⚀ paradox, ❝ ❞
ROLE; ａｒｔｈｕｒ → ᴛнᴇ ｐｏｉｎｔ мᴀɴ
STATUS; living
AGE; 30
KNOWN ASSOCIATES; Dominick Cobb
❝ Quotes, etc. ❞
Cobb: Did she tell you...or have you known all along?
Saito: That you are here to steal from me or that we are actually asleep? I want to know the name of your employer.
[Mal holds a gun to Arthur's head]
Cobb: Ah, there's no use threatening him in a dream, right Mal?
Mal: That depends on what you're threatening. Killing him would just wake him up. But pain...[she shoots Arthur in the knee]...pain is in the mind and judging by the decorum we're in your mind aren't we Arthur?
❝ ❞
Arthur: Hey are you okay?
Cobb: Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Why?
Arthur: Well down at the dream, Mal showing up
Cobb: Ah come on. I'm sorry about your leg. It won't happen again.
Arthur: It's getting worse isn't it?
Cobb: One apology is all you're getting, all right Arthur.
❝ ❞
Arthur: So, a totem. It's a small object, potentially heavy, something you can have on you all the time...
Ariadne: What, like a coin?
Arthur: No, it has to be more unique than that, like - this is a loaded die.
Arthur: Nah, I can't let you touch it, that would defeat the purpose. See only I know the balance and weight of this particular loaded die. That way when you look at your totem, you know beyond a doubt you're not in someone else's dream.
❝ ❞
Arthur: How do you translate a business strategy into an emotion?
Cobb: Well, that's what we're here to figure out, right? Now Fischer's relationship with his father is stressed, to say the least...
Eames: Well, can we run with that? Suggest splitting up the empire as a "screw-you" to the old man?
Cobb: No, cause I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. We all crave reconciliation - we want catharsis. We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this.
Eames: Alright, well try this. My father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps.
Cobb: That might work.
Arthur: Might? We're gonna need to do a little better than might.
Eames: Oh, thank you for your contribution, Arthur!
Arthur: Forgive me for wanting a little specificity.
Arthur: Specificity?
❝ Three layers down, the dream is going to collapse at the slightest disturbance. ❞
Arthur: So, once we've made the plant, how do we get out? I'm hoping you have something more elegant in mind than shooting me in the head?
Cobb: A kick.
Ariadne: What's a kick?
Eames: This, Ariadne, would be a kick
❝ ❞
Arthur: In a dream you can cheat architecture into impossible shapes. That let's you create closed loops, like the Penrose stairs. The infinite staircase. See...
[the staircase they've been climbing up suddenly shifts up]
Arthur: ...paradox. So a closed loop liked that will help you disguise the boundaries of the dream you create.
❝ ❞
Arthur: I don't know if he can't, but he won't. He thinks it's safer if he doesn't know the layouts.
Ariadne: Why?
Arthur: He won't tell me, but I think it's Mal.
Ariadne: His ex-wife?
Arthur: No, not his ex.
Ariadne: They're still together?
Arthur: No. She... she's dead. What you see in there is just his projection.
Ariadne: What was she like in real life?
Arthur: She was lovely.
❝ ❞
Arthur: It would have to be a seven forty seven.
Cobb: Why's that?
Arthur: Because in a seven forty seven the pilot's up top, first class cabin is in the nose, so that no one would walk through. You'd have to buy out the entire cabin and the first class flight attendant.
Saito: I bought the airline. It seemed neater.
Cobb: Looks like we have our ten hours.
❝ ❞
Eames: Right. So what happens when we die?
Cobb: We drop into limbo.
Arthur: Are you serious?
Ariadne: Limbo?
Arthur: Unconstructed dream space.
Ariadne: Well, what the hell is down there?
Arthur: Just raw, infinite subconscious. Nothing is down there! Except for whatever might have been left behind by anyone sharing the dream whose been trapped there before. Which in our case is just you.
❝ ❞
Arthur: What about his security? It's gonna get worse as we go deeper.
Cobb: I think we run with Mr. Charles.
Arthur: No.
Eames: Who's Mr. Charles?
Arthur: Bad idea.
Cobb: The second we get in that hotel with Fischer, his security is gonna be all over us. We run with Mr. Charles like we did on the Stein job.
Eames: So you've done it before?
Arthur: Yeah, and it didn't work. The subject realized he was dreaming and his subconscious tore us to pieces.
❝ ❞
Ariadne: Who or what is Mr Charles?
Arthur: It's a gambit designed to turn Fischer against his own subconscious.
Ariadne: Why don't you approve?
Arthur: Cause it involves telling the mark that he's dreaming. Which involves attracting a lot of attention to us.
Ariadne: Didn't Cobb say never to do that?
Arthur: Mmmm. So now you've noticed how much time Cobb spends doing things he says never to do.
❝ ❞
Eames: Security's going to run you down hard.
Arthur: And I will lead them on a merry chase.
Eames: Just be back before the kick...
❝ Go to sleep, Mr. Eames. ❞
gif credit: jaen_lee