Irhaboggle Pride (2023) I Saw the Signs and Symbols

Trillium

"So, what do those flowers mean?" Kara asked excitedly, pointing at the patch of white and yellow daffodils.

"Kara," Alex said patiently, "flowers aren't actually a language. When the tour guide said that, he meant that people associate certain things with certain flowers and that's how it's like a language, but it's not English or Spanish." Nor did it mean that flowers could whisper to one another when no one else was around. What a conversation that was, trying to talk the overly-excited, tragically-misguided Kara out of a fairytale belief.

"Actually," Lena interjected, "Daffodils have represented things such as hope, joy, and rebirth. Some sources say that color matters, others disagree."

Alex raised an eyebrow and Lena smiled embarrassedly, ducking her head.

"It's just... something Mom made me study when I was younger..." The Luthors may have been best known for trying to kill Superman repeatedly, but before the infamous rivalry, they were just another powerful family with as much money as they had shady dealings. That didn't mean they were better people in the past, but it did mean Lena was raised and taught in many arts and academics expected of a proper young lady.

The irony, I DID eventually develop an interest in flowers, but for scientific purposes rather than social. While a proper young lady would swoon at a luxurious bouquet of exotic and colorful flowers, Lena would marvel at the self-pollinating nature of certain plants, and the way their sex characteristics did or did not present over the course of their lives and reproductive cycles. Lena preferred taxonomy to symbolism, but she still had a rudimentary knowledge of what certain flowers were supposed to represent in culture and society.

"Well, Kara," said Alex, smirking, "is your curiosity satis—?"

"Hey, Maggie, your family is from Mexico, right?" Kara looked just as excited as ever.

"Apparently not." Alex heaved a long-suffering sigh.

"Do Spanish flowers have Spanish meanings?"

While Alex slapped her forehead, seconds away from dying from secondhand embarrassment, Maggie laughed. "Don't worry, Alex, I appreciate her enthusiasm!"

"Don't encourage her!" Alex pleaded, but it was too late. Now, Kara wanted to know about the Spanish flowers and their Spanish meanings.

"Well," Maggie began, "I don't know as much as Ms. Luth—Lena." Maggie dipped her head with an apologetic smile, but Lena shook her head and waved her hand, smiling back serenely.

Thanks to Kara, Lena, at least, was becoming a more socially accepted Luthor. Because she and Kara were dating, while Alex and Maggie were dating, that automatically connected Alex and Maggie to Lena. Of course, at first, they were guarded, and even now there was still a level of formality between the Luthor and the others—minus Kara, of course—but they were working on it.

"I don't know as much as Lena about flower symbolism, no matter what type of flower we're talking about, but I know that those guys over there—" Maggie pointed to a small patch of flowers in the next room of the greenhouse, "—are called Trillium, and in Mexico, they can mean bisexuality."

Once the quartet reached the next room, they looked down at the small box of tiny, purple and white flowers, each one with three petals.

"The reason the flowers are called bisexual is because they have both male and female sex organs," Maggie said.

"Ok, Lena," Kara teased, and Lena looked away, flustered and flattered.

"Oh, I only know that about this one flower," Maggie laughed. "So, Lena still knows more than me in that regard. It's just because that's one of the stories about why the Trillium flower came to mean bisexuality. Another one is that one petal represents same-sex attraction while another represents other-sex attraction, and the third and final petal represents both."

Maggie pulled out her phone and pulled up a photo of a flag divided into three vertical stripes. From left to right, they were pink, white, and blue. In the middle of the white stripe, there was a small purple symbol that looked like three interlocking triangles. It was the Trillium.

"So that's my flower then!" Kara looked like a kid on Christmas as she pointed at the box of Trilliums.

"Well, you're not Mexican," Alex snickered.

"Oh, true..." Kara's shoulders slumped, and her face fell. A second later, though, she a look of determination returned to her. "Then I'm going to go find me a bisexual flower that does fit me! Come on, Lena, let's go and see if we can find you a lesbian flower!"

"W-w-wait, Kara!" Lena squeaked as Kara grabbed her hand and started dragging her into the next room of the greenhouse. She went red in the face as Kara loudly, proudly, declared both of their sexualities to every other tourist in the vicinity. Lucky them, National City was a very accepting place and people were polite enough to hide their laughter as Kara and Lena barged by (bi).

"V-v-violets, and sometimes lavender, can r-r-represent—"

"Violets and lavender? Ok!" Kara cheerfully picked up her speed. "We're off to find violets and lavender then!"

"Woah!" Lena yelped as she nearly lost her footing again and, for a second time, tourists hid laughter behind hands and coughs.

Alex and Maggie were left in the dust, looking back and forth between one another and the line of amused tourists that Kara and Lena left in their wake. Alex exhaled tiredly. I'm not even embarrassed anymore. I just don't even think I have it in me to feel ANYTHING after THAT.

Maggie chuckled, knowing exactly what had Alex looking so stunned and exasperated. She kissed her girlfriend's cheek. "If it means anything to you, I think this greenhouse double date has been a lot of fun!" she promised, and at last, a smile returned to Alex's face.

"Thanks for playing along with her," she whispered. Kara didn't just embarrass Alex because of the whole "annoying little sis" thing. Sometimes, Kara's curious Kryptonian nature poked its head a little too far out and she started asking questions that could seem odd or offensive. Luckily, Maggie was a good sport, more than willing to answer. Kara was still not "out" about her Supergirl secret identity, so both Danvers sisters were grateful for Maggie's easygoingness. It was especially useful since Lena was one of the ones Kara was not out to.

Good thing Lena attributes Kara's... quirks to her natural personality! Alex thought. For a Luthor, Lena wasn't always the smartest.

"Like I said before, I like Kara's enthusiasm," Maggie said. She looked after Kara and Lena again even though they were long gone. "I hope she finds her bisexual flower..." She was sincere, but when Alex heard her, she groaned in embarrassment, certain that this was just another running joke she'd never be able to live down or outrun.

AN: Set in S2

#throwback LOL

This one's for LuntianGrace! And a little bit Snorlax891 :P