Chapter 2

Three years later Dirk had managed to keep them both alive. They lived primarily on orange soda and steak, both of which they enjoyed very much. There was the occasional incident where they would consume large amounts of glitter without Dirk's knowledge then proceed to cough it up for days on end. By this point he was a senior in high school and working a part time job at a grocery store. Unable to always be on premises to watch the little fuckers, he had his wonderful rapping robot companions to be their overseer while he had school and work. Had his Hollywood-famous brother ever been home he wouldn't need his masterfully crafted AI rhyming machines, as far as Dirk knew his bro didn't even know about either of them. This concerned him, it forced him to realize how little his brother was actually present in his life. It would be months until he would see him next but the time between visits was always short when Dirk had been preoccupied with friends and his inventions. Now with the new member of the Strider family, the visits were dreadfully long apart. Often times his brother would arrive home in the middle of the night while they slept and be gone by the morning leaving no evidence of his presence besides a slightly disturbed fridge and a note on the counter.

They now had their own names, having just declared them the day before. It was a hot summer day, as it typically was in Texas; Dirk was sporting his boxers and a black wife beater as he showed off the crappiest tattoo anyone has ever gotten. It complimented the ugly bite-mark shaped scar that indented his leg from years before. It was actually the only mark that was left on him from the years of violent lashing out that accompanied Caliborn's lovely presence. He lounged on the couch, grateful that he had the whole day to relax at home. The green carapaced child walked in, it's cheeks appeared to glow with bright green swirls. Calliope, Dirk concluded instantly having remembered her sweet accented voice inform him not too long ago. He gave her his customary Strider smile and she returned with a wide grin. Calliope hopped onto the couch, she was wearing an old t-shirt of Dirk's as a night gown. It was far too large for someone so small, the short sleeves were down to her wrists and the rest hung down to her ankles.

He recalled the night before when she had requested to wear it; Dirk only wondered briefly why she wanted to put on something so baggy and large. She wasn't going to use it for pajamas after all, when she fell asleep the brat would wake up a few minutes later. Still her arms cradled the shirt and her eyes went big to help her case. After he caved in and ordered that she hold her arms above her head so that he could dress her, her expression became serious. "Father," She said in her high pitched British accent. "From now on, I want you to call me Calliope." She was insanely well spoken for someone so young; she sounded more like someone three times her age stuck in a 5 year old's body. Dirk had no reason not to agree to the request and figured it was only coincidence that her opposite had decided to be called Caliborn in the same day.

"Guess what?" Dirk said, returning his gaze to the television in front of him. Calliope just tilted her head, "Get to stay home all day and spend time with you two." The smile that was already firmly planted onto the child widened with excitement.
"Then you can play dress up?!" She had an affinity for dressing up and pretending to be someone else. However Dirk didn't have any costumes you would expect a five year old to enjoy playing with, his costume wardrobe consisted entirely of anime cosplay. Of course, he never had time to use it like he would like to. Between school and his job he had almost no time to himself and anytime he did have he spent with the little devils that shared his apartment.

"Of course we can play dress up-" Dirk paused, his mouth slightly ajar as he thought that now would be a perfect time to refer to her by her new name, "Calliope." She looked absolutely ecstatic, her carapaced claws clacked against the floor as she jumped off the couch to express her joy by hopping in place. "I bet Caliborn is going to be very Jealous." His voice trailed off, he had known that she didn't like Caliborn all too much. This was normal for siblings and Calliope seemed to have an unbelievable tolerance for her brother. This didn't mean she didn't like making him jealous every now and again. This is what Dirk was aiming for, to half-participate in this sibling rivalry by being in cahoots with her. He did not, however, expect her smile to fade at the mention of his name. "Did I do something wrong?" Dirk furrowed his brows and brought himself to his knees in front of her so that he could look at her from eye-level. Calliope only stared back frowning for a few more moments before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed into unconsciousness.

Dirk panicked like only a father would while somehow maintained his cool. His heart raced and his arms pulled him forward as they lunged to catch her before she hit the floor. Her limp body was heavier than he had expected but he managed to support her weight as she lay unconscious in his hands. Dirk reviewed his options: he could sit there helpless it may not actually be serious after all, he could bring her to the hospital where doctors would be equally as helpless since she is, in fact, an alien and therefore someone that they would not be prepared to treat, or… or what? Those were really his only options. What was he going to do? Call his brother? Call his friends? They would probably be as productive as he was being right now as he stared down at Calliope with a frightened expression stamped on his face. To be honest, he thought, even the hospital option would be out of the question. He's seen how they deal with aliens in sci-fi movies.

I've really got no business raising a child. Do I? He thought to himself, he hated that he couldn't do anything about this. He hated not being able to control things like this, not being prepared. He was always good at being prepared, at fixing shit. Maybe he had tricked himself into thinking that when the reality was actually inverse. Or he was being paranoid.

Dirk realized that he had just been silently sitting there, worrying himself. In his muted hysteria he hadn't noticed that the color of Calliope's cheek swirls had shifted. Her eyes opened but were no longer the bright green that Dirk was use to at this time of day.

Caliborn awoke and looked as confused as Dirk. He gave a quizzical look to the older one and then flailed. He pushed and clawed at Dirk until he was able to stand at a safe distance away from the other.

Oh shit.

"Uh. Caliborn? I don't know what kind of shit you just pulled but it's kind of unnerving." The child just stared. At first it was at Dirk but soon his eyes trailed to the window. He wasn't use to the bright morning light; it was something new, warm, and welcomed. While Caliborn waddled over to the window to look out Dirk collected himself. Alright, everything was fine. No one was hurt. Caliborn certainly didn't seem hurt. So, besides the small cuts on Dirk's arms, everyone would be dandy. Dandy? Damn, he was starting to sound like Jake.

Dirk moved slowly towards Caliborn, making sure not to startle the kid. For acting so tough he was kind of a pansy every now and again. He stood a foot behind the child as his mind tried to comprehend what the fuck was going on.

Well, what was going on? Calliope fainted and was now Caliborn. He supposed that made sense but that rose questions too, questions that would probably never be answered. Now Caliborn was staring out the window, probably the most silent he's been in weeks. What was he supposed to do? If he asked Caliborn anything he- well, Caliborn wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed and on top of that he was a child.

Dirk sighed to himself and shuffled over to his desktop which was sat on a messy desk in the living room. His head hurt partly from the shock and partly from the confusion. Dirk logged into the chat client.

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering golgothasTerror [GT]

TT: Hey, Jake.

TT: I have something that I need to tell you and I don't think you'll believe me.