Backstory.

[gen_is_gone]

I assume any shipper in this fandom has their favored characters' entire relationship-histories all mapped out, but what about backstory? For instance, I see Ariadne as coming from a big family in a small town(Three brothers and a sister

Comments

[fae_boleyn]

Are you in my head? Because seriously, I was about to ask this myself.

I haven't gone through all the characters, but the ones I have...

I don't always hold with this theory, but my default for Arthur is that he was in foster care, and joined the Marines right out of high school. I imagine that he was picked up by the CIA after his required service was up and that's how he got involved with dreamshare and with the Cobbs. I see him as their handler, because two obviously civilian researchers like I imagine they were would need one. Once Mal died, Arthur went with Cobb out of guilt, because he'd failed to stop them from the limbo experiments. He would have met Eames at some point during this - I figure Eames was attached to the dreamshare program. (I envision it as an international thing, or at least jointly done between the U.S. and the U.K.) I've sometimes given Arthur a sibling or two, but not always, and there are times I've given him a happier background. But I initially saw him as a foster kid, so I figured that was the best thing to put here.

A lot of people seem to think Eames comes from old money, but I... don't exactly agree. I think his dad is well-off, probably a member of Parliament and possibly with a knighthood, though not titled. But I get the feeling that Eames was the product of an affair. I don't know why, but I can just see Eames' dad paying for top schools, etc., with Eames never quite fitting in there or with his father's family. So he joined the military and then he left and got into criminal dreamshare - I think he originally fell into a life of crime out of boredom, that he wanted a challenge of some kind.

Ariadne comes from a family of eccentric academics, and she and all her cousins have unusual names because of it. At family get-togethers they have long, complicated discussions (and occasionally fights) over the strangest things, like obscure historical events or something like that.

I like to think that Fischer double majored in business and journalism, and after he breaks up his dad's company he's going to build up an equally powerful media empire.

Saito... Well, I like picturing him as the son of the Chairman and Sayuri from Memoirs of a Geisha, purely for my own amusement.

[beanarie]

I love that idea about Eames. I could definitely see him as an illegitimate kid with money, like Edmund in King Lear. Also it puts a whole new spin on his "Screw you to the old man" line.

[sour_idealist]

Saito... Well, I like picturing him as the son of the Chairman and Sayuri from Memoirs of a Geisha, purely for my own amusement.

Oh my God, I am no great fan of Memoirs of a Geisha, but I need that fic IMMEDIATELY. That is fantastic.

[fae_boleyn]

It pretty much already exists. That was the backstory that I heavily implied - I didn't say it outright for people not familiar with the story - in my Cobb/Saito piece. It's part of my A/A/E series; C/S is a background pairing that I decided to bring into the spotlight for one fic.

[sour_idealist]

Well, off to dig that up, then!

[fae_boleyn]

Or I could just give it to you, that's simpler.

http://fae-boleyn.livejournal.com/13561.html