Note: Please read this! This is a series of vignettes that have a chronological order, numbered 1 through 17. Just to give you a brief timeline, it ranges from before Dom incepted Mal to eight years after the Fischer job. I've mixed the vignettes up to tell the story. By the end, you should get what happened. It's not meant to be read in chapters, really. Read and review! This is my first Inception fiction. There will be a long ending note.
P.S. The little "..." mean a time lapse. Something's wrong with the hyphens.
The Rescuer (Alternate Title: The Rescuer and Her Family)
A series of vignettes taken from the life of The Rescuer, the only person absent from the "Dream Team," and how she completes the puzzle. Eames/OC, Arthur/Ariadne.
Disclaimer: I am not Christopher Nolan. But I would love to hug his mind. And I own none of the songs from here.
16 (Sixteen; Seize; Dieciséis)
The children giggled, spinning around in circles with Ariadne. Veda watched them with a smile on her face, leaning on the banister of the back porch.
"So, you look great," said Arthur. She glanced at him and then back to her children.
"So do you, Mr. Suit. Marriage works with you. I still can't believe you guys eloped. That's just so weird."
"You always say that." Arthur rolled his eyes- they'd married five years ago on a whim, and Veda would not shut up about it.
"But it's so like you- I mean, I wouldn't've thought you two wouldn't tell us, but- Hm. Well, you changed a bit after you got married, and certainly after the Fischer job and Dom's rescue."
"Mm, yeah. Can you believe eight years have passed since then?"
"Wild, isn't it?"
"I just- it seems like yesterday that we were in that helicopter, and I was telling Saito Inception wasn't possible." He shook his head in awe.
"How about it's been seventeen years since we were first introduced to dream sharing. And our infamous bungling of dreams."
"If I remember correctly," smiled Arthur, "that first time was entirely your fault. What'd you do again? Accidentally take us to space?"
"Rings of Saturn." Veda began to laugh. "I just wanted to know what would happen! I was dumb, okay? At least we could breathe."
"Cobb was so confused- his face was like 'damn, did she just outdo me?'"
"I didn't mean it! And what about you? You kept bringing in projections!"
"Oh ha ha. I was learning."
"Your projections were hilarious. They were all like James Bond! Your subconscious is a badass, Arthur." Their laughter died down, and Veda pat him on the shoulder, turning back to look at her twins playing with their godmother. She fleetingly thought of the old days, back when Cobb was around. Before he told them he wanted nothing more to do with them, for the sake of James and Phillipa.
"How are you, Veda?"
"Oh, I'm fine. The children are wonderful." She waved to them. "Everyone's fine."
"What about money?"
"Arthur."
"I'm being serious, Veda."
"You don't have to look after me, Arthur. You always ask, every time you visit, if I'm okay with money. I am."
"I know you're not working as much, so-" Veda gave it a dismissive wave.
"There are other good Rescuers now, it's true, but everyone who needs serious rescuing knows I'm still the best. And if you need serious rescuing, you'll come visit me and pay a lot. You know that, Arthur. Me not doing as many jobs is good for me. I can sleep for five hours non-stop without drugs now. And the twitches are gone."
"Good."
"Mhm."
"I don't know how you can stand it." Arthur shook his head, face darkening. Veda knew what he meant.
"It's complicated, Arthur."
"You always say that. I don't get how Eames isn't here. He's their dad- he should be here, even if he won't marry you."
"He visits," Veda said hesitantly.
"Yeah, well, visiting isn't enough. You're basically on your own, raising them. They're six years old. Sending money and presents and visiting whenever he feels like isn't raising them."
"Tell him that, then. He's coming tomorrow. You and Ariadne should come too. I'm having an end of summer party for the children. Neighbors and their children and people from their class will be there. I'm the secretary of the PTA, so I had to host something." She frowned. "Maybe those stupid neighbors will shut up."
"What d'you mean?"
Veda sighed. "The neighbors think I'm a bad mother or something because they don't see a father. And the parents tell their kids to stay away from Cayenne and Grayson, so they get teased. They don't know why, and they try to explain that their dad is working, but the kids still tease them. Just this Monday, one of the boys pushed Cayenne to the ground, skinning her knee. And Grayson flipped out and fought the kid. He broke his arm."
"What?"
"Yeah, Grayson hates people hurting Cayenne. The kid, his parents live like three five minutes away, and they told the principal some crap about how Grayson is violent and all, and I had to go down to the school and raise hell yesterday. Grayson was on the verge of getting expelled. It was so dumb. And now I have to throw this stupid party, and the parents of that kid and that kid will be here tomorrow."
"Well, our job's done, me and Ariadne. So we could come to the party tomorrow."
"Party?" Ariadne stepped onto the porch.
"Yeah, I'm hosting a PTA party tomorrow. You and Arthur should spend the night here!" Veda clapped. "Then you could be at the party."
"Veda, we don't want to impose-"
"Whatever, I'm a good hostess, Arthur! And we've got plenty of room." Veda called out to the children. "Should Arthur and Ariadne spend the night, mes rêves?"
"YES!" Both of the twins squealed and ran from the swingset to the porch.
"OH PLEASE STAY."
"Uncle Arthur, I want you to see my crazy stairs painting I made in art."
"Auntie Ari, I got a new dollhouse that you haven't seen yet. It's a padoga."
"Pagoda?" Ariadne grinned.
"Yes, pagoda."
"I guess we're staying then," Arthur sighed, unable to deny the childish charms of young Grayson and Cayenne Brighton-Eames.
"YAAAAY!" The children reached out and hugged their godparents. To be honest, anyone from the Fischer job was a godparent of the twins, not just Ariadne and Arthur. Saito had shown up several years ago when they were both deathly sick, paying for all of the hospital bills. Yusuf had bought them each a cat- pixie bobs, oddly enough, which Veda thought Yusuf had molecularly changed. Dom, though he wasn't in the same state, sent presents to the twins. Unlike James and Phillipa, everyone could see that these twins would become dreamers- dreamers who would undoubtedly become the best. It was something that everyone just knew.
4 (Four; Quatre; Quatro)
They waited in relative silence. "Her flight's late," said Arthur, looking up from his wrist watch. Ariadne shrugged, taking her miniature sixty-thirty triangle and lining it up with her ruler. With every second that Cobb stayed dreaming, he was closer to staying in a permanent coma.
"It's a plane, darling, not like it's the end of the world." Eames was one to talk- he'd actually glanced several times at the wall clock since they'd been waiting for their guest. But now that the initial nervousness had worn off, Eames had resigned to people-watching. Airports were hilarious. Everyone wanted to go somewhere, and therefore it was the second most diverse place other than the mall's food court. The woman across from Eames shifted uncomfortably in her seat and kept fluffing up her limp blonde hair; Eames smirked, wondering if it was he or Arthur that was making the woman feel self-conscious. To his right, a toddler teetered around with a pacifier in his mouth, wandering away from his mother. Eames smiled at him, and the toddler grinned back, pacifier falling from his mouth; luckily, it was fixed on a ribbon pinned to his chest. To his left, businessmen in overly-starched suits checked their Blackberries, furrowing their brows. They annoyed Eames a bit, acting just like Arthur.
He turned to look at Arthur who was looking at Ariadne drawing. Arthur's eyes were soft as he watched her deftly flip over the three metal pieces in her hands, positioning them on the page, occasionally with a pencil and maybe mixing in an eraser. Arthur was certainly smitten, to say the least. Eames' eyebrows raised in amusement. Arthur was already protective of Ariadne. Because of that, it pissed Arthur off to no end when Eames needlessly and innocently flirted with her. Eames did it on purpose though, for a laugh. He did love to get a rise out of that stick-in-the-mud. He needed to smile more. Loosen up a bit. Well, maybe Ariadne would help with that.
His gaze moved down to Ariadne who flipped over her small T-square. She was certainly very talented, mind wide-open with imagination. Dreamscape and the building of it suited her, seemed very organic. Seeing people in their natural element gave them a certain sensual allure, thought Eames, and the watcher always knew the exact element that gave them that beauty. So yes, he liked her a lot and seeing Ariadne in her natural setting did move Eames, but Arthur had nothing to worry about. She was very beautiful, very sweet, intelligent, humorous, but she wasn't Eames' proper type.
To be honest, Eames had many types, and no doubt he had bed them all- men and women. But there was only one woman who was his type, his exact type. And the nervousness seeped into him again. He hadn't seen the Rescuer in months.
"His vitals haven't changed," Arthur said suddenly, thumbing through his phone, presumably reading a text message.
"Good." Eames reminded himself that the Rescuer was not coming on vacation. She was coming to bring Cobb back to reality. He never woke up- Saito somehow did, but Dominick Cobb did not. Eames wondered what he was dreaming of, inside his head. Ariadne was positively sure Mal had vacated his mind.
"She's here." Arthur quickly got to his feet. Ariadne pulled herself from her work, packing things back into her satchel.
"I finally get to meet her," said Ariadne.
"You'll like her," Arthur noted. "She's different." Eames raised his eyebrow at Arthur, mouth open and about to speak. He refrained, wanting to say 'like you?' but didn't want to insult the Rescuer.
Eames noticed her step into the lobby first. Veda stood out just a tad, only because she wore sunglasses inside. She wore that same leather racing jacket he remembered, the one with the stripes. Arthur saw her next and stepped forward.
"Veda? Over here." Veda pulled up her sunglasses, setting them on her head. Her brown eyes were still oddly large for her face, and the bags under them were still present; she hadn't gotten any sleep lately, Eames noted. Her skin was still like coffee and creamer, and still tinged with a deathly gray. His eyes moved to her lips, and she smiled that wide, unexpected smile.
"Hey, Arthur!" She dismissed his outstretched hand and pulled him in for a half-hug. Arthur blinked rapidly, taken aback, and his body stiffened. Veda was too touchy with people she knew. Probably because she didn't really know very many people.
"Er, hi." They pulled away from each other. "You remember Eames, and this is Ariadne, Cobb's new Architect. Ariadne, Veda." Veda's eyes lingered over Eames, as if she was deciding whether or not to hug him properly. He knew she wouldn't. She didn't. But she did reach for Ariadne, who did hug her, and less awkwardly than Arthur.
"Hi, nice to meet you."
"You too."
"Any bags?" The Point Man didn't see any but knew she had one.
"Just the one." Arthur nodded, leading the way to baggage claim. Ariadne followed close behind him, preferring to wait to talk when they got to the car.
"Hi." Veda hung back to issue her greeting to Eames.
"Hello, love." She didn't touch him then, and just as well. The moment she touched him, or vice versa, the switch would be flipped; this was business, not pleasure. She shifted her oversized bag on her shoulder. Eames had never seen this one before- it was fuchsia patent leather. Kitschy, but it went with her. She had a faint smile played out on her lips, like she was on the verge of laughing. She did.
"Oh that is too cute," she whispered, leaning towards him. He caught a whiff of her hair, that nameless sweet smell that he only smelled around her. "Do they date or something? Because they should." Ariadne and Arthur.
"They've been out for drinks a few times."
"Hm." She smiled fondly. She was a sucker for romance.
"How're you?" he asked.
"You don't look well. How many layers did you go?"
"Three," Eames sighed. She never answered the question.
"Ah, that's not so bad. Sedatives?"
"Mhm."
"Ooh." She cringed. "Yusuf, right?"
"Who else?"
"True." Veda shrugged, pulling her sunglasses back over her face and fell silent. Eames saw her eyes twitch violently before she did. He said nothing.
...
"I did not know he did not follow me back," finished Saito. Boxes of takeout littered the coffee table, remnants of the meal they'd finished hours ago. They were recounting, step by step, the routes they'd taken during the Inception. Veda even had Ariadne draw it out, and Yusuf broke down the compounds he used extensively. It was late, and everyone was tired, but this was important.
"And the Inception took," sighed Veda, shaking her head. "It took." Veda was starting to think that this just might be the most complicated Rescue she'd ever done. He was lost, and he also thought it was real, by the sound of it. She wondered if the Mal in his head was truly gone.
"It did," Saito confirmed. "My sources tell me that the first moves to deconstruct Fischer's company have been taken."
"This is just like Mal." Veda slipped on her shades, feeling the tremors in her eyes coming back. She needed to sleep. "Mal was so stuck in her world. I tried to persuade her over and over that we were not dreaming." That was the first time Veda failed. Failed at Rescuing.
"Sorry for asking, but why do you have to persuade them specifically? Couldn't you just kill him in the dream and it'd work?"
"No. We don't know how many layers he's under, or even if he's in limbo. But what's worse is that if he's just killed and he thinks he's alive, I could really kill him. He could lose his mind." Veda kept sighing. This all just seemed so hopeless. They had to want to be rescued, not just need it. She picked up a legal pad and began writing. "I'll see him in the morning."
"Why not now?"
"I need to pretend I'm- um-" Veda's hand quivered, and she put down the pen. She really needed sleep. "I need to look at all of this from his point of view, figure out how to explain to him that what he's dreaming is faulty. I don't want to have myself biased by his surface. Somehow he thinks that the reality he shared with all of you is the reality he's still in. I need to study that reality."
"Anything you need, you can have." Saito stood, his guilt radiating off of him. Out of everyone, he bore the most guilt; Cobb had been trying to save him. "I'm going to bed."
"Yeah, I'd better turn in too."
"Me three." Ariadne stretched her arms above her head. "Are you gonna need us for anything?"
"Dunno. Depends on how deep he is. But even so, his mind is our enemy right now. Which means that our target is Dom. We're saving him from himself." Veda grimaced; the words haunted the room like a poltergeist, playing with each one of them in a strangely morbid way. But Veda moved her eyes to Eames; his gaze was fixed on the bamboo floor. Her chest grew tight- maybe it was the fact that she'd been thinking of her good friend Mal, but Veda knew that this was just the hold Eames had on her. She wished she didn't think of him like this, but she did. It was like gravity- the closer she was, the stronger the pull. She watched him rise from his chair, wave up two fingers in a goodbye, and then- she looked down just in time. Veda did not want to meet his eyes. She waited until the front door closed before getting up herself.
"Yusuf?" She addressed the Chemist once everyone else had vacated the area. He was also staying in the suite to monitor Dom's health. "Do you have anything that could put me to sleep?"
"Take off the glasses." Yusuf could possibly be the only one who knew exactly what she was going through and how to help her properly. She did as she was told, revealing the tremors and bags. "Hell." He took her hand, feeling for her pulse. Her fingers moved involuntarily.
"I know, I know…"
"Why can't you sleep again?" She shrugged, watching him rummage through his bag. Nightmares. Getting caught in her mind. She had nothing to anchor her to reality, to make her want her reality. She was so afraid of falling asleep. Of dreaming her own dreams. "D'you microsleep?"
"Yeah."
"How many times a day?"
"I've lost count."
"That's not good."
"Yusuf, are you a doctor-therapist or a Chemist?" Yusuf rolled his eyes at her, taking out a little plastic bag with two tiny pearly pills inside.
"This'll put you right into a deep sleep within five minutes of taking it. Don't set your alarm- there'll be hell to pay if you do. A full glass of water to wash it down. You'll dream intermittently, but only for five minutes tops in dreamscape. I doubt you'll be able to manipulate it. It gives five hours."
"Only?"
"With someone with such advanced sleep deprivation as you, yeah. A normal person would be out like a light for ten or twelve." She sighed.
"Thanks, Yusuf."
"You're welcome. G'night."
"Night." She shluffed off down the hall, terribly afraid of taking the pills.
3 (Three; Trois; Tres)
"She won't listen," Veda mumbled to Dom. They were on the Cobbs' front porch. She rubbed her eyes, trying desperately not to break into tears.
"Fuck," whispered Dom. "What do you think's gonna happen if this goes on?" Veda's eyes flickered to the front door, where Mal was cooking inside.
"Mal's gonna die, Dom- I've never seen someone so sure-" Veda caught her breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What did you do." She wasn't asking a question- it was more of a command, a subtle outing of the information she wanted.
"V, I-"
"No." She shook her head and leaned forward, the only thing separating them was the six inches of tension radiating from their bodies. "You did. Something. Mal won't listen. To me. Every dreamer on this earth knows that when they see me, there's something wrong. She's awake, and you called me. You didn't call a psychiatrist, Dom. You didn't call Miles or Arthur. You called me."
"You're her best friend-"
"No. Dom, I am the Rescuer. You're an Architect. Mal's an Architect. I'm not. I am the person that dreamers who fucked up call when they need help. Now what did you fuck up?" A painful lump rose in Cobb's throat; he swallowed it back.
"We spent like fifty years in limbo," he hastily said, "and it was beautiful. But she didn't want to come out."
"Why- why would you let her go that far under with you?" Veda shook her head. "You know what Mal's like." Dissatisfied, disenchanted with her world. The real world. That was what made her such a good Architect. Mal deemed the world unfit of true creativity, unable to grant her zero-limits on what her mind could accomplish.
"We were just supposed to run trials-"
"She forgot it was a dream, didn't she?" Dom nodded; Veda bit her lip, the tears messing up her mascara.
"She didn't want the truth. She locked her totem away in a safe. I opened it and spun it."
"That's inception, Dom. There is a reason why we don't attempt it. Eames tried it once, and it didn't take. Do you know why it didn't take?" Veda didn't wait for his answer. "It wasn't that it wasn't deep enough. It wasn't the idea- Hell, the idea was simple. It was that the idea we chose to incept wasn't organic to the person. Arthur always says that true inspiration is impossible to fake. And that's true. Unless deep, deep down that idea is a logical sequence of events for the Mark. Oh, Dom, you know her. Probably better than I do. How could you not know that that top would still be spinning in her head right now?"
"But you can stop it, right?" Dom breathed.
"No." Veda rubbed the whistle on the chain around her neck. "That's the point of inception. That idea that you put in her head, that her world wasn't real- it defines her now. She's going to be obsessed with it. That single idea will dominate her brain, take over and fester. Until she lives it through." Cobb's heart leapt from his chest, seemingly to the sun that quickly dipped below the horizon.
"We- I- But-?"
"I can't save her. She thinks I'm rescuing her from a dream."
"I can't accept that, Veda." Dom shook his head. "I won't."
"I know." Veda sighed, folding her arms. "You can try. You can try Miles, psychologists, therapy, whatever you want. But I'll tell you right now that it won't work. The best thing you can do for her right now is love her, put off whatever she's going to do." Dom put a weary hand to his forehead, his fingers raking through his hair.
"Dear God, what have I done?" His blue eyes glistened with salty, hot water; waves of shame and guilt and grief took him under like a rip current. Veda, taking pity on him, wrapped warm arms around his body, and Dom began to cry.
...
After Mal's funeral ended, there was an unexpected downpour. James and Phillipa had already returned home with their grandparents, and Cobb was long gone, probably in Peru or Singapore. Who knew.
And Veda stood at her best friend's grave, clothes growing heavy with rain. Her whistle's sharp sound got lost in the wind. An umbrella shielded Veda. She glanced up at its holder- Arthur.
"You should get out of the rain- you'll catch a draft, Veda."
"I tried, you know, I really really tried to bring her back." She angrily slapped the tears on her face, her other hand balling up into a fist.
"She was sick, V." Arthur didn't know what Dom had done.
"I promised her that I'd find her if she ever got lost in her head. I failed her." A usually introverted, unaffectionate Arthur put an arm around Veda's shoulders. "She was so scared of getting lost."
"We all are. C'mon, let's get you back to the hotel." He guided her back to the car, and they sped down the road, headed away from the many headstones.
"You're great," Veda suddenly said. "I'm an only child- I've never had a brother before. I've always wanted a brother, Arthur." He gave a dry chuckle; Veda smiled.
"I'm an only child too. I guess having a sister isn't so bad." Veda wouldn't say it (she'd only embarrass him), but she trusted Arthur with her life. It was an easy thing to do. She currently could only count on four- well, now three now that Mal was dead- people in this capacity. Arthur, Cobb, and Eames. She liked trusting people, being with them.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Mhm." Arthur slowed for a red light.
"I haven't slept for more than two hours straight since Dom called me to see Mal. That was four months ago."
Silence. An inhale of breath from Arthur. "Why?"
"I just can't. I'm scared to sleep. I stay up thinking things like 'who would rescue me if I were to get lost in my own head.'"
"We wouldn't let that happen." By "we," Veda knew Arthur meant himself and Cobb. But what he said next surprised her. "Eames most definitely wouldn't."
"I thought you hated Eames." A half-smile played upon his face.
"He's annoying as shit, but he cares about you," he fleetingly glanced at Veda. "So he's alright with me."
"Definitely an older brother," she said fondly. They pulled into the parking garage of the hotel.
"Well, your older brother's going to treat you to dinner after you get out of those wet clothes."
"A sweet older brother." Veda's doe eyes widened with sincerity. She was embarrassing him now. His ears reddened, and he rolled his eyes as they both got out of the sedan. He waited for her to round the car before walking up the hotel steps. "Thank you, though."
"For dinner?"
"Ha, yes, but no. I meant thanks for not letting that happen. You don't know what it's like, sometimes, filtering the nonsense in people's heads. No structure at all." Arthur unknowingly wrinkled his nose at the idea. He shrugged.
"You're welcome." He didn't know how to say that really it was her he should thank, for saving him that one time.
It was shortly after his second job; the Mark, an army general, had a battlefield designed for him. The dream screwed with Arthur's mind so horribly that he couldn't distinguish it from the reality he had witnessed when he was serving his time in the military. The dreamscape was extensive- their Architect had gone overboard, and the maze was too complicated for Arthur to navigate properly. She'd found him, fetal position, in a rank trench filled with the decaying bodies of dead projections, but Veda was smiling, hand outstretched. Her anomalistic presence saved Arthur from his head; if Arthur had stayed, he surely would've gone insane. So he had to, at the very least, make sure she was alright. It would be downright wrong if she succumbed to those sorts of things.
It was then Arthur decided, while Veda was changing her clothes, he never ever wanted to see the inside of her head.
9 (Nine; Neuf; Nueve)
Really, there was nothing to say. To tell the truth, the seven of them in the room did not know each other as well as they could have, so they really couldn't say much. Yet right then, with Cobb finally awake, a sense of friendship and camaraderie pervaded the room, and everyone felt right. They were all afraid of talking, saying anything to disturb this moment of accomplishment. Cobb could finally go home to see James and Phillipa. Saito could see his precious engineering endeavors thrive for another decade or two, and Yusuf, with his and Cobb's shares of money, could finally get the compounds he needed for mass drug trials. Ariadne would no doubt quit school and follow Arthur into the black market that was extraction. And Arthur, under his steely exterior, would gladly welcome her and love her. Eames would go on with life as usual, crossing paths with everyone, and possibly staying to work with Arthur and Ariadne a bit more. And Veda, well, she'd just continue on loving them as her family, pulling Ariadne into her circle.
They sat for five minutes in silence before Yusuf spoke.
"Is Veda asleep?" He asked incredulously. They all turned to her; Veda's head was nestled gently on Eames' shoulder, her arm crooked around his.
"Hm, I guess she is," Eames said.
"Never seen her actually sleep before," breathed Cobb.
"She worked overtime trying to get you back."
"Hm, she's a damn good Rescuer, isn't she?" Cobb would always be indebted to her for that. Well, all of them really.
"Mhm."
...
"You sure you don't want to continue here? Could use another person," offered Arthur. As much as he would not admit it, it was plain he liked having Veda around. She was an expert at her work. The best.
"I can't- I've already got three jobs lined up," said Veda, giving Arthur a sad smile. Cobb had already arrived at his home, Saito had taken off, and of course, Yusuf had been the first one to leave. "But call me any time. You guys are my favorite team."
"Alright then."
"You can call us too, you know." Ariadne smiled, and Veda returned with a hug.
"I will, Ari." She hugged Arthur. "Take care of yourself, Mr. Suit."
"Ha, you too. Seriously." An amused Veda nodded, putting her sunglasses over her eyes.
"I've got to go." She stared at all of Eames, except his eyes- she was too angry to look. Her heart tugged, practically screaming at her to stay. She wanted to stay. But she couldn't, not like this. She felt so down when she had to leave- he'd fallen short of her expectations, and he knew that. But that didn't- wouldn't- change how she felt about Eames at the end of the day.
Eames wanted to capture her gaze with his, to force her to see the pain in his eyes. The pain from her leaving all the time. He'd beat himself up later about allowing her to leave again. But he knew, deep inside, he couldn't provide what she needed from him anyway. But that didn't change how he felt about her at the end of the day either, so he couldn't touch her properly. He held out his hand for her to shake instead.
She took it.
"See you, Eames."
"Bye, love." Veda half-saluted them all and strode off to board her plane. Eames sighed, tearing his eyes away from the gate and motioning that he was going to the car.
Arthur rolled his eyes at the two of them, wondering what the hell was their problem.
"I don't think we'll ever get it," voiced Ariadne. She glanced up at Arthur and shrugged. "They both like each other- a lot it seems, and they just won't stay together."
"It's Eames, that's what it is. Stupid."
"I don't think it's just his fault. But like I said, I don't think we get it. People are complicated." Ariadne sighed. "I like V a lot. We should call her more often."
"We?" A smile inched over Arthur's lips. "You're not going back to Paris?"
"Well there's no point in getting my degree now. Seriously, who wants to build real stuff- not now, not knowing what's out there."
"Pure creation," nodded Arthur. It enthralled and caught everyone in its snare.