#Mi6cafe

[teamcivilian]

Announcement for a special Remembrance

Some of you know Tenshi aka slimysuckers aka Alexis from the last year(s) of the 007 fest.

A member of the team civilian and shipper of 00Q, she was a very much liked and gentle person. Many of you - and others - got to know her as a chat partner for James Bond related subjects, as for private, friendly conversation.

She left earth at the 7th of March and is clearly missed in this Fandom.

So I talked to others at this time (please look here) and I proposed a Tenshi Day for the next 007 fest.

It will be at the 15th of July for us, lots of time to prepare.

We want to cherish her, speak her name, tell anecdotes, make gifs, etc for her. What we are comfortable with.

No one will be forced to anticipate, and no one will be forced to use the 15th. If you want to post something earlier, later, more often, just tag 'tenshiday' and it will get reblogged on the civilian Blog. Of course we can reblog it also on private Blogs. Speak a person's name and they will not die.

I hope I did not overstep with this announcement and wish you all a wonderful 007 fest 2023!

Much love,

Penny

[dassandre-00qpidsarrow]

007 Fest 2023 - Intro Post

[kaijudirector]

007 Fest 2023 - Headcanons!

Run out the guns, it's headcanon time! Prepare for barrage! (and my first post, so forgive me if I make a few mistakes, and it's a bit late due to my personal schedule)

Bond Headcanons

James Bond is not a codename. Quite frankly, I've never subscribed to this theory. I've always believed that we jump to a slightly different universe with every actor switch. Each universe shares vaguely the same series of events, with certain commonalities. Such as…

Every film Bond has lost their Tracy, except (maybe) Connery and Craig. Moore still visits his Tracy's grave, Dalton's was mentioned to have been married in LTK. Brosnan we never know flat out, but remember - "Or if you find forgiveness in the arms of those willing women, for all the dead ones you failed to protect…" Connery represents and interesting scenario. Diamonds are Forever can be read in two ways - either Bond is out Spectre-hunting after You Only Live Twice to catch the remains of what remains of Spectre, or he's on the warpath after Tracy died in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. For the sake of this theory, let's say that the latter scenario is canon.

Brosnan's Bond used to have unlimited spending money, but then Dench!M cut the funding, hence her nickname of evil queen of numbers This is something that has some basis in the Fleming books. Bond in Casino Royale is allowed to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the Secret Service's tab - millions of francs that is. Despite the fact that in the 50s 1 pound meant 13 francs, this still constitutes a hefty amount. I remember reading that novel!Bond basically has an unlimited budget in a guidebook. I have a feeling this is similar in the movies - after all, I doubt even a RN commander's pension could afford the hundreds of thousands in monies Bond is bound to lose in the movies. Of course, in Brosnan!Bond's timeline, I have a feeling Dench!M ended up putting an end to that little scenario.

There was no Cuban Missile Crisis in the Fleming books. Rather, Operation Thunderball was the "big nuclear scare that defined the Cold War". In the movies, it's largely kept under wraps, but in the book, it eventually goes public by the end of the story. Of course, the loss of two atomic bombs in the Caribbean may have convinced certain figures in the Soviet Union that keeping their nukes in such an area would be… disastrous to say the least. So with that in mind, they decided not to bite the bullet and kept Cuba nuke-free.

SMERSH was kept around specifically to counter the OO Section in the books. SMERSH in real life was disassembled in 1946, whereupon the MGB took on its counter-intelligence duties before reformatting into the KGB in 1954. We know in later books, specifically The Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy and the Living Daylights, that the KGB does exist in the Fleming books. However, considering how more proactive the British Secret Service is, especially with the OO section, I would hazard a guess that SMERSH was kept around specifically to combat them, at least until the KGB came into existence (which then absorbed it).

Brosnan's Lleweylln!Q did retire… He took his fishing boat to Wales and lived out the rest of his days somewhere in the countryside where they only speak Welsh (a little something @emiliasilverova and I cooked up a few years ago)

Kincade is (or at least was) married to May Maxwell For those of you who don't know, May Maxwell is Book!Bond's Scottish housekeeper. In between assignments, she and Kincade stay up in Skyfall, before Bond summons her to look after his flat until he returns. Sadly, perhaps the reason we don't see her in Craig!Bond's run is that she may have passed away at some point.

Blofeld was always a megalomaniac, but kept that under wraps... until Bond drove him over the edge

One major line of thinking I remember when I watched Tim Burton's Batman movies is that Batman is always just one step behind his villains in the crazy department, with his morals relatively intact. Conversely, we see Blofeld acting like an absolute machine in Thunderball (and all his appearances in the movies before YOLT), but when Bond foiled his plots, he slowly began to lose it. This gave way into him being more expressive, megalomanaical, and downright unconventional (biological warfare, suicide gardens, and diamond lasers) as time goes on. After all, how would YOU process your hundred-million-dollar master plans going up in smoke at the hands of a suave secret agent who always gets away with it?

Bond's favorite book is Treasure Island

John Gardner mentioned that Robert Louis Stevenson was Bond's favorite author. And with the latter writing a sea story that stars a young orphan named James, who gets involved in some epic swashbuckling adventures, it just feels right.

[emerald-truth]

007 Fest Introduction

Hello, I’m naq, 009! As you can see I’m on team00, and I’m sure we shall be victorious in apprehending all the villains and uh, breaking all of Q branch’s gadgets? I’m not too particular about my pronouns but it/they/he are some I like best.

Now for some fun facts about 009! He’s being interviewed haha

Favorite caviar: Caviar? Now I don’t really go in for fish and such but I’ve had caviar made of fruit before and it’s quite delicious. I think it was grapefruit flavored, yes. Very good with yoghurt.

Favorite cocktail: Have you ever had a phosphate soda? It’s a bit old fashioned I know, and hard to come by these days, but I love the sour taste. Better than any cocktail I swear! You can even make them with alcohol if you’re so inclined *wink*

Last gadget you brought back to Q-Branch in one piece: Well I do try to be careful with all those lovely knickknacks Q makes, but you know how it goes . . . Let’s see, I’ve had this lovely watch here for a few years now actually. It’s meant to be a grenade but it keeps such perfect time, I’m loath to use it as an explosive. Shame Q put so much effort into the gears, for once it’s an invention he’d rather I not bring back in one piece!

Least favorite mission: Ah, there was this one mission where Moneypenny stole all my candy before I left because she was worried I was eating too many sweets. I could hardly function until I had time to buy more, and they didn’t have any of my favorites in Malaysia, although I did try some new mango flavored ones . . . Needless to say, M made sure Moneypenny didn’t do that again. “Eating too many sweets,” no such thing especially when I’m in the field. I swear she ate some of the ones she stole too!

[solarmorrigan]

007 Fest Introduction: Solar

tumblr/slack/ao3: solarmorrigan

civilian role (nickname): The Library Clerk

what were you doing before being rudely interrupted by an international crisis: What international crisis?

favorite snack/drink to have while watching the events unfold: I’ll never say no to a vanilla coke

what you’re most looking forward to during Fest: I’m just looking forward to being here! I’m hoping maybe I can catch a watch party or post some headcanons, but mostly I just want to have a good time with people

[stilettochat]

@52drabbles

My submissions for the first two weeks of January 2024. Hope you like them.

[emiliasilverova]

Emilia Silverova's Intro Post (Team Villains 2023)

Villainous Nickname:

Janusova, Emilia Janusova.

Modus Operandi:

Blaring (tasteful) 1980s music over the screams of my vict— guests. Guests, yes.

About my lair:

You could say it's a museum of curiosities—a comfortable, old-fashioned place filled with precious antiques, Cold War relics, keepsakes from former adversaries or intriguing prototypes borrowed back in my days as a 00 agent... the list goes on. Reminiscing about the histories behind all these artifacts is always a delight. For instance, this Soviet EMP satellite keycard I bought on the black market? Finest technology ever produced in the Eastern Bloc, let me tell you. I sure wish I could make it work again.

My secret weapon:

Remembering everything. Absolutely everything.

What are you most looking forward to about 007 Fest 2023:

Watch the chaos unfold, a delicious cup of tea in hand.

Villainous catchphrase:

‘Pretend to be weak, that your opponent may grow arrogant.’

[crewman-penelope]

Mr Big reveals himself as Kananga

Yaphet Kotto in live and let die

[aprettyspy]

I've been struggling lately to find time to write but I enjoy it so much, I want to build it back into my daily routine. As a result, I've set myself a Yuletide Flash Fic Challenge and you're welcome to join me. The rules are very simple. Each day from December 1st to 25th pick a prompt (any prompt you like, they don't have to be in order) and write/edit for no more than 30mins per day. That's it. You can have 25 individual fics, or weave them together. You can go off on side quests, introduce OCs, vary POVs and all characters are fair game. Me, I'm just going to have fun, so it will be silly, shmoopy, trope-riddled fic from me. If you do join in (leap in whenever you are ready) just tag #SpysYuletideFlash. Here are the prompts:

@mi6-cafe

[alsolowkeynostalgic]

MI6 Cafe Creators Tag Game

(Thanks for the tag, @emiliasilverova, this is my very untimely response lol)

We’d love for people to keep getting to know each other after this year’s 007 Fest, so we’re starting this tag game!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 3 new people to complete this. Also, tag the person who tagged you and @mi6-cafe so we can reblog your response.

Note that when we say ‘fanwork’ in the questions below, that could mean a fanfic, gif, fanart, headcanon, cosplay, crocheted work---any kind of fancreation counts!

1. What work of yours challenged you when you were creating it? 

Everything I create, especially writing, challenges me in some way.

My part of Juggling Act, the 007 Fest Round Robin, was one of the most challenging pieces of writing I've ever had to write. I'm a slow writer, so having only 24 hours to come up with a coherent follow-up to what came before me was difficult, but very rewarding.

2. What is a fanwork you’ve seen which gave you a new headcanon about a character?   

@jellymish-art's whole body of work, but especially pieces like this one, 100% sold me on the trans!Bond headcanon. I feel like trans!Q is a lot more common so I'm sharing some love for 007.

3. Is there a fanwork that you really want to make, but you haven’t started yet?

Many, but for the two that I think will eventually happen:

a 00Leiter fic during Quantum of Solace, based on their exchange at the bar

a collection of 00Leiter vignettes through the different incarnations of Leiter and 007, told from Leiter's POV

4. What fanwork of yours surprised you, and how?

No Longer My Concern, an alternate universe fic where M is a medium, set during Skyfall. I'd never remixed somebody else's fic before, but deadicateddeath's AU was so intriguing it almost wrote itself.

5. What themes/styles/subjects are common across many of your fanworks?

Angst, loss, and bittersweet tenderness. My partner described my style as "consistently smart and understated" and I strive for every piece to be worthy of that compliment.

6. What other fandoms do you create for, if any?

None at the moment. Other than Bond, I mainly write original fiction.

7. Is there an artist that you like to listen to while you create? Or one whose work always inspires you?

I'm not married to a specific artist, or collection of artists, but I often find myself coming back to Rammstein. Lots of angsty pieces were drawn or written listening to them.

8. Share a fanwork that you’ve found yourself thinking about weeks after reading/seeing it.

This edit of CR, QoS and Skyfall set to Somebody to Die For by Hurts. I've watched it dozens of times and it never fails to make me cry. Beautiful edit set to a beautiful song.

9. Finally, share where you post your works!

ao3: lowkeynostalgic

tumblr: lowkeynostalgic

side blog: alsolowkeynostalgic

and I sometimes contribute to Licence to Queer

Tagging: no one because at this point everyone should have done it already 🤭

[roseforthethorns]

“Wild Geese”

For the end of 007 Fest 2022 Nights are the hardest.

For James Bond, the nightmares never really bothered him. He simply accepted them as his due, a reward for being MI6’s best spy. He’d been everywhere, seen everything, done everything and (most) everyone. He had a list of kills longer than most in the business, and not all of them had been dispatched with a bullet. Sometimes, Bond would wake, body alert and mind racing, convinced he’d felt hands around his throat again, or the crushing weight of water, or his shoulder exploding in pain. Other times he would wake and have to check that he wasn’t still holding his gun.

When Bond and Vesper had been together, he’d still been so green as an agent; there had been some trauma, but nothing some Scotch and a good fuck couldn’t handle. Her death still hurt, but the dull ache of an old scar, and the nightmare of her drowning almost never happened anymore.

But when he started sleeping with Q? When the lanky boffin with a sharp tongue and a voice that always brought Bond home had found his way into Bond’s bed? When Bond had to finally begin to acknowledge to himself that he did, indeed, care for Q and was finding it harder and harder to understand what Q saw in him? 

One particularly sleepless night found Bond standing near one of the windows in his flat, wrapped in his dressing gown. Snow was falling softly outside, blanketing the streets and muffling the sounds of a sleeping London. Bond took another mouthful of Scotch, the liquor burning with a pleasant familiarity as it went down. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Q walked up softly beside him, though not quite with the cat-like tread of a double-oh.

Bond glanced at him and then back out the window. “You should be sleeping.”

“As should you.” Q’s lips twitched slightly. “There, now we’ve both said something incredibly obvious.” He reached out and gently laid his hand on Bond’s shoulder. “You got up a while ago.”

“I thought you were sleeping,” Bond replied, taking another sip.

Q shrugged. “The bed’s colder alone.” They stood in silence for a moment, before Q spoke again. “But really, James, why are you up?” 

The silence stretched for a long time before Bond finally sighed. “Why are you here, Q? Why are you here- with me?” He didn’t look at Q, just continued to stare out the window and sip his drink.

Squeezing Bond’s arm gently, Q said, “Because I want to be.”

Bond chuckled darkly. “You make it sound so simple, like it’s easy for you to be around someone like me.”

“You mean a spy?” Q asked.

“I mean a killer, Q.” The words hang in the air for a moment, finally said, and Bond drains his glass.

Q is silent for a moment, and if Bond had looked at his face, he’d have seen Q thinking. But when Q speaks, it’s not at all the response Bond expects.

“You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.”

Squeezing Bond’s arm gently again, Q presses a gentle kiss to his cheek. “I didn’t write that, but I meant every word. I chose this, James, and I still choose to be here. No matter your past, I’m here. Now, come back to bed.”

The nightmares don’t ever end for a double-oh, but finding someone to share the burden with makes them easier to endure.

Author’s note: the poem quoted in the story is “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver (hence the title)

[teamcivilian]

For England

Q laid on bed, not even trying to sleep. His now glassless eyes stared through the bedroom window into the night. Raindrops on the glass and the yellow streetlight draw cruel sceneries on the window.

Seeing him falling. Smashed skull.

Seeing him bleeding. Drowning.

Seeing him - - working. In the claws of an enemy. Long fingernails and greasy lipstick. Heavy perfume. Hard to wash out.

C1 and C2 sensed Q's heartache. The felines shuffled at their papa's feet, turning and circling, until they found peace between Q's leg.

The sound of loud cat purring and the rain falling got broken by another sound.

The rattling of keys in a door made Q checking his watch. 5 am.

He waited. His partner seemed to linger in the door.

Drunk? Wounded?

He sighed and decided to stay in bed.

He waited three days, hoping for his safety. No sleep. Keeping alive by too much tea and burned toast. Now he felt pouty and annoyed. Irritated.

He closed his eyes and listened.

Somebody in the corridor was clumsy. Slowly walking. Maybe trying to be silent? Eventually he heard the living room door. His partner had chosen the couch.

*

Q woke up to the smell of tea and toast. The bed room now in full light, he turned around im bed.

The door was open, the cats freed and miauing in the flat.

Q fished his glasses from the bedside cabinet, and grabbed his robe, making his way slowly into the kitchen. Not sure what he want to see. What to say.

James stood at the table, buttering some toast, while muttering to C1, who sat on the table. What was verboten - and C1 knew it! C2 sat to James feet, watching him.

Eventually both felines became aware of Q, meowing a loud greet.

James turned around.

His eyes piercing as always, Q felt at once hypnotized. Heart skipped. A sob escaped his throat.

The cruel, lush mouth forming a smirk, James started: “Hey Da-”

Two second later Q hung at him, pressing his face in the crock of Bond's neck, crying shameless.

Strong arms holding him, the smell of James's fresh showered body making him dizzy.

“I know. I know.”, James mumbled softly in his ear. His fingers caressing gentle through Q's hair. “I missed you too.”

[dassandre-00qpidsarrow]

007 Fest 2023 Masterpost - Dassandre

Here it is. What I submitted for 007 Fest 2023. There was more ready to be published and shared, but this is what I decided to put out into the aether.

"Taking Aim at 007 Fest" Graphic - 5 points

Hello banner - 5 Points

Hello by @boffin1710 and @dassandre-00qpidsarrow - 700 points (breakdown is in team spreadsheet) It's Not that Kind of Mole (Team Villains challenge) - 10 points

7 Theme Days (Hello covered a lot of ground) - 35 points

1 Prompt Exchange Fill - 5 points

Comments - 47 points

Comment Bonus - 30 points

31 Day Fan Creation Challenge Bonus - 75 points

Total Points - 912 points

That's it for this year. Dassandre's out!

[kaijudirector]

007 Fest 2023

Online handle: kaijudirector

Nickname: Just kaiju, thank you... plain simple kaiju...

Civilian role: I have the details, I persevere and play the maximums... or as a certain Mr. Fleming put it...

“Duclos, the chef de partie, has the details. It seems that he is persevering and plays in maximums. He has luck. His nerves seem good. On the soirée, the chemin-de-fer won x, the baccarat won y and the roulette won z. The boule, which was again badly frequented, still makes its expenses.”

Favourite snack while things unfold: Well since it's birthday week, let's have some cake!

Thing most looking forward to: Just stretching the writing muscles, hopefully

Tag to watch out for: #kaijusfestlibrary

Current mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs1-JjyPZgc

[emerald-truth]

a fruit to remember (jinx/wai lin)

I’m writing f/f double drabbles for the food prompt table! Here’s the first one. (I will post them on ao3 when they’re all done) I’m a day late for drabble day but ah well. I’m PRETTY SURE they were eating figs in that one scene in die another day and I think figs are very sexy so I’ve decided it was figs.

"Long time no see." Wai Lin smiles against the butt of the American agent's gun. "I'm very good at hide and seek." Wai was assigned to capture her for the Chinese government, but Jinx has won this round of the little game they play with each other, letting her foreign counterpart chase her across the globe before setting a trap at her own house. "Is this how friends great each other in the west?" Wai jerks her head at the gun to her temple before knocking it away. Jinx barely resists. It's a wonder their governments kept assigning them to opposing missions. "No, but this is how lovers do." Jinx drops the gun on the table with one hand and pulls Wai into a kiss with the other. The kiss is a well practiced habit, easy with the knowledge of many more to come. Too soon Jinx pulls away, but she has another treat for Wai. From a bowl on the table she plucks one of her signature figs and presses it to Wai's lips. "Eat. Your tongue could use sweetening." Wai bites obediently and before she has time to swallow, Jinx is kissing the sweetness off her tongue again.

[dixkens]

MI6 Cafe Creators Tag Game

So late getting to this, but thanks to @silverbrume for tagging me in!

We’d love for people to keep getting to know each other after this year’s 007 Fest, so we’re starting this tag game!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 3 new people to complete this. Also tag the person who tagged you and @mi6-cafe so we can reblog your response.

Note that when we say ‘fanwork’ in the questions below, that could mean a fanfic, gif, fanart, headcanon, cosplay, crocheted work—any kind of fancreation counts!

What work of yours challenged you when you were creating it?

Everything I’ve written?

But seriously. There’s Nothing to Fear https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674746 from my Bondverse x Leverage crossover series The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Hackers in Love where Q, seriously wounded in Afghanistan after a plane crash, has to cope with recovering from a life-changing injury.

Deciding that Q’s backstory was wounded veteran always felt right. On the other hand, writing the immediate aftermath of his injury felt like a challenge and a risk and one I wasn’t sure I was up to executing. Particularly since it was important to me to keep the story respectful of the realities of the situation I was fictionalizing.

What is a fanwork you’ve seen which gave you a new headcanon about a character?

There was a fic with a line about how much more dangerous Q is than an agent. I latched onto the idea that Q is dangerous and, more importantly, aware of it quite hard. The fic was good in several ways but also had plot points that irritated me (to the point that if you ask me about it, I WILL rant at you) so I’m not going to track it down to link.

Is there a fanwork that you really want to make, but you haven’t started yet?

Two that I can think of.

The first’s working title is Yusef’s Tale. A backstory for the man Vesper loved and was betrayed by.

The second is a femslash crossover with the movie Red where M (Mansfield) and Victoria Winslow (the assassin played by Helen Mirrin) were/are lovers.

What fanwork of yours surprised you, and how?

High Water Mark https://archiveofourown.org/works/36281518 - I wrote a magical AU. I made up a mythos. I made Q a god. I made M his priestess. I wrote M/Q.  The whole thing was very different from what I would have said that I ‘usually write’.

What doesn’t surprise me is it will probably have a sequel. This keeps happening to me.

What themes/styles/subjects are common across many of your fanworks? Alternatively, what themes/styles/subjects are you most interested in creating?

High-trust committed relationships, stories where the conflict is Individual vs System, complex examinations of consent, agency, and autonomy. I also tend to sprinkle in references to other fandoms and geeky jokes in a variety of subjects.

I find myself writing similar things from different angles, making something that seems innocuous at first glance threatening later, or taking the same situation and interpreting it multiple ways. For example, in my branching series Curriculum Vitae https://archiveofourown.org/series/2276666 Q ends up wrapped in a blanket several times but because of circumstances his responses vary from nearly having a panic attack to falling asleep.

What other fandoms do you create for, if any?

I’ve posted in Leverage, Good Omens, Discworld, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Norse Mythology and likely will again.

I also have WIPs for the Wayward Children series and Thor: Ragnarok. I aspire to someday write fanfic for my favorite spy movie of all time Hopscotch.

Is there an artist that you like to listen to while you create? Or one whose work always inspires you?

I don’t generally listen to anything while I’m writing though I do sometimes find songs that fit a fic’s theme. I’ve been slowly building a playlist to go with 2 Hackers for example.

Share a fanwork that you’ve found yourself thinking about weeks after reading/seeing it.

This is not a Bond fanwork but it is one I think about from time to time even now, years after I first saw it. This Firefly video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZr9wsZz_bk (I hesitate to call it a fanvid) is an excellent example of a creative work that takes a critical look at the source material’s flaws.

Finally, share where you post your works!

Mostly at https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypatia

Occasionally on https://dixkens.tumblr.com/

Tagging: I’m so late to this party I don’t know who hasn’t already been tagged. If you haven’t and read this, comment, and I’ll tag you!

Edited: Tagging @verdigrissoup