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[pointedlook]

PLAYER
NAME: xan
CONTACT: vaulkner
ARE YOU 18 OR OLDER: Yes

CHARACTER
NAME: Arthur
CANON: Inception
AGE: ~23-27
CANON POINT: End of movie
HISTORY: Character History
Inception setting/information
PERSONALITY: The best words to describe Arthur are efficient, organized, stable, self-assured. In the world of Inception and in the dreamshare work, all of these make him an extremely effective point man. Essentially, he's in charge of making sure there are no loose ends, that the research is done, the timeline is aligned, and that everyone gets paid. He's introduced alongside Cobb, who works as the extractor on their jobs. It's clear they've been working together for a while, though how long is never stated. However, all of Arthur's strong points make up for any of Cobb's weaknesses– half the reason the inception job goes as well as it does is due to Arthur's diligence. He works hard, keeps everything nice and tidy. This extends past just the way he works; he's almost always seen wearing a suit, carefully tailored and pressed. There's no awkwardness about the way he wears his suits either, pointing back to his self-assuredness and confidence.

Furthermore, in the dreamshare space, it's a way for him to come across as the quintessential professional. As someone with experience and not just a man who looks much too young. It could be inferred that part of the reason he wears what he does is to ensure people see what he wants them to see. To look past the fact that he does look quite young (though not as fresh as Ariadne). He doesn't want to be underestimated purely by his looks.

Though, if someone underestimates him at all, that's their loss.

Arthur's efficiency carries over into the dreamspace. There, he looks much like he does on outside (or topside). But, he knows the tricks of the trade like the back of his hand, as is evidenced in multiple situations. When Ariadne joins the team, he takes her into a dream and explains that paradoxical things can exist. His example is the penrose stairs, something that cannot exist in real life but can in a dream. Later, he uses this same trick on a hostile projection in a stairwell. Moreover, in the first part of the Fischer inception, the team is immediately met with hostile projections, something that he takes in stride and great pains to make sure they can still get to their destination. Even weaving through traffic and getting shot at doesn't seem to shake his cool headed rationale. He just dreams up whatever weapons are needed and continues on.

The second level of Fischer's inception is completely built by Arthur– an upscale hotel. It's modern, sleek, well designed. He was specifically picked to build the second level because, as Cobb mentions, his dreams are always completely stable. They never end up collapsing because he's distracted or otherwise. This speaks to his structured mind and again to his unshakeable resolve. On the downside, both Cobb and Eames mention that his dreams are not exactly imaginative or creative. Eames even goes so far to say he has no imagination at all. Which, while insulting, is part of what makes Arthur good at his job.

He does show creative problem solving skills, though, likely a result of research and years of being in the dreamshare. When the second level ends up in a non-gravity situation due to the first level of the dream, Arthur has to figure out a way to give the team their "kick" in order to pull them out of the third level. Originally, he was going to drop the floor out from under them in the hotel room, but the lack of gravity in the dream presents an issue. Instead, he places them all into the hotel elevator and ends up blowing up the cables holding the elevator in place.


Beyond his many analytical points in his personality, Arthur does have a few interesting quirks. One is that while he's nitpicky beyond belief and seems not to take shit from anyone– he'll take verbal abuse from Cobb. During the first level of the inception job, Arthur is upset at himself because he missed the Fischer's subconscious is militarized. Right afterwards, Cobb goes onto mention some dire circumstances about their job; that if they shoot themselves, they won't wake up like normal. They'll end up in limbo. Cobb in this sense has put the entire team in more danger, but instead he turns the argument around and blames Arthur.

And Arthur sort of just takes it instead of telling him to piss off. He's loyal to Cobb and his desire to get back home to his kids to the point that he'll step back and let Cobb walk all over him. When Eames tries to get on Cobb's case about picking on Arthur, it's Arthur who steps in and tells him to drop it. He's willing to do whatever to get Cobb to his endpoint, even if it's at his expense.

Another quirk is that he doesn't work in dreamshare for the money, even though they make millions doing their jobs. He does it because he likes it, likes the thrill, likes the technology. It's a fact that seems to stand at odds with all of his other attributes.

But at the end of the day, he's still the most reliable point man in the business, hands down. Professional, efficient, great at problem solving. Just if he gets close to you, expect loyalty to the ends of the earth.

POWERS:
- Anal-retentive amounts of research
- quick problem solving
- cool headed in stressful situations
- dream building
- looking great in suits
- firearms (most specifically a Glock, as it's his go-to)
- hand to hand combat
- rudimentary medical knowledge (first aid)
- smart mouth
- extreme loyalty
- maybe not the most creative
- nitpicky

SAMPLES
1ST PERSON:
+ 5 comments
+ 6 comments
3rd PERSON:
+ 4 comments
+ 4 comments
+ 3 comments

MISC
PLANS: To see how Arthur adapts as himself outside of Cobb's direction. What will he do? What direction will he take? How will he adapt to the changing timelines? Can he make friends?
CHARACTER @ID SUGGESTIONS: @point, @arthur
HOW DID YOUR CHARACTER JOIN COST? He originally thought it was another job offer in the dreamshare community. Someone contacted him through another contact via email and he agreed to talk about the job opportunity in person. Probably somewhere at a cafe in Los Angeles, as that was the last place he's seen in the movie. He doesn't remember agreeing to this particular offer though. The last thing he remembers is ordering a latte.

Comments

Zhautas

[pointedlook]

PLAYER PROFILE
Player name: xan
Age: 30
Contact: vaulkner || vaulkner#5915
Characters currently in-game: N/A

Triggers/Fears/Squicks: MAJOR squicks/fears/triggers are:
1. voluntary/purposeful cannibalism ala Hannibal. I'm alright if it's zombie related and if it's warned for in this manner ahead of time tho!

2. stuff under the skin that doesn't "belong"– excessive description of IV needles, the scarabs like in the Mummy.

Otherwise, more minor squicks are excessive/descriptive gore (ex: description of disembowelment, etc), graphic non-con/rape. If there's a prompt that somehow includes any of these things, if they can have a big ol bold warning so I can scroll past, that'd be rad.

Character Motivation: Arthur, as much as he's considered a corporate criminal, isn't a bad person. He's willing to pull his weight and if it were pitched to him that this was a dire situation that needed his expertise, he'd join without too many second thoughts. If the recruiter insinuated that Dominick Cobb and his kids would indeed be in danger because of the illness, he wouldn't even blink before signing up.

VOLUNTEER PROFILE

Name: Arthur
Age: 26
Physical Appearance: Profile image
Point in Timeline: End of movie
World Description: Inception wiki!
History/Background: Character page on the wiki

Noteworthy Positive Characteristics:
+ Efficient: Arthur's efficiency remains in place whether he's in reality or in the dreamspace. In reality, he makes sure the inception team has the information they need to do their work. He also raises critical questions during the planning phases to ensure there aren't any holes and that they've covered their options.

In the dreamspace, he knows the tricks of the trade like the back of his hand, as is evidenced in multiple situations. When Ariadne joins the team, he takes her into a dream and explains that paradoxical things can exist. His example is the penrose stairs, something that cannot exist in real life but can in a dream. Later, he uses this same trick on a hostile projection in a stairwell. Moreover, in the first part of the Fischer inception, the team is immediately met with hostile projections, something that he takes in stride and great pains to make sure they can still get to their destination. Even weaving through traffic and getting shot at doesn't seem to shake his cool headed rationale. He just dreams up whatever weapons are needed and continues on.

+ Stable: This goes hand in hand with his efficient attitude. The second level of Fischer's inception is completely built by Arthur– an upscale hotel. It's modern, sleek, well designed. He was specifically picked to build the second level because, as Cobb mentions, his dreams are always completely stable. They never end up collapsing because he's distracted or otherwise. This speaks to his structured mind and again to his unshakeable resolve. On the downside, both Cobb and Eames mention that his dreams are not exactly imaginative or creative. Eames even goes so far to say he has no imagination at all. Which, while insulting, is part of what makes Arthur good at his job; he's not distracted by frills or excess.

+ Problem solver: He does show creative problem solving skills, though, likely a result of research and years of being in the dreamshare. When the second level of the inception job ends up in a non-gravity situation due to the first level of the dream, Arthur has to figure out a way to give the team their "kick" in order to pull them out of the third level. Originally, he was going to drop the floor out from under them in the hotel room, but the lack of gravity in the dream presents an issue. Instead, he places them all into the hotel elevator and ends up blowing up the cables holding the elevator in place, simulating gravity through the resulting explosion.

+ Loyal: Someone as cool-headed as Arthur could have his pick of jobs. Especially since Eames mentions to Cobb that Arthur is "the best" regarding his work as a point man. However, he follows Cobb seemingly without reservation. He came with him, canonically, from the Cobol job (which is the first one we see as viewers) but it's insinuated he's been working with him for a while, as he knows Cobb's quirks. His personality helps balance out where Cobb is lacking and Arthur seems more than willing to chase Cobb around the world to make sure he gets back to his kids, despite all the insane dangers stacked against them both.

Noteworthy Negative Characteristics:

– Unimaginative: This fact is highlighted out loud by Eames first, when Cobb meets up with him in Mombasa. He mentions that Arthur is a "stick in the mud" and that he has "no imagination", the latter of which is necessary to achieve inception. Earlier in the movie, Arthur sort of gives an example of this lack of creativity when he's talking to Saito in the helicopter. Saito asks if inception is possible, to which Arthur responds right away with "no". He doesn't even consider it a possibility, even though he works in dreams. So while his practicality and efficiency is great in many aspects, it's a detriment when he has to work on ideas that require flexibility and creativity.

– Critical: He can be critical to the point of aggravation. Cobb usually takes his nitpicks in stride, something we see in some of their first scenes. When Mal first shows up in the dream with Saito, Arthur immediately questions Cobb about it, asking "what is she doing here?" He only steps off once he's reassured that Dom has the situation under control. This same critical focus shows up again in the planning stages of inception, when he asks for the team to be more specific about how they're going to attempt to do the job. Cobb says that going after Fischer's relationship with his father "might" work and Arthur says they are "gonna have to do better than might", which ticks Eames off. In addition to his critical nature, he's incredibly blunt, which can rub people the wrong way.

– Loyal: While he's nitpicky beyond belief and seems not to take shit from anyone– he'll take verbal abuse from Cobb. During the first level of the inception job, Arthur is upset at himself because he missed the Fischer's subconscious is militarized. Right afterwards, Cobb goes onto mention some dire circumstances about their job; that if they shoot themselves, they won't wake up like normal. They'll end up in limbo. Cobb in this sense has put the entire team in more danger, but instead he turns the argument around and blames Arthur.

And Arthur sort of just takes it instead of telling him to piss off. He's loyal to Cobb and his desire to get back home to his kids to the point that he'll step back and let Cobb walk all over him. When Eames tries to get on Cobb's case about picking on Arthur, it's Arthur who steps in and tells him to drop it. He's willing to do whatever to get Cobb to his endpoint, even if it's at his expense.

Character Fears: Failure, being unable to tell reality from a dream, suicide.
Powers/Abilities: Arthur is a pretty normal guy! However, in addition to all the positive traits listed above, he can handle firearms, hand to hand combat, and obviously has extensive knowledge pertaining to dreams/dreambuilding.
Personal Item: PASIV case (silver briefcase).

VOLUNTEER SAMPLES
Network Sample: Bangr sample
Action Log Sample: Action/log sample