Innocent Monsters

Mari quickly took a bowl and started shovelling it down. She didn't care that it looked like an old mans poop, she was starving.
---
Haruto on the other hand, used his spoon to make faces in it. He really didn't want to eat this... whatever it was. After a while, he leaned back on a wall and pushed the food away, not wanting to even look at it.

Aratani swallowed her last gluey mouthful and put the bowl by the door. Then she looked at the other unclaimed dishes and amused herself with a daydream of covering the floor in this food and either making the staff slip everywhere or cementing them down to the floor; both were equally funny. She closed her eyes and smiled mischievously to herself, picturing the chaos that would ensue if they actually did that.

Kenny swallowed the last of the sloppy excuse for food and put his bowl a short distance from his mattress. He lay back down and closed his emerald eyes, rolling onto his side. He wanted to allow himself a few minutes of relaxation before whatever awaited him next.

Hamano saw no one had died from eating the grey gunk in the bowl just yet, so figured it was safe. She ate a spoonful and made a face at the completely unappetizing goo. Were they actually trying to make it awful on purpose? But why?

She looked over at Kenny and saw him eating, as well as the others. "I guess anyone can eat this no matter what their dietary requirements," she mumbled to herself, making a face. Can wasn't the same as Want, but her stomach seemed satisfied enough so she kept on nomming until the bowl was empty.

After a short while, Hina came stalking back in, the same people who had delivered the food standing behind her.
"We've got somewhere to go, so don't bother resisting my staff. Come on."Each of them then walked towards one of the group, took the child by the wrist, and led them to a chair in another room. The hybrids sat down, and the adults picked up a small box containing a tiny brush and 12 circular holes, each filled with a different coloured powder. Then, they brushed some of the powder onto the children's faces, making their skin glow slightly, and drawing a complimentary colour gradient neatly around the eyes. They coloured their lips a little darker, before handing the group a greyish-green cotton jumpsuit each.

Once everyone had changed, Hina inspected them all, straightening collars and neatening hair, before she nodded and they were lead through a maze of white corridors. Soon, the corridor became a dark grey, and the children were led into a large, oddly shaped room, filled with seats. The group's eyes widened as they spotted the small windows, and took in the tiny snippet of the vast ocean that they were floating on.
"Okay, everyone sit down," Hina's voice rang out from the front of the room, "as you may realise, you are now on a boat, travelling to a lovely little place called Awbston. Our esteemed leader, General Kobayashi would like to have a look at his new soldiers, and so we must deliver. Please try not to be to loud, and keep in mind that we will not baby you if you get sea-sick; it is your own problem to deal with, not ours. Enjoy your journey!"

Aratani gawked at the sea out the window, and resisted the urge to wipe off her make-up. They had tried to cover up her scars - and, from what she could see in the window's reflection, they had done a surprisingly good job - but it was quite uncomfortable. Despite this, though, she couldn't take her eyes off the glittering water, longing to be out there in the sun.

Mari rushed over to a window by a seat and beckoned Kenny to sit next to her. She looked out at the beautiful blue sea that stretched on for as long as she could see.
---
Haruto followed Aratani and sat next to her. He smiled, but his face felt awful with all this makeup on. He wanted to rub his cheek, but he wasn't sure if it would smudge anything.

She heard someone sit down next to her and finally stopped staring at the water so she could turn and smile at Haruto. 'He looks uncomfortable,' she thought, noticing his slight grimace.

Hamano wasn't too keen on being led by the wrist to the room of making up, but she bore it with semi-good grace. After a moment of moving her face around to make applying the make-up difficult, just to give the techs a hard time, she relented.

Even the jumper was shrugged in to without complaint. It seemed a lot of her predictions were coming true. She wasn't sure if she should be happy about that, or not - but at least she was ahead of the game.

She took a seat and looked out the window, seeing the broad expanse of blue beyond. She refocused her eyes and got the first look at her new self in the reflection back from the glass. Turning her head this way and that, she rotated and flattened her ears, then perked them back up and grinned. Coooool.

"Going to a specific location, check," said Hamano, ticking off points on her fingers. "Near the ocean, check. 'Soldiers' are intended to complete missions, check. But I wonder what that missions is going to be?"

Kenny allowed himself to be led into the other room and sat in the chair. He twitched occasionally when the makeup was applied but slipped into the jumpsuit easily. When on the boat, he sat beside Mari and pressed his face and hand to the glass, staring ongingly out at the ocean.
Why were they going to Awbston, who was this 'General Kobayashi ', and what did he want with them? Heena mentioned him needing new soldiers. Going by what he knew about the city, he guessed it was bad.
He lightly tapped the glass. What plagued him above all was the desire to be in the ocean, swimming freely among the other sea creatures. His animalistic instincts kicked in, and he looked around for an escape. They were on a boat, so there should be a way off. He looked toward the front and saw scientists manning the vessel, then back at the others with a defeated sigh. He couldn't leave now.
Resisting to scratch the makeup off his face, Kenny rested his head in his hand, eyes closed, tapping the glass with the other hand.

Mari happily watched the water splash against the boat as they sailed across the ocean. It was jerky, but strangely therapeutic.
She closed her eyes for a minute.
The boat was fairly silent, none of the children where talking to each other, just mumbling quietly to themselves.
She listened to the sound of the waves as she fell asleep.


calm.


Mari woke up, her stomach lurching.
Panicking, she reached for some sort of paper bag.
...Her breakfast ended up in it.

The sound of vomiting immediately drew the amphibian's attention to Mari, who was holding a puke bag. When he assumed she was finished, he patted her back with a worried expression. Some people were more prone to motion sickness than others.