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Cardice shuffled through the foliage of a bush he was pretty sure he had not examined before. However, he was aware that the further from his place of residence he traversed under the cover of the forest, the more it spanned in all directions. It was very likely he had upturned everything in the area in the past, but it didn't mean he wouldn't find anything new this time. The lovely thing about time was that nothing stayed the same -- there was always, always something new to discover, something else he could safely hide away... and oftentimes, find that hiding place again, remembering what he had also lost way back when it was stored. Not the most pleasant of things to come across when it was perishable... but exciting if it was a treasure that could stand up to the test of time! Well, time and dirt and moisture...

Swiftly, the young helioptile's attention swerved suddenly to meet a sparkle in the midday sunlight that caught him out of the corner of his eyes, but as soon as he had done so, the flash had disappeared, covered once more by the dancing shadows of the leaves above. He frowned, but his curiosity had already been sparked. Lowering himself closer to the floor, he quickly skittered across the ground, trying to catch sight of it again.

However, he didn't spot it so much as he did stumble across it. The small metallic object snagged the reptile by the foot, causing Cardice to stumble and greet the floor. Rising to rub at his bumped chin, he examined the sparkling object with a minor grumble for the trouble, but his short phase of grumpiness was replaced as soon as it had befallen him. <<Oooh... wow, this is pretty!>> he gaped, pulling the small ring back over a taloned hand to wear as a bracelet instead. Who would have gotten rid of something so pretty?

Skimming the surroundings some more for any sign of an interesting artifact, Cardice was quite oblivious to the presence of anyone in the vicinity. It was a rather quiet mid-day, after all, and all that really broke the silence were insects and the occasional breeze. It wasn't until a soft rustling hit the edge of the helioptile's perception did Cardice start to think that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't alone here. He spun around and braced himself, wide-eyed as his heart began to beat faster. Something was moving the bushes behind him... someone he couldn't quite see.

The lingering sense of insecurity nearly had the pokémon bolting off, until he heard something hit the floor, something that was heavier than the small reptile was. He flinched at the invisible action, but something else had him staying put. Was that... crying? Cautiously, he inched himself closer to the bush that had only just stopped moving of its own accord. His muscles were stiff with the tension and the ring was weighing the one arm down even further, but he was able to will himself far enough to peer around the bush.

Of course, even if he were able to attempt some camouflage, lemon-yellow is not a color that is easily disguised. His ears frilled out in surprise at seeing a girl, crumpled on the ground and sobbing into her hands. This was not something that happened every day...

The girl on the ground was not moving from her stead, Cardice observed cautiously. With a slight tilt of his head, he wondered what it might be that would emotionally hurt her so badly, as those weren't tears from an injury... those sounded different. The spanned frills lowered in concern, and he timidly took a step out past the bush he was flanking, intent on asking what the problem might be.

He was, that is, until a small blur flitted above his head. <<Ah!>> Cardice yelped in surprise, flight response kicking him into high-alert. Without the image of the hummingbird fully registering to the helioptile, he attempted to scamper off as quickly as he was capable, just in case that green thing zipping by at bullet-speed was just as dangerous. His progress was, however, strongly hampered by the added weight of Demeter's ring around his wrist, something he failed to adjust his methods to. In fact, he was so grossly unprepared that the jewelry snagged on the smallest of reeds, causing him to stumble a bit. He wasn't injured at all, but it made him rethink his choices a little, spinning around a bit again in order to figure out what exactly was going on. It wasn't every day he saw a hummingbird out here!

Demeter's timid inquiry registered to the small helioptile as the world stopped spinning for a moment. With a groan, Cardice picked himself up off the floor, a small, clawed hand to his head as his sights steadied. There didn't seem to be any visible danger anymore. What was that little green blur anyway? Oh yeah, and what was that girl so sad about? Maybe there was something he could do to help?

Before his concern got the better of him, his instincts once more kicked into overdrive. With the danger posed by the hummingbird still fresh in his mind, it was an easy enough leap to assign the shadow of a bird high above the canopy to the same unidentified threat. As the edge of the passing avian's wingspan grazed past Cardice, another surprised yelp escaped his mouth, and he began scampering in the opposite direction he had just a moment ago. He wasn't really paying any heed to what he passed by, he was just trying to escape a threat that wasn't really dangerous; nothing had even spotted the brightly-hued reptile, but that consideration didn't really enter the young helioptile's mind, let alone that he was probably larger than anything he was currently running from. His fight-or-flight responses were jammed in a single direction.

His own hiding places were similarly lacking in the knowledge that he wasn't the most camouflaged in the forest. Ducking on the other side of a tree, he huddled in place and threw his arms over his head, the ring sliding down to catch at his elbow. Maybe if he didn't see them, they didn't see him...

A moment or two went by before Cardice chose to peek out from under his arms, cautious to what else may happen that could pose a threat. But there was nothing -- even the wind seemed to be holding its breath. He peered around some from behind the tree he had curled up beneath, but there was nothing new in the vicinity. Even the small hummingbird didn't seem to be patrolling the area anymore. Did... did he scare it off?

He jumped slightly as Demeter exclaimed in powerless defeat, but wasn't chased off. After processing the words, he realized that it must have been the same girl that had spooked him before. She was still there, looking for something that she thought was gone for good? Well... well maybe he could help, in that case! He was a good scavenger, after all!

However, she was also much larger than he was, and that in itself posed a problem in communication. That is, if she even understood him at all. Tracing the trajectory of where her voice seemed to come from, he made a beeline to a nearby tree, digging his claws into the bark and scurrying upwards as though he were built to climb trees. He almost forgot about the ring about his leg until he realized it was slowing his ascent, but even that was minor.

Once he felt that he was a high enough distance from the young girl, he chanced contact, <<Hey, are you alright? What are you looking for?>> Oh he knew that she could use those vines as a set of arm extensions, but having the advantage of height still comforted Cardice a bit.

Cardice strained a bit to hear Demeter's words clearly through her distress and tears. It wasn't every day that the small pokémon was around someone so upset -- he usually fled before any of that could really register, as he had done moments before -- and he already knew he didn't like it. While not the most confident individual normally, this was a task he felt he could really help with. He was good at finding strange oddities, after all! Remembering where he put them, though, that was the hard part...

Tilting his head as she explained what she lost, he squinted and tried to glance around the dense heart of the forest, trying to locate anything that seemed out of the ordinary. <<So you lost a necklace? What did it look like? I'll see if I can't spot it!>> he urged carefully, <<Come on, don't cry. It couldn't have gotten very far, could it?>> Well... unless something else found it and took off with it, at least.

Nervously, he skittered back a couple paces, but still refrained from obscuring himself from view, <<I-I'm... up in the tree.>> He hesitated a bit before adding a quick addendum, <<To your left!>> She didn't seem dangerous, but she was still much bigger than he was, and the size difference had him a bit on edge. He didn't want to take things at face value, but at the moment, that was all he had to go on.

A charm? That shouldn't have been too hard to locate, especially since it was likely, if worn on a chain necklace, that it wouldn't seem as organic as the rest of the scenery. There were very few things that the small helioptile had encountered today, at least that were worth remembering, but something... something was starting to sound very familiar here...

Before he had a chance to confirm or deny his idea, he was slightly derailed by a similar observation, but one a little more vocal. <<Oh... d-don't worry! Unless it's a big or heavy charm, it's not so easy to roll things through the grass!>> he tried to console, <<I know, I've tried it before!>> At such a great distance from home, there'd likely be no way Cardice would be able to get something like that home. Unless, of course, it was on his wrist or something.

Demeter's discouraged tone had his pleated ears hang limply. While he didn't know who this girl was, it was still distressing to hear her so upset, and his empathy for her worked into his view of the situation. If he could, he'd be sure to help out. He edged along the tree, back into more full view, though he tripped up a bit when she said he was cute, as unexpected as it was. The small pokémon was about to offer up a thanks when the shape of the lost charm was finally identified. <<Ah! Y-You... A ring?>> he babbled, glancing down a bit before scooting in that direction a little ways, <<I found this thing earlier and I didn't know exactly what it was, I was actually kind of confused and-->>

His words were cluttered together as he spoke rapidly, cutting himself off and halting his descent to peer down again, <<Here, hold out your hand.>> He waited until he could aim it before he reached a tiny arm out and slid his newly-found bracelet down to her, <<I-Is that it?>>