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[She makes a face right back at him.] I'll go under if I need to. Cobb couldn't stop me; Miles couldn't stop me. You can't stop me. You don't need to protect me from it.

[Now he's frowning.] Obviously I do.

[She's frowning too, but her brow is knit in confusion.] No. You don't. You didn't have to on the Fischer job and you won't have to on any other job.

Do you hear yourself? I'm not talking about you not being competent, Ariadne. I'm talking about your tendency to poke your nose into everything. "Cobb couldn't stop me"? That sounds a little fifth-grade to me.

It's just the truth. He needed me there; he wasn't going to stop me from coming along.

That job was an exception to every rule that we work under. It is not the norm.

I know. [She turns conciliatory now.] And I know Architects don't always go under for the jobs. I'm not saying I'm going to force my way along on every job. But c'mon. You have to let me go along sometimes.

[Dom had been their Architect, and he'd always come on the job--the reason being, of course, that he and Mal had been a team. The Point Man had just been an addition.]

You will. Anything less would be a detriment to your learning. The more you know about functioning dreams--the dreams of the Marks, the extractions--the better you can build things with specifics. But it is dangerous and so you defer to us, since we do, in this case, actually know better.

[Had Arthur known the risks at the time, he would have put his foot down against Ariadne coming into the Fischer job with them. But then again, had he known the risks, he wouldn't have gone either.]

I do defer to you. But I also trust my own judgment. Is that okay? [She offers him a tiny smile.]

[It was rhetorical, but Arthur doesn't mention it.] Of course it's okay, Ariadne. And you should. This isn't a discussion about your skills. [It's a business. If she steps out of line, he'll tell her, up to and including having to fire her--not that he thinks that will happen. Maybe really, Arthur's just worried how their relationship will impact the job.

He offers a thin-lipped smile back across the table.]

You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Arthur. [She reaches across the table, wipes a tiny dab of curry sauce off the corner of his mouth and licks it off her finger.

Ariadne isn't worried. Work is work - she doesn't expect anything to change there, especially not with Arthur. Nothing needs to change about it, it's fine the way it is. But this wasn't supposed to be a business discussion, this was supposed to be a getting-to-know-each-other-better discussion.]

[He huffs a quiet laugh.] You are not a normal girl and this is not a normal situation.

[Inexplicably, she looks down at her food.] I'm going to take that as a compliment, and say that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me.

[And a louder laugh.] Considering I'm the one talking, I think that's safe to assume.

Oh, I don't know about that. I don't think it's really safe to assume anything about you. [For someone used to figuring people out pretty fast, Arthur often has her stumped.]

[Probably true enough. He takes a bite of food.] Well, think about it this way. You know I'm a man of habits, and I like my habits. So for me to be with you if I'd call you less than normal...

Must be a compliment. [He smiles with the corner of his mouth, meeting her eyes.] You consented to swing dancing on a first date--though I was sure long before that you weren't anything close to normal.

I think it was the way you yelled at Cobb that first day in the dream.

[She does laugh at that.] So wait, you're saying you were attracted to me because I was upset and yelling at you and Cobb?

I don't remember you yelling at me. [He's still smiling.] But, in a way, yes. Not because you were upset, but because you spoke your mind without considering the repercussions. You were just this grad student, alone in a warehouse with two strange men you knew to be on the other side of the law, and you didn't even think of anything but holding Cobb accountable for his actions--even though, as I've heard, they were your fault too since he warned you multiple times to stop changing things in the dream.

Well, I maybe didn't yell at you, but I did implicate you. [She raises her eyebrows a little.] And he could've explained things better before letting me loose. [Whether that would've stopped her from doing what she did, is another story, but the fact remains. And then she gives Arthur a half-smile.] So basically I was brash and thoughtless and didn't care that you're criminals who know how to use guns and that was a turn-on?

... You assumed we knew how to use guns?

Yeah... I mean I figured probably. The nice clothes, the fancy gadgets. Almost like James Bond. [She shrugs.]

[See, this is why this job is dangerous. It's not a movie. Arthur doesn't mention it.] I didn't say I was turned on. I took notice, that's all.

[He doesn't have to mention it; Ariadne feels like she needs to explain herself further, anyway.] Look, Miles would never introduce me to someone who would pull a gun on me for telling him off. Did I figure you were probably dangerous? Sure. Psychos? No.

So, I was a little intimidated. But I make it a point not to ever let that feeling last. I'm not a pushover. I may look like a little girl, but I'm not. Miles knew I'd be able to impress you, and I did, didn't I? You noticed. Well, I noticed your penrose steps.

[Despite her--of perhaps because of her--absolute chin-raised seriousness, Arthur is laughing by the time Ariadne is finished standing on her soapbox.]

Sometimes I think Miles picked you just to teach Cobb a lesson.

Sometimes I think Miles is omniscient, despite his claims to the contrary.

[She tries to scowl, but she's too close to smiling for it to work.] This is why you frustrate me. I try to joke around and you lecture me; I get serious and you laugh at me. How do I even begin to know how to act around you?