(no subject)

[neededforger]

Eames could have gone back to Mombasa, he knew he could have, and he could have gone right back to what he'd been doing when Cobb came to find him. But he'd decided not to, after all, it had been a while since he'd been stateside, and he didn't have anyone breathing down his neck (yet) and it had also been a while since he'd gone to visit his mum, so he figured he'd stick around for a while, do some sightseeing.

The first thing to do, after debarking, and being careful not to pay attention to any of his compatriots, at least not actively, and never with more than the faint, gentle recognition of people who'd just spent more time in a plane together than most people spent together at work in a day. He paged through his phone, checking his funds, not at all surprised to find that Saito was a man of his word, and they'd already been paid.

The next thing he did, while waiting for his checked baggage to come around on the carousel, was to check mid-range hotels in the area, looking for one that had a week's vacancy at such short notice, since that was the minimum he was going to need to wait for the world to settle again and start looking for another job. Booking didn't take long either, which he was pleasantly surprised by.

That evening he found himself in the restaurant down the block from the hotel, enjoying a celebratory steak dinner, and collecting details. The way that woman folded her hands, the way that man held his knife and fork, the way the bartender smiled at one of the waitresses. Each of these, and others, were stored away for later perusal, practice, and eventual use. He didn't always have to forge someone in particular, sometimes he just had to be a person other than who he was, background, security and observation and those little details could make or break a character.

Comments

[littlspecificty]

Arthur frowned, somewhat despising the other man's good mood, and slowly putting together the fact that if Eames was here but not following him, it meant two things: Eames was lying or he was booked at the same -- "Oh God, you're staying here, too? And no, you don't even need to be in the same parameter I am let alone following me anywhere! And it is none of your business what I do!"

Oh yes, Arthur's mood was flat-out sour today.

[neededforger.livejournal.com]

He did back off, just a little, enough to give Arthur his personal space bubble back, "I am, as a matter of fact, just until I'm sure things have gotten settled again and no one's going to try killing me outright if I look for another job."

The elevator door chimed then and Eames nodded once, "Well this is me, enjoy yourself," He said, slipping from the elevator and giving Arthur a wave, "And don't do anything I wouldn't do without backup." It was what he'd always told the other man when they ended up taking separate jobs, and it was just reflex to say it now

[littlspecificty]

Cosmic irony, indeed. Of course: he and Eames end up on the same job, at the same restaurant, and now at the same hotel. Someone up there must have it in for Arthur...

He ended up walking out when Eames did, it being his floor also. He rolled his eyes at what Eames said, but his ears felt hot as he found out that they were staying on the same floor together, as well. "Why do you keep saying that. Not on a job." Arthur mumbled the last part. He did remember Eames telling him that and while he rolled his eyes then, he often followed the advice. But he didn't want to think about that too much, ended up bringing up other memories that Arthur would prefer not to remember (especially not in front of Eames).

[neededforger.livejournal.com]

Eames' brow quirked just slightly at the realization that they were on the same floor. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, he'd taken them being in the same restaurant the night before as a sign, possibly of impending doom, but now it was turning into a long enough string of coincidences that he was tempted to check his totem, and likely he would when he got back to his room, no sense being paranoid about it, "Well that's true, I suppose, but you've certainly got your 'someone's about to get punched' look."

[littlspecificty]

"You are not worth the exertion it would take to punch." He continued to glare at Eames.

[neededforger.livejournal.com]

He actually laughed then, "Who said it would be me?" He shrugged, "I mean, I certainly wouldn't argue if it were, I probably deserve it for something."

[littlspecificty]

Arthur's face become more blank than hostile, making the mistake of reading into Eames' words, "What good would it do?"

[neededforger.livejournal.com]

"Might make you feel better." He said with another shrug, scratching at his ear. He'd already gotten his door open then, just leaning against the doorframe, "Look, are you going to come in or not? Wouldn't want to disturb the neighbors carrying on a conversation like this in the hall."

[littlspecificty]

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed, his frown returning, just looking hard at Eames for a moment before saying, "Hitting you wouldn't make me feel better."

He then continued walking down the hall, toward his room and coming to it, found out he was only a few doors down from Eames' room. With one more look he went into his room and shut the door hard behind him.

[neededforger.livejournal.com]

That was actually something of a relief, sure, he'd taken more than a few hits to the face in his time, but it really wasn't his favorite pastime. His brow arched, just slightly, at Arthur's exit. Two rooms between them, that couldn't just be a coincidence, but he had to believe it was, really, because otherwise he'd make himself more paranoid than usual.

He hesitated a moment, but then smiled, carefully tearing the sketch of Arthur off the bottom of his list and padding over to the other man's door, thankful for the thick carpeting that would muffle his footsteps. He folded the bottom edge of the sketch, tucking it into the keycard slot where it wouldn't fall out. That done he returned to his own room, closing the door quietly and setting about putting his list in some kind of order.