MFU Fanfiction: The Touch of Butterflies

[saki101]

Back in February, I posted a couple screencaps on mfu-yumdaily and entitled them Sleight of Hand. The pictures and the discussion they sparked formed the basic idea for a later story, Without a Word. They also sparked a little vignette which I didn't post at the time, one of those inside-Napoleon's-head ficlets set within the context of an

Comments

[svetlanacat4]

I remember the screencaps... Love your Napoleon's POV, the way he watches, imagines, foresees, guesses... He looks like to know Illya so well! A great moment, thanks for this!

[saki101]

Thank you! That scene is grist for dozens of stories, I think. I imagined this approach and then I went another way and wrote Without a Word based on some of the same ideas.

The tie-in with butterflies was connected not only with Napoleon's light touch on Illya's hands, but also some of your garden photos. I recall ones with a butterfly. I went looking on the internet for other butterfly pictures, because I wanted to use them somehow, but I didn't know how to make a banner until yesterday. It's intriguing how the different stimuli converge. Thank you for all your beautiful photos!

[glennagirl]

I want to be Mimi for that brief moment of anticipation! You see into the most intimate and secret details of a scene, and it's a lovely encounter. Thank you.

[saki101]

Oh, a lucky girl indeed! And a smart one, too, because she doesn't let either one of them get away at the end.

[snailbones]

Lovely! So much going on under the surface of the moment. ♥

[saki101]

Thank you! I wonder what thoughts the actors were channelling to create that scene...

[eilidhsd]

Wow; that is some opening paragraph, with all that irresistible power hidden behind Illya's eyes but there to be used when he needs it. That is a cracking start and utterly credible. And the twofold continuation - that the girl is better untroubled, with Napoleon's more shallow power; and that Napoleon and Illya have such close unspoken communion.
Oh, you write well indeed.

It was a great scene without your words - now it will be a thousand times stronger.

[eilidhsd]

Me again. Now going off onto beauty that was too much for ordinary mortals to gaze at directly, like a full-scale IK look, and I wandered past the butterfly-winged Psyche transfixed by Cupid in the candlelight, to the effects on Rose emerging far more than mortal after gazing into the heart of the Tardis. Think that is what might have happened to poor mortal Mimi if Illya had turned his charms on her at full power. It would have burned her up.

[saki101]

It's a classical theme, isn't it and connected to something strongly rooted in the psyche? (There's Semele killed by Zeus' love-making as another example.) I always liked the Cupid and Psyche myth, it seemed just on the border between myth and fairy tale. It did go rather rough on Psyche though, but she was an active heroine and succeeded in the end.

Napoleon turned Mimi away and avoided detrimental effects, but between the two of them I think Mimi's life is going to take a different turn from then on. She may need to contact Napoleon and Illya before she makes a permanent choice from among the many suitors she will no doubt now attract. Illya can give them the soul-searching look and judge their intentions and if the intentions are up to expectations, they can both put a little fear into their hearts for good measure! Among those deemed worthy, the final choice would have to be Mimi's, of course.

[eilidhsd]

Yes, even in the episode you knew that Mimi's life was changed forever in that brief encounter with the boys, from timid unworldly girl to femme fatale. Don't know about them helping decide on suitors though - with those two around, who would ever look at another man?

Back for another read today because it was so enjoyable: Napoleon kissing her not because he wanted to, but to protect her from Illya - it is a super twist!

[loxleyprince]

It's rare and wonderful to see the supremely-confident Napoleon so disconcerted by Illya's effect on Mimi. In his own way, Napoleon is as entranced by Illya as Mimi is, but unlike Mimi he is well aware of that fact, recognising his own vulnerability as well as hers (and this bit I really like) and knowing that Illya does too and is accepting of it.

but it is the glimpse they catch of his intent that makes them cooperate, confess, crumble

Such a beautiful description of the immense power of Illya's gaze.

[saki101]

Napoleon at any of those vulnerable junctures, before identifying his attraction, before deciding to act on it, before declaring himself by word or deed, is fascinating. The contrast with his usual confidence and competence makes him more vulnerable, I think.

I am so happy you like the scene and that line particularly! Thank you!