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Agent Three is not a morning person.
Even as the crack of dawn began to rise, its warm colors clashing against the night sky, peeking past her half-open blinds and casting light into her room. Her eyelids remained completely shut, her body nearly bundled in her blanket, hand lazily set over her pillow just in front of her face. Her phone rested on the edge of her bed, on the verge of falling to the floor, yet not quite doing so. She let out a quiet exhale, still fast asleep despite the rising sun. Almost in defiance of it. As if to say ‘the morning won’t stop me.’ Beauty sleep is a rather important facet of someone’s daily life, after all. Well, despite the fact Three rarely takes showers, a fact that tends to get more attention than she would like. Particularly from a certain squid sister.
Most inklings and octolings at this point of the day would be waking up, or if they’re really early risers, already out and about. Heading to nearby parks or participating in turf wars. The agents in the New Squidbeak Splatoon would be heading out to the Tentakeel Outpost shortly. Though these days they were more for casual get-togethers than actual mission work, with the occasional patrol here and there for the other agents. Everything has been calm these past few months, even for Agent 1 and Agent 2, or Callie and Marie respectively, who usually are busy with idol work.
Agent Four’s always trying to read more books and learn everything she can. She’s always been the studious type, though that doesn’t stop her from being an absolute clown at times. Despite how long Four has been in the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Three’s never really talked to her all that much. She never really had much to say in the first place. Conversations don’t exactly come easy to her, though that hasn’t stopped Four from feeling like a genuine friend to her most of the time.
Three rolled over in bed, only wrapping herself further in her warm, cozy blanket. Squinting slightly as the morning light finally began reaching her face. Three usually spends the most time on patrols. Aside from sleeping in, it helps her unwind after crazy days. Callie’s birthday comes to mind as a particularly special event. The first birthday event that Four and Eight attended after joining the New Squidbeak Splatoon and it ended about as well as one would expect. Everyone stayed up late that night, and Three had a hard time getting her sleep schedule back on track, not that it was on any rails to begin with. Despite that, it was a really fun time.
Perhaps one day she’d share her own birthday to celebrate amongst the other agents. Four’s birthday is already coming up next month, and Three already has her gift planned out. Recently, she got it approved by the other agents to double check if it was worth getting, minus Callie. Poor girl can’t keep a secret to save her life. Three’s lips turned upward slightly in a slight smile, turning once again as her phone only threatened to tip over and fall to the floor even more than it already was. The gentle hum of the ceiling fan soothed her as it gently swung around, circulating the air in the room.
Noise began to fill the streets below, though not quite reaching Three’s ears as her apartment room was fairly high up in the building. She absentmindedly brushed one of her long tentacles away from her face, opting to snuggle up further. Four would probably have a field day if she saw her so relaxed. Three has always been a worker. Even before she joined the NSS, she was always trying to find something to do to pass time and never really stop and think. Today, though, was different. Today was just her little lazy morning. It’s not the first time she’s had one, mind you, but they’re not exactly common .
Three turned over once more, struggling to find a comfortable spot to fall back asleep in. However, she jolted awake as a loud clatter sounded beside her, on the floor. Her mind was still a bit foggy from last night’s patrol, as it had taken a bit longer than she initially expected. “Mmmph.” She grunted, craning her neck to face the floor. She found her phone now resting on the floor, having finally made good on its threats to fall. She lazily reached down and picked it up, almost accidentally dropping it to the floor again as she brought it up to her face.
No cracks. Lucky her, really. Oh- no, wait. There’s a small one near the front camera. Oh well, she has to roll with the punches. Thankfully it’s so small nobody would really notice it unless they really squinted, which she may or may not have had to do to spot it in the first place. Plus one to her observational skills, minus some money from her wallet. Well, eventually anyway. It’s not like her phone is completely broken.
There wasn’t any point trying to fall back asleep. Not yet, anyway. So she might as well at least make some breakfast. Get some food in her stomach before hunger starts eating away at her like last time. Three made an attempt at stuffing her phone in her pocket, only to realize she was wearing shorts with no pockets, and the phone clattered to the floor once again. This time, however, she opted to leave it there for just a bit.
Raising one arm behind her back and grabbing her other arm, now high in the air, she stretched. Afterward, she bent downward, picking up her phone again and began to slowly rise from her bed, still tired. She shuffled around the room before making her way to the bedroom door, pulling down on the handle and pushing it open with what seemed like little effort. But it was instead a grueling task as her mind struggled to catch up with her actions.
Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to go with only three hours of sleep. Another nap might be in order. Will it be twenty minutes or six hours? Only time will tell, really. She practically dragged her bare feet through the wooden flooring, momentarily resting her hand on the arm of her couch as she carried herself to the kitchen, which was connected to the living room. The apartment itself was fairly small, being only three rooms. Though Three liked it, in all honesty. Average rent for its size, and while it wasn’t exactly a five star hotel it had its charms. Though it isn’t the most suited for parties, much to the other agents’ potential dismay.
Do they even know where Three lives? Cod, she doesn’t even remember if she told them. Maybe she would remember if she could think better. Unfortunately, Agent Three has no control over Sleepy Three’s mental capacity. Shell, she barely has control over her own. A side effect of the Deep Sea Metro, but that’s a whole other can of tuna that she’d much rather ignore for the time being. Is it the healthiest decision? Not really. But that’s a problem for Future Three.
Three tapped at her phone, inputting the password at such a rate it might as well turn off in between presses forcing her to do it all over again. A few more sluggish presses, and she was finally at her music app. She liked listening to music as she did things around the house, especially with her morning playlist. A gentle piece began to play through her phone’s speakers as she set her phone down, almost falling over as she made her way to the fridge.
Instead of conking out, she remained awake. Pulling the handle to the fridge so that it would open, a blast of cold air hitting her face as she did so. She began scouring through its contents, the items inside clinking together from her messy rummaging. Apparently she still has some leftover noodles from yesterday, but she wasn’t really feeling noodles right now. There were simultaneously a lot of things in her fridge, and almost nothing. Most of the things inside had to be prepared or cooked . Ugh. She’s not awake enough to do either of those things, lest she almost burn the apartments down with her tired tomfoolery.
She closed the fridge, resting her head against the handle for a moment before turning her head slightly and opening the freezer, located right next to the fridge. There was some old cookie dough, from when Agent Eight came over to try and bake cookies with her once. Oh hey, so she did tell someone where she lived. You go, Sleepy Three, remembering things all on your own. Now if only she could remember what she liked eating. Because right now, her stomach was starting to announce its hunger.
There wasn’t much else in the freezer anyway, so Three ended up closing it. Maybe she could order something, instead. Go down to the Crust Bucket before the sun gets real high up. It’s usually down the street in the mornings anyway, so it wouldn’t even be that long of a walk. In her eyes though, it wasn’t really worth it. Too far of a walk. That left searching the cabinets. Though they’re mostly empty anyway.
Three was about to exit the kitchen, unknowingly leaving her phone behind, when the music dimmed, a notification sounding a moment after, then rose back to its original volume. She let out a small yawn, walking back to where she set her phone down and picked it up, staring at the screen. It was a text message from Four, in one of the group chats they had set up. The one the notification came from in particular had only Three, Four and Eight in it.
AlphaFour: Hey you two, wanna go turfing later?
Four’s always looking for an excuse to hang out with other agents whenever she’s not reading entire libraries. She and Eight get along pretty well. Almost making Three jealous with how quickly they warmed up to each other.
8): I think that sounds like fun. How about you, Three?
Eight is quieter than the other agents. Maybe not as quiet as Three, herself. But that doesn’t stop her from having a good time. She’s also the reason Three got to meet Pearl and Marina, but unfortunately she doesn’t talk to them as much since they aren’t members of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, which is where she spends most of her time anyway.
It’s kind of scary how easily Eight adapted to life on the surface. Granted, it wasn’t perfect. Both Eight and Three were a little on edge after the Metro, but once again that is a can of tuna for another day. She’s not opening that one so soon after. Well, despite the fact it was almost a year ago at this point.
It took a while for Three to send her reply, having to backtrack every time she messed up typing as she turned off her autocorrect the day she got her phone.
Agent 3: Maybe later.
It didn’t even take a moment for Four to reply.
AlphaFour: Alright! Catch ya then!
Three just rolled her eyes, having completely forgotten what she was originally in the kitchen for. Oh wait, right, food. Ehh… She’ll make something later. She stretched again, moving across the room as she made her way over to the couch. The bed was too far by this point, and fatigue was catching up with Three yet again.
Twisting her body, she collapsed onto the couch facing up towards the ceiling, letting her phone fall to her side as her eyes began to close. Her thoughts drifted to everything that’s happened over the last few years, sort of reflecting over them in a way. It might not have gone the way she was expecting, but she’s glad she gets to live this life. Even if she might not be able to communicate that very well to the other agents.
She began to drift to sleep once again, her dreams uninterrupted by anything happening in the outside world. Sometimes it was nice to just take a day to relax and get some shut eye. At one point, she never would’ve considered the idea. But now?
Well, now it’s just her little lazy morning.