#just normal MI6 employee things!! 😊

[cicerfics]

(@rudolphsb9)

This is very true!

Now, there are some scenes in the films where it kind of feels like it's implied Bond has his own money to spend. Like, he owns a flat in London and he seems able to manage even when M freezes his credit cards. And she makes such a point of telling Tanner to freeze all of Bond's cards, which I always took to mean his personal cards as well as (presumably?) his 'company' cards.

But I don't know! Perhaps the London flat is owned by MI6 and it's a perk offered to active-duty double-ohs (and thus rescinded/sold when the agents die or are retired)? Maybe Bond just scrounges up money via gambling and other illicit sources, and uses that for his personal funds?

I don't know! It is very possible that Bond is from an 'old money' family, but by his generation, the wealth has disappeared and nothing is left but a crumbling old estate that costs more to maintain than it generates in revenue! This is a common enough situation!

I do think it's interesting if Bond doesn't actually have any money of his own but he's held onto the Skyfall estate. I mean, presumably keeping it actually costs money, no? So, if he doesn't have money to burn, I am interested to know how/why he hangs onto it.

The film tries to make us believe that Bond has no attachment to the estate, but that's never held water with me. Just doesn't feel consistent with Bond's character somehow, or even his choice to use Skyfall as an improvised safehouse. His very choice to return there made me feel like he has some attachment to the place.

And, of course, if he's gone to the trouble/expense of keeping the place, when he could more easily sell it and have some money to play with, that must be an emotional decision, surely...? All the more so if keeping is actually an expense that Bond has had to find a way to shoulder!

...Now I'm interested in a situation where, post-Skyfall, Bond is pretty much reduced to having to sell the land, simply because there's nothing left of the estate he can even use to generate enough income to cover the taxes and so forth.

And now I'm imagining Q being very concerned about this decision and asking Bond if he's sure he really wants to sell. If Bond's kept the family land all these years, surely it's important to him? Surely he doesn't want to sell...?

And Bond bluntly states that it's just a matter of cost: he can't afford to keep it, so it's got to go. That's that. Decision made.

And Q blurts out, "Oh. Well, if it's just about the money...I could buy it for you?"

And Bond stares.

"Q," he says. "The estate agent has listed the property at £2 million."

"Oh!" Q says. "Oh, that's well below what I would've expected, really, given the size of the acreage...I suppose the incident with Silva must have knocked down the price quite a bit...well, but it's something of a bargain, at that price. Do you want me to buy it? Or give you the money so you can buy the property back?"

And Bond just...bluescreens.

And that's how he discovers that his new quartermaster has money-money.

...I am too lazy to go digging through my blog and find my previous posts about sugar-baby!Bond, but. I really do love him with my whole heart and soul.

Spoiled brat. Useless creature. Always pestering his husband for new toys and watches and shoes until he gives in. Proudly presenting himself as arm candy whenever Q has to go to a fancy dinner or something.

I love he. 💖

The canonical evidence for 'does Bond actually have money?' is sooooo inconsistent. Post-Skyfall, I've always worked under the assumption he does.

But there was that scene in Casino Royale where Vesper did her little cold reading and guessed that Bond was a scholarship kid who had a fancy education but effectively was a charity case who was contemptuous of rich people, and it's implied by Bond's reaction that she was right.

And then that scene where Bond basically told Vesper 'lol let's run away together!! until we run out of money and somebody has to get a job to support us. which will be you. because i don't know how. 😍'

So, IDK. I like old-money Bond, but I also like a Bond who has no actual money of his own and just lives large at the taxpayer expense.

And needless to say, I like a Bond who's just flouncing around HQ like 'i don't really understand how money works! or how to pay bills or take care of myself! but i like pretty things!!! 🥰'...until Q decides he has to take pity on him, and agrees to let Bond fulfill his ultimate destiny of Useless Trophy Husband, with all his needs provided for by Q and his tech-patent money.