Empathy
by nordBleu
film: Inception (2010)
pairings/warnings: vague Eames/Arthur / poor characterization & lack of proper plot
word count: 487
summary: When Eames met Arthur, they spoke of dreams and empathy.
notes: pre-film
disclaimer: I do not own Inception or any of its characters.
They send him to an American military base to learn about dream sharing.
"Eames." He offers his hand to the lieutenant in charge.
"Arthur." Arthur doesn't accept Eames' hand, instead turning his back to lead him through rows of dreaming soldiers.
Eames suspects that Arthur isn't his real name.
x
"Do you remember how you arrived here?"
They're sitting in Arthur's office at his desk. There's a silver coin that Arthur keeps fiddling with, sliding it across the surface, passing it from hand to hand.
Eames scratches his head. "We were just in the training facility, but, honestly, no, I don't remember how we got here exactly."
Arthur snatches the coin off the desk and slides it into his breast pocket.
"So, are we dreaming then?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"You'll need a totem."
x
It bothers Eames that Arthur's expression has failed to change since he's met him.
"We have recently begun training men to perform specific jobs as architects or forgers with the intention of having them forming teams for-"
"And what's your role, love?"
Arthur doesn't react in anyway to the name. Eames "tsk"s silently.
"I am a sharp shooter-" Eames thinks it's such a waste, to go into the dream business and become something as boring and ordinary as a sharp shooter. "-and an architect."
The world begins to warp around them and they're standing in a tall office building, all glass, steel and light colored wood.
Eames tilts his head up to look for the sun streaming in but finds, instead, projects bustling about in a lobby. He looks down to find they're standing on the ceiling and Eames isn't sure why he didn't notice the light fixture next to him before.
He lets out an impressed whistle before they wake up.
x
"Forging requires empathy."
Arthur says the word as if it's a foreign taste on his tongue, unfamiliar and new, but his expression stays as blank as it was since day one.
"To become another, one has to understand other's emotions, thoughts, motives."
Eames isn't sure why Arthur built Venice to train in forging, but he'll just leave it alone.
"Do you like Italy?"
Or not.
"I've never visited." And Arthur continues as if the interruption never happened. "But to be truly successful, one has to be able to understand the behavior of who is being forged and accurately reflect it in their own actions…"
Eames is getting a little bored of the lesson.
x
Eames doesn't think much of it when Arthur's projections start throwing curious glances at him.
He would think back on it and wish he had cared more about what they thought of him. He only paid them any attention after they grabbed him and lowered him down to the pavement where they began a slow, meticulous job of peeling off his flesh, layer by layer.
It was unsettling how Arthur's expression never changed.
I'm not sure what inspired this (I'm actually supposed to be finishing my summer work) but this story happened and there's not much to be done about it now.
Arthur's totem here is the coin. I feel like the die wasn't his first.
I'm still getting used to writing the Inception characters and this was a bit of an experiment in writing from Eames point of view, so forgive me for any errors or strangeness.
edit [10 Sept 2010]: I changed "American army base" to "American military base" because I failed to do any research for this story and I'm only trying to clean it up now.