Prompt 11 (Burning Bright): This time of year there are candles popping up in just about every shop selling anything. Maybe you stopped by one of these shops yourself, or maybe a friend wanted to get you a thoughtful gift, but somehow you’ve come into possession of a pair of candles. They don’t seem to be anything spectacular upon first glance; they are pretty and well made and have a pleasant fragrance. They would be pretty decor on their own, but once you light them, they really shine. Nonstop. For twenty four hours. No matter what you do, you cannot put the flame out. No wind, no water, no fire extinguisher–nothing–will extinguish the flame. You just have to wait until it burns itself out. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem very flammable so you don’t have to worry about other things catching on fire in the meantime. Wherever you keep the candle will have a pleasant smell for several days after the flame extinguishes.
Cradling the broken pieces of her trusty GPS unit in her human hands did Illyria sigh once more in dejection. There were pieces of circuitry that seemed beyond repair. Her nimble fingers stroked the minute pieces that had once been housed inside. Illyria's eyes looked downcast as the housing unit's giant fissure mocked her openly. Once she had arrived back to Orah's apartment Illyria had gone straight to the area that Orah had set aside in her room to continue the process of mourning the loss of a trusty piece of human technology. She had activated her glamour in order to gently move pieces around with human digits as opposed to feline paws and claws. It was easier this way. Her gaze blurred for only a moment before she resumed her feline appearance. All the pieces of the GPS unit that had been gently disassembled onto the floor in front of her suddenly vanished from sight as the Mauvian recalled everything into her subspace pocket. Taking one long look around the interior of Orah's room did Illyria grab a blanket from the pile that was left for her use before causing it to also vanish from sight. A piece of paper fluttered onto Orah's desk before Illyria's paws carried her out of the building via the balcony access that Orah maintained. Her gaze shot upwards and while it seemed like it would have been better to work unimpeded on Ida, there were certain tools that could only be found on Earth. Taking a slow stroll down one of Destiny City's main corridors did Illyria pause to stare at the display in one store before ducking into an area that sheltered her form as she blurred shapes once more. Exiting as a human again did Illyria enter the store and browsed the selection of candles that were listed as being on sale. A pair quickly caught her violet eyes and she snatched the items from the shelf upon which they rested before taking them up to the cashier working the shop. Momentarily pausing did Illyria also reach down to add a pen and writing pad to her pile of purchases. The writing materials would allow Illyria the means to record everything that she was going to experiment with in regards to trying to fix her GPS unit.
The Mauvian bid farewell to the clerk before she exited the shop and made her way down a familiar trek that led straight to the area of the city that only Mauvians could access. Her gaze softened as the empty streets provided the opportunity to deactivate her glamour in order to access the panel that would admit her entrance into Mauvian Headquarters. This was the best place to work on plans. She had been surprised to learn just how vast the interior of headquarters really was. When Lucien had called for assistance, it had been the first time that saw Illyria visit the unknown location. Mysticism mixed with technology could have described all the wonders that could have been found inside.
Once inside Illyria moved towards the hallway that was lined with a multitude of doors. There were names inscribed in many of them, including her own name as she had claimed a room for her own only very recently. Inside, as the door slid shut behind her did Illyria take on her human form with no worry that anyone would sense her heightened aura. It made headquarters the perfect place to work on her project. A pile of smaller working tools sat in the corner and now even as Illyria focused did the blanket from Orah's and the various pieces of her GPS unit appear as if by magic. The candlesticks came out a minute later from the bag's interior as did the writing pad and pen. The last thing to be pulled out of her subspace pocket was the small crystalline shard that she had found a few weeks ago inside of a geocache. Her GPS unit had led her to the cache's general location and she felt she owed the device the care it deserved to be put back together in one piece. Illyria moved one candlestick to one corner and absently lit the wick before the whole room seemed to immediately brighten. Puzzled Illyria studied the candle and the burning wick as it threw of brilliant light. Well, at least she wouldn't be working in an inadequately lit room. Deciding to light the other candle Illyria was prepared now for the brightness to increase and wasn't disappointed. The aroma that flitted through the room was pleasant but not too overwhelming and the Mauvian got straight down to work.
Placing the second candle diagonal to its partner did Illyria feel the room was perfect and she smoothed out the blanket before placing all components of her damaged GPS unit before her. There was no diagram to follow and even as she picked up each piece to study it did she begin to understand what it was that she needed to recreate. The pen and pad was kept close at hand and every now and then she would pause to jot down a note on a piece before placing things down on the blanket again. Finally she took a hold of the crystalline shard once more and felt the familiar zing pass through her fingertips. Just what was it that she had found?
Sketching out a rough diagram onto the bottom of the page did Illyria continue to gently run her fingers up and down the strange shard before she picked up the damaged unit. The section that had held the battery had been the most damaged by penguin intervention. Illyria sighed. It wasn't likely ever going to work again. At least not on normal human power sources. The shard was a little larger than the space afforded for a power source but even as Illyria began to expand the casing and move pieces around did she get the feeling that something wasn't quite going right. Even as she worked did she worry that she was leaving her other duties behind: the duties that made her a good Guardian cat: to protect and serve the forces of order, especially senshi. She had been doing the best that she could in that regard but she could only do so much. What would it be like if she had more to work with? What could she do then? Shaking her head Illyria grimaced. She'd never find out. With a sigh Illyria paused to take a break and moved to extinguish the candles and paused when a simple puff of air did nothing to put them out.
Weird.
Repeating the breath of air needed to blow out the candle did Illyria give a sound of resignation. It seemed then that she'd be sleeping in a fully lit room. Gathering the blanket into a small ball did Illyria choose to go back to her feline form before curling up for a good old fashioned cat nap. The blankets smelled of the home that she associated with Orah and the pleasant fragrance from the candles permeated the small room that was her home away from home as she slept deeply. Every once in a while a limb would twitch as if she were shaking off some sort of phantom insect that felt like it was walking across her fur as images rushed through her mind of all the times that she had sustained some sort of injury. In her dreaming state her brain began to catalogue a new design for her GPS unit that could house whatever source of power that strange shard held ... but for now, Illyria continued to sleep.
