PAPILLON

Real Name: Sarah Allaire

Identity/Class: Human mutant;
    French citizen

Group Membership: Xavier Institute student body

Affiliations: Beanpole (Mike Galbraith), Chlorites, Diascar race, Flasher (Kristin Koenig), Harry Mills, Seden Karm (aka "John Chang"), Visionary (Meena Banerjee), Todd Watkins, Charles Xavier, X-Men (most notably Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pryde, Rogue/Anna Marie, Wolverine/James Howlett/Logan);
    formerly Lash (James Wheaton)

Enemies: Henry Peter Gyrich, Lash (James Wheaton), Sentinels;
    formerly Valerie Cooper, Diascar race (esp. Poratine & Taforne), Imperial Guard (Astra, Blackthorn, Flashfire, Magique, Manta, Nightside, N'rill'iree, Smasher/Vril Rokk), "Crush" Russell, Todd Watkins

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Wings" (nickname from Lash/James Wheaton);
    "Butterfly" is the English word for the French word "papillon"

Base of Operations: Last seen at the Xavier Institute, West Chester, New York

First Appearance: X-Men: Watchers on the Walls (May, 2006)

Powers/Abilities: Sarah is delicately pretty, with large, iridescent butterfly wings, dainty antennae, and sparkling skin. Her antennae droop when she is sad, and her wings tremble when she is upset.

    Despite the delicate nature of her wings, they allow her to fly.

    Fluttering her wings at great speed, she can release a cloud of glittering scales, flickering with their own light and creating a dazzling, concealing haze.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Blonde

History: 
(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular (fb) - BTS) - Sarah came to the USA to learn to master her mutant abilities at the Xavier Institute.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular (fb) - BTS) - Sarah rarely discouraged attention from boys.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 7: Ex Cathedra (fb) - BTS) - Sarah was an older student at the Xavier Institute.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular (fb) - BTS) - James "Lash" Wheaton

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 7: Ex Cathedra (fb) - BTS) - Sarah heard the X-Men telling Danielle Moonstar about the Chlorites.

    Papillon listened alongside her fellow students to a press conference led by Val Cooper, the US secretary of defense,  the UN secretary-general, and Poratine of the extraterrestrial Diascar discussing the Chlorite threat and their plans to test all non-human mutates in hopes of exposing the aliens as quickly as possible.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 7: Ex Cathedra) - After Harry Mills voiced his concern that the Diascar were actually just trying to take over Earth, Sarah told him she had heard the X-Men talking about the Chlorites, and that she believed the Chlorites were real. Harry soon after reminded John that these events would affect him as much as himself, or Sarah, leading Sarah to argue that none of the aliens looked like her, especially not having wings. Harry agreed that Sarah may not be at risk, but reminded them that he could be hiding anything under all his hair.
    When John noted that they would be fine as long as they passed the tests, Harry argued that the government would likely place trackers within any identification bracelets they (the aliens or the government) would place on confirmed human mutants. Meena and Sarah argued that only non-human mutants were being investigated, but Harry countered that such a thing was a means to get the rest of humanity off its guard. 

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 11: Exile) - Sarah was surprised to learn John was a Chlorite, "one of those murderers, those terrorists, living among us, pretending to be us." When Meena suggested getting a lawyer for John, Sarah voiced that Professor X wouldn't turn him over to the authorities, but Todd argued that he would have to sooner or later.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular) - When Meena had frightening visions of Sentinels attacking the Xavier Institute, Sarah told Lash not to say Meena should have been left in the "loony bin"; she reminded Lash that what she was viewing was really happening in some other reality. 

    Sarah and the other students appreciated that Meena's having an increased number of such visions was likely due to the presence of "John Chang." When James "Lash" Wheaton prepared to call the government to inform them of the hidden Chlorite in hopes of ensuring the government would spare him from Sentinel assault, Harry attempted to stop him, but Wheaton threatened him and anyone who protected him with electrical tendrils.

    Ultimately Sarah broke up the conflict by reminding James that he had been planning his phone call. Realizing his phone was missing, he asked for Sarah's, but she played along with Harry's warning of high calling rates at that time of day. When he prepared to find another phone, Sarah intercepted him, spread her shimmery wings, and explained that if the school were shut down, she would have to go back to France; and that she would rather stay here, with people she'd grown to care for...
    Harry whimsically considered if that was what it took to get her to try to seduce him, he would have tried to call the government himself.  

    Ultimately, Wheaton agreed to hold off on the call if she would join him for dinner and try to convince him of her points. He suggested she wear something backless (which he knew she had to, because of her wings). After Lash's departure, Meena complimented her on her bravery, but Sarah pulled away, noting she didn't do it for her or "John," but rather the Professor and the school."

    However, after Wheaton left, Harry noted that Wheaton would likely allow Sarah to seduce him and then call the feds anyway, and Meena argued that they needed to get "John" off of grounds and into another hiding place. Harry convinced Sarah to help (in some part only to prevent Wheaton from pressuring her into doing things she didn't want to do). Overhearing the students, Rogue agreed to help them.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular - BTS) - However, this plan frightened fellow student Todd Watkins sufficiently that he instead contacted the government and revealed the existence of "John" as a Chlorite hidden on Xavier Institute grounds. Henry Gyrich informed Poratine, leading her to coordinate a Diascar-Sentinel-Imperial Guard assault on the Xavier Institute, which Gyrich hoped would eliminate Xavier's organization for good.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 20: Extraction (fb)) -  When Kristin worried about using her powers to make John invisible, as her field would also make her clothes invisible, too, Sarah offered to use her wings to shield her from prying eyes. 

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 20: Extraction) - Sarah-- along with Meena, Mike, Kristin, and Harry -- practiced in the Danger Room sufficiently to allow Harry to program the room to show them practicing in a pattern in dynamic simulations. They -- minus Harry, who occupied Hank McCoy with science questions -- then continued to John's cell. After they had freed John, Mike briefly tried to peek over Sarah's wings to see Kristin with her clothes invisible, until Rogue caught and glared at him.  

    As they prepared to take John to a secret location, they were confronted by the senior X-Men, as Wolverine had sensed Kristin's invisibility field having been off somewhat.

    Sarah unleashed a burst of dazzling dust, but when Rogue tried to flee with the kids, Jean Grey parted the dust and eliminated this possiblity. Ultimately, however, all of X-Men ultimately agreed to protect John and seek a peaceful resolution with the Chlorites. 

    Almost immediately thereafter, Sentinel, Diascar, and the Imperial Guard arrived to collect "John."

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 21: Extermination (fb) - BTS) - Frustrated with the Sentinels' repeated questions about reclassifying specific beings as threats, Gyrich told them to reassess all status assignments as the situation warranted, unwittingly neutralizing much of the controls the Diascar had programmed into the Sentinels. 

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 21: Extermination) - As the X-Men rushed back to the mansion, Cyclops instructed the students who had freed John to hide and watch over him; John was surprised and impressed that they would protect him. When Papillon and Beanpole offered to help defend the mansion, Cyclops agreed and instructed Meena to stay with John; Sarah took to the air, and and Beanpole stretched his legs to run at maximum speed. 

    When the Sentinels threatened to overwhelm the X-Men, Papillon swooped down and past several Sentinel heads, leaving a blinding glittery trail behind her.

   The Sentinels swiftly adapted by swifting to all-band spectral imaging, which counter-acted Sarah's blinding glitter.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 21: Extermination - BTS) - The Sentinels progressively reclassified the Imperial Guard and the US troops as threats when they tried to prevent the Sentinels from slaying mutants who had previously been trying to aid the Sentinels (as they wanted to be rid of the Chlorite). As a result, all forces temporarily united to take out the Sentinels.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 22: Deus ex Meena (fb) - BTS) - Diascar defense leader Taforne's forces captured "John Chang" and Meena in the woods behind the Xavier mansion. They transported the pair to Poratine's command ship for quarantine.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 22: Deus ex Meena) - After Poratine revealed John and Meena's capture, Papillon, Beanpole, Kristin, and Harry, at least, stepped forward and announced they had also helped John and should be arrested, too. Beast then explained how Meena could locate a reality where Chlorites were the dominant lifeform, after which they could access that reality and send the Chlorites there to live in peace.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 23: Exeunt Omnes (fb) - BTS) - As planned, Meena located Reality-62342, which fit their goals. Rogue absorbed Meena and Nightcrawler's powers and transported to Earth-62342 while being scanned by the Shi'ar stargate generator. A portal to that world was then opened.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 23: Exeunt Omnes (fb) - BTS) - Seden Karm (the real name of the the friend they had known as John Chang) said his goodbyes to Harry, Kris, Mike, and Sarah, at least. Those students were the toast of the Xavier Institute for their roles in saving the day from the Sentinels and their courage in daring to look for a peaceful solution. 
    Sarah and the others had a good laugh when Seden noted that he thought they would have called him Bigfoot-in-Mouth...the first joke they recalled "John" telling.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 23: Exeunt Omnes - BTS) - Seden Karm, Dr. McCoy, and the Diascar confirmed Earth-62342 as the world they had sought, and John adopted the mission to locate the rest of the Chlorites in the galaxy and convince them relocate to Earth-62342.

Comments: Created by Christopher L. Bennett

    The status of Papillon and the rest of the mutants introduced in this series post M-Day is unrevealed.

    No images of Sarah exist. There is not a single picture in the whole story.

    Each of the chapters in Watchers on the Walls had an "X" or "Ex" title. An exordium is an introduction; ex silentio means not only "from silence," but also "for lack of contrary evidence"; exigency means "emergency"; ex cathedra means "by virtue of office or authority"; an exclosure is an area fenced off to prevent intrusion; exequies are funeral rites; exitus acta probat means "the outcome justifies the deed"; an excursus is a digression or sidebar; and exeunt omnes is a stage direction that means "they all exit."
    "Deus ex Meena" is obviously a play on "Deus ex Machina," originally used to describe mechanical devices used to simulate godly powers in Greek tragedies and later used to mean simply a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly abruptly resolved by the intervention of some event, character, etc. 

    Great story. You can buy it on Amazon, etc. for a few dollars. I would love to see it adapted to the comics and get some visuals on all of the cool characters introduced in this book.

    A few unidentified mutants in the same class as Sarah's included one who could levitate, another who could weave electricity between his or her fingers, and another who could chameleon-blend with the wallpaper.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Papillon should be distinguished from: