Irhaboggle Pride (2018) 30 Days, 30 Stories

Liberation Gets Bold Today

"Alright, come on, come on, come on! Shhh!" Iris whispered, urging her friends over with a quick wave. Today, they were going on a dangerous mission, one which not all of them might escape alive, but it was imperative that they try. This mission, dangerous as it was, was an obligation to friends. It was a quest for freedom! Even if only for a little while...

"We gotta make this quick, and we gotta make this quiet!" Iris murmured as soon as her companions were with her. She brought the three of them into a huddle with her and she began to whisper instructions. "Storm, you just wait in the car for us and be ready to take off as soon as we're ready. I'm going to play the innocent one and distract our quarries. Clover and Aces, you guys have the most dangerous and imperative task of all..."

The purple-eyed girl trailed off to keep them in suspense, but Aces couldn't wait any longer.

"We get to break them out!" he cried excitedly.

"Shh! Not so loud!" Iris warned, though there was no one around to hear them. And, if anything, calling the huddle made them look more suspicious than if Aces had shouted their entire plan.

"Ooops," Aces played along, covering his mouth. Storm, meanwhile, rolled her eyes in disdain, thinking the whole thing was a bit of an overkill. But at the same time, she agreed that the mission was important. It was the only reason she'd allowed herself to get suckered into it at all. Had she not thought it important enough, she would've just stayed home and let Iris deal with it.

"And if we get caught?" Clover asked, blue eyes shining excitedly.

"Then we run like heck! We scatter in all directions and Storm will drive around and pick us up at the next block!" Iris answered with equal verve. "We'll be like thieves in the night! Breaking in and whisking away our imprisoned friends before vanishing like we were never there! And if any of us is caught? Well, then we will still carry on, gladly throwing life and limb to the wind! We will honor whoever falls by finishing the mission regardless of who gets out alive and who does not!"

"We won't leave a single trace behind," Aces agreed solemnly. "And we will finish this quest no matter the cost to us!"

"Ok, does the mission have to be this complicated?" Storm finally interrupted, rolling her eyes. "All we're doing is giving some of our... less than fortunate friends a lift to the pride parade! It's not like any of us are going to die picking them up."

"Of course it does!" Clover answered passionately. "We are fighting for our comrades' freedom!"

"Yeah, but there are so many easier, faster ways to do that," Storm countered. "All this 'give me liBigbyy or give me death' crap is a bit over the top."

"Nonsense!" Iris smacked the blond's arm lightly. "Vive la révolution!" she cried, and Aces and Clover echoed the battle cry.

"Good grief," Storm sighed, shaking her head.

ooo

"Alright, commence part one of "Operation: Liberation Gets Bold Today"!" Iris muttered as she, in the shotgun seat, scoped out the first house on their list. The list, as Storm had mentioned earlier, contained the names of everyone who wanted to go to Pride but were unable to due to unaccepting families. But Iris was having none of that. Today, she and her three friends were going to go from house to house and rescue each and every person from their bigoted families and take them all to Pride!

Normally, Iris believed in listening to parents, but when it came to things like Pride, she was willing to bend and break rules if helped closeted people escape bigoted families, even if it was only just for one day. Alongside abuse cases, it was one of the rare times Iris would advocate against obeying parents. Iris was honestly willing to go as far as breaking in to rescue her friends, she'd meant that quite literally. Sure, it was illegal, but in her opinion, it still wasn't worse than trying to suppress a child's gender or sexuality just because it wasn't "normal".