Inception Fic: having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone [1/2], Arthur/Eames, NC-17

...um. So. I wrote some new domestic!verse fic. This was supposed to be a quick little story about shit breaking in Arthur & Eames' house, but they had...other plans. And now it's 16K? And not really about shit breaking so much? So, you know, there's that.

Sometimes I despair of my life, you guys.

angelgazing says this one is my fault; I suspect, secretly, that she is still to blame, but for the sake of not making her sputter with rage I will just thank her for being the devil angel on my shoulder :D

Title: having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 16,200
Summary: This time there are shitty dogeared paperbacks Arthur wouldn't be caught dead reading piled on the coffee table, and half-finished crosswords tucked into the bookshelves, and the far wall is hung with that tapestry they'd bought in a shit part of London on a whim. This time they've spent all day fixing their sink and there's a mug of yesterday's tea sitting on top of the television and it's not just Arthur's living room at all.
Author's Note: This story is the eighth in a series called Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home), also known as the domestic!verse; the link takes you to the series master post.

( having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone [1/2] )

Inception Fic: having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone [2/2], Arthur/Eames, NC-17

Please see Part One for additional info.

( having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone [2/2] )

You guys, I am so fucking sorry.

Oh, fuck, you guys, I've accidentally been a complete asshole.

So, uh, basically I did two thinks wrong. The first is pointed out here, in a post I was linked to this morning and hadn't seen previously. It's pointing out that having Yusuf call that cat in that one story "Vindaloo" is not okay because, you know, hipster racism. In all honesty I'd eaten vindaloo for dinner that night, because my writing process is NOT COMPLICATED, and I just kind of did that on a whim--which is not an excuse, not at all, I just want to make sure you guys know that I didn't do any of this *intentionally*. Not that that makes any of it okay--in some ways it makes it worse--but for my own piece of mind, I needed to express that.

ETA: Um. Also on that topic. Having read that entire thread, I feel I should express that I wasn't actually trying to express that Yusuf hated the smell of Indian food? Or that vindaloo smelled bad, and, uh. I did it wrong in part because I have no idea what vindaloo smells like, because I have no idea what *anything* smells like, because I was born with a condition called anosmia, and as a result, I have never had a sense of smell. Any time I am writing about smell, I am faking it.

The *second* thing I did wrong was in this latest fic, where I put Eames in India to be tortured.

When bookshop pointed it out to me, I started at my screen in absolute horror for a full minute. In order to come up with that location, I used the, you know, extremely classy method of clicking on this random city generator button when I started writing, and when it came up with Bengaluru I honest to god didn't think about it any further than that. I didn't consider the potential ramifications, I didn't consider the undertones there, and that is such an example of forgetting to check my own privilege that I could cry.

I feel terrible about this, and, for what it's worth, I am sincerely and monumentally sorry. I am also editing both stories to remove these things, because I would always, always, always prefer to make a change then run even the slightest chance of making someone feel like they're in an unsafe place in fandom. If there is anything else I can do to make amends, you guys, please let me know.

ETA: Vinny's name is still Vinny, but it's after Van Morrison now, which I should have just done in the first place, Jesus Christ. The torture stuff has been moved to Poland, largely because that is where my own family is from, and I'm having some serious anxiety about not making this worse in trying to make it better.

(Comments are open at the moment. If you're angry with me and want to express that, you can feel free, but if this ends up getting wanky I'm going to close them down, okay? Not because your opinions and thoughts and anger with me--Christ, I'm angry with me too--not because those things aren't valid, but because the last thing I want to do here is make this mistake worse by letting it become a mire of negative feelings.)

ETA 12:51 PM EST -- Guys, I have to go into the office now, I promised my bosses I'd come in for a half day and get this RL thing settled. As such, I will be unable to read/answer comments for the next 5-6 hours. I will be back as soon as I can, okay? I promise I'm not avoiding this.

ETA 7:28 PM EST -- Hi, all. I am back from the office and I'm going to work through these comments as best I know how, and at some point I'll probably do another edit of this post to correct any and all of the errors I've sure I made. But just because I should have said this before, let me say it now:

GUYS, I LOVE YOU, BUT PLEASE DO NOT GO OVER TO THAT POST I LINKED TO AND DEFEND ME.

It's not that I don't appreciate that you guys care about me; I do. It's not that I don't understand that some of you have issues with the way it went down; I do. But at the end of the day I made a mistake and this is my attempt to fix it, and the last thing I want is to drag any of you into it, or stretch it out in any way, or create any more argument. I would have asked y'all not to say anything this morning, but tbh I was a little freaked out and trying to get out the door, and I've never had a readership of this size before, and it didn't occur to me that you would *want* to.

I love you, and I'm honored and touched that you'd want to stick up for me, but really, really don't. I fucked up and I'm sorry and that post has a right to exist just like this one and, just. Let's all step back, yeah?

( And an addendum, added 10/31/10 )