#ORCHI BOY

[personostient]

Hello monster Tumblr

[seaweedstarshine]

—on the topic of psychotic Summers brothers, I only just caught up with six months of X-Men after stopping for six months the topic of Gabriel referring to the tags of my last X-Men post a month ago — but I was happy to see Scott's torture-induced psychosis didn't (definitively) turn out just to be that he'd calculated what others hadn't. Yes, the woman he'd accurately calculated would save him was Dr. Gregor, not Jean, but that doesn't change that he remained unsure if Jean was real (and thought she was alive) while the all-seeing Enigma knew on the contrary that Scott was delusional because Phoenix thus equally (an equivocation which casts further doubt of Scott's fiery visions ever being genuine, as Jean's dying mind had departed Scott well before Mother Righteous sacrificed Jean's dead fragmented self for Dominion, before Scott was tortured) Jean — were so utterly dead that Rachel and Hope had to cancel out death to reverse it. Yet Scott, hyper-vigilant traumatized autistic brain-damaged neurodivergent soldier that he is, seemingly accomplished all these strategic calculations while having a psychotic “break,” which is extremely in character for him—

[sezja]

My strangest tendency as a fan is to associate every canon character I latch onto with one of the thirteen Houses of the Night Court from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series

[charlott2n]

personally if i found out my longtime girlfriend was a boy who got kidnapped and forcibly orchied and made to live as a woman i would become so horny i couldnt walk

[marvelstars]

When you see fandom going "Should Magneto khs?

Me, a Magneto fan can´t help but chuckle a little bit and think sweet summer child, my boy Magneto has been trying since WWII that´s nothing new to him, like this is pretty much canon.

Didn´t you see how poor Ororo had to drag him back to life on Magneto Resurrection? and she had to fight him for it and the only reason why he came back at all was because mutants needed him to fight Orchis? that´s how much he doesn��t really wish to be back from death and given his life nobody can blame my guy, at this point he survived WWII, Genosha, and Arakko, my guy just wants some peace and quiet for once.

That said, I could not be happier for him being back even if he doesn´t like it, I love his idea of trying to make a new Krakoa for everybody, like I really like the irony of him just wanting to give up sometimes and the people around him meeting to drag him back into leading them, consulting him or seeking his help because they do need him but also because they know that´s what will work to wake him up once again :)

[lexcellence]

When I heard Gerry Duggan get asked on Cerebro, white boy to white boy, about the unfortunate optics of announcing and then immediately murdering the least white team of X-Men in years, I knew we'd be in for some shit. Man, did he deliver - after some evasive waffling about how ORCHIS is meant to be fascist, and how the story's point is to put the collective back of mutantkind even more against the wall than it was any of the last six times something like this has happened.

And, honestly? That's fair! This year's Hellfire Gala is ultimately the first part of a larger story, and history shows it's not going to last forever — hell, does anyone remember what the status quo was immediately before HoXPoX? At least this time most of the characters have implicitly just been sucked into Mother Righteous's magical Poké Ball, rather than outright killed; if anything, that's an improvement. I was fully content to just think "hey, not for me," and get back to ignoring everything beyond Immortal and Sabertooth, secure in the knowledge that certain topics are bound to be handled poorly when almost everyone in the room is white, when Duggan said three words that stopped me in my tracks:

"Keep the faith."

See, that struck me, because for a lot of us, this entire era of comics has been about nothing but faith. I've been reading X-Men, and engaging with fans since I was eight, and I've never seen the kind of collective buy-in from other marginalized readers that I have with Krakoa. X-Twitter (or, I suppose, X-X) has been Blacker, queerer, more disabled, less homogeneous than the fandom has ever been, all of us buying in to the implicit promise that this time things would be different. Sure, the line was headed by a presumably straight white guy, but there were other voices in the room for a change, and it really felt like they were going to be listened to. We thought we'd moved past clunky metaphor, past queerbaitimg and awkward racial gaffes. Storm and Kwannon were getting to do stuff, Arakko was full of amazing characters of color, Cyclops and Wolverine were probably fucking, we were hooked, and we turned out.

It's hard to overemphasize just how wild this was to see in real time. X-Men has always been allegory, sure, but it's traditionally allegory by and for the majority. For years, the readers who might really feel that resonance, those of us who have been hated and feared for the unforgivable crime of being who we are, we were afterthoughts, tolerated at best. We got scraps, "representation" from creators who seemed to be offended by the implication that we would ever want something other than being fetishized tokens. We were, as Hickman so succinctly put it, told that we were less when we knew we were more. And then, out of nowhere, Krakoa made us inescapable.

The two biggest X-Men podcasts, X-Plain the X-Men and Cerebro, are hosted by queer people. X of Words has been rocking the Black, queer experience like no one's business, Mutant Watch has been a joy to listen to and to be on. Not just podcasts, either, in everything from criticism to fanart to cosplay, voices have been elevated that were previously silent. I mean, hell, I've gotten paid to talk about comics, that shit never would have happened four years ago.

All of that was based on faith.

Faith that we were being celebrated, for once, instead of just used. Faith that for whatever growing pains there might be, things were going to be better.

And let's not fuck around here, there were growing pains. In the first year alone we dealt with everything from blatant whitewashing, to queerbaiting — any Sunspot fan can go into detail there, assuming you can get one of us to stop crying for long enough. While that was going on, we watched Bryan Edward Hill (the only non-white writer in that initial wave) put out a book that was, let's face it, at worst aggressively mid, only to be excoriated by certain portions of the fandom, and dropped by the office, while significantly worse books managed to hold fast — er, hold on. Not to say that Fallen Angels was without sin, mind you, the book was packed with enough orientalism to make Chris Claremont blush. But, at the same time, Wolverine's first year ended with him doing what he does best: trying so hard to be Japanese that I had to check to make sure he wasn't Marvel's editor in chief.

Through all of that, we kept the faith.

Things didn't really get much better, of course. Arakko was a fascinating concept, and felt like it damn near doubled Marvel's characters of color. And yeah, the ending of X-Factor was one of the most poorly handled racist messes I've seen this side of… well, any given day on Twitter. Sure, the whitewashing has never stopped, to the point where everything from X-Corp to this week's Hellfire Gala has had to be hastily edited between previews and release. Maybe we keep dealing with stuff like butchered AAVE, even more queerbaiting, Kate Pryde's funeral, the genocide of almost all of those Arraki characters, and whatever the hell was going on with Lost in Way of X. Maybe there's a very real argument to be made that there's something insidious about three straight years of voting to determine if characters like Monet (who, by the by, has been retooled from "basically Superman" to "Black woman with anger powers") deserve the honor of being written by a white man who's stayed writing with his foot in his mouth. I mean, hey! All my white friends in the scene say he's nice, just like Williams, or Howard, or any number of other crusty crackers who are still proud of tripping over the bar Claremont left on the floor in the 80's!

And dammit, we kept the faith!

Even before the issue dropped, the Fall of X has had a lot of us wary. After all, all of the promotion leading up to it has been white guys saying the minority allegory has had it too good for too long, which, whatever, press copy. We all know they've gotta sell books — they, in this case, being the almost exclusively white, almost exclusively male creative teams attached to all of the books in the line. Sure, as Duggan said, the 616 has a fascism problem, but it’s hard not to see this as a deliberate step back from the almost double digit number of non-white creators these past few years — almost as if Marvel has realized they can make space for a fourth ongoing by their favorite white boy if they just throw out a Voices special every couple of months as a containment zone for the darkies. And, hey, considering how good ol’ C.B. got his foot in the door, I can’t even fake surprise. At this point, it’s a minor miracle any time a person of color is tapped for anything that’s expected to last beyond one issue.

In this issue, as a reward for keeping the faith, we got to see something astounding, something that'd bring a tear to the eye of even the most cynical reader — a team that was only half white. My god. And sure, their brutal murder in favor of a team with Kate "Hard-Arrr" Pryde and the Kingpin(????) was only a pit-stop between the resurrection of the suddenly ashy Ms. Marvel and Lourdes Chantel being killed off for the sake of a white woman's angst yet afuckinggain, but ain't that the dream that Malcolm Ten or whoever died for?

The Krakoan era, ultimately, has been the same as every other. Empty promises by white men who show us time and again that there was never any point in expecting anything better. Any meaning we've found, everything of worth, has been what we've made for ourselves.

We've spent years keeping the faith, Gerry, while you and yours have continued to let us down. What the hell do we have to show for it?

[heckcareoxytwit]

As the remaining Quiet Council are discussing family matters and their plans on going home, Kafka the winged mutant boy overhears the conversation and starts to have doubts. Kafka eventually talks to Exodus about his doubt about how the rest of the mutants may have to stay behind in White Hot Krakoa while some of the mutants are selected to go home (and fight Orchis). The Quiet Council and the chosen mutants prepare for a ritual which Mister Sinister empties a vial of Cypher's genes into the pool so that Krakoa could help them in teleporting the mutants back home. The Krakoan vines wrap around Mister Sinister & the mutants and turns them into buds. Hope Summers remains behind on White Hot Krakoa as she reminds herself that she has to bring Phoenix Force back and she has some Messiah shit to do. Back on Earth, Apocalypse is dragging Krakoa-Treant back to Krakoa island when the chosen mutants pop right out of the flowers.

Much later, Hope Summers is having much difficulty in dealing with the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey. In order to save all of mutantkind and resurrect both the Phoenix and Jean Grey, Hope alongside the help of Legion (as the talking Hope Gun) shot the Phoenix with the consequence being her sacrificing herself in the process. Jean and the Phoenix have come back but Hope is gone. Meanwhile, the mutants are fighting the Stark Sentinels on the ruins of Krakoa island when Exodus, Destiny and Mystique teleport in. The Hope Sword is back in Nightcrawler's hands. Even though Destiny hugs Nightcrawler after some getting her motherly memories back from Xavier, she gives the bad news - Hope Summers is dead. Exodus at first doesn't believe it then announces that Hope has returned to whence she came. "The word made flesh, the flesh made immortal. She is with Krakoa in exile in spirit." Nightcrawler says the Krakoan mutants are trapped in the White Hot Room, lost forever. But Exodus, returning to the fight and attacking a Sentinel, says the people of Krakoa will return, that the Krakoan age will come again. Nightcrawler asks Destiny if they can win but she still sees no victory.

The Krakoan mutants including the Five minus Hope and Jumbo Carnation are stuck in the White Hot Krakoan Room arguing around a table trying to figure out how they will function, who will do what, etc. Little Kafka gets annoyed and tells everyone to shut up. He tells the room that they have to be better than this, that they have no rulers, no leaders, no heroes. That they have to be the Quiet Council and that means they have to listen. He takes charge and starts working to assign tasks such as food supply, tutoring, teaching. It's a bittersweet last page as that little hero is determined to make Krakoa, despite being lost in the White Hot Room.

X-Men: Forever #2, 2024 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th pics)

Rise of the Powers of X #4, 2024 (7th and 8th pics)

X-Men: Forever #4, 2024 (10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th pics)

- - - -- --------

The trapped Krakoan mutants in the White Hot Room reminds me of the ending of Drifting Classroom manga when the elementary school students in the bad future dimension cannot go home after several tries. So the trapped students decide to stay and work together in the ruined future to build a new civilization.

[david-talks-sw]

“I’m an unapologetic wolverine fanboy”

My brother from another mother! *high five*

Eyyyy! And I tell you what, they better fix this Orchis mess and bring back Krakoa because my boy was finally in a good place with his kids.

As someone whose real introduction to the character was Wolverine: Origins, in which Daken was actively trying to kill him, this means so much to me.

I hope we get it back.

[positivelybeastly]

X-Men #2

Late, but who cares, let's do this.

So, will freely admit, this issue felt a little bit like filler to me. Good filler, mind you, I enjoyed it pretty decently, but unlike the first issue, which sketched out pretty interesting character trajectories, gave us a status quo, and introduced us to the general concept of what our team are going to be fighting - seemingly Orchis remnants that are turning themselves into mutants, possibly in conjunction with 3K - this issue is . . . mostly just kinda mindless fun?

Which, I don't mind, necessarily, it just feels like a bit of an odd choice for the second issue of your run that's coming off the collapse of the previous insanely popular status quo. You want to sell people on why they should still care about X-Men, and, for a lot of people, the answer that they should still care about X-Men because, look, there's the X-Men and they're doing X-Men things, isn't quite enough.

That being said, this is still fun!

I know that, objectively speaking, this is a bit of a waste of page space, dedicating basically a third of your page to credits and white space for visual contrast, but. I like it. This has impact, it demonstrates kinetic energy, it's a statement. I notice it. Generally speaking, if I'm noticing your panel composition, then that is a good thing.

Appreciate the callback to the San Francisco years of the X-Men, which I liked and still recall with some fondness, and I do appreciate the consistency of Scott's outlook towards humanity - yeah, sometimes they can be dicks and massive obstacles, but also, helping them generally makes mutant lives better and easier, and also, it's the right goddamn thing to do.

It's not quite classic boy scout Scott, he puts mutant lives front and centre here in a way that 60s-90s Scott wouldn't, but it's not 'did you really think we weren't going to just take what we were owed?' weirdo creepazoid Scott from House of X, either.

But. That's not what this issue is really about.

This issue is about Quentin Quire being lame.

Now, I understand that there are some people who care about Quentin Quire. I understand that for some, this book is a bit of a regression for Quentin, compared to where he was in X-Force and Wolverine.

Given that my favourite character is currently dealing with a 40 year regression in development, all I really have to say is, I'll get around to really caring about Quentin Quire's development when I've got time.

Also, I never really bought that Quentin developed all that much under Ben Percy anyway, given that he was doing gross, privacy invasive shit like keeping bright pink husks of his teammate's bodies around to wear, and confidently making entirely the wrong call in tactical decisions in such a way that he nearly doomed Mars to being eaten by a black hole gun because he didn't bother to psychically scan the Beast clone when X-Force brought him back.

He grew? Vertically, maybe.

Also, irrespective of whether or not you think Quentin grew as a person during X-Force, the Quentin I read there would also have forced a Neon Genesis Evangelion reference here that someone would have sandbagged.

Anyway, people are talking about Hank!!!

The implication that Hank came back to life, sorted out his dumb evil self, lived with Simon for a bit in LA, moved to Alaska to become part of Scott's X-Men, realised that Juggernaut was now a good guy and on the team, and immediately started working on a way to fire the man out of a cannon, is amazing. I have no notes.

I also appreciate Cain just. Being kinda cute and wholesome here? He's just a good dude. He's fistbumping, he's reassuring, he's just. Nice. This feels like the same guy that became good friends with Sammy Pare.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I just kinda like it when my heroes are nice and they like their teammates?

Amazing. Love it. Beautiful. This is what I read comic books for.

Hank's human rail gun. I love it, too, Illyana.

I also kind of enjoy this dialogue here because it reminds me of this little exchange from S.W.O.R.D.

I doubt it's an intentional reference, but it just makes me think that MacKay and Gillen share a kinda similar ethos when it comes to crafting dialogue, and that this mission and maybe this era, is maybe meant to be something other than what people are expecting it to be.

People are expecting it to be the next grand epoch of X-Men, as dramatic a turn in the world as House of X or New X-Men, and. It clearly isn't? And I don't really think it's trying to be? I think it's trying to be fun comic books. Which. Is not a crime, provided it's done in the right context. There's a difference between doing just some fun comics when the era is just getting started and things have yet to hit the fan, and doing just some fun comics when the era is coming to a close and people are expecting you to try and put a bow on some five year long character arcs.

Take a hint, Gerry Duggan.

I like this moment because it's basically the mission statement of the X-Men in general. We're here for you. We're here to help. I fucking hated Bendis' All-New X-Men with a passion, but one of the few things I didn't mind was Scott's rescue of the younger mutants in the first few issues, because that's what the X-Men should be doing. If I was picking this comic up as a launching point and I had never read X-Men before, this would be very good at communicating what they're about. What Scott is about. And that's good.

I am beyond tired of kill teams, gang. I am beyond tired of that shit.

I also appreciate the guy in the background with his phone out. Whether that'll be important or not, I have no idea, but I like it. It's a nice little detail.

Hank's only in the one panel here, but I do appreciate the gravitas of this. Scott's tactical genius got Ben out of danger and now Max and Hank have a piece of the puzzle to unravel, which is a dynamic I appreciate.

Even if Hank and Max didn't get a ton to do here, they at least feel like they're being afforded respect as other parts of the triangle that issue 1 set up, and . . . I realise that this may seem like a weird thing to compliment, I just appreciate these characters being respected?

Maybe it's just a shock after 5 years of X-Force, but that series never respected Beast, or a lot of its characters, to be honest, it treated them as props or ways to elevate Wolverine, the actual main character, and this . . . even though they haven't been on panel doing stuff, the positioning here makes it important that they have an effect on the narrative. I just appreciate it.

That being said, I do have to ask . . . who's taking care of Ben here? Because Hank ain't a medical doctor. This Hank doesn't have any of that medical expertise. Is Xorn hanging around? Did Scott or Max hook Ben up to the medical doodads he's got going here? Or did Hank do a load of catch up courses and now he's a doctor again? These are questions I need to know the answer to.

Finally, I did notice this in the back of the issue . . .

RIP, Don Perlin. I genuinely loved your work on Defenders, and you drew a very lovely Hank McCoy. You had a damned fine innings, and I hope you knew you're gonna be remembered for decades to come for your contributions to the comic book industry, though I doubt it brought you as much financial success as I think you deserved.

To commemorate your passing, here's one of my very favourite scenes you did the pencils for. I'll think of it, and you, for a long time to come.

[petrenocka]

Ok, I have read all the Licenses and now I'm pretty confident which mechs to give to each Champion in an Lancer BoTW AU

Urbosa gets a Tokugawa, because plasma scimitars and it being a very skill based and dangerous mech to pilot, usually used by officers who want all the smoke. It fit too well.

Daruk gets the Saladin. Because obviously. It's a big boy, has shealds, is a shield itself, and Saladin pilots are loved by everyone for being reliable hero types.

Mipha gets the Black Witch, for being The Support™, and the staff that's one spike away from being a trident. Really conflicted weather it's should be an Emperor instead for being able to support and stand up for itself and being more regal. But Emperor is The Bow Mech™. Also unfortunately I couldn't keep up the theme of all Champions getting an NHP to represent their Divine Beasts with this one. Frankly this choice is the most subject to change.

Revali gets the Monarch. Explosives, showstopper, "These rockets are rated E for everyone, everywhere, at the same time, cover won't help you". Unfortunately the only inherently airborne mech in the game is a stealth assasin and the only bow mech is a magical pain support. But of ALL mechs, including the Dusk Wing, Monarch is the most one that SHOULD be flying, thing's literally build like a jet. I thought about the cowboy mech too, to represent the humble upbringing and the sharpshooter-ness, but Raleigh does not look built for the sky. Though that could be leveraged for Revali's "self made man" shtick. Idk, maybe.

Finally Link is piloting the Orchis. Man's literally the Royal Knight of the princes, what better then the sword and shield defensive knight mech. Also it's an alternative frame for the Black Witch, which is good symbolism for his connection with Mipha. That is of course before Link bonds with The Atlas That Seals The Darkness. The giant killer power suit only select few martial artists can pilot with their bones intact.

Zelda is struggling with being a Lancer at all and Calamity Ganon is a fuckoff giant Balor.

TL:DR Pictures under cut

Daruk would pilot this

Urbosa

Mipha (either or)

Revali

Link (left as a RG, right is The Master Mech)

Calamity Ganon

[les-cris-des-fendues]

Je me suis baladée toute la matinée avec Fenris dans un bouillonnement de sève, d'ardeur, de bleu, de vert et de soleil. Lui il récoltait ses tiques et puces amassées à l'entrée du terrier des renards ou bien fourrées dans les hautes herbes et moi je prenais des photos, dont quelques-unes qui se sont faites toutes seules d'ailleurs comme celle d'en haut. On est bien là, Fenris et moi... Cet endroit nous rend fous de bonheur, à courir partout, à grimper tous les rochers, à s'extasier devant la beauté, la seule qui ne fait pas de manière, à siffler les rapaces pour les faire venir; tiens ce matin, un grand corbeau solitaire suivi de près par un milan royal (lui aussi tout seul, étrange d'ailleurs, ils volent souvent en couple ceux-ci mais peut être qu'il était en chasse pour nourrir la femelle qui couvait) ont rappliqué illico presto, à croquer les fleurs comestibles pour moi, ou le chiendent pour Fenris, à ramasser de tout et n'importe quoi, des cailloux, des bouts de bois, des graines... J'aime le printemps, ici, en Catalogne française. D'ici à un mois, toutes les fleurs auront explosé du rire de leurs couleurs, le muscari, le lin vivace, l'asphodèle, la fleur de bruyère , la lavande vraie ou officinale, celle endémique de la garrigue, l'immortelle, la ciste (ma chouchou), le laurier Tin, la santoline, les orchis et les deux stars que sont le thym et le romarin. J'en oublie bien sûr, pardonnez-moi, mes demoiselles... Tout cela, cette beauté, cette joie qui nous vient, à Fenris et moi, ce calme, ce bien-être sans pareil, ce bain d'arômes, de senteurs, d’effluves, d'images, de vibrations j'aime beaucoup le partager ici avec vous. En toute simplicité.

Pierre de Corail fossile. Nous sommes à plusieurs centaines de mètres d'altitude et pourtant ici avant, il y a des millénaires en arrière, c'était la mer...

[monsieuroverlord]

Somnus sighting in X-Men Unlimited Comic 121 thru 124!

spoilers below

We got a bit more info on where some of the displaced mutants ended up! Basically, a bunch of them were taken in by Camp Gozhoo (the current home of James and John Proudstar, where their grandma relocated after separating from their grandfather). Native American reservations technically have their own sovereignty, so it makes sense they'd offer protection to mutants.

(For context: Reservations are only required to follow tribal and federal law on their own land -- assuming there's no congressional/federal order. I'm not super familiar with the nuances so I'd highly recommend researching if you're interested. But from what I know, it makes sense that they'd at least have a bit of time to act as a safe haven if the governing bodies of the reservation desired)

Somnus didn't really contribute much plotwise (other than getting into trouble)

But honestly the tagteam fighting between the Proudstar brothers was deeply satsifying. I mean look at this:

Smashing a beer bottle on your bro to throw at an Orchis agent. That's badass! That's some pro-wrestling shit right there, lmao.

The fight sequences overall were really well done and fun to look at.

(Also, I love Grandma Lozen. She's a badass and needs her own ongoing with the Proudstar boys)

Also Dani Moonstar shines as the badass leader she is! Very cool to see her in action as a leader of an underground network of mutants.

In 123, she recruits Thunderbird (as Warpath is out of commission with a busted leg) and Shatterstar shows up to bring them to X-Corps, a hidden base in the Pacific Ocean. Its also revealed that mutants all over the globe are being mysteriously kidnapped -- too strange to be Orchis acting alone.

In 124, Dani shows Thunderbird around the base, where Jamie Madrox is manning everything, Layla Miller is purring her detective skills to work, Wiz-Kid and Trinary are on monitor duty and networking. It's then revealed that the kidnapped mutants (along with Somnus were taken to Nova Roma -- which is now home to a legion of undead Orchis agents under the leadership of Selene.

Somnus didn't really get to do anything except bunch out an undead guy.

[rottingbiogirl]

Going to the psychologist tomorrow to get a paper that says I am allowed to ASK a commission of 10 people if I could “pwetty pwease have my balls cut off? 🥺👉👈”

So yeah. I still can’t figure out a single good reason not to have an orchi. If any experienced gals could point out some things I may not have considered, please go ahead.

Where I’m at right now:

I have no use for my balls.

They get in the way and mean I can’t (comfortably) wear a lot of clothing I’d like to wear.

They force me to take T-blockers which aren’t the healthiest long-term.

I’m a bit dysphoric about them.

I froze my sperm so I still have a shot at being a bio-mom if I ever decide I want that.

I don’t think I’m gonna be changing my mind about being a woman but even if I do, I’d still probably prefer estrogen over testosterone. (Worst case scenario, I’d go the t-boy route.)

It kinda sucks being dependent on HRT for the rest of my life… but, like, I am basically as sure as you can get that I do NOT want testosterone POISONING my body EVER again. So I’d be dependent on external sources of E either way.

[highandbroken]

Orchids!

Orchids (Orchis) are native to Europe and Northwest Africa, ranging as far as Tibet, Mongolia, and Xinjiang!

Their name comes from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις (órkhis), literally translating to “testicle” cause of the shape of the twin tubers in some species of Orchis. Another interpretation is that it came from the Latin “orchis”, translating to “olive”! The term “orchid” was introduced in 1845 by John Lindley in School Botany, as a shortened form of Orchidaceae.

They have a meaning of elegance and beauty, which is derived from their colourful, delicate, and shapely petals. They became an exotic luxury during the Victorian era, when only the wealthy could afford the expensive bloom.

Given the etymology of the orchid, there was an Ancient Greek myth that eating an orchid’s tubers could determine if an unborn child would be a girl or boy, depending on if the mother or father ate them respectively.

The oldest known recorded reference to the orchid was made by Shen Nung – known as the father of Chinese medicine – around 2695 BC. In Chinese cultures, orchids are symbols of scholarly pursuit, nobility, integrity, and friendship! Also Confucius, a famous Chinese philosopher, had a special affection for cymbidium orchids. One quote attributed to him is “if you are in the company of good people, it is like entering a room full of orchids.”

They thrive well in a well-draining soil that’s consistently moist, in an area with partial shade! If you plan to grow them from seeds, it’s best to start them off indoors. Germination time varies from 3 months to over a year, so sow the seeds at any time BUT only put the seedlings outdoors after the last frost of spring.

Tradition tells us that wearing an orchid promotes friendship! Also, medicinally they were used to treat a LOT of different diseases, including but not limited to tuberculosis, paralysis, stomach disorders, and chest pain! And if you want, you can make glue out of them by stripping, drying, then soaking them in water!

When doing any kind of magickal spells with orchids, their main uses are for calming, dissolving anger, love & peace, and beauty spells (basically to help you feel more beautiful/comfortable in your own skin)!

You can pair them with camellia for a friend you miss, or magnolia as a gift for someone you admire! You could also present it to someone as a way of opening the door to improving your relationship :D

[wayfaringastral]

// a friend brought it up to me again so i was reminded...

// do you ever think about how repti calls out loki for having a pantry full of spoiled food. i do.

// world's most normal boy all the time 24/7 etc etc he's so good at selfcare (not really)

// on a similar note i do think about how loki self sabotages himself a lot. liiiiiiike the whole trying to be antagonistic but never actually doing anything to harm captain and co..... if anything it's the opposite, everything he does aids them.

// not to mention being mean to fenrir but she's extremely smart so she knows that he's not being true to himself. she's loyal to him for real reasons. he isn't forcing her to be there. their pact is based on trust and understanding. in the most literal sense.

// oh oh. loki really likes taking on the role of a protector it seems... it's interesting, isn't it? watching over and observing captain's journey, defending orchis, orchid, and zwei from the violet knight (and helping out zwei a lot in general after her father figure's death), protecting fenrir from her own power, and his magic being seemingly more defensive based... it's like... he doesn't want to lose anyone ever again. he has the power to never lose anyone again after what happened with byleistr... but it's not something he all that conscious of...

// i also love to think about how astrals are stagnant and don't change physically or mentally. but he's becoming a part of the sky realm and changing as a person and that's very beautiful. the unwillingness to admit that he wants to be a part of captain's journey to then quite literally joining the crew in recent chapters.......

// these are a bunch of thoughts mixed into one little post but tl;dr - loki is very wounded and he tends to laugh it off but he's learning how to be vulnerable and how to show that he cares properly. he is healing. now cygames please update msq... i need it badly.

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Ok, spoilers for this year hellfire gala. This is going to be an overall gush, probably barely coherent. I’ll try to intercalate positive and negatives?

What in the actual fuck?!

First of all, the Kamala resurrection was exactly as meaningless, corporative and boring as expected. I just can’t wait to see what stupid power they come up with as her mutant gift (supposing of course that the terrigen/x-gene incompatibility will be solved trivially on an artificially convenient moment [like her whole death and resurrection was]). Also (and I’m jumping the horse a little, but this is a really meaningless nitpick that just stayed on my mind) how does she know the X-men red triangle psychic resistance thingy?

Scott wearing his old Champions suit? Complete flop. He can’t sell it at all. But I do find it cute and endearing, and this is exactly the pathetic Summers behavior that I’m here for.

The G.O.D.S. cameo was really clunky. I mean, I know nothing about those people, apart that they didn’t help at all on the whole thing (and maybe they have a reason for that. I wouldn’t know) and that Wyn is hot. I may give it a chance for more Wyn.

Speaking of hot, David? Slay. Emma? Slay. Jubilation? Slay. Kate? Omega slay. Like, if this is the last hellfire (and I don’t mean this on a “wow, this could have everlasting consequences” way, but a “yeah, I don’t think they should try to sell this idea again for two or three years”), at least they could serve until the end. Imagine how funny all the Charles drama would be if he was wearing his stupid baby pope atire from the first gala?!

The avengers? As pointless as expected. Nothing new under the sun, and I actually appreciate that they are useless on X-titles.

About the New York Arbor Magna thing, can we please have Cyclops leading the team on a wheelchair for like… this whole phase? It would be so weird, and fun, and iconic! Like, having Charles walking around (or, I don’t know, dying alone on that freaking beach? I would enjoy that.) and Scott brooding on a chair? Absolutely fantastic. I do think Emma and Scott leading again could be a nice echo to last time.

Because… we are having a new (supposedly) mutant genocide again. Imagine being resurrected from Genosha, or Decimation, or the Terrigen stuff, and immediately dying again? Lol. The concept is so so overdone at this point. It doesn’t preserve the impact at all.

On the other hand, you know that post about how every queer person has a universe-appointed C tier X-men character to love and cherish? I do think my baby Explodey-boy is dead know. Absolutely homophobic behavior.

I do enjoy Stasis and Nimrod very much. At this point, I would devour an orchis tittle if they promised me absolute lack of Moira and Feilong (as they are, in fact, shit). When Stasis said that Charles understood powers of ten? And the dancing? Send me shivers. Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping (…).

I also think Jean stole the scene a little bit. I’m not usually a Jean stan, but god dammit she is so strong. And like, not only in the Omega Telepath Phoenix way, she has so much presence and name, inside and outside the world, that so much can be supported by her. I feel like the whole story is hanging by her absoluteness of a character. And Maddie holding her??? Aaaaaa

That’s it, I guess… just wanted to do my overall first impression. I do like the Krakoa era very much, and the last decade or so have taught me to take apparent big status quo changes with a grain of salt (I mean, Emma is supposed to marry flop Stark in four or five chapters, right?! Things should probably be relatively stable by them), but I can see myself enjoying the change of pace a little.

By far the worst gala? Yeah. For sure. Like, criminally bad chapter. But I do see some things planted that could end up being really fun.