you've got to kill twice.

[defrauds]

Once upon a time, there was a man who was good at everything. When he smiled, it reminded you of your brother, and when he laughed, it reminded you of your father. He was brave and talented and everybody loved him. I shot him in the middle of the road and stole his identity. The end.

✘

The forger known as Eames was born one William J. Eames, the son of an ex-diplomat and an English professor at Edinburgh University. He had one other sibling, a sister older than him by four years named Judith. William attended public schooling. While there, he did pick up a bad habit of pickpocketing, cutting school and getting into fights. There was nothing to be said for why he did this, save perhaps something akin to boredom. Despite this, he was a very bright child and excelled academically, especially in the arts. After his GCSE's, he went to Sandhurst, then made it into SAS. Years later, when Project Somnacin was revealed, Eames and a small unit of soldiers were sent as the UK liasons to the States. There, he met a french woman with an infectious laugh and a man who smiled at her when he thought no-one was looking. There, the soldier known as Eames met a man known as Arthur. In the last six months of the program, Eames stole a prototype PASIV and fled to an unknown location, presumably outside of the states. William Eames was dishonorably discharged from the military, and later reported dead. Project Somnacin was shut down for further review. He disappeared off the face of the earth. Eames spent the next handful of years working painstakingly on forgeries; money, coins, paintings, passports, anything he could get his hands on, along with petty (and often not so petty) crime. After a short stint as an extractor, he made it back into forgery through dreamshare, although the latter was a skill he implimented with less frequency than the former. When Mallorie Miles died, he was there; whatever occured, he didn't stay around for longer than 48 hours. Years passed. Eames, a man who was a former SAS soldier turned criminal turned dreamshare thief turned (brief) extractor turned forger. A liar, a cheat, a gambler — the last if only because people loved a gambler, still love a gambler, love it when they think a man is in it for little more than a laugh or a chance at greater takes. There's something that makes men like that easy to trust, men who look as if they've left their claim to fate and probability. But that, too, is a lie.

Comments

FORGERIES

[defrauds]

FANTIN-LATOUR, HENRI | bathers by the sea (1898)

[defrauds]