one. I love how the word count is going down each chapter. I'm pretty sure this is the second shortest one I've written, however.
two. It's taken me a whole week to upload? Silly me. It was all that homework (I KNEW I should have been working on it instead of writing last weekend! Yay for pulling an allnighter the day before it's due!)
three. Ech-hem. I'm not sure what sort of mood I was in to have this whole fight between Ariadne and Arthur. I guess was figuring Well, they already made-out in the first chapter/orginal one-shot, so I can't have them all lovey-dovey for the next twenty or so. So forgive me, but...yeah. Hopefully they aren't too OOC. :/
four. Um. I still don't own Inception. I mean, you'd think I would by now, but... no [/dramatic sigh]
five. Long Author's Note is long. Thank you all for the reviews. I'd say 'It's what's keeping me going with the story!' but I can't, since I've written the entire thing. I will, however, say that the reviews make my day. :D So Thank You.
About a week later, with the invisible deadline they had set up looming closer, Cobb had gathered them together to discuss the finer points of the job. Of course, they should have gone over the fine tuning long before then, but it wasn't complicated enough to merit much more than a basic plan with some flourishes on the more sketchy details.
As usual, Eames and Arthur were doing a very good job of annoying the hell out of each other, although this was more the former's work. Yusuf was only half listening—it was quite obvious by the way his eyes kept darting over to his desk that his mind was clearly still on his compounds, although they wouldn't be using very heavy sedatives this time around.
Ariadne, on the other hand, was listening intently, ready to make changes to her models at the drop of a hat, should the need arise that they needed a new staircase or extra offices in the second level—a exhibition for a computer microchip held in the lobby of an office building that resembled the mark's—or remove a row of seats from the plane that made up the first level.
She'd brought up the plane with Cobb a while back: she was used to designing buildings, not vehicles, and certainly not 747 airplanes. Cobb had assured her over her architectural prowess, saying she didn't have to worry about making it literally be able to fly—as long as it flew in that reality, she was fine. Which Ariadne had took to mean she'd have to convince Yusuf the model she'd built would be able to fly; he was the dreamer for the level.
"I know we've been over this countless times," Cobb rubbed his hands together and leaned up against the nearest desk: Eames's. "But I want to get it all ironed out." He shot a pointed glance at Eames, who had yanked Arthur's pen out of his hand and was twirling it around in his opposite hand, keeping it away from the point man despite the latter's best attempts to retrieve it.
"Yes, darling, we're all listening." Eames sounded bored, but Ariadne could tell he was paying attention, even if he was doing his best to pretend otherwise. Apparently, Cobb though so as well, because he continued.
"We start with the plane. Mr. Pierce is has a certain philia of flying, and his job requires a lot of it; he won't suspect a thing. The plane will lull him into the sense of security. Eames—" Cobb turned to the forger. "You'll be playing our Mr. Pierce's lovely escort to the exhibition. You'll have the seat next to him; just get him talking about it and set a date with him. In the next level, it'll be your job to keep him distracted."
"Of course." Eames had the look Ariadne had often seen him wear when he was about to pick up a girl he had met by chance on some random street corner in some random city: like a tiger on the hunt. It was almost fascinating, really. The man was a womanizer, almost without even trying.
Arthur shared a disgusted look with Ariadne, and she laughed.
"While you keep him…"
"Occupied." Eames offered.
"...Distracted," Cobb corrected, shooting him a warning glance. "Arthur and I will break into the vault Ariadne's created."
Ariadne nodded, quickly. "That sounds right. I've finished both of the levels—it just a matter of taking a tour of them. A couple days?" She offered a time frame for when her portion of the work should be completed. Cobb nodded and turned to Eames.
"I've got that lovely lady from the Fischer—"
"Eames." Cobb shot him another warning glance, and the forger leaned back in his chair, staring off in the distance as though running through his memories.
"Got one. Nice girl I met in Egypt. Exotic, attention grabbing, breasts like a—"
"Eames!" Ariadne snapped at the forger and he laughed cruelly, while Ariadne folded her arms in disgust.
"So, did you decide on this description before or after she refused your company?" Arthur said evenly.
"After." Eames said, quickly, without considering the entirety of Arthur's compound question. When he did, he snapped "Hey!" and glared at the point man.
"I don't care who you use, as long as you've haven't portrayed her before." Cobb replied, before adding "And don't stray from the plan. We're on a job, not your social calendar."
Eames snorted. "Please. Have you taken a good look at Pierce? He'd wouldn't even be on my social calendar."
They were quiet for a moment, while Cobb worked to regain the topic from the tangent on to which it had strayed. He turned to Yusuf. "The sedative?"
Yusuf nodded. "I actually had some time to experiment a little this time, and I've got the time setting the same, but without any nasty side affects of waking up in limbo."
Ariadne swiveled around in her seat to stare at him. "How did you engineer a sedative that you can wake up from? Doesn't that…defeat the purpose?"
"I never said you can wake up from it."
"What?" She looked much more confused than she felt, if that was possible. "What happens if you get killed?"
"You wake up in the dream level above."
She gave him a long look, her eyebrows raised. "That's possible?"
"Obviously." Yusuf shot back. "It's a simple matter of—"
"Yusuf." Cobb glanced at the chemist, then at the ground, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, as though laughing at his own private joke. "'Simple' is subjective."
Yusuf sighed. "Right." He turned back to Ariadne. "Basically, it's a compound that will wake you up in the dream level above, while sticking to the same time frame as the compound we used for Fischer." He rolled his eyes to the ceiling, as though considering what he had just said, then added "It's perfectly safe, if that's what you're worried about."
"What-What happens if someone's killed in the first level?"
A shrug from Yusuf. Ariadne turned to shoot a horrified glance at Cobb. "You haven't tried it yet?"
"We have." Cobb confirmed. "The use of the compound is to prolong REM. If you die in the dream, you slip into the Delta stage of sleep."
"Which means…?"
"Which means while everyone else is waking up from the dream, you'll still be asleep, on the drugs, until someone comes and wakes you...or until you slip completely out of the sleep cycle and wake up on your own a few hours later."
Ariadne stared at him, then turned to the others, who all wore expressions of complete faith and belief in what Cobb was saying. "Why did Yusuf say you haven't tried it?" she asked.
"I never said that." Yusuf replied. Ariadne shot a warning glance at him and Cobb interrupted before she could say anything.
"I understand your cause for concern," He said calmly. He was trying to convince her she'd be fine, although she figured she and Yusuf had the right to be the most worried—If something went wrong, they'd be the first to end up…wherever they did, as a result of the compound. "If you don't want to go under—"
"Of course I want to go under!" Ariadne shot back, quickly. "I just want to get some specifics."
Arthur looked down at his shoes, then glanced guiltily at Ariadne and said "About that."
Cobb glanced over at the point man, raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Arthur gave Ariadne another guilty look that she was afraid to interpret much beyond that, and returned his gaze to Cobb. "I don't want Ariadne in the dream."
Cobb didn't get a chance to reply, because Ariadne began to protest vehemently.
"What are you talking about! You have no right to decide whether or not I should be a part of this job or not." She turned back to Cobb. "You're not going to agree with him are you?" Her expression clearly said if he did, there would be hell to pay. She glanced back at Arthur, then back to Cobb, her face a mask of uncertainty and anguish. "Are you?"
"Arthur?" Cobb asked, calmly.
"Oh, you can't be serious." Ariadne stood up, misinterpreting Cobb's question, and turned to glare at Arthur. "Thanks."
"Sit down, Ariadne. I just want to hear the reasoning behind his request."
"Request?" Arthur said scathingly. "It's not a request."
"Excuse me?" Ariadne interrupted. Eames shot Arthur a puzzled look, and even Yusuf seemed confused as to why Arthur had suggested it.
"It's a known fact that the job is in jeopardy if the architect is part of the dream. The Fischer job was a…" he looked away from Cobb while he searched for a good description, before settling on "extraordinary circumstance." Cobb gave no indication as to whether he accepted the term or not, and Arthur continued. "Not only that, but she's a liability—"
Without another word, Ariadne stood up and stormed out of the warehouse, ignoring the ominous silence that followed her out. Her thoughts revolved around half a dozen intricate curse words directed towards a certain point man's name. Is this his idea of protecting me? She wondered.
The team watched her go, then Cobb turned to glare at Arthur. "She'll be back." He assured the four of them—himself included—using the words he'd used when she'd run off after the first dream session. He gave Arthur another long glance. "Did you want to discuss what the hell all that was about, though?" His voice was hostile; clearly he thought there had been some sort of strife between the point man and the architect.
"I can tell you," Eames said moodily.
"Shut up." Arthur murmured from the corner of his mouth.
Cobb, however, had heard him. He raised an eyebrow, indicating the forger should explain. Eames leaned back in his chair and tucked his hands behind his head, completely relaxed; unable to hold back the gossip. He sighed nonchalantly, as though trying to come up with the perfect way to word it.
"Let's just say this time it was Aphrodite and not Athena who paid a visit to our little weaver, Ariadne."
Arthur scowled. "Wrong Myth. You're thinking of Arachne."
"Oh, was that it?" Eames sounded innocent. Unfortunately, he'd gotten his point across.
"Arthur?" Cobb asked. "You mind explaining that?" It was clear he knew exactly what Eames was talking about. Arthur glared at Eames, then said "You weren't supposed to know."
"I wasn't supposed to know about what?" Cobb glared at his point man, who stood up.
"I'm not discussing this. Eames can tell you whatever the hell he likes." He said, before taking after Ariadne and storming out of the warehouse. Cobb turned to Eames, who gave him his innocent Now wasn't that fun? smile. He raised an eyebrow and Eames's smile widened.
"You should have seen those two love birds. They're completely—" He stopped when he realized Cobb wasn't listening; he had turned away and headed for his desk. Eames slammed his hands down on the arms of his chair with finality, and shot a glance at Yusuf.
"This isn't about Mal, is it, Cobb?" His voice carried across the warehouse, but the extractor didn't reply. Yusuf returned Eames's glance with a particularly uneasy one, then turned back to his own work.
"Jesus." Eames mumbled.
Hm...is it just me, or does it seem like I went trigger happy with the question mark whenever I was writing Cobb's dialouge? o_O
Anyway. I read through the chapter a couple of times, but I probably missed some mistakes; feel free to point them out.
Side note: When I first found out the architect's name was 'Ariadne' (before I had seen the movie) my first thought was 'Oh, the girl who wove the tapestries and dueled Athena!'...which sort of makes sense, I guess, what with her weaving tapestries/creating worlds. And then I found out it was Arachne, not Ariadne, that I was thinking of, and the name Ariadne makes much more sense in the story anyway. But I thought it would be fun to make Eames as clueless as I was. :P
Reviews for Mistaken Mythology? :3