Day 28: O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (Part 1 of 2, probably)
Written in response to this prompt for genfic over at inception_kink. There will be more tomorrow, probably. Crossposted here, at my journal, and in the appropriate post over at the kink meme.
"What the hell is going on in here?"
Eames nearly had to shout to be heard over the Springsteen song that filled the spacious warehouse, not to mention the voices of his three associates who were attempting to sing along with it, to varying degrees of success. Cobb, Arthur, and Ariadne were working together to tape up red, white, and blue crepe-paper streamers along the walls. Evidently, they had been at it for some time, since they had gotten most of the way around the warehouse. Looking around, Eames saw that their three work spaces, and even the set of lawnchair recliners, were similarly festooned with more crepe paper, shiny foil star decorations, and miniature American flags.
"...and strap your hands 'cross my engines - oh, good morning, Eames," said Cobb, breaking off from the singing. "We just thought we'd decorate for the Fourth of July."
"Oh, for goodness' sake," said Eames.
"What?" said Ariadne, surprised and perplexed at his reaction.
"In case you haven't noticed, we all happen to be residing in Paris at the moment. I'm surprised at all of you. You especially, Ariadne. You're a university student here, aren't you? You're practically a local."
"Yes, and it's amazing. I'm not saying I don't love it here, but once a year, Americans just have to stop for a minute and be proud."
"We sure do," said Cobb, "which is why we're doing this."
"That's right," said Arthur. "It really is good to have you on board, Ariadne. Usually, Cobb and I are the only Americans we know in whatever part of the world we happen to be in on the Fourth of July, so we never do anything to celebrate. Three of us is enough for a party, and your enthusiasm is infectious."
"Thank you very much," said Ariadne. "Speaking of parties..."
She finished taping up her end of the streamer, climbed down from the table, retrieved a notebook from her satchel, and waved the others over. They all gathered around to look.
"I've been designing a fireworks show, and a place to watch it from," she said. "I know you guys don't usually like to dream just for recreation, but this is a special occasion, so if I were to create all this in a dream after work tonight, would you join me to watch?"
"Sure," said Cobb. "This looks like fun. You didn't have to do this for us. Thank you."
"You're welcome. It was fun designing this."
"You're planning on being the dreamer, right?" said Arthur.
"Yes," said Ariadne.
"Great. I'll be the subject. I think there should be fireworks tonight, so as long as those fireworks don't get too fanciful, my projections won't attack anyone."
"Of course. Thank you."
"No problem."
"What the hell is going on in here?"
Eames nearly had to shout to be heard over the Springsteen song that filled the spacious warehouse, not to mention the voices of his three associates who were attempting to sing along with it, to varying degrees of success. Cobb, Arthur, and Ariadne were working together to tape up red, white, and blue crepe-paper streamers along the walls. Evidently, they had been at it for some time, since they had gotten most of the way around the warehouse. Looking around, Eames saw that their three work spaces, and even the set of lawnchair recliners, were similarly festooned with more crepe paper, shiny foil star decorations, and miniature American flags.
"...and strap your hands 'cross my engines - oh, good morning, Eames," said Cobb, breaking off from the singing. "We just thought we'd decorate for the Fourth of July."
"Oh, for goodness' sake," said Eames.
"What?" said Ariadne, surprised and perplexed at his reaction.
"In case you haven't noticed, we all happen to be residing in Paris at the moment. I'm surprised at all of you. You especially, Ariadne. You're a university student here, aren't you? You're practically a local."
"Yes, and it's amazing. I'm not saying I don't love it here, but once a year, Americans just have to stop for a minute and be proud."
"We sure do," said Cobb, "which is why we're doing this."
"That's right," said Arthur. "It really is good to have you on board, Ariadne. Usually, Cobb and I are the only Americans we know in whatever part of the world we happen to be in on the Fourth of July, so we never do anything to celebrate. Three of us is enough for a party, and your enthusiasm is infectious."
"Thank you very much," said Ariadne. "Speaking of parties..."
She finished taping up her end of the streamer, climbed down from the table, retrieved a notebook from her satchel, and waved the others over. They all gathered around to look.
"I've been designing a fireworks show, and a place to watch it from," she said. "I know you guys don't usually like to dream just for recreation, but this is a special occasion, so if I were to create all this in a dream after work tonight, would you join me to watch?"
"Sure," said Cobb. "This looks like fun. You didn't have to do this for us. Thank you."
"You're welcome. It was fun designing this."
"You're planning on being the dreamer, right?" said Arthur.
"Yes," said Ariadne.
"Great. I'll be the subject. I think there should be fireworks tonight, so as long as those fireworks don't get too fanciful, my projections won't attack anyone."
"Of course. Thank you."
"No problem."