cavewithshadows

[cavewithshadows]

The Life of Flamme the Legendary Mage- Part 1: I Love Magic

The camp around her bedroll burned in flames. The little girl shrieked in terror, but found herself frozen- unable to even hide under her blankets.

               “Loschen!”

The voice of the girl’s father rang out above her cries, and at his word the fires died. A heartbeat later and the warm arms of her mother wrapped around the girl, sweeping her up for an embrace.

Motherly kisses peppered the girl’s brow, and slowly her tears subsided. “There, there, Flamme.” Her mother, Blume, whispered. “Mama and Papa are here. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

The little four-year old girl’s face scrunched up with emotion, shaking her head in disbelief. “It was Magic!” Her voice came out as a wail.

Her parents shared a look- this was the third time in the two weeks since their daughter’s magic had manifested. And unfortunately, all had been the result of nightmares.

Kneeling beside his wife and daughter, Feurer the Mage reached out his hand to settle the girl’s wild red hair. “Yes, it was.” He told her honestly. “But Magic is also what will let us fix this, too.”

Making sure Flamme was watching, Feurer gestured to one of the sacks of supplies that had been burned up in the sudden fire.

“Reparatur.”

Before their eyes the frayed and singed ends of the burlap returned to their prior color, and then started weaving together again until everything was as good as new.

Flamme watched, entranced, and her parents breathed silently in relief.

Unfortunately…

“Kiki!” Flamme yelled in alarm, jumping out of her mother’s arms and rushing to her only toy, which she’d left lying forgotten on the family’s laundry box. Grabbing the doll desperately, the little girl turned it over in her hands, inspecting the damage from the flames.

Feurer winced- the doll was charred and warped, and its red yarn hair had been burned away completely, so there was nothing left to repair. His magic could clean the toy, but it would be clearly scarred.

Flamme’s face crumpled as she saw these scars for herself.

“I hate magic!” She yelled. “I hate it, hate it, hate it!”

That made both her parents flinch. Catching each other’s gaze over their crying daughter’s head, Feurer nodded.

“Don’t hate magic, honey.” He knelt and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder, turning her around gently so they could face each other. “Magic is a part of you. And it’s a part of me, too.” Feurer kissed the top of Flamme’s head. “You don’t hate me, do you? Or yourself?”

The little girl wavered, as her little heart weighed her growing hatred of magic against her love for her Papa. Then she looked down at the burned doll in her hands.

“Nuh uh!” She yelled defiantly, thrusting herself forward to grab her father’s waist. “I hate magic! I’d rather DIE than have it!”

Feurer paled ashen. He looked to Blume frantically while he rubbed his daughter’s back in an attempt to calm her.

After what seemed like an eternity- though lasting less than ten seconds- Blume approached, rubbing Flamme’s head comfortingly.

“Well, I think magic is pretty, Flamme.”

Flamme turned to look at her mother, outraged at the sudden betrayal.

“No it’s not!” Flamme said hotly. “Magic isn’t pretty! It’s scary!”

Blume raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” She asked lightly, coaxing her daughter away from clinging to Feurer. “Then how about I prove it?”

The little girl’s eyes sharpened at the words ‘prove it’- it was one of her favorite phrases right now as she was growing in her curiosity about the world. But she looked at her mother skeptically. After all, her mother didn’t have any magic of her own- only her Papa did.

“Can’t do it.” She asserted plaintively.

Quickly giving her husband a meaningful look, Blume answered her daughter with a smile. “We’ll see about that.” The young mother replied mischievously. “But first, I’ll need to tell you a story.”

That was another of the magic words- despite herself, Flamme leaned forward, curiosity growing in her eyes.

Taking her daughter’s obvious interest as an indication, Blume began.

“You’re right, Flamme. Magic is scary- or rather, it can be. In the world there are many dangers- and the worst of these are monsters- beasts with magic. From Hellhounds that howl loud enough to shake the moon, to Nighthawks that can grab a horse from the road, their magic is scary.”

Flamme nodded, feeling so far vindicated, while Feurer shot Blume an accusatory glare- but she stared back confidently, so he let her continue.

“In fact, many people think so, even in the village where your Papa and I grew up.” Blume ran a hand through Flamme’s long hair, tucking loose strands behind her daughter’s ear. “And many of our neighbors said that a person who has magic is just a monster too.”

“B-but Papa has magic…” Flamme once again looked torn. Yes, she hated magic, but her Papa was, well, her Papa.

Her mother nodded knowingly. “That’s right. So your Papa had to hide his magic for a long time.”

Feurer breathed a sigh of relief as he recognized which story his wife was telling. He quietly manifested his staff so he could prepare for his part coming up.

Blume continued. “Yet, on one day, your Papa saw the prettiest girl in the village-”

Her husband raised an eyebrow at this last part, before shaking his head with a smile. Blume simply grinned smugly as she kept telling the story, while Flamme listened, enthralled.

“And he just couldn’t help himself. Your Papa followed this girl around everywhere. To the Commons, the Market, the Hall, even to the forest outside the village. But whatever he tried to say, the sight of this girl just took his breath away, and he could never say a thing.” Blume said, glancing at her husband with twinkling eyes.

Feurer folded his arms around his mage’s staff, faking disgruntlement at his wife’s characterization of him- not that Flamme noticed. She was too engaged with what she’d come to sense was her mama’s and papa’s love story.

Her mother continued the story proudly. “So, one day, while the girl and your papa were out in the woods, your papa decided to let something else do the talking for him.”

Leaning forward, Blume whispered in her daughter’s ear. “And do you know what thing was, Flamme?”

Her fear forgotten, Flamme shook her head excitedly. “What was it? What was it?”

“It was this.” The voice of her father cut in- and all around the camp a field of flowers bloomed.

Flamme gasped as she saw the flowers burst from the ground, colorful and splendid. There were Calla lilies, and Red Chrysanthemums, as well as Daisies, Roses, and little Ferns.

“Oh!” The girl breathed. “They’re so pretty!”

Feurer smiled, rubbing the top of Flamme’s head affectionately. “Flowers for Flower.” He said, grinning. “That’s what your mother’s name means, you know.”

Blume plucked a Daisy flower and tucked it into Flamme’s hair.

“And that, Flamme, was when I realized that- though magic can be scary- it can be lovely and precious too.” She glanced up at Feurer, smiling. “And that those people with magic can be the most lovely and precious of all.” Then, leaning forward, she nuzzled her daughter’s face with her nose. “And that includes you too!”

Giggling in delight, Flamme nuzzled her mother’s face right back, before rolling around in the flowers.

Then, after a moment, Flamme grabbed one of the little ferns the spell had grown, and held it up to her father.

“Can you teach me how to make flowers, Papa?” The little girl begged. “I want to make flowers like you!”

There would be work later- repairing tents and crates and burlap sacks, as well as one precious doll.

But for a moment, there was only magic.

And Flamme the Mage had come to really love magic.

[cavewithshadows]

(Too Many) Admiral Les Buenamigo Head-Canons

1. Grew up as a family friend of Alonzo Freeman (Alonzo being named after Les’ father), where Les was something of a little brother to Alonzo. 

2. Les has always been fascinated by and talented with engineering.

3. Worked as part of the Support Team for Nova Squadron at Starfleet Academy, which is where he met Carol Mariner. 

4. Introduced Alonzo and Carol to each other, and was one of Alonzo’s groomsmen at the wedding.

5. Assigned to the Galaxy-class Project at Utopia Planitia right out of the Academy... and remained an Ensign for the duration of the project (which was about six years).

6. Pattern emerged where Les was assigned to various projects that would last for years, and only get promoted at the end. (Danube Runabout project, Defiant class project). Meanwhile, his friends are working their way up the ranks, with Alzono already in the Admiralty, and Carol a mid-ranking officer on the Enterprise.

7. Les dreams of making a name for himself in Starfleet, designing the Texas-class starship. Finally, he is assigned to the Prometheus-class Project as a Lieutenant Commander, where he is promised a chance to work on his own project once this is done.

8. Problem is, part of the assignment is the Prometheus’ auto-piloting during Multi-Vector Assault Mode, and while Les is a fantastic engineer, computer programming is not his skillset. But his career is saved when he notices the talents of young Samanthan Rutherford, who IS brilliant with computers.

9. Les basically trades starship parts to Samanthan (for his shuttle races) in exchange for his computer code for Prometheus. The young man gets better parts for his shuttles, Starfleet gets top-running computer code, and Les gets the credit, and, in his mind, a long overdue promotion and chance to work on his own project.

10. Les encourages Samanthan to apply to Starfleet Academy, intending to use him to complete the Texas-class, which Les has now come to envision as an automated starship, based on the Prometheus class. 

11. Unfortunately, there is an “accident” (secretly the result of Samanthan’s demented and evil-prone AI code), but Les can’t let this kill, or even delay, his project. So, he gives a bogus investigative report blaming human error, wipes Samanthan’s memory upon his Cyborg conversion, and uses his connections to arrange a transfer to a different division in Starfleet (Carol’s division, but as a staff officer for some bigwig). (It is because Les covered everything up that he did not discover the AI was the cause of the “accident”, leaving the problem unaddressed for years).

12. Legitimately does good work during the Breen Attack on Earth in the Dominion War, where he jury-rigs a shield that saves a good chunk of Starfleet Command, as well as a visiting member of the Federation Council. The Admiral that Les was a staff officer for was critically injured, so Les was tapped to fill the position temporarily. With his connections to the highly-ranked Alonzo, as well as a grateful Federation Councilor, Les’ position is made permanent.

13. Prior to this, Les was the one to give Beckett Mariner her two years of horse-riding lessons (teaching her how to be a cowgirl, basically), and also tutored her for Early Admission to Starfleet Academy (a la Wesley Crusher, only it worked). 

14. Les is the source of Beckett’s philosophy of ‘rules that get in the way of helping people are better off broken’, because that is how Les justifies his corner-cutting to himself.

15. Used his new rank to help protect Beckett’s career after Beckett went AWOL from her second starship to rescue General K’orin from a Klingon prison. Les’ help ensured that Beckett was not discharged, but instead transferred to Carol’s division of Starfleet (though not to the Cerritos just yet).

16. Les continues to be friendly with Alonzo and Carol, but now that he is in Carol’s division, he quietly stonewalls Carol’s idea for Operation Swing-By until his baby, the Texas-class, is ready, because he likes Carol’s idea and decided to steal it to make a name for himself and his class of starship.

17. The Texas-class is actually a masterclass in starship engineering, and would make an excellent starship, if it hadn’t been for Les’ insistence on making it automated. And if he hadn’t used Samanthan Rutherford’s AI coding (but if he’d used anyone else’s, he wouldn’t have been able to take the credit).

18. Sam Rutherford was assigned to the Cerritos so that Les could keep tabs on him, since it wouldn’t be strange for Les to keep track of his friend Carol’s ship.

19. Les was the one, along with Alonzo, to transfer Beckett to the Cerritos from the Quito, as a genuine friendly favor.

PS: Hello everyone! This is my first major post here! I had a lot of fun thinking these up, and I hope it captures the right feel for this character. Les is someone sociopathic and self-obsessed, but slick. There should be enough here to justify Beckett calling him “Uncle Les”, and for his corruption to be unthinkable to Carol. Not only that, but he has to go from Lieutenant Commander (as seen in Rutherford’s cyborg-based memory) to Vice Admiral in only a few years. Go ahead and share any thoughts or head-canons you have about him as well!