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Juvine takes a small bit of pride in his work at the facility, never missing a step and always on top of his work. It was a profession he had honed to near-perfection over time before working for Armaccio and after working for Armaccio, the boss and founder of Delorosa's Grave. That, what he did best, and barely with effort, like he when it came to handling business.
Business in the form of science. Morbid science at that, if it's a thing. Though, a subject that was brought in two days before now took the time to tell him about it before his sanity was extracted from his brain and his insanity put to the test. You see, the way Juvine would restructure and augment their abilities is- well, was complex and difficult to figure out at first before it became easy. At least to a terrifying extent and he was quite proud of it. But he couldn't take all of the credit.
Not even if he was the only one in that test room that separated him from the chamber where he watched the poor souls suffer and draw out their true power, before augmentation.
The process to that point is simple. The subject of any gender or species would be deprived of their sanity through the tube that is placed upon their head, where thousands of paper-thin needles penetrate their brain directly through the skull in quick succession, targeting the twin hemispheres of the cerebrum where emotions lay, possibly where their mentality would be, and draining it along with the entirety of the brain, going deep enough not to cause instant death, but enough for the subject to experience unimaginable pain until it rendered them unconscious.
Even then, the procedure would go on. Afterward, they will awake in a crazed frenzy, their powers unbidden by their control and unleashed in any way it saw fit until he and a few others acquired enough data and began the augmentation. When they've spent enough time in the pod, they were taken out and applied to them while they slept, parts of their upgraded self.
He's seen it all too many times to count. The 'artists' as Armaccio calls them cutting away parts of the subject and grafting new ones to wherever they saw fit as they dehumanized them, adding to what shouldn't be added, removing what should've stayed, and even disfigured whatever part of them they left behind. What with cutting off the hands and replacing them with sharp tentacles or attaching a blood-red beak in place of someone's nose, smashing it flat, and having a thin X drawn crudely over the soulless black eyes of a redhead teen in red.
And he watched it all with a straight face from the next room over, his pear-pupiled eyes never missing a single detail of it, especially now, as he watched the artists work on their latest subject whose appearance here was a bit of a surprise. Teleportation was child's play yet greatly needed and this individual, Veo Kirk it had been revealed to be, has supplied them with it. Wasn't very common that powers like these came to them like this, not that he complained or anything.
The redhead sighed through his nose, watching the ginger be surgically cut into and examined before two hands place themselves on his shoulder, and he almost jumped. Luckily, he calmed down in time when the scent of roses and dried blood drifting in a sweetening deathly mixture into his nostrils told him it was the boss, Armaccio. "Boss?"
"Juvine. I do believe it has been a while since our last chat, wouldn't you think?" The man asked in a softened tone, despite his baritone and slightly disembodied voice topped with an Italian accent. "And what is the report of our surprise guest?"
He took a moment to compose himself before answering, feeling his mentor's crimson gaze bore into the back of his head and his heart start to quake. "There wasn't a lot to report, other than his powers and the potency behind it. And also his superior knowledge of acids concerning a chart rating in harmfulness. The artists seemed to have caught a glimpse and are now inserting the gland into the patient's throat."
The older redhead behind him hummed, his voice growing deep and eerie as he did, making his lips purse and a shaky exhale leave his nose in a puff. He still managed a straight face but struggled to keep his body in check now that he felt himself start to tremble. "What kind of acid gland?"
His lip quivers. "Piranha solution. There were memory files of him testing its potency that I extracted from his brain. The gland will also be a part of his bloodstream, along with a few modifications, sir."
He maintains a toneless voice despite it shaking in some places from Armaccio soothingly massaging his muscles while he leaned in slightly to sniff his hair and bring his chest flush to his back. his trembling form becomes more apparent and he has trouble keeping his regulated breathing level, but his face is blank despite that. "Bravissimo." He murmured, his purring tone carried by the fruitiness within it, almost captivating the lead scientist if not for the nervousness mixed with slight terror gripping his heart.
And despite his best efforts, he caught on. And smiled.
"Juvine, mia dolcezza, are you...feeling nervous?" the redhead asked, wisps of crimson started to manifest around him, and the other, taking note of the subtle increase of heat on his head, sensing beads of sweat starting to form. The warmth of the younger man causing him to gently wrap his arms around his chest and bring him back into a soft hug, feeling his heart go like a drum against his palm. Almost like he had it in his hand.
If only.
Juvine doesn't answer right away, much less try to hide the wild thrumming of his heart and the shakiness in his breath. He knows it fully well, but he had more of a mind not to voice it out loud and suffer for it, no matter how many times the voice in his head gave him headaches trying to get him to do so.
"I asked you a question, Juvine," His mentor spoke again in a low whisper as several red appendages with barbed tips began to slither from the palms of his gloved hands, from beneath the sleeves of his checkered coat, and from his back, and wrap gently around the redhead's chest and arms. "It's only polite that you answer."
"No," Juvine answered, his stoic face beneath his glasses started to waver and twitch from the smooth, scaly tentacles undulating and wrapping around his arms as his voice started to warble slightly. "Just a little shaken by your sudden appearance, that's all."
He felt rather than hear the man hum down his neck and ear and smile, making the hairs on the back of his neck straighten up.
"Is that so, Julian? You should know by now that I am no kindred spirit to liars and dissenters, especially those that are close to me." He then spoke. Each curt and stern word leaving his mouth sending shivers down his spine, yet he fought valiantly on keeping it hidden. "Would you like to see the wellbeing of those who did one of those two, or many?"
"N-no, sir," Juvine answered, unintentionally leaning back into Armaccio's uncomfortably welcome embrace. He knew full well of the fate of those who dared to cross the boss and did well not to involve himself with their actions that were their downfall. Even in a focus-only workplace, he would still hear the scientists and tamers whisper to one another about the fates of their colleagues who stepped out of line or even tried to leave. Armaccio tossing them into the cells of his upgraded patients, having them assimilated and turned into energy for him to absorb, or him dealing with them himself.
The first two were relatively tamed compared to the third punishment. The tendrils wrapped around Juvine's being were used as instruments of torture and execution mixed into one by the little sharp tips slashing the skin of his victim and watching them writhe in pain as their veins showed on their skin, turning into napalm acid and scorching them from the inside and outside. In rare occasions, he would have his tentacles dive deep into his victim's skin and throughout their body, sucking up gallons of their blood in mere seconds, drying the area they coursed through from outside, and the tips opening up and devouring their innards rapidly, bit by bit before finally tearing them to shreds and melting them down into plasma energy for him to absorb. Leaving behind a pile of mush with ripped clothing.
The memory of him witnessing as such scarred him deep internally, but with the help of the anti-anxiety medication pills he had brought to him, it helped to keep him level-headed with assistance from him just being emotionless in general. Though, they both appear to be failing now that the red harbinger was close quarters with him. Too close than he ever wanted him to be.
His boss chuckles low under his breath as he leaned into his ear, feeling him tremble greatly, despite his best attempts, drinking in the fear coming from him. "Good. I wouldn't want for you to falter in your duties, should things slip up." He said, retracting his tentacles and letting the young man go, walking towards the door with his hands behind his back as one tentacle readjust his hat. Before he left, he took one look back at Juvine, who stumbled and balanced himself on the table, finally feeling the results of holding in his fear for so long.
Perhaps he can, help get it out of him more often, as it...
pleased him.