sixwordstories | (no subject)

[He smiles, just a little bit.] First, you just used the word cool. Second, if we get caught? We are not going to jail, I can almost assure you that.

I totally used the word cool, and I don't regret it. [She nudges his calf again.] So what would happen if we got caught? I want to know. [She wants to know everything, of course. As usual.]

It is what I mean by above the bar. What would we possible get arrested for? Circumstantial proof at best; what we steal is intangible. There's no way a conviction would stick to anything that we do.

So it depends. You might want to ask our ex-Architect, Nash, that question. He healed well enough that he's not still eating through a straw--and that was the work of the people who employed us.

Ariadne, I am not joking. This is why you weren't supposed to be in the field on that job. Cobb and I took major precautions in Paris so that no one could possibly link you to us. As cool as the Dreaming is, it's above the bar. Which means payment is in flesh.

[She's silent for a moment, paused in her eating. When she does speak again, her voice is quieter.] I thought the sort of people who hired you were just businessmen, mostly. Like Mr. Saito. [Sure, Saito was a little scary, and she thought she understood the term filthy rich better after having met him, but he'd never given the impression that he would hurt her.]

Saito... [Was an odd case, all the way around.] Businessmen have investments. Big businessmen would do a lot to protect those investments. I honestly don't believe that Saito is an exception to that rule--he did, after all, pay us to plant an idea in a man's mind. He didn't do it for anti-monopolistic sentiments, Ariadne. He did it because it made his own company stronger.

I know that. But still, resorting to physical violence can't be good for the company image, right?

[There's a small pause of disbelief before Arthur leans in a little.] Do you think anyone would ever find out?

Hurting people - even killing them - that's gotta be much harder to cover up than extraction. [Her brow furrows.] It can't be common...

Well, I don't know if I'd use the word common. But it's a great deterrent for people like us, who can't be cowed by threat of law. If you knew that someone was going to break your arm if you failed in your job...

I wouldn't fail. [She wags her finger at him.] Now you're just trying to scare me. Okay, I get it, it's not cool or glamorous. Besides, you can pick and choose which jobs you take, too, right?

Most of the time, yes. And I hope it's working. This stuff isn't something to be taken lightly.

I was serious about Nash.

I don't take it lightly. And I don't intend to work with anyone but you or Cobb, so...

Whatever this Nash guy did, I won't be doing it. [She jabs at her food with a scowl.] If you think you can scare me away from it, you're wrong, though.

[He'd like to keep her working for him and Cobb only, but things don't always happen according to plan and Arthur knows how Ariadne is.]

I'm not trying to scare you away from it. [He takes a bite of his food.] I just want you to know.

I do know. I promise, I won't go around... I don't even know what you think I'd do that would get me hurt. [She smiles a little. If Arthur knows her, then he knows how stubborn she can be; if this is what she wants then this is what she's going to do, and there isn't much chance anyone will be able to drag her away from it.]

Anyway, I just meant cool as in... much more exciting than I expected my life to be. Don't get me wrong, I love architecture, but you have to know what I'd be doing after grad school - architectural grunt work, at best.

Which would have obviously been a stepping stone to designing architecture that would have rivaled the Sydney Opera House. Don't start being humble now, Ariadne. We both know your talent. [Arthur gives a quiet smile.]

But you don't have to convince me of the definition. I left a good job at the CIA--after being personally recruited--for dream tech. I get it.

Sure, years from now, if I was lucky, and got in at a good firm, and managed to get promoted... [She flips a piece of bread at his face.] You're buttering me up now.

I just think of it as... skipping all of the really dull stuff. And adding in the occasional element of... car chases and stuff.

[Arthur catches the bread and gives her a Look.] Occasional elements that are not in your job description.

[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.]