Hey, ever since seeing Inception I've been meaning to write a fanfiction but couldn't figure out my angle of attack. Now I have. For those of you who have my read my work, harass me and harass me often. For those of you who haven't do what the others do. I'm a procrastinator and believe it or not, when you write a review, a quick 'hurry up, you're taking too long' actually gets a chapter up faster. Granted, I am a college student and have five siblings but that is beside the point. Anyway, I have yet to hit the juicy details since I'm still writing chapter 2, but let me know what you think of this.

Jokerfest

Army was spattered with freckles, over those she was spattered with blood. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low braid, the lazy ones he'd watched her make as a girl. It had been awhile and he wasn't sure of the protocol that came with seeing a long lost sister. Not that he'd been worried, of course. If anyone could take care of themself it would be the woman that had practically raised him. She strode into his apartment as if she'd been gone for a few minutes, not six years. In her left hand she held a gun, the other, three grocery bags. She didn't say anything as he opened the door for her to enter.

She looked about the place, did she approve? He chided himself for thinking that. He followed after her, to the kitchenette. She set down the grocery bags and then the gun. She looked through the small opening of the kitchenette that faced the living room. He looked back, waiting.

"This place is boring, Arthur, Jesus."

He smiled, something that he wasn't prone to doing since she'd left. She turned on the sink and wiped off her face, her hands, slicked back loose strands from her hair. They both knew the act was futile, since water never did make her hair straight or his.

"How've you been," she queried. She looked down to rummage through the bags. He heard the soft thud of a box and other items. He suspected what she was doing but knew instinctively not to enter the kitchen. That had always been the rule. When she was in the kitchen, you weren't. Simple.

"I work in the extraction business, y'know, for dreams."

"I've heard of that in some of my circles. Some of my clients have been trained to withstand their dreams being invaded, not that that's important in my line of work," she grinned up at him.

"It's trying but also rewarding. It brings a certain freedom. You should try it, you do have the gift of total recall."

"I remember," she said cocking a brow. He smiled at the joke but he'd been serious. He didn't like her chosen job of assassin. There were far more repercussions to her being caught, far more chances that she could get killed herself. Granted, she was far better trained in martial arts, guns, military tactics and espionage than he'd ever be but that still did not take away the worry.

"You think that I should try it," she asked as she began digging through the cupboards. She pulled down a bowl and it became clear what she was doing. She looked down, concentrating on her work.

"What have you got to lose?"

"Suppose I do try, would you take me on? I know you worry for me little brother but if I'm no good at it, what then?"

"Then I suppose you can go back to putting new holes in dirty politicians."

"What kind of positions are there," she asked her grey-green eyes fixing on his. He wanted to lean over the wall, separating the kitchenette from the living room but he settled for leaning against it, his back turned to her.

"Almost the same thing as an assasination outfit, minus a gruesome death. Extractor, Forger, Point Man, Architect. Of course, there's also the chemist that makes the sedatives. We enter the mind of the Mark and take the information that we were sent to find."

"That so? Heard you were involved in an Inception, what about those?"

She didn't see the expression that flitted across his face. That job had been successful yes, but only just. There had been so many errors and so many factors that hadn't been taken into account. The employer, Saito, had been lost in limbo and afterwards had undergone several months of therapy. He was rooted firmly in the present time but Arthur knew that the man would be haunted by that imaginary fifty years. He knew that sometimes Saito would pause in whatever he was doing, that his mind would wander, have some dark thought. He knew because he'd seen it happen to Dom.

"You have been checking up on me," he said finally.

"I'm your sister. My job is to make sure you don't get in over your head and beat up the assholes that try to hurt you when you do."

For a few minutes they didn't speak, it was simply the sounds of her cooking. He heard the oven open and she stepped out of the kitchen. She was holding a dvd, The Outsiders.

"Our favorite."

Arthur smiled. They both settled down on the sofa.

Ponyboy opened a tattered Gone with the Wind. The old church for a moment, was a haven and the flames that start licking the building had yet to appear. The oven dinged and Arthur paused the movie as his sister got up and headed back to the kitchen.

"Don't pause it," she said as she went back into the kitchen, "just turn the volume up."

Arthur unpaused and flicked the volume up higher. He heard more noise from the kitchen but knew that Army is just waiting for her favorite part.

Nature's first green is gold / her hardest hue to hold / her early leaves a flower / but only so an hour / then leaf sudsides to leaf / so Eden sank to grief / so dawn goes down to day / nothing gold can stay.

She said the lines with Ponyboy, her voice barely a whisper.

She came out with a small cake. She rested the platter on the small table and took out a few candles. She stuck them in carefully and Arthur sat up over the sofa and watched. He knew he resembled a ten year old, the way he leaned his arm over the chair and watched her, knees pressed into the cushions. He didn't care. He'd secretly anticipated this small moment, this small happiness, when Army would come back for him.

"Happy birthday,"she said catching his eyes.

"Thanks."