A brief discussion of botany.
Now, it seems like every time a fanfic's eye passes over Marluxia, he's growing roses. Red ones. Under a cherry tree that seems perpetually in bloom. Sometimes, to prove how badass he really is, he grows giant Venus flytraps, which is a nice change, I suppose.
This is all very well and good, but after a while the lack of variety wears on the reader. Do not mistake me for a botanist or a gardener. In fact, I never took to plants, despite my mother's best efforts. I know very little about flowers. However, I am aware that there are more kinds than three, which fandom as a whole seems to have missed!
Yes, yes, roses, very metaphorical, love and all that, blah blah. We get it. Sakura, equally metaphorical, youth doomed in the fullness of its beauty, yadda dadda. We get that too. Really. We do. But oddly enough, many other flowers have meanings and poet associations too.
Poppies, for example. I like poppies. They're pretty. Also, since World War I especially, they've been a metaphor for doomed youth and the pointless death of beauty. Sound familiar? Think of them like sakura petals only marginally less beaten to death. On the same theme, hyacinth anyone? Or anemone? More allusion to untimely death, particularly of good-looking young men?
I, personally, would love to see Marluxia grow narcissus. It suits him so well. */bitch* Or orchids, although they make me think of Nero Wolfe, and...no. Just no.
While we're at it, there are other trees in the world. Even ones that flower. Some even (gasp!) bear fruit. Like, oh, apples. Would you like a side of forbidden quest for knowledge leading to a fall from grace with that? Or pomegranates, although I don't know what they actually grow on.
I haven't even scratched the surface here--most flowers have had meanings or metaphors attributed to them, there are scads of stories about people turning into plant life in Greek mythology alone, and as for organic poisons-! Plz to be writing Marluxia growing nightshade now kthx.
This announcement brought to you by the Society For Giving Marluxia Something To Do With His Time.
P.S. Does anyone have that Org. XIII comparative height chart? I kind of need it for reference.
This is all very well and good, but after a while the lack of variety wears on the reader. Do not mistake me for a botanist or a gardener. In fact, I never took to plants, despite my mother's best efforts. I know very little about flowers. However, I am aware that there are more kinds than three, which fandom as a whole seems to have missed!
Yes, yes, roses, very metaphorical, love and all that, blah blah. We get it. Sakura, equally metaphorical, youth doomed in the fullness of its beauty, yadda dadda. We get that too. Really. We do. But oddly enough, many other flowers have meanings and poet associations too.
Poppies, for example. I like poppies. They're pretty. Also, since World War I especially, they've been a metaphor for doomed youth and the pointless death of beauty. Sound familiar? Think of them like sakura petals only marginally less beaten to death. On the same theme, hyacinth anyone? Or anemone? More allusion to untimely death, particularly of good-looking young men?
I, personally, would love to see Marluxia grow narcissus. It suits him so well. */bitch* Or orchids, although they make me think of Nero Wolfe, and...no. Just no.
While we're at it, there are other trees in the world. Even ones that flower. Some even (gasp!) bear fruit. Like, oh, apples. Would you like a side of forbidden quest for knowledge leading to a fall from grace with that? Or pomegranates, although I don't know what they actually grow on.
I haven't even scratched the surface here--most flowers have had meanings or metaphors attributed to them, there are scads of stories about people turning into plant life in Greek mythology alone, and as for organic poisons-! Plz to be writing Marluxia growing nightshade now kthx.
This announcement brought to you by the Society For Giving Marluxia Something To Do With His Time.
P.S. Does anyone have that Org. XIII comparative height chart? I kind of need it for reference.