[color=lightskyblue]𝕎  𝕚  𝕝  𝕝  𝕠  𝕨[/color]

“What do we do?”

What [i]could[/i] they do? Certainly not [i]fight[/i] that stone-skin monstrosity. Henry, Dexter, and Christopher were the ones out there doing the fighting, from what Willow could see as she stood up and peered out the shattered window.

The golem’s attention lies elsewhere at the moment. Everyone inside Mooncash is safe from its immediate wrath, but still reeling from the destruction of its ranged assault. Willow, Helen, and Elle - their occasionally-invisible friend - are all inside, amidst a group of injured civilians.

Willow decides on a course of action.

“We should help.”

She mantles over the ruined counter and rushes to the aid of a man lying on the floor, dazed and confused. She helps prop him up against an overturned table, and wipes some blood from his forehead with the sleeve of her coat. He waves her off after that, saying, “I’m fine, I’m fine, go- go on…” rather insincerely. Willow does as the man bids. She stands up and turns to scan the interior, and she catches sight of her sketchbook. It’s been flung across the floor from the impact of the light post, opened and page-down in the rubble. Some pages have been messily folded from the position they landed in.

Not too bad.

Willow picks up her sketchbook and disregards its damaged state. That’s not what’s important right now. She looks for someone else to help, when her phone rings. She almost doesn’t hear it at all. She takes it out of her coat pocket and looks at the caller ID.

It’s her father. She answers the call.

“Dad?”

[i]“Willow! Honey!”[/i]

Far away from the rampaging and destruction, Lloyd Dendry stands atop the roof of the Rustic Palace - his and his daughter’s occasional relaxation spot - and observes the scene playing out with a pair of binoculars in one of his hands, and his phone in the other.

[i]“Where are you? What’s going on, what is that thing?”[/i]

His words are fast and frantic.

“A golem,” Willow replies with remarkable calm, “I’m at the cafe with Helen. Elle is here too. We’re all alive.”

[i]“Okay, okay, honey- you need to take your friends and get away from there, okay? As fast as you can! Just get somewhere safe! Then call me, tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you! Okay?”[/i]

She wants to say no. She wants to say she’s going to help the injured and, perhaps through some unconventional and miraculous series of events, find a way to help destroy the golem, or banish it back to the depths from whence it came. She wants to say she’s going to do something [i]heroic[/i].

Instead…

“Okay.”

[i]“Okay! Please be safe! I love you, honey!”[/i]

The call ends. Willow lowers her phone and looks at it for a moment, before turning her head towards Helen and Elle.

Will she listen? Listen to her father and run to safety?

She wasn’t sure. She’d rather follow someone else’s lead.