Hirune found herself braiding Francois hair as Mr. Comedian scouted the area around them. After a couple minutes, Hirune had made a beautiful long braid behind Francois ear and had one to go, but as she went to begin on the other Mr. Comedian came back.
"I take it there's good news?" Hirune asked without taking her eyes off of Francois braid.
"Hm, nay, he doesn't have any good news. The mirror doesn't show any important information," Francois answered for him.
"She's right, but I also have something to say," Mr. Comedian said as he stared at Hirune with worry. The illusion was still working as she had healed, but it also showed how badly her back would scar once they actually treated it.
Hirune looked at him with a slight smile while keeping an eye on making sure she was braiding it right. Mr. Comedian took a deep breath and spoke:
"We need to go back to the ground and get you treated, after that, I'll help you find your friend Kala and send you two back to your base. I'll take care of the dome here myself after that," Mr. Comedian said as he stared at Hirune, who was no longer looking at him and was too busy making the second braid.
"I see, so you're telling me, that this entire time, me devouring nails, devouring an entire monster, agreeing to work with you, getting to know and actually like you, and getting struck in the back by lightning, you expect me to simply go back home without seeing this through?!" Hirune yelled at him as she finished up the second braid.
"Well... I guess I do," he responded simply.
Francois laid down and started taking a nap with her head on Hirune's lap. Hirune glared at him, "Well I'm so sorry to disappoint, but after all of that, I'm going to make sure I see this through! Even, If. You. Don't. Like. It," if it wasn't for Francois taking a nap on her lap she would've walked away, so she simply turned away from him, looked down, and started running her fingers through her hair gently.
Francois suddenly woke up and looked at her, "I recommend devouring off that jester mark right now."
"What? why?"
"First command of the Jester Mark," Mr. Comedian said causing the mark jester mark near Hirune's waist to glow as a pattern of vines and thorns spread out from it over her stomach, lower back, waist, and leg. As this happened, she could feel a sharp burning pain emitting from it.
"Sorry, but now you have to do what I said now and there's nothing you can do about it," Mr. Comedian said, his face stoic.
Hirune felt her blood boiling as warm tears streamed down her cheeks, "I thought you promised--" her voice hitched. "I thought you promised not to use those! I trusted you! You earned my trust and you threw it away just like that?! Did that mean nothing to you?! Did you ever even need me in order to achieve your goal?! Huh?! Because it certainly doesn't seem like it the way you're talking!" She felt her heart burning, her heart beating so hard that she could hear it loudly in her ears. "Why? Why? Why! Tell me! Why did you have to choose me to help you if it was going to end up like this?!! I--" her voice cracked, "I thought you were my friend! I-I--... I thought we could get along even after we finished this! ... But I see now that I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up about you."
Francois sat up and hugged Hirune in a tight warm hug as Mr. Comedian stood there looking away. He couldn't bring himself to look at her, especially after that last part. Every time he worked with someone, he felt the same, then they cut him off in the same matter he was cutting her off. He understood how she felt perfectly, which made his heart ache for her, he wanted to look at her, he wanted to apologize, he wanted to make things right, but that thought wasn't because he wanted her to feel better, it was because he didn't want to lose another possible friend, and he didn't want to be selfish, especially if it was Hirune who he was being selfish towards.
"Francois, stay by her as you head down and find her some treatment. After that, stay with her until she finds Kala and starts to make her way out of Rico back to Triste," Mr. Comedian said as he walked off, ending this interaction right before the years of pent-up emotions got to him.
Francois sat there and let Hirune sob into her shoulder for a good ten minutes while stroking her hair.
Hirune sat up and looked at her in the eyes solemnly, "He seemed sad, why was that?"
"He's been in your shoes before, but no matter, he was a fool to believe that that would help you."
Hirune nodded as she stood up and went to the edge of the dome. Francois followed her, then held her hand as Hirune looked down at the city and devoured the two of them onto the street.
'Hey, Hirune, fun fact: There's a piece of my artifact nearby, and when you consume a piece of my artifact, it lifts anything that has to do with the shadow jester besides the shadow jester itself. Which means, you could get rid of the command and get back at him.'
"I don't care; I don't want to get back at him. Only reason I'll get that is because it could help me find Kala, which would allow me to get out of here," Hirune said casually, then she looked at Francois who was staring at her with a weird look. "I'm not trying to get away from you by the way, I just don't want to be anywhere near Mr. Comedian anymore. But you're fine, I actually like you, which, I wasn't expecting to like you, but I do."
"You sound fed-up," Francois said as she played with her braids. Hirune never finished stylizing them as the braids were meant to be tied together around the back of her head, but considering how fed-up she was, Francois wasn't going to remind her.
"I am."
"Heh~," Francois let out a brief giggle then cleared her throat.
"Alright Namulenza, give me the directions to the piece of the artifact, I'm tired of all the shimmer and shine of this place."