The Madgod's Mailbox/Sending Stone

[blindwatchersees]

(Pumpkin Hollow IC inbox)

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october

[incomingchoppers]

Radar knows there's a shrine to Fever's dad somewhere in the temple. He remembers her telling him that if things ever got too loud or too much inside his head, he should think about talking to him.

Well, things definitely got too loud at the gala, and even if he sorted some of it out here and there -- especially when Fever was around to help -- he's still pretty shaken up about it. So, yeah. Maybe he oughta go talk to him. Not like I still sorta feel like I got a blown-out transmitter in my head and I dunno what I'm gonna do if it happens again is something Hawkeye or Father Mulcahy can help with too much.

So he goes to the temple. Makes what he's starting to think of as his usual rounds whenever he steps inside. A stop at the Catholic altar just in case, same as he jumps to his feet and salutes when a general walks in the room; a whispered hello to Serranai, complete with leaving a neat-looking rock on her altar that he found the other day. Then, hesitantly, he walks over to the altar for Sheogorath.

"Hello, sir. Um." He takes off his hat. "I'm Radar O'Reilly. I dunno if this is the best way to talk to you but Fever said it might be a good idea, so, if you can hear me I'd really like to talk if you got a minute. Sir."

[blindwatchersees]

There's suddenly a soft hum in Radar's head, and the voice that comes across sounds like it's coming over the radio.

"10-2. This is Lord Sheogorath."

[incomingchoppers]

Radar jumps a little, almost losing his grip on his hat. Okay. Okay, he's had people talk straight into his mind before, it's fine, especially if Fever's dad is a god. Unsure if he can answer back the same way, he keeps speaking out loud, hushed.

"Hi sir. Um, thanks for talking with me. I'm a friend of Fever's and I'm, I'm real good at hearing things. Not just with my ears I mean. I'm psychic. I didn't really know that's what it was until I got here, and when I told Fever she said if it ever got too loud in my head you might be able to help." He swallows. "It did, at Dahlia's party. It was real bad. And it's better now but maybe you can still help?"

[blindwatchersees]

“I couuuuuld, but… you do realize who I am, don’t you? You realize who you’re asking for help?”

[incomingchoppers]

Radar frowns.

"I know you're her dad. And a god. I mean obviously you're a god if you got a space here in the temple."

And he knows there's something... unsettling about Sheogorath. Even if they never met -- like Radar said, he's got good ears. He doesn't know the details, but he knows there's a sharp edge glinting under that transmission.

cw: dismemberment mention

[blindwatchersees]

"Allow me to clarify. I am the Daedric Prince of Madness, the Lord of the Never-There. I am lord of the creative and lord of the deranged. The Dunmer call me Fourth Corner of the House of Troubles. I am the Father of Music, for I ripped a mortal asunder and turned her into the first instruments. Among the Princes of Oblivion, I am called the most capricious, and the least predictable. I have brought my peers low by doing nothing at all. I drove an invading Prince from my realm, when he had been said to have been the most powerful. And you come to me seeking help, mortal, when you know not even what you're talking to?" There's a rumble of thunder in his voice as it trails off.

[incomingchoppers]

Radar muffles a tiny squeak in the back of his throat, half scared and half indignant. The kindness of the Mothers might've spoiled him a little; he wasn't expecting a god to be this mad, in both meanings of the word.

(Honestly, he thinks faintly, he probably should've expected it. Of course. Fever's dad would be kinda terrifying and talk about turning people's guts into instruments and stuff.)

"Well I know now," he says, more miffed than he intends, but it slips out before he can slam a mortified lid on it. Catching himself, "Sir. Uh, sorry sir, I didn't mean that."

[blindwatchersees]

Perhaps surprisingly, Sheogorath responds with a warm laugh.

“Ha! You’re tougher than you look. You’re spirited, too. Alright, mortal, I’m willing to help you, so long as you want a mad god’s help.”

[incomingchoppers]

Huh. Radar blinks, taken aback, like he just aced an exam without even studying for it.

"It's worth a try." He doesn't sound wholly sure, but he doesn't sound as tentative as he did a minute ago, either. "Right? I don't know a lot about... how this works, or how I work either, with hearing things I mean. What would you be able to do?"

[blindwatchersees]

"Well, a good first start might be having you by for tea. It's usually the better thing, to get to know someone before you go prodding around in their gray matter. And I'm always happy to keep the company of my dear Fever's friends... except when I'm not."

[incomingchoppers]

"Oh, I got days like that too, sir, don't worry," says Radar. "Sometimes it's nice to see people and sometimes you just wanna be alone with nobody to bother you, even if you like 'em. But -- yeah, okay, I can come over for tea, sure."

A pause.

"...Where do I go?"

[blindwatchersees]

“Well, you could stop by my parlor. You know, the building that looks as if it can’t make up its mind. Or if it’s later in the evening, you could stop by the little townhome with the fungus-covered logs and lavender in the window boxes.”

[incomingchoppers]

"Oh! Yeah, I know where that is." (Like Sheogorath just told him to look for the house with the purple shutters or something.) "Okay, yeah, I'll -- uh, I'll see you there."

He shoves his hat back into place. "Thanks again, sir, I really appreciate it," he adds before scurrying from the temple.

Not very long after, a slightly tentative knock sounds on Sheo's door.

[blindwatchersees]

The figure that opens the door doesn’t look like a god so much as a frail old man with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Radar, yes? Come on in, I’ve nearly finished boiling water for tea.”

[incomingchoppers]

"Yeah, that's me."

He flashes a nervy grin at Sheo as he steps inside. Mortanne looked pretty normal, too, he guesses, and Serranai would've looked completely normal without the horns or the goat legs, so... maybe he shouldn't be too surprised another god looks like a regular guy, too? Funny how he always expects gods to be bigger and instead they're just normal human size.

"It's nice to meet you in person so fast, sir. Um, can I help with anything?"

[blindwatchersees]

"Help? Help? Aren't you the one who was asking for help, and now you're wandering in here as if you're offering to do a god's dishes!" He sounds exasperated, almost angry, but then a huge smile plasters itself across his face.

"I like you! Come in, sit down, have some tea. If you like, you can help me scrub up afterwards, but I'm hardly going to demand that of a guest."

[incomingchoppers]

Oh, good, he's not gonna smite him! (Yet.) Radar lets out a brief, jittery laugh and says, "Oh I'm just used to helping out everywhere, sir -- it's what I do back home and kinda what I do here too. So it's no problem helping with the dishes after, honest."

But! That's after. Tea first. He takes a seat where he's directed, trying not to fidget too much. Should he take off his hat? Nah, he's left his hat on while talking to Serranai in person, it's probably okay if he leaves it on unless Sheogorath tells him not to.

[blindwatchersees]

Sheogorath comes over, carrying a rather chipped tea set on a tray. He sets it down in front of Radar, pouring him a cup, and then sitting back in his chair, legs crossed and looking for all the world like an old gentleman poet.

"Now. Tell me more about what's troubling you."

[incomingchoppers]

"Okay, um."

Radar picks up the tea, wrapping both hands around the cup without drinking from it quite yet.

"So... so like I said, I got real good ears. I always have ever since I was little. I could hear a cow gettin' mad all the way on the other side of the farm or rain coming in when it was twenty miles out. And some of the stuff I heard, well, it wasn't always with my ears, y'know? Sometimes it was more like -- " Just as he's done almost every time he's tried to explain it, Radar taps the back of his head. "Like it starts back here first and then makes it to my ears. I hear stuff that's gonna happen before it happens, or what people're gonna say before they say it. Or even if they never say it at all, if they just stick with thinking it, I can still hear everything."

He falters a little. Rotates the cup between his hands as he studies the surface of the tea.

"Anyway, it's never bothered me too bad. I'm good at knowing what I oughta pay attention to and what I shouldn't be hearing. But... sometimes it gets scrambled. Like if I'm real drunk, I get it all mixed up and everything's louder than it should be. Which is fine 'cause it's me doing it and not somebody else, but, but then you've got what happened at Dahlia's party, or what some of the other guys have been saying about Gnarly-thotep scrambling their brains, and -- and gee, I been worrying a lot."

He shoves his glasses further up his nose and meets Sheo's eyes. "If I'm just a receiver, then somebody else who's better at all this than me can mess with the dials like Mendel did. I don't want that to happen again."

[blindwatchersees]

"You're not the first person to come to me about something like this. Though that's as much as I can reveal."

He's keeping his promise to Erin, Divines help him not. The most unpredictable thing a mad god can do is be steadfast about a matter.

"Tell me, the name Radar... that means something, doesn't it? Is it a character from a book?"

[incomingchoppers]

Radar finally takes a sip of his tea while Sheo's talking, and hastily swallows as soon as the question arrives.

"Oh, no sir," he says, "it's a kind of machine where I'm from. It bounces radio waves off things so you can see 'em before they show up. My unit started calling me that three weeks after I got to Korea 'cause I could hear the choppers coming in before anybody else did. My, um, my real name's Walter."

[blindwatchersees]

"I see. Are you good with these machines?"

[incomingchoppers]

Radar shrugs and makes a noncommittal noise. "Not really. Honestly I don't got much call to use 'em -- we're a MASH unit, not combat, and even if we were I don't think they'd give us one without a whole lotta dealing. It's hard enough getting the stuff we do need."

[blindwatchersees]

"A... MASH unit? Now, you don't look like a bowl of porridge to me, so I'm assuming that means something else than what I'm thinking."

[incomingchoppers]

He breaks into a brief laugh.

"Yes, sir. It means Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. I'm the company clerk at the 4077th."