Weekly Chat and Spectre Prompt Fest (25/09/2015)

[mi6-cafe-mod.livejournal.com]

A new Friday means a new Weekly Chat! Don’t forget that the weekly chat is open until Friday of next week.

Anon commenting is on so you don’t need an account to join in the fun! If you are using anon comments, if you could put your name/handle in the subject line/body of the comments that would be fab (just so everyone knows who they are talking to!)

Weekly Recs

It’s time again for you to give your weekly recs! This week we’re looking for your favourite fics/art you’ve seen over the past week and those fics/art that fit into the genre of the week!

This week the genre of fanwork recs we’re looking for is: drabbles. This week, we want those fics that are able to pack a punch in only a few words.

When reccing fic/art, please can you make a separate comment with ‘Week Rec’ in the subject title. If you’re commenting anon, then just put your handle in brackets after the ‘Weekly Rec’ bit - eg Weekly Rec (name). This just helps your friendly mod hunt down all your links and put them into the weekly rec post!

Spectre Prompt Fest!

The MI6 prompt bingo table continues! We’re releasing a new prompt every week up to when Spectre is released in the UK on November 6^th. You can write/draw/create anything of your choice in response to the prompt, and you can post fills for any of the revealed prompt!

This week the prompt is: “Flowers”.

Exploding Objects	Love doesn’t solve everything	Broken	Health and Safety	Possession
Never say never	“Make me disappear”	“No.”	The past has come back to haunt me	Suit Up
Starlight	Red	“I was taking some overdue holiday”	Flowers	Hidden
Hidden	Hidden	Hidden	Hidden	Hidden

You can post your fills anywhere you like – tumblr, in the comments section of the weekly chat, to your own LJ! Feel free to link your fills in the chat, and don’t forget to tag your prompt fills with #mi6cafeprompt so everyone can share the 00Q love!

There is now an A03 collection that you can post your fills to! See the link in the sidebar for more information.

MI6 Café Book + Film Club

Our next book for book club with be Moonraker, which will begin on 3^rd October (next week!!). You can find resources for Moonraker in the links on the sidebar.

Potential trigger warnings for Moonraker include:
-          Nazisim
-          Various slurs
-          Drug usage
-          Car accidents

In film club will be watching Goldfinger on November 7th. Please see the schedules for more information on times!

This week’s questions

1. Bond and Q have somehow ended up pet-sitting. Who would they pet-sit for, what would the animal be, and what would they like and dislike about the experience?


2. What fears have Bond and Q overcome in their lives?


3. What are Bond and Q always striving to get better at doing?


4. How did Q join MI6/become Quartermaster?


5. What departments tend to be on the opposite side of the MI6 battlefield from Q and/or Bond when it comes to MI6 politics?

Comments

[isthisrubble.livejournal.com]

... in two parts bc livejournal is rude

1) Bond and Q have somehow ended up pet-sitting. Who would they pet-sit for, what would the animal be, and what would they like and dislike about the experience?
Eve's cat! It knows and likes Q, but not James so much. It sits on his head whenever possible (he has to go into work one day with his ears covered in bandaids because cat claws are nasty), and James swears it's out to get him. Q doesn't mind it sitting on his lap while he's working, it's actually a good hot water bottle if you can get it to sit still. The only problem (for both of them) is that Eve spoils the cat horribly, usually with too much food, which means it then demands more from them...

2) What fears have Bond and Q overcome in their lives?
ha ha fuck......... hoo boy
James had a fear of heights for years, because of how his parents died. Before that he used to enjoy rock climbing. As a teenager he joined a climbing club at school and eventually conquered the fear (I think this is actually canon? idk). He doesn't scare easily, but he does fear a few things. Torture and pain, definitely - he had to work through a few issues after CR, although he did come out the other end with a higher pain tolerance. His biggest fear is probably inadequacy in his job, becoming old and irrelevant etc because his job is his life. He also fears a repeat of what happened with Vesper, something that surfaces with a vengeance when he and Q start to get serious.
Q... hm, this is harder because Q has, well, less issues. I think he fears and will always fear, fucking up majorly, ruining his life's work, etc etc. He's always been pretty self confident, but after Silva that's become a little more brittle. And then of course there's the things that James doesn't fear that Q can - that something awful will happen to his parents or his extended family, especially if it ends up being his fault.

3) What are Bond and Q always striving to get better at doing?
Q is always trying to make his branch are as well staffed, well resourced, well trained etc as possible, because Q branch is his pride and joy. James is always trying to learn new and interesting ways to kill, maim, interrogate, blow up, communicate, undermine etc etc because you can never be perfect at his job, you're always learning. He's also trying to be a good partner to Q because he's out of practice and will always have trust and commitment issues, imho

[isthisrubble.livejournal.com]

4) How did Q join MI6/become Quartermaster?
I was just thinking about this the other day! Q did a double degree in something computer-y and something engineering-y (??? history student here I mean I know nothing about that stuff) and was studying... I think the next thing is Masters? in the computer whatever. As a hacker, Q's like the members of the Hacker Republic in the Millennium Trilogy, he doesn't (recreationally) distribute viruses or similar, and doesn't like people who do - he just wants to explore. So he's exploring, and suddenly he realises just how much of MI6's info he can access? Not the high security stuff, he wouldn't be able to get into that without revealing himself, but it worries him, because if he can do it, someone else could too.
So he realises he can get into the printer of the guy who is the old Q's computer specialist. He writes a huge list of things that can be improved in their security and how it could be done, updates his resume, writes a cover letter, downloads all their application forms from the website (idk if they would have been online in 2005... let's pretend they were, or he found them in the system somewhere) and fills them out, and then prints the whole lot out on this guy's printer when he's gone home for the night.
The Q Branch guy gets in the next day and is like wtf seCURITY BREACH but once they make sure nothing's going to explode he reads everything, then runs to find Q and says we need this guy. MI6 ends up covering some of Q's costs so that he can finish his Masters, sometime giving him assignments on the side. Half the time they give them to him during exams, which he supposes is a test of his multitasking. They give him a full time job once he's done, and for the next few years he just gets promoted a lot, branches out from pure computer stuff to other things like bombs etc. The old Q dies of heart failure a month and a half before the explosion, and Q has just got the Branch reorganised when Silva blows it all to hell.
... holy shit that's long

5) What departments tend to be on the opposite side of the MI6 battlefield from Q and/or Bond when it comes to MI6 politics?
Bond: Everyone. Well, not really, but he sure acts like it. Medical despairs of his self destructive tendencies, the people who deal with covering stuff up and containing damage etc want to sew his lips together and tie him to a chair so he can never use his real name or blow something up again, and the Ms and their staff just despair
Q: Finance and the Ms etc. Everyone fights with finance, though.

Castillon

[(Anonymous)]

1) OMG, my cat is the loudest and whiniest on the planet when it decides it's time for someone to feed him. I feel for Bond and Q for going through that! So cute though.

2) I love all of these answers! I especially like the canon call-backs to Bond's parents' deaths and what happened during Casino Royale. Great point about Q's family as well.

3) TOTAL AGREEMENT about Q Branch! Lol at "new and interesting ways to kill, etc" bc yeah, James Bond loves learning new techniques for his job the same way a chef loves learning new techniques to cook. I also love the idea that Bond thinks of being a good partner as a skill that he can actively work and get better at--which it is, but sometimes that's not how people conceptualize it.

How do you think Q and Bond work together to help each other get better at the things they're always trying to improve on?

4) Great headcanon! Hahahaha, love Q being so helpful and getting everyone a bit riled up. And definitely laughing at the jobs-during-exams thing, because that's pretty cruel but at the same time probably a really accurate idea of what it's like to be Q? "EVERYTHING IS EXAMS AND ALSO YOU HAVE TWELVE OTHER ESSENTIAL THINGS TO DO." I also love how your Q seems a bit blase about it ("supposes it's a test of his multitasking"), because the future Quartermaster would have to be, wouldn't he?

5) Love the idea of Q fighting with M about things, actually. And yeah, Bond would probably be offed by someone on his own side if he weren't so good at being charming after his terribleness. "so he can never use his real name or blow something up again" :D :D

Re: Castillon

[isthisrubble.livejournal.com]

1) I've never had cats (dogs! dogs are great! but Eve is a cat person imho) but I know exactly what hungry, attemtion hog pets are like

2) I've never been a fan of the Q-is-an-orphan-actually-everyone-at-MI6-is, because them having families is so much more interesting! And I bet Q is a worry-wart when his family are concerned

3) yay!

4) Q at that point had come out of the other side of extreme stress, and was at the point where you are beyond stress and therefore just chill and resigned to the worst...

5) M is caught between oooh that sound like an interesting idea and I have to be a responsible adult bc it's all on my head if it goes tits up so half the time when they are disagreeing with Bond or Q they actually agree! but they can't! because it's their job to control their subordinates (... as if anyone can control Bond)

Re: Castillon

[(Anonymous)]

5) Yeah, the burden of leadership and everything. Hence all those "I'm going to be exasperated with you for your insubordination but also give you lots of $$ and vacation time when you do a good job even when it's against my orders" thing.

Castillon (1 of 2)

[(Anonymous)]

1. There's a volunteer pet-sitter spreadsheet in Q Branch so that people with mostly steady schedules can have pets without worrying about the occasional days when they barely get a moment to breathe, let alone have time to make sure Ms. Lovelace gets a cuddle and her litter box scooped. Q likes the extra company and hasn't taken his name off the sheet, so every once in a while when he's on leave or short hours he'll have a frightened Q Brancher cat lurking on the shelf behind his clothes in the closet, or a bearded dragon in a terrarium in the dining room, or a snake that manages to escape and that they eventually find curled up in the small, dark safety of one of Bond's boots. He doesn't take dogs until Bond expresses an interest, but when they're both around they can just about cover walkies and fetch and doggy-cuddles for a day or two.

Bond likes the dogs enough that Q begins to take advantage of the spreadsheet's unofficial other use, which is basically "Borrow pets to feel less sad!"

"Carla's monitoring 003 this week, so we've got Bilbo with us for a little while," Q says one day after Bond has spent the forty-eight hours since he came home from his latest mission drinking, brooding, and polishing his assorted weaponry, with no sign of letting up soon. "I know what you're doing," Bond says as Bilbo, a black pit bull mix that they've pet-sat a few times before, bounds over to him with his broom-bristle tail wagging high in the air. Bond automatically lays his hand on Bilbo's neck and starts giving him head scratches. "Here's his leash," Q says, pulling it out of Bilbo's pet bag and throwing it at Bond, who catches it by reflex. Bilbo starts prancing in excitement because that's what Bilbo always does when someone holds his leash. Bond hasn't left the house in two days and probably reeks of alcohol, but it's not like he can say no to that face. He takes Bilbo for a walk and comes back just a little calmer.

Sometimes it's easier to pet a dog, to be gentle with a dog, to relax around a dog who doesn't have the same basic shape as Bond's all-too-human targets, a dog who will be happy and love him basically just for existing even though Bond has done things that should probably make him unloveable.

2. Bond has overcome his fear of dying, his fear of failing, and his fear of deep water. He's working on overcoming his fears of emotional intimacy, long-term romantic commitment, partner betrayal, and "being useless"/retiring.

Q has overcome his fear of being wrong, his fear of punishment, and his fear of leadership (both authority figures and the reality of becoming an authority figure). He's working on overcoming his fear of flying, his fear of failure (not quite the same as "being wrong"), his fear of being in the field, and his fear of long-term romantic commitment.

Re: Castillon (2 of 2)

[(Anonymous)]

3. Bond is always striving to improve his physical efficiency and prowess, especially now that age is starting to catch up with him. Equally, he's always trying to keep up with the technological times and prevent his skills and mind from being outmoded. When he's in a good mood, he also tries to cook new things. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes not; usually his output as a cook can't match the demands of his refined palate, but it's fun to make things for himself for once. He also keeps up with the languages he knows.

I agree with isthisrubble: Q is always trying to improve Q Branch! He's also always trying to become a better leader for his people, techs and agents alike. He's always trying to keep up with modern innovations, both in and outside of his field, and keep his own ideas on the cutting edge of possibility. Privately, Q is always trying to improve his Scrabble skills and his running times.

4. How did Q join MI6/become Quartermaster?

I probably switch my thoughts on this every day, but I'm always really amused by the idea that Q was kidnapped a lot as a child/teenager because he tended to end up on the 'potentially useful' radars of the wrong people due to his youthful hijinks, and MI6 was consistently the most effective/least stupid organization when it came to rescuing him, so Q just...started calling MI6 whenever bad people managed to capture him again, even though MI5 or the Met probably should've had jurisdiction. Boothroyd ended up technically-but-not-really employing him at a young age just because it made the paperwork for the rescues and self-defense classes easier, and they began a mentoring relationship that lasted through Q's school and traveling years until eventually Q felt ready to come into the fold as Q's potential successor.

5. The public relations department is unashamedly two-faced when it comes to Bond and Q, all glares and condemnation when people are loudly questioning MI6's invasions of digital privacy or Bond's latest explosion, but ready to smile and owe them favors after they've saved the world more publicly than usual. Q is on excellent terms with finance owing to a mathematical, budget-minded brain and the ability to get his forms turned in on time; meanwhile, Bond is the annual destroyer of budgets and finance literally sets aside "Bond money" that is supposedly for bail bonds but is actually for Bond-related catastrophes. It's never enough. M, Tanner, Eve, and the administration are generally supportive but are also the ones who make the call on when they've fucked up, and if it's a choice between sacrificing Q or Bond and making something that really needs to happen happen...then, yeah, bets are pretty much off. Recruitment loves them because they're legends and they're willing to spend a few spare half hours giving impressive talks to the new kids; Q especially is known for cultivating young talent as part of his long-term plans for departmental growth. The field agents generally support both of them because they can rely on Q Branch and Bond is Bond. The head of Medical is Q's arch enemy because Q keeps seducing his best doctors into doing interdepartmental side projects with him, and because there has traditionally been a bit of resentment between the department that issue the explosives and the department that deals with exploded agents. Bond is usually grateful to the people who saved his life (and his balls), but he doesn't have a lot of love for the department that's always trying to keep him out of the field for "stupid" (valid medical) reasons, and the feeling is mutual.

Re: Castillon (2 of 2)

[isthisrubble.livejournal.com]

4) that... is hilarious, wow

5) and his balls AND HIS BALLS OH MY GOD

Re: Castillon (2 of 2)

[(Anonymous)]

5) :P

Re: Castillon (1 of 2)

[isthisrubble.livejournal.com]

1) aaaah the Q Branch pet-sitting thing is such a cute idea! and dog therapy for James is perfect, just perfect

2) well, I'd hope he's gotten over his fear of deep water, as he was in the navy!

Re: Castillon (1 of 2)

[(Anonymous)]

2) It's the reason he chose the Navy, tbh (but nah, really I was just coming off of LALD and Bond's bit of ocean-fear)

Re: Castillon (1 of 2)

[isthisrubble.livejournal.com]

I would be scared of the ocean if there were sharks everywhere, too

ooooh I forgot! I think James may be a teeny bit afraid of flying? or at least, he's not a relaxed flyer, and I think that comes up a few times in the books