Cause I Can't See the Sun [Inception, for i_reversebang]

[sour_idealist]

Title: Cause I Can't See the Sun
Fandom: Inception
Art: Untitled by dwn1s0ul
Characters/Pairings: Mal, Arthur, Eames, Ariadne [Mal/Cobb]
Rating/Warnings: PG (other than a lot of thoroughly obscene language.) Mentions of suicide on par with canon; also may be a bit triggery if you know (or have known) someone in a coma.
Written for: i_reversebang
Wordcount: 7100 words
Author'

Comments

[dwn1s0ul]

Oh, I loved this :D It was so very heartbreaking and lovely, with Mal waking up and the confusion on where they are -- the realization that they've been abandoned in the facility, that no one is coming to let them out. The choice to either die, or live in a world that isn't real. ;a;

Amazing job on this! :)

[sour_idealist]

Aw, thank you so much! I never could have done it without your pic catching my mind; I actually didn't think I'd ever do a Mal-was-right at all.

The funny thing is that I'm not entirely sure whether they were abandoned or not; a part of me kept imagining scientists cut off by some kind of internal disaster, staring at their screens as more and more people woke up (or, as more and more people flatlined, depending on what they had for sensors) and panicking like hell. I'm not sure if that would make it less painful or more. Kinda the reader's choice to imagine though.

...Er, that got off topic. Anyway, thanks.

[keelain]

HMM I love this concept. I'm a bit confused about the ending though. It feels like they've given up on living in reality-- even though they've promised each other to remember what was real and what was not.

[sour_idealist]

They did give up on staying in reality, that's exactly it. They went back into the shared dreamscape because the alternative was to die of first or live their entire lives hooked up to an IV line with absolutely nothing to stop them from losing their minds entirely.

I'm glad you like the concept; thank you! The basic research facility idea was all dwn1s0ul, but I'm glad you liked my take on it.

[_profiterole_]

I love Mal-was-right fics. This particular setting was still super creepy. Good job!

[sour_idealist]

Thank you so much!

[dropsofviolet]

Very fascinating! I do feel like the ending was a bit rushed and there was little protest to the going back under, where I would have expected more, but there were a lot of cool layers to this, and I loved your characterizations of everyone. Dom was better in his absence, and the idea of Ariadne as an amnesiac was interesting and poignant. And as always, you have a lovely Mal.

[sour_idealist]

Thank you! You're right, the ending was a lot more rushed than I'd like, but I'm glad that you still found something in it worth enjoying. Thanks.

The Ariadne-as-amnesiac thing started out as a way for her to know nothing about dreaming, but I thought it was interesting as added fuel for the wow-reality-sucks fire. I probably should have actually showed them considering that, though.

[eustacia_vye28]

This is such a fascinating concept! The differences between their real selves and dream selves are great, as well as the dream talents bleeding through to their waking lives.

It's a little frightening that they're left locked into this place with no one seeming to know or care that they're unhooked from the collective dream. I can understand the urge to go back under, rather than die slowly of starvation and dehydration.

[sour_idealist]

Wow, thank you so much!! One of the things that fascinates me is the idea that things in dreams are not entirely unreal, that they can really change you. And I'm so, so glad that I could make their decision at the end make sense to you. Again, thank you.