![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingLet's see if I can write the next part of "Weregild" before I get kicked out of Uris Library. I am starting at 3:15pm.
...And finished at 5:15pm! Arthur tells Dom and Eames about Ariadne's dreamwalking power and they discuss their options. (1,800 words)
---------------------------------------------
Weregild, part 13
---------------------------------------------
Arthur dropped Larry Kirkland off back at the office building at a quarter to noon, with the excuse that he needed to get back to his motel and unstrand his friend -- which was true, but not the main point.
"Thanks for the tour," he said, leaning out the open window of the rental car.
"No problem," Larry said, one hand on the handle of his own car door. "Hey. You seem to know your stuff, and what Bert doesn't know won't hurt him. Would you be interested in tagging along on some of my raisings while you're in town?"
Arthur grinned. "I'd love to. I don't know which nights I'll be free, but give me your number and we can see if anything works out." He entered Larry's number into his phone, and they parted ways.
Dom was awake when Arthur returned to the Motel 6, sitting cross-legged on his bed in his boxers and watching CNN with a bored expression. "Your text woke me up," he said, "but the motel's breakfast was already over. You owe me breakfast."
Arthur held up a Wendy's takeout bag. "It's your own fault for not setting an alarm, but I'm not heartless. I got you a spicy chicken sandwich and fries. Please tell me you at least took a shower before you turned on the talking heads."
"A chicken sandwich is not breakfast," Dom pointed out, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He muted the television and tossed the remote onto his pillow.
"It's lunchtime," Arthur said, equally dryly. "And speaking of the time, Eames is supposed to call at noon -- or I'm supposed to call him. He didn't specify." He sat on his own bed, facing Dom across the narrow gap, and set his phone and the takeout bag by his side.
"Sounds like him," Dom said with a wry smile. "But why contact us now? Fisher and Lebrun must be more paranoid than usual, knowing what's about to happen."
Arthur grimaced. "That... would be my fault. At least partially. It turns out that Ariadne, our escort from last night, can dreamwalk into anyone's mind, not just people to whom she has a mystical tie. Or perhaps she can create a weak tie to anyone, and that's what she was doing when she swamped us with her aura before she left. She was spying on our dreams. Something went sideways and she and I ended up in a shared lucid dream, but that's not the point. The point is that she knows that I know Eames. She may even know that I've worked with him. When he turns up as part of Fisher's entourage, she's going to smell something rotten. We need to plan how to coopt or neutralize her, or come up with a very convincing story."
Dom raked his hands through his hair and squinted in thought. "Yeah. That's not good. That's really not good."
"Tell me something I don't know," Arthur snapped.
Dom kicked Arthur's shin with his bare foot. "Hey. You've known this since last night. I only just found out. Give me a minute to catch up."
Arthur sighed. "Fair point. Sorry. In any case, I was thinking that killing Ariadne would be far more trouble than it's worth -- the last thing we need is to rile Jean-Claude and his people when things are already going to be so delicately balanced. What we need is blackmail. Fortunately, I believe we have some. It seems she's never told anyone about her dreamwalking talent. She also seems to spend a lot of time and effort staying out of conflicts, so if we use her secret as leverage to gain a private conversation, I suspect we can convince her that our plans will have no effect on Jean-Claude and it's in her best interest not to get involved at all."
Dom frowned. "That's good as far as it goes, but why was she spying on our dreams if she wasn't going to report them?"
Arthur spread his hands. "Curiosity, maybe? Gathering information so she can better keep herself safe?" Should he tell Dom the rest? It might be relevant, but it felt odd to say, especially after Mal... He clasped his hands and looked downward. "She said she found me interesting -- attractive, actually. I don't know if that was the truth, particularly since she killed me to break out of the lucid dream."
Silence. Arthur glanced up and couldn't read the expression on Dom's face.
"You know, it's ten past noon and Eames hasn't called. Why don't I call him and we can continue this conversation on speakerphone?" Arthur said, grabbing his phone from the bed and entering Eames's number.
It only rang once before Eames picked up. "Arthur, darling, you're late! How unlike you not to be punctual." His voice was loud and bright, filled with a sort of hard cheer.
"I was giving you a chance to call, if that was your intent," Arthur said, hearing his own voice go dry and slightly condescending. Eames had a knack for pulling that reaction from him. "Hold on a moment while I put you on speaker."
"Cobb's with you?" Eames guessed. "Hello, Dominick. Are you taking care of yourself and my favorite zombie prince?"
Arthur glared at the phone. Dom's mouth twisted in a reluctant grin. "I think you have the caretaking relationship backwards," he said. "Besides, wouldn't Arthur be a zombie king?"
Eames chuckled. The sound was both magnified and oddly limited by the speakerphone acoustics, as if he were talking inside a large metal box with odd, transient echoes. "Maybe so. Now. What's your spanner in the works, and what do you expect me to do about it?"
Arthur explained again about Ariadne and her dreamwalking. This time he related all the details of their shared, lucid dream, plus whatever fragments he recalled of the normal dreams he'd had prior to realizing he had a mental intruder. Dom ate his chicken sandwich and made occasional thoughtful noises rather than actively participate. Eames stopped Arthur several times to ask about Ariadne's body language and tone of voice. Arthur couldn't always answer -- "and I'm not certain how useful any of this will be, since it was a dream and clearly normal rules didn't all apply," he added -- but he did his best. Eames was brilliant with people, but he couldn't work if he didn't have raw information.
When he was finished describing the dream, Arthur moved on to his impressions of Ariadne in waking life. Dom hastily finished his sandwich and chimed in to clarify a few points: "She may be at least sixty years old and a master, but she projects a persona that feels younger and closer to human than even the youngest vampires I've known. New vampires tend to revel in their new strength and powers, and they flash fang or miscalculate their strength even when trying to act human. She doesn't."
Eames hummed thoughtfully. "From what you're saying, it sounds like she was turned involuntarily -- most likely she saw something she shouldn't have, and the vampire in question decided to keep her rather than kill her. The trouble is that unwilling vampires don't last long enough to become masters. They can't accept their new instincts. They keep thinking like prey instead of predators, and that does them in. But this Ariadne is not only a master vampire, she's a master skilled enough to keep her power hidden from not one but two Masters of the City. She's running a long con, and she's good."
Arthur frowned. "I don't think it's entirely a con, though. She's comfortable with her power -- I'll grant you that -- but I'd swear her distaste for politics and trouble is genuine."
"She certainly didn't seem interested in seduction," Dom added, "which makes me wonder why Jean-Claude has her working in a strip club."
Because she was beautiful and small and delicate, which would make people want to protect and save her. And her indifference and subtle discomfort would excite people who wanted to possess and break her. Arthur kept those thoughts to himself, though, and simply said, "Punishment, perhaps? Or maybe her business skills outweigh her lack of interest."
"Could be both," Eames agreed. "Jean-Claude struck me as a very two birds, one stone sort of fellow, the one time I was passing through St. Louis and had the misfortune to meet Nikolaos and her court. But returning to your Ariadne. Why do you suppose she keeps her power hidden? If people knew she could break into their dreams, that would give her a lot of leverage -- nobody would ever know if their secrets were safe."
"Yes, and unless she agreed to use her talent only at her master's direction, she'd be killed within a week," Arthur said. "Spies don't prosper once they're revealed."
"So she doesn't want to be hunted and she doesn't want to be Jean-Claude's pet spy," Eames mused. "You know, I am beginning to think that if we could find a way to get her out from under Jean-Claude's thumb, she might throw in with us for that alone."
Arthur shook his head, forgetting that Eames couldn't see him. "No, there's no way. Vampires as old and powerful as Jean-Claude don't just let people go, and we don't have the strength to force his hand. What we need is a way to keep Ariadne quiet, or to explain away my connection to you so your presence with Fisher seems reasonable."
"Well, come to that, I've already had to do a bit of tap-dancing on that issue for Lebrun," Eames said. "His new second, a rather devious woman by the name of Meng Die, has a werewolf on her string who remembers the hunt you and I did up around Mt. Ranier. I said that I was repaying a favor, since you'd saved my life in New York, but that by the end of the hunt I was thoroughly sick of you, resented ever having owed you anything, and would be quite happy to see you dead. We can run with that and see if it stifles your Ariadne's suspicions."
Dom nodded in agreement. "That could work."
Arthur frowned. "I'm not sure. She specifically mentioned you in connection with St. Louis. She may not believe we've had no contact since Washington."
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, Arthur," Eames said. "But all that aside, I am glad you contacted me. I've learned more about Fisher and Lebrun in the past two days than the entire past year -- seeing them together is enlightening. I want to run a few speculations by you and see if they change our plans."
Arthur settled back on his bed and prepared to listen.
---------------------------------------------
End of Part Thirteen
continue to part 14
back to part 12
read the final version on AO3 (Trust me, you want to read the final version. The journal version is a beta draft, with all the errors that implies.)
---------------------------------------------
Next section: Eames tells Arthur and Dom about what's going on in San Francisco, thus hopefully letting me explain a bunch of the background situation and what, exactly, the three men are plotting to do. Then maybe one more section until chapter three. Yay progress!
...And finished at 5:15pm! Arthur tells Dom and Eames about Ariadne's dreamwalking power and they discuss their options. (1,800 words)
---------------------------------------------
Weregild, part 13
---------------------------------------------
Arthur dropped Larry Kirkland off back at the office building at a quarter to noon, with the excuse that he needed to get back to his motel and unstrand his friend -- which was true, but not the main point.
"Thanks for the tour," he said, leaning out the open window of the rental car.
"No problem," Larry said, one hand on the handle of his own car door. "Hey. You seem to know your stuff, and what Bert doesn't know won't hurt him. Would you be interested in tagging along on some of my raisings while you're in town?"
Arthur grinned. "I'd love to. I don't know which nights I'll be free, but give me your number and we can see if anything works out." He entered Larry's number into his phone, and they parted ways.
Dom was awake when Arthur returned to the Motel 6, sitting cross-legged on his bed in his boxers and watching CNN with a bored expression. "Your text woke me up," he said, "but the motel's breakfast was already over. You owe me breakfast."
Arthur held up a Wendy's takeout bag. "It's your own fault for not setting an alarm, but I'm not heartless. I got you a spicy chicken sandwich and fries. Please tell me you at least took a shower before you turned on the talking heads."
"A chicken sandwich is not breakfast," Dom pointed out, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He muted the television and tossed the remote onto his pillow.
"It's lunchtime," Arthur said, equally dryly. "And speaking of the time, Eames is supposed to call at noon -- or I'm supposed to call him. He didn't specify." He sat on his own bed, facing Dom across the narrow gap, and set his phone and the takeout bag by his side.
"Sounds like him," Dom said with a wry smile. "But why contact us now? Fisher and Lebrun must be more paranoid than usual, knowing what's about to happen."
Arthur grimaced. "That... would be my fault. At least partially. It turns out that Ariadne, our escort from last night, can dreamwalk into anyone's mind, not just people to whom she has a mystical tie. Or perhaps she can create a weak tie to anyone, and that's what she was doing when she swamped us with her aura before she left. She was spying on our dreams. Something went sideways and she and I ended up in a shared lucid dream, but that's not the point. The point is that she knows that I know Eames. She may even know that I've worked with him. When he turns up as part of Fisher's entourage, she's going to smell something rotten. We need to plan how to coopt or neutralize her, or come up with a very convincing story."
Dom raked his hands through his hair and squinted in thought. "Yeah. That's not good. That's really not good."
"Tell me something I don't know," Arthur snapped.
Dom kicked Arthur's shin with his bare foot. "Hey. You've known this since last night. I only just found out. Give me a minute to catch up."
Arthur sighed. "Fair point. Sorry. In any case, I was thinking that killing Ariadne would be far more trouble than it's worth -- the last thing we need is to rile Jean-Claude and his people when things are already going to be so delicately balanced. What we need is blackmail. Fortunately, I believe we have some. It seems she's never told anyone about her dreamwalking talent. She also seems to spend a lot of time and effort staying out of conflicts, so if we use her secret as leverage to gain a private conversation, I suspect we can convince her that our plans will have no effect on Jean-Claude and it's in her best interest not to get involved at all."
Dom frowned. "That's good as far as it goes, but why was she spying on our dreams if she wasn't going to report them?"
Arthur spread his hands. "Curiosity, maybe? Gathering information so she can better keep herself safe?" Should he tell Dom the rest? It might be relevant, but it felt odd to say, especially after Mal... He clasped his hands and looked downward. "She said she found me interesting -- attractive, actually. I don't know if that was the truth, particularly since she killed me to break out of the lucid dream."
Silence. Arthur glanced up and couldn't read the expression on Dom's face.
"You know, it's ten past noon and Eames hasn't called. Why don't I call him and we can continue this conversation on speakerphone?" Arthur said, grabbing his phone from the bed and entering Eames's number.
It only rang once before Eames picked up. "Arthur, darling, you're late! How unlike you not to be punctual." His voice was loud and bright, filled with a sort of hard cheer.
"I was giving you a chance to call, if that was your intent," Arthur said, hearing his own voice go dry and slightly condescending. Eames had a knack for pulling that reaction from him. "Hold on a moment while I put you on speaker."
"Cobb's with you?" Eames guessed. "Hello, Dominick. Are you taking care of yourself and my favorite zombie prince?"
Arthur glared at the phone. Dom's mouth twisted in a reluctant grin. "I think you have the caretaking relationship backwards," he said. "Besides, wouldn't Arthur be a zombie king?"
Eames chuckled. The sound was both magnified and oddly limited by the speakerphone acoustics, as if he were talking inside a large metal box with odd, transient echoes. "Maybe so. Now. What's your spanner in the works, and what do you expect me to do about it?"
Arthur explained again about Ariadne and her dreamwalking. This time he related all the details of their shared, lucid dream, plus whatever fragments he recalled of the normal dreams he'd had prior to realizing he had a mental intruder. Dom ate his chicken sandwich and made occasional thoughtful noises rather than actively participate. Eames stopped Arthur several times to ask about Ariadne's body language and tone of voice. Arthur couldn't always answer -- "and I'm not certain how useful any of this will be, since it was a dream and clearly normal rules didn't all apply," he added -- but he did his best. Eames was brilliant with people, but he couldn't work if he didn't have raw information.
When he was finished describing the dream, Arthur moved on to his impressions of Ariadne in waking life. Dom hastily finished his sandwich and chimed in to clarify a few points: "She may be at least sixty years old and a master, but she projects a persona that feels younger and closer to human than even the youngest vampires I've known. New vampires tend to revel in their new strength and powers, and they flash fang or miscalculate their strength even when trying to act human. She doesn't."
Eames hummed thoughtfully. "From what you're saying, it sounds like she was turned involuntarily -- most likely she saw something she shouldn't have, and the vampire in question decided to keep her rather than kill her. The trouble is that unwilling vampires don't last long enough to become masters. They can't accept their new instincts. They keep thinking like prey instead of predators, and that does them in. But this Ariadne is not only a master vampire, she's a master skilled enough to keep her power hidden from not one but two Masters of the City. She's running a long con, and she's good."
Arthur frowned. "I don't think it's entirely a con, though. She's comfortable with her power -- I'll grant you that -- but I'd swear her distaste for politics and trouble is genuine."
"She certainly didn't seem interested in seduction," Dom added, "which makes me wonder why Jean-Claude has her working in a strip club."
Because she was beautiful and small and delicate, which would make people want to protect and save her. And her indifference and subtle discomfort would excite people who wanted to possess and break her. Arthur kept those thoughts to himself, though, and simply said, "Punishment, perhaps? Or maybe her business skills outweigh her lack of interest."
"Could be both," Eames agreed. "Jean-Claude struck me as a very two birds, one stone sort of fellow, the one time I was passing through St. Louis and had the misfortune to meet Nikolaos and her court. But returning to your Ariadne. Why do you suppose she keeps her power hidden? If people knew she could break into their dreams, that would give her a lot of leverage -- nobody would ever know if their secrets were safe."
"Yes, and unless she agreed to use her talent only at her master's direction, she'd be killed within a week," Arthur said. "Spies don't prosper once they're revealed."
"So she doesn't want to be hunted and she doesn't want to be Jean-Claude's pet spy," Eames mused. "You know, I am beginning to think that if we could find a way to get her out from under Jean-Claude's thumb, she might throw in with us for that alone."
Arthur shook his head, forgetting that Eames couldn't see him. "No, there's no way. Vampires as old and powerful as Jean-Claude don't just let people go, and we don't have the strength to force his hand. What we need is a way to keep Ariadne quiet, or to explain away my connection to you so your presence with Fisher seems reasonable."
"Well, come to that, I've already had to do a bit of tap-dancing on that issue for Lebrun," Eames said. "His new second, a rather devious woman by the name of Meng Die, has a werewolf on her string who remembers the hunt you and I did up around Mt. Ranier. I said that I was repaying a favor, since you'd saved my life in New York, but that by the end of the hunt I was thoroughly sick of you, resented ever having owed you anything, and would be quite happy to see you dead. We can run with that and see if it stifles your Ariadne's suspicions."
Dom nodded in agreement. "That could work."
Arthur frowned. "I'm not sure. She specifically mentioned you in connection with St. Louis. She may not believe we've had no contact since Washington."
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, Arthur," Eames said. "But all that aside, I am glad you contacted me. I've learned more about Fisher and Lebrun in the past two days than the entire past year -- seeing them together is enlightening. I want to run a few speculations by you and see if they change our plans."
Arthur settled back on his bed and prepared to listen.
---------------------------------------------
End of Part Thirteen
continue to part 14
back to part 12
read the final version on AO3 (Trust me, you want to read the final version. The journal version is a beta draft, with all the errors that implies.)
---------------------------------------------
Next section: Eames tells Arthur and Dom about what's going on in San Francisco, thus hopefully letting me explain a bunch of the background situation and what, exactly, the three men are plotting to do. Then maybe one more section until chapter three. Yay progress!
