007 Fest Introduction Post
Alias:Â Gemma (Gem) Sinclair
Occupation: Undercover MI6 Operative - Barista; Caffeine Purveyor to the Needy of London
Once a highly skilled MI6 Senior Intelligence Officer who was flirting with becoming a Double-O, Gemma Sinclair lost most of her vision during an accident on a mission stateside. Putting to M the argument that she still had something to offer the service that had already spent so much on developing her skills, Gem suggested she become an “Echo,” one of MI6’s in plain sight spies who are in a position to overhear all manner of conversation, but whose presence is largely ignored: restaurant servers, taxi drivers, hair stylists, baristas, and the like. All fully vetted and trained MI6 intelligence agents, Echoes serve in key locales around the world, even on home soil.
It had taken some time relearning to “see” and adapting her espionage skills accordingly, but it was decided that Gem would reopen the coffee cart she had owned prior to being recruited years earlier. It had been insanely popular then; Gem’s skills with her La Marzocco Linea Classic espresso machine had brought people from all over London to her queue-- politicians, embassy mission personnel, and the PAs of top international corporate and banking executives, among them. All of them desperate for that buzz of caffeine; all of them equally lax when it came to keeping their mouths shut on their mobiles as they waited for their flat whites, cappuccinos, and cortados with oat milk and vanilla syrup. That Gem’s baked goods were equally luscious had brought even bigger queues, one that included her eventual recruiter who couldn’t get enough of her triple-chocolate fudge brownies and almond croissants.
Special Skills: Nicknamed “The Coffee Whisperer” by her more devoted customers, she has been called instinctively gifted when it comes to brewing the bean. In her fully sighted days, she was able to “read” a new customer’s order in their eyes before they actually voiced it. Now she senses it in their mien and tone as they wait in her queue. Sometimes the coffee drink the customer is given might not be what they ordered but, rather, what they need. No one has ever complained. Well, not after the first sip, at any rate. Â
Gem’s hearing has always been extremely acute, but even more so now, and she is able to keep track of multiple conversations going on around her cart, even as she talks with the customers, and makes their drinks. Her intelligence gathering skills are the highest among the Echoes -- Gem is ever amused at how people seem to think that because she is mostly blind, she must be deaf, too -- and the increasing popularity of her cart has M considering releasing funding for Gem to have the part time help of a junior agent during peak hours. In the last six months alone, Gem has passed along key intelligence that ultimately led to several successful missions in the protection of King and Country.Â
Gem is fluent in several languages -- Russian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese -- and conversational in three others (Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, and Tagalog), not that her customers have any idea she is multilingual. She always chats with them in her native Scots brogue -- Gaelic being her first language even before she learnt English -- which she’d had to tame down when she’d become an agent. Â
Best Friend: Gem’s best friend is her yellow Labrador Retriever, Bumble. He helps keep an eye on Gem as she’s busy keeping an eye out on The Commonwealth. Always at her side, Bumble is a trained service dog with highly protective instincts. Everyone who comes to Gem’s cart knows that Bumble is as goofily loving as his name suggests, but that he is there to assist Gem in whatever she needs. Though technically owned by MI6, as they paid for him and his training, Bumble is the best thing to happen to Gem, and she loves him dearly. Yes, even when he steals her socks or wakes her up in the middle of the night with a sneak attack, slobbery kiss on the mouth. Ugh!
Other Friends: Mac, a cryptographer from Q-Branch is easily her most frequent customer. Though he’s often fetching coffee and brownies for his boss, The Quartermaster, the man never leaves empty handed for himself. She can always tell what kind of day he’s having once she senses him in the queue, and on good days has a hot white chocolate mocha ready for him. Otherwise, she passes him an Ethiopian dark to match his mood, and she always keeps a chocolate cream-filled fairy cake and a cruller in reserve for him.Â
They’ve struck up a good friendship over the years. He always remembers to bring a treat for Bumble, and because he never knew her when she was sighted -- he didn’t start with Six until a year after her accident -- he always chats with her without the undertone of pity that frequently tinges the conversations she has with people she knew “before.” Though she never quite knows when he’ll appear, Mac always does. Without fail. He’s just as desperate for his caffeine fix as the rest of Six is, after all. Â
Only once did he not show, and it had worried Gem to the point that she had her Six appointed driver (a story in and of itself) drive her to Q-Branch headquarters (the back entrance, of course) when she packed up for the day. Gem was directed to Medical where she found a doctor stitching up the back of his head.  An overly nervous newbie intern hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going, was running through the twisting corridors of the Churchill tunnels to catch up with the rest of the intro tour, and crashed into Mac, sending him into one of the stone walls where he cracked his head, knocking him unconscious. Mac got free coffees and baked goods for a fortnight after that incident; the first week was on the newbie, the second was on Gemma.
Coffee Cart’s Name: Buzz & Bark. The double meaning of “Buzz” in this case being the buzz of caffeine along with the buzz of intelligence-worthy gossip. The “Bark”, of course, is for her beloved Bumble.
Lives In: A converted warehouse in Pimlico owned by MI6. While not huge, it provides Gemma with not only a comfortable space for her and Bumble to live in but it houses a small commercial kitchen in which she bakes the goods for her cart. It’s perfect for the two of them, but Gem admits to getting a tad lonely.
Favourite Food: She’s a slave for anything in rice paper be it a fresh Vietnamese spring roll or sashimi wraps.
Least Favourite Food: Hobnob biscuits. No. Just … no.
Vices: Audiobooks. She has several thousand in her library and likes to listen to them as she bakes. This can get a bit awkward for her neighbours when she forgets to turn down the volume on the romance titles and the sex scenes get going. She’s particularly fond of male LGBTQ+ titles, and they get S T E A M Y!  She also has a penchant for American iced sweet tea, which she always drinks in private. The gasps of horror from others simply too much to contend with. Bumble, of course, doesn’t give a shite.
Contends with Boredom:  By reading cookbooks and baking books. Gem can still see a little bit via a pinhole’s worth of vision in her left eye, and is ever so grateful for it. She binge watches British Bake Off and whatever the latest crime show is. Snuggling with Bumble. He’s bloody brilliant at it.
Deals with Frustration: By going to the shooting range at MI6, and with the Quartermaster’s assistance, blows the absolute shite out of the targets. Q makes sure no one else is on the range, and lets Gem have at it -- safely, of course. It’s highly therapeutic.
Other Tidbits: Even though she is tasked as an Echo, Gem is still a senior intelligence officer on assignment; therefore, she still gets operational support from MI6. In addition to Bumble and the warehouse, this also means weaponry and gadgets from Q-Branch. All of which have been specially modified for her disability. Whilst it is not safe for her to use a firearm in public, Gem is highly skilled with a knife, and is always armed with one. A panic button has been installed, and cleverly hidden, in her coffee cart should she be attacked, and the sunglasses she wears have been modified by Q-Branch technology, enhancing that pinhole of vision she retained after the accident.
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