Back at it again with my annual Pride anthology! This time, the theme is the symbolism of the number 4, since this year is 2024. So tell me, readers, are you ready four it?
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"Trois... deux... un... Allez!" Like lightning, the two fencers struck. Like thunder, their sabres clashed and crashed.
Iris winced, purple eyes narrowing inside her mask. Dang it! No lucky strike this time...
Of the three weapons in fencing—foil, epee, and sabre—sabre was the fastest and most brutal, filled with slashing and swiping. Sometimes, Iris would get an upper hand on her opponent—Storm—if she was fast enough. She was tiny, but her Gifted physiology gave her an edge that put her on par with her wife. Though of course, combat wasn't just physical, but mental as well.
And that's what she loves. Iris couldn't see Storm's face through her mask, but she was certain that the other woman was smirking.
That's the downside of betting on a lucky strike, Iris, Storm thought. Even though it was effective sometimes, all Iris would do was throw herself at Storm and hope she landed a blow before Storm could parry. That made the move very predictable, which drastically reduced its effectiveness.
CLANG! The sabres clashed again as Storm tried to strike, Iris just barely parrying her away in the nick of time. She slapped Storm's blade away, her own striking her knee as her arm moved across her torso.
"Ouch..." she muttered, but she was smiling. Good thing this wasn't epee!
She and Storm had already practiced the other two types of fencing. Epee was her least favorite solely because it was the slowest. Likewise, in epee, the entire body was fair game, and tall people often had the advantage. That was why it had to be done slowly, calculatingly. With Storm standing exactly one foot taller than Iris, at six feet rather than five, there was a clear-cut winner in the size difference of their relationship.
Of course, size wasn't all that mattered, but Iris tended to fare better in foil and sabre. Foil favored "vertically-challenged" fencers, and was recommended for beginners. Saber was just fast, but Iris liked fast! And she knew that Storm did too. Sword fighting was one of the things that brought them together, as it was a hobby they both deeply enjoyed. Fencing, though, was the closest one could get in the Olympics. Olympiad XXXIII began January 1, 2024, and fittingly, it was going to occur in Paris in the summer.
"Ah, the City of Love right after Pride month!" Iris pretended to swoon by sighing loudly. "How romantic!" And it was a leap year this year too! All the stars are aligning, haha!
Iris' birth month was February, though she was not born on the 29th. Despite that fact, she still felt a special connection to the month. First, its birthstone was amethyst while one of its birth flowers was the iris. Next, the month was short (much like Iris herself), but every so often, it became a little longer, a little stronger. Iris smiled to herself inside her mask, purple eyes narrowing.
Oh yeah, and the Olympics only happen once every four years too; I think it's called the Olympic Quadrennium.
BZZT!
"Dang it!" Good-naturedly, Iris laughed as Storm scored a mark across her chest. "Pierced through the heart!" She clutched her chest dramatically. She still couldn't see Storm's face, but she could imagine the amused exasperation. At the same time, the taller, older woman raised her blade to her face in a salute, giving her opponent a respectful bow. It was how every duel started and ended.
"Whew!" Iris sighed as she ripped off her mask, sweat dripping down her dark face and through her long, wavy hair.
"What kind of Olympian are you?" Storm scoffed in mock disdain as she also removed her mask. As well as Iris fought, she hadn't lasted long.
"Hey! You have like a decade of practice on me!" Iris' smile faded as she pretended to be defensive. And even without the age gap, while I love sword fighting, she LOVES sword fighting. I keep up better with her than anyone else my size would!
Even Storm's oldest and closest friends—Gale and Tempest—wouldn't have done much better than Iris had, and they were closer to Storm's amount of experience than Iris'.
"Also, is the answer to your question not obvious?" Now Iris pretended to sniff indignantly as she gestured to herself and her purple eyes. "I am Iris! Goddess of the Rainbow! Goddess of Gay! I have the iris-colored irises! They are purple like the violets of Sappho of Lesbos, the patron saint of women who love women everywhere! They are lavender like the color that can represent the entire queer community!"
The Goddess Iris was also a traveler between worlds, a messenger for the other Gods whenever she wasn't being their wine bearer (or rather, nectar bearer). She was the connection between mortal and deity and could travel with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other, faster than any sabre fencer. She could even travel into the depths of the sea and underworld, escorting souls to Hades as Hermes would. Iris (the Gifted girl, not the Goddess) had traveled to the underworld a couple times as well, due in part to her ability to see ghosts, her Gift.
"Also, the iris flower is a popular symbol in France as the fleur-de-lis!" she finished smugly.
"Still not as impressive as Zeus," Storm shrugged back with a smirk, gold hair flashing in the sun. Her name was a dead giveaway to her chosen Greek God, but even her birthname happened to have some Greek significance, which was not as intentional.
Lydia was a kingdom in Ancient Greece—named after its first king, Lydus—and although it was biased, Lydians would sometimes claim that Zeus had been born in their kingdom. Lydia also had connection to Artimus, or Artemis, another patron saint of women.
But Lydia had more than debatable claims about their patron deity. The labrys—double-bitted axe—hailed from Lydia too. Despite being an axe, it was ceremonial rather than militaristic. It was portrayed always in the hands of a Goddess, not a God. It was said that even Zeus had to employ a Goddess to wield it for him if he wished to use it. And long after Ancient Greece ended, the labrys endured, now a symbol of lesbians.
"I'll still bring more honor to the Greek Gods than you will!" Iris teased as she pulled on her mask again.
"How cute, Iris thinks she can topple Zeus!" Storm winked an electric blue eye donned her mask too.
"Trois... deux... un... Allez!" Like lightning, the two fencers struck. Like thunder, their sabres clashed and crashed.
AN: I fenced foil in my first year of college. Wasn't very good, but it was the beginner blade, LOL! Sabre was fun if I didn't get out immediately, LOL! Epee was my least fav of the 3 but I still enjoyed it.
Also fun fact, since Iris is bi, I have looked through my characters and the guy I feel she would best fit with is Westford (in a later chapter), and ironically enough, Goddess Iris' consort is Zephyros (God of the West Wind). They also had a son who represented "longing", and Iris' last name has always been "Long". I swear none of these parallels were intentional, LOL!
