lt_safe_house | (no subject)

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Date: June 8th, morning
Location: Forest
Status: Public
Summary. Duncan goes for a morning run

Feeling a need for fresh air, Duncan decided to go for a run before his morning exercise.

He left the premises at a brisk trot, headed for the forest.

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"That's why I use an antique gun," Jan explained. "it's perfectly legal here."

"Ah," Duncan said. "I usta deal in antiques. Not just weaponry, anything. Will do again, when I feel like taking up a job again, I bet. Ye might say I've got an unfair advantage, o' course. After all, I've been there when much o' the stuff I'm selling was actually new."

He looked Jan over.

"I'd love ta see it, y'know."

What? Was this immortal completely insane?

"Sorry," Jan said, making an effort to stay polite. "I never hand my only weapon over to another immortal."

"Sounds like a good cover," he added after a moment. "For running around carrying a sword as well as buying legal guns."

"I said look, not handle," McLeod reminded him. "I meant look, not handle."

To the rest, he shrugged. "It's a good excuse for carrying a sword, indeed. The guns I carry, when I carry them, tend to be the modern kind. They jam less often."

He grinned.

"Basically, dealing in antiques gives you a chance to sell off your old stuff and get enough money to buy new stuff for it," he pointed out. "I guess most of us who've led somewhat sedentary lives have acquired a lot of dated things over the centuries."

"The new stuff is illegal here," Jan pointed out. "It's bad enough that my own kind are hunting me, I don't want to provoke trouble with the mortal authorities as well."

"Trouble with mortals' law is rarely worth it," Duncan agreed. "They can get really annoying, particualrly if they accidentally shoot us."

He thought back ruefully to the last time he had "died" in front of witnesses. That episode had brought him here.

Accidentally shoot us?

"Do you get accidentally shot at a lot?" Jan had ben shot at very rarely in his life and he wouldn't call any of those incidents accidental. They'd been roberies or wars, though he'd usually avoided the later.

Duncan moved his head from side to side.

"At times," he said, his accent growing thicker as he spoke. "I have a few friends who tend to attract attention that doesn't stop to ask if you were in on the scheme before they pull the trigger."

Oh wonderful! Not only was McLeod a skilled and dangerous immortal, he also came with dangerous mortal friends!

"Not the best sort of people to hang out with."

"No need to tell me," McLeod said. "At least it's not like they're likely to get us killed. It can be hard to keep them alive, too, though."

"Until one of us comes along and makes use of your temporary death," Jan pointed out.

Duncan shrugged.

"Never happened to me yet," he said. "It'd be against the rules of the Game anyway. Still - doesn't mean I like to die."

But of course McLeod wouldn't be here, if it had happened.

"You actually expect them to obey rules?" Rules Jan at least didn't even know at that.

"Yes," Duncan said plainly. "I do. I absolutely do. It's what all of our lives are based on, after all."

"Few of those I've met did," Jan pointed out. "Not to mention that some of the younger ones might not even know all the rules."

Though Jan didn't exactly consider himself young anymore, even for an immortal. He'd seen too much for that.

"That is why if you meet a new Immortal you have to teach them until they are able to fend for themselves and participate in the Game," Duncan said. "Have you never had a tutor?"

"Only for Latin," Jan answered honestly. "And why would anyone bother to train rather than dispose of a future opponent in a battle for life and death?"

"Because those are the rules," Duncan said patiently. "That is what we live for. If we throw away the rules, our existance loses a lot of its purpose. And if it becomes known that one of us violates them, there are many willing to hunt him down and dispose of him in return."

"Right, because they aren't if he obeys the rules? You are quite naive, if you really believe more than a handful ever will."

"I've lived a few centuries," Duncan pointed out. "Most of us want to live as well... And it works out quite nicely, with a few unfortunate exceptions that come to a duel. Those of us who don't want to fight, ever, stay on holy ground."

"Imprisoned until they are forced to step out," Jan continued bitterly.

And it wasn't even a question of wanting to fight for him anymore.

"How many of them have you talked to?" Duncan asked. "I've spent weeks, months, years and decades at times in monasteries when I needed a break. I have not once felt imprisoned and not once been forced outside."

'Myself' Jan thought, but if he said that out loud, he'd have to explain more than he wanted to give away.

"Talked about that to?" he said instead. "None. They were all too eager to chop off my head. I know ... I know how I'd feel spending a decade in a monastery though."

"It can be a very calming, settling experience, especially when the outside, with its constant changes and new developments, gets too much to bear at some point," Duncan pointed out. "Most of us will rather live than engage in battle and possibly lose their heads in turn. You seriously never had any of us introduce you to the Game and its rules? Where did you have your first death?"

Inwardly he sighed. He hadn't exactly come here to take on the training of a new immortal, and certainly not one who had been immortal for decades, centuries, and still had the knowledge equivalent to someone who had just recently discovered they were special that way. Maybe Method would...

But probably not. He could just about hear Method say 'Oh well, he did well enough until now - he's still alive, isn't he?'

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