[indent][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/3UO8k87.jpeg[/img] VS [img]https://i.imgur.com/V46lee9.jpeg[/img]
[hider=Mood Music][youtube]https://youtu.be/-4Ug-Axl7Lg?si=9L_km5adjwuOGtji[/youtube][/hider][/center][right][h1][color=#FF3526]T[/color][color=#F8333E]h[/color][color=#F23256]e[/color] [color=#E63086]H[/color][color=#DF2F9E]o[/color][color=#D92EB6]u[/color][color=#D32DCE]s[/color][color=#CD2CE6]e[/color] VS [color=#F5DE69]T[/color][color=#F4DB67]h[/color][color=#F3D965]e[/color] [color=#F1D561]T[/color][color=#F0D35F]e[/color][color=#EFD15D]m[/color][color=#EECF5C]p[/color][color=#EDCD5A]l[/color][color=#ECCB58]e[/color][/h1][/right][right][sub][hr][color=ffffff]Mentions: In Collaboration with [@Estylwen] | [/color] [color=ffffff]Direct Dialogue: [color=f0cd8d]Elise Richoux,[/color] [color=54678a]Andrade Salamente,[/color] Bahlaas Rill |[/color] [color=ffffff]Location:[/color] Festival Grounds, Cracker Island Historic District [/sub][/right][hr]
[/indent]Mia had been allowed to wander off with Elise staying behind to wrap things up and get everything cleaned and prepped for transportation the next morning. Lynette had returned at one point to collect the proceeds for the day, and to be her usual love-bombing self whenever wads of cash were involved.

Furio too had absconded, probably to go and help with the merch booth that was most likely in need of his strength. Andrade was toiling away, washing dishes and packaging pans up to be brought back to the Temple’s kitchen. The pair weren’t often in the same place at the same time, but didn’t lack for things to talk about. 

The topic was sustainable farming. Not in the traditional sense, but farming of Apparitions. The discussion of enhancing the Cult’s intake of Andrade’s unique productions was always one of Lynette’s big talking points in any meeting, and so efforts were always being made to expand things.
So when they were rudely interrupted by the snarling beast that leapt upon Andrade, panic was the first thing that went through Elise’s head.

Andrade, however, wasn’t worried. He came from the old days; the times when a Hellhound or two could be found roaming the Temple’s property. You may have to deal with a bite or two now and again.
He didn’t panic. He didn’t scream. He clenched his jaw and grunted in pain as the teeth sunk into his arm, but he knew that laying into it was a useless waste of energy. He had to wait for Elise to manage it herself.

Elise backpedaled slightly, but finding herself unassailed shifted her focus. She had to help, and it had to be done now. She channeled every bit of Orange Lux she had to activate her Channeler’s enchantment.
One sister’s gift to another was a best friend: One who would comfort and listen to her wherever she was. Mia had enchanted all their childhood toys and animals; but this one became her Channeler. An artifact all its own.

[color=f0cd8d]"Enchanted Forest Friends: Mondo!"[/color]

The bear came alive face first, its magically enchanted form lurching forward and grabbing ahold of the hellhound by the neck. The bite was loud, crunching bone popping as Mondo came to full size; a typical female blackbear, assembled of patchwork fur that came from multiple repairs over the years. 
It growled out at the death of the Hound, stomping its paw and roaring. Andrade forced himself up, quickly going for a cloth to wrap the wound.
[color=54678a]"Alright, what the [i]fuck[/i] is up? Did I give someone a bad kebab?”[/color]

Elise held her ground, deep breathing having cleared her mind and steadied her hand.
[color=f0cd8d]"I… I don’t know. All I know is that I must’ve missed something… Get behind us, Andrade."[/color]
He was holding pressure on the wound in his arm and didn’t have many other options. He found himself grateful to his young defender.
[color=54678a]"Just keep breathing, ‘Lise. Get us to the Merch booth… ”[/color]

As the hellhound fell limp, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. There was a distant howl, a roar of indignity, of rage as the bear claimed its first strike.

The shadows shifted around the Temple's booth as [i]something[/i] made its way for the next strike. The wind stirred, tension hot.

Then, a flash of red eyes as three hellhounds leapt through the darkness and over the table. One sank its teeth into the neck of the bear, ripping wildly. One aimed its barred maw at Elise, attacking her leg. The last again aimed its attack towards Mr. Salamente, teeth primed to sink into his other arm.

A three-pronged attack. Yet something felt as though the hellhounds were holding back.

[i]Waiting.[/i]

Mondo roared despite having no pain receptors to feel the bite with. It wasn’t pain: It was panic. The false musculature of the enchanted beast reeled back with utter disregard for its own safety, sending the one latched onto it flying away in a puff of torn cloth and bloody cotton that jettisoned from the open wound. Its massive paw, crystalline claws fully extended, drove into the side of the dog attacking Elise.
The thing disappeared in an instant huff of smoke, the claws having ripped its caved in chest apart.

Elise was bleeding now. It wasn’t a light bleed either. She wasn’t sure if the thing hit an artery, but she could feel globs of the warm red lifeblood surge out from the bite wound with every rapid heartbeat.
Mondo felt the weakness of its Mistress, sluggishly batting the dog on Andrade with a similar result. The third was still alive, and rather than go in for another attack, it began to circle the ruined tent in anticipation.

Neither Temple Members hesitated. Mondo lurched forward, shoving a table out of the way as Andrade used its sturdy but fluffy body to stand back up. Without both of his arms, it was all he could do to run for safety. He did, and didn’t think about Elise Richoux or what sort of trouble she was going to get into. He knew he didn’t need to.
Elise Richoux was, after all, right behind him as Mondo slowly began to pass him up. She was clinging to the bear’s back, moaning in pain with each lurch as the wound in her leg ripped little by little. She knew it’d be too much weight for Mondo if they both got on, so as they came side by side, Elise reached her hand out and grabbed Andrade’s jacket.

In one smooth motion, she slipped off the bear, the momentum flipping Andrade onto the things back.
[color=f0cd8d]"Go! Go get help!”[/color] Elise shouted, hitting the ground and failing to stand again because of her leg.

[b]“Not so fast!”[/b]

From the shadows emerged what appeared to be a woman in a flowing brown trench coat, barbed wire circling her hat. A menacing, glowing red smile stretched from ear to ear as the [i]thing[/i] appeared to stare hard at Mr. Salamente. Growling from the shadows emerged five more hellhounds, surrounding the bear, its charge, and the girl from all sides.

By now the crowd had noticed what all the ruckus was. Some were watching with mouths hanging open. Others were screaming. Some turned tail and ran. The woman paid them no mind, instead focusing its attention solely on Mr. Salamente and the girl. She stood confidently behind her hellhounds, drinking up the suffering she could see painted in their faces.

[b]“You're not going anywhere until you give me what I want!”[/b]

With a whistle, the hellhounds lurched forward, ignoring the girl and focusing their attack wholly on Mr. Salamente and the bear. Two snapped at Mr. Salamente's ankles, trying to pull him off. The three others, plus the one from the previous attack, snapped at the soft fluff of the bear's neck, shoulders and arms, shaking with their teeth vigorously to let loose some chunks.

Mondo wasn’t a match for all of them. However, it had been taught well. Its master understood priority action, and the beast followed suit. As the dogs snapped and ripped at Andrade, who simply grunted and did his best to punch and kick the dogs away, Mondo dipped to the side and forced its legs upward, tossing Andrade a few feet into the air. The bear rolled, crushing one of the dogs under force and mass, and caught Andrade in the crook of its belly. 
A second roll pinned Andrade underneath it, the girth now blocking most of his vital organs and the head. Feet and hands were still exposed, and of course the assailing dogs tried ripping him out from under the guardian by those exposed limbs. 

Andrade could feel his fingers being torn away at the bone… But he wouldn’t yield anything. He’d die in the light of Paradise. Elise, however, was not so content to let this happen. With Mondo active, there was a short distance where she could continue to cast her spells through it: The acrylic nails hanging from the tips of her fingers… They weren’t organic, they were objects, she knew she could affect them, it just meant… It meant getting into harm’s way herself. Her neck for Andrades. She tried to wonder what her Mother would say; if that would be a worthy sacrifice for the light of Paradise.

[color=f0cd8d]"Begone! Begone and die!”[/color]
A classic combat enchantment rocked across Elise’s nails, hardening them into sharp steel claws that gripped tight to her fingers. The magical aura cascaded from them in ribbons of orange while white fog began to coalesce around the woman. She was attempting to gauge the entity’s strength through aura reading White magic, but wasted no time surging forward to catch one of the dogs off guard. 


What Elise would have picked up was a huge source of power in the bulge of the smiling woman's shoulder, threatening to burst. She would have also picked up eyes. Eyes everywhere that could see.

The blade-like nails pushed through the dog's ethereal body easily, causing it to go up in a cloud of smoke. Mondo took the opportunity to spin, catching another dog off guard with its battering ram paws that crushed it into banishment.

The remaining dogs simply stared for a long moment, along with the woman. Staring in disbelief.

Disbelief that quickly turned to palatable intel. The woman snapped her fingers, and the remaining dogs slunk back, never breaking eye contact with the bear.

She eyed Mr. Salamente under the bear, and her wicked smile widened. [b]“You don't have it. Shame…”[/b]

She took a step back, waving with smug satisfaction. [b]“Be seeing you.”[/b]

And, one by one, the dogs vanished into smoke, followed closely by the woman. Elise, Mondo, and Mr. Salamente were left alone in a half-torn up Temple Booth, at the shock of onlookers.

Not a single blind attempted to help: The two looked like they were playing make-believe or taking drugs or… Whatever it was, to a Blind it was pure crazy. Like nothing had happened despite the destruction of the tent. Elise was embarrassed, but even worse she was in fear. Andrade was bleeding profusely. She had to make sure he was safe, but she had to get him help. 

And there was never a Doctor when you needed one.