Woo! Back into fiction!
Sorry that it's been a while, I took a bit of a break. I hope you don't mind :)
Oh, and thanks for the continued reviews/watches/faves, they're always encouraging.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inception or any of its characters. I only own my idea and writing.
Day 2
Arthur P.O.V
Quietly as he could, Arthur opened the door to Ariadne's bedroom. Normally he would never enter another person's space without their permission, but he wanted to surprise the Architect.
Earlier in the morning, he had visited a local florist, right on their opening time, and purchased the small bundle of lavenders that were now sitting in a vase of water in his hand.
Arthur re-adjusted his grip on the vase as he walked through the doorway.
Ariadne's bedside table was on the opposite side of the room.
Typical, Arthur thought.
Though not deterred, he slowly made his way around the queen sized bed. Arthur stole a quick glance at the sleeping young woman; Ariadne was curled up tightly with her head just sticking out from under the warm covers. Arthur recalled how she had told him one chilly day at the warehouse that she was a morning person and often got up before the sun.
But not today, he mused.
Arthur swiftly placed the jar of flowers on the table and stiffened as Ariadne rolled over upon hearing the sound of glass against wood. But she wasn't awake and so he took the opportunity to leave the room, stealing one last glance of her sleeping form and wishing that he had the opportunity to see it more often.
Ariadne cracked one eye open and could clearly see the sun shining from under the curtains of her window. She closed her eye again against the glare.
I haven't slept in this late in years, she thought.
Ariadne blindly reached an arm out to her side table, intending to give her totem a knock, but instead found her hand meeting with glass. A strange idea formed in her head and she took a deep breath in through her nose.
Lavenders.
Ariadne opened both eyes and saw that there was, in fact, a jar of purple lavenders sitting on her bedside table.
Arthur.
She sat up in the bed with a stupid smile on her face and rolled her eyes, remembering what her mother once told her, 'Any boy that brings you flowers in this day in age, deserves your attention'. Arthur already had her attention, but the flowers were still very nice.
After getting dressed and grabbing her toiletries, Ariadne opened her door and made her way to the bathroom. Arthur was nowhere in sight so she reasoned that he must have gone down to the restaurant for breakfast. It seemed a strange thing to do seeing as they delivered breakfast for free to the door. But she let it pass and was quickly showered and dressed.
She chucked her toiletries back into her room and turned the television on, while waiting for Arthur to return. It was a good half hour before there was a knock on the door. Ariadne opened the door and was surprised to see Arthur standing in front of her; didn't he have a key card?
"Sorry," he apologized, "Forgot my card"
She shrugged, "Well its not really that hard to walk from the seat to the door"
"Ahh, so I didn't wake you?"
"No, if you had I would still be in my pajamas," Ariadne made sure to smile with her sarcasm so as not to offend him, he seemed a little off today. Normally the ever-quick Arthur could have figured out those things on his own.
"Good," He lifted up a plastic bag, "I got you this, so you don't have to order"
Ariadne took the package from him and looked inside, there was a white container sitting in the bag. She breathed in and smelt a familiar scent.
"Pancakes! Thank you, Arthur," she smiled up at him again, "And thank you for the lavenders too"
Arthur stepped inside the room, "I hope that they help with your 'homesickness'"
"They're lovely," she replied while setting herself and her breakfast at the table.
Arthur had already eaten breakfast and so he chose to call up the airline and make his new bookings for the end of the week while Ariadne ate. Again, Arthur couldn't help but notice the way her lips moved over the fork as she took a bites of food.
It was so distracting that he had to turn around in order to finish his calls. When they both finished their activities around the same time Ariadne walked over to her bedroom and returned with a small A4 sketchpad and tin of different types of pencils.
She sat in one of the couch chairs and drew her knees up for the pad to rest on. Her eyes flicked up to his with a look of slight realization, "Oh, sorry. Do you mind if I sketch?"
"Not at all," Arthur said, shaking his head, "I need to send some emails anyway"
And for a short while that's what they did, though Arthur soon finished with his emails and took to lazily surfing the web as Ariadne continued to draw. As Ariadne finished a sketch she tore it off and placed it gently on the floor, moving on to her next idea. Arthur was surprised to see that the drawing wasn't a building or structure but an old man gazing down at the cat in his arms, with such a tender look on his wrinkled face, it made Arthur smile slightly.
He wondered why, with the obvious talent she had, Ariadne had chosen architecture as her career choice. At a pause in her sketching her asked her this.
"Well," she said, tapping her pencil against her page, "while I love to draw and observe things in front of me, I always found it hard to create new creatures or people. Like the man I just drew already existed, my grandfather.
"But when I got into architecture I found that I could create the most weird and beautiful buildings or cities in my mind and on the page," she paused a moment, "Why would I settle for drawing things that already exist when I could create completely new designs?"
"Pure creation."
Ariadne nodded, "Not to the extent of dream sharing, but yes, in my eyes pure creation."
She looked down a moment as the conversation lapsed, and angled her pencil as if to begin sketching again when Arthur spoke up, "What are you drawing now?"
Ariadne looked from the Arthur to the page and back again, "Uh, nothing really. It's not finished anyway, can I show you another time?"
"I didn't ask to be showed," he stated leaning forward slightly.
Ariadne rolled her eyes, "Fine, it's you"
"Me?"
"Yes, you were just sitting there and I thought hey, why not?" This time when Arthur heard the sarcasm in her voice, he chuckled.
"What are you really drawing Ari?"
"Limbo," she said with a shrug as if the word meant nothing, betraying the fact that it was the complete opposite.
Arthur sat back swiftly, suddenly quite serious, "If I let you finish, will you let me look? I've never seen limbo before."
"Hopefully this will be the only time you ever do see it," Ariadne replied in an ominous voice that Arthur wasn't accustomed to.
He sat silently while she continued, quite content to observe. At one point Ariadne got up to get a glass of water, taking her drawing with her so that Arthur couldn't look. When he raised an eyebrow and asked "Don't you trust me?" She shook her head and replied in a teasing voice "No."
After a time Ariadne sighed and placed her last pencil, this one charcoal, back into its tin and rolled her shoulders, stretching stiffened muscles.
"Finished?" Arthur inquired.
She nodded and handed the sketch over to him upside down so that he wouldn't see until the last moment. When Arthur turned the pad over he was mesmerized by what he saw.
Ariadne had drawn an angled ocean shore that ran along the lower right of the page, which lead into a city without passing through a beach. The buildings at the shore were crumbled, dark masses in contrast to the structures behind them. Clouds obscured the sky. While limbo looked magnificent, Ariadne had poured her emotion into it; he could see her curiosity, excitement and fear throughout the drawing.
"It's amazing," Arthur finally said, still looking down at the paper.
"You can keep it if you want," he heard Ariadne say.
Arthur looked up, "Thank you and your right"
"About what?"
"About hoping that this will be the only time I see Limbo," he answered. Arthur was unsure about how to repay such a gift, for being the gentleman that he was, he wanted to give something back. An idea formed in his mind as he tore Ariadne's drawing from the pad and handed the sketching paper back to her.
After she had put away her things, Arthur asked "Ari, you seem a little stiff from all that drawing. Would you like a massage?"
She grinned, "I would like that very much"
Well, that's that then. Please R&R :)