Re: [Dream Training]
Eames's focus had narrowed. He'd eliminated everything in the room of vague interest - largely whether it could be weaponized or not, which was usually Eames's foremost concern - and his attention was strung loosely between the two people in the room. Hannah because she was new, and Arthur because he was decidedly not. He noticed the spasm of muscle and filed it, along with the language that accompanied it. To an observer, Eames had noticed nothing. He was smiling in Hannah's direction, a pleasant enough albeit neutral look.
He had no intention of telling either one of them that there was a considerable crack in his trap, fly or not. Hannah was the only one going in, and the melodious way Arthur picked up the narrative and continued to knit it gently around Hannah until she began, if only a little, to understand provided the kind of assurance that Eames thought Janus would hate. It was thin, stretched extremely widely over a very deep hole and he had no idea what would happen if he fell in.
"It needn't be two people. I'm not much of an architect. Always been a people person," Eames flashed a smile that was mostly teeth. "You can dream pieces of the puzzle altogether. The important thing, darling, is that the subject believes that it's real."
He looked at Arthur, who was doubtless being far more gentle with surgical tape and needles than Eames himself. "The idea, darling is that the subject believes that what they're dreaming is their dream. Theirs and only theirs, and your presence in it is part of the dream. They don't notice you're not part of their own mind. The architect makes it complicated enough that the mind's natural defences know where you are. The other dreamers, they give you a reason to think the things that put everything in plain sight."
Eames eased his weight back onto the pallet, and undid his shirt cuff. The cufflinks were heavy, unusually so and he slipped both into his left pants pocket quickly. "A controlled dream won't move with you. It won't think with you. It's there to provide an environment. But what if the environment needs to change as you dream, to have you dream the right way? A little imagination, darling," directed to Hannah, but equally, the dart was for Arthur. "Goes a long way."
He looked at Arthur now. "Arthur is controlling how long we sleep."