fete au Paris (open, dreamscapes!verse)

[chesstotem]

Time might work differently in dreams, but it was even weirder when an event both anticipated and feared was approaching. The past week or so had occasionally felt to Ariadne like it was speeding along at a breakneck pace towards a barrier, while at the same time crawling up a tall mountain.

And then, almost as soon as it arrived, it was over. Her thesis defense was successful, and the following afternoon she and two of Miles's other students received their degrees.

The mistress of labyrinths was now a master of architecture.

Miles knew how to throw a party. The entire upper floor of a trendy Paris restaurant had been rented out for the occasion - there was lots of food, and even more champagne, to toast Ariadne and her two classmates.

Lots of people were invited, of course, but there were a few in particular Ariadne was especially excited to see. Not that she was waiting, or anything. She was already on her second glass of champagne.

[Okay, this is mostly for dreamscape!verse folks, but anyone else who might reasonably be expected to be invited is welcome, as well as potential party-crashers! Threadhopping is not only encouraged, it is essentially mandatory, so have at it!]

Comments

[chesstotem]

She laughed. "Well enough. I got that little piece of paper with my name on it, so I guess they decided to cut me loose. I didn't want to give them any more money, anyway." Not that she didn't have plenty of that, now. She followed Eames' gaze, spotting Miles regaling a few people with what was likely to be a story about James and Phillipa's latest Lego masterpiece. "Sacramento is going to be very different."

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

He nodded, taking another sip of his champagne and looking back at Ariadne. "Sacremento's boring, but there are always ways to make the best out of wherever you are. A capital city like that one isn't going to have the best young nightlife, but the best bars are always the ones nearest to the government buildings and those farthest."

[chesstotem]

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm sure my coworkers will have some recommendations, too." She was suddenly struck by the fact that her new job was likely to be pretty boring, most of the time. Sure, she'd be designing dreamscapes again, but they'd be test environments, and the rest of the time she'd be just... listening.

Fischer job, this wasn't.

"We'll always have Paris," she found herself saying with a wry smile.

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

He couldn't help but chuckle, nodding and raising his glass in her direction. "We'll always have Paris," He repeated, finishing his champagne and casually slipping it on a waitresses tray as she passed by. He wanted to make more casual conversation, ask her what she's going to do, when someone caught his eye.

"Oh look, Miss Olivia Dunham. This can't be good," He said more to himself than anything else, not knowing that the two were acquainted.

[chesstotem]

Ariadne blinked, following the forger's gaze, then glanced at his face. "You know Olivia? ...I hope she hasn't arrested you."

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

"She hasn't. But the question should be how do you know her?" Eames asked, his brow furrowed and his eyes finally back on Ariadne. "You're hardly the most likely of Bureau targets, as lovely and talented as you are."

[chesstotem]

"Cobb brought her in to do some training with me. She's a, uh, friend of the family." Ariadne raised her eyebrows. "How do you know her?"

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

Eames's eyebrow went up, and he could not doubt her more than he did He knows a lie when he hears it, and that was most definitely a lie. "Professional interest," He says quickly in order to get to the real meat of the conversation. "You look incredibly naive when you lie, I'd work on that,"

[chesstotem]

"Look, I don't know exactly how she got on Cobb's radar, but she's been training me for undercover work the past few days. The cover is, she's an old friend of my family's." She gave Eames a withering look. "Arthur seems intrigued by her, too, a little. I think it's because he hasn't actually been able to get a lot of information on her."

...Am I actually in on dreamscapes? IDEK.

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

Eames nodded, even chuckled at the comment about Arthur, and took a nice, long sip of his champagne. "I'll talk to him. She was on my radar about...three weeks ago. I could forge her intimately if I wanted to." That was, really, the best explanation he could give to her of how he knew Olivia. It had all been for his own need to collect people, and he had been an asshole about it. He knew that, but Ariadne didn't need to know how terrible a person he could be sometimes.

Pfft if you want, absolutely.

[chesstotem]

Ariadne didn't miss the emphasis - she never missed much. Olivia and Eames? That was a strange thought, but she didn't really know either of them too well, so. "She's been really helpful. Cobb's teaching her a few things in exchange for her help. She'll be acting as a legitimate contact for me if I need one."

Sure, but I warn you I'm a bit of a flake

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure she was," Eames commented nonchalantly. Once he thought about it, it did make sense. Her FBI work, her affinity for the mildly illegal, how she hadn't tried to arrest him once. Not to mention all that body language.

"What type of help is she giving you, exactly? Just out of my insatiable curiosity."

Ugh but your Eames is so awesome :D

[chesstotem]

"Mostly advice, for undercover work, a little self-defence training and a number to call in case I get in trouble and need someone legit to bail me out," Ariadne said simply. "I think she was about the only thing that kept Arthur from having a heart attack at the thought of sending a total novice into the field, all alone."

Why thank you!

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

Eames nodded again, listening. It made sense, Arthur being concerned and trying to find a good contact for her, but Olivia? It did work, now that he really thought about it. "I'm not surprised that I wasn't the first person on Arthur's list to call."

[chesstotem]

"Cobb's doing," Ariadne said simply. "Though, Arthur said she's been on his radar for a while." Her lips quirked a little. "She cleans up pretty nice, doesn't she? Almost as good as you."

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

"Gotta love a dirty agent," Was his only rebuttal, on both counts. A fed who had a thing for criminals? On Arthur's radar? It was hardly a surprise. About cleaning up as well as him, well, there was no arguing that.

[chesstotem]

"I don't think she's dirty in quite that way," Ariadne said with a little frown. "She certainly doesn't seem to like dealing with criminals, much."

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

"Funny, because that's exactly what we are." He commented more to himself than anything else before smiling at Ariadne. "So what's the job then?"

[chesstotem]

"Yeah, I know," she said with a half-smile. "I told you about the job with Suba, right? Designing some test environments for them. Sounds like they're developing some new tech."

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

And then he gets it, nodding with a chuckle. "Cobb has you spying, that's daring."

[chesstotem]

"If you say so." She smiled a little. "I'll just be doing the job I was hired to do. Actually, I think Cobb is opening an architectural firm."

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

"Is he?" Now Eames sounded genuinely surprised, though if he thought about it for a moment he wouldn't be. It was so very Dominic Cobb. "That's new. Is Arthur getting back on the legitimate track or do I have some company in my less than legal dealings?"

[chesstotem]

"Arthur is his business partner." Well, it was true, though of course how legitimate it was, was another story. Ariadne did relish the genuine surprise her news had elicited, though.

[perfectforgery.livejournal.com]

Now that wasn't a surprise. Not one bit. He nodded into another sip of his quickly draining glass of champagne. "Give them my best. Arthur in a more intimate setting, of course," About that secret? Eames had figured it out an hour or so ago, just from watching their body language.

[chesstotem]

Ariadne rolled her eyes, not willing to engage him when he made wild guesses like that. "Tell them yourself." She leaned up and gave Eames a kiss on the cheek, just to be annoying. "Time to mingle some more. Have fun, don't get into too much trouble."