Okay, I just have a scatter-shot of things to say, so I'll just jump from point to point.
* I have to echo previous comments. I did not know how much I wanted to read Arthur dreaming Eames first until I read this. * Love this story. * The movie, logically, focused on Cobb's mourning of/longing for Mal. It was so moving to see her through Arthur's eyes here, this clever, amazing friend whom he never wants to cause a moment's worry. It felt... deeper to me than in some other stories; your writing so beautifully illustrated how they're all such parts of each others' lives. The second 2 makes me cry every time. * That said, he and Cobb have a semi-similar arc(?) in their dream obsession. Arthur's starts sooner, and Cobb worries; but Cobb's is more brutal, I think I want to say. Because Mal has killed herself, she is forever gone, and he was the one who made her think the world was not real. And Arthur sees the parallel and how it could get grow, but I think he admits more to himself than Cobb does. "This isn't his Eames. This Eames flirts like breathing and never means it and he doesn't love Arthur. Except that, after Mal, Arthur isn't sure he believes projections can love anyone either, and where does that leave him?" Mal was the embodiment of guilt and loss and heartbreak and self-hatred in the shape, the memory, of love and brilliance. * I kind of want the backstory on how Nash knows Eames, because Nash's projection of Eames seems strikingly accurate on points such as his immediate interest in Arthur. * Arthur's projection is his impression of Nash's impression. Then when he meets and starts working with the real Eames, it's very disjointing. And the real Eames is superior, which he realizes on a subconscious level at first, when the projection disappears. The conscious level is more confused but catches on eventually: "...the real Eames is like dreaming in color, like rich splashes of cobalt and scarlet on the walls." The projection comes back first, once Cobb leaves to get the real Eames. And then later you have this paragraph, which ... guh
"Or that Arthur let himself come as close to getting lost as he did, that he walked right up to a drop that he only realized was practically under his feet when Cobb almost fell off right in front of him. Or that Arthur is still flirting with that drop, still walking along the edge even knowing what's at the bottom. He hasn't stopped dreaming about Eames in the months since the inception job, not until this job started and the risks in doing it became too high. If he's honest with himself, he wants to stop; his projection of Eames is the best he can do but still only a projection, still flat and monochromatic compared to the real thing, and he always wakes frustrated and lonely and hating himself for not being able to just put his PASIV machine away where it will gather dust. "If he's even more honest with himself, he wants to stop because the real Eames is waiting for him on this side of the drop, or he doesn't want to stop at all." * Of course Arthur would get Architectural Digest. * What was Eames going to ask when room service interrupted? He reads people, figures them out, professionally, after all.
And now it's late and I'm very tired and I hope that some of this made sense. Your story is brilliant.
no subject
* I have to echo previous comments. I did not know how much I wanted to read Arthur dreaming Eames first until I read this.
* Love this story.
* The movie, logically, focused on Cobb's mourning of/longing for Mal. It was so moving to see her through Arthur's eyes here, this clever, amazing friend whom he never wants to cause a moment's worry. It felt... deeper to me than in some other stories; your writing so beautifully illustrated how they're all such parts of each others' lives. The second 2 makes me cry every time.
* That said, he and Cobb have a semi-similar arc(?) in their dream obsession. Arthur's starts sooner, and Cobb worries; but Cobb's is more brutal, I think I want to say. Because Mal has killed herself, she is forever gone, and he was the one who made her think the world was not real. And Arthur sees the parallel and how it could get grow, but I think he admits more to himself than Cobb does.
"This isn't his Eames. This Eames flirts like breathing and never means it and he doesn't love Arthur. Except that, after Mal, Arthur isn't sure he believes projections can love anyone either, and where does that leave him?"
Mal was the embodiment of guilt and loss and heartbreak and self-hatred in the shape, the memory, of love and brilliance.
* I kind of want the backstory on how Nash knows Eames, because Nash's projection of Eames seems strikingly accurate on points such as his immediate interest in Arthur.
* Arthur's projection is his impression of Nash's impression. Then when he meets and starts working with the real Eames, it's very disjointing. And the real Eames is superior, which he realizes on a subconscious level at first, when the projection disappears. The conscious level is more confused but catches on eventually: "...the real Eames is like dreaming in color, like rich splashes of cobalt and scarlet on the walls." The projection comes back first, once Cobb leaves to get the real Eames. And then later you have this paragraph, which ... guh
"Or that Arthur let himself come as close to getting lost as he did, that he walked right up to a drop that he only realized was practically under his feet when Cobb almost fell off right in front of him. Or that Arthur is still flirting with that drop, still walking along the edge even knowing what's at the bottom. He hasn't stopped dreaming about Eames in the months since the inception job, not until this job started and the risks in doing it became too high. If he's honest with himself, he wants to stop; his projection of Eames is the best he can do but still only a projection, still flat and monochromatic compared to the real thing, and he always wakes frustrated and lonely and hating himself for not being able to just put his PASIV machine away where it will gather dust.
"If he's even more honest with himself, he wants to stop because the real Eames is waiting for him on this side of the drop, or he doesn't want to stop at all."
* Of course Arthur would get Architectural Digest.
* What was Eames going to ask when room service interrupted? He reads people, figures them out, professionally, after all.
And now it's late and I'm very tired and I hope that some of this made sense. Your story is brilliant.