RP Log - 6/6/26, Evening/Night
This is a roleplay log. Other characters CANNOT view this.
Kalei - @itwasakanonevent
Whimsy - @sunshineandfuchsias
Trigger warnings: Kalei is very disoriented following a brain surgery, and they are also in their hopeless situation. However, nothing bad happens in this story.
Kalei sat in their cell, rereading a poem over and over.
It was a poem, at least they thought it was. The words weren’t sticking properly, but they felt good somehow. They felt nice. Kalei liked it when things felt nice.
Thinking like this was so… frustrating. Yes. That word. Every thought took so long to string together, and don’t… don’t even ask them to talk.
Kalei wasn’t even sure what they were doing wrong, but Hecate had laughed when they tried to ask her if they could go home. Maybe it was funny they wanted to go home? Kalei didn’t think it was funny.
Kalei just felt… scared. Yes, that word. That word was what they felt on the operating table. Awake craniotomies are performed to make surgical plans surrounding tumor removal- ow, ow, what did that mean?
What happened to Kalei wasn’t an experimental surgery. It was just done for experimental reasons. They’d taken it too far. The scientists said Kalei would get better, but what if they lied? They were liars often. What if Kalei couldn’t talk right anymore? How would they tell Fia and Kat they love them?
Or what if they couldn’t get out because their head felt so cloudy from the pain- pain killers. Right. They didn’t hurt, they were hurting, and now they were fuzzy.
Kalei pulled the blanket tighter around their shoulders and closed their eyes. They hoped the fog would lift soon.
Out of nowhere, Kalei could feel someone hug them from behind, swooping down with a quiet whoosh in the air and wrapping their arms around their neck and their weight against theirs, their face by Kalei’s left ear. It was like this person had just nose-dived down from mid-air and landed. But something wasn’t quite right. Their arms were soft, in such a way that it felt like they could phase through them at any moment. Not quite solid, but solid enough to be felt and put weight on them.
About five seconds passed like this, before the person retreated. Using their shoulders like an axis, the person gently spun themselves around and in front of Kalei. It was none other than… wait. That’s a stranger. Kalei has never met this woman before, but she felt… vaguely familiar. Light brown hair in a waist-length jellyfish haircut, the bottom of the wide top half dyed pink and the very ends of the haircut dyed purple, and a wide pink hairband with large silver sparkles embroidered on it. Her hands were behind her back, and they stood perfectly straight before she crouched down to be eye-level with Kalei, white-gloved hands resting on her knees. Speaking of pink, this woman wore a lot of it. A puffy, short-sleeved light pink dress with a white trim and lace, six buttons down the centre.
“Hello!!~” she grinned, tilting her head to the side. “I’m Whimsy! I see you’re reading my poem, hmm? Do you like it?” Whimsy glanced down at the paper in front of them, edging her white sneakers away from it to get a better look. Even her sneakers had pink flowers embroidered on the sides, matching the chunky pink leg warmers she wore, and the originally white shoelaces were dyed the same shade of pink as her dress. Everything was coordinated to a tee. How long did she take to get ready? Not long at all, with the power of magic!~
Kalei was not so smartly dressed. They wore a hospital gown, frayed at the edges from being picked and pulled at. They quivered at the unexpected touch, yelping. Who was there?!
When the figure revealed itself, Kalei… stuttered. What. This was… “I thought angels wore white,” Kalei said. Not pink- wait. No, no- “You can’t be an angel. I can’t be dead. I gotta go home.”
Outside the cell, Hecate glanced over and snorted.
“An angel? Pfft, you’re funny!” Though Whimsy laughed, her metaphorical heart ached ever so slightly. This was pitiful.
“No, I’m not an angel, silly Kalei! Though, last I checked, their dress code depends on which universe they’re from!” they stared at Kalei, smile never leaving her face.
“Don’t you remember? I just said my name’s Whimsy! We’ve talked a lot before, remember?” But it’s useless, isn’t it? Realisation dawned on Whimsy, and they blinked. “Ah… you’re really that far down the rabbit hole, huh?” They sighed. “Hmm, that’s alright!!” she sat down, criss-cross on the ground, smoothing out her puffy skirt as she went.
“You’re really doin’ that bad, huh? Guess dear XIV’s sigil’s gotta take some more time to heal…” she mused aloud, leaning back on the floor and using her hands to support her. “I wonder just how far you’d go next to keep them safe? Hehe, it’s endearing to see!”
Slowly blinking, Kalei tried to give their mind time to get up to speed. They were aware, to a degree, what painkillers could do. “I’m high,” they blurted. “On painkillers. And my brain… swallowed. Swelled. Sorry.” Hey, they caught it this time. “They said it goes down, um… soon?”
Kalei could hear Hecate laughing at them. They ignored it. This was real, because… um… “I do know you. We- you told me how to… find someone. Once.” Even barely aware, Kalei made damn sure not to reveal Fia. “I wanted to thank you, but I was. Busy… yeah. Yeah, because… yeah.”
Wait, she wasn’t mad, right? Or here because something went wrong? Kalei’s eyes flashed with panic, and they leaned forward, almost falling on Whimsy before settling back down to where they’d begun. Whimsy didn’t seem worried, right? So nothing was wrong?
Not like Kalei could help. Though trembling, they moved their hands to cup around their neck in a self-soothing motion. “The sigil… XIV. I like her. She’s nice to me.”
She couldn't help but laugh at Kalei’s loopy behaviour. Ah, at least it was curing her boredom!
“Hehe, that I did! That I did,” Whimsy nodded. Perhaps she really should visit more. That would be nice. Even if under some of the worst circumstances, Whimsy wanted to make people happy.
She remembers watching her dear friend get captured just like Kalei did. Zapped them with some kind of weird technology and snapped strange cuffs on their limbs. Cuffs that cut off energy flow like circulation, and before anyone knew it, her friend was no longer how Whimsy remembered them. Though Whimsy has no regrets, she sometimes wondered what would have happened if any of them intervened at the moment. But none of them did. Perhaps they wanted to teach her dear friend a lesson. Perhaps they just… didn’t care enough.
No, snap out of that Whimsy. You’re here for Kalei, not to reminisce.
“Yes, XIV is quite nice! They’re quite kind, aren’t they?” Whimsy chuckled. “I believe she’s been helping you lately, yes? Have your dreams been good?” God, did she ever stop smiling? No. That smile was practically permanently affixed to her face.
Nod. They’d had peaceful dreams. “It’s a really nice library,” Kalei said. “I have a nook by a window. She stays in a hammock. I just get to relax. It’s nice, I really like it.” They wished that library could be real. Even if some books were evil (apparently), most of them were nice. Kalei liked books. “Everybody who isn’t here has been nice to me. It’s… I didn’t expect it.”
Kalei moved to lean against the wall, and shifted the blanket from around their shoulders to instead cover them like a blanket. Should they offer it to Whimsy? But Kalei was cold. And they didn’t get a blanket, usually. But they wanted to be nice, like Fia was nice. Fia would give Whimsy her blanket. “Are you cold, too? I’m always so cold these days. I don’t- I don’t like the cold.”
Whimsy shook her head. They didn’t get cold, nor hot. She simply stayed at equilibrium.
“Nah, I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!” But Kalei was cold. She glanced over at the observation window, outside of which Hecate sat, watching them. Well, more accurately watching Kalei. Hecate, nor anyone else for that matter, could see or hear Whimsy. She was clever. This was something she often did when visiting human worlds and wished not to be noticed. Something she wished that her friend knew how to do when they left. Whimsy wished she could give Kalei a second blanket. Or a hot water bottle, or something. Something more than words and invisible hugs. But they couldn’t. Not with those bastards watching.
“Hmm, yes, that sounds wonderful! Seems like XIV really does care about you, huh?” Whimsy giggled lightheartedly, returning her attention to Kalei. “Perhaps I should drop by sometime! Ah, but I daresay my presence doesn’t exactly scream calm, hmm? I do enjoy games a tad too much for a still dream!” they exclaimed. “Well… hum, there are nice calm options, but… I have a feeling you’d like to just sit there and read!”
Xiv cared about them? Huh… Kalei hadn’t ever considered it, but maybe. She let them talk. They didn’t get to talk much in their cell, because she was always listening. They didn’t want their words to be data.
But they weren’t data for her. And, right now, they were bad data. Kalei giggled. They were making it seem like they were a little bit crazier than they actually were.
…only a little bit. That wasn’t good, was it? “I haven’t played a gain- gaze- game in a while. Um… sorry, my head feels weird. Really weird.” A frown pulled at their face. “Normally its my heart. Or my body. Not my head. But my head is onnnn,... my body. Yeah. Right.” Kalei’s eyes unfocused for a few moments.
Then, they locked back onto Whimsy. “You should come,” they said. “I think I like you.”
“Hehe, I should hope your head’s on your body! Otherwise, that would be very, very bad!” she snickered. “It would make a lot of people sad! I’m sure you know who those people are, haha!”
Whimsy tilted her head the other way, nearly touching her shoulder. Was this an invitation? Yes, yes it was. Should she take it? They kind of did. It would be nice to have an excuse to talk to XIV. Not that she ever needed a reason in the first place.
“Hmm, I might! I’ll consider it, probably ask dear XIV first! Don’t sleep often as is, and I’d like to give some prior notice!” she nodded.
“Oh, that gives me so many more options! We could play a card game, I haven’t played one of those in a bit!” she flicked her left hand, a card appearing out of nowhere between her pointer and middle fingers. Invisible to everyone else, of course.
“But you know, you should probably sleep! You seem… very out of it, let’s say!” Whimsy chuckled, flicking her hand again and making the card disappear into nothing. “I think you’ll feel a lot better in the morning!”
No! Kalei finally got to somebody who wasn’t themself or Xiv (who was kind, yes, but acted primarily as a listening ear). Somebody who spoke back. “Don’t leave,” they said before really thinking about it. Somewhere, Kalei thought about how pathetic they were.
But mostly, Kalei could barely think at all. “I can try to think… clearer. I… it just hurts my hand- head. To make the words. …work.” There they go. “But it’s okay. I don’t min- mind. I like… talking.”
They were so small against that cell wall. Kalei had already been on the thinner side, but the DMS’s interesting diet plan (as little as possible, to allow for impulsive procedures) was wrecking what health they’d started developing after moving in with Fia. That, and the general state of their… everything. From the hurt to the experiments down to the weird sickness the DMS was trying to solve.
So many things the DMS wanted… all Kalei wanted was home. “I miss home.”
What’s this? Pity, sympathy? How unusual. By now, Whimsy’s usual happy smile had turned into a small melancholy one. Or was it kind and comforting? Can’t two things be true at once?
“...Then I won’t. I’ll be right here. How does that sound?” they scootched over by Kalei and gave them a quick side hug, careful so her semi-corporeal body didn’t phase through them. That wouldn’t have been a very pleasant feeling. Not that Whimsy would know, she could only speculate after all.
Home. Ah, home. What a fascinating but strange concept these humans have invented. Where is home? Is it a place, or a group of people? Is it a feeling, or is it fluid like water? Can it be anything anyone wished it to be? According to the Judge, home is duty, a place, loyalty. According to Puppeteer, home is on the road, the ability to walk whatever path the heart wishes, to have a say in anything. And to Whimsy? Home is—
No. Not that. Focus on Kaleidoscope. Give them a little happiness. Stay. Do your job. Do not shirk your duty like your friend did. Not that Whimsy minded, Whimsy loved her job. She loved making people happy, and it made her happy too. So that’s what they’ll do.
“...I know, Kalei. I know.” Whimsy thought for a minute on what to do. How could she help? Oh, right. Well, humans shouldn’t be able to pick up the tiny changes in energy, so it should be fine.
“Hmm… I have an idea! Do you wanna see something, Kalei?” Whimsy perked up. “I think it’ll really help with your homesickness!”
Kalei leaned into Whimsy without leaning too hard. If they focused, she was warm. Kalei liked the warm.
She was nice, too, but- oh. She spoke.
Kalei tried to respond immediately, but the words weren’t coming to mind. Damn it. Clenching and unclenching their fist, Kalei finally realized that they could just nod and smile. So they did, in fact, nod and smile. Their smile was small, more the lack of a frown than anything else, but at least it looked real. “Mhm,” Kalei hummed.
Whimsy focused to make that area of her body a little more solid than the rest, but continued funnelling focus into the true invisibility that kept her cloaked. She glanced at Hecate, who was looking away and scrolling on her phone. Or Kalei’s phone. Gosh, how rude of that woman! But that’s not something Whimsy can solve right now.
Holding her hands out, she scrunched them in a fist in front of the two and held them together. It was important that she didn’t mess this up. She didn’t want to ruin Kalei’s mood. Ah, there it is. The scene she wanted to show them. She opened her palms and watched as a scene formed, floating above her open hands and gloved fingers. It was like a tiny window into Kalei’s apartment. It looked like Squig, Kat, and Fia were making something together on the floor. It was hard to tell what, both due to the small scale and the shaky quality. Though of course, Squig was failing. There was white thread everywhere, and Squig repeatedly shook her hand out with a pained expression. Soon, Fia had a resigned look on her face and just took the thread and tool away from Squig with a suppressed laugh.
“Sorry it’s not a better quality..! If I didn’t have to focus on so many things at once, I think it could be better, haha…!” Whimsy chuckled, peering at Kalei out the corner of her eye while keeping one eye trained on the illusion. “This is in real time, by the way! Do you like it?” they asked Kalei, her tone holding no expectation. The poor person, beaten and battered but unbroken, could speak their mind. She didn’t mind at all.
Kalei watched with wide eyes. Their friends looked happy. Very happy. A shaking hand raised as if to touch the illusion before quickly withdrawing- they couldn’t risk breaking it.
Kat was okay! She was a bit hurt still, they could tell but she was still smiling. Fia was laughing at Squig, looking mostly unphased. Tired… Fia did look tired. But she was alive! And happy!
A knot tied in Kalei’s throat. They smiled a little bit wider, but tears filled their eyes. “They’re happy,” Kalei said. “That’s good. I want them to be happy.”
Their tremors settled ever so slightly at the sight.
Whimsy let the illusion keep running. They had the energy. It’ll be fine.
“Yes, yes they are,” Whimsy said, a surprising amount of bittersweet in her tone, quiet and soft. “I want them to be happy too.” She wanted everyone to be happy. She really wasn’t supposed to pick sides, to play favourites. But… she couldn’t help it. If being human meant having bias, did that make Whimsy more human than she thought she was?
Heh. What a funny idea, being human. As if they would ever give up her life to be so plain and unremarkable. But someone else did, and Whimsy thinks she’s starting to understand why.
“They want you to be happy too. Of course they do! They’re your friends, after all.” she exclaimed. “And to do that, you gotta live! They’ll be so, so happy to see you again. I know that.” Whimsy chuckled. “Of course, I think Fia’s gonna be a little mad too! Can you blame her though? Hehe, but she’ll be really happy too! So you gotta hang on, okay?” the scene in her hands was calmer now, with Squig watching the other two work with fascination.
“I think they’d rather you rest, Kalei. While you still can. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here. If XIV lets me, I’ll follow you into your dreams too!” she chuckled. “Ah, I hope you don’t mind if my appearance changes a little! ‘Course, I could keep it like this if that’s what you want! Can’t have you freak out too much and wake up, hehe!”
Oh, Fia was going to be pissed. A grin crossed their face at the idea- her shouting at them, probably calling them their full name again. Kalei had done something pretty dumb, hadn’t they?
They’d do it again though. Because of the scene they got to watch- even if Kalei wasn’t sure when they’d rejoin it, at least their sacrifice made others happy.
But it couldn’t be permanent. Kalei wanted to see Fia and Kat again. Whimsy said they’d be happy to see Kalei, and Whimsy hadn’t lied yet.
She sounded a bit sad sometimes. “You’re nice,” Kalei mumbled. It wasn’t much, but it was all they could offer. “Kind of like her.”
As much as they stubbornly wanted to stay awake and watch, Kalei’s head was starting to hurt again. Laying down did sound good…
With a sigh, they scooted down and laid, shivering into the blanket once their arm hit the cold concrete. Kalei’s head was close to Whimsy’s arm, and they closed their eyes. “Okay. I trust you,” they said.
As Kalei drifted off to sleep, Whimsy shook out her hands like they were trying to shake off water. The illusion dissipated just like that. Making sure they were asleep, Whimsy stood up and dusted non-existent dirt off her dress.
Trust. This human, practically a child in comparison to her, trusted her. To be fair, she did help them more than she probably should have. But… heh, it felt good to be trusted by someone that wasn’t like her.
She made them happy. Whimsy could feel it. And that cheered Whimsy up, too. As they looked down on Kalei, she crouched back down and gently patted them on the head. Not a single hair moved, but that’s alright. Whimsy could feel it, and perhaps Kalei could too. That alone is enough for her.
“I’ll see you again soon, Kalei…!” her smile returned as she walked off into a wall, disappearing.
