FranklyDear and flowers
While analysing some content on the site, my friend and I noticed how flowers have an important part in Frank and Eddie's relationship.
Firstly, lavender is featured prominently in Frank's update: Eddie is wearing some in the main menu and it's the flower needed to find the hidden video that finally introduces Frank and Eddie's relationship to the main plot.
Another thing: the background in /sweetlavender depicts a garden of lavenders. Given the clues in the website, it's probably Eddie's garden.
"I’ll tell you something, Mr. Frankly, my lavender makes the Post Office look so much more friendlier!" -'A Darling Broadcast'
Rose is another flower that we see often in the update.
In "Sweet Lavender", a sleepy Eddie is surrounded by both roses and lavenders. In the original storybook, Julie does not have flowers around her.
The rose reappears in /ourhome, specifically on the the gift Julie keeps in her nest. This gift has two clues for us:
The recipient of this Mail n' Time Day (Valentine's Day) gift is Frank
By comparing the handwriting to the cast's autographs, the original sender is Eddie
So, Eddie sent a romantic gift to Frank, with a rose on top of it, which was either never received or the recepient did not want to open it. The first answer seems the most likely...
Lavender was originally a symbol of mistrust, because its scent attracts danger (snakes, wasps...), but a gifted lavender hides a message of love, respect and devotion. It's often linked to the phrase "Your memory is my happiness".
Rose is a symbol of Venus, the goddess of Love, and conveys a message of everlasting love, but is also linked to the outmost beauty.
There's another rose in Frank's update: the one at the centre of Primrella's bouquet.
"I saw you... standing among the flowers."
Here, for the first time in the storybook, Frank drops the monotone acting. When Julie asks him to describe why he feels drawn to her, he laughs fondly- like he always does with Julie- and it almost seems like he's... Thinking. Recalling something.
Is it possible he's picturing Eddie in Julie's place, as in "Sweet Lavender"? Maybe. Or is he simply remembering a moment in the past, possibly in a garden, with Eddie? That too.
There's another recognisable flower in Primrella's bouquet. Tulip: a flower for subtle declarations of love.
A romantic gift not meant for Julie is hidden in her home, the same Julie depicted with a bouquet of a single rose and tulips. A desperate love confession?
"Then her handsome prince comes to wake her up! (...If only it was that easy.)" -'ATI'
It's important to note that Frank's signature flower, forget-me-not, is not mentioned in this update. Lavenders and roses, but not the symbol of faithful memory.
"He's not an idiot, but he acts like he didn't even remember! ...Does he not remember? ...Remember me?" -'Sweet Lavender'
Is the use of floriography only a recent development in the ARG?
Last night i was rewatching the hidden videos from 2023. In one of them, Frank is tending to flowers with Wally. No, not generic flowers...
Barnaby:"You know what they say, you gotta entertain your plants to make em happy." Frank:"That's true...but I'm not going to let your snappy patter poison my petunias!"
Petunia represents a hidden love, yet so passionate that threatens to come out into the open.
Coincidence? If so, a really funny one...
No, I think all these flowers are not placed at random, not in an ARG that hides videos behind floriography. The real question is: who are these flowers speaking to?
So a thoughts forms in my head: what if the characters are using floriography to send code messages not only to each other, but to the audience as well?
What if Eddie is using lavenders to make a statement about himself. What if Frank plants petunias to show what he cannot tell. Will the others use flowers to communicate in the next updates as well?
Only time can tell us the truth.
