Inception Big Bang

Challenge
Name:	Inception Big Bang, IBB
Date(s):	2010 - 2013
Moderator(s):
Founder:	chosenfire28 (comm owner), kiyala (Round 2 mod)
Type:	Big Bang Challenge
Fandom:	Inception
Associated Community:	inception_bang
URL:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Inception Big Bang is an annual challenge where "authors and artists come together to work on a (in this case) complete 15,000+ fic. The authors write the fic over a 3 month period. The artists then claim a fic and do a minimum of one piece of custom art for it (art can range from posters, banners, fanmixes, and fan videos in any still the artist chooses). The fics and art are then posted to the community for everyone to enjoy." (from profile)

Inception Big Bang offers two tracks; one is the traditional Big Bang format where the artist claims a fic-in-progress to create art for, and the other is where the author and artist are friends who share a common idea for the final project and sign up together.

Gen, het, slash and RPF fanworks are welcome, and fics must be posted with warnings. There are sister LJ support communities for both authors and artists.

The LJ community was created on 20 July 2010. The prompt/request post for Round 1 opened on 11 August, story summaries with warnings were posted for artists to select from on 6 December, and posting of art and fic began on 24 January 2011.

• FAQs

Masterlist for Round 1, 2010-11

• Masterlist compiled by kiyala

A Brighter Thing by lmeden. Arthur/Eames, Drama, AU, Pre-Inception, ~16,000 words, NC-17. Art by fanlay

Summary: Eames walks away from the arrivals gate, incomprehensible chatter swirling around him, the heavy weight of the PASIV in his hand, never dreaming that this machine is real – that it will bring him anything more than a tidy profit. Warnings: Explicit Sex, Violence, Dream Physics/Violence

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall by aimlesstravels. Post-apocalyptic AU, Slash, Gen. Arthur/Eames, unrequited Robert/Arthur, past Cobb/Mal, hinted Robert/Ariadne, Browning, Saito. 80,871 words, R. Art by staticlights

Summary: In the aftermath of World War III and the Second Civil War of the United States, the members of the dream sharing industry have been turned into fugitives, driven underground and into hiding in order to escape assassination by Fischer Industries USA - except for one, the former leading point man in the business, who has turned traitor against the fugitives Dom Cobb, Public Enemy Number one; and the infamous Eames, leader of the Resistance. Warnings: Violence (torture), strong language, sexual content, character death

a man had a dream about a woman and then he met her by acidpop25 Arthur/Eames, ensemble. Het/Slash aren't really applicable labels for this fic. Contains penis-having person/vagina-having person and penis-having person/penis-having person sexual content. 15,468 words. NC-17.

Summary: There's a lot no one knows about Arthur. Based on this prompt on inception_kink. Warnings: Potential triggers for gender dysphoria and mentions of self-harm.

Art by livelikejack

after/before by hope_calaris . Drama. Arthur/Cobb, past!Arthur/Eames, past!Cobb/Mal, (future!)Eames/Ariadne, some OCs, 25,505 words, R. Art by plingo_kat

Summary: For somebody who seems not to be really fond of Arthur, Eames knows surprisingly much about the other man. He knows how Arthur met the Cobbs, why he shouldn’t work with a guy named Wassiljew ever again, the way he looks when he’s drunk and sits in a prison cell, or how he sounds when he’s absolutely sure about something. Eames also knows things Arthur never told him, but these stories are hidden in the looks exchanged between Cobb and Arthur. Ariadne doesn’t know any of these things, but she’s curious and Eames is just the right man to tell her. Warnings: off/on-screen death of OCs, blink and you’ll miss it sex between Arthur and Eames, violence.

All the Rules to Break by foxxcub. AU, Arthur/Eames. 28,000 words, NC-17 Art by hmk67

Summary: A notorious serial killer returns after a three-year hiatus, reminding Detective Arthur Moss of the infamous case he couldn't close. But when the FBI becomes involved, Arthur is forced to work side-by-side once again with Special Agent Daniel Eames, a man who knows Arthur better than Arthur himself will ever admit. Both men must confront their past and heal old wounds in order to bring a psychopath to justice. Warnings: violence, disturbing imagery

Anabasis by coldthermistor. Arthur/Cobb, with Eames, Mal, Robert, Saito, Nash, Yusuf, Ariadne, Miles. Canon AU, 80,617 words, R (but no porn) Art by ellegen

Summary: Dominic Cobb is a man on the run. He's on the run from a marriage slowly falling apart, from being framed for a crime he didn't commit...and on the run from the memories of a betrayal that haunts him still. He remembers little of the night except for one thing, burned into his mind: Arthur betrayed him. Arthur cannot be trusted. Now, a business man, Saito has come forward: with what seems to be Cobb's best hope of learning the truth about that night so many years ago...and with Cobb's best hope of clearing his name. In return, he only wants an impossible job performed. Inception. There is no room for failure. The stakes are too high. But there is an enemy haunting Cobb's footsteps...an enemy wearing the face of a man that Cobb knows only too well: Cobb's former point man, Arthur... Movie AU done for redwhitedresses's prompt here. Warnings: Violence and strong language.

Anchored by wattle_neurotic. Arthur/Eames, Ariadne, Cobb, Yusuf, briefly Saito. 24,565 words, R. Art by aredblush

Summary: The team are brought together by Cobb for another job with Saito, this time it is the extraction of information from a man he wishes to look after his European accounts. The mark is much more complicated than first thought and is very difficult to get information on; what they can dig up on him is useless and outdated, but it is apparent that he trusts no-one - not even his own cat. After a couple of weeks of frustration it is decided that they will have to go about this the old fashioned way. Arthur and Eames end up moving into the flat next door so they can carry out surveillance with some amount of ease. Arthur is not impressed. Eames is amused. Warnings: A wee bit of sexual content, language, some schmoop, a violent dream... a Star Trek reference.

Architecture and Morality by ruric. Eames-centric story from childhood to manhood. Arthur/Eames with mentions of Dom/Mal, Miles and the team. ~30,700 words, R. Art by eamesie

Summary: All those stories she told him when he was younger had prepared him for a world of heroism and hope. Pretty little lies for idiots. There are no heroes. Except sometimes there are heroes, and sometimes getting what you want is simply a matter of figuring out what that is. Warnings: Strong language, some violence, character death (OC & Mal), sexual situations.

The Astounding Friendship of Mister Eames and the Good Doctor by sobota. AU fusion: Edwardian Sherlockian detective + Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. Arthur/Eames, Arthur/Ariadne, Cobb/Mal, co-starring Yusuf, Saito, Miles, and Fischer. 18665 words, NC-17 Art by melfice

Summary: "Where did you matriculate, Doctor Perkins?" Eames decided that making conversation while the doctor did his examination was a more appropriate course of action than watching Arthur dig around in his flesh.

"Cambridge. Trinity College." Arthur finished extracting the bullet and held it up for Eames. "Standard musket round, shouldn't you say, Mister Eames?"

Eames pushed himself up on his elbows. "With modifications. There's been some scouring on the bullet to make it more aerodynamic, and thus more likely to find a target. And I myself am an alum of Cambridge. Sidney College."

Arthur let his lips quirk. "And what is a mathematician doing as a lieutenant colonel in Peking?" He cleaned the wound once more and got out some thick black string and his sturdy, curved needle.

"The same as a nobleman working as a field doctor in Peking, elbow deep in bodily fluids and parts of the more unfortunate soldiers. For the adventure, Doctor Perkins. The adventure is truly the key to anything one does."

Warnings: explicit sex, violence, character death, and some mentions of historical racism and sexism.

Cartography for Amateurs by jibrailis. Roadtrip AU. Arthur/Eames, Cobb/Mal, some Yusuf/Ariadne. 28,197 words, NC-17. Art by paperflower86

Summary: AU. After the death of Arthur's grandfather, Arthur unhappily returns to the small town in Pennsylvania where he grew up. Enter Eames, a biker and a mechanic, as well as the boy Arthur had a crush on all throughout high school -- the boy who ended up breaking his heart. Arthur doesn't want to be pulled into Eames' orbit again, but Eames has a plan: to get on their motorcycles, ditch town, and go on a road trip to California. Warnings: sexual content, minor violence, a non-graphic scene where someone gives birth, mention of OC death.

Bloodless by bauble. Blade Runner AU, Arthur/Eames, past Eames/OFC. 27,000 words, NC-17. Art by mementis

Summary: Eames is a Blade Runner hired to hunt down Mal, a Replicant (a robot built to look like a human) who started a Revolution on Venus. Warnings: see work.

But He Doesn't Know Who I Am by kellifer_fic. AU, Arthur/Eames, Eames/Saito, Ariadne/Yusuf (implied)19,000 words, PG. Art by paracaerouvoar

Summary: Even in a world where magic is common place, there are Losers. Arthur has felt like a Loser his whole life, always saying, doing or wearing the wrong things. He's expecting college to be no different, just one more place to be tortured. After meeting a compelling stranger with protection tattoos and a dark reputation Arthur's world tilts sideways with Arthur scrambling desperately not to tip off the side. All that and he has to survive having a Necromancer for a best friend and maintain his GPA.

Dancing with Air by yaoimunchkin. Crossover with The World Ends With You. Neku/Joshua, Arthur/Eames, Team Death and the Dream Team. 19,000~ words, Teen. Let's Show Some Shibuya Style: A Dancing With Air fanmix with art for each song by toujourspret

Summary: The Angels are secretive, and Eames is used as a tool. Joshua is in love and Neku has become pretty good at games. And Arthur? Arthur wants the hell out of Shibuya. Warnings: some kidnapping/drugging.

Darling, Don't Fade On Me by andrealyn. Slash, action-adventure. Arthur/Eames, Cobb, Yusuf, Ariadne, Mal. 25,868 words, PG-13. Art by thisissirius

Summary: Ten years ago, they achieved successful inception. Since then, Eames' sanity has slowly begun to splinter into various forgeries. Arthur puts together a plan to complete inception once more and bring Eames back to the world. Despite the threat of failure, losing Eames, and the perils of limbo, Arthur is willing to try anything. Warnings This fic deals with mental illness as applies to the physics and workings of the dream-world. This may touch upon sensitive subjects.

dead birds fly again by matchsticks_p. Tragicomedy; pre-movie origins fic and post-movie futurefic. unrequited Eames/Arthur, strong Eames+Arthur friendship, Arthur/females, Eames/males, past Cobb/Mal, fleeting reference to Arthur/Ariadne, epic Eames+Yusuf bromance. 19,567 words, NC-17. Art by metatarsus

Summary: At the centre of all their madcap heists, there are some facts that do not change. Eames loves Arthur. Arthur doesn't love Eames. Eames thinks he has pretty much come to terms with this situation…until something happens to prove him terribly, terribly wrong. Warnings: violence by and against marine mammals in dreams, genuine angst camouflaged by dark comedy, and a possibly triggery ambiguous overdose that could be read as an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

The Deception Curve by epicflailer. Arthur/Cobb, Yusuf (some implied Yusuf/Eames), ~18,800 words, NC-17. Art by ciudad

Summary: There's very little Arthur trusts in the dreamscape, and he never thought he'd have to take himself off that list. Warnings: Some (mild) sexual content, some violence.

The Dreamers of the Day by rrrowr & deathgetsusall. Arthur/Eames, 46 000 words, NC-17 Art by akitron

Summary: All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. - T. E. Lawrence. Warnings: Violence, torture, talk of suicide, sexual content.

Here in Spain I am a Spaniard by soda_and_capes. Eames/Yusuf, Eames/Arthur, Arthur/Cobb/Mal, Arthur/Nash, mention of Nash/Yusuf. 19,348 words, NC-17. Art by raz0rgirl

Summary: She's tried a dozen first names in her head now, always when she's drunk, and none of them fit. It's not as though anyone calls her by her first name as it is, for which she is immensely thankful. Arthur does have that unfortunate little habit of calling her Mr. Eames, but she'll let it slide because the alternative is confrontation. Warnings: Violence, breathplay, other edgeplay (murder during sex in dreams), transphobia.

House of Paper art by loobeeinthesky. Eames, Arthur and Ariadne, PG.

Summary: "Getting dragged in by the FBI is not exactly the way Eames had planned on spending the weekend. He's even less amused when it turns out that Arthur's the reason for it. However, he had never been able to say no to this particular pair of doe eyes. And with the mind of a psychopathic serial killer as the playground and the FBI breathing down their necks, Arthur and Ariadne could really need all the help they can get ..."

House of Paper WIP by rei17 (missed deadline) Summary: "And just for a job you needed the FBI to drag me here," he states slowly. "In handcuffs. Seriously? When did it go out of fashion to just give people a fucking call?" Warnings: see fic.

If Only for a Moment, I Could by zombie_armor. Arthur/Cobb, cast, several OCs, 29,753 words, PG-13. Art by digipulse

Summary: The inception is done, and Cobb returns home--this is how the story is supposed to end. But then again, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and Cobb's forced to flee once more, leaving it to Arthur to track him down. Warnings: Violence, non-graphic torture, minor character death

In a phrase to cut these lips by missy7280. Pre-Slash Cobb/Arthur, Action/Adventure, Psychological study. Ariadne, James & Phillipa, Saito, OMC. 27,764 words, PG-13. Art by dwimmer

Summary: The military didn't quite know what it was getting into when it created dream-sharing. This is a story about what went wrong. It's a story about dreams. It's about forgetting, and also remembering. But most of all, this is a story about love. Warnings: Some military-related violence, language.

It Was Not Your Fault, But Mine (And It Was Your Heart On The Line) by acquiescence_. Based on Haruki Murakami's Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Arthur/Eames, appearances by Dom Cobb, Mal Cobb, Ariadne, Yusuf, Saito, and OCs. ~22,000 words, NC-17. Art by madnessisreal

Summary: After the Fischer job, Saito keeps most of the team under his employ should he ever have need of their services again. One of those times arrives and Arthur takes the lead on their second inception job - it ought to be simple and straight forward. However, things are rarely ever so simple when Eames is involved. Arthur has to deal with the past, and his own fears for the future, all while making sure the job goes smoothly, but Eames doesn't make things easy on him - no matter how much Arthur wishes he would.

This is the story of Arthur and the many times he wanted to kill Eames, a librarian and the historian who becomes infatuated with him, Rio, town histories that make no sense, and Mal.

Janus by wayoffbase. Arthur/Eames, Dom/Mal (Eames/OC), 46 000 words, R. Art by johanirae

Summary: "James Eames," she says, and she's French, of course she is, and knowing Eames' luck she's Parisian, and she's going to ruin his life, "how do you feel about dreams?" Warnings sexual content, implied sexual relations between minors

La Mer by aurilly. Action-adventure/romance; Crossover with Lost. The Inception Team; Sayid and the [ostaways; Sayid/Shannon, Sayid/Nadia, minor Ariadne/Jack. 22,364 words, PG13. Art by sobota

Summary: Saito hires the team to find out why crash-survivor Sayid Jarrah has been assassinating prominent businessmen. It sounds like an easy job, but only once they're in the dream do they realize all their research was based on a lie. (aka, why Sayid ended up in the Dominican Republic in season 5). Warnings: Characters die bizarre deaths in one of the dreams. Season 5 spoilers.

Limbo of Vanity, Book 1 by veritas_nescio. Plot!fic, Team plus OCs, Arthur/Eames. 30 000 words, NC-17. Art by adelaide_rain

Summary: Coda set two months after the movie. Three weeks to make a man believe in God, three levels down to reach purgatory; this is what it takes for an enigma to unravel a paradox. Warnings: Graphic violence, explicit sexual content, religious subject matter, minor character death.

maybe you’re gonna be the one who saves me by ilovetakahana. Set post-movie; canon-compliant. Arthur/Eames (main pairing), Ariadne/Saito (secondary), includes Cobb, James, Philippa, Yusuf, and original characters. ~17500 words, PG-13. Art by neomeruru

Summary: Three years after the Fischer job, most of the team members have moved on with their lives. Some new attachments have been made, some old relationships have been renewed, and life goes on, as it always has. Except for Arthur, who has left the field, and for Eames, who has spent the last three years searching for him, with no success. And then one day Arthur comes back, and everything changes once again. Warnings: Art geekery of all sorts. Some bad language. Some violence implied but never shown onscreen. There is something that is very nearly a sex scene, but it fades to black, nothing explicit. Angst.

Mistaken Identity by the_azure_blue. Crossover with World of Darkness, dark. Eames/Robert, Ariadne/Arthur, past Eames/Yusuf, past Browning/Robert, Carl Dane (OC)/Michael Dane, past Carl Dane/Christopher Montague (OC). Original characters created by the_azure_blue and lycanthrophile. 24,552 words, NC-17. Art by forgerness

Summary: Though some try to walk away, it is inevitable as Kindred to be pulled into the danse macabre. Through the bitter echoes of those before, all are wrapped together, and sometimes this curse is passed along to those of mortal blood.

Robert Fischer is the son of Maurice Fischer, whom is the son of Garrett Fischer, and he, the son of Michael Fischer. Over a century ago, in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Michael, the nephew of a shop sweeper and son of a whore, was Embraced by Calvin Bainbridge. It came with a price, as it always does, the childe having to burn his bridges of mortality with the quick death of his wife. What he never knew was that his son was given to another family and continued his lineage into the legacy of Fischer Morrow. But now, as Michael's past continues to further decay his what is left of his soul, the horror takes a hold of the unexpected, the ignorant Dominic Cobb and his team. A vampire has decided to manipulate the team into inception. The mark is Michael, but the team believes that they are entering the mind of Robert Fischer, to fix what they broke. It is a story of mistaken identity being used as a tool, and the mortal pawns that know nothing of what is the World of Darkness. Warnings: sexual content, violent content, mental illness

My Artificial Dreams in a Collapsing World by enjoyelsilence. Arthur/Eames, Cobb/Mal, Ariadne, Yusuf, Saito, James & Phillipa. 65,189, NC-17. Art by fictiveprophet

Summary: Arthur is an android; he's a soldier that was ideally developed by and for the PASIV device, and then further trained to kill within the dream. He's found one day by Cobb and Mal where they introduce him to life as a human and eventually assign him as their Pointman.

Fastforward to now: it’s a year after the Fischer job and Arthur’s wiring is starting to wear out. Arthur decides then, to go to Eames for help -- knowing that he'll finally have to tell Eames what he is, but not sure whether Eames is ready to know. The last thing Arthur wants to do is round up the team but like it or not, a barter for a job is set up in exchange to save his life. Warnings: Violence, language, sexual content, character death, and just a whole lot of angst.

Of Dreams and Monsters by fatechica1123. Het, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Crossover. Ariadne, Eames, Arthur/Ariadne. 24,846 words, R. Art: none

Summary: Ariadne is a Slayer, one of the Chosen Few. But she is also a Seer, able to sense the patterns of the future, even though she doesn't fully understand them. Eames was trained as a Watcher, like his father and grandfather before him, but broke with his family over his refusal to send teenage girls to their deaths. After the events of "Inception", the crew is back together, working out of Los Angeles, performing extractions on criminals and deviants in an attempt for Cobb to leave a better legacy for his children. One day, Ariadne slays a vampire in front of Eames and he offers to be her Watcher, leaving an increasingly jealous Arthur to watch as Ariadne and Eames share a secret between them. But, when James and Phillipa are kidnapped by demons, Ariadne and Eames must introduce the rest of the Inception team to the world of the supernatural. Ariadne and Eames are charged with saving James and Phillipa. Failure to do so means the end of the world... Warnings: Violence, Strong Language

On Tilt by schesinger. Arthur/Eames, Ariadne/Yusuf, 20,000 words, R. Art by neomeruru (currently locked?)

Summary: Eames works for a luxury goods firm. Arthur walks past and sees him in the store one day. Arthur is secretly in dreamsharing research, and Eames is secretly a forger on a top extraction team. When Eames discovers that Arthur has been responsible for tracking down extraction thefts using new PASIV military technology, he forces himself to walk away. They meet in a dream. Words are exchanged. and bullets. Warnings: sexual content, violence, strong language

The Outrage of the Years by alchemyalice. Arthur/Cobb pre-slash, Action, Drama. ~26,000, PG-13. Art by ellegen

Summary: Dominic Cobb is dreaming. But he is also writing. This is a story about waking up. Warnings: Impossible architecture, cryptography, mind-screws and abuse of text alignment, oh my!

The Source of Inspiration by nonesane. Arthur/Eames, Cobb, Ariadne, Yusuf. ~20 000 words, PG-13 No art.

Summary: One morning at work Cobb gets a very odd phone call and an equally odd text. They trigger events that spiral out of control quickly - will reuniting with his former colleagues make things better or worse? And exactly who did he make an enemy out of this time? Warnings: mild violence and cursing, disturbing behavior.

Stepping Sideways Into the Underground by toujourspret, gen, horror, Ariadne-centric, ensemble cast, 15,176 words, R.

Art by slanted_edges

Summary: The team takes a case that's different from the usual case: extract the location of a serial killer's last victim. Ariadne finds herself inside the murderer's mind, lost in a twisted Wonderland where the only way out is in and the only way up is down. With the help of the team as various denizens of Wonderland and herself as Alice, Ariadne has to find the real Alice before the killer catches on. But is the killer really the only thing to worry about? In Wonderland, things are never quite what they seem. Warnings: Very disturbing imagery, violence against children, offscreen mention of sexual abuse, character death (non-canon characters) IMPORTANT: Please be aware that certain aspects of this fic may be triggering, or cause emotional duress.

Strange Times Are Here by tigerist. Crossover with Supernatural. Arthur/Eames, Arthur/Cobb, Dean/Castiel. 35,000+ words, R. Art by wtfbrain

Summary: When Sam got out of the cage, Dean was sure their life would go back to how it was before Lilith, Lucifer and Apocalypse. But with Sam unable to hunt anymore, with monsters even stronger and more powerful, Heaven in the state of Civil War, and Hell’s order in shatters, nothing was the same anymore; not to mention that he still didn’t know who – and why – had resurrected Sam.

Arthur thought that if he gave Cobb some time, their relationship would go back to how it was before limbo and Mal’s death. But three years have passed and things not only weren’t better but, with Arthur’s 'sickness' back, he knew there was no chance on improving them. All he had left was to settle the score with those responsible for this situation, but first – he had to find them. Warnings: strong language, mentions of violence.

Tender by raise_a_glass. Arthur/Eames, 23,154 words, NC-17. Art by siriuslyyellow

Summary: Arthur and Eames both have issues. Lots of issues. When all they seem to do is hurt each other, can their relationship survive? Warnings: Non-con, domestic abuse, child abuse, non-graphic underage dub-con, alcohol abuse.

This Ain't A Song For The Broken Hearted (It's Just My Life) by paracaerouvoar. Arthur/Eames, Arthur/OMC (brief) 15 208 words, NC-17 Art by milenaa

Summary: It’s been five years since Dublin. Enough time to begin and end a relationship, snapshot moments stretching out into half a decade, and Arthur sits in a bar and thinks of Eames. Eames and everything that could have been and that was, and Arthur wants to regret, wants to remember how not to love, but there’s a pub in Ireland that just won’t let him. It’s been five years since Dublin, and Arthur can’t seem to let go... Warnings: Violence, sexual content, strong language, angst, minor OC character death, spoilers for the movie.

this is why we don't like black widow by korn_lotr_luver. College AU. Arthur/Eames, Arthur/Ariadne, Cobb/Ariadne, the rest of the cast makes an appearance. 22,000+ words, R. Art by mnemonic_psych

Summary: After being coerced by his roommate Dominick Cobb to take a class on the art and history of comic books, Arthur meets Eames, a cocky, British smartass, who after kicking the back of Arthur's chair in class one day to keep him awake has yet to break the habit. Arthur wants nothing to do with him, but upon discovering that Eames is good friends with Ariadne, (a girl he's been crushing on since meeting her last year in his physics class), decides to put up with his antics in order to get closer to her. Complications ensue when Arthur and Eames are paired up for the class project—creating their very own comic book. Herein lies a tale of deceit, misunderstandings, love lost, love found, and really, really bad comic books. Warnings: strong language and some violence and sexual content.

‘Till Death Do Us Part (And Somehow That Seems To Be Sooner Than Expected) by coconabanana & slashy_lady. Mr. & Mrs. Smith AU, Arthur/Eames, with almost everyone making appearances. 64 010 words, NC17. Illustration by blulious & fanmix+other graphics by coconabanana

Summary: When Arthur, an assassin, and Eames, who incidentally is also an assassin, met with each other, they felt sparks of explosion that had little to do with firearms. They fell in lust, they fell in love, and they got married — the complete set. They even got the house with the white picket fence. But marriage is not an easy thing to do. Especially when the people involved have the kind of career that seems to taunt death to do them part. Oh, and the fact that they keep some little things (like, well, the fact that they take people’s lives for a living) secret only puts another strain to their marriage. So amidst the secrets, missions, betrayals, and the pot of gloxinia (yes, the gloxinia is an important plot point), Arthur and Eames try to keep their marriage life… not really normal but as-far-away-from-extraordinariness-as-possible. Warning: a bit of sexual content, slight violence.

The Turning World by wildskysong. Gen, little bit of slash with Arthur and Eames, 44, 651 words, PG-14+ (language). Phillipa Cobb, James Cobb, projection!Cobb, Arthur, Eames, Ariadne, Yusuf, Saito, Mada, Miles, one OC and his moutsache. Art by paintedsongs

Summary: Phillipa Cobb is nineteen and can barely remember her father. All she wants to do is forget the past and move on with her life. With an art thief as a brother, though, it's not going to happen, so when her uncle Arthur offers to show her dreaming as a way out, she takes it to incept the FBI agent harrassing James. But when she washes up in limbo, can she actually forget the past? Or will her father's ghost haunt her forever? Warnings: Language.

Uncertainty by joosetta. Gen. Ariadne, Eames, Arthur, hinted Arthur/Eames, Cobb and family, Yusuf. 33 387 words, R. Art by red_rahl

Summary: The human mind isn't necessarily the delicate instrument that it's made out to be. Sometimes the weight of experience, of memory, is like a blunt object, smashing through anything that gets in the way. Eames learns this the hard way when a run of the mill extraction job leaves him in possession of a secret that he doesn't even know he knows.

Someone out there is willing to resort to desperate measures to get at it- and when Eames is poisoned and kept hostage in the warren of his own limbo, Arthur and Ariadne have to go in after him to find out what he knows before it's too late. Warnings: Violence, mentions of abuse, strong language

Untitled artworks by essouffle. Arthur/Eames, Ariadne/Robert, PG. Author defaulted.

Summary: Artwork done for a story about Arthur/Eames and Ariadne/Robert

Uprooted and Upheld by crytam. Crossover (with Harry Potter), Arthur/Eames, Cobb/Saito, Harry/Ginny, Neville/Hannah (Hinted: Regulus/OFC, Sirius/OFC). 24,361 words, R. Art by chibifukurou

Summary: HP/Inception crossover, set in 2009. Arthur remembers a normal childhood and lives a normal life. One day on a trip to England to incept a new target, he's kidnapped by dress-wearing lunatics, shoved into a telephone booth, and told that he is Arthur Black of the House of Black. As tensions escalate between magical creatures and the human magical world, Eames wonders how a simple Auror mission to obtain muggle dream technology and use it to incept a vampire coven leader over to their side became so complicated. Warnings: Violence and character death (canon).

The Waking Years by weatherfront. Arthur/Eames, 25,800 words, NC-17 overall. Art by innueneko

Summary: After the Fischer inception, Eames goes back to work as an extractor, and Arthur joins his team. Due to circumstances involving a guy who may or may not be from Greenland, pop astrology, someone's broken limb, hormones, and convenience, they end up learning that love is what starts down below (and makes its way up your spine). Warnings: sexual content

The Way Up Is the Way Down by poptartmuse. AU, Adventure, Romance. Ariadne/Cobb, Arthur/Eames, Yusuf/Saito, 21,100 words, R. Art by thursdays_girl

Summary: Ariadne chose her fate. But when you're the one left behind, how do you hold on to sanity in the cruel world of limbo? Meanwhile, Dom Cobb and the rest of the team, now fugitives in the United States, are running out of time... soon, saving their fallen teammates will no longer be a feasible option. Cobb, however, is not willing to lose anyone else—and where there's a will, there's a way down. Warnings: Potential dub-con, sexual content, swearing

We Are All Illuminated by clearillusion. Angst, Hurt/Comfort. Arthur-centric. Arthur/Eames, with appearances by the whole team. 18,429 words, R. Art by enjoyelsilence

Summary: Totem: an elegant solution for keeping track of reality. Which is fine, so long as you can believe what your totem is telling you... Warnings: Occasional swear words, mental health issues, suicide attempts.

we are the kick by sobota. Slash crossover RPF au: bandom & 3rd Rock from the Sun. Arthur/Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Arthur/Ryan Ross (The Young Veins), Arthur/Gabe Saporta (Cobra Starship), Arthur/Eames (unrequited), Ariadne/Yusuf, Cobb/Mal, and featuring: Saito, Fischer, Cobra Starship, Panic! at the Disco, guest appearances by Pete Wentz and Harry & Sally Solomon from 3rd Rock From The Sun. also, Jack the camera guy. 17841 words, NC17. Art by livelikejack

Summary: What is a kick? For any denizen of the underground Somnacin clubs in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, a kick is anything that knocks you out of a dream into reality. That sensation of falling or tripping that wakes you up. There's a rush associated with the kick; you wake up with heart racing and wondering if anything you saw was real. But what's real is you lying on one of the attractive sofas or piles of pillows of a dark, mood-lit club, staring into space as you work out the maze your mind just took you through.

No wonder The Kick, a band ostensibly out of New York but hailing from around the world (the guitarist, Yusuf Al-Bahraini, hails from Mombasa, Kenya; Daniel Eames, the drummer, from South London), sound like the middle of a very interesting dream. Dominic Cobb, the former lead singer, was taken out of commission by a knife to the throat, and so a dimension of the Kick's sound, his gruff baritone, was taken out with it. No matter; The Kick's last album, Synecopy, was such a mish-mash of ideas and influences that it felt like a dream about nothing and everything all at once.

With their second album, The Kick's sound is refined and coalesced around Ariadne Monaghan's (an original California girl) lilting whisper of a voice. The new addition of her ferocious piano playing make The Kick sound altogether more polished and well-defined. Warnings: sexual content, strong language and implied violent (but not deadly) assault

We found salvation, scratched into the earth like a message by niftywithan. Mild Slash, Mostly Gen, Arthur/Eames, Yusuf, Cobb, and brief appearances by Ariadne and Fischer. 17,461 words, PG-13. Art by daarl

Summary: The city of Warsaw has been decimated by German troops in the midst of the Second World War. A British soldier - Captain William Eames - is stationed in the ruins, forced to maintain his cover as a soldier of the Wehrmacht in order to complete his mission. During this time, Eames stumbles upon a wounded Jewish pianist hiding in the destroyed city and decides to take him in. The man's name is Arthur. [Pianist AU]. Warnings: Some disturbing war violence/imagery; ambiguous character death.

We Love Till The End of the Day by ilcocoabean. Angst, Arthur/Eames, Cobb/Ariadne, Arthur/Ariadne, implied Cobb/Saito, Yusuf/Eames. 15,190 words, R. Art by raz0rgirl

Summary: After Inception the team has to deal with an influx of new clients as well as the new dynamic of relationships occurring between them. Most notably of which is Arthur and Ariadne, yet after several failed attempts they part ways. A couple of missions later the team splits up yet somehow Eames and Arthur keep finding each other. The separation doesn't last long before they're called back together to take complete their final job. But this extraction is different. Each know that the information their client wants is in the mind of one of the team's but whose? Warnings: Sexual content, strong language, and mild violence.

We Used to Wait by chibi_lurrel. Pre-movie, Arthur/Eames (main pairing), Arthur/Cobb, Arthur/Mal and Cobb/Mal. 25,066 words, NC-17 Art by dumbimps

Summary: The first time Cobb meets Arthur, he's 14 years old and in a juvenile detention center. The next time Cobb sees his face, Arthur's brain has been augmented by the U.S. government's Project Gargoyle, letting him connect directly into the internet for instantaneous research. He's presumed dead, but still has to deal with the consequences of being a fugitive, learning dreamsharing, and the various side-effects of having a small computer in his brain. And then Mal introduces him to Eames. Warnings: Military situations and trauma, non-explicit child abuse, suicidal behavior, canon character death, and drug addiction & sex under-the-influence.

What a Lovely Way to Burn by dreamlittleyo & leonidaslion. Horror, drama. Arthur/Cobb, Eames/Ariadne, one-sided Arthur/Eames, Arthur/OFC, Yusuf/OFC, Saito (mentions of past Arthur/Ariadne, Mal/Cobb, Eames/OFC). 231,600 words, NC-17. Art by dauntdraws

Summary: How do you wake up from someone else's nightmare? Warnings: graphic horror, torture, noncon, violence, language; extremely dark fic, you guys, we cannot stress this enough.

What's the Time, Mr. Wolff. by kiyala. Arthur/Eames, ensemble cast. ~56,000 words, NC-17. Art by platina

Summary: Eames is a master thief, and Arthur is the jaded son of a rich businessman, stuck in a life he doesn't want. On a heist to steal artwork from Arthur's family home, Eames steals Arthur instead, and leads him into the world of shared dreaming. Finding their places in the world as mind criminals is easy. Figuring out how they fit together—and understanding themselves along the way—is not. Warnings: sexual content, alternate backstory, family issues, canon character death, angst (but with a happy ending!)

Round 2, 2011-12

The prompt/request post opened on 10 August 2011, story summaries for artists to select from were posted 10 December, and posting of art and fic will began January 27 2012.

• Round 2 tag