"Oh, it's quite alright, dearie," The old man assures lilith eirwin , leading her towards the lighthouse's second floor. There she'll find a simple bed, some chairs, and some storage boxes. Dotted throughout are dusty toys, coloring books, and hampers of abandoned clothing. It'd been some time since his nieces and nephews had visited. "You're welcome company after the week I just had." 

Slowly moving to continue up the next flight of stairs, he leaves the young girl and her Wooloo behind. "You wait here, now: I'll bring you a warm blanket and something to eat." And, before too long, he disappears to gather the aforementioned kindnesses.

| | |

At the front entrance, one of the lighthouse doors slowly creaks open. A slice of stark white moonlight floods in, eclipsed only by the silhouette of the bounty hunter who enters shortly thereafter. A small, electric lantern at his hip hums to life as he closes the door behind him. The dark that attempts to seep back in is staved away with its flickering, fiery orange glow.

Beside him, BETO the Pancham examines the area with serious eyes before leading the way. They're only here to talk to the lighthouse keeper and gain some leads, of course. But the little bear always keeps itself on high alert regardless of the fact, seemingly eager for conflict.

So, when they ascend the flight of stairs and find a stranger on the second floor, Cade has to crouch down and place a firm hand on its head to keep it in place.

He certainly wasn't expecting to find a young girl here either. Though he wasn't as quick to jump to conclusions either. "Sorry if we startled you," He says, his voice tinged with a Spanish accent. The Pancham, in the meantime, glares at the young woman suspiciously. "We weren't expecting someone else. Are you the lighthouse keeper's... granddaughter?"  

MISSION + lilith eirwin

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"A bounty," Cade responds, still crouched down beside his Pancham and scruffing up the hair on its head for a moment before letting it go. It huffs. But, thankfully, it refrains from moving forward to sniff at the girl. Instead, it keeps its suspicious eyes trained on her.

Rising from his crouch, the one-eyed blonde takes a moment to look around the room and casually scan for clues. "There's a very bad man out on the loose. I heard he paid this lighthouse a visit last night." He adds, shifting his gaze back onto the strange girl. "Know anything about that, miss... ?"

She still hadn't answered his first question, of course, but Cade was anything if not patient. The truth would come out eventually. It always did. For now, however, he had no reason to suspect her. His main worry was that she'd been threatened or bribed into staying silent.

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Cade raises a brow; serious. Always serious. Well... almost always. Summer Atreides had a habit of making him less so.

Why did his thoughts seem to gravitate back to her more and more often? He disliked that, especially at work...

"The eyes of the League, of course," He answers, crossing his arms. "Why do you ask? That's fairly suspicious, you know." He adds, returning her glare with one of his own.

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"I'm not your typical freelancer," Cade responds, beginning to think the girl was more than just the lighthouse keeper's granddaughter. She'd deflected his question again, after all: too well to be a coincidence. "I go where the money sends me. Not that it's any of your concern... unless you're the one I'm--"

"Do you take sugar, dearie?" An old man's voice from upstairs interrupts in an echo. "I have white, brown, and the ones that come in the little yello--"

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

A sharp peal of thunder, louder than Cade had ever heard in his life, shakes the lighthouse and sends pieces of its ceiling drifting down in a thin layer of cloud. From a high window nearby, the one-eyed blonde can see a terrifying storm engulfing the entire tower. When he turns, he sees that his PANCHAM as run off to hide under the girl's bed.

"What the hell..." The man mutters, never having seen Beto in such a panic. Just as he's about to approach the little panda, however, the sound of shattered glass echoes down from above. He pivots and runs towards the stairs, looking up it to see that it spiraled upwards. "Hey! Old man?! Are you okay?!"

Woeful screaming erupts.

Cade spares a moment to turn towards his Pancham and sharply whistle at it to come by his side. He spares another to sharply glare at the girl next. "Stay here." Then, not quite expecting her to follow his direction, he runs up the stairs and disappears.

Only to find some strange, cryptid-like creature on the next floor.

MISSION + lilith eirwin

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Even in the face of impending danger, Cade turns to notice the little things. The young girl's readiness for action, for one. He scrutinizes her with a quick glare.

"These must be one of those distortions I've heard about so much, then? You've been through one before?" It certainly didn't seem like child's play, considering the long-clawed creature standing before them.

Suddenly, it readies its claws (SWORD DANCE). And, before the young girl can act with her KIRLIA, Cade decides to buy her that chance they're looking for.

"Beto, VITAL THROW!"

His little PANCHAM charges forward, paws at the ready. When the creature attempts to attack with a swipe, it seizes its arm and throws it against the interior lighthouse wall. The strike shakes a few picture frames loose from their nails.

MISSION + lilith eirwin

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Cade had only immigrated to Hoenn shortly before the dome had fallen to trap them all. He'd been warned to expect the unexpected in this region, though that seemed like a bit of an understatement now that he looked back on it. The girl's remark provided no reassurance either. It seemed even the people of Hoenn were as odd and crazy as the phenomena that surrounded them.

"I'm not from around here," Cade replies, watching as the long-clawed creature before them staggers back up onto both feet. "Though I'm not the one that should be explaining himself." He adds, regarding lilith eirwin and the old man with a quick glance.

"W-Watch out for SNEASLER!"

That brief moment, however, is all the creature needs to swiftly close the gap between itself and Cade Atreides before delivering a bloody SLASH. Clothes tear and drops of red fly as the man howls with hurt. A stumble becomes a fall backwards and, for a moment, he's worried the Sneasler might fall upon him once more and finish the job. Does he have enough time to reach for his knife, he grimly wonders past the stinging pain.

Thankfully, his Pancham intercepts with a BODY SLAM, shoving the Sneasler aside into lilith eirwin 's direction with its belly.

MISSION + lilith eirwin

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