since the thing perhaps is to eat flowers and not to be afraid

[torine]

(harmless) hanahaki meme

hanahaki (literally "vomiting flowers") is a fictional illness that began in japanese literature. most commonly, it happens in the case of unrequited love; flowers bloom in a person's lungs and their love suffocates them until it is either requited or they die.

that's pretty angsty. instead, consider a world where hanahaki is a normalised inconvenience and it's never hurt anyone. flowers grow in your chest from the cultivation of love — for your friends, your family, your dog. and it's a feeling that wants to be known, so maybe you can't help spilling petals sometimes when you laugh, or sigh, or shout at someone. everyone knows what it means and it's something to be celebrated. you love.

maybe you don't want to, though. maybe you chew on the petals and swallow them back, so that no one knows the feelings you're carrying around in your heart. but maybe that's not going to work forever, and sooner or later, you're going to cough those feelings up.


the short version
① hanahaki means your characters cough up flowers. plain and simple.
② it's caused by unspoken love, in any form, platonic or romantic; whether the love is requited has nothing to do with it.
③ the disease is not harmful in any way, and it's no more annoying than a persistent cough; it's treated as more symbolic magic realism here than concerned with the real life implications of coughing up flowers.
④ it's "cured" when a person expresses their love, whether the feeling is requited or not.
⑤ so basically, you can rp any everyday scenario... but now your character might have to deal with the minor nuisance of hacking up petals around the people they love. and those people are going to know what that means.

copied from here.

Comments

Yukio Okumura | Blue Exorcist | OTA

[not_my_brothers_keeper]

Katsuki Bakugou | BNHA | ota

[kacchan]

Lapis Fathalla | Original | OTA

[oneirism]

[Info can be found here!]

lacie baskerville ; pandora hearts ; m/f

[perpetua]

Loretta Visconti | world of darkness/vampire: the masquerade | OTA

[mancinella]

alice liddell • american mcgee's • ota

[shrinksense]

Subaru Sumeragi | X/1999

[hangedstar]

{ooc: probably gonna steal some of the flavor text of the traditional prompt because it suits him so well so uh #angstwarning I guess}

Yue 🌙 Cardcaptor Sakura

[lunarcana]

Diamond | Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni)

[diamondize]

((OOC: I'm playing an anime-version because I've just finished that! Though I am just starting the manga at ch 30 today, and I'm aware of most spoilers, so don't worry about spoiling me. <3 ))

Barry Allen - DCTV - OTA

[scarletspeedster1]

phosphophyllite | land of the lustrous

[phyllon]

Savitar - The Flash

[vivifier]

Ren Amamiya | Persona 5

[redreigning]

Matsuura Kanan | Love Live Sunshine

[rebreathe]

["official" floriography for her (hyacinth) is pretty sad so...there's that, if we go the angst route. otherwise, the harmless version works just as well! let me know your preference, if any.]

[fungi_notpunny]

[I love this, and one sided crushes and romance stuff could be fun, but nothing romantic above pg-15 or so for this character.]

Shouta Aizawa | BNHA

[erado]

Gintoki Sakata | Gintama

[jumpfesta]

Shouto Todoroki | My Hero Academia

[dualspec]

Chibi | Islands of Wakfu | ota

[manolia]

[b/c mutual pining is basically my jam]

Noire / Black Heart | Hyperdimension Neptunia | f/f

[lastation]

[nep_nep]

[How's this sound: Noire fails to chew a petal this time, Neptune takes it as a confession, and hams it right up just to see if she can make Noire carpet the room in rose petals before she admits anything?]

hyacinthe } oc

[comely]

😊

[amatorculist]

( the sun rises, the moon shines and orion hacks up a lung's worth of flowers at any given moment. it's life, he's gotten used to it & despite its inconvenience, he has more or less managed to keep it concealed. some tissues or long sleeves usually do the trick when he coughs. usually.

it's getting worse (of course it's getting worse) and it's going from "minor inconvenience" to "this is a serious problem make it stop".

so they're at fort clubhouse (unofficial name) and he's rolled a handful of cigarettes and just put out his second - because he can use them as excuses to lean out the window & cough, "you know i'm a bad smoker, blah blah", spit out a few daisies and whatnot and try to be subtle.

but of course it's getting worse - of course, of course he can't hold that in forever even if he'd rather avoid the inconvenience of the whole thing - and of course they're mid-conversation when he coughs

(a sleeve up to his mouth, smooth as heck and he manages to conceal the buds that come out). )

-- Yeah, I don't know about that. Drama isn't really my thing so I'd su--

( another cough, followed by another, a small fit & he's covering his mouth but they keep coming up. eventually he pauses, but unknowingly he's let the petals slip out of his grasp more obviously than he'd ever hope for. )

- Ugh. Sorry.

Osomatsu Matsuno || Osomatsu-san || ota

[relieable]

mephistopheles ( oc )

[syntheticated]

for beardlust.

[syntheticated]

[ He feels angry when he coughs up the first petal.

It's something he can hide for a while, not entirely noticeable as long as he shuts himself away when he has a fit, and besides, the color of the flowers aren't very bright—some are opaque, others a pale ivory that remind him of skin that's never seen the sunlight. But the longer it continues, the harder it becomes to ignore what it means, and he's on the way back to their apartment when he has to stop in the corridor that leads to the steps and brace a hand against his chest, the familiar pressure building until there are another fistful of petals in his hand. Mephistopheles glances down at them, and suddenly, his heart is in his throat. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know how to feel besides a little bit of uncertainty mixed with fear. Whatever this means, he can't continue to keep it a secret. Wherever this goes...

Mephis shoulders his way through the door and is only partially grateful that Jeremiah is there. He hears him before he sees him, though it's quiet in the way he always is, and by the time he shrugs out of his jacket and gets out of his shoes, he's certain he's crushed the flowers he's been holding onto. Still, somehow, he wanders through the rooms until he can sit next to Jeremiah, and without a word, he takes one of his hands and gently places the deep red petals in his palm before curling his fingers over them. ]

Cindy Aurum | Final Fantasy XV | M/F

[mechanicalwondergal]

.

daryl dixon | twd

[squirrelshooter]