Checkmate Alternate
(with the bishop totem)

"Arthur, what's your favorite chess piece?"

I watched him as he looked up from the board, his eyes meeting my own. I struggled to hold in a sigh. Somehow, I always managed to lose myself in his eyes. Warm, dark, and a deep, rich brown- it was like looking into a pool of melted chocolate. How he managed to be as introverted and quiet as he was with eyes as inviting as his, I'll never know. It seemed like the only people Arthur opened up to were Cobbs (understandable, since they've know each other for years) and, surprisingly, me.

I was so caught up in my gaze that I barely heard his answer. "Bishop."

He looked back down at the chess board, eyes disappearing once again under long lashes. I willed my heart to stop pounding as I comprehended his reply. Bishop. Seems fitting enough.

Since I started working with him, Arthur had always been slightly closed-minded. He never over-thought things, never asked any 'what-if-'s. Eames constantly made fun of him for it- "we're working in the business of dreams, darling! Try to think outside of the box once and a while."- but I thought his hesitance to imagine was quite useful. With so many over-the-top ideas spouting out of Eames's and Cobb's (Mostly Eames) mouth, it was nice to have a voice of reason on the team, reminding us that we were just extractors, not superheroes.

The bishop was like that, in a way. While the other pieces moved around, constantly changing their line of attack, bishops were steady, never straying from their path. Pawns and rooks changed course when attacking- there was no set line of travel for them. Knights moved in a unique pattern, attack or no attack. Queens could move almost anyway they want, and even the kings had no direct course. It was only the bishop that knew where to go, traveling only on the diagonal row of black or white squares they were set upon. Bishops knew exactly what to do, and how to do it- just like Arthur. He was the realist, the Doubting Thomas, the conscience of the team.

"Checkmate."

The point-man's scruffy voice startled me out of my thoughts. I looked down. Arthur had indeed defeated me, his bishop cornering my king into the far end of the board. I pouted slightly at my loss and heard a low chuckle come out of his mouth.

"This is why you should focus on the game and not on me, Ariadne."

I blushed as he stood up and walked over to his lawn chair, settling in for a nap.

Two weeks later, I fingered my totem as Arthur hooked me up to wire. He caught sight of the bronze bishop in my hand and looked up at me, a questioning smile on his face. I looked into his eyes and returned his smile.

"So I can focus on the game and not on you."