"Ingenious setup for quick forging." Ariadne nodded at the explanation, tearing off the occasional piece of the salty snack and mulling over Eames's words as he spoke. She stopped in her tracks when he went to stand in front of her, staring up at him wordlessly as he finished. She didn't want to cut him off, she just wanted to understand.
And what he said made her smile. She had heard him say she mattered before, and while the context of her being able to move freely in a deep and private level meant a good deal to her, it also left her wondering where to put things in context of the waking world. She needed to have moments where she felt that way when awake, too.
She paused for a moment and laughed a little, asking a rather irrelevant question before getting into the far more somber topic of their friendship, "If you wanted your pretzel without salt, why did you dream it with salt?"
"I don't need you to walk around saying it, Eames." Ariadne stopped eating the pretzel, focused on her discussion with the forger instead. The laugh from a moment before was gone as her lips pursed a little and her jaw set, her mind back to what was going on in the waking world. "But I could use you showing it more often when we're awake. Please? I know it has to get busy wit raising a teenager and Arthur's schedule and yours and work but - it's nice having my friends show me they care. It makes being in this place's day-to-day worthwhile, having friends who care, and it makes it hurt a little less when everyone keeps leaving."