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Part 1 of Perspectives
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2018-08-24
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2021-06-12
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8/8
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Game Change

Chapter 8: Streets of New York

Chapter Text

~ 1986 ~

The Gathering had felt like the urge, the Imprinting. When over, the peace was the same as when Connor yielded in that stone circle; that is why it had felt so familiar.

Content with having solved one mystery, Connor turns to the next.

The Gathering is Called by an Immortal?

Well, Mao had been right about Imprintings. Nakano spent weeks explaining and answering questions when we finally got the time to ask him.

And Mao is old enough to know things forgotten by others. Nakano was more than willing to gossip, once Mao had left the area.

Connor glances at Mao, “Methos”, Ben now, walking next to him.Thinking Ben must have paused almost mid-sentence to give him the time to remember and think.

At that glance, Ben continues where he stopped. "Those who are taught in the Old Ways try to help each other when it comes to finding and continuing the traditions with our students. It’s increasingly rare that an immortal survives their first five centuries.

This means that if you wish, I'm offering to take you on as my Student."

He quickly adds. "There’s no hurry, you don't have to decide anything now. You have won the prize, enjoy it!

I will leave you with a possibility to contact me. When your woman has died of old age and you are about to get dragged back to the cursed Game again. I’ll be happy to show you a few new tricks."

The two men walk in silence, for a while.

"That's a lot to take in." Connor finally says.

Ben nods but says nothing, just keeps walking.

"So… the dream I had after the Quickening, it tells what the prize is. And I feel like a Pre-Immortal to others, for now. This will last for a lifetime. How long is a lifetime anyways?" Connor recaps the prize part of what was said. Has to start somewhere right?

Ben nods. "A lifetime is somewhere between sixty and hundred twenty years. I don't know exactly what the factors that decide this are, but the power of the Caller and the amount of Challenges in the Gathering, are parts of it.

Was there any mystic Power in your dream?"

"Um, yes… Some kind of… feeling all humans… it’s the only part of the dream that’s not clear anymore. Important why?" Connor replies a little more wavering than usual, only the last part is in his usual coarse way.

"Probably not more than a century then, and you’ll likely gain that power over time. It’s not unusual for the winner to gain some mystic power. Especially if he’s close to, or has just passed into a new Age. It seems to somehow use some of the power from the Prize, however."

"Other than the plain being Immortal, I’ve had no mystic powers before. How will it work?"  Connor grunts, not sure he likes this.

For the first time since he started talking Ben looks at Connor, there is a small smile and some golden sparks in his eyes. "Actually, yes you have.

Ramirez and later Nakano's training will have given you some control over your Quickening that most modern immortals don't have.

Also, Ramirez discovered that you were 'water born' and showed you how useful that may be. You must’ve discovered that most immortals can’t breathe underwater like you? They drown and revive." He raises an inquiring eyebrow at Connor.

Connor stops abruptly. Standing block still staring at nothing, no expression on his face.

Ben patiently stands next to him, only moving to let a woman with her dog pass.

"I'll be dammed, never thought about it before. You’re right of course, and I never pushed Duncan in the lake, like Ramirez did me..." Connor resumes the walking pace they have been using so far. "Would he have learned that skill if I had?" He asks. Thinking that he has possibly done Duncan and Antonio a great disservice, by not finding them a better teacher, or at least just doing it exactly like it had been done to him.

Connor follows Ramirez’s old friend. His own friend and/or maybe Teacher? He still cannot quite believe what the old Immortal is offering. For centuries he has plotted, and now an offer...

"No. He would most likely either have swum or drowned. It’s not a Skill it’s a Power. Just to find a Student’s first inborn Power is something that takes years of skill and training to learn. To bring it out is usually a lot easier, just rock the boat!"

Ben grins at Connor, who grins back.

"But if you have made a mistake, the trust between Teacher and Student will be forever damaged. Imagine if you would’ve drowned a hundred times on the way to shore…"

Connor shudders at the thought, it would certainly have made trust in Ramirez hard after that, as it was it strengthen his trust immensely.

"It’s better to not risk it. To let the Students find it for themselves, rather than making the wrong move. As I’ve said before, there are very few left who even knows to look for an inborn Power, and even less who can actually find it. It gives great promise for any future Students you might take, that you instinctively did not do something that would probably not have worked."

"Likely? Probably?" Connor asks, pouncing on the qualifiers.

"I don't know your Duncan. It’s theoretically possible that he has the same inborn Power. But to be Water-borne is a rare Power. Two of those, with less than a century in between them, are highly unlikely. Especially considering you are from the same area."

"I see.." They walk in silence for a while.

~ 1986 ~

"You say you would be willing to teach me. What would that mean practically?" Connor is actively pushing for eye contact, Challenging for the first time this evening.

Ben meets his eyes with a frank openness. They are black and gold under the dim streetlights.

Connor feels a slight chill as the age and experience behind those eyes’ studies him with a… not cold, more like… detached, calculation. For the first time in his life, Connor surrenders without a fight. With a shiver, he lowers his eyes.

"Do not challenge him."

Nakano's voice echoes in the back of his head. Too late. It takes him several steps to regroup.

He finds himself half a step behind the taller man, who is again looking forward rather than at him. Connor takes a breath, square his shoulders, and step up next to Ben again. Looking at him from the side, rather than straight up.

The mouth bends up in a smirk, he returns Connor’s glance, and the smirk breaks out to a full-on smile, golden eyes glittering. "How about you buy me a beer?" Ben stops in front of a bar.

"Sure, of course!" Connor laughs. "The honor is mine."

Without a thought he steps through the door that Ben is holding for him, trusting him to watch both their backs.

Searching the bar for a good place to sit he feels Ben brush past him, a hand on his shoulder. Connor hands him his wallet and goes for a small two-person table in the corner.

When he places his coat by the chair with the back to the bar, he clearly realizes how large an impact his surrender had on him.

Is this a man he could follow into war? Trust to watch his back and respect, even while knowing that if necessary he could, and would, be sacrificed. Yes, his instincts whisper. But not lightly and not without cause.

Shaken Connor tries to argue with his instincts while he watches the older Immortal flirt with the bartender. The feeling of safety that settles when Ben seats himself in the corner and slides over his wallet, is the final nail for Connor.

They sip their beers for a while.

"Practically huh? Okay, we keep in touch. You enjoy your Prize and I live out the usefulness of my current identity. When you feel it’s time to move on, we sit down to discuss what you want to gain from this."

Ben shrugs casually and goes on. "Things for you to think on until then. Do you want to be a player of The Game full-time? Do you want to learn more about the Old Ways? Do you have any other goals of your own? 

Depending on what you want, we’re talking about a time-span of five years up to a century, and anything in between. I'm not impossible, but I ^ will ^ require that any promises made are respected."

"What is in this for you? From where I sit it seems like no gain for you, just work…" Connor wonders if this old creature knows that he has wished this from their first meeting. That he was prepared to sell his soul to him for this opportunity. Or maybe he already has…

The old Immortal stares into his beer for a while. "I made a promise to a friend. I don't make promises lightly, but I keep the ones I make." Ben is suddenly looking vulnerable, lonely and sad. "Ramirez was a good friend. I want his last student to be all that he can be." He drinks some beer and adds quietly, almost too low to be heard. "I also want the knowledge to survive, so much is lost. I want to try to save what can be saved."

"If you will take me, I would be honored to be your student." Connor raises his glass in salute.

Ben chuckles. "Trust me, that’ll pass in less than a week."  He smiles and raises his glass.

"I believe you, Ben. But it can't be worse than hiding behind the bathtub when you have sex in it." Connor grunts, unable to hold back a small smile at the memory. He had decidedly not found it funny in any way at the time.

He is rewarded with a giggling snort, as Ben spurts beer through his nose and then the free laugh he remembers from Mao Zhu. 

"I would’ve invited you! Had it not been for the fact that you emphatically claimed to not be interested in males. Oh, and the small detail of how to explain why you were in the castle at all, of course!"

They happily reminisce and have more beers. The bartender serves them at the table, she is trying to get Ben to ask for her number.

They tell each other of conquests of the opposite sex, and Ben of some of the same sex. Connor speaks of Brenda, and then of Rachel. Ben of his latest wife.

Connor tells of his, and some of Duncan's or Antonio's, adventures.

Ben asks about Antonio. Connor laughingly tells him about his latest student, and how he consistently refuses Duncan's attempts to protect him. Confusing his protective older Student to no end.

They laugh as Ben tells Connor about Darius’ latest attempt at wine, exchange information and gossip on enemies, and send greetings to common friends.

Ben tells some more about the politics and scandals in the late years of Ming, and the early years of the Qing Dynasty. Connor remembers to thank him for the investment tips.

~ 1986 ~

By the time the bar closes; they have had many laughs and large amounts of beer and scotch.

Outside the bar, Connor is reminded of the present time. "Is this how it’ll be, to be taught by you?

Your insight freely given in some things on one hand, and no chance, or sometimes even forbidden to ask things you don't want to answer, on the other? It’s not the first time you’ve done so, to me or others…"

"Have you changed your mind already, Connor?" The tone is light, like a joke. But Ben is looking straight forward not at Connor, there is a chilling smoothness in his moves.

Connor is confused by the sudden change. Then he rethinks and realizes how that comment could sound as if he had changed his mind, or even judgmental. Still, Mao would not have reacted this way, would he? But then he was nothing to Mao. A mere child, a student of a friend. Or maybe of two friends, as it turned out. Both now long dead.

The sadness and vulnerability when they were talking about why he offered to take on Connor as a Student comes to mind. It is clear to Connor if he turns Mao. No, Ben. Down now, there will be no second offer.

Still, he walks by Connor’s side, letting him think and come to his own conclusions in his own time. Just like every other time they have crossed paths.

Then it hits him like a club in the head, it has been 300 years, that is a lot of time. Their short encounters in between do not really count. He has made the assumption that Ben is the same as Mao was. Yet the one lesson Mao had officially given was about change.

He had pointed out the fact that he will be what he can be, within the sentiment of the current era. Ben would not assume that Connor has not changed. Connor should not make assumptions of what, who Ben is now.

Connor thinks of an answer and smiles. Challenge, after all, needs to be answered with Challenge. "So far both my Teachers have driven me to new levels of frustration and insanity in their own unique ways. I was hoping to get a head-start in learning to handle it, this time."

Ben laughs before he throws a shrewd look at Connor. "Damned! You figured it out. Guess I have to come up with another way to drive you insane." There is a large happy smile on his face.

Another stark realization hits Connor. Not only was the older man ready to walk away if he had turned him down, he had almost expected Connor to change his mind. He truly has no idea how much Connor wants this.

"You know I meant it." Connor grunts. He hates to be this vulnerable.

"Meant what, exactly?" There is only question, no comprehension, in Ben's face.

Damn! Will I have to spell it out for him? How can a man who sometimes seems to read my mind be so dense?  I would see it as a great honor if you are willing to take on the responsibility of Teaching me. I know you don't do promises lightly." A deep breath for courage. "I trust you will push me in the lake, if necessary."

Ben stares at him with an expressionless face, even the eyes are just eyes. "And if you drown a hundred times on the way to shore?" Cold, cold voice.

"Then I assume that the lesson is that I need to learn how to swim."

"Or that I was just plain wrong."

"Well, then I still need to learn how to swim, don't I?"

Ben's laugh is more a surprised bark than anything else. "You were right, you know that don't you?"

"About swimming? Yes, I know." Connor is almost sure that Ben changed the subject. But he is not sure what the new, or old one, is.

However, his joke is rewarded with a true laugh from the man. Not quite the same as the one of Mao, but real anyway. Somehow Connor can feel when that laughter is true, it seems to come in a million shapes, but still true.

Then in a toneless voice, Ben says. "No. That I will manipulate you, and anyone or everyone else, into making or doing what I want, if it is necessary."

Damned, we are really going for honest this time. "Aye, I know. I figured that the last time we met, if not before." However, I believe “necessary” is the keyword, Connor adds silently to himself.

"Is that what you want to learn?" Ben just keeps walking, waiting for his response.

"Do I want to be able to fit anywhere, any time? To get along with just about anyone? Well of course I do! Do I understand how it can be used and misused? I strongly doubt it. Do I believe it is anything more than plain experience to it? Not a clue!" A deep breath, for God's sake I better stop rambling! If ^I^ don't know what I'm talking about, how could he?

"I will be proud to learn whatever you want to teach." Connor finally admits.

"You would trust me like that? Why?" A low voice, dark eyes searching Connor’s face.

"Why not? Because you offered. I'm curious. All knowledge is good knowledge. I want the Powers. Pick your choice, none of them is a lie." Connor refuses to look away, he lets the ancient Immortal search him for whatever answers he may find.

Ben steps up in front of him, forcing him to stop and look up at him. They are close, almost touching. Ben moves one ungloved hand up to his cheek.

Connor freezes but does not move away.

The impish grin is so like the one Mao had the first time that Connor is almost startled by the knitted cap, rather than the shaved forehead.

This time Ben puts his entire hand on Connor's cheek and traces the jawline as he draws it back. "Unique." And keep walking as if it had not happened.

Connor is stunned, then he starts thinking. What if he wants me to… please… him? Can I do that? Will I? Can I deny him as his Student? Having learned what he could about history, after leaving the east, he knows that in most of history that would have been expected of him as an Apprentice or Student.

Connor, having never felt any attraction to a man in any way. Has learned to take a compliment and is no longer bothered or embarrassed by others doing what they want, as long as they all agree. This, in no way, includes him touching or being touched by another male.

He can not help to be a bit amused by himself. just a few hours. Hell! Minutes! Ago, he was ready to sell his soul for this, but apparently not his body…

Ben did say he would not be impossible. Connor just hopes that his "I will be proud to learn whatever you want to teach." Was not taken as a promise, not for that.

One night and I learn more about myself than I have in the last 300 years. Again. Wonder if I can handle several years of this? Connor reflects. He looks back at Ben, ready to take the bull by the horns.

He is met by an amused smile in glittering eyes. "Don't worry I won’t force myself on you. That’s not socially acceptable in these days, remember?"

Relief floods Connor, but he cannot help to disagree. "That would depend on where in the world you are, doesn't it?"

Ben's laugh comes as a cleansing. "That is true enough, but I am a highly 'civilized' welsh lad now."

"Aye, am I glad to hear that, lad!" Connor laughs with him.

~ 1986 ~

They walk awhile in comradely silence before the elder Immortal speaks again.

"Some of the things I’ve told you tonight are things that are almost forgotten to the world.

That a Gathering is Called by an immortal is known only to a few.

The early history of immortals is known by a few more, and in bits and pieces by a fair number. 

The concept of Ages, rather than years or..." A contemptuous snort. "heads taken, is almost entirely lost and with it the knowledge of Powers.

Still nothing of what I’ve told you would change anything, even if you shouted it to the world. Or told every immortal you meet, of it.

If I were to answer all your questions this may no longer be the case."

"You don't think knowing that a Gathering is Called by an immortal will change anything?" Connor finds that hard to believe. It changes everything as far as he is concerned.

"It was common knowledge when The Game was born, did not help. Also, almost no one today will believe you. Maybe Duncan or Antonio, they are your Students after all. But who else?"

"So prove it to them! You could Call and they would ^have^ to believe it." Connor wants others to understand this, to stop The Game.

"Are you stupid!? I thought you said you did ^not^ like bloodthirsty maniacs!" Ben almost spits at him. "If the goal was to kill everyone, I would not need to Call them. Have I somehow given you the impression that I ^want^ to fight and kill more immortals? What part of the Caller ^has^ to participate did you not understand? Or the “everyone ^younger^” than the Caller?

Or did Nakano for once failed to chare that particular piece of gossip about me? If he did, I’m sure Darius or someone else did." A cynical eyebrow lifted at Connor.

"Go find some stupid two millennia-old believer of The Game, and talk ^him^ into suicide! Only ^one^ of your witnesses will survive to tell the world, remember? How exactly will that ^change^ anything?" The last part is fairly dripping with biting sarcasm. Emphasized by an exhausted two-handed gesture.

Connor cannot remember that he has felt this stupid and embarrassed, or been so thoroughly, rightfully, chastised in his life.

He feels like a 5-year-old trying to argue… Actually, he ^is^ a 5-year-old trying to argue with a 50-year-old. Still blushing he snorts and laughs at himself.

Ben looks at him questioning.

"I’m a five-year-old kid, trying to convince his fifty-year-old father that Santa Claus gave him the presents the father bought."

Ben chuckles at this, then says in a deeply insincere voice. "I’m so sorry to destroy your illusions my son, but Santa Claus is not real."

"If I’m not old enough to stop believing in Santa at four hundred fifty, then I'll never be. I’m the one who is sorry. I did not think, nor did I listen."

The Elder Immortal nod at this. "One thing to remember.

I may be the fifty-year-old father, but that does not mean I'm always right. Or that I know everything. Yes, I’m older. That means I’ve had more time to make mistakes, and trust me when I say I've done a lot of those."

"Yes, that’s why I'm glad you are willing to take me on. Most of the other really old ones left, sit on their Holy Ground and survives. You live, this is what I hope to learn."

Ben nods again. "I'll try to live up to that." Then he winks at Connor. "Oh, and the five-year-old analogy is quite accurate… when you are ten, you get to walk to and from school alone, and at twenty you get to call yourself Adult." Ben explains with a wicked grin.

They both laugh.

He remembered Connor notices. I asked when I will not be young anymore, and now he told me, just 1500 years to go…

"So… the mortals following me?"  Connor hopes he is not in for another hard lesson for asking this, after having been warned not to ask questions.

"Not a danger to you. Let me know if they change patterns, or behavior, otherwise ignore them. Don't let them know you seen them, and don't talk about them with others." A curt order, no explanation.

Okay, so he did not get the head cut off, but this is not a subject to push. Connor curbs his curiosity. "Yes, sir." He agrees quietly.

"Good. Was that all?" Ben is all business now.

Connor swallows, suddenly nervous. "Was it the Kurgan who Called this Gathering?"

"You caught that huh? Yes, I’ve been hunting him, we fought twice. Both times we were interrupted, both times he ran rather than stay and fight me again. When I managed to trace him here, he had already made the Call before I caught up to him." Ben explains in a toneless voice.

"So if you had killed him right then. Would the Gathering not have stopped?"

"No. Once the Call is made, the Gathering continues until there is one Winner, who receives the Prize."

"So if you had killed Kurgan, after he made the Call, you would have been forced…"

"To kill the rest of you too? Yes." Still the same toneless voice.

"So, you gave up your vengeance, to save ^one^ unknown Immortal?" Connor does not think he would have cared about that. Had it been all of them? Yes. But just the one winner? No.

"No. I postponed it until the Gathering was over. Had he won, I would have taken my revenge on my own. Now, I'm just as happy that he is gone anyway, and me not having to do the dirty job." Ben shrugs indifferently.

Connor realizes that Ben is a lot less bloodthirsty than Mao was, more sensitive too.

They turn around a corner and are met by the first rays of the morning sun.

"Time’s up, I need to get going." Ben hands Connor a slip of paper.

It contains the name Adam Pierson and the text Archeological Discoveries. Two phone numbers, one postbox address in Paris France, and a second in Dolgellau Wales.

"The first number is my current home number, it’s for emergencies only. Don't leave messages or talk to anyone but me on that one. If someone else answers, you are selling a one-year subscription to Archeological Discoveries.

The Paris postbox is not to be used unless otherwise specified.

At the other number, you can leave a message. I will check it once a week.

To the Dolgellau postbox address, you can send closed envelopes, it will be checked once a month.

I will contact you if anything changes from that.

You better destroy that paper as soon as possible. Any questions?"

"What the hell are you into?" Slips Connor, before he catches himself. "No questions, thank you. I will send my new address to the Dolgellau postbox in a closed envelope as soon as I have one."

A smile and a nod. "Good!

I would appreciate it if the name Adam and the hunting Kurgan part never associate, that would be helpful. I suppose you have to tell your women something? Can you say you met an old friend named Mau Zhu?"

Connor nods, it is the truth, just not the whole truth. He waits to see if there is anything else, thinking he will have to research this Adam Pierson.

"No, you ^will not^ call your detectives to find out more about Adam. As a matter of fact, you are not going to look the name up at all. I have put way too much work into this identity for you to ruin it on mere curiosity." There is a finality to that statement that reminds Connor of the offhand. "To kill the rest of you too? Yes." Remark earlier. And the not-so-offhand, “don't ask” warning.

The man ^can^ read minds damn him! "Aye, Sir."  What else is there to say.

"You take care, and don't be in any hurry, enjoy the prize as you can."  

A relaxed friendly smile when Ben holds his hand out.

Connor takes it in a warrior’s grip and smiles back. "I will, you be careful, don't lose your head."

They part ways in the morning sun.

~ The Beginning ~

Notes:

I have made one major change from cannon. The year Connor was at Nakano.
The movie universe and the series are not entirely compatible anyway and i wanted Connor to meet Nakano (and Methos) after Teaching Duncan.
There is a convenient hole in Connor’s time line around 1650s and Methos was supposed to be in China around that time.
It also gave me the opportunity to add a couple of years to Connor's time with Nakano.

Series this work belongs to: