When night fell Philomena had invited Willoughby to the den she once shared with her parents and single sibling. It didn’t seem strange to her… she was merely hoping to keep them both out of the wind that evening. The woman found the other femme’s company to be refeshing… and she hadn’t felt ready to head back to Olympia just yet. She wanted to remain near her father just a little longer… in hopes that as she dreamed that night, maybe, just maybe, he would come to her in her dreams.

The earth violently trembling at her paws forced Philomena to wake with a start. The motion made her feel sick… But that was only the start of the nightmare that was striking the lands. The female unsteadily made her way to the opening of the den. The violent tremors stopped… but the night sky could no longer be seen. What seemed to be snow fell in flakes from the sky… but… what the?

Philomena squinted as she noticed some of the snow-like flakes glowed a red-orange… almost as if…

Her eyes widened as a collection of them gathered on the willow trees. Fire springing to life told her that was not snow.

“Oh shit…” The woman felt her stomach churn even more violently.

Run. She needed to run.

But… where was Bee?

“Willoughby!?” The fear in her own voice disgusted the woman as she looked around and screamed for her friend. The fire would spread quickly… and in the woods they were in a lot of danger. They could get trapped here…

...and that would spell certain death.

Yet… as strong as her instinct was to run… Philomena didn’t want to leave the woman she had befriended. The fear of neglecting someone else, and possibly having them die because she had, not once, but twice now, scared her even more than the thought of being burned alive.

""

Philomena had been kind enough to allow Willoughby to stay the night, and the woman was going to repay her kindness. she had been out, hunting small creatures she'd rather befriend when she heard and saw the eruption. she almost dropped the squirrel when the boom! happened. startled, she had flinched badly, her eyes focused entirely on the molten lava as it spewed from the otherwise lovely volcano. she stared, the first shock to her system since coming to Boreas.

"Willoughby!"

her name was screamed through the air, causing her to be jolted out of her stupor. the woman would turn, running as fast as she could toward Philomena's voice. she still clutched the squirrel in her jaws, having a semblance of knowing perhaps they'd need this small piece of food eventually. but when was she ever logical? "m' here" she uttered thickly, spotting the brunette ahead and slowing just a bit past her. spitting out the food, she'd turn to look at Philomena. "take that, dear. food may be a bit scarce after this..."

her crimson eyes tried not to focus on the lava as she hurried along, willing the other woman to keep up. both mentally and physically. but she wasn't going to freak out. that wasn't her. she would continue to remain calm. "come now, let's go. keep a brisk pace. we can get through this." it was important to take them away from this particular section of Boreas. Willoughby walked a few paces away before trotting and if Philomena was keeping up, the greenette would break into a full run.

"Speech"