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]
hate_gettin_older: (oh crap)

[personal profile] hate_gettin_older 2025-05-09 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"See him last? When I fuckin fell asleep is when, he was right there --"

He flings out a hand toward the chair against the wall, where Rambo dozed so many nights so Edgar wouldn't have to sleep in a room alone.
Edited 2025-05-09 18:36 (UTC)
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.
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!"
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.
hate_gettin_older: (verge of tears)

[personal profile] hate_gettin_older 2025-05-21 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
"What do we --"

His voice cracks, the smallest bit, and he breaks off.

"We," he manages after a moment, "we gotta tell somebody. Town Hall, right, they keep track?"