[Inception] The Cast of the Die, Chapter 1
Title: The Cast of the Die
Part: 1/5
Pairing: Arthur/Ariadne, gentle Arthur/Dom
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Not many yet, but there will be a lot further along the story.
Summary: They first met, ironically, at a casino. Arthur was offered the world, and he was to be the god of it. Perhaps this is a risk worth taking.
Author's Note: I watched Inception last week and was blown away by the scale and depth of the movie. One of the most disappointing factors, I think, was the lack of character development. Arthur is one of my favorite characters, and I thought it such a shame that his background wasn't explained at all. We never know how or why he joined forces, and anything of his life before and after the movie.
This fic is an attempt to explain his story and his psychology during the movie. This the first installment in a like four- to five-part story sketching the significant developments within Arthur's life during his time with Dom and the others.
Ariadne will appear later on in the story of course, though there will be hints of Dom/Arthur. ;)
Disclaimers: I do not own Inception. I'm just borrowing the characters while Chris Nolan is sleeping.
The Cast of the Die
By Callisto Callispi
Chapter 1: Playing the Game
…
Iacta alea est
(The die has been cast)
- Suetonius, Vita Divi Iuli (The Life of the Deified Julius)
…
They first met, ironically, at a casino.
Arthur had an assignment, to do some digging for a client on a potential business partner. He wasn't too sure of the relationship between the client and the target, but Arthur didn't mind. He worked on a strictly a no-questions, know-nothing basis, which suited him better (he thought) than it suited anyone else.
He trailed the man unobtrusively along the rows of slot machines, ignoring the cries of delight and dismay. He unconsciously caught the eyes of a few attractive young women with fur wraps and long legs, but his focus remained solely on his job. He even partook in a few rounds of Blackjack and one hand at Poker at adjacent tables to remain inconspicuous. He lost at both and quickly left the table. His mind was too concentrated on his target to properly reason through the odds of the game, but Arthur could not help but reinforce his dislike for gambling, no matter how high the stakes. He hated losing, but even more so, he hated losing when he couldn't choose the stakes.
The target once again relocated this time to the Craps table, and as sure as a shadow, Arthur followed. Chants and cheering suddenly broke out from the table. The dice had passed to the hands of a man in a pinstripe suit, and he immediately threw a seven. The crowd behind him, who had gathered around to see how long his streak would last, cheered again.
Arthur watched the game with only the slightest bit of interest, keeping his target within his peripheral view.
Suddenly, the man with the lucky streak looked up and caught his eye. The movement was so fluid and sudden that Arthur knew immediately that it was deliberate. He started to move away from the man's line of sight, but the bodies behind him blocked his way.
"You look bored," the man called out in a jovial voice.
At least a dozen pairs of eyes turned to appraise Arthur. He kept his impassive mask firmly on his face, the mask he wore when facing clients and the barrel of a gun.
The man spread his hands, indicating to the table with its elaborate array of dice and betting lines and numbers. "You're the only one who isn't concentrating on the game. Do you even know the rules?"
The crowd around them chuckled good humoredly.
Arthur smirked faintly. "Craps is inherently a game of luck, not skill."
The man quirked a smile back at him. "I take it you don't believe in luck."
Arthur shrugged. "I believe that analysis and skill overweigh luck any day."
"Then this is the first time you've ever been in a casino!" a portly, slightly drunken man slurred. The table erupted in laughter, and the Craps game resumed, though the man who first addressed Arthur stood from the table.
Arthur cast a sidelong glance to where his target had been, dismayed to find him disappeared and his cover more or less blown. It would be doubly difficult to trail him now that his face was called to attention. He started to trail his target again, angry that some drunk on a high streak disrupted his work. As he squeezed his way from the table, he found himself face to face with the man who called him out.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "If you're here to lecture me about Craps and luck, I should tell you now that I must decline."
The man grinned, though the smile did not reach his eyes. His eyes were cold and calculating, and Arthur suddenly felt goosebumps trailing down his arms.
"I'm not here to lecture you on anything. I'm here to make a proposal."
Arthur paused slightly before answering. "I have no interest in any proposal. Now, if you will excuse me…"
The man grabbed his arm firmly as Arthur passed. The grip was not strong enough to be a threatening gesture, but Arthur snapped into a defensive mode, wringing his arm from his grasp and backing away. His movements caught the attention of some people in the casino, but he didn't care. He had felt something akin to panic in that grip-something he had felt very rarely.
"Calm down," the man said quietly, starting at him from under his brows. He purposefully glanced around at the people staring at them and nodded toward the bar. Arthur got the point. He cleared his throat and straightened his suit jacket, trying to calm himself, and making his way to the bar with the man.
"Dominic Cobb," said the man, slipping into a booth after ordering them a bottle of expensive scotch. "You can call me Dom."
Arthur sat down stiffly. "Mr. Cobb. I don't know why you called me here, but I have work left to do tonight-"
"Yeah, I know. A Donovan Guarini employed your services to dig up whatever dirt you can find on Justin Holloway, his prospective business partner."
The drinks arrived, but Arthur remained frozen in his seat.
The man called Dominic poured Arthur and himself some scotch. Dominic raised his glass in a mock toast and drank down all of the contents in his glass alone. Afterward, he looked at Arthur slyly. "True to your word and reputation, you are in the process of digging up everything about him. His marriage, his business, his contacts, his scandals…"
"How do you know this?" asked Arthur in a low, trained voice.
Automatically he poured Dominic more scotch. The ice clinked in the glass, glinting like crystals in liquid gold. Dominic in return slid the untouched glass over to Arthur with a devilish smile playing at the corner of his lips.
"You told me."
Arthur blinked. "I've never met you before in my life."
Dominic's smile grew wider. "You have. You just don't remember."
Arthur sat, speechless and unable to move. Never had he ever blown his cover this badly before, and what scared him more was that he didn't even know how he had done it. He had taken the utmost care in concealing his identity and his business. Only the uppermost tier of the rich and powerful knew of his name, and even amongst that crowd, only a handful knew how to contact him for his services. Who was this Dominic Cobb? He didn't look particularly wealthy, though his eyes were as ruthless and…haunted…as some of the most powerful men he had ever met.
Some giggling woman and her escort slipped into the chairs beside him, snapping him out of his trance. He shook his head slightly and sipped on the scotch. He peered at Dominic over his glass, feeling a vague sense of déjà vu, as if he had met him before a long time ago. "Who are you?" he asked finally.
The man hooked his hands behind his head. A gesture meant to calm him. Arthur relaxed about a hair.
"You don't like gambling, do you, Arthur?"
The remark caught him off guard, but Arthur quickly regained his composure. "It depends on the situation."
Dominic snorted and took a sip of his scotch. "You don't take risks, I know, unless you've assessed them. You analyze. You calculate. You do things that people think are risky but are in reality fully within your control. You only do something when you know you will win."
"What is your point?" Arthur growled, finally feeling his patience wear thin. He hated mind games in which he had no control. This Dominic Cobb wanted something from him, and Arthur was impatient to find out what.
As if reading his thoughts, Dominic leaned in closely, his glacial eyes glimmering with amusement. "What if I tell you that I'm going to hire you to do the ultimate digging? To extract secrets that are so secret, so deeply inlaid within peoples' souls that they are embedded in their subconscious mind?"
Arthur remained silent.
"Of course, the risks are huge," said Dominic, leaning back again, appraising him coolly. "And in order for the extraction to proceed, I need a…let's say, a reliable point man. Someone who knows how to evaluate the risks, the possibilities, do the preliminary screening to minimize the dangers of going into a person's head."
Arthur did not know what overcame him, but he suddenly barked out an uncharacteristic laugh. "Entering someone's dreams… I've heard rumors of lucid dreaming taken beyond…" This time, Arthur leaned in closer and faced Dominic, staring him right in the eyes. "But it's nothing but a myth."
To Arthur's surprise, Dominic did not negate nor affirm his statement. Instead, he replied, "The greatest thing in the world is an idea, Arthur. It must be self-conceived for it to be true." He stood and handed him a business card. "Call me when you're tired of this juvenile game of chase. I have something better to offer you than computers and surface-level data written on easily forged paper."
Arthur did not accept the card, but heaven help him, his hand itched to take it. "And what is it that you can offer me?"
Dominic smirked, sliding the card toward Arthur on the table. "The world, Arthur. The world, and you as its god."
Dominic left with a final swig of his scotch. Arthur remained seated, brows furrowed in thought and frustration. His mind functioned at a burning page of a thousand miles per hour, assessing the risks over the benefits. A point man? For the ultimate digging? Sounded dangerous. The red flags were waving all over his mind, blaring out for him to forget what Dominic said, to forget Dominic himself.
But weren't some risks worth taking?
Arthur slipped the business card into his pocket, and taking a last drink of his scotch, he left the casino.
…
END CHAPTER
Chapter 2 →
Table of Contents
Part: 1/5
Pairing: Arthur/Ariadne, gentle Arthur/Dom
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Not many yet, but there will be a lot further along the story.
Summary: They first met, ironically, at a casino. Arthur was offered the world, and he was to be the god of it. Perhaps this is a risk worth taking.
Author's Note: I watched Inception last week and was blown away by the scale and depth of the movie. One of the most disappointing factors, I think, was the lack of character development. Arthur is one of my favorite characters, and I thought it such a shame that his background wasn't explained at all. We never know how or why he joined forces, and anything of his life before and after the movie.
This fic is an attempt to explain his story and his psychology during the movie. This the first installment in a like four- to five-part story sketching the significant developments within Arthur's life during his time with Dom and the others.
Ariadne will appear later on in the story of course, though there will be hints of Dom/Arthur. ;)
Disclaimers: I do not own Inception. I'm just borrowing the characters while Chris Nolan is sleeping.
The Cast of the Die
By Callisto Callispi
Chapter 1: Playing the Game
…
Iacta alea est
(The die has been cast)
- Suetonius, Vita Divi Iuli (The Life of the Deified Julius)
…
They first met, ironically, at a casino.
Arthur had an assignment, to do some digging for a client on a potential business partner. He wasn't too sure of the relationship between the client and the target, but Arthur didn't mind. He worked on a strictly a no-questions, know-nothing basis, which suited him better (he thought) than it suited anyone else.
He trailed the man unobtrusively along the rows of slot machines, ignoring the cries of delight and dismay. He unconsciously caught the eyes of a few attractive young women with fur wraps and long legs, but his focus remained solely on his job. He even partook in a few rounds of Blackjack and one hand at Poker at adjacent tables to remain inconspicuous. He lost at both and quickly left the table. His mind was too concentrated on his target to properly reason through the odds of the game, but Arthur could not help but reinforce his dislike for gambling, no matter how high the stakes. He hated losing, but even more so, he hated losing when he couldn't choose the stakes.
The target once again relocated this time to the Craps table, and as sure as a shadow, Arthur followed. Chants and cheering suddenly broke out from the table. The dice had passed to the hands of a man in a pinstripe suit, and he immediately threw a seven. The crowd behind him, who had gathered around to see how long his streak would last, cheered again.
Arthur watched the game with only the slightest bit of interest, keeping his target within his peripheral view.
Suddenly, the man with the lucky streak looked up and caught his eye. The movement was so fluid and sudden that Arthur knew immediately that it was deliberate. He started to move away from the man's line of sight, but the bodies behind him blocked his way.
"You look bored," the man called out in a jovial voice.
At least a dozen pairs of eyes turned to appraise Arthur. He kept his impassive mask firmly on his face, the mask he wore when facing clients and the barrel of a gun.
The man spread his hands, indicating to the table with its elaborate array of dice and betting lines and numbers. "You're the only one who isn't concentrating on the game. Do you even know the rules?"
The crowd around them chuckled good humoredly.
Arthur smirked faintly. "Craps is inherently a game of luck, not skill."
The man quirked a smile back at him. "I take it you don't believe in luck."
Arthur shrugged. "I believe that analysis and skill overweigh luck any day."
"Then this is the first time you've ever been in a casino!" a portly, slightly drunken man slurred. The table erupted in laughter, and the Craps game resumed, though the man who first addressed Arthur stood from the table.
Arthur cast a sidelong glance to where his target had been, dismayed to find him disappeared and his cover more or less blown. It would be doubly difficult to trail him now that his face was called to attention. He started to trail his target again, angry that some drunk on a high streak disrupted his work. As he squeezed his way from the table, he found himself face to face with the man who called him out.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "If you're here to lecture me about Craps and luck, I should tell you now that I must decline."
The man grinned, though the smile did not reach his eyes. His eyes were cold and calculating, and Arthur suddenly felt goosebumps trailing down his arms.
"I'm not here to lecture you on anything. I'm here to make a proposal."
Arthur paused slightly before answering. "I have no interest in any proposal. Now, if you will excuse me…"
The man grabbed his arm firmly as Arthur passed. The grip was not strong enough to be a threatening gesture, but Arthur snapped into a defensive mode, wringing his arm from his grasp and backing away. His movements caught the attention of some people in the casino, but he didn't care. He had felt something akin to panic in that grip-something he had felt very rarely.
"Calm down," the man said quietly, starting at him from under his brows. He purposefully glanced around at the people staring at them and nodded toward the bar. Arthur got the point. He cleared his throat and straightened his suit jacket, trying to calm himself, and making his way to the bar with the man.
"Dominic Cobb," said the man, slipping into a booth after ordering them a bottle of expensive scotch. "You can call me Dom."
Arthur sat down stiffly. "Mr. Cobb. I don't know why you called me here, but I have work left to do tonight-"
"Yeah, I know. A Donovan Guarini employed your services to dig up whatever dirt you can find on Justin Holloway, his prospective business partner."
The drinks arrived, but Arthur remained frozen in his seat.
The man called Dominic poured Arthur and himself some scotch. Dominic raised his glass in a mock toast and drank down all of the contents in his glass alone. Afterward, he looked at Arthur slyly. "True to your word and reputation, you are in the process of digging up everything about him. His marriage, his business, his contacts, his scandals…"
"How do you know this?" asked Arthur in a low, trained voice.
Automatically he poured Dominic more scotch. The ice clinked in the glass, glinting like crystals in liquid gold. Dominic in return slid the untouched glass over to Arthur with a devilish smile playing at the corner of his lips.
"You told me."
Arthur blinked. "I've never met you before in my life."
Dominic's smile grew wider. "You have. You just don't remember."
Arthur sat, speechless and unable to move. Never had he ever blown his cover this badly before, and what scared him more was that he didn't even know how he had done it. He had taken the utmost care in concealing his identity and his business. Only the uppermost tier of the rich and powerful knew of his name, and even amongst that crowd, only a handful knew how to contact him for his services. Who was this Dominic Cobb? He didn't look particularly wealthy, though his eyes were as ruthless and…haunted…as some of the most powerful men he had ever met.
Some giggling woman and her escort slipped into the chairs beside him, snapping him out of his trance. He shook his head slightly and sipped on the scotch. He peered at Dominic over his glass, feeling a vague sense of déjà vu, as if he had met him before a long time ago. "Who are you?" he asked finally.
The man hooked his hands behind his head. A gesture meant to calm him. Arthur relaxed about a hair.
"You don't like gambling, do you, Arthur?"
The remark caught him off guard, but Arthur quickly regained his composure. "It depends on the situation."
Dominic snorted and took a sip of his scotch. "You don't take risks, I know, unless you've assessed them. You analyze. You calculate. You do things that people think are risky but are in reality fully within your control. You only do something when you know you will win."
"What is your point?" Arthur growled, finally feeling his patience wear thin. He hated mind games in which he had no control. This Dominic Cobb wanted something from him, and Arthur was impatient to find out what.
As if reading his thoughts, Dominic leaned in closely, his glacial eyes glimmering with amusement. "What if I tell you that I'm going to hire you to do the ultimate digging? To extract secrets that are so secret, so deeply inlaid within peoples' souls that they are embedded in their subconscious mind?"
Arthur remained silent.
"Of course, the risks are huge," said Dominic, leaning back again, appraising him coolly. "And in order for the extraction to proceed, I need a…let's say, a reliable point man. Someone who knows how to evaluate the risks, the possibilities, do the preliminary screening to minimize the dangers of going into a person's head."
Arthur did not know what overcame him, but he suddenly barked out an uncharacteristic laugh. "Entering someone's dreams… I've heard rumors of lucid dreaming taken beyond…" This time, Arthur leaned in closer and faced Dominic, staring him right in the eyes. "But it's nothing but a myth."
To Arthur's surprise, Dominic did not negate nor affirm his statement. Instead, he replied, "The greatest thing in the world is an idea, Arthur. It must be self-conceived for it to be true." He stood and handed him a business card. "Call me when you're tired of this juvenile game of chase. I have something better to offer you than computers and surface-level data written on easily forged paper."
Arthur did not accept the card, but heaven help him, his hand itched to take it. "And what is it that you can offer me?"
Dominic smirked, sliding the card toward Arthur on the table. "The world, Arthur. The world, and you as its god."
Dominic left with a final swig of his scotch. Arthur remained seated, brows furrowed in thought and frustration. His mind functioned at a burning page of a thousand miles per hour, assessing the risks over the benefits. A point man? For the ultimate digging? Sounded dangerous. The red flags were waving all over his mind, blaring out for him to forget what Dominic said, to forget Dominic himself.
But weren't some risks worth taking?
Arthur slipped the business card into his pocket, and taking a last drink of his scotch, he left the casino.
…
END CHAPTER
Chapter 2 →
Table of Contents