radio transmission [June Catch-All]

[theydrewfirstblood]

Who: John Rambo (theydrewfirstblood), Sally Boyle (sunshinesally) & Arthur Morgan (mistermorgan), John Rambo & YOU!
What: June catch-all for John Rambo, plus John finally gets together with the neighbors to socialize.
When:Throughout June
Where: Baker Ranch & all around Da Hollow
Warning(s): Canon typical warnings for the FIRST BLOOD/RAMBO franchise: action movie violence, mentions & possible remembered depictions of torture, death, PTSD, flashbacks, police brutality, incarceration, & outdated offensive language--will add more if they come up.

Covey Leader Calling Raven, Come In Raven! (Dinner Party, closed to Arthur and Sally)

John's tried to get to know his neighbors a little--at least he knows Sally, and received a heartening greeting when he dropped by one day to let her know he had the parcel next door. It's good to see her occasionally, and Gwen, too. Makes him miss Lou a little less.

She, of course, tells him they should all get together sometime--and when the bank approves his request for an expansion, he drops by to invite the pair over to celebrate.

They say yes, so he offers to host--nothing fancy, either, Morgan just doesn't seem the type. Plus he told them it was okay to bring Gwen, so he takes a few days to find what he needs after telling them it's a casual setup...and when they come over, he's set up a makeshift barbecue pit he's just getting some venison steaks going on, while Co is a couple yards away trying to peck at Sam the rooster, who just avoids her nonsense and patiently tries to preen her feathers into place..

When he spots them, he waves with a smile and crosses over to greet them.

"Back in my time 'n locale, nothin' beats a good ol' fashioned backyard barbecue." he explains. "We can eat inside where it's more comfortable, or hang around out here, but while things're cookin' I thought I could show you a few things happening around here if you want."

Company Leader To Identify Baker Team (Ranch, OTA)

Once John gets his ducks in a row, the upgrades for the ranch start pretty fast: namely, the acquisition of land.

He's happy to do the work himself, but some parts need more than one set of hands, and knows it'll go a little faster with help. There's no official call, but he hits up a few people and mentions to the servers at the Oak & Iron he's befriended that he's willing to feed and water anyone interested in helping out.

So there's no official work party, but if you hear that Baker Ranch is upgrading? The offer stands: drop by, put in an hour or two, and you'll go home with a full belly and maybe a few little gifts of jerky, pelts, or trinkets crafted from beads of wood and bone.

Lone Wolf To Wolf Den (Forest, OTA)

John does most of the border work solo--marking off the fence placement for his new land allotment, and doing some minor clearing to keep his game safe in the little preserve he's creating. In doing so, he snags a couple hares to add to his growing menagerie, and looks into the necessary approval to remove a tree just a bit past the buffer he's been approved to clear. The branches breach his property boundary, and he doesn't want to risk any larger birds hassling his rabbits and hares.

He does his usual hunting as well...and he keeps an eye out for the wolf he met a while ago.

It's not his dog. Never will be, wolves can't be tamed, but this one is so different--already half domesticated. He was a good hunting buddy, and he had such great temperament...

Yeah, John kind of wants to keep him. He takes his breaks during construction near the new boundary, a bowl of broth-soaked meat nearby to hopefully draw him out. He spends his evenings out there as well, considering maybe a little shrine to Serranai while scanning the brush every time there's a single sound.

He works, he waits...and he maybe sends a little prayer to Serranai, and occasionally Kora (she did say Korra would be available if John needed her), in hopes of seeing the wolf again.

Talk To Me, Johnny (Wildcard)

Choose Your Own Rambo!

Comments

Wildcard!

[astrogator]

As promised, Tayrey's coming over to help with some of the ranch work. Not anything that involves too much dirt or unpredictable animals, but practical tasks she might actually be good at. Farmhouse repairs. Putting up fences. Captain Rambo had helped her some with patching her house up after the flood, and she means to fulfil her side of the contract.

She turns up wearing coveralls in her usual shade of bright spacer blue, with a kerchief tied over her hair and her hastily put together toolkit in one hand.

There's no need for her to knock on the door, because she sees him out front, and gives him a cheery wave. 'Peace and prosperity!'

[theydrewfirstblood]

John is shuffling around out in front of the house when Ari walks up, Co running free around John’s feet. When she spots Ari, she rushes towards her—but stops about three feet away and just flaps her wings, favors her with a few sharp BUKBUK BUKBUKBUKs, then trots back over to John.

Seemingly, the chicken equivalent of John’s smile and wave when he hears her call out.

“Hey! C’mere, wanna show you something.”

He’s got one hand pressed to his chest—no, as she draws closer, he’s holding something. When Ari gets close enough, he reveals a tiny baby rabbit nestled between his palm and his chest.

“Chickens can be kinda hard to get used to if you’ve never been exposed to ‘em before, but thought you might get a kick out of petting a baby.” He explains softly. “Found ‘em when I was checking my snares a few days ago. There was four altogether but this one’s a cuddle monkey.”

[astrogator]

Tayrey can be appreciative of a chicken who is respectful enough not to get too close - and pleased with herself for not reacting when Co started running towards her. Chickens aren't dangerous, but they're still unpredictable, she thinks. All animals are.

She steps forward to look at what John has to show her, but while most would find the tiny rabbit endearing, she looks confused and uncertain. She glances over towards the road, and then at the rabbit again, and then up at John himself.

'That's... uh... well done for finding them.' Is that the right thing to say? She doesn't know what the snares are for.

Then, less awkwardly: 'Best we don't waste time. You've got fencing for me to help with? I'm getting good at that.'

[theydrewfirstblood]

John can't really decide if it's her lack of familiarity--time in space, didn't grow up with animals like he did--or if it's something else that seems to have removed the fairly typical response he sees in damn near everyone around baby animals. Either way, he doesn't want to push...but she does want to work.

"I do--but I also have some moving rabbits as well." John admits, nodding to his precious little burden. "We get a couple more sections done, and I can turn some of these guys loose from the hutch so I can move it into the new tract. The idea is the rabbits 'n hares will be free range, but I wanna keep the hutch out there for the ones that need the shelter or that I gotta segregate, so...fence, moving rabbits, relocating hutch, corralling rabbits. That gonna be an issue?"

[astrogator]

Moving animals.

Tayrey would sooner go and dig in the ground, against all her upper-level Cardalek sensibilities, than do anything at all involving animals. But she'd given her word by contract, and if she hadn't been specific enough about the work she was expected to do, that is her fault. She should have conducted a full contract negotiation over it.

So now she's just going to have to deal with it. At least they're small animals. It's discomfort, not fear. She can handle discomfort.

'No, no issue,' she says firmly, but the set of her shoulders and the look in her eyes give away that she's preparing herself to do an unpleasant task without shirking or making a fuss about it, the way a Tradeliner ought to.

Ranch

[hate_gettin_older]

Edgar's never really done any farm work at all, before coming here. But putting up a fence isn't too different from bashing together a new bunk or partition out of junk, like they used to do in the Tail all the time -- and this time the materials he's got to work with are new, already perfectly shaped for the purpose. He places the posts and planks, winds cord and wire, holds things for someone else when part of the work needs more than one pair of hands, and watches in satisfaction as the fence extends itself behind them.

Once that's done, there are the rabbits to move out to their new hutch, and in this Edgar gets woefully distracted. He doesn't mean to spend the better part of twenty minutes holding and talking to the first pair of bunnies before he goes back for the others, it just ... sort of happens.

[theydrewfirstblood]

“Problem, aren’t they?”

John isn’t really scolding him—as he walks up to Edgar, he’s got another rabbit cradled to his chest, sibling to one of the little ones Edgar has been fussing over. He’d found a nest while checking snares a few days earlier with signs that the mother was gone (predators, not one of his traps thankfully) and they were all pretty healthy.

…and yeah, he might be a little soft on them himself so he can’t begrudge Edgar a little fussing.

“You ever seen baby rabbits before?” He asks, reaching out to stroke one of the bunnies Edgar has been talking to and petting. “They’re cute as hell, huh?”

[hate_gettin_older]

Edgar looks up, a touch sheepishly. "They're so fuckin tiny."

(That's a yes.)

"How big are they gonna get when they're grown?"

[theydrewfirstblood]

John points to the hutch next to this one, where some full grown cottontail rabbits are milling about--the hutch he's keeping for the ones he plans to use as game.

"Hares'll get a little bigger." he explains, shifting his grip on the one he's holding so it can settle more comfortably against his chest. He doesn't let his gaze move far from Edgar, holding the little ones so carefully...

"You want one?" he asks. "To keep, not for the survival lessons I promised you. Friend for you, like Co is for me. You can pick one of those little guys, or we can find another one."

[hate_gettin_older]

"To keep?" Edgar blinks down at the tiny ball of bunny in his hands, then back up at John, visibly both delighted by the offer and alarmed by the prospective responsibility. "I dunno, I ... how do I even take care of one?"

[theydrewfirstblood]

John smiles at Edgar's reaction, because it's precisely what he was hoping for. That fear and wonder...

"It's a job, but it's not real hard." John assures him with a hand on his shoulder, which he shifts after a moment to scritch the top of the bunny's head where it rests in Edgar's hands. "Believe it or not? The fact you don't know much, if anything, about rabbits means you're equipped to take better care of 'em. There's a lotta stuff in pop culture about things rabbits like to eat or whatever, and it's actually pretty harmful. You don't know any of that, so you've got a leg up on a lot of people I know. All you do is keep 'em fed, clean, and?"

John gathers his own bunny up a little closer. The little ball of fluff makes a tiny, happy chittering noise and twitches its nose.

"Give 'em a lot of playtime 'n affection." he finishes with a laugh. "I can show you what to do, no problem. "And you don't have to say yes right away, just...maybe when you're out here, you help me with the hutches for a while and run around to check on the ones I'm letting stay free range when the fencing is up on the new plot. You get the hang of it, you feel comfortable...you find a furball curling up on you once in a while or getting pissy when you fail to say hi? Maybe you name 'em and adopt then."

Ranch

[incomingchoppers]

One Saturday morning, bright and early, the sound of hammering starts up near the end of the fence line.

In typical Radar fashion, he didn't mention he was coming over, he's already moved a stack of hay bales out to feed some of the animals, and if anybody ducks into the nearest tool shed, they'll discover it's looking way more organized than the last time they saw it. He might not be in peak farm shape anymore after almost two years of clerking, but fenceposts aren't much heavier than a loaded-up litter; he hauls them around with only a little bit of struggle, hammering them into the ground one by one to mark out the line.

He whistles as he goes along. In theory, it's a melody. In practice... well, let's just say Radar has other strengths besides staying in tune.

[theydrewfirstblood]

John is up--pretty goddamn early. Force of habit, can't help it...hasn't quit the habit since he went to prison.

Still, when he goes to feed Danforth? He's already been fed. So's Delmar, the new stallion he's just recently taken possession of.

He's considering work on the fence around the new plot, so he heads for the tool shed and finds that it is, in fact, neater--someone even put his toolbox back together. Just the way he likes it.

Grabbing the box, he heads out to the back of the property...

...and there's his sneaky little helper. Whistling a frankly ancient tune it takes him a minute to identify as he approaches. When he does...

Radar may have trouble staying in tune, and he's not alone--a lack of skill, not for lack of trying, as John sings a verse while walking up behind Radar.

"They say that in the Army, you'll never get things done,
But Radar's almost finished before the fight's begun!
Oh, I don't want no more of Army life!
Gee, Ma, I wanna go home!"

[incomingchoppers]

Radar hears him coming -- of course he does -- but doesn't react until John starts singing along. (He's learned people get weird sometimes if he lets on how far away he can really hear them.) Then he's grinning, bright, and joining in on the chorus.

"Gee Ma, I wanna go hoooome!" He finishes hammering the latest post before he turns around. "Hey Mr. Rambo, how's it going?"

He takes off his hat just long enough to swipe some of the sweat off his forehead, then resettles it over his hair.

[theydrewfirstblood]

"Eerily good so far." John replies, reaching out to tousle Radar's hair before he slips his hat back on. "Anyone ever tell you if you weren't such a nice guy, you'd be creepy?"

It's a clear joke, especially since John reaches into his back pocket and hands Radar a packet wrapped in some wax paper.

"Snack from the house--I make my own jerky." he explains. "And it's stag, so you won't be offending anyone."

John nods over his shoulder towards the hutch near the house with the rabbits he keeps for fun instead of food.

Radar just...strikes him as the type to worry.

[incomingchoppers]

Radar wrinkles his nose a bit at the hair-tousle, but it's good-natured enough. "Major Burns tried to put a bell on me once," he says, "but then he started complaining I woke him up all the time."

That's probably a yes.

"Oh, thank you, sir -- " He accepts the little bundle and unwraps the jerky. "I never had venison before. We're not supposed to shoot the deer that wander onto the farm back home, so my mom and Uncle Ed just try to chase 'em off."

Which suits him just fine! And even if Uncle Ed was allowed to hunt the deer... well, there's a difference between a big stag and a tiny helpless rabbit. He bites into the jerky and makes a small, approving noise.

"How're the rabbits doing?" he asks once he's swallowed.

[hate_gettin_older]

"Hey, uh ... you need a hand with that?"

The stranger comes jogging up to where Radar's hauling fenceposts, looking both curious and uncertain.

[incomingchoppers]

"Oh, hey!" says Radar, bright and breathless. "Yeah, uh, just get that other end over there, I already dug all the holes out so we can get 'em in the right spots. Thank you, sir."

Yeah, the stranger doesn't look a whole lot older than Radar himself, but punctuating everything with a sir is pretty much reflex after almost two years in the Army.

[hate_gettin_older]

The sir startles him enough to make him half-straighten up midway through bending to get the other end of the post. It's too ridiculous to actually offend him, though, so he just says "It's Edgar, thanks. You?"

[incomingchoppers]

Every so often he gets a funny look when he drops a sir or ma'am in conversation, but that's the first time Radar's ever startled someone so bad. He flashes a quick, embarrassed grin. "Sorry, si -- uh, Edgar. I call everybody sir even when I'm not supposed to anymore. I'm Radar O'Reilly, that's not really my name but it's what everybody calls me. It's nice to meet you!"

Lone Wolf to Wolf Den

[gruesomegourmand]

After that one run-in, if Laios were a wiser man, he would've called it good there. Not get in so deep that this could possibly hurt John down the line - something that breaks his heart to even consider.

He's not all that wise, however - not in the places that might've told him this wasn't a good idea. All he sees is a friend in need, and a friend who really benefited from having a good ol' companion animal time.

Thus, here he is, trotting along the boundary fence, when a smell reels him in faster than he was already moving. He doesn't rush to the meat right away, however; he catches eye of John first, however, and perks up.

Tail wagging and posture bright, he leans up, swaying his head as though he's making sure he's seeing who he thinks he is right, before letting out a bark. A verbal--- as verbal as one can be without words, of course--- greeting, and making sure he is able to draw closer.

[theydrewfirstblood]

John is starting to consider going back inside when he hears the rustle of footsteps. Looking up, he sees a wolf draw near, but doesn't get his hopes up.

It's the same coloring, but could be another...

Then he barks, and there's something about the way that tongue lolls out of his mouth that makes John sure--and he's way happier than he should be but he can't help it.

"Hey, boy!" he calls out getting to his feet from where he was sitting near the fence. He ventures forward a couple steps, then crouches and reaches back to pull the bowl of food forward to sit in front of him.

"Heyyyy, big man! You remember me? C'mon, have some. Made it for you special...c'mon, boy! It's okay, you remember me, right?..."

[gruesomegourmand]

The invitation needs little further pressing before Laios rushes forward, bouncy and giddy in his movements, and he doesn't waste much time at all before he starts to dig into the food presented to him. (Everything tastes so much better as a wolf, who knew? If only he could capture some of these flavors on a human palette.)

It's only after he's eaten his fill does he grab the bowl with his teeth, the mere puddle of broth he hadn't eaten spilling out of the side, before he drags it back, bending forward in a play-bow. If some antics didn't let John know that he remembered very well who he was, he wasn't sure what would.

[theydrewfirstblood]

John relaxes, slowly, as the wolf comes over to eat--but when he's done and spills the dregs in pulling the bowl around with his teeth to greet John, he shuffles forward to reach out and give the wolf's scruff a good scratch.

"Yeah, I knew you'd remember." John laughs, something warm in his chest easing at the feel of that warm fur under his fingers again. "Thought I wasn't gonna see you anymore, big guy...yeah, you're a good boy, huh?"

His eyes burn a little, but there's (thank God) no sign of tears. Just a tightness in his throat and more of that warmth in his chest spreading through his limbs--and just for a second, the pain that's his constant companion doesn't feel quite so intense.

"I missed you." he admits softly, bending his head to drop a kiss between the wolf's ears. "Missed you a lot, buddy."

[gruesomegourmand]

Play is put on the shelf for scratches, and the bowl is dropped. Instead, he opts to lean his neck up into the affections, his tail's rapid wagging slowing to content thumps on the ground. The kiss comes as a surprise, but he doesn't mind it; especially in this form, affection, no matter what type, is more delightful than Laios ever knew it could be.

Falling into his therapy dog role easily, he steps forward, with all his weight, pushing his dense body into John's legs. Weight and pressure helped these sorts of things, right? He feels like it does, and doesn't hesitate to give John that affection right back.