InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I want you.... to want.... ME!"

Arthur - the Point Man (Inception) (loadedreminder) wrote in utr_logs,
@ 2010-08-28 18:59:00

Entry tags:

arthur (the point man), mal cobb

Who: Arthur & Mal
Where: London
When: now-ish
Warnings: shouldn't be any

Arthur knew where the cafe was because it was where he'd wound up upon finding himself unexpectedly in London a few weeks (and had it really been that long?) prior. He told his boss where he was going and took the nearest portkey. Being Arthur, he un-ruffled himself easily, thankful for the nearly huge drop in temperature between London and New Orleans. He sighed, tugging his sleeves straight before making his way to the cafe.

He didn't hesitate at the doorway, not any longer than it took him to spot her, anyway, taking in the differences between this Mal and the projection of her that he'd grown used to, she was definitely younger, though she knew who he was, which put her in the span of a good five or six years, he just had to pinpoint where.

He strode easily across the cafe, sliding into the seat opposite hers, "Mal."

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la_reveuse
2010-08-29 02:30 am UTC (link)

She'd been waiting with ill-concealed impatience, looking up at him with gratitude when he seemed to randomly appear. "Arthur." Mal rose, smiling, wanting to hug him but not, somehow, sure that she should. "It's good to see you. Good to see anyone I recognize. I can't raise anyone on the phone - not my father, Dom, I even tried our forger - Eames, you've met him, right?" She didn't have to ask him what was going on; he would tell her in time. She knew Arthur well enough.

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loadedreminder
2010-08-29 02:35 am UTC (link)

He wouldn't really have known what to do if she had hugged him, his hugs were awkward even at the best of times, which now definitely wasn't. He nodded once, "That happens." He sighed, he could just make with small talk and hope that he could figure out when she'd arrived from, or he could do the sensible thing and just ask.

Arthur was a sensible person, or at least he liked to think he was, "I realize this is going to sound... odd at best, but what's the last thing you remember? Year? Day?"

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	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 02:43 am UTC (link)
	She'd heard stranger questions, after working in dreams for so long. "Erm. A Thursday? Philippa is seven, James is four? Dom and I were going to call you tomorrow to see if you could help us get some repressed memories from an accident victim in Tokyo." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-29 02:50 am UTC (link)
	His brow creased, just slightly, having to remember when about that had happened, "That was ... that was almost two years ago, from where I am." He shook his head, "This place is sort of a conjunction point." Because it was easier for him to believe that than 'entirely different dimension' even still, "Only we're not dreaming." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 03:00 am UTC (link)
	Mal's brow furrowed. "But that doesn't make sense. If we're not dreaming, it can't be a conjunction point." She broke off, eyes closed. "Arthur, are my children here? Where are they?" She didn't like getting off topic, but she was a mother. Surely Arthur would at least understand that. (Reply to this)

loadedreminder
2010-08-29 03:10 am UTC (link)

"That's why it's only sort of a conjunction point. Most people relate it to being Dorothy in the wizard of oz, thanks to the vortex that brings us all here, but I've heard at least one person relate it to Alice and the looking glass."

He shook his head then, "They aren't here, they're still back home, probably with your mother." After all, he was fairly certain that the elder woman still acted as caretaker before Mal's death.

(Reply to this)

la_reveuse
2010-08-29 03:17 am UTC (link)

She'd always figured if Arthur went mad, he'd go mad on a grander, bloodier scale. It did make her feel a trifle better if her children were with her mother, or maybe even with Dom if he wasn't ... wherever this was. But if this wasn't a dream and her family wasn't here, but Arthur was ...

"Oh, this is insane!" Mal blurted, burying her head in her hands, more frustrated than afraid.

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	$Arthur - the Point Man (Inception): :\$ loadedreminder 2010-08-29 03:21 am UTC (link)
	"I know it sounds like it, believe me I know." He shook his head then, "You said you checked your totem, check again. If you can't believe me, please at least believe that." (Reply to this)

la_reveuse
2010-08-29 03:30 am UTC (link)

She could at least do that. She took out the little top, spinning it, watching it ceaselessly. It spun for a long time - but eventually, it did fall.

For a long moment, she looked at it and eventually sighed. "All right. I'm somewhere with neither my husband nor my children. Have you seen anyone else that you know?" She could fall apart in private. Arthur was kind, much more than he seemed, but of all things not to do in front of him, falling apart topped the list.

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loadedreminder
2010-08-29 03:39 am UTC (link)

He shook his head, looking just a little regretful for the answer, "No. You're the first." He didn't really want to dump everything on her at once, but he knew it would be easier that way, just get all the shocks to the system out so that nothing came up later to put a crack in whatever calm managed to collect.

"Now here's where things get really weird. People who get ... pulled here, people like you and I, we fall into a life that's already set up, usually a job, a place to stay. Have you checked your wallet for ID?"

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	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 04:40 am UTC (link)
	Mal looked at him with one eyebrow raised, but shook her head. "Not yet." She remedied that now, blinking hard at what she found. This was actually flat out funny. "A nightclub singer?" Oh, how silly. "I can't sing, so that may be a problem." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-29 04:45 am UTC (link)
	There was something that was almost a smile then, though it was fleeting, "You'd probably do alright." A bare shrug, "But the good news is that you don't have to keep the job, apparently people fall into jobs that don't suit them all the time. I'm apparently a high-ranking, MI-6 agent, highly enough ranked that they're perfectly happy to let me stay in the job I found for myself." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 04:49 am UTC (link)
	"MI-6? How unusual." Given Arthur wasn't English. She did smile, though. "That's good to know, about the jobs, and I forgot how you used to flatter me." She'd known him for years, and she did like to tease him. (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-29 04:52 am UTC (link)
	"Ah, because telling the truth is flattery now, of course, how could I forget?" It was the same tone he'd been using, wholly conversational, but she knew him well enough that she'd find the amusement behind it, "I was surprised by it too, after all, I'm not English." He shook his head, "Guess it means that CIA already had their quota of drop-ins." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 02:32 pm UTC (link)
	"They must have done. Or maybe you weren't CIA here." Mal tried to think of it like a dream. As if she were stuck in limbo. Though that was terrifying in itself. "How did it go when you came to this place?" (Reply to this)

loadedreminder
2010-08-29 04:04 pm UTC (link)

"I was on my way out of a job. At first I thought maybe I was still under, someone trying a double-cross." he shook his head, "Met a girl who explained things, checked in with work, where I live, and then sort of accidentally found the job that I'm in now, the one that MI-6 is happy to let me keep."

He cocked his head, just slightly, it was almost a shrug in and of itself, "I think they're expecting me to pass on information about my employers."

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	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 11:28 pm UTC (link)
	"Silly." Arthur wasn't a turncoat. "What do you do, though? Do you have a job aside from MI-6?" (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-29 11:31 pm UTC (link)
	He nodded, "I'm ... well, the guild leader calls me her Consigliere, but really it's just the same thing I always do, information collection." Another bare shrug, "The last guy they had in the job vanished, not too long before I arrived, actually." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-29 11:56 pm UTC (link)
	Guild. "What sort of guild?" Mal raised an eyebrow. That word didn't suit well, somehow. (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 12:09 am UTC (link)
	"Thieves, mostly. Assassins when necessary." he shook his head then, "I don't do any field work, strictly information, what exactly it is that's being relocated, why someone's called a hit on someone else. It's what I'm good at." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 12:52 am UTC (link)
	"Assassins?" Mal raised an eyebrow, and laughed. She shook her head immediately, hands in front of her. "I'm sorry, Arthur, just ... you don't even like killing in dreams." She smiled faintly. (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 01:07 am UTC (link)
	"Which is why I don't do field work." He replied, "And why I make sure that there's a damn good reason for them to take any job that comes across the desk." There was that fleeting smile again, "The ones that Petit hasn't already ruled out, that is. She's good at it." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 01:42 am UTC (link)
	"Petit? That's a woman's name?" Mal raised an eyebrow. She suddenly felt an urge to check up on all this. Arthur being involved with assassins didn't sit right. Thieves, yes, but assassins? (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 01:50 am UTC (link)
	He nodded, "It is, Petit LeBeau, married to an Artan Stillman, one son, Henri." He shook his head then, "Sorry, used to listing information." Which was something she likely knew, "Guild's based in New Orleans, of all places." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 02:22 am UTC (link)
	"Ah, Cajun." Mal sat back. She sighed and was about to say more, when she just laughed. "Arthur, you see what you do? I wind up more worried over you instead of worrying about me and my family." (Reply to this)

loadedreminder
2010-08-30 02:29 am UTC (link)

There was something that was almost a smile at that, it was the way he usually smiled, the expression fading into place and drifting away again just as quickly, never fully realized until after it had passed, "So your habit of being a mother-bear is entirely my fault, I can accept that." He nodded, "It's a heavy responsibility, but I think I'll be alright."

He was relieved not just to have someone he knew, but also to have Mal, the Mal he knew and remembered, back in one piece, just as hale and hardy and lovely as he remembered.

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	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 02:48 am UTC (link)
	"It is." She took his hand now, feeling somehow like she could. "Even before I had children, Dom could tell you I worried about you and all the others we used." Mal smiled in a similar fashion, looking down. "I should probably try to find this flat, but I do hope they don't expect me to sing." She hummed a few bars of La vie en rose, passable, but nothing extraordinary. (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 02:57 am UTC (link)
	He nodded, fingers curling around hers for a moment, "I'll walk you home. Call in if you're scheduled to work tomorrow, we'll take a tram tour of the city, see what else is around that might suit you better." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 05:55 am UTC (link)
	Mal smiled, looking down, eyes brimming with tears suddenly, but doing her best to keep calm. "I will. That would be nice, to familiarize myself with this place, if I must." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 06:01 am UTC (link)
	"You don't have to stay in London." He said, looping an arm across her shoulders almost cautiously, holding the door for her before heading out to the pavement once more, "You can go anywhere." He paused, brow creasing just slightly, "I can see if there's room at the Guildhall, if you'd like something familiar." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 06:27 am UTC (link)
	Mal shook her head. "Paris is what is familiar, honestly. I may go there, even if it hurts." She hadn't lived there with Dom, after all. "I hate England. It's so cold." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 06:29 am UTC (link)
	"And damp." He said with a nod, "But I prefer it to the bayou, just glad the guildhall's got a good AC system." He nodded once then, arm still an almost cautious weight across her shoulders, "So, stay here tonight, see if there's anything at your place that you want to keep, I'll find you a place in Paris tonight and we'll move you in tomorrow." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 06:35 am UTC (link)
	She kissed him on the cheek, in gratitude more than anything else. "I'm sorry." Mal smiled tremulously, trying to keep her calm. "How insensitive of me, not asking if you're all right. And I'm sniffling all over your suit." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 06:38 am UTC (link)
	He shook his head, tugging a hankie out of a pocket and handing it to her, arm sliding from her shoulders to her waist, more sure then, "Don't worry about it, you know me, I'm fine wherever I end up." He shook his head, "And I've been here a few weeks now, I've had a chance to get used to it, you just got here, being confused makes sense." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 07:10 am UTC (link)
	Mal had to smile at the handkerchief. Elegant. "I'll appreciate your help in Paris tomorrow." She dabbed at her eyes, calmer now somehow. "Something tells me you have an eye for this, like everything else." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 07:13 am UTC (link)
	"Maybe." He said, "But I'll tell you one thing I am good at. Putting things on the top shelves. And hanging pictures, I'm definitely good for hanging pictures." There was a tease there, somewhere, as well as a self-deprecating humor that she was likely the only one who ever got to see, "Where is it we're going for now?" (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 07:17 am UTC (link)
	Mal fished out the card again. "Great Southwark Road, wherever that is." She pronounced it phonetically, as befit one for whom English was a second language. (Reply to this)

	$Arthur - the Point Man (Inception): :\$ loadedreminder 2010-08-30 07:26 am UTC (link)
	"That's across the river from here." He said brow creasing as he calculated, "Couple miles. Could probably walk it, but it'd be faster by car. If you haven't got keys we'll get a taxi." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 07:28 am UTC (link)
	Mal obediently bent her head to look in her handbag again, shaking her head. "No motor. Looks like a taxi." She did have money, thankfully. She'd hit Arthur if he tried to pay. (Reply to this)

loadedreminder
2010-08-30 07:33 am UTC (link)

He'd try anyway, because he was Arthur and his mother had made sure he was raised right, something that the military had just ingrained all that much more deeply.

He nodded once, arm still settled around her waist, heading back towards Big Ben, since there were usually taxis there, as there tended to be where there were tourists. All in all it was only about fifteen minutes before they'd arrived at her address.

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la_reveuse
2010-08-30 07:42 am UTC (link)

Mal was relieved to find that the flat was at least presentable from the outside. She paid the taxi driver by the sheer advent of having her money out first and being faster than Arthur, uttering a triumphant sound as she got out of the cab. "Even for England, this could be worse." She looked up at the building, figuring she could stay here until they found something in Paris. Paris was still home.

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	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 07:45 am UTC (link)
	There was a faint flicker of a smile at her paying, shaking his head, but he agreed, "It's not a bad neighborhood, could be better, but it could more easily be worse." There was a pause before he added: "Would you like me to come up with you?" (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 04:35 pm UTC (link)
	"I don't think there's any need, but thank you." She was armed. It would be fine. She was tired and a bit rattled and just wanted to snatch sleep while she could. Still, it was sweet of him to offer. "I'm very glad you're here, you know. I might have gone a bit to pieces on my own." (Reply to this)

	loadedreminder 2010-08-30 05:18 pm UTC (link)
	He nodded once more, he had no doubt that she could take care of herself, she'd always been plenty adept at it, "I'm starting to think I was going to do the same, being the only one here." There was a faint smile, fleeting, as always, "I'm glad you're here, and I'm sorry." (Reply to this)

	la_reveuse 2010-08-30 07:00 pm UTC (link)
	"Don't apologise," Mal told him. "This isn't your dream. But if this is some other ... world, there are far worse people who could be in it with me." She managed a small smile herself, before vanishing into the building and up the stairs. (Reply to this)