On the Wings of an Angel (master post)

[phoenix_writing]

Author: phoenix_writing (phoenix.writing on ff.net)
Artist: creepylicious
Title:On the Wings of an Angel
Summary: When Arthur overhears a conversation that he shouldn't have in the dreamshare, he reacts quickly and decisively, setting in motion a chain of events that leads all the way to limbo and threatens the lives and sanity of those he cares about most-as well as

Comments

[arvok]

And then Arthur risking staying in limbo himself, so that Eames could realize it was a dream. I adore the idea of Arthur being do wildly creative in limbo; the idea, that he knew he was there and decided he belonged. It made sense when I first read it, and it made sense when he told us about his childhood. Of course children would do whatever they wanted in a dream. Create clouds they could sit on... Hell, children wouldn't know it was impossible to sit on a cloud, why would their coulds be anything less than solid and fluffy? I like the fact that in this story dreaming isn't as rigid as it is usually pictured. I never liked all the rules. I think dreamsharing should be as free and wild like dreaming, or lucid dreaming. I see that when sharing a dream it is easier to stick to rules of reality just to make it more managable, but I never understood why characters in so few fics use dreams to the full extent. And that's the reason I am willing to buy Hope, after all. Because she breaks rules which are supposed to be broken.

By the way, I also liked the fact that the conversation between them, when Eames finally found Arthur (I'm curious where it was he found him after all), was in a dream. It wouldn't feel quite right in reality. By the way, why is that in all the stories Ariadne is always the person who both Arthur and Eames go to; who protects them both; who helps them out once she's sure they will be good for each other? Not that I have any complains; just after so many fics I keep wondering why they don't just go straight to her when anything happens. ;-)

Last two things:

"If I hadn't cared," Arthur corrected, "we would have gone to bed the first time you called me 'Darling'."
Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Eames leaned forward so that his forehead was resting against Arthur's, too close to stare at one another now, giving Arthur the distance he wanted-as well as the continued closeness.
I never thought about it this way, but it's actually perfect. Privacy and closeness all at once. A beautiful gesture.

I hope this comment doesn't come across as too chaotic - anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed it and it's kind of what I needed at the moment. And, wow, I'm so happy that people still write for this fandom!

Edit: Unless, um, there are some rules about commenting inception bang fics that I don't know about? If that's the case, just direct me to the right place. ;-)

[phoenix_writing]

Thank you so much for leaving me such a fantastically long review! It was so exciting to receive as my first review for the fic. :)

I appreciate your feedback about Hope; I guess it's just not something that everyone will buy. (I'm glad you thought that the explanation was logical even if you weren't altogether sold on the idea.) The ending was definitely very sweet, but I'm a big fan of happy endings, so I'll never deny that.

Eames is definitely a hard one to be altogether sure of, and it takes a lot for Arthur to open up to someone--which is what results in all the misunderstandings in this fic (and most of the fic that I've read in this fandom, lol.) The Ariadne thing, now that you bring it up, is totally true. There's just something so ... genuine about her. Hard to think of her betraying anyone, and maybe she should be the one-stop shop for everyone seeking answers and resolutions. ;)

Eames strikes me as the sex first, talk afterwards sort of guy in most situations, and I really enjoyed giving Arthur the freedom in limbo to express himself back (even if there wasn't any sex, lol). I'm so glad to hear that it worked for you (since I realized afterwards that it could be considered extremely OOC, but I felt that under the circumstances, it worked.)

Thinking of how a child would act in a lucid dream was a fun adventure for working out Arthur's background. I figure there'd really be almost no limits at all because they wouldn't know better about a whole lot of things. To stay in limbo, I think you need to create an existence of some sort, whether it's a copy of a normal sort of reality or something more unusual, I think our brains would want to create some sort of framework for us.

Thanks again for your review! It was so helpful to see specific phrases and scenes that worked so well for you as well as a couple of the ones that you were less certain about. (I apparently had 'screen comments' selected, which is why your comment didn't appear immediately.)

[arvok]

You're very welcome. :-) It's really a shame there aren't more comments here. This story is quite unusual for a fic about limbo and it isn't only about limbo, it has so many other elements which never fail to grab my attention. This thing with developing trust between Eames and Arthur? I will never get tired of it. Eames, who seems so open and careless, but who can hide anything below the surface and I never know what to expect; Arthur who can be either very cautious or unexpectedly trusting, or very cautious but trusting Eames nevertheless... And the two of them doing stupid, ridiculous things for each other and showing that they can rely on each other absolutely. I admit, I am a total sucker for fluff and there is nothing better than a lot of well-founded misunderstandings and troubles with a happy, happy end. :-)

Hmm. I just can't really see Eames trying to have sex with Arthur for the first time while hiding something like this from him. And Eames is, after all, a really smart guy, and rather cautious, too - I just thought it wasn't very wise of him. But then again, how could he possibly resist Arthur? ;-) It must have been horrible for him - he acted like he was going to betray Arthur for his benefit, he thought that maybe he finally had a chance - and the next moment Arthur walked out on him and disappeared from the face of the planet. Poor dear.

And, again, it was a pleasure. :-) Have you written any more fics? I don't see any on your lj but it might be just me being tired.