Lastland (Stormris) Oneshots

Thunderstorms Will Make The Irises Grow

In the distance, the night sky became even darker as clouds passed through, obscuring the light of the stars and moon. With the large, dark clouds came rain, a thunderstorm. The first rumble that rolled across the horizon was barely audible, like the distant growl of a slumbering beast. It wasn't until midway through the night that the slumbering beast woke. Lightning flickered in the sky, illuminating and heralding the beast's arrival. The rumble grew louder, and so too did the rain, a distant pitter-patter now a loud, insistent hail, a downpour.

BANG!

Iris would've sworn the house shook, though maybe it was only in her disoriented mind as she jerked awake, Storm jolting up beside her.

"What was that?" Iris asked, her voice groggy with sleep. She knew the answer, of course, but sleep made her processing power slower.

"A storm," Storm replied, tone grim but soft. She knew they would live, of course, but as evidenced by the cacophony just outside, "Right above us."

"Ugh..." Iris sighed and shook her head. Without even leaving the warm comfort of her bed, and Storm's arms—neither of which she would've left either way—she could hear the pinging and panging of the raindrops on the rooftop. It's so, friggin' LOUD!

As if trying to test her by answering her call, another rumble of thunder rolled overhead. "Ok. Yeah. Definitely not getting back to bed like this."

Again, neither of them were afraid, but it was hard to fall asleep with gunfire and cannon shots blasting overhead at random. "Gosh dang it, Storm! Do you really have to do this? Right now?!" Iris joked, jerking a shoulder towards the window through the darkness.

"Hey! I'm nurturing nature and watering the plants and trees. Looking after our garden, as it were!" Storm answered haughtily, and Iris' laughter was genuine and delighted. It was rare for Storm to play along with her silliness, especially so quickly, even when it was just the two of them, but perhaps the weather outside had activated something within Storm. Even though it was dark, Iris' sharp purple eyes could glow through the darkness, and they saw the grin on Storm's scarred face. It was just as genuine as Iris'.

That's rare! Iris beamed as her eyes beamed softly too. "That's true, thunderstorms will make the irises grow, I suppose," she joked.

"Well... Maybe not all of them," Storm allowed, and Iris again was charmed by her sharp, quick wit.

"EkssskUUUse YOU, sizeist, but I happen to LIKE being short, thank you very much!" Iris crossed her arms, tone dripping with smugness.

"I believe that is called denial, Iris," Storm replied calmly, clinically. Iris couldn't help but snort.

"Quite the opposite!" Now her tone was airy, pompous. "I am accepting myself as I am and loving that rather than being bitter over something I can neither change nor control!" She was being melodramatic in jest, of course, but Storm's face softened, just the same.

As you should, Iris. Storm would've been the first to admit that she didn't do all the sappy, crappy, romance and emotional-type stuff that most other normal people did. She didn't get feelings, she didn't get therapy, she wasn't into all of that mental health stuff. But she could at least admit to herself that she cared about Iris, and thought that Iris should too. Wasn't it obvious? What some may have seen as Storm "gushing" (ok, first of all, she did NOT "gush"), she would've said was merely stating the obvious, the provable facts.

She is helpful, thoughtful, intelligence, optimistic... Sometimes Iris' best traits were her worst traits, and they annoyed the living daylights out of Storm, who was far more direct, and far less flowery. But perhaps that was what Storm got for marrying an Iris. And when her traits weren't busy annoying the living daylights out of Storm, Storm found all of them admirable enough that, in her opinion, everyone ought to live the same.

We needn't all be as... affectionate and adamant as Iris, Storm chuckled to herself, but to be gentler, slower to anger, a diplomat instead of a destroyer... MAYBE there is some merit to some of it...

That was not to say that Storm advocated for senseless violence, but she was much quicker than Iris to pull the trigger, literal and metaphorical. It was a trait she once disdained in Iris as indecisiveness and inexperience—and sometimes it was—but other times there was merit to choosing the nicer option. It wasn't always softness, or rather, softness was not weakness. Without meaning to, Storm got lost in tender thoughts of Iris even as they bantered playfully, throwing barbs at each other that didn't hurt. Eventually, the storm outside finished passing by.

"Wait a minute, how long has it been?" Iris' eyes were adjusted to the dark, but she still squinted and swiveled her head, searching for her phone. When at last she found it, she chuckled. "Oh, I don't remember what time it was when we woke up in the first place."

She heard Storm sigh beside her, and she chuckled again, both at herself, and her wife.

"Well, anyway, we best be back to bed now, hadn't we?" she joked, setting her phone back on the nightstand and settling back under the covers.

Storm shook her head, but made no other sound as she followed Iris back to the dreamworld. Right before they left the waking one, however, Iris remembered something suddenly.

"I may not have remembered when the storm woke us up in order to tell how long we've been talking, but I did notice that it's technically tomorrow, so... Storm." Through the darkness, Iris forced their eyes to meet, gently curling a finger under Storm's chin. Storm met her gaze curiously, feeling a surge of heat flash through her skin right where Iris was touching her. She had to fight the urge to swallow as butterflies suddenly woke up in her stomach. In a fit of despair, she silently commanded them to go back to bed. "Happy birthday."

"Oh. That." Storm's face and voice instantly went deadpan, and Iris cracked up all over again. She knew Storm didn't like celebrating herself, so she hated the dread, annual holiday known as a "birthday", but Iris couldn't help it!

"I saw the date on my phone!" she pleaded with a laugh. March 15. Storm had about 22 more hours to go.

Ugh... I'd ask for the storm to come back, because that would be preferable, but then again, maybe if stays away, we can just sleep all day tomorrow! Not only would it allow Storm to speedrun her own birthday again, but she did love her sleep!

As Storm settled into Iris' arms, both of them finally falling silent as the night sky outside did the same, the taller, older woman's thoughts again became tender for her wife. In all seriousness, spending all day in bed with her sounds like the best birthday gift I could ever ask for.

For the first time in years, Storm seriously considered the idea that maybe she finally had a real reason to care about—and celebrate—her birthday. Well, who knew? The Iris could make the Storm grow just as much as the inverse.

AN: So I'm finally canonizing it. Storm's bday is March 15 and Iris' is Feb 14. The latter is unfortunate bc I really like that day for her, but obvs it will always be overshadowed by Valentine's Day. That also wasn't why I chose Feb 14 for Iris' bday. If you want to know THAT trivia, you'll have to check my Lastland Wiki/Picrew fics on AO3/Wattpad, or view my Boggleirha Tumblr later on today!

Also based on an IRL storm that happened literally like 10 hrs ago LOL! I couldn't sleep, not because I was scared, but the thunder was so loud! So I just got up and wrote this instead, LOL! Happy birthday, Storm! Great way to herald your new year!