chesstotem | for isnt_the

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who: arthur (isnt_the_same)

for isnt_the_same

The only thing more cathartic than drawing, in Ariadne's experience, was shooting at things. And after the week she'd had, she needed to shoot some things.

She'd gone into this assignment, bright-eyed and ready to bring down the bad guys. They'd assembled her identity, using her own background in design to get her an in with their cooperative witness, Miles.

But Ariadne hadn't counted on enjoying the dream sharing as much as she had - not after three years of being repulsed by the very idea of it. Nor had she counted on liking the team - Cobb, charismatic but broken; Eames, oozing charm from every pore; Yusuf, a bit absent-minded but genuinely kind; Arthur, always in control but barely concealing something wild and dark.

And now she'd just found out her job wasn't done. Her assignment was going to continue - Cobb and the others, they'd realized, weren't the kingpins they had originally thought. Ariadne was a little relieved, but now they were expecting her to keep her cover, try to get as much information from them as she could. For how long, she didn't know.

The thought made her nervous. So she did the only thing that could help relieve some of her tension - she went to the shooting range. She was intent on the paper target in front of her, putting bullet holes right in the center of the chest.

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Arthur found her easily enough. Located her through the GPS on her phone. When her location came up at a shooting range, he was surprised. And when he actually got there and watched her for a few minutes, he couldn’t get pass the fact that she wasn’t bad, in fact, she was pretty damn good at handling a gun.

With noise canceling ear protectors and glasses on, he stood in the booth next to hers as the paper target came up. He unloaded his Glock, but unlike her, he was aiming for the head.

She noticed that there was someone in the booth next to her, though the place was practically empty, so when she emptied her current clip, she stepped back and took off her headphones.

It was easy to just stare at Arthur when he was like that - the way his body formed a taut line. Ariadne could picture the muscles of his arms and back - not a thought she should be having, she reminded herself. This was a job, not a date.

Her first undercover assignment. She couldn't blow it.

It was only when he needed to reload his gun did he notice that Ariadne had stop and was staring at him. He stepped back and took off all the head gear as well as setting down the gun. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said with a small, barely there smirk.

She gave him a small smile of her own, and shrugged. "You mean, you didn't read somewhere in my background check that I like to shoot things?"

"Unfortunately, background checks aren't sophisticated enough to reveal your favorite color or past time," he explained before nodding towards her target. "Needed to blow off some steam?"

"Just keeping in practice," she commented lightly. "I'm a little bit paranoid about self-defense. Maybe it's just because I'm from a small town, we're born fearing the big cities you know."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Well, at least I won't have to teach you how to use a gun. But how good's your fist?" Arthur asked. A gun might not always be readily available.

She shrugged. "It's okay. It's tough for me to win a fair fight against most people who have training, just because I'm so much smaller than most of them. But what I lack in brute strength I make up for in cleverness and speed."

He laughed. "A woman after my own heart."

Arthur looked down at his watch then and back to Ariadne. "Listen, what are you doing after this?"

She glanced at her own watch, thinking for a moment about if he wanted to work with her, or spend time with her on a personal level. She decided it would be best to leave it up to him, for now. "I don't have any plans. Why?"

"I've got a...proposition for you, if you're interested, of course. I find myself in need of a partner." After the inception job, Cobb had "retired" and was now living in LA with his kids. Arthur was fine with that, happy for him even, but now he was partner-less.

Well, get in with Arthur and his crew had been her mandate. She hadn't been betting on it being quite this easy, though.

"I'm - I'm flattered. Are you sure you don't want to look for someone with more experience, though?" she asked.

With her talent? How could she expect otherwise?

He shook his head. "You're a rarity in this business, Ariadne. If I don't scoop you up for myself, it won't be long before someone else does."

She laughed, ducking her head slightly to hide her embarrassment. "Who says I'd let anyone scoop me up? Maybe I want to freelance." She didn't really mean that - aside from being assigned to keep tabs on Arthur, she liked spending time with him - they got along well, and they worked well together. Frankly, they did make a good team. Even if what they were doing was illegal and she would eventually be busting him for it.

"So the the thought of being my partner doesn't interest you?" He knew that wasn't the case, though. He could tell.

"No, I just... I guess I feel a bit like someone is proposing marriage after only one date," she said with a smile. "I'll be happy to work with you again, though. I'd like it, as a matter of fact." The disturbing thing was, that was the absolute truth.

"Ah." He knew she might have been feeling that way, but he couldn't help himself. She was good--pure talent and he hadn't met anyone in a long time who possessed such skill. She already surpassed Cobb in his book when it came to building.

"Good. But we can discuss this more later, if you'd like."

"Of course." She put her hand on his arm, reassuring. "Name the time and place. You've taught me a lot; I'd be crazy to turn down the opportunity to keep learning from you."

He nodded with a smile. A genuine one. "My hotel suite at..." He looked down at his watch again. "Eight? We can have dinner there as well if you get hungry."

"All right; I'll be there." She grinned and stuck out her hand for him to shake.

Now she had to figure out what to wear.

He shake her hand.

After he left the shooting range, he went straight back to his hotel and started immersing himself in his again. The only reason he came to this particular town was because he needed to talk to Ariadne in person. And now that he had accomplished that, all that needed to happen tonight was for her to agree to be his partner and the rest would go off from there.

Ariadne went to her tiny apartment, and spent a lot longer figuring out what to wear than she probably should have. Eventually, she settled on what had become normal attire for her - jeans, a blouse, her rust-red jacket. But the scarf she chose was a little bit nicer than normal, and she put on just a touch of makeup.

She told herself she just wanted to impress Arthur professionally, though she didn't really believe that, in her heart of hearts.

Still, she was determined to do the job she was here to do, to the best of her abilities. It was precisely eight when she knocked on the door of Arthur's hotel suite. It was suitably fancy, not like the dingy little apartment she'd been renting.

Arthur opened the door and smiled when he found her there. "Right on time," he said as he stepped aside so she could walk in. The suite was tidy with the decor suiting Arthur to a tee. The only place that showed any hint of personally was the coffee table in the living that currently housed his laptop and other paper work.

"I try never to be late," she pointed out with a smile as he led her inside. "Especially when I've had an offer as nice as yours."

He turned his head a little to smile at her as he led her over to the sitting area. He gestured with his hand for her to sit down on the couch while he sat on the couch opposite her. Rummaging through the files, he picked one up and handed it to her. "The CEO of a computer software company wants to know if his CFO is laundering money," he stated. "The job would take about two weeks tops, including planning and execution."

for isnt_the_same

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