Special Delivery

[Gaston Marceau]

"Nah, but pretty close..." Gaston responds, droppig his voice a little lower. "Before I passed out from blood loss, I tore his throat out. Haven't done that trick quite right in years." He frowns. "Still a little rankled we didn't get to settle things completely..."

He hakes his head, deciding not to dwell on it. He smirks at Adam's request for a big a** steak. The man does not change. Responding to Joe, he says. "Same for me...extra bacon though."  

[Immortal Methos]

Methos takes a swallow of his beer as Joe hobbled back behind the bar, then stretches his long legs under the table. "So, Gaston, you've made a clean break from Balance? I mean, who mailed you here?"  

[Gaston Marceau]

"They did." Gaston answers. "It's a long story...technicall, I wasn't fired. They figure my history with Sahib gave me too much of a personal stake in our missions, so they retired me...both formy safetly and the other operatives."

"I get a decent penson, and the copany used its resources to help set up my new identity. Other than that, I'm loose."

Gaston takes a swig of beer. "It's probably just as well. I've been some kind of soldier or fighter for as long as I can remember, and to be honest, I'm getting too old for this s**t."  

[Immortal Methos]

Beer goes down the wrong way, and Methos spends a moment choking back foam and laughter. "I've got socks older than you," he snorts. He leans forward. "Do you trust them, the ones who know where you are -- who you are now?"  

[Gaston Marceau]

"I know." Gaston smirks. "and you haven't washed them in about as long judging from the odor on that side of the table."

As for the question, Gaston thinks for a moment. "Yeah...pretty sure. They rely pretty heavily on secrets too. That and they have this whole don't betray your own' philosophy. As long as do my best to stay relatively unnoticed, we'll pretty much leave each other alone." at least in theory.  

[Immortal Methos]

Methos nods half to himself. It was the best one could hope for, under the circumstances. Mike brings their burgers, then Methos asks after he leaves, "You have a place to stay yet?"  

[Gaston Marceau]

Gaston pulls a slice of bacon off the burger, eating that first before getting the first biteof burger. He shakes his head. "Nope, not yet. I've got my first pension check and a cash from one of my stashes to help me get set up." You know how Immortals always manage to put something away or rainy days.

"Hadn't really decided on a place...I thought about living on a boat or something, but that doesn't really match the whole air freight thing. Details."  

[Immortal Methos]

"Boats," Methos grumbles under his breath. "What is it with boats..."

He takes a big bite of his cheeseburger, chewing thoughtfully. Swallowing, he says, "Mac's in Paris right now, so I'm staying over the dojo. Loft sitting, or something like that. You can stay there, too, 'til you find a place -- or until MacLeod gets back."  

[Gaston Marceau]

At least Gaston isn't planning to move into a boat one slip over from a funny old nosy Frenchman, so that's something.

"I hope MacLeod was thoughtful enough to stock a beer fridge before he left." Gaston adds a wink.

Another bite of burger and he responds more seriously. "Thanks, though. I'll take you up on that...probably won't stay too long anyway, but it beats a hotel room until I figure out what I'm going to do with myself."

Pf course a loft over a martial arts studio would make for an interesting place to bring a date back to...

...one thing at a time, Gaston...  

[Immortal Methos]

"It's settled, then," Methos nodded. "As long as none of your rowdy 'friends' show up. It's bad enough I have to deal with Mac's cut throat lot. Such a nice guy, so many enemies. Let that be a lesson to you."

There was a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke.  

[Gaston Marceau]

"Lesson learned." Gaston responds with a wink. "Be more of an a**, and kill all of your enemies so you don't haveto spend as much time looking over your shoulder."

With a long swig, he finishes off his first beer and concentrates on his burger for a minute. "Seriously though, I doubt I'll be any trouble. Looking for a little quiet time after recent events anyway."

A beat. "Hey...you say MacLeod's in Paris...what about that Amanda? She seemed like she could be a lot of fun if she didn't have a goody goody chaperone standing over her shoulder..."  

[Immortal Methos]

"Amanda," Methos smiles over his beer. "I have no idea where the little minx is right now, but yes, she's a lot of fun. ESPECIALLY without MacLeod. She's so much fun, she got me put into the stocks for two days once. Thank the gods that Rebecca Horn kept an eye on me -- the stocks are very convenient head holders."

His memory made him grimace. "I still believe she could have stopped the vegetable throwers."  

[Gaston Marceau]

Gaston laughs outright at the anecdote. "That's one of the may advantages of being an old fart like you...you've gotten to live through all the best pranking eras. The best I ever managed was in Korea...destroyed a coupla hotel rooms in Seoul, caught a General in some hanky panky with his secretary, and billed the whole kaboodle in Connor's name. Then he swiped my travel orders and we spent the next week terrorizing a MASH unit."

He grins before doing some more work on his burger. "The man had a great sense of humor, I must admit. Too bad he's gone underground."

A beat. "Speaking of stocks, what kind of trouble have you been getting into? Anyone who has more fun with MacLeod out of town must get in at least a little mischief now and again..."  

[Immortal Methos]

Pranks -- the word brings back memories of the rough-necked fun his Bronze Age "brothers" used to have with him and each other. Silas was a long time regrowing an ear after Caspian bit it off during a "fun" tussle.

"You're lucky you still have your head," he chuckles. "Poking Conner is like teasing a bear. One minute he's Yogi, the next he's Night of the Grizzly."

More beer arrives, and Methos grins a thank you at Joe's newest waitress. Turning back to Gaston, he says, "The fun I have without MacLeod involves blessed boredom. Unless someone comes looking for him and finds me instead, I can look forward to working undisturbed, going out for a beer or five, then coming back to the loft for a good night's sleep. I make it my hobby to stay out of mischief."  

[Gaston Marceau]

Gaston laughs. "The prank war with Connor in Korea was all fairly sedate. If you knew half the stunts I pulled off during WW2, it'd make my astronaut days look like a career as a mime."

Luckily Adam picked their table well, otherwise the two would be getting some decidedly odd looks during the conversation.

With Methos' description of his hobby, the younger and less mature Immortal resists the urge to yawn out of spite. "Oh, you'd be tons of fun at Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street. Seriously though, after a while, I can see the appeal in a little peace and quiet."