Irhaboggle Pride (2023) I Saw the Signs and Symbols

Violets and Lavender

"Don't you think that all of this is a little... excessive?" Storm drawled as she stood over Iris, Iris on her hands and knees in the garden before them. She was surrounded by violets and lavender.

"Not at all! They're two of the gayest flower!" Iris cried back cheerfully, slinging dirt over her shoulder as she planted another violet.

"That doesn't mean you have to upend our entire garden!" Storm cried, but Iris never left things half- or underdone. If she was going to make a gay garden, it was going to be gay AF. Pride flowers for Pride month, after all!

"Go big, or go home, baby!" Iris grinned, leaning back on her knees and surveying her work. Nearly the entire yard was purple.

"That's hardly an option when the thing you're trying to make "go big" is our home," Storm deadpanned.

"Oh, hush!" Iris waved her off, but she finally had the grace to look sheepish. This was just the front yard. Storm had yet to see the back, which was also full of violets and lavender. Their entire house was surrounded by a ring of purple.

"It's ironic, the rainbow is perhaps the most iconic queer symbol, and yet you made a garden that's just purple," Storm teased.

"Well, the gayest flowers are both purple," Iris defended. Of course, she knew about lilies and green carnations, but violets in particular were a Sapphic flower, and lavender—both the color and the flower—was often used to represent the queer community as a whole. "They're like the head honchos of gay and lesbian flowers."

Well, that's a new sentence, Storm scoffed to herself. "Why not just use irises?" she asked, half joking and half serious.

"There's only room enough for one iris here!" Iris replied, puffing out her chest. "Although," she admitted a moment later with a soft chuckle, "I was considering burying myself in the yard and then texting you to come outside and see."

The only reason she hadn't was because of the effort it would've taken to dig a hole deep enough for her to stand in and pretend to be a flower. She was short, but the holes she had to dig to plant her violets and lavender were the size of her hand. She wouldn't fit somewhere that small.

I'm glad she didn't! Storm scoffed to herself again. That would've been an even bigger mess to clean up!

"Although," Storm observed, "perhaps by choosing irises, you could've made a more colorful garden."

After all, even though the irises Iris preferred were purple, like her eyes, they came in every color of the rainbow. That was even why they were called irises, named after the Greek Goddess of Rainbows.

Iris slapped her forehead. "I keep forgetting irises come in other colors!" For obvious reasons, the purple ones were the ones she was named after. As her best friend once joked, Iris was named for her iris-colored irises. But as Storm reminded her, irises weren't just purple. A moment later, though... "Wait. How did you know about all that iris trivia?"

"I'm not stupid!" Storm crossed her arms and looked away, suddenly embarrassed.

"Did you... do research?" Iris couldn't keep the grin off her face.

Man, I should've just kept my mouth shut!

"You DO care!" Iris continued to tease.

"Shut it!" Storm growled. "I was just trying to make sure you didn't accidentally kill any of them!"

"You're implying that you think that I didn't do my own research before doing this," Iris smirked.

Man, I should've just kept my mouth shut!

No matter how Storm tried to spin it, the truth of the matter was that she'd been just as careful and thorough in her gay flower research as Iris, even though she claimed to find the entire endeavor foolish and silly.

She really does put up with too much from me! Iris' teasing smile finally turned gentle and grateful as she touched her face and tilted her head.

Storm was still looking away, muttering excuses under her breath.

Come sunset, Iris' purple garden was at last complete.

"Whew! That took longer than I thought!" She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, grateful for the cool darkness of the evening.

"I told you the garden is bigger than it looks!" Storm quirked an amused eyebrow. Even though it was only a thin ring that surrounded the house, that meant Iris still had to plant enough flowers to surround the entire house.

"Oh, I know! I'm not saying I'm tired!" Iris straightened (ha ha) up, hoping to prove herself to Storm, but Storm only chuckled and shook her head.

For a moment more, they enjoyed the flowers together in silence. As silly as the endeavor was, and as long as they'd been outside, the violets and lavender did look nice.

Although, Storm's eyes darted to Iris' face, they still aren't the prettiest flower in the garden.

Feeling unusually playful, she suddenly picked Iris up and set her down in a shallow hole created by her knees from when she was planting and scooting her way around the garden.

"Hey! That was supposed to be my joke!" Iris crossed her arms and pouted.

"Thanks for giving me the idea," Storm grinned, then she plunked down right beside Iris.

"Hmm, I wonder, what kind of flower would you be?" Iris' pout faded into a look of genuine curiosity.

"Whichever one goes best with irises," Storm replied without missing a beat, teasing smile turning sincere.

"You sap," Iris muttered, feeling her face warm up slightly. Rather than replying with words, Storm only leaned over and kissed her cheek. Now the warmth in Iris' face was more than just slight. "Awww," she snuggled closer to the taller, older woman, both of them embraced by violets and lavender.

AN: As you can see, irises are absolutely a queer symbol to me, personally, and they're my favorite flower of all LOL!

Happy Pride to everyone who made it this far! Thx for reading, and I hope you enjoyed (and maybe even learned a little something!)