"Seriously, guys? Seriously?" DawnFire glared up at Outhra and Phobos. "Guess off-topicness is in this year, huh? Or do you have a reason for your nonsense?"

Phobos shrugged easily. "Nonsense is nonsense. It doesn't generally require a reason."

"Agreed," Outhra put in. "Actually, the word nonsense can be used to refer to--"

"Not now," DawnFire said, and sighed. "Do either of you want to explain the colored text, please? And the, I don't even know, the chatspeak? Netspeak? Something?"

Phobos and Outhra exchanged looks. "I have an explanation," Outhra said finally. "But I don't think you'll be too happy with it."

DawnFire raised both eyebrows. "Why not?"

"It's composed entirely of technobabble and references to two animes, three messageboards, and a cheetah."

There was silence. Eventually, Phobos broke it.

"Well, in light of that--LOOK, A CLOWN ARMY!"

"What?" DawnFire turned to look. Behind her, Phobos grabbed Outhra's hand, and they ran for it. By the time the female Boarder turned back, they were...well, only about ten feet away, really, but they kept running. DawnFire rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Better get back to Canada, I'm missing some maple-leaf shaped pancakes..."

~

"Nonsense is fun," Outhra said, panting, as they finally came to a half. "We've lost her, right?"

Phobos checked. "Yes," he said. "Actually, I'm not quite sure where we are anymore. We seem to have lost ourselves."

They considered this.

"Well," Outhra said at last, "at least we're still together."

Phobos nodded slowly. "That's true."

"And," Outhra added, "there's no one around."

Phobos nodded again, less slowly. "I'm aware of that, yes. Why--?"

Outhra shrugged, moving closer. "No interruptions. We could have a great discussion..."

Phobos started to grin, nodding. "A discussion. With no one to stop us or curb our details. That sounds wonderful."

And with that, both Boarders leaned in...