Boot Camp "Result"

Here's what I did with the last prompt. The logline, and then for fun, the first two hundred words (or so) of the story. I would say I went for sort of a fairy tale feel, but it's really more the fairy tale feel that went for me.

Butterfly Inachis has big ambitions: court mage. First, however, she must find a way to impress the king in the contest he has opened to all the kingdom’s mages.

**

Inachis had mastered as much magic as she could by landing on the shoulders of unsuspecting mages and reading their books. It was time to make her move.

The other butterflies had told her that she was foolish and there was no sense dreaming of more than the luxury to flit through fields and soak up the sun … and she had not argued. It was easier just to wave an antennae in agreement and go about doing what she wanted.

Now the peacock butterfly flitted north towards the capital and the royal contest there. The king sought a new court mage – and had never particularly specified, after all, that his ambassador of the mystic needed to be human.

As she approached the massive brown track of the crossroads, she saw a stooped figure with a green hat pulled firmly down over escaping gold curls. Heartened and curious – she liked pretty men – she flitted closer.

“Hello?” she called.

Unlike most, he did not start, stare about him, hunting frantically for the source of the voice. He lifted his chin, looked directly at her, and smiled.

“Hello, butterfly,” he said. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Whither are you bound?” she

(Yes, I always end mid-sentence, a practice I will probably (re?) explain soon.)