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WHO: The Dreamers; Inception crew + Arthur
WHERE: The Dreaming
WHEN: Thursday the 3rd and ongoing for a few days, until Arthur wakes up.
WARNINGS: Please warn in thread subjects!
SUMMARY: Arthur's powers go out of control, and the innocent (?) cityzens are affected.
FORMAT: As you like it! Please label your threads if they're open for other dreamers or just specific characters!

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[ these are things eames himself is not meant to see. he knows that. but he moves towards the voice regardless. the gun stays holstered, if only because eames knows better than to approach any part of arthur's subconcious with weaponry. ]

Arthur?

[ it's quiet, pitched low. testing, perhaps, to see how the dreamscape responds. ]

[There's silence for a minute, and the lights crack again, and then a door opens, and a little boy is staring up at Eames. He's a projection, this boy, it's not Arthur - at least, it's not Arthur now. He's wearing a t-shirt and ratty jeans.]

He came in through the vent.

[ eames does not crouch. he'd hated that as a child, when adults would crouch down and coo at him as if the height difference made their words indecipherable. and this child, eames affords him that respect. ]

Is he still here?

[The boy looks sullen; it's the very image of Arthur as a child, unhappy and annoyed, but not prim or precise, or even closed off]

No. Arthur killed him. Now he's stuck.

Can you take me to see Arthur?

[ the realization is something eames has set aside very, very carefully. he cannot think about that now. it's something to puzzle over afterwards, when the situation has been dealt with and cleaned up and none are the wiser for it. ]

[The kid squints at Eames in a disturbingly Cobb-like fashion.]

What's the password?

[ eames has always wondered if cobb influenced arthur or the other way around. ]

Of course there's a password. Nothing's ever easy with you, is it?

[You'd have to go deeper for that. There's thunder behind them - but it's not thunder, it's a door slamming.]

Thomas, you punk, where are you?

[The kid moves behind Eames' legs, but doesn't touch them, and there's silence for a long, long time. Then he speaks again.]

Does that mean you don't know it?

[ eames doesn't answer immediately. thomas. ]

Am I allowed a hint?

[There's quiet for a minute as the kid decides]

You're supposed to know everything important about him.

[ and there's an unexpected assessment. but regardless, it's enough for eames to at least venture a guess. ]

Paradox.

[The kid doesn't smile, just offers a usual Arthur-esque stare and offers his hand]

There are scary things here.

[ eames takes it, expression utterly serious. ]

Lucky for me, I don't scare easily.

[ or that eames himself has the potential to be scarier than anything hiding down here, if he wants to be. ]

He won't like it. If you look.

[But well, this is where Arthur is, so looking might have to happen]

Not even Dom came here.

I suppose I'll have to suffer the consequences afterwards.

[ which eames doubts are going to be pleasant. somehow, the knowledge that dom never came here isn't surprising. dom was keeping so many of his own secrets, intruding on someone else's couldn't have been smart. ]

[The kid leads him to a door and stands in front of it for a minute]

Does it ever bother you, that you talk to projections, and they're just pieces of someone else? That there are all these pieces inside you, and if someone knows the right questions, they'll tell everything?

[There's yelling on the other side of the door. Fuck this shit! He's your fucking kid, you deal with him!]

[ eames' jaw is very tight. this is personal. these are things he'd never have asked to see. just as no one sees his own childhood. no one sees his mother, his father, his home.

there are things kept secret. eames dislikes the violation of it, despite the necessity. which is why his answer is an honest one, not a flippant one. he feels it is owed. ]

Yes, it does. Which is why none of mine ever have anything to say. Or so I hope.

[The kid's eyes are wide, but he's scowling]

Okay.

[He opens the door, and marches Eames through, stiff-jawed. It's a pretty ratty place; stuffed with old newspapers and ragged, but clean. The man who was yelling before isn't yelling now. Come here.]

Got homework.

[The man is moving, now, but the kid is faster, and then they're through a door, which he closes. Arthur's standing next to the window, staring out. The kid moves to the bed and sits on it, and stares.]

[ and eames is standing in the middle of the room. he puts his hands in his pockets, looks from the boy to arthur. ]

That's the last time I believe you when you tell me you're fine.

[Arthur looks more than just a little annoyed.]

I've survived worse. I didn't know that this would create such a mess.

[ just as eames suspected he would. ]

It did. Do you know how many dreams I stumbled through looking for you?

[ it's not anything but a statement. eames isn't chastising. he can save that for later. or perhaps let zatanna do it. ]

Probably as many as it took me to get here in the first place.

[Arthur turns: the kid is on the bed now, just watching.]

I see you've met my family.

Unintentionally, yes.

[ eames gaze moves from arthur to the child on the bed. ]

Don't.

[Don't judge, or don't look at him, Arthur isn't sure what he's warning against. There's a knock on the door. A woman's voice. If you don't make all A's, you better at least come out here and spend time with your family.]

[ in retrospect, eames isn't sure where he imagined arthur came from. perhaps he'd assumed arthur sprung fully formed from a lab somewhere. ]

What would you have me do?

[ there's no way to stop himself seeing. ]