RP LOG - NIGHT, 25/6/2026
This is a RP log. Not every character can see this.
Red - @mylovelanguageiscannibalism
Pink - Emery
Blue - @itwasakanonevent
Purple - @stitchesfromtheneedle
The uber dropped the pair off at some shitty Phillips 66 Gas Station just within the Indiana state border. Emery hooked his arms under Kalei’s ear and whispered, “I’m sorry” before dragging them out of the car. The uber driver, for some inexplicable reason, did not seem concerned. In fact, he seemed pretty intent on ignoring the scene behind him.
Glancing back into the cabin of the small car, Emery saw that there was some blood smeared on the seat and the floor, but not as much as he’d worried. The makeshift bandages he’d made out of his jacket must’ve done good, he thought, thank god he wore it despite the heat.
Emery managed to get Kaleidoscope across the parking lot and then leaned against the side of the building. Most of their head was concealed by a blanket wrapped tightly around it, wet and sticky with blood. Their leg, as well, had one ripped off sleeve tied around it tight, with a random stick he’d found acting to make it into an approximation of a tourniquet. A shitty approximation, but it had slowed the blood enough.
“Come on, Kaleidoscope,” Emery whispered. He sat next to his friend and grabbed one of their hands, squeezing it. “Your friends are on the way, and he… he won’t chase us this far. I hope.”
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Canni’s jeep to pull up a little worryingly fast. There was barely the blink of an eye between the sound of the tires screeching to a stop and two women sprinting out of the car towards Emery and Kalei. The taller woman with short red curly hair that fell around her shoulders quickly pulled it into a pony tail as she ran to check on Kalei. Her eyes scanned Kalei, but it was clear they’d need time to fix any of the injuries and to be somewhere less public to thoroughly examine them. Her eyes turned to the man supporting Kalei as their brain sped to make a decision.
“Can you please help me load Kalei into the back seat. We need to get somewhere safe and less public… please tell me you can drive, Kalei has gone way too long without care.” While the voice was the same one Emery had heard on the voice mail, it was barely recognizable as belonging to the woman in front of him. Her voice was fast and frantic and basically pleading. It was completely juxtaposed to what he’d expected, but she was now recognizable as someone Kalei might call a friend.
Fia practically tripped out of the car, purple eyes scanning the area in terror. Gosh, she’d never been here before. They weren’t in Massachusetts anymore, clearly, but she’d neglected to ask where they were going. Oh well.
Kalei. Oh dear goodness, Kalei was there in front of them. Bloodied, sure, but there they were, and that had to prove something right? Emery wouldn’t just drag a corpse around, especially not out this far to meet some random people. Well… Fia isn’t exactly random. But whatever. And the thorns were still there, through the haze of threads in front of her that were getting increasingly tangled and thick. She didn’t flinch when she looked at them anymore. See, she’s getting better at it, isn’t she?
“Kalei!!” Fia bolted towards them, her long brown hair still in the braid from last night. Sure, it was frazzled and almost coming undone now, but the fishtail braid is very much still intact, much like Kalei’s life. Right? Fia’s face was streaked with tear stains, and her sewing box swung from her arm.
“Kalei, Kalei I’m so sorry, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop him, I-” she choked up as she neared them, not even acknowledging Emery just yet. Her full attention was on the blood, so much blood. Gosh, they would certainly need stitches. Were the bullets still in them? Do they have tweezers? Fia doesn’t, and she didn’t think small sewing scissors worked the same. Wait, above all else first, Fia pulled up one of their limp hands and felt for a pulse. It was weak, but definitely there. Oh, how her heart ached for Kalei. She wanted to hug them, but now’s not the time.
Sniffling, Fia dropped their hand and wiped away the tears. “T-thank you, Emery.” she choked out. Snap out of it, Fia. You can be sappy later, she thought. “B-but Canni’s right, we- we need to take them somewhere more private s-so we can actually treat them. Ugh… dammit…” she turned away from Kalei, unable to look at the bloody gunshot wounds anymore. She’ll see them better later when they get fixed up, anyways.
“D-do you know anywhere we can go? Not… not back to Ness Anne, not safe and too far, and…” she trailed off, unsure how to continue. She looked at Canni for direction. Surely they knew what they were doing, right?
“Tennessee,” Emery said. “They’ll never look for us in-” Kalei groaned, and Emery squeezed their hand again. “I know, Kaleidoscope, but you’d never go back there willingly. It’s the one place we’ll probably be safe.”
He let go of their hand before leaning them forward so he could hook his arms under their armpits. “Alright. I’m going to lift down here. Their leg prosthetic is heavy as shit, but fine. Their other leg has the gunshot wound, and it’s nasty. Be careful when you’re picking up the legs. I can cradle their head with my shoulder. In the backseat, you said?”
Emery’s long hair was getting tangled in his face as he spoke, eyes flickering between Kalei’s hair (which was matted with blood), Canni’s face, and Fia’s. His dark eyes were bright with panic, but he managed to hold onto composure. “We need to work together. And quick. And gentle, preferably. I had to haul their ass into the uber, and that probably didn’t feel great.”
Murmuring under their breath, Kalei tilted their head back against Emery. He tucked his face down to whisper something in their ear, barely audible- “It’s okay. One of your partners and your friend are here. They’re helping. You’re going to be okay.”
Canni’s brain quickly made a checklist of the things that needed to be done: getting Kalei in the car was number one, then removing the prosthetic and handling the other leg, then minor injuries but— they turned to Fia “I need you to promise something for me, if I pass out you switch seats with me. If you can’t get me to the front just leave me on the side of the road, I promise I’ll be fine. If you take over for me, any deep cuts need to be sewed up, try using a surgical technique, but if you can’t regular sewing will do, I’ll have my needle and thread out. Any shallow cuts need to be bandaged, stitches should also be bandaged. If you don’t feel a pulse, perform CPR for as long as you can. There’s a defibrillator in the trunk and it has instructions on how to use it. Have Emery pull over while you continue performing CPR, do not stop under any circumstances. Only pause to use the defibrillator to give them a shock. If you leave me behind and start getting texts from my number, but it doesn’t sound like me, ask them what my favorite Greek myth is. If they say Echo or Narcissus, trust them no matter what – otherwise ignore them.”
Fia swallowed. What strange instructions. But she’s seen just as odd ones from… Prospero. Right, that’s her name. It sounded familiar. She tugged on her braid, careful not to undo it. Kalei will survive. Kalei has to survive. Sure, it’s been a long time, but by some miracle they’ll pull through, right? They have to. She’ll feel their hands through her hair again and all three of them will get to talk or play cards again. Together. Alive.
“Y-yeah. I promise.” Fia said, voice shaky but resolute. Sure, Fia can’t drive, but Emery can. She really didn’t want to leave Canni behind, but she trusted them. If they said they’ll be fine… well, now isn’t the time to doubt them. They had to do this.
“Alright. L-let’s go.” Fia quickly moved to take Kalei’s legs. “Tennesee? Agh, that’s… that’s not too far, is it? I’ll trust you on navigation.”
“It’s a few hours,” Emery said with a grunt. He lifted Kalei slowly, watching to make sure he wasn’t leaving Fia with too much weight. “But it’s safest that way. I’d take them to a hospital, but they’re too recognizable.”
Getting them into Canni’s jeep was an awkward affair. Emery ended up climbing in the truck while holding them (thank god he still went to the gym from time to time…) and slowly helping Fia back them in, onto the seat. Once they were fully there, he sat down and cradled their head in his lap.
…blood from the jacket wrapped around their head wound soaked into his pants. “Um,” Emery said thickly. “One of you two, come take Kaleidoscope’s head from me. It’s got a pretty fucking bad wound, but it- it didn’t hit brain or anything. Thank god. Their brain is fine,” he repeated. “It’s just- skull and skin. We can fix that.”
A hand came to brush the hair from Kalei’s eyes, shaking. Once somebody else was sitting where Emery currently was, he could get in that driver’s seat, and drive.
“On it.” Canni was trained for situations like this, some mixture of infinite knowledge and med school helped so much more then she could’ve imagined.
Slowly, she tuned everything out and zeroed in on Kalei. She balanced surgical trays on her thigh while using her teeth as a third hand when needed. She felt the weight for both Kalei’s life but also her own malnutrition, sleep deprivation, and regret with each movement. She fought to keep her hands steady and mind focused as she stitched together wounds she had just cleaned, careful to avoid putting tension on the skin.
To say she wanted to cry was an understatement, but Canni couldn’t risk obscuring her vision, especially now. So many lives she had held in their hands and yet the weight of Kalei’s was dragging her down. Canni took a breath and glanced up at her car’s window only to be met with her reflection, right, they weren't alone anymore.
They were in this together, and they were going to make it out of this with Kalei in tow. They turned back to Kalei, the tired fog of their mind drifting away as they got back to work. Memories of the proper medical procedure flooding to the top of their head as their hands moved as fast as they could. They could do this, they had to do this.
Right. Alright, calm down Fia. She shut the door beside her as she climbed into the front passenger’s seat in the front and strapped the seatbelt on. As they started driving to… Tennessee, was it? Yeah Tennessee, Fia fought the urge to pull on her hair again.
“It’ll be alright… it’ll be fine…” she mumbled as she tapped on her plastic sewing box’s lid quietly. She leaned against the car window, looking forward at the road.
After a few minutes of silence, scarcely broken by the GPS lady’s voice (gosh it was loud sometimes, Fia jumped when the volume would suddenly increase), Fia asked Emery, “...How’d you get them out of there? Like, without that… Roy? Ray? Guy noticing or anything.” Secretly, Fia was so, so scared that Kalei had been kidnapped and their body dumped in a ditch somewhere by Ray. Ray, that bastard at the DMS. Some very important agent that’s super high up in the hierarchy. What a prick. Seems like they just could never shake those people off, huh?
Emery grimaced at the name, eyes flickering to the rear view mirror to glance at Kalei. They were limply laid out, eyes shut and only whimpering occasionally as Canni’s needles pierced their skin. He shook his head and returned his attention to Fia. “Um. Funny story, actually… I got this weird letter telling me that Ray was in Ness Anne. It gave me really, really specific instructions on what to do. I wasn’t sure what the hell they meant, but… I figured there was no point ignoring them. I followed, and ended up being directed to… the scene. Ray had already run off. I watched the video while I was driving- yeah, yeah, bad idea- and I think he assumed they were dead. Kaleidoscope managed to take that bullet without giving themselves away, so…”
Eyes unfocusing for only a moment, Emery gripped the steering wheel just a touch tighter. “I got some gift cards and cash from a lady. I don’t really know who? I- her name slipped my mind, honestly. She wasn’t sure what was going on either, but apparently she got a letter too. Crazy coincidence, huh? I told her about mine, and the next thing I knew she was practically throwing the shit at me and telling me to hurry. Anyway, I used the gift cards and cash to pay for an Uber that wouldn’t ask questions and would take me as close to Tennessee as he was willing to. I guess the short answer to your question is I got really, really lucky.”
Canni stared down at Kalei as they flinched at each touch. Staples would be less painful, but they weren’t available, although painkillers weren’t off the table. They were kept in a box underneath the driver's seat. Canni fished it out with their leg, the one not balancing surgical trays. The box slid across the floor as the car shook, and Canni held Kalei down so they didn’t fall out of their seat. They grabbed the box as it flew away from them and opened it with the same hand while using their foot to keep it from sliding away. They used their still sterile hand to grab one of the preloaded needles of morphine and throw it onto the surgical trays.
They kicked the box shut and shoved it back under the driver's seat. In the same motion, they removed their gloves, throwing them into a small crevice in the car door and quickly putting on a new bloodless and sterilized pair. Kalei was somewhat tall but underweight so giving them the full dose shouldn’t be needed – unless they were still in pain after an initial partial dosage. Canni continued the chain of medical malpractice by vaguely estimating proper dosage instead of doing the math (which they didn’t have the time or resources to do). As they injected Kalei, they whispered into their ear,
“You're going to be okay, I’ll make this all right.”
Prospero again, huh? How intriguing. It seems that she’s dead set on helping people. (She? How did Fia know that Prospero is a she? Ugh, whatever. It doesn’t matter.)
Another god. That makes what, three now, right? Why on earth were they so fixated on this group? They were just… some people that happened to be in extraordinary circumstances. Then again, Fia can’t really complain. Any help is good right now.
“Mm. Another letter, huh?” Fia thought about this as she looked at the long road ahead of them. “Yeah. I guess uh, I guess you did get real lucky.” Can’t tell Emery about gods now, who knows how much he might freak out behind the wheel? Too much to explain anyways, and it’s not like she knew very much about Prospero anyway.
“...Where are we going in Tennessee, exactly?” Fia asked as she finally gave in and pulled out the embroidery she was working on. It was of poppies and daisies. “I got the impression that Kalei didn’t want to go, wherever it is.” She glanced back at Canni and Kalei, purple eyes full of worry. At least they weren’t in so much pain anymore by the looks of it.
Kalei’s eyes met Fia’s. Theirs were clouded, with heavy lids, but the corner of their mouth did just barely turn up to a smile. Emery grit his teeth at the question.
“We’re… going to see if Kaleidoscope’s parents will take us in. It’s unlikely- I know, Kalei-” He cut off their protest before Kalei could even fully let out the noise. “-but there’s nowhere you’d rather avoid, and… fuck, Kaleidoscope. You’ve been shot. All we need to do is stay there for- for a night or two. Please. I can’t-” his voice cracked.
For a few moments, Emery didn’t speak. Then- “I can’t have him finding us and finishing what he started. Or taking me back. I’m not going back with him, not after what he did to you. I know you and your family don’t get along, but I don’t know how else to keep you alive.”
The enby didn’t reply. Rather, they stared intensely at the man’s back before their gaze shifted back to Canni, brows pinched in confusion as if just realizing she was there. Must have gotten a concussion from the bullet’s force, or something else concerning like that. Might be a good idea to keep an eye out.
Glancing at Fia, Emery said- “They might not even let us in, but if they do… they’ll be rude. And annoying as shit. But they aren’t physically dangerous, and… well. I don’t know where else we can go.”
Canni glanced down at Kalei giving them their best smile. They imagined that to Kalei, it must’ve looked more like the final smile of someone about to die than the smile of someone saying hello to a dear friend they betrayed.
“It’s okay, you’re okay and I am too. We’re making it through this, okay?” Canni brushed a piece of hair out of Kalei’s face but didn’t wait for a response before glancing up at Fia and Emery.
“Kalei is patched up – or, well, as patched up as I can do in my current state and situation. The best thing would be to get them to an actual hospital, but I know that’s out of the question. So, for now, rest and monitoring. Fia, would it be possible to switch seats and have you watch Kalei? You’d need to wake me up the second anything changes.” Canni’s voice was quiet, calmer in a way. but also weak like a fading light about to burn out. It was clear from the bandages that covered Canni mixing their own blood with Kalei’s to the empty, barely open eyes of Canni that the last few days had taken their toll on the young woman and immortal soul that lived beneath. As much as Canni would despise admitting it, they needed rest to have any chance at taking care of Kalei further.
“Mhm. Yeah, I will.” Fia nodded and unbuckled from her seat, awkwardly swapping spots with Canni. She looked down at Kalei’s dazed face and could only hang her head in.. shame? Guilt? Who knows.
“...It’s cold, isn’t it?” It was not. It was a bit warm. Still, Fia untied the colourful cardigan from her waist and covered Kalei’s upper body with it. She gently pressed a kiss to their forehead before sitting back against the seat.
“...You know, the name Ray sounds really familiar.” she offhandedly mentioned as she embroidered, one eye on the needle and the other on Kalei. A one-sided conversation that she could pretend has actual responses. Because there will be responses, later down the line when Kalei is healed and they can have similar conversations again. “Heh, it’s almost like I’ve heard it somewhere before.”
Out the corner of her eye, something teal flashes. A web, or maybe tree branches, entangled around Kalei and Canni. Almost imperceptible if Fia didn’t look right at it. Odd, but not a priority. She returned to embroidery and keeping watch over Kalei.
Their eyes were now trained on hers. Those light, light irises, with the pupils a touch too wide for the amount of light pouring in the truck. Blood was smeared onto their cheek, likely from Canni accidentally dragging a glove across it.
Unintelligibly, Kalei mumbled in response to Fia. Whether they thought they were replying to her, or they were speaking for some other reason was unclear. Under the cardigan, their hand twitched, rising briefly before falling back onto their stomach.
The hand moved again, this time managing to escape the cardigan. Weakly, it managed to grip onto Fia’s sleeve, and their eyes darted between her empty arm and her face. They opened their mouth and closed it mutely, and ran a thumb over where the shackles previously were.
“Hm?” She looked down as Kalei moved, blinking. Fia let them grab her arm, smiling as she noticed what they meant.
“Yeah. They’re gone. It feels… freeing. Light.” she put down her embroidery and held their hand, slowly lowering it back down. She pulled the cardigan back over them. “I thought I was free. Guess I never thought I could escape those damned things, huh?” Fia chuckled.
“..You have a concussion, don’t you?” Fia sighed, glancing over at the sleeping Canni. They looked dead tired, probably hadn't slept in a long time, much like Fia. Except, unlike Fia, Canni couldn’t go days without sleep.
When was the last time she slept? Fia blinked as she tried to recall. Had to have been a few days ago, right? Oh well. “There now. It’s alright. I’m here now, Kalei.” Fia paused. Dammit, why didn’t they pick up Kat too? This is awful. She probably feels so alone and left out. “I’m gonna text Kat and tell her that you’re alright now, hold on. I think she’ll be super relieved to hear you’re alive too.” Fia pulled out her phone with her other hand and started to text Kat. She never stopped holding onto Kalei’s hand, as if afraid they might slip out of her grasp once again.
The hand wrapped around Fia’s was thin, trembling, and a little bit cold, but it held onto her just as tightly. Kalei’s eyes flickered to her phone with an expression that seemed almost panicked, for just a second, before softening into something more akin to… what was that. Apprehension? Guilt?
Concussion. Concussion… yes. Kalei had a concussion. They nodded their head before gasping- oh, they forgot their head hurt. They forgot it hurt so badly. Closing their eyes to try and stop the pain, Kalei curled closer to their platonic partner. The cardigan she’d laid over them provided enough pressure to reassure Kalei that this pain wasn’t breaking them.
The world came back soon. The ringing in their ears faded, and Kalei realized that moving their head when they had a bad gunshot graze wound and concussion wasn’t the best idea. Opening their eyes once more, their gaze settled on the cardigan. Colorful and bright, and the garment that Kalei had given to Fia because it was what always reminded them that she was safe. (It smelled like her now, they noticed. It was a nice change.)
Fia hissed as Kalei gasped, sucking in a sharp breath of air through her teeth. Yep, they definitely had a concussion. As Fia finished texting Kat, she put away her phone and gently squeezed Kalei’s hand. “Don’t move, yeah? That’s just gonna make it hurt more.” She sighed.
“Mm. It’s alright, Kalei. You’ll be alright, and then we’ll go on that double date together with Avery and Derek. Okay?” Fia leaned down and pressed their knuckles to her forehead, closing her eyes, a promise and a prayer to whoever would listen. If anybody would listen.
“Alright. Try to rest, don’t exert yourself too much. Please?” She opened her purple eyes again and leaned back. She couldn’t do anything with her other hand now except pull on her hair, but that’s alright.
Fia almost didn’t want Kalei to sleep, because who knows what might happen if they close their eyes for too long? But sleep is good for the wounded, and Kalei is wounded. She leaned sideways and laid down next to them, still holding their hand.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Kalei. Be there, okay?” she smiled weakly before she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, trusting that whichever gods were watching would keep them alive and safe.
