#headcanonday

[luminiferocity]

Here be headcanons

It's happening! Kicking off the first day of 007 Fest 2023 with some MI6 worldbuilding headcanons for Headcanons Day (AKA the HCs crammed into my WIP to make sense of film-world MI6)

Q Branch is just a small part of Six (and everyone else thinks the double-oh programme is more trouble than it's worth)

Q Branch makes no sense. As film!Q is a shorthand for the mission support teams for narrative ease, Q Branch seems to run independently and Q himself is a polymath taking on all the roles.

Eh, I'm okay with genius Q because I love him 🤷 Other Q Branchers are all wildly smart and eccentric in their own ways. That's Q's hiring policy

Most analysis, missions, etc. are run through logical departments with hundreds of staff, which the problem children doubles-ohs and Q Branch build on for their specialist missions

Lots of Six staff don't like the double-ohs and Q Branch by extension – they burn through the budget, cause havoc and get away with multitudes, and a little more secrecy and intelligence in the SIS would be much preferred

Maybe it's for the best that Q Branch is away from HQ up-river at Millbank Pier (based on this excellent post)

Essentially, Mallory has hundreds, maybe thousands, of staff and assets globally, yet it's 1% of his staff that causes 99.9% of his headaches

Heracles isn't the first off-book project and it won't be the last

Mallory was used as a character to hang the Heracles plot on, but it leaves a lot of questions. Why was he even involved? Why isn't it the responsibility of the Defence Science and Technology Lab?

I figure all the UK's intelligence agencies have joint off-book operations like the Heracles research, some farmed out to private contractors, etc. So, Heracles isn't special, it's just that this secret got found out and had big consequences

Maybe Mallory had a hand in Obruchev defecting, so those consequences were extra personal

Also, imagine being Mallory: was Chair of the committee looking into MI6 shadiness, only to get hired as M and get tangled into all this shadiness

Q & Moneypenny besties: great; Q & Moneypenny & Tanner: even better

After Spectre, they didn't know who to trust, except one another. They keep Six running and they're each other's rocks and best bitching buddies

Q, despite what he says, is the most dramatic of the three. Moneypenny, of course, delights in winding Q up. Tanner isn't as catty as those two, except for when the mood strikes and he's the worst

Tanner gets swept up in various antics, often Bond's, along with Q and Moneypenny. However, he's perfected bland-faced innocence and Mallory never gives him grief for it. Q and Moneypenny find this very annoying

[teamcivilian]

Sassy Mathilde is Sassy

So young in age, Mathilde know already her ways. After all, her Maman teached her well.

With 5 years old she already speaks not only her mother's tongue (French) but also english. She also understand a bit of german and Italy.

She is careful with strangers, acting shy and adorable, knowing she gets her way then.

The monsieur, who came up so uninvited to their hiding space? He seems fine - otherwise maman would had not let him sleep in her bed - but let's see what he is able of.

The pancakes were truly yummy. But she would not say it right away.

And this weird l'Oncle with his garden? Did she loved the garden? Yes. Would she tell him? No!

She rather act frightened, while waiting for a chance to run and hide. Especially there he was not to trust. After all, he lost her dou-dou!

One thing is clear here; If Mathilde had stayed a week with Safin, she would have wrapped him around her little finger to become the Queen of his Island.

[nicole--whitman]

High school

Nicole is in a bit of a limbo when it comes to high school. On one hand, she was never the butt of any jokes, she was never bullied or picked on or particularly ostracized. On the other, Nicole was pretty lonely. By choice, naturally, so it isn't something Nicole would put blame on others for. She didn't have any friends at school, because she actively pulled away and shut herself in, feeling content with the company of her family instead. Like any other person with eyes, she could definitely be exposed to the horrors of high school and understands very well why somebody might not have liked it. For herself, it was a little bit in between. Sure, she wishes she hadn't isolated herself so that she might have had more friends when she entered into college, but at the same time she's thankful it gave her the opportunity to melt into the background and not be seen. Everything she learned, everything that developed within her, happened at the hands of her mother and her aunt, who were her two closest friends during that time in her life. 

[notagainnoah]

whiskey

I don’t much mind what alcohol it is; s’long as it’s alcohol. Whiskey can be nice, though. If not t’drink, see, s’pretty fun setting it on fire. Dunno why’d anyone waste’t like that, really, but hey - to each his own, I s’pose.

[nicole--whitman]

favorite food

Probably tofu. I’m not supposed to be a vegetarian anymore, but, I mean… having to quit it after five years isn’t going to stop me from preferring that kind of food. If I can help it, tofu will probably be my number one choice over anything.

[notagainnoah]

Women?

[nicole--whitman]

Joy.

The sound of laughter. The sound of my baby brother’s laughter as my stepfather tickles him senseless. The sound of kisses. The smell of flowers. Honeysuckle. Particularly honeysuckle. My aunt’s excited laughs. Hugs. Hard and heartfelt hugs. Uncomplicated times. Spending my birthday in my aunt’s flower boutique because that was all I cared about. The look on my mom’s face as I sowed clothes for my baby brothers. Horrible, horrible looking clothes, but… clothes nonetheless. Xerxes smiling. Xerxes telling me he likes it when I blush. Nobody has ever told me that before. The summer boat trips with my aunt. My stepfather’s silly jokes, with his silly puns. A family that’s whole again. Things, uh… things like that. 

[nicole--whitman]

Who was your first kiss with?

Xerxes Moore. He’s a… twenty-three year old firefighter. He, uh, he lives right here… in Annapolis. He won’t accept compliments but gives them away and makes you feel… really wonderful and really embarrassed at the same time. Embarrassed in a good way, I guess. He can’t dance. B-But he’s a fast learner. He’s got a nice car. He’s… got a nice smile. And he’s very handsome. And very tall. And a very good kisser. He’s also a bit of a gentleman. B-But, uh, I mean — I-I digress. Or, well - not really. I-I mean… you asked?