#yusuf x ariadne

[roosterbox]

Rules: List the First Line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Tagged by @ladyvaderpixetc ❤️ Thank you, love. I almost want to post the first lines of a few of my WIPs, both because I think that'd be more exciting, but also because maybe - MAYBE - it might inspire me to actually work on them a bit more substantially than I have been.

Another time, perhaps. But anyway, the matter at hand. First line means first sentence, I assume, but I fudged that rule for a couple of these. Just because, lol.

Fingers. Running through his hair. Letting the strands (long, too long his father might have said) twist and curl gently around them.

Of all the reactions Eames expected to get, this wasn’t it.

Honestly Arthur wasn’t at all surprised. The call, which should have taken about ten minutes of his time, had actually managed to ruin about half his day.

“I’ll run out and get you some painkillers,” Eames said. “I’ll only be ten minutes,” he said.

It had all gone to hell, and for the life of him, Eames couldn’t figure out how.

Rule # 1: No Kissing. Arthur broke that one. The morning after their first time, he’d kissed Eames by way of goodbye, and only realized what he’d done a few minutes later.

“It won’t work, you know?” Ariadne looked up from her tea. Yusuf continued to mix the murky potion in his cauldron.

On his fourth birthday, a dragonfly flew into Nash’s bedroom.

Eames eyed the two men approaching his table with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

The gap in the curtains is just wide enough to send a laser beam of light right across Eames’ eyes. He grumbles and rolls over, not yet ready to greet the day.

And, as a nice bonus, you can have the first tiny lil bit of one of WIPs anyway (it’s the Cherik mpreg mid-quel).

It was mid afternoon, Charles reasoned. Prime time for a nap. And he was prepared to take advantage of this. Unfortunately, the roiling in his gut seemed determined to spoil it for him. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Idk if there’s any discernible pattern to these?

Tagging… hmm. How about anyone who sees this and wants to do it? Honestly I forget how many people I know who still post regularly and who are writers.

Though I think it might be amusing if there was a similar post aimed at artists instead. “Post the first line from your most recent posted artwork” and it’s just a series of images with a single (seemingly) random line drawn on them, lol. Because writing or art, it all does begin with a single line.

[sadlonelyyogurt]

this has been in my drafts for too long

part 1, part 2, part 3

[valerileygreen]

[hirunoka]

I thought this would be a good time to add another one to this silly little series today for the day 16 of @inception30daychallenge 😁

Incorrect Inception Quotes: 

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12

[thenwhatthefukcisthis]

one fine day, eames learns the phrase “lean mean fighting machine” and refuses to call arthur by anything else for a good month.

obviously, he aims to woo arthur but fails by a mile cause OF COURSE the only word arthur zeroes on is “mean” and refuses to meet the forgers eyes in the said month.

safe to say no productive dream thievery was done for a total of thirty days

[enchi-elm]

"HAUNTED" Zine Series (Inception) by Apfelessig

The Zine series is now complete! It has been archived on AO3 for your viewing pleasure. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me. Playing with this medium has been a real joy. And thank you to POE for creating her masterpiece album "Haunted", which still inspires 24 years after its release.

Jump to:

#1: I GO WILD (Mal)

#2: (like lemon) (Eames/Saito)

#3: can't hear myself think (Cobb & Robert)

#4: I have control (Ariadne &/ Mal)

#5: hide and seek (Yusuf)

#6: wicked (Arthur/Eames)

#7: HAUNTED (Cobb)

[ladysarai]

@inception30daychallenge, Day 24: A headcanon about your favorite friendship or relationship

Arthur & Mal: They met through Project Somnacin, when Arthur was in the military as a subject and Mal was there as an advisor. They became close friends, and when the Project was shut down and everyone was sent their own ways, Mal tracked Arthur down. She forced her way in, and made him come home with her, where she helped him through the worst of the PTSD and nightmares.

Oh, and James's middle name is Arthur.

Arthur & Ariadne: Arthur continues mentoring Ariadne after Inception ends. Whether she continues with illegal dreamshare activities or finds her way to strictly legal applications, he's there whenever she has a question or just can't sleep. (Basically, he is to Ariadne what Mal was to him.)

Eames & Yusuf: They have been friends for YEARS. Yusuf has the best hangover cure Eames has ever encountered, and he's a mean hand at poker. Eames is pissed that Yusuf took Cobb's deal and didn't at least warn him about it, but Yusuf knew if he told Eames, Eames would have told Arthur and then there went his double share. Eames forgives him faster than the others, because of their history and because, well. He's not actually that surprised that Yusuf took the deal.

Arthur/Eames: DREAM HUSBANDS. Their relationship went from antagonistic allies to friends to besties to friends with benefits to "oh shit I love him" to "hey should we get married" to married old couple. It wasn't without drama, and they've had to learn to compromise and to work together, but they are better as a team, and they've always had each other's backs, since day 1. Eames is adept at spotting when Arthur is working too hard and knows exactly how to make him take a break and slow down. When Eames has a hard time shaking off a forge or holding onto himself, Arthur is the one who notices first (sometimes before Eames himself) and who is best at reminding Eames who he is.

Cobb & Arthur: It takes some TIME after Inception for Arthur to trust Cobb again. A lot of time. And more than one apology, Dominic. In the end, it's not necessarily for Cobb that Arthur starts coming by again, but for the kids. And from there, they can begin working on repairing that fractured friendship.

[justrainandcoffee]

Inception is about a team where none of them is straight or probably the only straight is a dead psycho woman.

[the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf]

You're waiting for a train...(16) - Epilogue

I Dreamed We'd Grow Old Together...

Robert Fischer x reader

description - Robert and Y/n's life over the next five years

word count - 2k

warnings - pregnancy, and an insane amount of fluff

a/n - and so it ends! This fic has been very important to me and has given me such a great outlet. I want to thank you all for your continued love and support for this fic! If it hadnt been for you guys I probably wouldnt have had enough confidence to continue it!

Please like/comment/reblog/follow!!!

a/n pt2 - Also seeing as I have fallen in love with this relationship I will be accepting questions and headcanons on their relationship!

Previous Part Series Master list Master list

Questions and Headcanons on Robert x y/n - here

And so we came together. It felt like the culmination of a thousand dreams.

We went out on many dates. Robert would plan these luxurious and expensive expressions of affection: dinner at the fanciest restaurants, cinemas bought out for our private viewing experience. But we alternated who planned the dates, so when it came to my turn I went for the simplest. Walks on the beach, picnics in the park. One day I even found a crafting class for us, and I could’ve cried on the spot when I saw his eyes light up at the handmade windmills. Of course, he saw it as a happy coincidence when in reality I enjoyed feeling like I was healing his childhood self, one step at a time.

Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. We were out on a hike which I had chosen. He had grumbled about the idea of getting up early, but I could see the stress leave his body at the first gulp of forest air. I carried on ahead as he went to tie his shoe but when I turned back I gasped. Robert was down on one knee, holding a beautiful diamond ring.

“Y/n Cobb, I have loved you since that first moment I laid eyes on you, and I think even before that.” I walked closer to him so I could hold his other outstretched hand. Tears were streaming down my face and my smile was holding back an extremely loud yes. “I know how much you believe in dreams and so on. And last night I had a dream that we grew old together. When I woke up I knew it had to be my reality. Y/n Cobb, will you…”

I threw my arms around him.

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” I placed a loud kiss right on his lips.

“You could have at least let me finish!” He teasingly whined.

“Well I could see where you were going!” I argued back but was halted when he kissed me once more. We pulled away long enough so Robert could slide the ring onto my finger.

Safe to say, we did not finish the hike that day as we quickly went home to celebrate.

I had moved in with Robert before so we visited Dad and the kids for lunch the day after to give them the news. Dad had always been weary around Robert, not knowing if he would recognise him. But it was fine as, in my Dad’s words, ‘when Robert is around Y/n, it’s like the world doesn’t exist.’. Dad still couldn’t stop himself pulling Robert aside whilst Philippa was asking me a million questions about the wedding and if she could be a bridesmaid. All he did was roughly grab his hand and pulled him close and merely whispered

“She’s my precious girl. And I have a gun.”

Safe to say Robert was healthily shocked.

We got married weeks later as neither of us could wait. I told Robert I didn’t care about a big expensive wedding, but he couldn’t seem to accept that.

I got my wish for a small wedding in the garden of my childhood home, with just my closest friends. But everything else about it was still ridiculously posh. Right down to the flower arch we were married under.

James and Philippa were my brides’girl’ and brides’boy’. My father walked me down the makeshift aisle. Arthur and Eames were there as well as Yusuf and Ariadne. They were all worried about the risk of the inceptors being so close to the mark after the heist.

“There’s no telling what could trigger his memory.”

“Well, y/n spent the most time with him out of all of us and she’s marrying him.”

“We can’t all sleep with him!”

“ENOUGH!”

I then put a rule that there was to be no dream talk at my wedding. My father even gave his own little speech explaining that if anyone ruined my wedding, he would kill them. We all laughed but his continued silence quickly shut us all up.

Robert did not want any family there. And he also didn’t have friends he felt were close enough to warrant an invitation.

One night, whilst planning, I cautiously asked him about inviting his godfather. He tensed up and lowered his eyes. He brushed it off saying it would be too many people. I reluctantly agreed with him whilst looking at the sparsity of his side of the guests.

The wedding was beautiful, and we finished with dancing on the grass well into the early hours of the morning. I got my first dance with my father, a day I thought would never come. Philippa asked Robert to dance, and he graciously accepted, lifting her up onto his feet and they swayed alongside us.

The morning after we were curled up together in bed. My back leaned on his chest as he played with my fingers. The morning sun bleeding into my childhood bedroom.

“Where do you want to live?” His morning voice broke the quiet.

“I thought we were going to move into your house.” I tilted my head to look into his eyes which were trained on a picture of me, my dad and my mum.

“I don’t wanna go back. Being here, in this house, with all the love in it. I just don’t want to go back there.”

“Okay.” I leaned up and planted a soft kiss to his cheek.

“So if you could live in any house, anywhere in the world, where would you live?”

I snuggled myself back into his chest and closed my eyes as I imagined.

“Somewhere in the countryside, with a big sprawling garden that backs onto fields and forests with plenty of walks. The house should be cozy, with a big kitchen with an old fashioned stove that keeps us warm in winter. Wooden tables where I can cook and bake all day long till my hearts content. The house should have big windows so the sunlight can dictate our day. Small bedrooms but big comfy beds, fluffy rugs, open fires. And maybe even an extra room...with a cot.” I met his eyes for the last word.

“Yes.”

“To which bit?”

“To all of it.” We kissed passionately.

A few days later and Robert woke me up and told me we were going on a trip. We bundled into his car and drove for hours until we came to a stop outside a house that seeped with familiarity. I got out, transfixed by what stood before me. It was as real from my mind as if I had created it in my dream. Robert moved to unlock the little gate which led to the front door. He turned to me and held out a set of keys with a little windmill keychain.

“It needs a bit of work and I know I shouldn’t have bought it without showing you—”

“I love it.”

We didn’t need a honeymoon, the two weeks to ourselves spent decorating and filling the house with our love was enough. I drew designs for each room and Robert would do the heavy lifting. I could see how much he enjoyed working with his hands after dismantling his business a week into our relationship. I also was unable to help much as my hand found softly stroked a barely noticeable bump.

We relished in the days of decorating, where trying to paint a single wall would turn into silly games or dancing round to music, intermittent with many kisses and hugs.

Eventually we had built our home out of our house and we relaxed into our sofa, a bottle of red between us. We sealed the night with a kiss and it definitely didn’t end there.

Five Years Later

I stand at the sink washing our dishes from lunch and look out of the window onto our expansive garden. Robert runs about the grass, clad in soft jeans and a ratty knitted jumper. Our three darling children chase around him at varying speeds. Our eldest, Isla, holds her baby sister Aspen’s hand, and Nicholas, the youngest, toddles behind his sisters, excited to be involved.

Arthur runs up from behind and scoops Nicholas up into his arms through the giggling shrieks of the three. He bounces Nicholas up into the air. Isla and Aspen then run over and begin shouting up at their uncle for their turn.

I don’t hear Robert make his way into the house, I just feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist and soft kisses being ladened up and down my neck. I sink back into his body which is warm from the sun. His arms snake down and his hands lay on mine.

“Leave those now. I’ll do them later.” I agree by turning in his arms so we can meet in a proper kiss. His fingers grip my waist and stroke my sides.

Our moment is interrupted by a loud opening of the door. I roll my eyes at the familiar sound and break apart to greet Eames at the door.

“Right! Where are my darling godchildren?”

“I give you a good time to come round, and you insist on coming just before their tea and bath time.”

He laughs and knocks my chin with his knuckle.

“Motherhood suits you.” I bat his hand away and gesture out the door. “Make it quick.”

I turn back to a still laughing Robert who quickly stops once he sees my stern face.

“I’ll ask Eames if he wants to stay for tea with Arthur.” He goes to go back into the garden.

“What you thinking for tea?” I ask his retreating form.

“Chicken and potatoes?”

“Delicious.” He smiles and leaves.

I begin sorting through the mail which still sat on the side. I smiled once I reached a postcard from Dad. He’d taken the kids to Disneyland for a week and sent a picture of them with Goofy. I pinned it up on our cork board.

My peaceful moment is soon interrupted.

“Y/n! Tell Arthur that I’m the favourite uncle!”

“Y/n! Tell Eames that fun does not have to mean dangerous!”

“Mama, mama, Uncle Eames turned me upside down and span me around!”

“See! Dangerous!”

“Honey, where’s the disinfectant? Aspen scraped her knee.”

“Mummy it really hurts!”

“Mama! Uppies! Uppies!”

I picked Nicholas up into my arms and simply giggled, perfectly happy with my life.

It was now night. Arthur and Eames had left after insisting on reading the kids stories which meant they were roped into reading 3 stories per child. Nicholas had gone down first. Then Aspen and even though Isla had loved staying up with mummy and daddy, tiredness had overcome her quickly. So Robert carried her up and tucked her into bed.

We now lay in bed together, curled up. Simply relishing in the silence that was so foreign in our big house.

“Do you wanna know something strange?” He broke the silence. “That day we met, I had a dream about a girl who I fell in love with. I like to think it was you.”

I bit my lip to stop myself uncontrollably grinning.

“And since then, my dreams have been consumed by you and our little family.”

I tried to meet his eyes, but he was locked in thought and I knew I couldn’t interrupt his thoughtfulness.

“The moment I met you I realised that I wanted to create my own family rather than continue working for one that never loved me.”

I hugged him tighter as his voice shook slightly.

“Well, that’s good. Because your family is about to get a little bigger.” I took his hand and drifted it down until it landed on a subtle bump.

“Perfect.” He kissed my hairline as his hand stroked up and down my stomach.

The silence resumed and we both fell deeper into the stillness of the night. But as I drifted off one thought plagued my mind.

Perhaps the idea never actually took hold.

Perhaps it was me and him.

Us together, that changed his life.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Thank you so much for reading!!

taglist: @jonsncws @h-l-vlovesvintage @theethy @fashionki11a @felicity1994 @bearchermer @idkyoutellmesmh @mimimarvelingmarvel @butterfly-lies-chase-them-away @neotanpopper @deliriouslybi @folklorde24 @thefandomdiaries07 @viarosemcmissile @noirrose21-blog @thepoeticfirefly @xoxo-gothic-girl @skeletonwrite @jellyzelek @kaylamarie306-blog @bloodcanbehot @lazybot @raineeace @thearieunhinged @multifans-things @queenofterrasen418 @bey0ndne0 @justanotherkpopstanlol @iamliterallyspidergwen @frozenhuntress67 @alice2612

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 16: Because You'll Be Together

Fandom: Inception

Pairing: Robert Fischer x OC

Summary: Alice helps with the planning of the inception.

Word Count: 3,306 

Notes: No warnings this time.

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 2: Catharsis

She arrived at the warehouse with Eames in the late afternoon, both of them a little frazzled from the plane ride. Well, she was a little frazzled. Eames would probably be more or less incapacitated until tomorrow. But she’d wanted to see where they would be working and say hello to everyone, and he’d agreed to tag along.

She suspected that he just wanted to see Arthur, but she didn’t mention it. 

“Well, look who’s here,” Arthur beamed when he saw her, coming forward to pull her into a hug. “Glad you decided to join us, Al.”

“Yeah,” she smiled sheepishly, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Good to see you, Arthur.”

“Uh, this,” he gestured with a sweeping arm to a woman only an inch or two taller than Alice, with curious eyes and dark hair. “Is Ariadne. The new architect.”

“Hi,” Alice smiled at her, shaking her hand warmly.

“Hello,” Ariadne had a soft voice, glancing at her shyly.

“Look at that, the three As, together at last,” Eames said. Arthur shot him a puzzled look.

“Jetlag,” Alice explained in a whisper.

“I hope that nickname isn’t gonna stick,” Arthur mumbled. 

“Just for that it is!” Eames shouted from where he’d gone to set his bag down. Alice snickered, stretching up on her toes, she craned her head around a mess of vials and tubes in the corner.

“Hi, Yusuf.”

He poked his head up from under a shelf. “Oh! Hello, Alice,” he waved to her. She turned back to Arthur.

“Where’s Cobb?”

He jerked his head towards a back room. “Brooding. You gonna say hi?”

“After I shout at him for a little while.”

Arthur cracked a smile. “Don’t be too rough. He didn’t know Robert was the mark until after he’d accepted the job.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she set her bag down and began to make her way towards the room Arthur had gestured towards. Banging her knuckles against it, she waited until she heard a grunt of acknowledgment before wrenching it open and stepping inside.

He was just standing at a table, staring at the spinning top, not moving at all as it spun and spun. Neither of them said anything, until it had toppled to a stop and he snatched it up. 

“Hello, Dom.”

“Alice,” he looked up, face twitching into a sad attempt at a smile. “Eames actually convinced you to come.”

She slammed the door shut with the heel of her shoe, stalked towards him, then stopped. If she got any closer, she might strangle him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, voice trembling with rage. Cobb sighed.

“Look, I didn’t know it was Fischer when I said yes–”

“You shouldn’t have said yes the second that inception was mentioned!” she shook her head. “Of all the people here…”

He hung his head. “I have to get home, Alice.”

A sound of frustration left her lips as she began to pace, back and forth steadily across the room, shaking her head. Cobb watched her.

“Why’d you come back, Alice?”

“Because I know that you’re going to try this with or without me. And with me, at least Robert has some chance of not coming out of this a fucking vegetable.”

“I would never do anything to endanger Robert, I know how much he means to you–”

“You already are endangering him,” she snapped. “This mission inherently endangers him, so don’t give me that shit.”

Cobb looked her up and down. “You swear more than when I last saw you.”  

“Yeah, well, it’s been a stressful fucking year.”

“Maurice’s failing health has made things difficult, I imagine.”

Scoffing, she slumped backwards against the table, her hands bracing against it. “Like things weren’t difficult enough already,” she muttered.

“He can’t break free, can he?”

Alice jammed her eyes shut, both grateful and hating her former mentor’s power to so easily read her. “No,” she admitted. “He wants to, but he can’t bring himself to.”

“Maurice fucked him up good.”

“It’s not just Maurice, it’s the entire company. It’s like a massive cancer, destroying everything in its path. And everyday, I watch it chip a little more away from him,” she wiped at her nose. “Everyday, he turns a little more into his father. I see it. He sees it. He talks all the time about getting away. About not wanting to be like Maurice. But he just…can’t bring himself to do it,” she wondered if this was what Cobb had felt like, with Mal, when they were trapped in limbo. Trying to break free from her shattered reality but not able to fully do it. She ran a hand tiredly down her face. No. She wouldn’t be like Cobb. And Robert sure as hell wouldn’t end up like Mal. Not if she had anything to say about it.

“So that’s why you came? To help him break free?” Cobb had walked around the table to stand beside her with a sigh. Alice looked at him gravely.

“I have conditions.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Precautions will be taken, to ensure the idea won’t spread or follow him afterwards, like it did with Mal. Eames and I will be in charge of actually implanting it.”

“Why Eames?”

“Because given your track record I trust him with this more than I trust you.”

Cobb frowned. “Harsh,” he gave her a humorless smile. “But fair.”

“Cobb…I understand that you want to get back to your children, but Robert’s safety has to be my priority here.”

“He won’t be in any danger.”

“Point still stands.”

“I understand.”

���Cobb,” she still didn’t feel like he did. “Promise me, that you won’t let anything happen to him.”

Cobb looked at her steadily. “I promise.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

They gathered in a small circle of chairs around the room. Cobb had newspaper clippings and photographs splayed out over the desk. Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked it all over.

“Thorough. You know you could have just called me, right? I’d have been able to tell you most of this.”

Cobb shrugged. “I wasn’t as convinced as Eames was that you’d say yes.”

“Ye of little faith,” she spun around her chair, grinning at Eames where he was sitting next to her. She continued to swing back and forth lazily in the chair as they began to bounce ideas off of each other. 

“I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. We all yearn for reconciliation. For catharsis,” Cobb was saying, tapping the table. “We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this.”

“Alright, well try this: um…‘my father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps,” Eames suggested. Cobb nodded.

“That might work.”

Alice shot Eames a triumphant look. They’d had lots of time to brainstorm together on the plane trip from Sydney.

“‘Might?’ I think we need to do a little better than ‘might,’” Arthur grumbled. 

“Thank you for your contribution, Arthur,” Eames bristled. Alice rolled her eyes. Like kids on the playground, those two. Pulling each other’s hair so the other would notice them. 

“It’ll work,” she said as the two continued to bicker, taking a sip from her coffee. Cobb glanced at her and she shrugged. “I know him better than anyone,” a pinprick of sadness struck her. “All he’s ever wanted is for his dad to love him.”    

∗ ∗ ∗ 

The planning was going well. Her narratives for each level were coming along nicely, and everyone was working well together. Ariadne had fit into the group seamlessly, and Alice liked her. They spent a significant amount of time in the dream space during their planning, and she often kept an eye on the little architect, playing around with the landscape of buildings in the background while the rest of them paced around the streets she’d already constructed and talked. She’d picked up on it fast.

The only one who was a bit of a problem was Saito. He’d made his distrust of Alice clear, and refused to speak a single word to her after their first introduction. Alice couldn’t exactly say that the feeling was unreturned. It wasn’t like he’d hired Cobb out of the kindness of his heart to help Robert wrestle himself free from a company intent on sucking the very soul out of him. He just wanted his company to win. 

But, Cobb must have said something to convince him she was trustworthy, because he permitted her to stay, despite his clear misgivings. 

She was leaning against a table in Yusuf’s makeshift lab next to Eames, watching with growing amusement as he tested out the sedative he’d been designing. Specifically that the inner ear customization he’d included in it worked, so that a kick would actually wake them up. 

Neither of them could hide their snickers as Yusuf tipped over the chair Arthur was sleeping in. Arthur shot awake while he was in free-fall, arms flailing as he landed on the group with a thump.

“Glad you both are enjoying yourselves,” he glared up at them. She and Eames just grinned at him innocently. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

It was later than she usually stayed, but she’d wanted to wrap up her work on the second layer before going back to her hotel room. Her stupid, cold, empty hotel room. It had surprised her how homesick she’d become, considering how often she and Robert traveled.

She was probably just missing him. 

Yawning and stretching in her chair, she flicked off the little lamp at the corner of her desk, pulling off her reading glasses and rubbing her eyes while she tucked them into a case that went into her purse.

Standing, she spotted another light on in the warehouse. Head cocking, she approached Ariadne’s work station lazily to find her hunched over in her chair, fiddling with a pen. 

“You know, if you made a big enough of a fuss, you could probably get Cobb to pay you overtime,” Alice smiled good naturedly, hopping up to sit on the table next to her. Ariadne started, giving her a nervous smile. 

“I’m not working on sketches or anything.”

“Then what’re you doing?”

She sighed. “I’m trying to pick out a totem. Arthur said I needed one.”

“Hm,” Alice tilted her head as she tugged her hair out of the bun she’d put it in while she was working. “Any ideas?”

Ariadne sighed again. “Not really.” 

“You don’t have anything that you keep on yourself at all times?”

“Nothing unique enough.”

“Well, sometimes you have to find an object, and then make your own modifications to it to make it unique,” she watched Ariadne frown. “It can be difficult,” she comforted.

“What’s yours?”

“It’s, uh, this,” reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the little silver pocket watch, holding it up. “I have the time set to run a specific way, so all I have to do is check it.”

“I see.”

“It’ll come to you,” she tucked the watch back away. “Sometimes the totem choses you just as much as you chose it.”

“Yeah,” Ariadne rubbed a hand across her face. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” jumping off the table, Alice tugged the strap of her purse up higher on her shoulder. “I’m going back to the hotel. Don’t forget to lock up when you leave.”

“I won’t.”

She got only a few steps before Ariadne called after her.

“Hey, Alice?”

Spinning on her heel, she looked at Ariadne quizzically. She was biting at her lip. 

“Cobb stays late. Sometimes with Yusuf. Sometimes by himself. Says he’s running experiments, but…”

“You’ll get used to Cobb’s eccentricities,” she said, but still cocked her head. Considering everything that had happened, the idea of Cobb running experiments made her nervous. “Any idea what they’re about?”

Ariadne shook her head. “I thought you might know.”

“Mm,” her foot tapped against the floor anxiously. “I’ll ask him about it,” when she looked back at Ariadne, she saw the same worry she carried reflected in her eyes. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Sure.”  

∗ ∗ ∗ 

She just about flew across the room at the sound of her phone buzzing, snatching it up and holding it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart.”

A wide smile bloomed unconsciously across her face at the sound of his voice. “Hi.”

“How are things going?”

“Good, actually. It shouldn’t be long before I’ll be able to come back home,” she plopped down on the bed. “Any updates?”

“Nothing noteworthy,” he sighed, sounding tired. “How are your friends?”

“Everyone’s good. The new architect is sweet. I like her,” she stretched out on top of the comforter, staring up at the ceiling as she talked. “It’s been good to see everyone.”

“I bet. Maybe when this is all over I can finally meet some of them.”

“I think they’d like that. How’s work?”

“Ugh.”

She couldn’t help the soft laugh at his grunt of disdain. “Alright, I won’t ask.”

“No, it’s fine. Just…you know,” Robert huffed. “The cats miss you. Spooky keeps waiting by the front door like she expects you to come home.”

Her heart twisted a little at the mental image. “Aw, I miss them too. They’ve been keeping you good company though, right?”

“Oh, yeah. They’ve officially stolen your spot in the bed. I think you may have to fight them in order to get it back.”

She laughed. “What time is it over there?”

“Uhhh,” she heard him shifting as he probably checked his watch. “Almost eight in the morning. You?” 

“Almost midnight. I was just about to get in bed when you called.”

“Mm. I’ll let you go so you can sleep, then.”

“Yeah,” the mattress shifted under her when she sat up. “Listen, I mean it. I’ll be home soon.”

“Okay. Just keep me updated.”

“Will do,” she worried at her bottom lip. “I really miss you.”

“I miss you too, sweetheart.”

She was half tempted to curl around the phone, not wanting to let the sound of his voice go yet.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Of course. Sleep well.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The line went dead and she sighed in soft longing. She loved her friends, and it was wonderful to get the chance to actually spend more time with them. But Robert was her person; always had been, and ever since they’d gotten together they’d been practically attached at the hip. It was hard being so far away from him for so long.

Setting the phone aside on the bedside table, she wriggled underneath the comforter and flicked off the light, curling up. It felt strange to sleep alone. She’d grown accustomed to the weight of him beside her, the warm heaviness of his arm around her waist. More often she used his chest as a pillow more than her actual pillow, and the soft sound of his snores lulled her better than any sort of sleep medication ever could. It felt foreign to sleep alone. Lonely and cold. 

She didn’t sleep very well that night. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Ari says you’ve been working late most nights,” she brought it up to him as casually as she knew how, while they were going over the narratives she’d written. 

“I have.”

“She said you’re running experiments.”

Cobb shot her a pointed look. “Nothing like…like what happened.”

“Yeah, but something’s wrong. And it’s not just worry for your kids,” she leaned closer.

“It’s nothing.”

Alice rolled her eyes, grabbing her coffee and taking a large gulp. “Don’t pull that shit with me. I know you too well,” kicking the other chair out towards him, she nodded at it. Cobb looked for a moment like he was considering just booking it away from her, but then he huffed and slouched down into the chair, expression a little like that of a child brought into the principal’s office for doing something bad.

“Arthur says that there have been some problems on some jobs you two’ve been on,” she hugged the paper coffee cup to her chest. “That Mal’s been showing up and sabotaging things.”

“It’s under control.”

“He said she shot him.”

“Goddammit, Arthur,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Look, I have it under control. I’m taking precautions…it’ll be fine.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t–”

“I’m not sitting this out, Alice,” he said sternly. “With Ariadne designing the mazes and me not knowing the designs, there’s no way even if Mal comes in she would be able to get to us.”

“Okay.”

He seemed surprised that she gave in so easily, leaning back in his chair. She just looked him up and down for a while, taking in the tired, stressed appearance. So unlike the man who had hired her so many years ago.

“Is it a relief? Whenever you see her?”

“When it’s just us in the dream, she seems more herself. But when there are others…” he shook his head. “I don’t recognize her.”

“I’m sorry,” she remembered what a comfort Robert’s projection had been to her, during the time that they’d been apart. And he wasn’t even dead.

Cobb just shrugged, helplessly.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Oh, shit,” the realization came to her suddenly. Oh. Oh. Cobb was going to be so mad at her. “Hey, Yusuf?”

He peeked his head out from behind a tower of vials. “Yes?”

“So, uh, ha ha. Funny story. Before you all came to me about this, I may have trained Robert’s subconscious to defend itself from extraction.”

Yusuf took off his glasses and stared at her. He leaned back for a moment, deep in thought, and then shrugged.

“I doubt with sedation it will be much of a problem.”

“You sure? His projections will be militarized.”

Yusuf shook his head. “The sedation typically helps keep the projections a bit more…docile. They’ll still attack if provoked enough, but they’re slower about it.”

“Okay, then. I guess we don’t have to worry about that then,” she nodded, relieved.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

It was the last day before her scheduled flight back to Sydney, and she was gathered with Cobb and Eames, ironing out the final details of the plan.

“He hasn’t got any surgery scheduled, no dental, nothing,” Eames grumbled. 

“Wasn’t he supposed to have a knee operation?” Cobb asked. 

“No,” Alice shook her head. 

“Nothing. Nothing that’ll put him under for anywhere we need. We need at least a good ten hours,” Eames muttered. 

“Sydney to Los Angeles,” Saito pipped up from where he’d been staring stoically out the window. “One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two weeks.”

“That’s right,” Alice nodded. Eames stared at her.

“Really? Every two weeks?”

She nodded again. “It’s grueling.”

“He must be flying private,” Cobb mused.

“Not if there were unexpected maintenance with his plane,” Saito tilted his head. 

“It’d have to be a seven-forty-seven,” Arthur was approaching them with Ariadne in tow.

“Why’s that?” Cobb asked.

“Because in a seven-forty-seven the pilot’s up top and the first class cabin’s in the nose. So no one would walk through. But you’d have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.”

“I bought the airline,” Saito announced. They all stared at him. He stuttered. “It seemed…neater.”

Cobb nodded, smiling. “It looks like we have our ten hours,” he began to jog down the stairs.

“I’ll make sure that he gets on the same plane as you,” Alice said softly to Eames. 

“When’s your flight out tomorrow?”

“Early.”

“What will you tell him?”

She shrugged. “As much as he wants to know,” she scratched at her nose. “I’ll call you when Maurice is dead. If the doctors are to be believed, it won’t be long now.”

He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “This’ll work.”

She gave him a wobbly smile in return. 

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Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

[roosterbox]

July 28 Random Word Almost-Drabble: Scandal

Word Count: 646

Rating: Let’s say T for the implication of sexytimes.

@boisinberryjamarama

——

It was all over the paper the next morning, as Yusuf said it would be. Eames, lounging on the beach. The more secluded side, at least. Thank goodness for small favors. The tiny speedo his friend was wearing caused some ruffled feathers; a few pearl-clutching comments on the gossip sites, which Yusuf would deny ever visiting, of course. But that wasn’t the story.

The story seemed to be Who The Hell Is The Mystery Man With His Tongue Down Eames’ Throat?

“It’ll be everywhere,” he’d told Eames. “The Mirror, The Daily Mail, the fucking Sun.”

Eames only shrugged. “I have nothing to hide.”

Judging by his swimwear, he meant that literally as well as figuratively.

“Bloody tabloids,” Yusuf grumbled.

“What about ‘em?” Ariadne shuffled into the kitchen, still toweling her wet hair. His robe hung loose around her shoulders, though she did her best to tie it tight. On him, it would have reached just past his knees. But on her shorter frame, a few inches of fabric dusted along the floor as she walked. Yusuf found his eyes were fixed to this action, for reasons he couldn’t quite place. After a moment, she cleared her throat. When he looked back at her face, she raised an eyebrow and held up the damp towel.

“Laundry?”

“Oh, let me-“ he took it from her, hoping his blush wasn’t as obvious as it felt. He unceremoniously threw the towel - the softest one he owned, he was happy to note, having set it out for her when he got up first - in the laundry room. A problem for future Yusuf, naturally. She was looking at his laptop when he came back out, and let out a wolf whistle when she saw the pics.

“Dang, spicy stuff.”

He rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t have been if he’d have just listened to me.”

“When has Eames ever listened to anyone?”

He had to concede the point. Ariadne shook her head, not even bothering to hide her small smile.

“Coffee?”

“Already going. Help yourself.”

“Thanks, babe.” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before moving towards the percolator. A point of contact that was all too brief, as far as Yusuf was concerned. He found his gaze drawn to the robe trailing on the floor again. I want to kiss her, he thought. I want to hold her. I want to press her up against the counter. I want.

And, remembering the night (and early morning) before quite vividly, he realized that the only thing stopping him was himself.

She squeaked in surprise when she felt his arms wrap around her.

“Yusuf!” There might have been more, but words were suddenly harder when there were soft lips against hers. Neither was sure how much time passed - minutes? hours? years? - but they were both breathing hard when they parted.

“You look… really good in my robe, Ari.” He murmured. She giggled softly.

“And you look good in your pajama pants.” She ran a finger along the waistband of said pants, almost but not quite dipping inside. “Very sexy.”

He half suspected she was teasing. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about his flannel bed wear. She tucked her head towards his neck, kissing there before adding a touch of teeth. Enough to feel, but maybe not to mark. Yusuf groaned, and squeezed her tighter.

“How long will the coffee keep?” She asked. He felt a hand reach behind him to grab at his ass through the flannel.

“It’ll shut itself off in a couple hours.”

“Then we have a couple more hours, don’t we?” Ariadne spun around to face him and threw her arms around his neck, crushing their lips together again.

The robe ended up on the floor outside Yusuf’s bedroom, alongside his comfy flannel trousers.

Neither of them minded, but the cold coffee was harder to ignore.

[sadlonelyyogurt]

more of these, sorry

part 1, part 2, part 3

[valerileygreen]

@inception30daychallenge day 09: Which character has the most annoying habit on the job and what is it?

Um, I’m gonna say Arthur and Eames together. Because no matter in what stage of their relationship they are, they can’t help poking at each other in little ways, whether it be verbal spars or little office pranks (see all of their interactions during the preparation for Inception). And while some can find it entertaining at first, it gets old fast for most of their colleagues, who wish they could just focus on the job and not whatever the drama of the week is. Even though most of them have placed bets about the 2 of them and their relationship status anyway. I do think they both are better behaved and more professional normally, when they’re not in each other’s orbit, but their bickering and flirting also brings to light the best in them in terms of ideas, and they’re the best, so people are willing to put up with their ridiculous antics anyway.

They’re all some flavour of nightmares though, that can tick some of the others off at times, so here are their individual worst habits on the job:

-Cobb tends to hover over people like an overgrown vulture when he’s worried or anxious about something, not in a mean way but still very annoying and exasperating;

-Ariadne is an absolute slob, her corner of the warehouse/office/ whatever is always chaos and she leaves her things all around the place for people to find and stumble over, while she can’t even find the pencil she put behind her ear anymore;

-Eames likes to take office supplies and trinkets from people to use, or even just to see what would happen (though he almost always gives them back), and he’s a shit-stirrer, at his most dangerous when he’s bored (or when Arthur is there);

-Arthur has a tendency to become hangry but more time passes and less likely he is to realize he needs food, and so he progressively becomes more jittery and short-tempered, so much so that few dare to approach him even if they can’t concentrate because of his obsessive pen tapping or something;

-Yusuf is a coffee snob and always hogs the coffee maker, and he’s superb at making it so the others wouldn’t mind that much, if it wasn’t for how very finicky he is about who and what can approach his makeshift lab, even having a set of written rules about hygiene and behaviour and such;

-Saito isn't usually part of the job, but on the inception he was always the perfect employer and tourist, helpful and diligent in providing what the team needed, though how he could get anything through wealth could get kind of creepy;

-Mal was always poking her nose in people’s personal business and giving them unwanted advice, especially people she liked, and would try to set things up or give hints instead of thinking about work because she thought she was doing them a favour. But while she was usually right in her assessments, let’s just say her plans left much to be desired.

[hirunoka]

Day 23: What one change would you make to the Inception movie? | @inception30daychallenge

This will be a really short and simple answer, but I think the only change I would do is that I would give Arthur and Eames more screen time and let them banter and flirt even more while Ariadne and Yusuf giving them knowing looks, because honestly? That's what I need.

[ao3feed-arthureames]

Underneath the Mistletoe

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/1hnMx8L

by Wes_James

Es schneite. Natürlich schneite es. Zudem war es bitterkalt. Seine Wangen brannten von der Kälte und trugen damit sicherlich ein hübsches Rot zu Schau. Was sollte man auch sonst von einer kitschigen Weihnachtsfeier im Herzen von Paris erwarten? (Arthur x Eames/Inception[Smut! Christmas!])

Words: 6192, Chapters: 1/1, Language: Deutsch

Fandoms: Inception (2010)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception), James Cobb (Inception), Ariadne (Inception), Yusuf (Inception)

Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)

Additional Tags: Smut, Christmas Party, Snowed In, Romance

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/1hnMx8L

[enchi-elm]

But how long were Saito and Robert in limbo?

No one knows for sure! Nolan gives us juuuust information for me to come to my own conclusions but not enough to answer some pretty basic questions that might give us a definitive number.

But I have an answer for you!

Get ready for spreadsheets, time conversion charts, infograms, and so, so much conjecture.

(caution: contains overthinking)

By watching the scenes, making a note of what happens, and guesstimating loosely how many in-person minutes it would have taken, I have added up how much time the team spends in level 3 once they reach the fortress. There's a chart at the bottom that shows this in picture-form, but to be exact:

Eames rushes to resuscitate Robert, Cobb and Ariadne arrive, they talk about the plan, Cobb and Ariadne go under {3 minutes}

Eames gives Saito the gun, goes and sets charges, Saito holds off security, Saito dies {6.5 minutes}

Eames arrives in antechamber, Arthur starts the music, Eames starts reviving Robert (first attempt) {30 seconds}

Eames keeps trying to revive Robert {10 seconds}

Robert is revived and talks with Maurice, Eames watches Inception, Eames blows the charges {1 minute}

Ariadne arrives from limbo, wakes in level 3, the floor drops {1 second}

Ariadne wakes in level 2, the elevator stops {1 second}

The van sinks in the river, a sleeping Cobb is left behind and drowns {2 minutes}

Cobb washes up in limbo from having died [*], gets found by Saito's security, gets taken to Saito's palace, convinces him to wake up {30 minutes}

Obviously I had to assume a few things to make any of this work:

[*] I assume that Cobb drowning -- and actually dying instead of just sleeping -- is how he manages to wash up on the shores of limbo despite already being in limbo. If you want to quibble with me on this, PLEASE DO. I would love to talk about how this plot point was supposed to work

All these times are made up based on how many times it flashed between the scenes, how much progress Eames had made around the fortress and how badly it looked like he was getting his ass handed to him by Robert's security XD

The time for a kick from one level to the next (to wake up, essentially) is 1 second

Saito dies the instant before Eames appears in the antechamber

It takes Eames a few tries to get Robert back with the AED

You might notice that I've converted the times listed above (highlighted blue in the chart) into time spent in limbo. As Yusuf so kindly explains to us, there is a twenty-fold acceleration between levels. In table form, that looks like this:

There's not really a need to have a separate minutes and hours table--the numbers are the same, obviously, but it makes it easier to see our magic number highlighted in yellow, the numbers that Yusuf confirms for us: 10 hours in real time is 8.3 days in level 1, 5.5 months in level 2, 9.1 years in level 3, and a whopping 182 years in limbo (ouch).

Yes, you can access this spreadsheet here: [x].

So we have a rough timeline and a conversion chart. From there, it's just a very fun exercise in converting time and adding minutes.

So, as you can see, here's what we end up with:

Robert was in limbo for 203 minutes and 20 seconds, which equates to 3 hours, 23 minutes and 20 seconds.

Saito was in limbo for 320 070 minutes and 20 seconds, which equates to 7 months, 12 days, 6 hours, 30 minutes, and 20 seconds.

Wait, only 7 months? But Saito ends up, like, ancient, right? For sure! So for Nolan-verse to make sense, one of my assumptions has to be wrong. The one really easy way to rack up the years in limbo is to spend even a few more minutes in level 1. If Cobb takes 15 minutes (according to how time passes in level 1) to find Saito, that converts to 4.6 years in limbo.

So how long in level-1-time would Cobb have to faff about to pass 50 years in limbo? Thanks to the spreadsheet, we can find out it's 60 hours!

Other theories I've seen discuss how your appearance in limbo has a lot more to do with how old you feel than how old your "body" is. I like this idea!

Anyway, everyone else survives the van, swims to shore, and hangs around for 8.3 days.

Wait, 8.3 days? Don't they wake up?

This is where I get really confused because I think Nolan changes how kicks work.

There's a lot of pressure to sync up the kicks but we never find out why. Will they be left behind? Yanked out before the job is done? Left feeling totally discombobulated because part of their consciousness is on another dream level? I need specifics, Nolan! But as for the actual kick mechanic, honestly, I had a pretty good grasp on it until Ariadne said "we ride the kicks all the way up" and I could feel my tenuous understanding disintegrate like a marshmallow in a blast furnace.

Earlier in the movie, we see Arthur asleep, immune to Yusuf slapping his face. He only wakes when Yusuf tips him over. He needed a kick from the level above (reality) to wake up from his dream (level 1). We see the same thing when Cobb gets dumped in water at the start of the movie: a kick in reality to get him out of the dream.

If Arthur's elevator trick is all it takes to wake them up from the fortress (the kick from the level above), why have they got explosives in level 3 in the first place?

Because suddenly, the logic changes: when we see the kicks start to collapse, we watch Ariadne fall off a skyscraper in limbo (the lowest level) to get back up to level 3. This is the reverse of what we understand. The fortress explodes, the floor drops, the kick that happens in level 3 takes her to level 2. The elevator stops in level 2 and that kick takes her to level 1. Suddenly it's the kick from below that seems to do the trick.

And yet everything we see before then seems to go against then. IF YOU UNDERSTAND THIS BETTER THAN I DO, PLEASE DM ME. I'm too invested in this.

Anyway.

They're sitting at the rocky riverbank and shivering. They're too heavily sedated to wake up from death or fear. They need a kick. There's probably nothing stopping them from falling from a great height in level 1 to try and wake up, but again, what understanding of "kick" are we using? Could you do it in either reality or in the dream? Barring repeated jumping on a trampoline in level 1, they would need heavy turbulence on the plane (or the landing on the tarmac) in reality to disrupt their inner ear. If that's all it takes--yeah, they can wake up as soon as the job is done.

But for fic purposes (and yes I've got one in progress), I think it's way funnier if they just have to sit around for 8 days until the sedation wears off.

What about Mal? How long was she in limbo with Robert before Cobb showed up?

Hah, yeah, okay. So. Hear me out. She's Cobb's projection. Her death in level 3 should not have done anything. She's not wired to the PASIV, she's not a sedated human partaking in the dream-sharing. There is no separate, distinct human mind to fall into unconstructed dream space. Robert should, technically, be chilling in limbo alone.

Of course, once Cobb goes down there he inevitably takes her with him, the same way he does in every level he goes to. And her death in limbo, of course, is meaningful, certainly for Cobb.

I disagree with you on so many fronts.

DM me or find me on the Discord. I have so much time on my hands right now (clearly) and love dragging people into rabbit holes with me. I already am hemming and hawing about some of the lengths of time I chose for the events in level 3.

And if I have made an egregious math or plot error, I look forward to hearing about it for the rest of my life as the edited post tries to catch up with the original 😂