incomingchoppers: (no survivors.)
Radar O'Reilly ([personal profile] incomingchoppers) wrote in [community profile] ph_logs2025-05-06 10:27 am

but i wonder where you are [closed to current CR]

Who: Radar O'Reilly ([personal profile] incomingchoppers) and current CR
What: Mr. Rambo's gone. Radar tries to deal.
When: Early May
Where: Baker Ranch, Town Hall, the Leeds Estate, and all over
Warning(s): None yet; will add if necessary



on the night you disappeared, oh if i had seen it clear [locked to Baker Ranch residents]

He wakes up, and he knows.

He hears an echo of the ferryman's sigh; the whisper of water parting as the boat shoves back from the dock. The problem with echoes, though, is the delay between source and sound. He wakes up, he hears, and he knows it's too late.

Radar's probably never gotten dressed so fast in his life, even during a middle-of-the-night bugout. He bursts out the door with one boot half untied and his suspenders on the verge of snapping off. He doesn't care. He sprints as fast as he can the whole way to Baker Ranch, which isn't too fast at all on account of him having to catch his breath a couple times.

(He knows -- and pretends like he doesn't -- that this is different from the last time John vanished onto the ferry.)


i'm gonna find a way through, there's another life beyond the line [town hall + leeds estate]

There's so much to be done. Nobody realizes how much you gotta get in order after somebody's gone, but Radar's had to do it hundreds of times. Every soldier the 4077th can't save has to be processed before the morgue truck takes them, so he knows the shape of the aftermath pretty good, even if, individually, each one's on a smaller scale than this. This is more like --

well --

(There were no survivors.)

And Edgar's great, he's way better at all this than he was a year ago, but he doesn't know enough to run Baker Ranch. Not like somebody who grew up on a farm and knew the rhythms of the work by the time they were crawling. There's so much, and even someone like Radar can't do all of it plus keep working at Town Hall plus help keep the Leeds Estate in decent shape.

He crumples up five tries at writing a resignation letter before he just gives up and goes to tell everybody at Town Hall in person. Maybe it'll just be temporary. (He knows that's a big maybe.) But there's a lot to settle there, too, and all the conversations Radar has with his friends and coworkers get punctuated with fretful ramblings like, " -- and I wrote down everybody's coffee order when I was just starting out and a copy of it's still in my desk even though I got it all memorized now, top drawer, third folder down, and I checked on Yorick's cabinet last week and it's only got space for maybe ten more folders so you're gonna have to start a new cabinet before the end of May, and -- "

Dahlia and anybody else on the Leeds Estate grounds has to put up with him pacing around there, too, rattling off all the idle upkeep notes he's been cataloging even though he's not exactly officially her assistant anymore. And oh, jeez, if he moves out to the ranch permanent then he's going to be all the way across town from Dahlia. Sure it's not really that far, but it feels far, and what if something goes bad when he's living all the way out in the farmlands? What if Hawkeye or Father Mulcahy or Major Houlihan need him and he can't get there fast enough?

Somebody's gotta look after the ranch with John gone for good, though. So... so that's what he's gotta do. What needs doing. Just like he's always done.


i will be waiting for you on the other side of the frozen pines [wildcard]

In a rare idle moment, it's possible to catch Radar alone. Maybe on his front stoop with a couple of his animals gathered close; at the Temple, fussing helplessly over Serranai's altar (because somebody's gotta keep that in good shape, too, don't they? it's important. it's important. he loved her too.); on the green, just sort of... staring into space in absolute exhaustion. Or somewhere else, as he sleepwalks through all the mundane parts of life that still need doing in between the rest.

[you know where to find me if you want to plot <3]
abhorrently: (pause.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2025-05-10 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay. Show me where it is? I'll make it for us."

Maybe if they both take it, it'll be easier for him. Maybe it'll be less strange if she's not just sitting there empty handed. But she genuinely doesn't know where it's kept, and if they go in, she might be able to coax him to sit down.
abhorrently: (watch.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2025-05-11 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
She steps around the mess as if it isn't there, giving no indications that she even sees it - she does, but understands. Her apartment might have looked worse, if Phil hadn't been helping her, and it's a smaller space to manage than a house. Instead, Fever just busies herself with setting up the tea, putting water to heat and getting them cups.

When the animals join, she crouches down to pat the strange bread dog, and looks at the rabbit with all the uncertainty of someone who's never so much as touched a rabbit in her life. But she's not going to rush Radar, not going to make him talk before he wants to. How many time had he stepped up and made everyone else's lives easier? Surely, she can give him one time in return.
psalmofseasons: (serranai)

[personal profile] psalmofseasons 2025-05-11 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
Serranai sets aside her accordion and pulls Radar in close. The Mothers have a strange ability to feel bigger than they are when they hold you. Even though Serranai is shorter and slimmer than Radar, she wraps her arms around him and instantly becomes a shield, bundling him up in her.

"I know it won't be the same," Serranai murmurs, "but I might be able to get you some help around here. Take the load off you a bit, make sure this place stays taken care of. Would that be good?"

[ Serranai is offering Radar the Boon of the Earthen Son, which will create an arcane construct of Serranai's domain that specializes in animal handling and plant tending, creating a helpful attached NPC. It will also have some limited combat abilities intended to defend the ranch from threats. Does Radar accept? ]
hate_gettin_older: (oh crap)

[personal profile] hate_gettin_older 2025-05-12 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, come on --" And before the mattress has stopped sinking under Radar's weight, Edgar thrashes free of the blankets and shoves his feet into his shoes, not bothering to lace them before he lunges for the door.

There's nothing like thinking involved, just a vehement urgency: he's got to get down to the docks and stop the ferry, before Rambo's gone for good.
abhorrently: (chord.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2025-05-12 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
"How old were you?"

The question's only as loud as it needs to be in order to be heard - the water continues to heat, and Fever straightens up, letting Bao and her reach a tolerable level of peace and mutual concern, while TJ can wander as he pleases. The fact that this tea means she can corner Radar into resting for a moment has her alarmed - how much is he trying to pile on himself? He only has two arms, after all, and one injured heart.
soldierslikeus: (looking down at you)

frozen pines

[personal profile] soldierslikeus 2025-05-12 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)

It's out on the green that Margaret finally spots him, as she's cutting across the grass back toward downtown and the clinic. At first she doesn't intend to do more than give a nod of passing greeting, assuming he's simply busily going about his day much the same, but as she gets closer she realises he's not busy at all. He's just... staring.

Well, that's— odd.

She adjusts her course to approach him more directly. "Radar? Are you quite alright?"

soldierslikeus: (what)

[personal profile] soldierslikeus 2025-05-14 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)

Well, that was illustrative. It'd be one thing if he rambled on to distract her from a lack of answer or something he didn't want to be caught doing, that'd be normal enough, but the blank stare is different.

"I'm just fine, though I'm getting the feeling the same can't be said for you, Corporal." Her arms cross loosely. "You seem out of it, that's not like you. Unless you meant to just stand here, staring at nothing in particular."

hate_gettin_older: (come on curtis)

[personal profile] hate_gettin_older 2025-05-15 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
Radar's hand closes on his arm, and he's moving fast enough that the anchor pulls him into a spin, staggering to a halt.

"What d'you mean wait?" he demands. "Come on, we gotta catch him!"
abhorrently: (onward.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2025-05-16 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Probably with some help - neighbors, friends, and the like. And by setting non-essential things down. But also, she probably doesn't know how she did it either."

Put two children in the mix, it might have become some kind of blur. That's the impression she gets from talking to people who are parents - that it just sort of works, and you run around patching up the edges.

"Is keeping this place running what you want to do, primarily?"

If that ends up the case, she might be making some pointed suggestions to whatever new arrival comes towards her desk next, looking for a job. Town Hall can keep up the systems Radar made, but she'd have to be bedbound to leave Radar struggling out here.
abhorrently: (forest.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2025-05-18 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Sure, someone's gotta. But is it what you want?"

Somehow, she infuses the last three words with a little more gravity, a little more presence - she wants to know that he'll be happy, not feeling constrained to obligation, willing to go to great lengths to figure out how to give him peace of mind if so. He's a friend, and a friend deserves that much. Meanwhile, she'll pour the water for tea.
abhorrently: (quiet.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2025-05-18 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
With the water attended to, she crosses to where Radar is seated, and pulls him into another hug. There's a lot of feelings in her head, a lot of thoughts swirling - but she's pulled the veil back over them, like she used to do with her bloody, clawing ones, because all of that isn't important. Instead, she thinks hard about a certain idea - arms that feel warm, that anchor one to the present, that have enough weight to not be denied.

Right now, if he collapses, he won't fall. He'll be held up, and so will everything else that he feels rests on his shoulders. Nothing will go wrong, if he needs this too.
hate_gettin_older: (verge of tears)

[personal profile] hate_gettin_older 2025-05-18 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Edgar stares at him for a moment in furious bewilderment, like he's not making sense on purpose, and starts to tug at the arm Radar's holding.

In midmovement, he stops. Goes wholly still, as though that same echo is sounding in his own ears until he listens. He's gone, he's gone.

"Fuckin hell," he half-whispers, in broken protest.
psalmofseasons: (serranai)

[personal profile] psalmofseasons 2025-05-18 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Absolutely," Serranai agrees. "Let's get to it, then."

Two fingers in her mouth, Serranai lets out a loud whistle that sounds less like a person whistling and more like a bird call somehow. From the ground just outside the ranch's fence, a large rock that had been jutting up from the ground begins to rumble and shift, before the soil around it breaks, revealing a stony face. A square jaw. A strong nose. A mossy crop of "hair". He almost looks a little bit familiar.

"G'mornin' sweetheart!" Serranai grins. "Radar, this is Johnny Boy, and he's gonna look after the farm when you're not here, aye?"

[ "Johnny Boy" is an earthen arcane structure similar to a stone golem. He is now a prop NPC under Radar's control. He can't speak, but he can emote, and thinks like a person. He loves animals and plants and will protect Baker Ranch from threats, can perform most animal husbandry and gardening duties, housework, and is a pretty good cook. He also adores people, especially Radar, Kitty, and Edgar. Animals and Pokemon appear to be drawn to him. He's delighted to be here! ]

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