I rewatched Inception with my slash goggles on and this is what happened

[applecameron]

I'm hopelessly Arthur/Eames, and I also read Ariadne as asexual and probably aromantic.

I had a running list in this post, but I'm just going to link to my Inception fics on AO3 here instead: Inception stories by Apple Cameron.

Comments

[spiffypears]

Uh! I like this very much. I always prefer to see her as a lesbian but asexual definitely fits as well. Anything to keep her from being paired off with Dom or Yosuf. I like the characters but the pairings just seem so forced. As in a 'No one must be single, happy people are always in a relationship'-kind of way.

Yeah

[applecameron]

For whatever reason, I read Ellen Page, the actress, as asexual even though she's out and gay. There's just something...non-sexual, to me, about her. So I definitely projected it onto my perception of the character, but I think it works. She's whole in herself, in the film, and I think asexuality fits with that - and with the total lack of chemistry in her kiss with Arthur!

Her interest in Dom seems intellectual - she wants to understand the puzzle, get to the center of Dom's maze, so to speak. It just doesn't seem like a romantic or sexual interest at all!

There are some stories that had her paired with Yusuf that I liked, all very...slow friendship building to something more kind of thing, which is realistic, and, in a story, IMO, accounts for lack of interest at the beginning and then some transition to a new relationship.

Anyway! I hate the "pair everyone off" thing.

Re: Yeah

[spiffypears]

Ariadne/Yusuf are definitely done better than Dom/Ariadne but I still a bit random. Do Yusuf and Ariadne even speak a single word to one another in the movie? (I haven't seen the movie in a long time, I just read fanfics as always.)
And yes, her interest in Dom does not come off as sexual or romantic at all. I got more of a 'I'm very worried about this unstable and heartbroken man' vibe as I remember. Well, along with the fascination and how impressive she is by his intellect. But she never seemed attracted to him. Also, with Mal being so present it's hard not to see Ariadne as a replacement for Mal which wouldn't be fair to either lady.
And yes, that kiss was quite dry. I was rather taken with it when I saw movie for the first time but I think that had a lot to do with how fascinated I was (and still am) with Athur's bum. This was before my slash fic days so Eames and his appreciation of Arthur completely passed me by.

Re: Yeah

[applecameron]

It's difficult to position one woman in a film (all right, one living woman) as anything other than a replacement love interest. I hate that. Not that I dislike any of the actors, but no one NEEDED to be male in order to advance the story.

Re: Yeah

[spiffypears]

I agree. Imagine if the roles had been reversed, if the hero hadn't been haunted by his mad, foreign wife. That would have been awesome, Mal as the heroine and with Arthur as her trusted point man. I really like the idea that Arthur and Mal were great friends and probably spoke a lot of French together which Dom couldn't understand much of.

The They Speak French Together trope

[applecameron]

LOOOOOOOVe that.

filmwise, it would probably have been impossible to have a man play the 'mad spouse' - it's always the women who are overly emotional and prone to madness. Dom's obsessive in the film - I mean, this is a pretty stupid, melodramatic way to "get back to your kids", after all - but it's ok for the man to be 'driven' or 'obsessed' esp. with his honor (to wit, clearing his name).

I think I don't like Dom or Mal very much a lot of the time, which makes it easier to restrict my focus to Arthur and Eames.

Re: The They Speak French Together trope

[spiffypears]

I don't think Mal and Dom are in a position to be very likeable. They're both to busy being crazy. But I like to think Mal was awesome. Charming and a bit too over the top with some things but you'd like her anyway because of how interesting she is.
Also, I tried making that soup, avgolemono, tonight and I think it turned out rather well. I'm sure I understand Arthur's obsession with it though.

Re: The They Speak French Together trope

[applecameron]

yes, I think Mal would be one of those people you'd love to have in your life but not your family, you know, so you can retreat when she's 'too much'. And avgolemono soup is surprisingly good!

Re: The They Speak French Together trope

[spiffypears]

Speaking of Memory (almost), do you ever think that Eames' treatment and love of Arthur is a bit romantisized or unrealistic? And not just in Memory but also in your Roots series. Eames seems to love Arthur so unconditionally and selflessly in the way he just sticks with Arthur even though Arthur changes so much and is so unaviable to Eames in many ways. The way he is willing to give up everything to take carre of Arthur and to get him back.

Re: The They Speak French Together trope

[applecameron]

Maybe, but look at relationships that endure for 50 years and the compromises marital partners can make to just keep going on, together, for whatever permutation of together they get to have. It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility at all to me.

If you want to look at it from a different angle: which is more selfish, fighting to get your partner back because you want him back, or cutting your losses and walking away? The answer is, 'depends on the person making that decision and the context of the decision'.

Romantic amnesiac stories

[spiffypears]

Oh, I really like this answer. It makes me just a little bit more optimistic.

Also, I noticed that your stories tend to become more romantic when Arthur is amnesiac. There seems to be a greater focus on Arthur's romantic feelings for Eames. Like when Tom/Arthur meets Eames for the first time in the elevator which is such a lovely and romantic scene. I adore it. Why does Arthur have to be amnisiac to be romantic? And do you even agree?

Re: Romantic amnesiac stories

[applecameron]

I hadn't thought of that at all, but I don't think Arthur needs to be amnesiac - or compromised in any other way - to be romantic. He's played as more reserved, canonically, and it's harder to crack a reserve open in an internally consistent way. Creating an extreme stressor allows for that, for the inside of a reserved character to be more evident. That's drama at its most basic, really - something has to happen so the true self of the person can be known.

Re: Romantic amnesiac stories

[spiffypears]

Do you mind me asking about how you write? (Hopefully not since I'm gonna ask about it) Do you work on one story at a time or several? And are you working on any Arthur/Eames stories right now?

Also, concerning our discussion about pairing people off in Inception, what do you think about Saito being paired off with anyone? Because I find it rather odd. Saito just comes off as so cold and distant, both in fics and in the movie. I find it hard to see him in a relationship. Saito just seems so above everyone else, it makes it hard for me to see him with any of the other characters in the movie. (I've seen him paired off with Dom, Fischer and Arthur's mum. I didn't really buy any of those relationships)

Re: Romantic amnesiac stories

[applecameron]

I dunno, you're the first to bother. I have some images in my head of a short A/E story that could maybe develop into something longer, and i have a couple unfinished stories. Most of my stuff is short, so they tend to be written serially and I wind up not working on multiple stories at a time.

I could buy Saito pairing off with Arthur's mom in the HGTV universe AU, I read a Saito/Eames story once I found believable, and a couple others. As a character in the film, he's kind of a plot device - mysterious, powerful - he helps provide the framing of the plot, the danger of what they're doing, the whole intro of the film and its world doesn't work without his power and its potential to be a threat or beneficial. He's like a wizard, he waves a wand and poof they have an airline, only his wand is money.

But then by the end there's this connection between him and Dom because they've both survived limbo, they are changed men due to that experience. If anyone writes stories featuring those two having a platonic romance - an intimate connection they don't have with anyone else, but not an intrinsically sexual one, I'd be all over that. Maybe I should write one.

I've liked some Saito/Arthur quite a bit.

Dams break and other stories

[spiffypears]

You've added another chapter to Dams Break. Does that mean you are gonna add even more? Or was it just a case of being struck by inspiration?
And your other stories, do you wanna talk about those or are they secret until they're done? And talking about inspiration, what does inspire you?

And I've got a very different way of reading fanfiction. I'm very, very picky. Got to be well-written with proper grammar, have the characterisation I prefer, the kind of plot that I like or preferably lack thereof. Sometimes I feel way too critical for fanfiction. And I admire people who can be interested in all these different pairings. I'm way too romantic to do that.

Re: Dams break and other stories

[applecameron]

I wrote that little epilogue to Dams Break a while ago and sat on it b/c I wasn't sure if it was worth posting, I just liked the line about solving problems via "the liberal application of money". But I have this thing where I get antsy if I have an uneven number of published works listed on AO3, so I went looking through my stuff and thought, you know, it does say something about both their characters, and supporting people in grief, in addition to a clever line about money. So I posted it. (And then, b/c it was a chapter in an existing work, the number of works didn't change, I had to keep looking for something else!)

I don't generally talk through my stories except with myself in the middle of the night, when I'm worrying over a plot point or what is in-character conduct for someone and I'm sort of feeling it out.

A lot of my stuff tends to be short because I'm procrastinating, distracting myself from something else, things like that, so my stories are more likely to be the product of sudden inspiration. I'll get a scene, or a line, maybe even from a prompt somewhere, and the story snowballs from there, or it doesn't.

One thing I get really fussy about with Arthur & Eames is Eames' dialogue. I've seen some stories where it's "darlin'", which is Southern accented American English, not "darling" in British English. When I see it written with the 'g' missing, I can't help but read Eames speaking in a Southern accent, and he's not.

Re: Dams break and other stories

[spiffypears]

I must admit that I'm a bit sad to hear that Dams Break won't get more chapters. I really like that story and I can't help feeling like the lastest chapter asked some questions I would love to get an answer to. Will Arthur return to Dom? What happens when Athur gets back to normal? How wil he react to having shown so much emotion? Will they stay together or will Arthur make a run for it? Would Eames let Arthur go or chase after him? And how would working together be for all three of them, Arthur, Eames and Dom?

It's really nice of you to always reply to my comments. I like that. :) I plan on commenting on all of your Arthur and Eames stories, or most since I'll probably never finish that one where they kill Ariadne.

I once came across a fic where Eames calls Arthur Artie. A lot, not just once. I'm pretty sure it was ironic but still. I couldn't read the fic.

Re: Dams break and other stories

[applecameron]

Artie! *gags*

It's been fun thinking about your questions, so, I'm glad you've asked them.