Comments | bamf_pointman: { No Way Back : Log 02 }

bamf_pointman

{ No Way Back : Log 02 } - for artfulforger

Nov 28, 2011 01:54

Right after this.

It wasn't very much longer until they were entering the hotel room that Arthur had reserved - one bed - and he dropped his bag down onto a chair. He ran a hand over his face. "No more people randomly popping in and out, right? No shifting hallways or hammers. If I see another hammer, it'll be too soon ( Read more... )

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artfulforger November 28 2011, 08:08:26 UTC

Settling into the other chair in the corner, Eames leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Trying to clear his mind, work it all out.

"I..." He sighed, lifting his head and looking at Arthur. "I don't have a bloody clue and no idea what to think. It was real, wasn't it?"

bamf_pointman November 28 2011, 08:17:15 UTC

"Sadly - that's what everything is pointing to," Arthur said with some reluctance. Neither of them were very close to figuring this thing out on their own so that left only one choice. Research. It was what he did best and what Arthur turned to when he had no answers. Arthur walked over and took out his laptop from it's carrying case then set himself up on the bed. "I'll see if there's anything about...such experiences online."

artfulforger November 29 2011, 06:09:05 UTC

Eames nodded, glad to have the pointman to do the research. He'd always been one amazing at the nuances of a person, but outright research was another story.

"Arthur, there can't be..." He shook his head. What other option was there really? "Okay. Did you catch the address before we hurried off?"

bamf_pointman November 29 2011, 16:09:00 UTC

"There is no other explaination. I hardly think we're the first. Even for our lives..." Arthur shook his head. There had to be other reportings.

Eames and he were internationally wanted criminals at the worst of times, at the best of times they were just dream criminals - doing what they did best. Never before had they run into this of all things.

He nodded. "I remember it. The invitation is in my bag," he pointed toward the messenger bag sitting in the chair next to Eames.

"One of the womens names was Sukeena, wasn't it?" Just saying her name caused Arthur to purse his lips and look up as though he expected her to appear at any minute. "You don't think --" Arthur shook his head. "They couldn't follow us, could they?" All were questions he would research the answers to until he had something firm to grab hold of.

artfulforger November 30 2011, 04:25:04 UTC

He was right. They couldn't have stumbled onto something entirely new and so different. That didn't stop him from digging the poker chip out of his pocket with a shifting of his weight. Curling his fingers around it, thumb rubbing over the surface, checking it. It was right, perfectly balanced, exactly as it was meant to be for the waking world. No one else could know.

"Yeah, that was her name..." His head jerked up though, never having thought about that. He shook his head slowly. "I... I don't think so. Not with the way they were acting. Why not freaking hire people then instead of threatening us?"

Except that didn't make sense either. "Dammit. I don't like this. I can see..." He shook his head again. Harder this time.

Research information coming in the morning! :D bamf_pointman November 30 2011, 04:45:57 UTC

He glanced over at Eames and spotted the poker chip before returning his attention back to his laptop. His fingers itched to check and recheck his die but he knew, with absolute certainty, that he would find what Eames did. This was cold hard reality.

Arthur nodded. "I don't have any idea," he shook his head. "They probably scare off every potential contractor in the area."

None of this made an absolute lick of sense and that's what he hated about it. Arthur wasn't used to things not making sense. "Me too."

artfulforger November 30 2011, 07:37:46 UTC

"This is what it was like for her," he whispered, gaze fixed on a space across the room. "Everything she knew was wrong, what was right seemed off and nothing felt like she was living in her own life. How many days do you think she lived like this, feeling wrong in her own skin and wanting nothing more than to be home with her family," he asked, voice cracking slightly.

It made his chest ache, a pain dead in the center of it, caught up in thoughts of what Mallorie's last days must have been like.

bamf_pointman November 30 2011, 15:45:18 UTC

All truth be told, Arthur had been trying not to think about that. It would only distract him from getting anything accomplished. Still, there was an ache in his chest knowing that Eames was correct, that this was, in all likelihood, how Mal had felt and none of them had ever understood.

Until now.

Arthur closed his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Eames - stop it," he snapped, opening his eyes to look at the forger. He couldn't exactly blame Eames though. It wasn't technically his fault that they got here, nor was it Arthur's - despite what their separate invitations said. Still, it didn't make what they had gone through any easier to take or figure out. "Now focus - what did they say the name of the house was?" he asked. Arthur knew the answer of course but he wanted to (attempt to) get Eames' thoughts onto something else. It was a poor distraction, it only brought everything home from what they experienced, what they saw, how close they had come to... Fuck."We got out, Eames," he attempted, softer - a piss poor ( ... )

artfulforger November 30 2011, 23:20:19 UTC

The forger jerked at Arthur's tones. For a moment his eyes narrowed and he fought the urge to fight, to rage against what had happened, against whatever this was, and against Arthur himself for being forever so bloody damn logical.

Pushing up and out of the chair, pacing the small confines of the room, that poker chip rolling over his fingers in a nervous tic.

"Do you really think there's going to be a website devoted to some damned haunted house that can apparently send texts and..." And that was what brought his voice down to a normal range. "Arthur, it has to be something about summoning you and I. Who would want us out of the way," he said, still trying to make it all come back to logic for him. "And it was something Red. I remember thinking the place didn't seem Red and then it got foreboding in my head." Red. Like blood. Death. Yeah, he still didn't need those thoughts.

"How can you be so sure," he asked, though he sounded more confident than nervous.

bamf_pointman December 1 2011, 02:41:49 UTC

Arthur met Eames' narrowed gaze calmly then watched as he paced the room. Well at the least the man was moving now and thinking other than thinking about other things that they couldn't change now. Next time he had the opportunity, he'd go by Mal's grave and talk with her for a little bit but for now -- for now, Arthur was on a mission. No matter how insane it appeared.

He typed in the address on a search and bit on his bottom lip as he scrolled through some information. "No, I don't think there will be a website dedicated to that house. I do think that if someone else has experienced something similar, then there will be news articles relating to the owners and any disappearances." Fuck, what was he even talking about. Arthur nodded and in another tab started doing another search for 'Rose Red' and another tab dedicated to 'Sukeena' to see what that would pull up. The last was would be like a needle in a haystack he was sure but it was worth a shot anyway ( ... )

artfulforger December 1 2011, 06:26:29 UTC

He knew that Arthur was focusing so that he could get past it and move through the things he was enduring. They were enduring. It was easier to have a focus, to know what to look towards instead of thinking about all the things you shouldn't. Like the house. Like a haunted house that maybe didn't exist, or had only existed for them in those moments. Something, anything to not think about the house.

"Arthur the list of those we've worked with who don't want revenge on is shorter than those that do," he pointed out. "Cobb. Ariadne. Saito. Not sure on the last one either," he admitted with a snort. "He could buy the right codes to my cellphone. It came unlisted, just as yours always do," he pointed out."

Except he was making no point of making a list. There's was no point and much as he was loathe to even think it, he knew the truth. It hadn't been any enemy either of them shared.

"You don't believe it was an enemy of ours, do you," he asked, moving to pull the computer back, trying to get Arthur to look up at him. "Tell me what you

YOU JUST HELPED ME SORT OUT TIME AND SPACE FOR THIS HOUSE! IT COULD BE SET AFTER ROSE RED! <3 bamf_pointman December 1 2011, 17:54:46 UTC

Arthur tilted his head. That much was true.

They had a much, much shorter list of those who didn't want revenge on them than they did those who did want revenge. "You may have a point," he conceeded with a rueful smile.

When Eames pulled his computer away, Arthur lifted his gaze and looked up at Eames. To be completely and truthfully honest, though he hated to admit it, there was probably a spark of fear in his eyes and in his mind that they couldn't explain what happened and that they were truly going a little nuts. It was beyond anything he'd ever experienced and had known to be there. "No - I don't believe an enemy of ours could have done something like that. Not all of them could have pulled something like that off." He paused. "I don't know exactly what I believe, Eames. It goes against all logic and common sense."

Ooh. That would be cool. We could so work with that. artfulforger December 1 2011, 22:11:19 UTC

"Arthur..."

The way he said the name was almost pained as he dipped down, pressing his fingertips to the other man's cheek.

"Just tell me you believe we're sane. Don't say it because you think I need to hear it but tell me what you truly believe," he said in a soft voice, needing the world to be as it should be and not the way it was quickly spiraling out of control.

And yet he hoped, deep down, that if Arthur didn't believe it, then he would lie to him. He'd almost rather the lie than believing they would lose whatever the house had made them face.

YES! bamf_pointman December 1 2011, 22:34:12 UTC

Arthur tilted his face into Eames' fingertips and breathed a soft sigh. He moved a hand up to cover Eames' before looking at the other man.

Out of everything he was feeling, the one thing he felt for certain (though, yes, there was that 1-2% fear), it was of their own sanity. So he didn't have to lie to Eames when he responded. "Eames," he said softly and looked the other man in the eyes. "We - you and I - are sane. Perhaps -- perhaps this was a fluke. It was just a thing." He paused and thought over the TV shows he flipped through at night when he couldn't make himself fall asleep and he didn't have work to distract him. "It happens, right? It doesn't mean that we're going to come by it again."

With their normal - criminal lives, things like this just didn't happen, no. But, they worked in dreams. Who was to say this wasn't bound to happen? But, why them?

Arthur lifted his free hand and brushed his fingertips over Eames' cheek. "What do you believe, Eames?" he said, softly.

artfulforger December 2 2011, 02:00:09 UTC

It was this that made Eames the most secure in all that had happened. Not that it didn't seem nearly as surreal as everything else he was going through but that he wanted it more than anything else.

"Do your research then. Find out what you can," he said, pulling away reluctantly from Arthur's touch so he could drag a chair closer, dropping down into it so he could see the screen. "Okay then. What can you find," he asked, willing to trust in Arthur.

"You're what I believe in," he whispered softly.

bamf_pointman December 2 2011, 02:41:13 UTC

Arthur dropped his hands reluctantly but smiled when Eames dragged the chair closer to the bed. He nodded and brought the laptop closer to him to look over the page he had brought up before Eames took the laptop away from him.

Arthur lifted his head away from the laptop when he heard Eames whispered words and looked at him - not sure exactly what to say about that. If he was honest - and usually, he was - Eames was the man Arthur trusted above all others and who he believed in. He gave the other man a true smile before reading over the information in the news paper article he'd found.

"House was built in 1906 by the Rembauers. Looks like over the course of the years many died in or around the house and there were several more disappearances." Arthur fell silent as he stared at the photos attached to the article - spotting two recognizable women. "They look familiar, don't they?" he asked dryly, turning the laptop toward Eames so he could see better. "It says they both disappeared in the home, never seen again."

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