We Are Not Responsible For Missed Departures

22. Are they a good liar?

Yes and no, lol. He's not a crafty liar. His emotions quite frequently sprint across his face, and his expressions are rarely subtle. He can stumble and stutter a little with one, and in trying to dodge a question he doesn't want to address he can be somewhat painfully obvious.

What little 'good' he's had with it is mostly in deflection. In those that either try to keep up with how quickly he runs through speaking or start to lose attention because he's babbling again, and he's found his opening to deflect enough to make an exit from the situation. The fast lies - the ones that get you out between a rock and a hard place.

Certainly not about how he feels. Not a long game about something to hide. He's horrible at those. They eat away at him. Like an animal desperate for relief from a biting instinct, he can't help but gnash after it.

And to tell the truth? He doesn't particularly like lying. And he loathes to entertain doing things he does not like. Especially when it's something like... important. Like how he feels. Like... trying to have friends. Somewhere to belong.

So... no, actually. Jax is a shit liar. Sometimes, just sometimes... it might even be on purpose. [Because he might be equally bad at times about actually talking about things he's trying to avoid. Because he hasn't figured out how to carry it alone. Sometimes 'coping' is a little bit trying to figure out who notices he isn't doing it well.]

[Sometimes it's nice people notice. Even if he gives them trouble for it.]

31. Do they hold grudges?

Terribly. In that yes, he absolutely holds onto things. And also he should very notably have a grudge against Ren (@dieicarian) - and does, don't mistake him - for lying to him. For using him.

And also that said grudge didn't stop him from getting his messy feelings all tangled up about the guy and still working through said grudge while they got up against walls and still kissed. And that he'd still brawl bar style with Brass Blades over the guy. Because sure, he's hurt that Ren appears to have used him. He's fucking sour about it.

And he can accept that that isn't the entire story. And Jax still wants to hold onto him. Because he felt listened to. And Ren still cared enough to be mad at anyone else that seemed likely to try to use him.

And also yes, in general, Jax is terribly sour and holds onto things. Regardless of who it is. Because he has a huge wound shaped like wanting to belong and fit in with people, and he hates when people take advantage of that. And he hates how childish being upset about it makes him feel. Like he doesn't know better.

And in general, Jax is someone who I think frequently feels deeply. As much as he wants to belong, he doesn't want "fitting in" to cost him his sense of self. Nor anyone else. He doesn't want "fitting in" to cost "because I said so" as the only reason someone'll give.

And it doesn't matter if you can logic what you did to him if you won't accept that his feelings were smarted anyway. It can make him even more bullheaded if you don't cede that you caught his fingers in the mouse trap whether you wanted to or not.

And it's not fair, and if you try to say life isn't fair, then he'll say that's not fair. It shouldn't be like that. And by the bloody fucking Twelve, if spite is all he's got to make it more fair, then he's bloody going to, just you wait!

The kind of short and sweet version is that a lot - I mean, a lot - of Tyr's overarching story is heavily influenced from Bond and M's dynamic as seen through Casino Royale through about Skyfall. Bond and M, again, are one of the primary influences on how I read Tyr's relationship with the old man, formerly Keeper turned the late Minister of Imperial Intelligence.

If I had to say one movie and one movie only for someone to watch a Bond film and understand Tyr, I'd... probably end up in a pickle between Casino Royale and Skyfall. My personal bias leans me towards Skyfall.

Because Skyfall takes a long look; Skyfall is a heavy-handed influence and inspiration for my interpretation of Tyr's perspective and who he is not only in ImpIntel, but after the agency has collapsed. One of the best scenes in that movie for this purpose, is the poem M recites in a scene towards the end:

Another short way I could say this is... one could say, not wholly incorrectly, that Tyr is Bond at his most refined moments, and Alucren is a lot more towards the impulsive end. Which is... fine. In that it's not wholly incorrect.

But it's important to Bond's characterization that he's not only one or the other. And it's equally important to Tyr and Alucren that they are equally not wholly one or the other end of the spectrum.

Casino Royale has successfully colored at least one mutual's understanding of Tyr and you know who you are /lh. It's important that Tyr is someone who operates on trusting his own judgement, regardless of what his orders are. It's important that he cooperates with the authority in his role (Keeper to him, or M to Bond, if you will), but he goes off the script. And has a track record of doing so in a way that characterizes his successes. It's an important element of the kind of trust and respect that Tyr holds for Keeper that they have an unspoken understanding of these boundaries.

And it's important to not discount the capacity for recklessness in Tyr. He's someone I know to be very charismatic. Disarming in how readily he adapts to a situation that makes you nearly believe it's all to plan. That it was always going to turn out okay. But he runs a lot more on intuition than maybe the textbook would like him to. And that's exactly why he's a valuable operative to Keeper - and thus the kind of intuition Tyr values heavily in his own work, and when he looks for talent in others.

Quantum, then, heavily characterizes Alucren for the most part. Alucren does not have the same level of refinement on those talents, the same level of polish. His intuition does not operate the same as Tyr's. He misjudges. His entitlements make him misstep. He's hotheaded. It's a lot she'll half chide herself for later in life. Her younger self was a real righteous prick, wasn't he?

There is also one scene in Quantum, the small discussion before the final confrontation, where Bond asks Camille if she's ever killed someone. Oh good, there is my dm yapping about this because I can't find the damn scene. I can find the score for that sequence but not the scene. Okay you're getting the copy and paste bc I already put in the work lmao.

[inhales] okay. somehow the internet is failing me and there's not. a direct clip of the precursor to this scene which is. bond asks camille, have you ever killed someone? and then when she doesn't really respond, his explanation for what she needs to do is like. training will tell you that, when the adrenaline kicks in, you should compensate. but part of you is not going to believe that training because this kill is personal. take a deep breath. you only need one shot.

Sorry I'm just. I'm copying and pasting scenes again and then you'll get words.

So. The ones I have scenes for are... I think I harp a lot sometimes on the emotional element of Tyr, I gotta be honest lol. I'm so interested in that guy's psyche. Pulling the scenes with Camille is another instance of that.

It's the connection. It's the emotional grounding. It's the having a reason to push past your limits. Tyr's reckless. Bond's capable of being reckless. They wager against the house when they think they've got a sure bet. It does not always work.

A lot of the times, it does.

Alucren is... Tyr could kick her ass. Full stop. And they have slightly different specialties when it comes to armament. Alucren will never be as comfortable at long range or really, really up close as Tyr is. And she has a much harder time regulating, controlling her own emotions... than Tyr does, when it comes to the job.

Alucren becomes capable of the same brand of recklessness Tyr is when she has something really personal to fight for. Because she learns that from Tyr. She learns from Tyr that... staking something on your own values, sticking to your own beliefs... that's the kind of person she wants to be. That was the kind of man she was not, in her youth.

Which is the emotional element of it. This range of... not only a very successful agent on the mission outcomes end. On the skillset capabilities. But of the nuance in between. The moments of reactivity. Learning from the times they got the best of you.

Sticking to it even if it's steered you on an unexpected course. When everyone else has told you that's what makes you a liability risk.

There is also, inescapably, a very crucial part of who Bond is that I could simplify as... the fucking audacity.

IO nailed this so well for me in First Light - what I did play of it. I remember the from the first time Bond meets M, they have him sitting with the secretary or whatever. And it's not all scripted, but in the silence of being left to wait, they throw you several series of 2 dialogue prompts. Needling for information, you could call it. But what had me in stitches was, You're very talkative, aren't you? Man cannot sit there and shut up. To save his fucking life. And... I had already felt so pleased with everything before that, right, but god... God was it ever another moment where I had that game in my hands and knew they nailed it. They nailed Bond. The snappy commentary. Not always smoothly charismatic, as liable to get him into a little extra trouble as it is actually land another lead.

This is not an absent quality in Tyr. He just might be a little quicker at concealing it. He's very good at that job, including against himself sometimes. And it sure as hell isn't wrong to say Alucren will not shut the fuck up. Alucren will wear three inch heels and get every goddamn centimeter jammed in her maw for not knowing when to fucking shut up.

So... yes, in short. It's about the action. It's the competency that arises from improvisation and thinking on the feet and the training. It's also in the blunders. And the refusal to take no for an answer. It's in the charisma and the irritating stubbornness.

Some of the particulars are influential on Tyr as well. The story of him being an orphan comes right out of my memories of Skyfall, I have to admit.

I strongly believe that movie is good enough to stand on its own even if you hadn't watched Casino Royale, but it is a treat to watch it from the start. Admittedly, a great deal of my fondness for the Craig-era films is from the fact that it is sort of one looped, growing narrative. It wasn't so inflated and self-referential on a Marvel scale, where it's hard to keep track and know where to pick up from. But if you knew where things started, it added another layer to the anticipation.

And it's still some of my favorite cinematography.

OH. OH and title themes. God, I couldn't talk about Bond and forget title sequences jesus okay. So. The one that I really, really have paired is Alucren and Quantum's title sequence song, really. That's an integral part of her playlist for me. Load bearing inclusion. Fuck it, yes give me the one with the title sequence. Little bit of a flashing lights warning for this though.

A good Bond title sequence to me has references to what you're about to learn and watch unfold in the title sequence itself. To me. Inescapably good quality of any Craig-era Bond film I can think of readily.