Can this be Candy? (open)

"You think a cutting weapon can hurt me?" Desalmado similarly sneered but he glanced once at the 10 claws. "...Alright, but only on two conditions. I will probably return here again, the way I was when you first came in. Your seeing me like this was an accident that you should probably forget that had ever happened. The first condition is to never mention this to anyone. The second is to explain how the claws work to when I am young again. I'll have no recollection of this, and don't try to jog my memory. Just re-explain it in a way I'd understand." He growled softly, body tense as he re-sheathed his weapon.

"I'd suggest not yo hand over potions to people and expect everything to do as planned. If my younger self is put in danger because you leaked information, I don't care what you can do to me. I will hunt you down and kill you without mercy." He snarled once before quietly sitting in the chair, passive after he had spoken his request and merely waiting to be experimented on. Of course, the removal of his nails would most definitely hurt, but he had no problems with pain. After all, his very way of battle revolved around him being hurt, beaten, bloody, and god knows what else.

He extended his left hand first, silver eyes always watchful. His other hand was balled into a first, tense as he was ready to punch the man off if things went wrong. This caution was, of course, reasonable enough. Although he was willing to be experimented on, he was not willing to become a botched experiment, permanently disfigured because of some mishap caused by the stranger.

"A cutting weapon? Oh no, my dear boy.....this weapon is used to seperate Reishi from it's bonds, making my job of absorbing it directly from you much easier." He explained, before sighing. Flicking off the weapon, he slid the warm tube back into his pocket. Sitting down on the table, the boy that appeared roughly 17 (though in actuality was 65) grabbed his pliers once more. "Alright, I will do that for you. Also, All deals made in this back room are strictly confidential, and all information revealed is kept under lock and key. Didn't you read the sign?" Indeed, behind Nikilo was a large sign explaining just that in large, bold letters. Sliding his rough hand under Des', he began plucking fingernails out, surprisingly well. It appears he had practice with this before. After several moments, the man had 10 bleeding stumps at the end of his hands.

"Now then, onto the painful part..." Gripping the end of one metal claw with the pliers, the natural fingernails in a bloody heap at the end of the table, he began to insert them into the mans hands. When he was finished putting them in place, he would use his alchemy to make them permanent fixtures. As more time passed and he was nearly finished, the potion holding Des' powers back would last for roughly 36 more minutes. Finally, all of the claws were in place. Dropping the pliers and cracking his knuckles, a strange liquid began to seep from his fingertips. This gland is what changed the Null from the quincy. Slathering this liquid all over Des' fingers and new claws, he began to hum a strange tune. Than he activated his two techniques.

The first was Sauerstoff werde Stickstoff, changing the oxygen on Desalmado's hands into Nitrogen. This burned away a thin layer of skin, and water seeped over it in an attempt to dissuade the pain as the blood would soon clot. Than, he activated his second technique. Wasser werde Titan. This changed the water into titanium, in essence making the metal a part of his body now. The only way for these claws to fall off now would be for them to be ripped out, and that included the roots deep into Desalmado's hands that he had just created.

"That should do it. Like I said earlier, merely speak "Burst" and focus your reiatsu into the claws. They will become coated in electricity. Why don't you try it now, to make sure they aren't faulty." Walking over to a cabinet, he opened it with a flick of his wrist. Tossing a sand-bag at the man, he shouted "Think fast!"

Desalmado's face did not flicker in pain as he watched. He ignored the pain and instead stared in curiosity. The only sign of negative on his face was that he would flicker back to his own fingernails, an expression of tenseness appearing on his face every time he saw his own blood lying helplessly like that. He wanted it to move, dammit. He wanted his blood to work again. To be stripped of his abilities of blood was the same as stripping away his only defenses, leaving him weak and unable to do anything to protect himself. He hated this feeling of weakness, the inability to protect himself reminded him of when he first used his resureccion as an adult. He was so weak afterwards that his mental vigilance went on overload, so much so he remembered killing anything that wandered into his little cave of recovery, so paranoid was he that he took moisture off the walls and starved himself for fear of wandering outside.

With these claws he would hopefully have none of those fears anymore. Now he could fight his weaknesses with supposed ease, albeit it would take some time for himself as a child to understand 'fighting' still. He allowed his mind to slip as the pain in his fingers slowly began to fade from him, even though the most painful part was only beginning. It was such a burden, to have to protect himself from himself all the time, and a small question came up in his mind. Why not simply remain as he was now? A wince came upon his face as an all-too-familiar voice came into his head. My little baby will always be my boy, no matter what happens... Mother. Poor Mother. And with his own hands, he had killed her, even with her open heart accepting him when he was a hollow, kissing his mask and assuring him that he would always be her son.

He once heard that every soul he ate was within himself. Was his mother in him, watching? Was his mother angry? Was she ashamed of the monstrosity he had become? He felt his face slowly blush hot with inner shame at the memories. When he opened his eyes again, the proceedure was done. A dull ache pulsed through his fingers as his tissues tried to get used to this foreign object that needed no blood to survive and seemed so connected with his tissues but at the same time so different. Nerve cells tried to connect with the nerve cells that were no longer there, and so they ached in mourning, finding only cold metal where there was once life.

However, there was no time to think about such things. Brought once more to reality, he wiped away what could've been hot tears from his silver eyes and listened to what this stranger had to say. Afterwards, a sandbag was thrown towards him and he swiped easily, whispering the word 'burst' quietly to himself, not trusting his voice to break as he concentrated his reiatsu. He felt his fingers crackle with lightening for only a moment before the sandbag exploded with sparks. He found himself covered with dirty sand, not the first time it had happened.

"It works fine." He spoke curiously, admiring his own fingers. "You worked quickly and well. For that, I thank you. Also... You are of a race I am not familiar with. What are you?" He asked curiously, any sign of malice or suspicion gone from his being and replaced with a curiosity that echoed how he was as a child. "...and where can I acquire the knowledge you possess?"

Nikilo accepted the compliments with grace. Passing over a towel that too was in the shelf, it was intended to wipe away the dust. "I am a Null, an evolution of quincy. I hail from Germany, and abilities lie in alchemy." Explaining the history of null and how his body was different than most humans, he let the reiatsu bubble in his fingers to prove it before it miraculously was absorbed back into his skin. "Unfortunately, you will not be able to use our techniques. However, if you work here..I can teach you certain things." He proposed, grabbing a pole off the wall. It was roughly six feet tall and an inch thick, completely cylindrical.

"This is my latest experiment. I am working on a converter to convert real reiatsu into special Null reiatsu, so people like you can do this." Focusing his own reiatsu into it from his fingertips, a massive blade sprang from the end opposite his face, turning it into a large battle-ax with a glowing, black blade. Slicing it through a steel bench with ease, he grinned. Standing it back on the wall, the blade disappeared, fluttering away. Stepping next to the split, smoking bench, he merely touched it and watched it re-attach itself. "Alchemy is fun."

"I see." Desalmado spoke, clicking together his newly acquired claws and getting used to the heaviness, something that would later become a habit nearly impossible for him to shake off. He clicked the claws together a few times, something unconscious and similar to a human tapping their foot to some unknown beat of a tune long lost. He only became aware of his clicking after ten seconds or so, forcing himself to stop. However, as soon as his mind focused on what Nikilo was doing, his hands began to click again, a sure sign of the generally high anxiety the adult suffered from.

He was quite interested in all of these strange abilities these 'nulls' had, making blades and whatnot... it was much like his blood but of a different sort. "I'd like to work here, albeit I do not know how well my child self would understand the concept of work." He spoke his hesitation, knowing his uselessness as a child. As a child he was made to run and enjoy himself, giggling and smiling and being completely ignorant to the world around him. It was simply impossible to keep the boy still long enough to work in any fashion. Maybe to deliver things- he knew his speed was rarely matched, even as a child.

"Also, your ability reminds me of mine, but only because of the flexibility. When does the potion wear off? I have a desire to recover the blood lost during the operation." He spoke, pointing to the pile of bloody fingernails sitting uselessly. "Before the cells become useless to me, I'd like this potion to wear off. " He clicked his claws once more before deciding to wait... of course, he had forgotten something. "I don't think you've introduced yourself, and neither have I. I'm Desalmado, a freelancing arrancar. You?" He spoke contentedly now, easiny to a sense of safety. He was alone with only one man in some back room somewhere, and the man has no other ill intentions than experimentation which, by his standards, were not ill at all.

He clicked his claws once more.

"Should take nearly ten minutes..." Nikilo replied, before pulling out a screwdriver from his pocket. Placing his hand on the steel table, he appeared to scoop out a perfectly crafted tube, hollow with several switches on it. Tinkering with it and the screwdriver, he sat at the bench while working, his eyes strenuously watching over the device. "Very well. You may work here. The fact that you are not a null and are basically useless to me at the moment means you will only procure 10% of the wages we earn." He explained, not looking up.

"I will explain it to your child form and pay him in the candy he so desires." He explained, only looking up once at the claws. "Maybe later we can get Jamie to enchant those better. He is much better at it than me."

"Alright. Make sure he understands that whatever my share is is a very important thing that he should keep with him. I might save up for more modifications later." Desalmado spoke, clicking his claws and examining them in quiet disbelief. He walked over to his bloody nails, watching hid blood with a strange intensity, glancing back at Nikilo curiously. "You know, such things would be easy for me to help with." He spoke in suggestion, not wanting to allow his pay to go to waste. He paced quietly until the ten minutes were up, in which then he breathed a sigh as his blood began to float draw away from the fingernails, floating around him.

He tipped his fingers in the droplets of blood that fell, or rather, his claws, to let his blood get used to the feeling of his new weaponry, a look of gentleness on his face as he did so, checking to see if his new employee was watching before unsheathing his blade only a quarter of an inch, slicing the pad of his thump. The blood eagerly surged towards the wound, slipping within the cut and finding itself back in his viens and arteries, leaving behind clotting platelets as the wound sealed to a gentle scab and healed over in a few moments. He re-seathed his weapon again, wondering where best to return to his younger self.

Probably at night, when everyone was asleep. Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow. He would write himself a note, one that his child half would be able to read and understand. He nodded quietly and checked to see if he had any more orders. If that was not the case, then he would silently get to work on dusting the place off, eyes silently scanning for whatever items were around that he could use to clean off all this dust.

"Alright than, Desalmado. Why don't you clean up a bit. I need to finish this..." He told him, as the tube began to glow a strange color. With one final twist of the screwdriver, the seele shneider sprang to life. Smiling in satisfaction, he flipped off the switch and hung it on the wall beside other unactivated seele shneiders. Picking up a broom, he tossed it at the newly-modified being. "Also... if you so choose, I can keep your pay until you return to this form. I doubt your younger self would understand anyway. I will keep a safe for you...right...here." at this, Nikilo spread his hands against the wall behind him.

The oxygen immediately began turning into titanium as the liquid reshi bubbled against it. Reshaping the titanium as he formed it, he soon had a decent sized safe. Punching a hole in the wall (mainly by turning most of it into oxygen), he slid the safe in. "The combination is 23,32,23." He explained, before inputting said combination, and watching in satisfaction as the door swung open. Pushing it shut with a click, he nodded at the man.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" He asked, with a slight wink. After all, he DID wander into the shop in the first place.

"A paper and pencil to write a note to myself within a day's time would be nice. I might disappear for that day, to find a secluded place to be alone." Desalmado spoke after a silence of inner surprise and awe as he watched this null do his magic. It was simply amazing. "The safe is a nice touch. Thank you." He spoke contentedly, before looking around and looking around for something that resembled something that would be possible to clean with. Spotting a broom and a dust pan, he took both and left to near the front of the shop to start sweeping.

It had been a while since he had used his older body. Sweeping contentedly, the new employee could only vaguely think about all the memories he held back as a child. He began to collect the dust to a pile, thinking about the first time he watched his mother sweep as a hollow. She would laugh at his soft croons of confusion as her hand methodically swept up the dirt and dust in the kitchen. She offered the broom to him and he took it in his jaws. He tried to sweep, but he was uncoordinated and the broom swiftly snapped in two. He let out another croon of confusion, laying in the hallway as he watched her laugh and pull out a spare.

She mentioned then that when he was a human he would always be ruining her broomsticks, and because of her words memories of his human past would come to him. He remembered one time when he broke a broomstick trying to fly with it and the sharp points dug into his hand. He went to the hospital for that and he remembered his mother staying with him all night. The arrancar shook his head of the memories and looked down, noticing he had swept some dust into a little pile already, the newly cleaned patches of floor looking suddenly years younger. Smiling a little at the memories, he continued his job.

/THREAD~