Lastland (Stormris) Oneshots

Total Eclipse of The-

"Iris. This is serious." Storm's face and voice were stern, but the corners of her lips twitched despite herself. She and her wife stood side by side on the sandy, white surface of the moon, overlooking the Earth. How surreal it was, to see the extent of her entire existence small enough to fit into her field of view. Despite how small it looked, though, Storm couldn't help but in awe and fear, realizing that she had to be about 238,855 miles away to make the Earth fit into her field of view, and it still took up a large portion of her field of view.

While Storm was lost in the majesty of the moon, Iris was jumping up and down excitedly, though the weakened gravitational forces made every jump much slower. She could push off quite powerfully, but she had to wait multiple seconds to float back down.

It forces her to slow down, for once, Storm thought with a smirk. If it frustrated Iris, she hid it well, her purple eyes glowing inside her spacesuit.

This is so COOL! Iris was an Earth gal through and through, born and raised, but genetically, she was half alien. Even though she had no connection to that side of herself, not even finding out until she was an adult, sometimes she liked to joke to herself that it gave her an affinity for outer space. The moon was her home! Her Corruptor side claimed it! She got dibs! It wasn't just being on the moon that had her so thrilled, though. A solar eclipse was happening right at that moment, passing over Storm and Iris' home country of Lastland. If Iris' watch was correct, it should be passing over Iris' neighborhood, Sector 5.

"Hehehehe..." Iris chuckled under her breath as she pointed at Earth. "Look at that, Storm, it's our fault; we're darkening the whole world!"

"Pretty sure it's only affecting a handful of Sectors," Storm replied in deadpan, arms crossed, quirking an eyebrow as she smirked.

"Oh, come on! I know that!" Instantly, Iris' cool, casual temperament faded. She pouted. Not only was Storm intentionally taking her jokes seriously to take the fun out of them, but as the resident human-alien hybrid, Iris liked to consider herself the space expert! (Never mind that they were a team, and were paired intentionally because they each had strengths the other lacked).

Even though she needed a spacesuit too, Iris' body and genetics could hold up against outer space slightly better than Storm's. That didn't make Storm the squishy human companion just along for the ride, though. What she lacked in natural advantage she more than made up for in the decade of experience she had over Iris, physical and mental (though she was never shy about how she far preferred the physical aspects of Space Ranger training to the mental). Likewise, as evidenced by the current conversation, Storm had the cooler head.

"Even if it's only some of them, we can still say that we're blocking their view!" Iris insisted.

"I highly doubt they can see us. For one, they're too far away. For another, as you said, we're blocking their view." Of course, neither Storm nor Iris actually believed any of their friends on Earth could see them, even with telescopes, it was still funny to think and banter about.

We cannot see them either. The affected cities and towns are too small for their lights to be visible all the way up here, Storm thought. Perhaps if this was a total eclipse of the capital... Then again, I know more than a few nutjobs who'd never let us live it down if it happened directly over Nexus. Storm scoffed. As a Space Ranger, warrior woman, and person of science, she fancied herself cold, hard, factual, and logical. She had no time for those who looked to the stars and called them magical or divine.

While Storm continued to watch the Earth, Iris fiddled awkwardly with a metal box resting by her foot. It was a communication device that would allow them to make calls to their home base on Earth without having to go all the way back to the cockpit of their spaceship.

"Iris to Earth, come in Earth! Can you see me waving?" Iris joked as she twisted knobs and dials with one hand and waved at Earth with the other.

Storm heard the static and whine in her helmet earpiece and shook her head disdainfully. I'm glad it's not too loud...

"Hey, hey, Iris! Do a moonwalk for me!" Vesper was the first one they heard in their earpieces. Iris chuckled weakly while Storm scoffed.

"Hey! That was MY idea!" Wilde was the second. Iris' smile became a little more sincere, and Storm scoffed again.

"Now, now, you two..." They heard Everett, trying to break up the fight and act as the voice of reason as usual.

"Watch out! You're going to break it!" Even Liam Vanders was there! Iris raised her eyebrows while Storm's lip curled in disgust, hearing his voice.

"Idiot!" They heard Emerald hiss, and Iris chuckled while Storm's expression morphed into a smirk. She didn't like Emerald either—she didn't really like anyone that wasn't Iris—but sometimes Emerald's temper had its uses and entertainments.

"Great. Give it here! Give it here!" They heard Kyron snap impatiently next, and then there was a rustle of clothing as the communication device of the Earth home-base was passed from hand to hand.

"Hey, girlfriends!" Rexus' voice was loud and clear, right next to the mic as he and Kyron took over the communication device.

"Hey, Rexy!" Iris laughed. "Sounds like the gang's all there?"

"Oh yeah," Rexus smiled over his shoulder, copper eyes gleaming. "The entire Gifted Squad!"

In perfect timing, Iris and Storm heard Vanders sigh impatiently again. "Somebody get Silas!"

"Yes, Vanders, I'm here." The old man that owned the observatory sighed as he glided into the control room.

"I got him!" They heard Fang call out next. Rexus wasn't kidding about everyone being present at the home base!

"I hope you two are having a lovely time up there!" Scarlet's sweet, twanging accent managed to cut through the air and airwaves.

"Yes, thank you, Scarlet!" Iris grinned, and for the first time since the call began, Storm gave something of a sincere smile, though it was still small. Just as with everyone else—Gifted or not—Storm didn't like Scarlet, per se, but she had the most sense, a good head on her shoulders.

Poor woman, stuck in the same war camp as Silas, Vanders, Vesper, and Fang! How she turned out so well, I'll never know.

"We've been having fun down here!" Autumn agreed. "It's a solar eclipse watch-party!" Although unlike Scarlet, her voice was soft, hard to hear even in quiet rooms, let alone noisy astronomy bases. Storm's sincere smile shifted back into a smirk as she suddenly snuck up on Iris.

"Woah!" Iris shrieked as she was literally swept off her feet.

"Iris? What happened?!" All the Gifted back on Earth cried out worriedly. An alien attack? A Corruptor attack?!

"Don't worry, she's in good hands!" They heard Storm call out smugly over the airwaves, and they had just enough time to look at one another in surprise at her being so unusually bold and playful when the call cut off. Iris is MY mission partner, so, stop distracting her attention from me!

"Hey, that's mean!" Iris cried, but she was laughing as Storm swung her easily through the air in the weakened gravity field.

"They can leave a voicemail," Storm replied dismissively as she finally set Iris back down.

"You're terrible," Iris rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she was grinning. Truth be told, this was her ultimate guilty pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I love all my fellow Gifted! And we'll apologize later, I promise. But name a more iconic duo than Stormris; you can't!

Except perhaps the Earth and moon as the solar eclipse continued. Then the human-alien hybrid looked over at her full-human counterpart. The Earth and moon dynamic still stood. So I guess I'm STILL right! Stormris reigns supreme as the superior ship forever!

AN: It's funny to think that about 7 years ago, this same thing was happening, even down to me writing Stormris content, only back then, I was always too shy to post it. Oh, how times have changed, LOL! Also shameless self-promo, go check out my Lunar Eclipse counterpart story in the Sleeping Citadel Gray Magic one-shots anthology!