InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm a fully realized creation!"

Eames (dream_bigger) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-09-05 15:07:00

Entry tags:

ariadne, arthur, eames

WHO: Eames, whoever meets him when he lets himself in to check on people.
WHAT: Unhiding. Of sorts
WHEN: Very early this morning
WHERE: Either of the two apartments the Inception people are in
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

Eames stank of smoke. It was better than at the start of the week when he stank of bad alcohol, but he'd knocked that on the head after a few days. He supposed that one of these days, he'd learn that drinking did nothing to get rid of the memories, but it wouldn't be any time soon. So instead, he'd settled for smoking a lot. A lot.

He was an expert at going to ground after things fucked up, and ho boy had he ever fucked up. So he'd done what he usually did, and ended up hiding so well that Arthur probably couldn't even have found him, even given their current limited playing area. He still kept tabs on everyone, making sure to see them once a day if he could, and he noted when Cobb had simply stopped showing up, but as far as he knew, nobody had seen him since that night on the rooftop.

"Enough self-flagellation," he murmured to himself, then stubbed out the cigarette he'd been smoking on the wall beside him, before dropping the fag-end into his pocket - a disgusting habit he'd picked up after someone had somehow been able to trail him using his cigarette butts and he'd ended up with a broken jaw and wrist. He quickly walked along the block until he reached the front door of the block of flats they were all staying in, more than grateful for the sudden black-out that meant everything was in shadows and darkness. He'd left almost everything behind when he'd vanished, and he wanted the PDA back. Amongst other things.

He looked at the two front doors when he reached the right floor, and then picked one at random. He checked the door for any signs of alarm systems or Arthur's usual precautions against tampering, but saw nothing. The locks weren't much of a problem, so he was soon inside and closing the door silently behind him. Part of him hoped nobody would be there. Part of him hoped everyone was there so he could apologise once and then get the fuck out or whatever. He despised apologising, and only did it when he absolutely positively had no other choice. This was one of those times, clearly.

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labyrinthine
2010-09-06 02:16 am UTC (link)

Ariadne was currently stretched out on the floor. She'd reasoned that there was more room for air to circulate if she left her bedroom door open and all the windows in both rooms going, and the mattress and sheets just felt too hot for her right now. Maybe she'd go for a walk later, once it got light out. No work, since the store was half at basement level and it wasn't deemed safe with the power still out.

She looked up at the sound of the door and almost banged her knees on the coffee table trying to sit up. "Eames? What are you doing - where have you been?" Hopefully the darkness would hide the flush that had suffused her face.

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dream_bigger
2010-09-06 06:56 pm UTC (link)

Oh hell.

"Ariadne. Hello. I was just..." and he paused to scratch at the stubble on his jawline before saying anything else. "How, ah, how are you?"

Oh, this was horribly awkward, wasn't it? And that would never do. Best to just rush on, make everyone look at the huge fucking elephant in the middle of the room and get things over and done with, right? Right. Even if it looked like it was individual apologies. Fuck.

"So, look, about what happened between us." Excellent opening gambit. Well done, Eames.

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	labyrinthine 2010-09-06 08:50 pm UTC (link)
	"Me? I'm fine." And confused, and worried about pretty much everybody. "Sick of this stupid power outage." Which was also true. Ariadne wrapped her arms around her knees and tried not to hide her face. "Yeah? What about it? Because this is going to be super weird no matter what." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

dream_bigger
2010-09-06 10:13 pm UTC (link)

"Fine, that's good. Good. Although I like the power cut," he admitted with a shrug.

"Firstly, I want to make a couple of things clear. We had sex. We had great sex, actually, and I in no way at all regret having great sex with a beautiful young woman such as your very good self," he told her as he gestured vaguely in her general direction. It was true. He'd had a fantastic time, weird confusing motivations aside, and he hoped she'd enjoyed herself as well. She'd certainly sounded like it, anyway.

"What I do regret is the whole clusterfuck of emotions behind us having sex. I have no idea about... well, any of it, I suppose. I wasn't thinking clearly, and I used you to get at Arthur, and I should have known better."

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noimagination
2010-09-08 05:48 pm UTC (link)

Arthur had finally stopped avoiding everyone. Everyone but Eames, that was, but then Eames was doing his own avoiding. He'd seen Ariadne, and Mal and Phillipa. Dom's absence was frustrating, because they'd never really dealt with their issues, but hopefully they'd get the chance if he ever got home.

He'd been out, getting some things at one of the shops that still had power, and he returned to the flat just in time to hear what Eames said. He wouldn't admit, even to himself, that it had got to him, but he was sure Eames knew never the less.

"It wasn't you," he said, leaning against the doorway. "It was this place. You wouldn't use Ariadne like that any more than I would actually be in love with Mal or you would shoot your friends." He sighed. "We've all been uncomfortable about this long enough, don't you think, Daniel?" No harm in using the name around Ariadne now. Glancing her way, he gave her a small smile. "Did he show you the trick with the poker chip? He thinks it's terribly charming."

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dream_bigger
2010-09-08 11:59 pm UTC (link)

He managed not to wince at his christian name being used (the full version, at that, which usually meant Arthur was pissed off with him for some reason) in the same way that he controlled the need to jump when he heard Arthur speaking from behind him. "My poker chip tricks are top quality, I'll have you know," he replied, before looking back at the other man. He smiled very slightly at him then looked down at the toes of his shoes.

"It doesn't matter that it was this place, though. I still have all those memories of what I did to everyone, so..." and he paused to scratch behind his ear, to dig in his pocket for the poker chip, anything. Fuck, but he hated this bit. One silly word, five stupid letters, and he hated it. Still, at least it meant that when he did say it, he actually really meant it.

"I'm sorry," he said, oddly pleased that he didn't actually choke on his tongue or something like that.

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labyrinthine
2010-09-09 05:41 pm UTC (link)

"He thinks everything he does is charming," Ariadne said in reply to Arthur. Because this couldn't get any more awkward, could it? But it was so tempting to go with what Eames had said - it had been great sex, and there was mo point in regretting it, right? Except she still felt horribly embarrassed. Normally drunk sex was very high on her list of Stupid Shit You Shouldn't Do. But they were her only friends here and she'd be damned if she let that ruin things. "Apology accepted, I guess."

And that gave her another question. "So... is your arrangement back on?" It was mostly addressed to Eames, since he was the one she'd actually slept with. A kiss in a shared dream didn't really give her much right to ask how Arthur felt about her.

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noimagination
2010-09-09 07:03 pm UTC (link)

"There's nothing to forgive," Arthur said firmly, "but if you really need it...apology accepted." Eames had been as much a victim in this as anyone. For all the man annoyed him, he knew him and he knew he would never hurt them like that. He also knew how hard it was for him to apologise, which was why he didn't dismiss the words outright. "For what it's worth...I'm sorry too."

It usually took a lot to make Arthur awkward and flustered, but Ariadne had just managed it in only a handful of words. "I...we..." he turned slightly red, and looked down at his feet. "We don't...we haven't had an...um...arrangement in years. Not since Mal died."

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dream_bigger
2010-09-10 11:15 pm UTC (link)

"Thank you," he replied, and he stayed serious for as long as it took for Ariadne to work a minor miracle. Arthur was blushing.

Arthur was blushing.

It was adorable, really. Eames did the only possible thing he could do, and grinned at the sight of it. "It's true," he agreed, talking to Ariadne but looking at Arthur as he spoke, "our arrangement has been left abandoned by the roadside. Gone, but far from forgotten, believe me." He smiled at Arthur then, no leering or smirking or anything that might annoy the other man, just a normal smile. How rare.

He turned back to Ariadne after that, grinning once more. "You must teach me that trick, by the way. I think that's the quickest I've ever seen that happen. You have a gift, my dear."

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labyrinthine
2010-09-11 12:24 am UTC (link)

"You're cute when you blush," Ariadne said to Arthur without thinking, and then felt her own face grow hot again. Wow, this was an awesome morning. Total embarrassment and point-blank questions about their sex lives, all before breakfast. "Um, apparently the trick is putting your entire foot in your mouth?" Eames, don't tease her about this, she's feeling bad enough already.

"There's basically no way this isn't going to be completely fucking awkward, is it?" She gestured at the room in general and their current living arrangements. "Or are we all just going to pretend things are normal and that none of this ever happened?"

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noimagination
2010-09-11 12:38 am UTC (link)

"Shut up, Eames," Arthur said, followed immediately by, "Thank you Ariadne." Because he was polite, even when he was completely and utterly embarrassed. He was quiet for a moment, then he spoke again. "If you give Ariadne a hard time, I will murder you and make it look like an accident." It was all said calmly as possible, with almost no inflection. It almost sounded bored. Already, he had himself well under control again. The lapses where he allowed himself to be flustered never lasted very long and this one had already passed.

"Pretend none of what happened?" Arthur asked with a straight face and a raised eyebrow, making it clear what his vote was. "Mal and I have already decided on denial. It's simply easier that way. None of us was completely in control, and we'll drive ourselves insane if we try to dissect what was us and what was this place." He looked at them. "Coffee? And Ariadne, perhaps it's best for you to just nod or shake your head. You seem to have lost your filter somewhere." But it wasn't said unkindly.

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dream_bigger
2010-09-11 12:53 am UTC (link)

"I've lost count of the number of times you've threatened to do me bodily harm, Arthur. I hope you'll forgive me when I take this threat as seriously as the last handful of times." Eames noted the passing of the blush and took a moment, then started checking in his pockets for his smokes and lighter once more. Apologising had taken it out of him, he was in desperate need of nicotine.

Of course, then Arthur had to mention Mal. "Oh, fucking Christ, I have to go and talk to Mal as well," he muttered to himself, nervous all over again. He had intended to wait until he got closer to a window before lighting up, but fuck it, this was necessary. He nodded once at the offer of coffee, and then concentrated on getting as much nicotine into his system as possible in the shortest amount of time. Denial would be an excellent option, once he'd apologised. Again.

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labyrinthine
2010-09-11 01:22 am UTC (link)

Ariadne pushed her hair away from her face, keeping her hands at the back of her skull. Maybe she'd chop it all off. Just for a change. Not like enough had changed for her lately. And at least Eames and Arthur were bantering again, sort of.

"Denial. Right. Trying not to think about it means you can't stop thinking about it and that's how you end up with freight trains and apparitions of your dead spouse trying to kill everybody." Normally Ariadne didn't let on how badly the inception job and the shade of Mal had rattled her, but it hadn't been all that long ago. Would Arthur's subconscious try to kill them the next time they went under?

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noimagination
2010-09-12 07:46 pm UTC (link)

"You know perfectly well when I'm being serious, Mr. Eames," Arthur said, because he had followed through on threats of violence with the man often enough. He reached forward, stealing a cigarette from Eames' pack with a look and a raised eyebrow. He hardly expected the man would say no. He didn't smoke often, but he did on occasion, and he usually just took one of Eames' cigarettes when he did. "Be a dear and give me a light," he said easily. Because sometimes the easiest way to throw Eames off his game was to play it. Besides, it might calm the poor guy down. He really was panicking a bit. "Mal will forgive you," he said. "You know she adores you."

He rolled his eyes at Ariadne. "Filter," he said again. "Really, Ariadne, there's a difference between not dwelling on something out of your control and refusing to deal with traumatic guilt over your wife killing herself because she thinks her life isn't real. I promise I won't be conjuring up any freight trains. The worst that will happen is my projections abusing Eames...and they do that all the time anyway."

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dream_bigger
2010-09-12 09:44 pm UTC (link)

He handed over his lighter without thinking about it, then looked round sharply as the way Arthur phrased his request hit him. Another smile followed and the tension in his shoulders relaxed very slightly. Of course, then he started talking again and ruined things. "Darling, I spent days sending the poor woman anonymous threats and breaking into her flat to fuck with her head, before trying to convince her to take a swan-dive from the roof and then shooting the pair of you so that she did fall off the building. Adoration can only excuse so much."

That said, he did think Mal would forgive him. At the risk of sounding overly melodramatic and, God forbid, angsty, it was he who probably wouldn't be forgiving himself any time soon. He went quiet again, working on his cigarette, then looked up at the mention of Arthur's projections abusing him. "It's true, they do. His projections are absolute fucks when it comes to me," he told Ariadne.

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labyrinthine
2010-09-12 10:01 pm UTC (link)

Really, Ariadne didn't know either of the men she was with that well, and sometimes that fact hit her harder than others. Having Arthur chide her was intensely irritating, and Eames didn't seem particularly thrilled with the situation either. Did the motivations behind the actions matter when shots had been fired in reality?

"Fine. Denial and abusive projections it is, then," she said, standing up. How long had Cobb's subconscious been wreaking havoc on their jobs? Did it get worse, or was she just the first person who tried to fix it? "You guys have fun with that. I think me and my lack of filter are going for a walk." Ariadne shoved her feet into her sneakers - they were still by the couch where she'd kicked them off last night - and headed for the door. If she stayed she'd say something she'd regret, and that was the last thing any of them needed right now.

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