[Meatball Parade on loop for 10 hours]

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Catchall for Eames to keep clutter to a minimum! As always, PM or PP to chat it up, or just throw a starter down I'm probably amenable.

Comments

[specifiercity]

Arthur nods thoughtfully, still looking at the door. The witch hasn't made them so it's not like she'll be using any tricks to leave, and if they don't see her walking out the headlights will certainly catch their attention, so he's not too worried.

"How long did you stay with them, usually?" he asks, a little softer than before.

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Oh. Considering what Arthur's asked so far, he should've seen this question coming, but he didn't and he bows his head for a long moment. Looking at his hands as he thinks about the answer to that question, and it's the closest he's gotten to uncomfortable so far.

He clears his throat, shaking his head and trying to play it off as just... It's a lot of memories to go through.

"Depends on the person," Eames says, a brief frown on his face as he looks back up and out the window, "they typically fizzle out after ten, fifteen years."

[specifiercity]

Arthur can sense that he may have struck a chord here, though he's not sure what or how strong it was. He's not going to pursue the meatier content here anyway; that's not the type of discussion they need to be having if they're going to be stuck together for another couple hours.

"It must be weird, being with a human. Fifteen years is a long time for us."

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Sure, Arthur. Let's change tack from 'this is uncomfortably personal' to 'there's a really difficult topic just a hair away from this.' That sounds great.

Eames hesitates for a while on the question, sighing through his nose before he finally settles on, "I try not to think about it," as an answer. Adding a touch of wryness as he looks back to Arthur and raises an eyebrow, "you wouldn't want someone thinking about how short your life is the whole time you're together, would you?"

[specifiercity]

Arthur frowns in thought and then looks outside as he considers the question. It takes him a moment to come up with something to say in response.

"I don't know," he says, "I guess I was thinking you'd have to keep it in mind to stop from getting complacent, but humans get complacent with each other more often than not. If you understand the value of the time you then you'll take advantage of it regardless of who's going to live for however long."

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That's... Surprisingly insightful, and Eames squints at Arthur briefly as if he's not entirely sure he heard what he did.

"The thing is," he sighs, since they're so deep in Realtalk Territory he can't easily back out of it now, "no matter what you do, how much time you have, how fulfilled you are--" Eames purses his lips, a slight frown and a shake of his head, "it's never enough."

[specifiercity]

Arthur frowns at him again, a little more confused now. He's not entirely sure what Eames means by that and he wants to know - he can't help himself.

"Are you saying it's not worth it?"

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"I'm saying that our relative lifespans don't matter as much as you might think."

He gestures a little vaguely, searching for the words, "when something's good, you want more of it. When something's over, it's easy to focus on all the times you didn't appreciate it." He looks at Arthur, watching his face to check if he's following or not, "the fact that I might live a thousand more years has astoundingly little to do with it."

[specifiercity]

"Well, yeah, but... ten or fifteen years isn't a lifetime. It's a long time to be in a relationship, but things only fizzle out if there's more bad than good. You can wish for more of the good all you want but there's always a reason people part ways and it's not worth dwelling over for that long. Unless..."

He gestures vaguely and then gives Eames a hesitant glance with the knowledge he's maybe hitting too close to home here. He speaks a little softer but he knows he has to clarify what he was going to say. "Unless you're talking about times you stayed with them all the way through."

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Well. He's just gonna brush right over that, because he's old enough and has spent enough time with mortals to have watched a lot of people die. Regardless of whether or not they were romantically entangled or not. And frankly it's not a topic of conversation he's about to broach with Arthur, of all people.

"I'm lucky enough that a lot of my relationships ended amicably," Eames says instead, refocusing on that instead of the topic of mortality, "I suppose that makes it more easy, thinking about what could've been."

He certainly doesn't think it's weird to think about the time you could've had without the other party having to die.

[specifiercity]

Arthur understands why Eames would brush over that, so he doesn't push. He focuses his gaze outside again as they wait.

"So would you start it all over again if someone came along? You never really said, you know, whether it's worth it or not..."

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Honestly he's got no idea if he'd say it's worth it or not, especially when it comes to mortals. Some things are great, others less so. Eames' brows draw together as he thinks about it-- it's not an easy question to answer.

"It's not something I'm looking for or that I especially want, in fact it's something I actively avoid, but..." He trails off, quiet again because he feels like he's about to say some stupid shit, "the concept of a relationship is nothing to me, you know? It's a meaningless definition based on this idea of what people should be rather than what they are. I've no interest in that.

"But... Some people are worth time and devotion. I wouldn't run from that if I saw it in someone-- or someones again."

[specifiercity]

This is a lot more honesty and openness than he expected from Eames and Arthur finds himself at a loss of what to say next. It's vague as far as answers go - Eames is essentially saying he avoids relationships but would commit to one for the right person - but it still feels a lot more telling than a few of the other simple and concise answers Arthur may have expected.

So there's no much he can come up with other than, "huh," as he stares out the window and tries to shoo away all the other questions he has floating around in his head. They're heading into territory Arthur knows he doesn't want to explore right now so it's all he does despite the fact that he knows it's not a worthy response.

[falsify]

Wow. Okay. Here he is being honest and open and all he gets is 'huh.'

Wonderful.

"So," Eames says, "is it my turn to ask a bunch of uncomfortably personal questions?"

[specifiercity]

Arthur stalls a couple seconds by rolling his eyes as he asks the universe to just let the witch they're tailing come back outside already.

No such luck.

"I don't know, if you want, I guess," he said, trying to make like his hackles aren't a bit raised already at the idea of Eames asking personal questions.

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Well, the fact that Arthur's on edge at the idea makes Eames feel a little better and he gives an amused snort.

(On the other hand? It annoys him a little, but he'll push past that.)

"Why are you so curious about--" he gestures to himself, "my relationship history all of a sudden?"

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"It's not--" he stops himself, wondering where he was planning on having that sentence going. It's not all of a sudden? That implies he's been thinking about it, which he definitely has not. Not on purpose.

"I'm not," he says, a little too annoyed and abrupt to be completely convincing. He's angry at himself for asking so many questions to begin with, and now he has to deal with the result of that.

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Sure he's not, that's why he's asked so many questions. That's why he's been so obviously invested in the things Eames has to say.

"It's not...?" Eames prompts, not letting Arthur get away from this.

[specifiercity]

He's not going to acknowledge that, because it was a dumb thought to begin with, so Arthur just shrugs a little instead and finally turns to look at Eames. It's a brief look, like he's nervous that if he looks too long or too closely he might actually figure out why he's feeling so defensive.

"What, am I not allowed to be interested?"

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"You're allowed to be interested," he says, and he looks from the window to Arthur with his eyebrows raised for emphasis before he turns his gaze back outside, "but given it's my life you're poking around in, I think I'm allowed to ask why."

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"You didn't have to answer," he says impatiently, shifting in his seat. He wants to do anything but talk about why he's interested or what he's interested in. There's a jumble of thoughts he hasn't been able to sort out and doesn't want to and he's trapped in this stupid car with Eames now and why won't that fucking witch come out of the fucking building.

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"And you're dodging the question."

He's not about to let Arthur bait him into a fight to get away from this. It'd be easy and Eames isn't falling for it, not when Arthur's so obviously reticent to explain away something Eames was originally ready to brush off as idle curiosity.

[specifiercity]

Arthur takes a deep breath, trying to sort out his thoughts enough so he can confidently tell Eames something without horribly embarrassing himself. He stares at the building and at the witch's car to stabilize himself and let go of some of the tension in his body.

"I was just curious," he says. "I don't know why I wanted to know, I just did. I don't have any ulterior motives here, Eames."

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"Okay, fine." Eames relents, slouching in his seat with a heavy sigh, "that's all you had to say."

[specifiercity]

Arthur clenches his jaw and sighs. "I'm sorry," he says, sounding tired. He feels compelled to apologize, not just to placate Eames but to clear his own conscience. He feels like he's done something wrong.