Orchid Higan

Return to Classic Pokeau characters || Page last updated: February 4th, 2024

“Right… well, no matter what, I’ll love you Cynthia, even if you put my soul into a rock.”

–Orchid, Odd Keystone

Orchid was the lorekeeper previous to Zinnia, and her late mother. She was a dutiful archivist, who’s work tore an international incident wide open.

While she was born in Fallarbor, her family, as well as Emmy, ended up moving all the way to Celestic Town in Sinnoh after rising tensions with the Stone family resulted in the death of her father. It would be because of this move that Orchid was introduced to Cynthia – the two of them would train together and became good friends, and eventually, fall in love.

The two got married young, and Orchid was able to dedicate herself to her studies full-time. She worked to archive Draconid history and varied mythology; though Orchid eventually took a special interest in a man named Joeseph Stone. The information she uncovered was game-changing, but…

Orchid later died of suspicious circumstances shortly after her daughter was born, ruled as medical complications.
But a spirit like Orchid’s wouldn’t be extinguished so easily, especially when she had unfinished business.


Appearance

Orchid was 6’0″ (182cm), with a muscular-thin build. She had short wavy black hair, with one side tied into a mini-ponytail using the Draconid heirloom bead – the red colour of which matched her eyes. She was almost always seen wearing her emerald delta necklace.

Her style was very ‘vintage’, and she commonly wore both traditionally masculine and feminine clothing. 

The ghostly Draconid archivist

NicknamesFlower, Nightmare eyes
GenderGenderfluid (She/her)
Age20 (Deceased)
BirthdayNovember 4th
OccupationLorekeeper (Former)
EthnicityDraconid
BirthplaceFallarbor Town
OrientationAce Lesbian
S/OCynthia
Legend affiliationN/A
Theme
月時計 〜 ルナ・ダイアル - くろしろ

Personality

Orchid was determined, dedicated, and she always cared a lot about what she was invested in. When she was dead-set on something, she would ignore all else until she could complete her task at hand; even if it would sometimes come with the cost of her own well-being.
Orchid was also a massive perfectionist, though she’d never admit it. She’d be more likely to say that she wanted to do things to make the world better, even if it was small – and she’d be honest by saying that.

Being the lorekeeper, Orchid was raised with values of helping others, and that’s exactly what she tried to do – even if the person didn’t really ask. She wanted everyone to be happy, and because of this, she’d often put everyone’s weight on her shoulders. She always wanted to be at the front lines of everything, and to do her best to help her community.
She was quite social too, and even if her frequent research gave her an ‘egghead’ reputation among local kids. She would always be ready to strike up a conversation – especially with family.


Story

This section is old and outdated. It currently only goes up to the in-universe year of 2027 and is due for an update!

Birth and conflicts (0-2)

Orchid’s birth was celebrated, as it marked the next chapter of the lorekeeper legacy. However, through unfortunate coincidence, Orchid was born during a tumultuous time for her family and Fallarbor town as a whole. The ever-turbulent relationship between the Stone and lorekeeper families was growing worse, particularly due to the recent discovery of a rare mineral deposit just out of town. It wasn’t the Devon CEO who posed the biggest problem, though – it was his sons. The four had been particularly aggressive in their approach to coerce the family into allowing Devon to access the deposit. Even after Orchid’s mother’s refusal, citing dangers related to the nearby volcano, they persisted.

Early life (2-10)

Because of the remoteness of Celestic’s location, Orchid grew up without a lot of outside influences. Emerald would often fly over the mountain and visit Eterna city for the night, bringing back newspapers when she returned, but that was about it. Orchid was taught to read at a young age, and would usually immerse herself in books to learn about the world outside her tiny town. While she was too young to formally begin lorekeeper training, she still strived to do her best and helped out however she could. There weren’t very many kids her age around the town, but she never seemed to mind.

Cynthia, training, and nightmares (10-13)

It was a cloudy afternoon, and the family was eating lunch when a knock fell on the front door. It wasn’t expected, but it also wasn’t unheard of; people of the town would often come to the lorekeeper for help. Orchid’s mother moved to get up and answer the door, but Emerald beat her to it, even after she insisted she should answer instead, as Emerald was never in a particularly good mood these days.
There was a man at the door, and he didn’t look like he was from Celestic at all – he looked and dressed wealthy, and by his side was a girl around Orchid’s age in a black fur coat.

The man said he had heard of the ‘lorekeeper training’ and wanted to ask if his daughter could ‘enroll’. Emerald seemed dumbfounded from his misinformation, but politely corrected him. Still, the man insisted, and the two argued for a bit. Orchid was eating, but stopped to stare over at the door. She could only see Emerald’s expression, but from that, she could tell that she was frustrated. Then, they stopped. The man offered Emerald an amount of money she couldn’t refuse, so she begrudgingly changed her attitude towards him. The man called a chauffeur to grab his daughter’s luggage, and they quickly moved everything inside.
And so, almost as strangely as he came, the man left in a cloud of dust and fallen leaves kicked up by his expensive car. Emerald found his desire to just drop his daughter off for an undefined period of time quite odd, but pushed her suspicion to the side when taking the money into account.

Orchid was just about as confused as her mother and the girl. While her mother went to berate Emerald for taking to accepting what she called bribery, Orchid went to attempt an introduction with the girl who had just shown up. She’d never talked much to kids her age, so she slipped up halfway through her introduction from anxiety. The girl told her it was alright, and introduced herself as Cynthia. She told Orchid that her father was a powerful pokemon trainer, and that she was here ‘to get strong like him‘. Orchid perked up a bit, remembering news of the Pokemon League and broadcasts she’d listen to on the radio. She was able to talk with Cynthia for a bit before her mother calmly interrupted both of them. She told Orchid it was best to help Cynthia get settled, and that afterward the four of them would formally discuss lorekeeper training.
While helping Cynthia get settled, Orchid was able to learn a bit more about her. She told her about her father and her life at home, and how her father had apparently been searching for a place for her to train for a while. Orchid told her that she thought it was strange how her father would just drop her off like that, but Cynthia shrugged it off, saying it was normal for her.

That evening, the four of them sat down to discuss training. Orchid’s mother was reluctant to include Cynthia, still feeling sour over Emerald’s decision to take her – but Emerald insisted. While Orchid had a bit of a headstart from her studies in her free time, formal Lorekeeper training was meant to prepare her for taking her mother’s role when it was time. Orchid was more than ready to begin, and enthusiastically said so. Cynthia seemed a bit intimidated by everything, especially considering it was her first day in a new place – but Orchid’s mother told her she’d likely only participate in only some of the things Orchid did. The meeting felt a bit underwhelming to Orchid, who had expected something less casual. Still, she was excited to start training as soon as she could.

Not long after, Orchid formally began training to take up the role of lorekeeper, with Cynthia at her side. While her mother facilitated most of it, Emerald did teach her on occasion – though much less than she normally would. Orchid’s mother found herself filling in for Emerald more than she’d like to, but Orchid didn’t question it much. Her learning was primarily linked to Draconid history and dragon husbandry, but she was also taught a variety of other skills ranging from physical training to varied naturalistic skills. It got difficult at times, but Orchid was more than thankful she at least had someone her age to talk to about it. Additionally, the two found out they had a strong shared interest in history, and would often stay up late at night going over old books.

It was also during this time that Orchid began having frequent nightmares. She started to stay up late studying to avoid sleeping, because whenever she had a nightmare she’d wake up anxious. She had also come to realize that things she’d see out of the corner of her eye – things she had thought were ghost types hiding – really weren’t. She’d always dealt with this, but it was only now that she realized she was the only person experiencing this. She was afraid to mention it to her mother or Emerald, but she confided to Cynthia about it, who offered to support her however she could.

The landslide, the meteor, and the future (14-16)

For a while, it was mostly business as usual for the household. Orchid and Cynthia would train alongside eachother, strengthening their bonds with not only their pokemon, but with each other as well. Orchid had chosen to raise a bagon, while Cynthia found herself to be rather fond of a gible. They were making steady progress, and while Orchid’s hallucinations and nightmares proved to be an intimidating obstacle, she still managed it as best she could.

Lorekeeper Orchid, Champion Cynthia, and Joseph Stone (17-18)

Time passed, and training continued. Nothing truly outstanding happened for a while, aside from expected bumps that come from living in a remote mountain village. That was, until Orchid’s mother became seriously ill. She was already around the age where a lorekeeper would pass their role to their child, but her sudden onset of illness only kickstarted the process. Despite having prepared for this her entire life, Orchid was still a bit nervous – but with the encouragement of others, she was able to quickly overcome the feeling. The ceremony was attended to by lots of residents of Celestic, and many of the people who watched her grow up were there to congratulate her. It was a heartfelt moment, and afterwards she spent the night creating an outline of things she wanted to accomplish as lorekeeper.

The case of Joseph Stone and death (19-20)

Given her intrigue in Joseph Stone, Orchid had remembered to speak to Emerald about him. She brought it up when she finally got the chance to talk to her.

Afterlife (1979-2005)

Zinnia and the trial (2010)

After the day Rayquaza destroyed the meteor, Orchid was more or less unconscious most of the time. She had held on to the desire to at least see her daughter one last time, but with that hope extinguished, her spirit became less and less active.
…Or so she had thought.

Present day

While Orchid will never know directly what happened in the final moments of the trial, she does know everything turned out alright. Her spirit was finally able to move on, and she now resides in the upper spirit plane – though she’s occasionally channeled down into a keystone or similar supernatural object by Aster to get caught up with her family. Ideally, she wouldn’t want to be dead – nobody really would; but she’s content to settle with how things are right now. While she might not be living, per say, her spirit is has persevered nonetheless.


Skills

Disaster prediction:

  • Because of psychosis, Orchid would experience episodes of hallucinations and unreality, as well as harsh nightmares. It was only after hallucinations successfully foretold a landslide that, likely due in part to direct divine connection, Orchid was capable of ‘predicting’ disasters.
    • She wouldn’t consider it a skill at all; she hates it, and knowing that her delusions might actually happen only adds to her stress during episodes. 
    • Due to this, her companion pokemon was actually an absol instead of the expected dragon-type for a Draconid.
      • Orchid’s absol served another assistance – it was able to warn her of incoming episodes so she could make sure she was safe.
    • ‘Nightmare eyes’ is a self-given nickname because of this.
  • authors note: orchid’s delusions are very explicitly based off of previous personal experiences dont sue me for making it a bit Funky

Research:

  • Orchid was dedicated to deep research, and quite skilled at digging things up. Be it a billionaire’s dirty laundry or ancient Sinnohan folklore, she was able to quickly gain information, as well as come to conclusions and create and present a clear hypothesis in her writing.
    • She wrote an impressive anthology on Draconid history in her short life, currently in the process of being translated by her daughter. All of Orchid’s writing was in Draconid.

Jack of all trades:

  • Orchid knew how to do many things, despite her death at such a young age. Being a lorekeeper meant training in varied fields, but Orchid did pick up some smaller hobbies on her own.
    • Sewing: It started by simply repairing tears, but Orchid eventually taught herself how to sew full garments by herself. She mostly just modified existing clothing, but would sew full dresses on occasion for her wife.
    • Tennis: Cynthia’s influence got Orchid trying things she never thought she would be interested in otherwise, one of them being tennis, of all things. Cynthia used to take her on dates to a tennis court before her death.
    • Archery: Though mostly recreational in ranges, Orchid occasionally used archery for assistance in sending flares through fog – her focus and steady hand aided her quite well.
    • Taxidermy: An on-and-off hobby few even knew about – a bit of a combination of her interests in sewing and preservation. She also collected bones and related finds from the mountains for archival.

Team

Orchid

Lorekeeper

Absol Lv. 90

Bibarel Lv. 85

Medicham Lv. 86

Salamence Lv. 88

Weavile Lv. 85

Yanmega Lv. 84


Relationships

Cynthia – Wife

Her one and only. They grew up together and planned to spend their entire lives together – but when Orchid’s was cut short, Cynthia vowed she would still be eternally faithful. They’re incredibly in tune with each other, so much so that the two were able to almost seamlessly share a body for a short period of time.


Emmy – Complicated

The two were distant, despite being Lorekeeper and legend. Orchid understands why Emmy was distant and struggling, but still feels as though she could have done better. Despite this, Orchid holds no ill-will.


Zinnia – Daughter

Wishes she could know her better, given that Zinnia is her daughter, after all. Orchid is glad that Zinnia seems to be carrying on her research.


Aster – Daughter-in-law

Aster channels Orchid’s spirit regularly in order for her to communicate with her wife and daughter. Despite this, Orchid is rather unfamiliar with Aster herself – only really knowing what Zinnia has told her.


Joseph Stone – Mortal enemy

Is glad to know he’s paying for his crimes after all this time.


Anniel – Good friend

The two are friends, with Orchid being one of Anniel’s favorite people to visit in the upper spirit world. Orchid is unaware of the deeper meaning to Anniel’s fondness.


Trivia

  • Orchid had an inner debate about wearing long skirts because they’re fashionable vs. wearing pants because she can move in them. This is so sa
  • Orchid was the go-to person for confused travelers lost in the fog, as she was able to both guide them to their destination and non-condescendingly explain that no, they weren’t in Veilstone, how did you even get here,
  • While she was an excellent archivist, her sorting method was a bit… disorganized. She always made an effort to clean up any mess once she was finished, though.
  • Cynthia took care of her absol after she died, while her salamence went to Hoenn and eventually to Zinnia.
  • Orchid’s spirit is channeled bi-monthly by Aster so she can catch up on things.

Meta commentary

  • According to archival dates, Orchid’s creation date was sometime around 2016-2017… which was when I was a teenager and saw 20 as being… a good age. But now I’m older than Orchid, and it’s, uh, weird, to say the least. But it’s been so set in stone (haha) timeline-wise that I can’t really budge her age around much – and that, my friend, is my biggest regret with Classic Pokeau.

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