Fic: too much like the world we're stuck in [Inception]

[anowlinsunshine]

DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING.

Title: too much like the world we're stuck in
Fandom: Inception
Pairing/Rating: Arthur/Eames, soft R
Word Count: 4,375 (jfc. Fic, you were not supposed to be this long.)
Date Completed: 27 July 2010
Disclaimer: These people? Aren't mine.
Author's Notes: Title taken from Lawrence Raab's "Isn't

Comments

[ilovetakahana]

Oh. My. God.

*cries*

That is amazing and beautiful. Rocket-fuel-grade awesome.

It's heartbreaking and spare and oh my god I can't get over the whole Eames-and-Arthur-aging thing.

So so gorgeous. Thank you so much for writing something so incredible.

[anowlinsunshine]

The aging part of Cobb and Mal's story was really what killed me most in the film. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to live a lifetime with someone you loved, be separated prematurely, and then find out your partner didn't remember all those years you spent together. Oh, god, it hurts now just thinking about it.

Thanks for reading!

[poor_choices]

Oh man, this is awesome. I love their limbo, and the different ways they deal with it, and especially Eames' many shirts ;) Which were just so very him. And then when Arthur came back with the poker chip, it broke my heart a little. Great job!

Also, as a side note, I was super confused when I was skimming the header for this, because I actually took a couple classes from Lawrence Raab in college and I was like --WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE THIS IS MY PLACE. So, you know! That was amusing.

[anowlinsunshine]

Wow, thank you! And ahaha, Eames' shirts were one of the things I most noticed about his character, mainly because the majority of them were so awful. I think Arthur would agree with me on that point.

Also you got to take classes with him? Ugh I AM SO JEALOUS. School of mine, why do you fail so very much.

(And on a potentially-creepertastic side note, does this mean you're in Inception fandom now? Because your J2 fic is some of my favorite stuff ever, and if you started writing for Inception, particularly Arthur/Eames, I may just die of happiness. :D)

[anowlinsunshine]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[_pinkchocolate]

OH MY GOD I JUST SAW THIS AND HAD A MILD HEART ATTACK. I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE ARTHUR/EAMES LIMBO FIC WRITTEN BY YOU. I MEAN, THAT'S LIKE WISHING FOR A PONY FOR CHRISTMAS AND ACTUALLY GETTING ONE. OKAY, BRB, ACTUALLY READING THE FIC NOW *_*

[_pinkchocolate]

all right. WOW. this is flawless. i don't even know where to begin...

...so i wrote another stupidly long review :)

also, i didn't want to mention this in my review because it might be a spoiler, but the last section is my favourite part of the fic. i have a sneaking suspicion that 80% of the people in inception fandom actually don't understand limbo at all, but you captured the confusion of leaving it perfectly. i love that you introduced that scene as eames's dream rather than his wake-up call, because that's exactly what reality has become to him. GUH. SO PERFECT.

THANK YOU!! ♥ ♥ ♥ this smashed my expectations into tiny, pathetic pieces :)

[anowlinsunshine]

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

THAT IS MY FACE IRL RN. JSYK. YOU ARE SO AMAZING BB, I CAN'T EVEN.

Seriously, though, your in-depth review has me blushing and flailing like a tweeniebopper who is finally meeting Rpattz. IT'S RIDIC. And you are far, far too good to me. You just say the best things, and in so much detail, and just. akshgdkhgakjrkahkr <3333333333333333

And ahaha, Limbo. Limbo was one of the most interesting and heart-breaking aspects of the film for me, and also one of the most confusing. I've probably done more discussions with friends, both RL and online, about the mechanics and order of Limbo than I have about any other part of Inception. It's just such a crazy, unreal concept -- to be able to live a whole lifetime down there and then be pulled back into some other world that you apparently lived in before. I can't even imagine the mindfuck. It's part of, I think, what makes Mal's story so tragic and terrifying; if you think about it, her response is the one most of us would have.

[_pinkchocolate]

GIRL, THAT IS MY FACE EVERY TIME YOU WRITE SOMETHING. SERIOUSLY, YOUR WRITING IS SO GOOD IT COULD END WARS. PLEASE SEND SOME COPIES OF THIS FIC TO THE WHITE HOUSE, ATTN: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

you totally deserve every positive thing that's been said about you!! seriously, i tried to read the kink meme but i kept coming back to this fic. i just. YOUR WRITING IS SO GOOD YOU'VE RUINED INCEPTION FIC FOR ME FOREVER.

i completely agree. reading your fic really made me understand why mal chose to lock away her totem. at first i just thought, dude she's stupid why would she want to be stuck in this empty world forever, but now it makes sense. it's actually kind of romantic in a way -- you want to believe limbo is your reality because you're happy there, and the possibility that everything you've built will just disappear once you wake up... it's scary, to say the very least.

[juliandahling]

This got me so choked up.

The ending. My god.

When I saw the film I couldn't understand how Mal could kill herself to go back, but now I think I understand. There was something missing from the film that made it hard for me to empathise with her, instead of Cobb, or the others. But this story did a lot for me to feel her.

“I’d tell you the same,” Arthur says, “but I think it’s a bit late for that.”
That killed me.

[anowlinsunshine]

After seeing the film a few times, I think Mal's story is easily one of the most interesting parts of it. It's just so perfectly tragic and terrifying because, if you think about it, her response is the one most of us would have. What else would you think when you wake up in some new world after living 60+ years in a different one but that this new place wasn't real? I can't honestly say my reaction would have been any different, and I love Nolan for making me realize that on my own. It's so much more powerful a realization for that, and it adds such great depth to both her character and the film's larger analysis of the problematic ways we define real/unreal, sane/insane, rational/irrational, etc. God, Christopher Nolan. ♥

Haha, that's probably more of a response than you were looking for, sorry. Thank you so much for reading!

[juliandahling]

... it adds such great depth to both her character and the film's larger analysis of the problematic ways we define real/unreal, sane/insane, rational/irrational, etc.
Word. As a person that has a very tenuous relationship with these dichotomies I found Mal's story particularly troubling and wonderful at the same time. I think I found it difficult to imagine leaving ones children, but as she said at one point, she truly believed her real children were in the other reality (I cannot call it anything but another reality, because for her it was real). Once I truly understood that, it was very easy for me to understand her, and understand how logical it would be to make the decision she did. Perfectly heartbreaking. I think that Christopher Nolan will leave a legacy of stories (god, Memento much?) that call into question things we take for granted, shake those up, and then dump us on our heads. He doesn't give us easy answers to anything, which I love.