This is a weird one.

I don't want to say anything else in fact, but I will point out this picks up not long after the Finale from the last mission.

 
Yup, just another peaceful night in Seaside Town, if you ignore all the chaos going down in the town not far away, anyway.

"I kind of want to do nothing. Why are we out here, Dash?" Jen asked.

Dash sighed but smiled. "I'd like to answer that in about five minutes. What are you hungry for?"

"I don't really feel like eating anything," she replied. Although her cysuit had life support features so she wouldn't have to eat, she just didn't feel like engaging that feature, either.

Dash just nodded, finding himself hopping on one foot.

Jen found a comfortable patch of grass to sit down on while she shot Dash a lazy look. "Dude."

"Sorry," Dash said, forcing himself to stop. "I was going to switch to the other leg just then as I was walking, but I decided to put it off.. for some weird reason."

That was weird.

"You wanna come sit with me?" Jen asked.

Dash paused to think. "Ah yes, of course. In a minute or three."

"Cool, whatevs dude," Jen breathed. Her voice had gotten quieter, like she just couldn't bring herself to bother speaking. Eventually, Dash found the gumption to sit down besides her, although he found himself staring at the stars for a while. She wrapped an arm around him, layed down, and found herself falling asleep. Which was strange. Her people didn't sleep.

After a few minutes, Dash sat up with a jolt, sensing something was wrong. But the feeling passed. Jen slept beside him, undisturbed. Dash watched her chest rise and fall with her breath, noting how peaceful she looked. Seeing her there, it reminded him of the times he shared with Aleena.

Other than the fact she was asleep. That seemed out of place, other than of course, in their dream-life together. Dash felt a sense of worry which washed away almost instantly, like a vile of bubbling potion, a bitter and sizzling hot potion, being poured down his throat against his will.

Okay, Dash thought to himself, not the most relaxing metaphor.. in fact, that's a rather unpleasant image..

Dash looked her over, surprised by how relaxed she looked. Dash felt himself starting to drift off to sleep - but decided to put it off.

Regardless of what it looked like, Jen struggled and failed to open her eyes. Images of recent events flooded her eyes. Finding Aleena and Dash . . . . then their battle with the Black Paladin. After that came a vision of their flight to Seaside Town. These images looked like regular, faded memories.

The scene with them rushing to save Cattaras, however - this memory was in a dark red. When the memory skipped towards the moment where the potion hit her and Dash, Jen could swear she heard the loudest, most obnoxious sound she had heard since that one time in space elf band camp. (That poor, poor flute.)

The dreamlike visions continued to play out in front of the insides of Jen's closed eyelids, but these memories were faded and washed out. The imaginary sounds and images terrified her. She could taste something bitter and acidic on her tongue and yet her mouth refused to open. When she felt something blocking the sun, as if a large figure stood over her, her eyes twitched but refused to open so she could see.

Dash lazily opened one eye and smiled lazily at the large, undefined shadow standing over him. Feeling as if every care in the world had left him (or at least been put off until later), Dash muttered three words, almost under his breath.

"Oh, hey Catt."

So yeah that was a weird one, but a good way to show off the effects of the procrastination potion which hit the two during the last mission's Finale part 3.

Here's some of the voters thoughts directly in his own words: "This piece does a lot to establish something is wrong. Its use of metaphor was fun, and was overall enjoyable."

Sometimes, it's just best to quote him directly, especially since it can be awkward talking about my own writing. (Dash, not Jen.) This one also was runner-up couple of awards, which is all the better. It won runner-up for Best RP title for Dash - Ichiro felt the rhyming title was somehow "soothing." It also won runner-up for funniest moment, oddly enough. But in spite of the somber tone and subtle subject matter, "the dialog was tickling." Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

Sadly, we don't get back to Dash and Jen until a while later. In between is all MK, Wildfall, SnowCat and Becky - along with a little Iris!