La Toussaint

Friday the 30th of October dawned bright and deceptively sunny. While the sun itself was to and shining, there was still a chill to the air, making the day colder than it first appeared.
This was the last day of Bond's so called Halloween fact finding mission,, and he was a little bit sad about that. He had enjoyed the past five days down in Q branch, finding out not just about Halloween but also the people that helped run his missions and keep him safe. The atmosphere down there was also a bonus, it was nothing like anywhere else in the building or even the city.

"Q," Bond greeted, strolling into the branch.
"Hello Bond," Q said distractedly, flingers flying across the keyboard.
"What's happened?" All humour had dropped from Bond's voice, seeing the live feed on the display.
"005's mission has hit a slight snag," Q responded.
"I'll leave you to it then," Bond went to stand unobtrusively at the back of the room.
"Actually, can you go and get the food order from the cafeteria?" Q asked. "This might take a while. While 005 has less of a propensity for his missions to go as spectacular tits up as yours do, I think we may be here a while."
Bond pushed off the wall, and as he was leaving, a blonde girl in a mermaid outfit caught up with him.
"I'll help you carry everything." She offered. "Plus, I might be able to give you your final piece of Halloween information."
"Elene, I assume?" Bond addressed her.
"Yup!"
"I read that France doesn't really do Halloween." He mentioned.
"Not traditionally, no. Of course, like every other country, the American celebrations have bled into our culture. No sense in passing up a good dress up party, after all."
"I see that seems to be a theme amongst Q branch."
"Your observation skill have not let you down," She smiled.

They reached the cafeteria and Elene went to talk to the kitchen. After a few moments she beckoned Bond over and they started loading cardboard boxes into bags for then to carry the food back. The smell of curries and stir fries wafted from the bags.
"They're all named, so it'll be easy to hand them out once we get back," Elene mentioned.
"The theme of the day, or special order for Q branch?" Bond asked, gesturing at the food.
"Bit of both. Asian is on the menu anyway, but these are easy to shove a spoonful in your mouth, while still typing with the other hand." Elene informed him.
Once all the bags were packed, they left the cafeteria.

"So you don't really celebrate Halloween?" Bond brought the discussion back.
"Not really. The French do, however, acknowledge all saint's day, much the same as the Spanish and Italian cultures. In France it's called La Toussaint. Some people go to mass, some people have family around. Most people visit the graves of family members and place chrysanthemums on the grave, or the flowers are placed somewhere in the house. That's about all we do." Elene said.
Bond turned to her.
"Carmela mentioned a story about those chrysanthemums," he said.
Elena smiled. "There is. Short but sweet story. So my mum's French but my father is English. When they were courting papa thought it would be nice to give mama a bouquet."
"Ladies do like flowers," Bond agreed.
"Yea, but French ladies don't enjoy being given a bunch of chrysanthemums!" Elena giggled. "Apparently mama nearly dumped him on the spot. It took a lot of convincing for her to forgive him. See, she didn't know that the English don't use those flowers solely for funerals and the dead."
"I can see why she was upset," Bond agreed, smiling at Elena.
They had reached Q branch again, and were distracted with distributing food and watching 005's mission.

It was just passed 6pm, when Q had finished up with 005. He was on his way home, and would arrive at midday the next day. He had made mention, before he signed off, that he was glad that he'd be back in time for the party.
"Will you be there, Q?" Bond asked.
"Of course," Q replied. "I would be a terrible head of my department if I didn't join them."
"So you'll be in costume then?"
The look Q gave Bond really said it all.
"I was just asking," Bond said. "You haven't worn anything but your normal work clothes all week, except the onesie, while the rest of your department has been wearing something strange each day."
"I've had meetings scheduled most days, I can't really turn up to those in costumes, Bond." Q informed him. "But tomorrow's the weekend, so that will be different."
"What are you going as?" Bond asked.
"You'll have to see when you get here," Q responded.