Weekly Chat!

[mi6-cafe-mod.livejournal.com]

Yes it's that time of the week again, the weekly chat is OPEN! Don't forget anonymous comments are enabled so you don't need an LJ account to actually comment on the threads!

Weekly Recs!

We had some wonderful weekly recs last week for the genre of fluff! This week, as well as those fanworks you've seen over the past week, we want to see your fanwork recs for the genre of:

First Time!

This could be those fics that have James and Q's first kiss, first time having sex, or even first time making some new recipie out of the cook book!

Developing the Comm

The floor was opened up last week to hear everyone's ideas as to what the comm could host in terms of fests and other ideas to get people interested! So far we have the following ideas:

1) Weekly guest post - where fandom members are interviewed and asked to give a prompt and question for the rest of the fandom to discuss!
2) Book/film club - either a fest/monthly event where those who are interested can listen to and discuss the James Bond audiobooks/canon, as well as organised film livestreams for everyone to watch and comment upon!
3) Team Competition/Fest - a fest which will likely be held early next year (after the reverse BB and the Halloween Exchange have both finished), which involves participents being split up into different teams to compete for points! Points can be awarded for writing, reading, arting, crafting or whatever!
4) Prompt Challenge/Bingo Card - A bingo card with a new prompt revealed every week up to the release of Spectre!

If anyone has any ideas please do put them below! I will be having a general 'idea and helping out' post next week where anyone who wishes to help can also note your interest!

Question Time!

1) Whose seen the new Spectre TV spot? What do you think of it? Excited for the film yet?
2) What's the one genre in fanworks that you avoid like the plague? Any particular reason?
3) Where do you think James and Q would go on holiday? Why is this?
4) If James and Q have a fight, how do you think they make up afterwards? Who says sorry first?
5) Whose your favourite member of MI6 (apart from James + Q) - eg Eve/Tanner/M, and why?

If you have any more questions, please feel free to add more! :)

Comments

Re: Castillon

[(Anonymous)]

2) Yeah, I love fluff too, but painful with a happy ending is where it's at! Woo, club t-shirts. :D

4) Glad you liked my argument headcanons! I do enjoy the idea of Bond thinking of his relationship with Q in mission terms sometimes. (Usually with good humor/parody, like: "Mission objective: Keep Q from playing that godawful dubstep in the Aston. [I love that idea!] Possible tactics: Distracting petty not-argument, perhaps about a semi-impossible gadget request; calculated question about Q Branch politics (bonus: intel on possible enemies and allies); mini-lesson about how to manipulate people disguised as a question about what Q would do in a hypothetical scenario; binding Q's hands so he can't reach the knobs..." Though of course the mission mindset could also have its dysfunctional side as well.)

6) Lol, you're right, I think that Skyfall showed us Q's ability to be articulate under pressure, and he probably would be one of those last word people. I can definitely see Bond storming off in a huff while Q radiates smugness at having made his point "cleverly." Meanwhile Bond gnashes his teeth and perhaps fantasizes about ways to turn off that smart mouth for a little bit. If they have a relationship that's at all D/s, gags have to be handled very carefully. I think part of the reason that Q is so articulate is because at one point in his life, his smart mouth was the only weapon he had. Maybe he sucked at physically fighting back against bullies or people who wanted to use him, but he could make sure his words echoed in their brains long after his own bruises had healed. I'll bet it takes Q a long time to realize that he doesn't have to strike so hard and relentlessly with Bond, that he's still safe even when they're shouting and furious or upset with each other.

I'd love to see a relationship where they have a couple of signals that they've agreed to use with each other. One that Bond usually uses, which means that he'll try to talk in a calm tone of voice instead of shouting and Q will promise to listen without interrupting until Bond is finished and lifts the silence; one that Q usually uses, which means they don't leave the room (or house or whatever) until Q opens the lock (they can glare at the walls all they want--but no leaving in a huff). They both learn how to trust each other enough to limit themselves in order to (hopefully) communicate better.

I'm of two ways about the jealousy thing. On the one hand, Bond girls typically have such a different relationship with Bond that I can't see Q feeling threatened, especially because, as you say, it's the job. On the other hand, I agree that I can see Q feeling possessive about Bond, especially in the first throes of their relationship: everyone should just learn to keep their paws off of Q's agent! On the OTHER other hand, I have a big soft spot for fics in which Q asserts some element of control in Bond's liaisons by involving himself in them somehow. ANYWAY. Definitely agree that it's a potential issue!

-Castillon

Re: Castillon

[teacass.livejournal.com]

6) That's a really interesting reading of Q, I totally agree with you re: the fact he had to use his smart words to defend himself. It's really interesting, normally I write James as the one who has struggles with trusting another and I never really consider how Q's personality would play into his trusting ability. (especially with listening to criticism/getting stuff wrong/disagreeing and communicating his needs to James)

I am all for secret signals - it seems very apt for two people who work in a secret organisation and quite apt for their personalities too. I like to thing that they use the secret signals less as their relationship develops (and so their trust in one another grows to the point where they feel comfortable communicating what they're feeling to another).

Re: Castillon

[(Anonymous)]

Love the idea of the secret signals getting used less and less as they grow to trust each other more and learn healthier communication habits!

I also really loved question four in general; it was something that I had to think hard about, and even now I know that what I've said is only true for the versions of Q and Bond that I've headcanoned for the prompt. Would you mind if I posted question 4 in the 00Q tag (or you could post it, too, if the timing works out that way or you want to keep the question on the MI6 Cafe blog)? Super curious about what other people would think about it and hopeful that they'll feel as engaged by the question as I did! (I would love to see an interpretation that's radically different from mine, for example.)

Re: Castillon

[teacass.livejournal.com]

Sure you can post the question! If you want give a heads up about the comm (free advertisement is a good thing) and it might even get some more people to come over and say hi!