief as a blanket.
"Honey, it's bedtime now, you can't go on missions!" She chastised the doll before pulling the blanket.
It was also valid to note that the child's name changed everyday. Because Anya liked variety.
Loid slowed down his washing of the dishes just a little so he could pay attention to the plot devolving on the living room. Anya playing house was still intriguing for him.
"Why are you so sad?" She asked to the unresponding toy. "Do you miss Papa? He has a lot of to work to do at the hospital, you know." The girl opened a hand and counted on her fingers. "He won't be back until... Christmas."
Loid's jaw fell open and he almost dropped a plate into the sink. He felt like a criminal caught red handed.
Is this the idea Anya had of him? An absent father who only cared about work and barely gave her attention?!
Loid decided to focus on his dishes now, too heartbroken at the reveal. Anya's plays turned out to be a cruel report of the state of Operation Stryx!
-*-
Yor was absolutely in love with Anya's new doll phase.
Her daughter was already the cutest, but when she engaged in the plots of being a caring mother to her baby, it warmed her heart. It was particularly lovely how she could notice glimpses of their daily lives in the plays. They were a sure sign that they were doing a good job as parents!
"Mama, help me!" Anya said moving Mimi, today's name, as she was saying the lines. "The kick-nappers are taking me!"
The kidnappers consisted of her bee plushie and a sleeping Bond who was just supporting the dolls. Anya stood up quickly and made a defiant pose at the assailants, putting up a scary looking face as she grabbed her bag of peanuts.
"How dare you crime-doing stupids lay hands on my daughter?" She squinted her eyes and spoke chillingly. "Let go of her right now if you don't want to end up as this peanut."
Saying that, she grabbed a peanut from the bag and crushed it in her hands, the soft "crack" adding perfectly to the drama.
Yor, who watched it from the hallway, went livid and then blushed like mad at the embarrassment.
She never meant to set such a violent example to Anya!!
-*-
Becky considered herself a bit too old to be playing with dolls, after all she was a very mature young lady. But it was fun to finally have something that both her and Anya liked to talk about, as her friend was recently going through a doll phase. Becky could keep up with that, she also had very pretty and exclusive dolls.
Today Becky had brought not only her imported collector's doll Mary, but her toy tea set for them to play during break.
"My daughter Mary passed the admission entrance into Eden!" Becky said as a proud mother before taking a sip of her non-existent tea. "She's so smart, I'm very proud of her."
"Stella is nervous for the interview." Anya said patting her daughter's hair with a dramatic sigh. "The teachers can be vi-shoes."
Becky had an idea to how make that play more interesting and asked:
"Will your husband be present, Mrs. Anya? You need both parents for the interview."
Anya widened her eyes at the realization. How can they play an Eden interview if her baby didn't have a father? For her to play both the Mama and the Papa would be so boring.
Huh, I guess even a shrimp like her likes to play house.
The voice echoed in her thoughts and she turned around to the source of it.
Walking over to them was the trio consisting of Damian, Ewen and Emile. Ewen was carrying a football, so maybe they were heading out to play.
When they were close enough, Anya asked:
"Sy-on boy, can you be the Papa of my doll?"
Damian stumbled in air before staring at her bewildered, his ears starting to go red at the words that surely, definitely, he heard wrong and were too insane even for Forger's standards.
"W-What?!" He asked dumbfounded.
"My baby needs both parents to be at the Eden interview." She said holding the doll to him, so he could meet his new child. Becky was dying at the delight of such a juicy scene playing right before her eyes.
The red from his ears spread quickly to his cheeks and he felt like he was going to pass out. Him?! Playing house with Anya?!
As a father?!
"I DON'T WANT TO MARRY YOU, YOU WEIRDO!" He screamed with far more energy than needed, making a lot of kids turn to them, taking steps back as if the doll would trap him. "A-And I don't want to be the father of your stinky child, either!"
Anya had her poker face of always, sighing boredly as she turned her back to him.
"Fine." She mumbled giving the tea to Stella. "Guess I'll ask Bill, then. He looks more like her than you, anyway. He'll be a good Papa."
That had him fuming, for reasons that not even him could understand. What Bill had that made him better than him? Blonde hair?! Anya and her nonsense, as always!
"As if that gorilla could raise a child!" He crossed his arms. "I'll be your doll's stepfather. That's all! And we're divorcing after the interview!" Feeling the stares of his friends on his neck, he felt his cheeks burn again. "But now I need to play football! Don't go sullying the Desmond's name behind my back!"
Having said that, he ran away, Ewen and Emile taking sometime to register what happened and follow after him. It was just a shock to find out Bossman was suddenly a family man.
Anya was left wondering at which point she asked for them to be married. Damian must be losing his mind.