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Ryoshu came by the meat locker the following day, taken completely aback by the thrashed room. Everything was everywhere, it was filthy! There was meat and blood littering the ground, tools left and right, the back closet looking like it overflowed! Gritting her teeth, her fists balled, shaking with rage, the chef screeched, "GREGOOOOOOOR!! NEMOOOOOO!! G.Y.A.D.H.N.!"
The two critters were startled awake, Nemo nearly jumping out of his skin at the pitch Ryoshu hit. Gregor only sat up groggily, groaning as he rubbed his eyes, puffy from all the weeping last night. Sluggishly, he reached over to the nightstand to pick up his glasses, equipping them as he began to mumble, "Th' hell does that woman want?" His lips curled into a scowl, he wasn't a morning person and never would be a morning person, at least until he got his coffee.
The small lad sheepishly smiled, rubbing the back of his neck, laughing softly to himself as he pointed downwards towards the meat locker. He never did get around to cleaning it up.
That sure woke Gregor up. He jumped out of bed, scampering to clothe himself, tossing Nemo his uniform. It landed over the boy's head unceremoniously, obstructing his vision, making him huff. How dare his sight be taken away from observing the bug's butt for even a second! Tearing the uniform off of his head, he pouted, seeing as Gregor managed to get his pants on already. Bummer. Rolling his eyes, the roach flicked Nemo's forehead, "Get dressed, yeah?"
Rubbing his forehead, Nemo halfheartedly nodded, upset about having to get out of bed early in the first place, much less to get bitched at. He could be using this time to do so much more. Like sleeping for example! He easily slipped on the white turtleneck top and black slacks. It always confused him why their uniform tops were white when they worked around so much blood that stained them so easily. Made zero sense. He slowly slipped his shoes and socks on, struggling to tie his shoelaces, of which Gregor took note of, kneeling down in front of the lad and tying them himself.
Both men inhaled deeply before leaving their cramped room. This wasn't going to be fun. They were going to take their sweet time getting to the meat locker, or at least sweet enough that Ryoshu wouldn't lob their heads off and serve them as today's dish. Glancing over at Nemo, the brunette sighed in defeat, "Ready, shark bud?"
Nemo shook his head, hell no he wasn't ready to face that viper. It's not like his answer mattered anyway, it was a rhetorical question in the first place.
The roach grinned, rolling his eyes as he shook his head, cautiously opening the door that lead to their troubles. Carefully, the two crept down the stairs like they were sneaking food from the fridge at 2 in the morning, doing their best not to alert their boss of the duo's presence. That didn't go too well as Gregor applied too much pressure to one of the steps, a loud, drawn out creak echoed through the room. "Shit." He hissed as Ryoshu's head snapped around sharply.
Nemo peeked out from behind Gregor's torso, using him as a meat shield for the woman's wrath that was to come.
"You two..." Ryoshu began, slowly trudging forward, her back hunched over with her fists at her side, an eyebrow twitching in annoyance, "how dare the two of you waste such quality meat! D.Y.K.H.M.W.C.M.O.T.!?" She yelled, baring her teeth at the two whom flinched at her fury.
Gregor's hands rose in front of him to signal surrender, "Ah... That wasn't a..." the roach struggled to form a coherent lie that would sound believable, his acting was poor at best, "That one wasn't fresh! Yeah, fresh!"
Another eyebrow twitch. The woman rose to full height, bringing her face dangerously close to Gregor's, "You think I don't know when you're B.S. me?" She stated in a low, threatening tone, arm shooting back to point at the mush that was formerly Hermann, "That is F.A.R.M.!"
Sighing loudly, Nemo stuck his hand between the two chefs' faces, garnering their attention below. They both tilted their heads down, one wearing a mask of sheer rage, the other wearing one of confusion. Nemo then began to make various hand motions, creating a game of charades to reenact what occurred the previous night. This included a poorly executed attempt at repeating Gregor's breakdown.
Ryoshu's eyes narrowed as she puffed away at her cigarette, picking up on what was being silently told. Guy was artistic, she'd give him that. Dumb, but artistic.
Time passed by and Nemo's poor man's play came to an end. He stood in front of his boss, hand on his hip as he shifted his weight to one side, raising a brow with a tilt of the head.
"So, you're telling me, S.B. here broke down because he saw his mommy?" She began slowly, piecing together the story, "You took this as a chance to K.O. her, and then H.H.U.T.?"
Nemo nodded, motioning for her to continue, he'd interrupt if anything was interpreted wrong.
"Uh... huh..." Ryoshu muttered, "Then you kicked S.B. out and had some O.O.O.F.T. with mommy dearest?"
Another nod.
"You then gathered up kitchen utensils and G.U.T.S. with the vegetable peeler?" Ryoshu went on, "You say the torture added E.F.F.O.R.T.?"
A chirp sounded this time, switching things up.
"Right, right... You then say you G.R.A.T.E.S.?"
Nemo's lips curled up into a big smile, raising his hands in the air as though he was cheering.
"You T.A.B.L.E.D until the end? Turned this perfectly good product into M.M.?"
A rapid onset of nods.
Ryoshu's eyes narrowed, inhaling the smoke deeply, contemplating if to actually be mad or not about this. Kid knew how to torture someone properly, she wasn't expecting such a skillset from an idiot that's only useful quality seemed to be his nose for quality flavor. "You also said when you tasted her," she glared daggers at him for stealing company property, "that she tasted different than what she originally smelt like? L.A.P.E.L.S.?"
He panted like a dog saying 'yeah, yeah!' Nodding aggressively, clearly proud of himself.
The boss clicked her tongue, turning on her heels, "I'll be the judge of that." She stated firmly, picking up a handful of meat from the peeled section. Thankfully the meat locker was frigid, or else it would be spoiled by now. Sure, it wasn't kept in the best condition overnight, but that's nothing a little water and heat won't purify. She strutted with confidence out of the dingy basement, heels thudding against the flooring. Turning her head, she glanced at the two employees just standing in place staring, "Y.C.O.W.?"
Gregor quickly began following her, a clumsy, "Huh, oh ye-yeah!" Sputtering from him as Nemo followed closely behind. As they made their way to the kitchen, the roach leaned down, whisper-yelling in the lad's ear, "The hell did you do to make her not kill us?"
That only earned a shrug.
Sometimes the older man just couldn't understand the boy, no matter how close they were, Nemo was a weird guy who marched to the beat of his own drum.
Ryoshu stopped promptly in the kitchen, grabbing pan and some vegetable oil, tossing them all together onto the stovetop until it heated up. She then added the Hermeatt to the pan, the flesh sizzling with life.
"Oh~ It's not often she braises the meat. Not bad, not bad." Gregor stated, his eyes opening wider than his usual half-lidded state. He stepped a bit closer to the chef in order to get a better look and smell. He was doing his best to push the fact this was his mother out of his mind. She's now no different than the other products in the shop, albeit... a little more... thinly sliced.
Nemo purred, hands on his hips as he pushed his chest out triumphantly, closing his eyes as his ego grew. He didn't notice as Gregor left his side to observe the cooking session, so he continued to stand there awkwardly by himself, waiting to be pat on the head for a job well done.
The black-haired woman never once put down her smoke. She was puffing away as she allowed the meat to cook to perfection. The meat was thinly sliced, so it didn't take that much time to finish, probably a minute at most for each piece. Deciding to simply cook the whole stack she brought up, she got it over with in no time, piling the stack onto a plate and turning off the stovetop. "T.A.S.T.E.." She states firmly, placing the platter in front of the group.
The sound caught Nemo's attention, his eyes opening, causing him to notice the lack of people around him. Well, this was awkward. He quickly scampered over to the rest of the group, playing it off smoothly as though he knew they weren't next to him all this time. As he approached, he began to salivate heavily, enough so that it started to overflow from his mouth like a mutt, dripping down his chin and onto the floor. That smell... It was divine. Sure, his body preferred raw meat, but his nose could never say no to the delicious flavors that were brought out upon being cooked.
Shoving his head between the two chefs, he took a deep inhale of the Hermeatt, oh that was lovely. Slowly, he reached a hand forward to try and steal a piece, only to be slapped by two hands. He had two chefs glaring down at him disapprovingly.
"Ah, shark bud, y'know you can't just do that." Gregor stated with his usual lazy drawl, his larger hand holding onto both of Nemo's own.
"H.R." Ryoshu agreed, "Chefs go first." She picked up her trusty knife, stabbing it into the stack, skewering them violently. She brought the meat up to her nose, humming in satisfaction at the scent, but what really mattered was the taste, how did a mutilated prime product taste? Well, she was about to find out. Cautiously, she took a bite, her crimson gaze looking away in thought.
Two pairs of eyes were on the boss, one was bouncing on the balls off his feet in anticipation for what she had to say, the other starting to sweat in fear of dying today.
Swallowing, Ryoshu cupped her chin with her index finger and thumb, balling her hand slightly as she closed her eyes, piecing together the intricate flavors. Something did taste different than usual, was it the excessive amount of adrenaline that ran through the body at the time of removal? She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but something about this meat was superb. The woman's gaze trailed over to the duo, "You live today." She stated bluntly, pointing the meat-filled knife at Gregor, offering him a taste.
As much as he wanted to, Gregor ethically couldn't, not if it was her meat. He shook his head, waving a hand in front of him, "Ah... I uh... I'm good, boss bud." He squeamishly declined, leaning away from the sharp object.
Ryoshu shrugged, "Suit yourself. M.F.M.." Her attention was torn away by a loud whine. Oh right, Nemo. Rolling her eyes, she plucked a few pieces off of the knife, chucking it his way.
He caught it with ease like a dog would an airborne frisbee, only chewing it a few times before swallowing, his body shuddering as he placed a hand on his cheek, moaning at the taste, he really outdid himself this time.
Scowling at the sound, Ryoshu firmly stared at him, "Live products. Do this again." She stated, "I want this flavor to come out in all our D.I.C.K.S.."
Nemo saluted at her order, chirping in agreement.
Gregor on the other hand looked between the two sadists, "Can you at least not make it take the entire night?" He murmured, "I don't want to see the torture either."
The fish simply waved his hand to say 'sure thing.'
~~
The day they brought out the Hermeatt was their most profitable day to date. They couldn't keep the place stocked enough! Customers, even those who were squirmy around the cannibals, were chomping at the bit to get a hand on this meat. Ryoshu was in heaven, rolling in dough. Who knew torture was such an effective sale method?