Disclaimer: I do not own Inception or anything to do with it. If I did own Eames and Arthur, man I wouldn’t be here sitting and writing stories ;)
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“I have absolutely no idea…”
“Oh, come on, Arthur! You’ve worked together for at least a few years now! You have to know!”
“Honestly! I haven’t got a clue.”
Ariadne stayed in her spot, perched on the edge of Arthur's desk while the point man was jotting down some notes from the research. He glanced up at her, seeing that familiar look that told him that she was eager to know something. He looked back to his work and a few moments later, he looked back up to see that she was still staring at him with the same look. He threw his pen onto the desk in exasperation.
“Will you quit it with that look? I already told you, I don’t know!”
Ariadne’s face fell slightly. Both of them sighed. A brief moment of silence passed between them, the only sound was the music from the headphones Eames was wearing as he sat on the other side of the warehouse. There was a sudden noise from behind the pair and they both spun their heads around to see the source.
Cobb walked through the door to the warehouse carrying some papers. Ariadne leapt off the desk to her feet and jogged across to meet him.
“What is it?” Cobb looked up from his papers, suddenly concerned that something had happened.
“Cobb, you should know. Arthur and I have no idea. You have to help us. It’s bugging us.”
“Wait.” The confusion on Cobb’s face was priceless. “Rewind please, start again. What is bugging you?”
Ariadne sighed and paused, as if she was trying to think of how to put it. Meanwhile, Arthur had ventured across from his desk to join the conversation. He initially hadn’t been too bothered, but since Ariadne had pressed the issue, it had tweaked his curiosity to levels that he could no longer ignore.
“Do you know Eames’ first name?” she spoke so fast, Cobb barely heard her and even Arthur – who knew what she was talking about – had trouble understanding her.
“Eames’ first name?” Cobb repeated, as if he didn’t understand the question and was paraphrasing it in order to comprehend it.
“Come on, please. You have to know. You hired him didn’t you? Therefore you have to know.”
“She does have a point, Cobb.” Arthur chimed in. “You’ve known him longer than either of us. You’ve gotta have some indication of what it is. Right?”
Cobb stood and stared into space while he thought. He stayed silent for a few moments before looking at Arthur and Ariadne, a slight look of puzzlement crept across his face.
“Come to think of it…” he began, glancing over at their oblivious friend who was still blissfully listening to his music, humming along to the tune of Sweet Child O’ Mine. “I actually don’t know.” Arthur and Ariadne both threw him blank stares. “Honestly, I don’t.”
Once again, a wave of silence washed over the trio. Ariadne opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. After another brief pause, she changed her mind and spoke up.
“What if he doesn’t have one? Maybe his name is just Eames. I mean, like Prince or… I dunno…”
Arthur looked at her. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course he has one.” He looked back to the Brit. “He has to, doesn’t he…” he trailed off before shaking his head. Of course he has a first name. Doesn’t everyone? He sank down into the sun-bed that they used for tests. The three continued to search their brains for what his name could possibly be.
“Well it has to be something traditional, right?” Ariadne offered. “I mean, don’t most Brits call their kids something relatively normal?”
“Yeah? Like what?” Arthur retorted.
“Uh, maybe… Thomas?”
Cobb considered it for a moment. “No, he doesn’t look like a Thomas.”
“Edward?” Ariadne suggested.
Arthur shook his head. “Nah, that could sound a bit silly. Edward Eames?” he scoffed.
“What about Paul? Scott, perhaps?” Cobb looked at them pausing for a moment to consider. “No, maybe not.” He gave a sigh. Behind them, Yusuf had entered. The trio were too engrossed in their thinking to notice.
“Richard?” Arthur spoke up. Yusuf approached them, curious as to what they were discussing.
“Richard who?” he chimed in. they spun around to look at him.
“We’re trying to figure out Eames’ name.” Cobb explained.
“Isn’t it… well, Eames?” Yusuf was confused.
“No, no.” Arthur began. “His first name. He can’t just be called Eames, right? He has to have a first name.”
Yusuf perched himself on the nearest desk and joined the three in looking at Eames, beginning to wrack his own brains in search of an answer.
“What about Dean?” the extractor, point man and architect gave him a look that made him cringe. “What?”
“Dean Eames?” Ariadne stated, matter-of-factly. Yusuf realised that it sounded almost comical.
“Oh… Ok then. Maybe it could be something more obscure.” he suggested.
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
“Well, not too obscure, but less common. Like, maybe Chad?”
“Chad?” Ariadne looked from the chemist to the forger, who was now quietly singing along to his music. He had surprised them a little while back at a karaoke bar on their night off. He had a good voice. He had serenaded a few of the ladies in the bar that night with his rendition of ‘Smooth’ by Santana. She thought about the name for a little while, but then decided against it. “No, I can’t see that either.”
In the meantime, Saito had approached them, filled with interest as to what had the four people so deep in thought.
“What’s going on here?” he asked. Yusuf spoke, not looking away from Eames.
“Eames’ first name.”
“What about it?”
“No one actually knows it.” Arthur added. “We’re seeing if we can figure it out.”
“Has anyone thought of just asking him?” they all turned to Saito.
“Tried.” Ariadne explained. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Oh.” Saito and the others returned to looking at Eames.
“What about Alan? Or Colin?” Cobb suggested. “Something more old fashioned. Even William?”
The group thought about the names that Cobb had mentioned, picturing him as each of them, to see if they fitted. While they were thinking, Eames was jotting down something on his note pad. He stopped singing and took his headphones out. He folded up the small piece of paper and stood up from his chair, walking towards them slowly. He grabbed his jacket off his desk, throwing it on as he approached them. He placed the small piece of paper into Ariadne's hands, giving her a small wink, before heading out of the door behind them, his singing starting up again.
They watched him exit the warehouse, his singing getting quieter as he did. Once all was silent again, the group crowded around Ariadne to see what he had given her. She unfolded the piece of paper.
“You guys just don’t give up do you?
My name is…”
“No way!” she gasped.
“Is he joking?” Yusuf stared at the writing on the page, dumbfounded.
Arthur tilted his head at the paper in Ariadne's hands. “I… That’s his name?” he didn’t know what to say.
Saito shook his head and let out a laugh.
Cobb gave a small smile at the paper, then in the direction that Eames travelled and then back to the remaining members of his team, who were still getting used to the name that was in front of them.
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What is his name, you wonder? That is entirely up to your imagination!
Hope you liked :)
