Mr. Comedian made a ladder up to a manhole after they spent a couple hours walking down in the sewers and they climbed out. Hirune was very eager, and borderline flew up the ladder, meanwhile Mr. Comedian took his sweet time, making her wait.
Once they were both out Mr. Comedian whistled and a very strong gust of perfumed wind crashed into them. "We wouldn't want to slow down too much now, would we? We can shower up in the dome, first we'll have to get past security." Mr. Comedian said while snapping towards the spire that they were now in front of.
Hirune looked at the spire then back at Mr. Comedian, 'So that's why we took so long!' Hirune thought as she nodded. "That will prove difficult, but maybe at the right angle I could devour the distance between us and the lift thingy."
Mr. Comedian shook his head, "Hirune, you rely too much on your powers raw abilities. In order for you to actually progress you have to figure out how you want to use them. Not how they naturally work."
Hirune looked at him flustered. She knew about the 8 routes and what they were, yet it didn't hit her that it was that simple to progress through them. She raised her eyebrows with her lips curled as she shook her head. "How did it take me this long to realize this?" She said in a tired and disappointed voice.
Mr. Comedian chuckled, then raised his hands in the air, "Ladies and gentlemen."
Hirune looked at him like he was a crazy man, 'What is he doing?! Were both wanted criminals getting attention isn't good for us!' She tried to lower his arms or at least shut his mouth, but his shadow hands didn't allow her to as he continued to speak:
"Gather around, gather around. On this fine evening I'd like to present to you a new magic show." Nearly no one paid attention to him as they were all too busy spinning slot machines or playing blackjack.
Mr. Comedian smirked, and with a tap of his foot the shadow hands made the slot machines dysfunctional and took the cards from the people playing with them, making them all look at him. "We've got a little show prepared for you. We hope you appreciate it more than you losing money."
Hirune looked at him wondering who 'we,' was and when anything was prepared.
Mr. Comedian suddenly started dancing with her, then as he waltzed with her, he snapped, and a shadow jester appeared out of his shadow. The shadow jester grabbed one of the slot machines and squished and squashed it like if it was slime then formed it into a box. The box was on a stand, and it was big enough to fit an entire person in it, with there being a hole for their head to stick out. The box also had a line around the middle, almost like a guideline.
Hirune stared at it curiously, not certain what to make out of it as she'd never seen anything like this before. Then, Mr. Comedian opened a hatch on the bottom of the box and slid Hirune into it, then closed and locked it.
Hirune's mind instantly started to race with thoughts, some dark, some innocent (somehow), and some dirty. 'I would like the most ladder. Or normal ladder... Please not the first,' Hirune thought as she stared at Mr. Comedian as he walked around to one side of the box.
Everyone's attention was now on them as Mr. Comedian pulled out a saw.
'It's the first!' Hirune thought tearing up slightly. Then as he cut through the box, and inevitably through her, her mind went blank with confusion when it went completely through the table. She blinked a couple of times and looked around, "huh."
Everyone started cheering, they cheered louder than anyone when they won the jackpot. Which confused Hirune for a moment before she remembered that at least 100 people won the jackpot daily.
Some of the security guards stepped out of the little room before the elevator. "What's all the ruckus about? You act as if you've just witnessed something better than winning a jackpot!"
Mr. Comedians Shadow Jester went back into his shadow as Mr. Comedian put a hand on the back of Hirune's head, "Well go on and take us my precious partner."
Hirune blushed hard as she muttered 'Devour Distance,' getting them into the room before the elevator. As soon as they got in, the other security guards were about to yell code red, but Mr. Comedian covered their mouths with shadow hands. Then pulled Hirune into the elevator with him as he dropped an orb behind him.
As soon as the elevator door closed the orb blew up into a shiny purple gas, "So what did that do?" Hirune asked looking at Mr. Comedian, her face still red from him calling her his "precious partner."
Mr. Comedian looked at her with a sly smile, "It made them fall asleep, hindered their vision, and made them forget everything that happened in the last ten seconds."
Hirune looked at him in awe for a moment, then he tilted his head. "Why's your face so red."
"You," Hirune said without thinking. Sure, she was thinking, but not about what was currently happening in front of her. She was thinking about the smoke bomb, what he called her, and what he told her about how to progress down one of the 8 routes all at the same time.
Mr. Comedian looked at her for a second as her face got redder with realization. He smiled slickly and cleared his throat, "Well isn't that something."
After a couple minutes of awkward silence, the elevator doors opened to a gloomy place. It was dark, yet to Hirune it was quite modern. It had buildings made of grey or black woods, sometimes bricks. Nearly every home also had some black gates that were topped with spikes. The only lighting being the moonlight.
Then Namulenza's voice flashed in her head yet again telling her a name she couldn't help but say out loud, "the Industrial Revolution... Interesting."