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Over her extremely long lifespan (if you could even call it that) time had started to blend together for Calliope Mori. Days never seemed all that different from each other and the reaper on hiatus never really understood why humans decided to make some days more special than others.
So to say when she was signing up for Hololive, she didn't really understand the 'birthday' part she was required to fill out. As with most things she didn't understand, Calli took the issue to Death-Sensei. Over the many millennia Death-Sensei had become a parental figure to Calliope, and she always felt comfortable asking them about things.
"A birthday.." They had mused. Calliope could've sworn she saw a glint of amusement underneath the dark cloak they wore. Death-Sensei leaned back in their chair, thinking.
"A birthday, young Calliope, is they day one comes in to existence" They had explained. Calliope huffed.
"So, do I just leave it blank? Do I explain that I don't have one-" Calli cut herself off, hearing the amused chuckled of her sensei. They had leaned forward, giving the form back to the reaper.
"You do have what the humans call a birthday, in a sense. I didn't expect you to remember it though" Death-Sensei carefully picked up the glass of wine resting on their desk, swirling it around.
"Thousands, if not millions of years ago, there was a plague. This plague swept across the planet, claiming lives upon lives. You know how reapers are made, don't you?" Calli clutched her hands tightly, shaking her head in embarrassment. Death-Sensei just chuckled.
"I didn't expect you to, very little know how they are made nowadays. Anyways, there are two ways reapers are made. The first one is the rarer option where a soul that is already in the Underworld is chosen to train under a reaper, only after passing a series of tests". Calli nodded. Reaper's were often held in high regard in the Underworld, and souls often jumped at the chance to become one. Death-Sensei had continued.
"The second way is when a certain soul arrives at the Underworld. They are different in colour, albeit not by much. These souls often spend days waiting in Purgatory until they are collected by another reaper, or way back when you first become one, fetched by me" Calli had furrowed her brow. She had never heard of that, not even in the textbooks she was required to read to pass her schooling.
"Now back to the story. With the sudden increase with souls arriving in the Underworld, the amount of reaper-worthy souls increased too. One of these souls belonged to a young girl, barely pass the age of twelve. This girl remained in Purgatory for at least a week since the small amount of reapers had their hands full. When she was approached, the girl lashed out, wanting to see her family again. None of the reapers who worked under me could get close to her, so they called me in" Calli had an idea on where this was going, and she also swore she could remember some of these events her sensei talked about.
"You see where the rest of the story is going, yes?" Calli heard the smile in their voice and nodded. Calli vaguely remembered past of what was her human life, but even thinking of it now she always felt as if the young girl that was her was just a completely separate being.
Which lead us to now, 4th of April, or better known to Calli's, a reaper's birthday. Since she couldn't remember when she was born as a human, Death-Sensei had decided that the day Calliope had become his first apprentice would be her 'birthday'.
Honestly, Calli didn't really have anything special planned for her birthday. Probably just chill at home with some more than subpar wine while chatting with her Deadbeats. Maybe she'd call up her friends and talk with them. Ina had already wished the reaper a happy birthday, and Gura and Amelia were probably still asleep considering they lived on the other side of the world.
The only thing that seemed off to her was the fact that Kiara hadn't said anything about Calli's birthday. In fact, Calli hadn't heard a single peep from the phoenix all day. A little bit of Calliope felt a little sour. Despite the fact that the reaper always seemed adamantly against any affection from the phoenix, she did enjoy the small things they shared. The warm hugs, the soft words, even the occasional kiss (ON THE CHEEK! Geez, they weren't that close... Maybe).
Calli felt her heart twist thinking about Kiara, and the worst part about it was that she had no idea why. Maybe she'd ask Ina later. The priestess was smart, she'd know what was going on.
'Enough! Brain, you can stop thinking those thoughts' Calli grumbled to herself. Her brain on the other hand just laughed evilly. No way was it going to stop thinking thoughts about the phoenix. Like how great her hugs felt and how warm and soft she always was. Calli just sighed, adjusting the scarf that was loosely wrapped around her neck. It may've been Spring, but it was still cold and being a reaper didn't help at all.
It struck Calli that she literally had nothing to do for the rest of the day except her birthday stream later that day. Her new EP was set to be released so Calli had no music to work on. She had no art pieces she was currently working on and she had no other streams to prepare for. All she had needed to do for the day was get groceries so she'd have enough to last her the rest of the week.
But maybe that was for the best, as not five minutes later a scruffy looking grey and white cat sauntered up the reaper, looking at her with big eyes. Calli paused for a moments, looking back at the creature.
"Hey there little buddy" Calli said softly, squatting down to pet the cat. In response it sniffed her hand before rubbing it's face along her hand. The way it moved seemed off to the reaper, and while she was busy petting it behind the ears, she finally noticed that the cat was missing one of its back legs.
Calli frowned, wondering how that happened. The cat didn't seemed to have a collar and with its scruffy looking fur Calli briefly wondered if it was a stray. Calli absentmindedly scratched the cat under its chin, feeling the purring vibrations as she thought. She had been looking for a pet, torn between a bunny or a cat.
"Hey little guy, did you wanna come home with me?" Calli asked softly. In response the cat blinked and meowed loudly, rubbing up against her leg. Calli took this as a yes and stood up slowly, waiting to see how the cat reacted. The cat just blinked and took a step forward towards Calliope.
Calli smiled and set off, though at a slower pace to allow the cat to keep up. She was just glad her apartment building wasn't too far away. While walking Calli noted that she'd have to start paying a pet fee. It wasn't too much and considering the pay she made Calli didn't mind.
After a quick conversation with the receptionist Calli and her new feline friend were waiting patiently in the elevator, a bag of the groceries in one hand while she balanced the kitty in the other hand. It was a little difficult but the reaper managed.
"Ok little buddy, I'm gonna have to put you down for a sec to unlock my door" Calli gently scratched the feline under his chin. The cat meowed loudly and Calliope placed him gently on the floor, making sure he was balanced. The reaper fished out her keys from her pockets, sticking it in the keyhole and wiggling it around, unlocking the door.
The moment she opened the door, it was like a chorus of whispering just came to a halt. Calliope blinked in confusion, looking down to see the cat huddling around her legs in fright. That made her annoyed. No one was allowed to scare her cat.
Calli huffed, placing her bag of groceries on the ground and picking up the scared kitty. She scratched him between the ears comfortingly.
"Whoever's in there, come out now or else I'll slice every tendon in your leg then run you over with a combine" The words came out as a low hiss and everyone in the direct vicinity could tell the reaper meant every word.
"Uh, surprise?" Came from inside. Calliope stalked inside only to be met with the scared faces of her friends. Well, Ina, Amelia and Gura were scared, Kiara just looked like it was an everyday interaction with the reaper.
"Wait.. Calli, is that a cat?" Kiara jumped over the couch she was hiding behind, reaching her hand out to give the cat a few pets. The cat, however, hissed and leaned away from Kiara. The phoenix looked disappointed at the reaction and Calli just gave him a few scratches around his ears to calm him down.
"Calli... did you pick up a random cat off the street?" Amelia piped up, resting her arm on Gura's head much to the shark's annoyance. Calli shuffled in pace awkwardly. Everyone just sighed and Ina used a tentacle to bring in the groceries from outside, shutting the door on the way in.
"...Yes? He just came up to me for attention and followed me home! What was I supposed to do?" The reaper just hugged the cat tighter. Everyone else sighed.
"If you're gonna keep the cat, you're gonna have to get him checked out at the vet to make sure he is healthy" Kiara gave him a look over, like she was trying to see if he was injured in any way. Cali just readjusted her hold on him.
"Well, he's missing a leg and his coat is a little dirty and matted, but other than that he looks fine" She said simply, letting him down so he could get used to his new home. The others watched him expertly hop along and out of the room.
"Plus, it looks like he's fine with it. But I will get him checked up once he settles in" Calli picked up the bag, placing it on the kitchen counter so she could sort them out later.
"But let's get back to the point at hand. Why are you guys in my house? I mean, I don't mind the visit, but telling me beforehand would've been nice" Everyone looked to Kiara who looked around guiltily.
"Ok, well, I wanted to do something special for your birthday, plus it's your first birthday that you weren't busy all day so I invited the others over so we could celebrate" Calli raised her eyebrow at Kiara as she explained.
"Well, I guess inviting everyone was ok, but what did you have in mind?" Calli leaned against her kitchen counter, smiling softly as Gura escaped Amelia's trap to go sit next to her, swinging her legs back and forth.
"Well, we know you don't really like large crowds or anything, so we just brought over some snacks and movies so we could have a movie night" Ina explained, manifesting a bag of snacks from the void casually. Beside her, Amelia held up a collection of movies.
"Although.." Gura started, her hand motioning for Kiara to continue with something. Kiara gave her a blank look while Gura just kept doing it, only to sigh when she realised the phoenix wasn't getting it.
"We did invite someone, but they were the one who gave us this idea" Gura said nonchalantly, swinging her tail back and forth.
"Who did you invite?" Calli asked slowly, turning towards Gura. She was about to answer, but got cut off by a series of knocks. Everyone turned to face the door.
"I think you should open it Calli" Amelia said from her spot on the couch. The reaper gave her a look but did so anyway.
"Death-Sensei?" The Grim Reaper was disguised in a somewhat human form, though they were dressed from head to toe in a dark cloak, much like their real form. They smiled at her.
"My dear apprentice! It's been a while hasn't it? I trust your friends have been treating you well. I trust that you have been living well, too, as much as you can as a reaper" Death-Sensei was carrying a rectangular box which was wrapped in a red ribbon.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to stay for long, but I wanted to give you this and to wish you a happy birthday" Death-Sensei handed the box to their apprentice. They turned around to look at the rest of Hololive English, giving them a friendly nod.
"Please make sure she stays healthy. I am all to aware of her tendencies to ignore her own wellbeing" Death-Sensei decided to ignore the embarrassed yelling of their apprentice.
"Anyway, I really should be going. Please make sure Calliope maintains herself properly" Death-Sensei opened the door, their cloak fluttering around the feet dramatically as they left through an ominous portal.
"Well that was something. Hey Calli! What- Huh?" Kiara turned around to see the reaper had disappeared.
"Where'd she go?" Kiara scanned over the room, trying to find a hint of the reaper's pink hair. Gura was climbing on the chairs, checking behind them to see if Calli was hiding. Ina and Amelia were checking around the kitchen.
"I'm back!" The sudden door slam followed by the reaper's declaration scared every. Gura ended up falling off one of the chairs she was climbing on, landing with a loud 'oof'.
"Sorry, I had to get some wine glasses for Death-Sensei's present" Calli was holding a wine glass in one hand with a bottle of very nice red wine in the other hand.
"Let's this party started!" Gura shouted from behind the couch.