ruffians | eye of the tiger playing in the distance

[Training for this team has been rougher than Eames really ever expected. SHIELD has already put him through the ringer over the years, but this dream stuff requires a lot of skills he'd never heard of before. And that's before even getting to handling it in the field.]

[Stressful, difficult, and at times painful as it is, it doesn't take Eames that long to get to grips with the fundamentals — using his powers in a dream, learning to navigate something that feels real but isn't, the right checks if he's not sure whether or not he's dreaming — he's dedicated to getting this right, absolutely willing to give everything he's got to it. Plus it helps that Cobb's usually there for the briefings, and he makes an excellent translator when Arthur gets overly technical or theoretical about the whole thing.]

[This part is another one of those things he'd never thought he'd have to learn. A frown on his face when it's just him and Arthur and the plain room they're using, because he wouldn't think someone has to be taught how to handle being killed in a dream, but apparently it's a pretty big deal. Something about being able to take it in stride, to be able to immediately move on to the next thing when you wake up, but surely when you know it's not real, it shouldn't be a problem.]

[He frowns, thumbing over a bottle of light sedative, and glances at Arthur with a raised eyebrow when he asks his question. Seeking a little more information from Arthur's point of view rather than the technical aspects of it.]

So... I have to learn how to die?

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[Eames pulls a face, it's very much the same expression a child would make before yelling "I can do it myself!" but Eames doesn't yell anything. He just holds on to the gun a little longer, still trying to make himself pull the trigger, but eventually he lets up his grip so Arthur can take the gun from him.]

[Arthur takes the gun, careful about the trigger, and contemplates it quickly before he turns it and holds it up to his own temple.]

Look. It's not real.

[He just barely stops himself reaching to take the gun from Arthur, sighing heavily instead because he already knows that and he's just getting more and more annoyed that he can't act like it.]

Oh, my mistake. I must not have realised.

[Arthur doesn't know what it feels like for other people. How real it feels for them. It feels real for him too - he can feel the metal of the gun resting on the side of his head and he can smell the old wood of the attic and feel the sunlight on his arm as he closes his eyes. Still, he at least can feel the boundaries of the dream and feel where he can manipulate it, and Eames probably can't, so it's not entirely fair.]

[None of that matters, though, because Eames has to get ready to do this job and this is part of the job. Arthur takes a breath in, exhales, and pulls the trigger.]

[The dream collapses as soon as the bullet gets to his brain, and the next thing Arthur knows he's waking up with a wince and what feels like a flash headache, so he brings his hand up to the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath.]

[Eames jolts awake with a startled curse, a laughably familiar thing in any other situation, being startled out of a dream before having the chance to react. It's difficult to watch somebody put a gun to their head and not intervene, especially when you know with absolute certainty that they're going to pull the trigger, and watching it happen sets off its own sort of panic.]

[Of course, with Arthur holding the dream together it's less than a moment between the noise of the gun and waking up — a morbid part of Eames' mind thinking it's good he didn't have to actually see Arthur blow his brains out or stick around to deal with the mess, though Eames suspects something similar might be on the curriculum.]

[For the moment though, Eames breathes another curse and looks down at his hands. As the shock wears off, he's settling comfortably back into frustrated. Intellectually he knows it's just been a few hours and really what he needs is to step back for today so he can process everything, but he can't stop being annoyed, feeling frustrated that this isn't something he can be instantly comfortable with.]

[It doesn't take very long for Arthur to recover, and when he does he pushes himself up out of his chair to grab a glass of water from a side table in the room.]

Would it help if we developed something to reinforce the difference between dreaming and reality? Something you can check quickly before you have to make those kinds of decisions?

Maybe?

[He's having a hard time thinking about anything other than how annoyed he is at himself for not shooting Arthur. He just can't believe he'd have that difficult a time of it.]

[Arthur sighs as he thinks, sitting back down in his chair and look up at the ceiling. He tries to create a ripple there and it doesn't work.]

It's stupidly simple, but the way I make totally sure that I'm in a dream and not in reality is just by using my ability to create imperfections. Just something momentary that no one else notices, but it proves to me that I am in control of the world and it isn't real.

[He gestures to Eames.]

There are boundaries in reality but there aren't any in the dream world. There have to be limits to what you can do that you can push past in the dream world, right? Is there any way you can turn that into a test?

[Eames pulls a bit of a face, thinking. He's still reeling a little, but having a problem to focus on helps a lot with that. Redirects his attention to something more pressing, or at least that makes him feel a little less frustrated by not immediately having this.]

I can't do animals, but I'm not sure turning into a cat is the most efficient test.

[He says it a little wryly as he stands, pacing a little to stretch his legs and get a bit of blood flowing.]

If I could concentrate it into something smaller, maybe. Something easy to hide...

[Eames looks at his hand as he trails off, expression thoughtful. If Arthur's paying close enough attention, he'd see a shift in Eames' fingers; length, shape. It's subtle and short-lived, the kind of test he does to check his powers are working and under control.]

[Arthur doesn't pay too much attention. He's focusing on getting a bit of water instead, trying to think of other methods for this.]

We can go back under to try some stuff out if you want. No dying this time.

eye of the tiger playing in the distance

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