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Return of the Merchant (10) : Investigation for the curious meteor impact may yield few results for the civilian scientists of Destiny City--but they don’t have the keen eye and aura sensing ability of their local powered warriors. Cloaked by a mysterious device that emits a unique energy signature, the impact site of the meteor is hidden inside a strange, watery bubble that spans easily a hundred feet in all directions around it. This strange shield seems to reflect light, making it appear as though there is nothing inside--but, if you look for long enough, you can make out shapes and movement. You cannot pass through the barrier, nor can sounds or light. If you attempt to walk through it, you simply pass through the other side, as if you’d walked in a straight line. That might be peculiar on its own--except, there’s a sign posted where the energy signature is strongest. Painted in fancy, iridescent ink, elegantly scrawled, the sign reads ‘Temporarily Closed for Business.’ Beneath that is a painting of a wispy, floating little orb. Text below the picture reads, ‘WANTED. Will reward handsomely.’

The shop may be closed for tonight, but tomorrow is a different story. It might be worth coming back if you can find one of those wisps.

A suspicious energy signature on the outskirts of town should have been enough for Beira to stay away--or, at least, not go snooping around without backup. And yet, for some reason, he found himself drifting closer to it--like he knew it was a bad idea, but still couldn’t help but be drawn like a moth to the flame.

Maybe he’d just been spending too much time invested in his job and wasn’t sleeping enough, because at one point in time it seemed like a good idea to investigate.

A good idea would have been to go home, go to sleep, and hope he was refreshed and clear headed in the morning.

Beira hadn’t really had good ideas in a while, and though he wouldn’t admit it to himself, he desperately needed something else to focus on. He was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he was no closer to controlling his magic now than he’d been the day he’d inherited it.

He;d followed the strange energy signature like a beacon, but no matter what he was expecting, it wasn't really this.

A strange, bubble-like dome covered a significant portion of the area, and though Beira identified it as an anomaly, he couldn't exactly see into it enough to clearly identify anything. Even under intense scrutiny, all he could make out of it was the occasional flash of color or bit of movement, but that could have easily just been a trick of his tired eyes anyway.

He rubbed his thumb thoughtfully over the little star charm he'd picked up earlier today, and found that the smooth grooves gave him a moment of peace to think. He pocketed it after a few seconds.

As he already had no ability to make a good judgment call, Beira found himself reaching out to trail his fingers lightly against the bubble surface--and they passed through.

It took all of fifteen seconds for Beira to decide to step through the bubble--only to pass out on the other side. The energy signature was stronger here, and if he hadn't known better he might have just thought he hadn't moved at all. He turned to look at the bubble once more, frowning deeply as he examined it.

Curiosity begged him to touch it again, to investigate further, but there were little alarms going off in the back of his head. He should ask Sterling, and Priam, and Yu if they had any idea what this was--they knew this whole 'powered thing' better than he did. Soleiyu might have known, but Beira felt guilty every time he had to report that he still had no more mastery of his Senshi magic.

Sometimes, Soleiyu looked as though he blamed himself for it.

For a botched awakening.

Beira didn't blame him; he might not have had the same grasp of his magic as Soleiyu anticipated, but he'd had the power to get himself out of a bind, and to help his friends. Even if he wasn't the best version of himself, he wouldn't regret being himself.

He decided to linger for a moment longer--to actually read the sign that he'd suddenly noticed.

It yielded no information that would help him; he hadn't seen wisps, and didn't really know what to take out of this.

...But, he had a start, at least. And a mystery was enough to distract him from his own self-doubt and confusion.