Dreamscapes (Attn: Ariadne)

[dreamplanner]

Arthur often went to the Starbucks near his house, but rarely did he do so for any other reason than to buy a cup of coffee to take back to his apartment. He didn't work well in a crowded coffee shop; his mind seemed to function better in the quiet of his own home. Today, however, he'd come here to meet Ariadne, and had, as was usual for him,

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[define_belief]

Ariadne decided to get a drink before looking for Arthur. She didn't know if he was here yet. He wasn't sitting near the front, anyway, but come to think of it, she wouldn't have expected him to. Having claimed her coffee she began looking around. She found him, writing quietly.

"What are you working on?" she asked, sitting down.

[dreamplanner]

He was a bit surprised when she addressed him - he had been quite engrossed in what he was writing and hadn't heard her approach. He closed his notebook - more out of habit than distrust - and held out his hand, offering her to sit.

"I'm just writing some notes on our last...work assignment. For later. You enjoying being Stateside?"

[define_belief]

"What kind of notes? Should I be taking notes?"

She didn't think he minded the interruption. He had invited her, after all. And this wasn't the first time she had seen him writing. It seemed to be something he did to pass the time. Or as part of the job, evidently.

"Yeah, it is kind of nice to understand every word everyone says. Not running an inner translator all the time."

[dreamplanner]

"I'm the only one on the team that does, so I think you're fine."

He passed the notebook across the table with a half-smile. Nobody had ever asked him what he was writing about before, and he was more than slightly touched that she showed interest at all.

"I've got dozens of these, going back to when I first met Dom."

He smiled a little at her last comment.

"I've spent a lot of time in Paris myself, with Dom and Mal. It was our home base for a long time."

[define_belief]

"So it's for planning and keeping track of things? Your job seems a little thankless." Ariadne didn't open the book, even though Arthur didn't seem to regard it as a private artifact. It still felt personal.

"It's an incredible city. So much character in the buildings."

[dreamplanner]

"I've heard that from a lot of architects. And I'm not blind to it, myself, although it's not my specialty. But you can feel it, anyway, you know? The lines in the the buildings, the way the buildings filter the traffic and the people - the soul of the city, maybe."

He looked down, his eyes focusing on the notebook as he quickly changed the subject.

"Yes," he answered. "Notes to myself for next time. Things we did right. Things we did wrong. Things that could be improved on. Things I learned."

He cocked an eyebrow, honestly surprised at her assessment of his position in the team.

"Thankless? No...I love it."

[define_belief]

"I usually hear buildings spoken of as 'bones.' 'Soul' is better," Ariadne said appreciatively. He talked about them differently than Cobb did, but he understood.

"What about the parts you weren't there for?" she asked. "Do you think I should be writing things down?"

She would rather not. It was like what Cobb said about things almost creating themselves in dreams. Having a plan and a model to teach others wasn't the same as taking notes and making comparisons for future endeavors. It seemed like it would disturb her creatively. But if Arthur recommended it she might have to try.

"But, I mean, you do all this work. A million little things. Cobb better send you a gift basket or something at least."

[dreamplanner]

"That's up to you," he shrugged. "It's a personal thing. I take notes. Eames and Cobb seem to be able to hold it all in their minds. As long as you remember it, it doesn't matter if you take it to paper. And details aren't always good. If Cobb had written down all the gruesome details of what happened last time we tried Mr. Charles, he might not have even tried it again - and where would that have left us? I'm a detail person, but the world needs all kinds."

He picked up his coffee - black - and took a sip before answering her last comments.

"Before I met Cobb, I was studying tax law, Ariadne. And I was lost. Cobb introduced me to something that gave me a purpose, that's...pure inspiration, even to me. This job, I don't know what I'd do without it. I could never go back to the boring life I had planned for myself after the things I've seen and done. If anyone should be sending gift baskets, it's me - to Cobb."

[define_belief]

Ariadne nodded. She would stick to sketches, then.

"You didn't want him to use Mr. Charles, though. Were you writing down that it worked after all?"

'Gruesome details'? How violent did subconsciouses get, anyway? She knew Mal was, but were all of them minutes away from ripping people apart? Arthur would tell her if she asked, but she decided not to. She merely logged it away and listened quietly while he continued, sensing he didn't talk like this often.

"This does sound better than tax law," she agreed. "Are you going to go back to research, then?"

[dreamplanner]

"I wrote down that it worked this time, yes. But I still don't think it would with a subconscious less sheltered than Fischer's. He was rather naive and gullible, and that worked to our advantage."

He shook his head a little as she asked about the future.

"I'm going to lie low a while, wait for Cobb to contact me. I don't know what we'll be doing next - other than that it will be dream-sharing. I'm with him, no matter what it is. What about you? Will you be finishing school, designing buildings?"

He didn't want to mention that they might not need her anymore, since there was no longer any reason that Cobb couldn't build himself.

[define_belief]

"I wonder if there's a way to calm the subconscious. If it's armed, I understand, but I don't get why Cobb's mind went nuts on me. Mal aside."

She sipped her coffee. There was no reason why they shouldn't continue. This was good. Now that she had started, she didn't want to stop either.

"I guess so. Yes. But it doesn't have to be the only thing I do," she replied.

[dreamplanner]

"I think maybe all of our subconsciouses might be a little more sensitive than the normal person, since this is what we do for a living. And Cobb...had some things to work through which made his even more sensitive. I wouldn't take it personally. I was killed by her plenty of times. It could just be like Cobb said, too. Our minds don't like being messed with.

He looked down into his cup. He was worried that now that Cobb had his kids back, he wouldn't be interested in dream-sharing anymore. The idea frankly terrified him - he wasn't exaggerating when he told Ariadne how much his job meant to him.

"What do you say we go back to my apartment, and see what damage you can do?"

[define_belief]

"But I wonder if there is a way to get around that. I could do so much more if I didn't have to worry about being swarmed." She remembered her first lessons in Paris. She wasn't ready to stop when things got ugly. She'd barely done a thing. And since then she had thought of other things she would like to try.

"OK, sure," she replied without hesitation.

[dreamplanner]

Arthur grabbed his coffee, slipping his notebook and pen into an inner pocket of his jacket, and led her out on to the street, and to a nice, but unassuming high rise apartment building. Up the elevator, to the tenth floor, he took her to an apartment that overlooked the city

[define_belief]

Ariadne greeted the kitty and looked around. The room was like Arthur's dress and how he generally presented himself: neat, and very together. It was unassuming, but not devoid of character. The paintings surprised her a little, but they didn't really contradict anything she knew about him. She remembered the staircase and touched the picture. Mal looked so different from the way Ariadne had seen her. Not just happier. Lighter, carefree. For the first time Ariadne wished she had met her before. All the other people she had met who did this were men. Maybe it didn't make any difference, but just the same

[dreamplanner]

Arthur had never been to limbo, so when he realized they were on a beach, he had little reaction. He'd awakened in stranger places. Just out of curiosity, he looked down at what he was wearing, finding himself barefoot, but dressed in well-pressed black slacks that were rolled up to mid-calf with a belt and a white dress shirt. He was wearing a dark blue tie, but it was loosened and a bit askew.

He saw Ariadne a bit up the beach and headed in her direction.

"Ariadne!"