(Originally posted for the Munstah Madness competiton! Go get your beasties in!!)
- The Flufflouse: A Rundown -
From the dark of the swamp, a light beckons. It wriggles and writhes, a glorious golden string of succulence offering delicious respite in this inhospitable land. Skettis on the horizon? A mirage that would fool no creature of natural design.
A shame, then, that Fluffies are not one of natures’ creations. Neither is the Flufflouse, an abomination that is a mockery of a mockery. Standing a head taller than a regular Fluffy, this bizarre creature mimics the silhouette of its prey, but in truth is a bizarre amalgamation of a boar, a mosquito and a leech.
A flufflouse (Flufflice plural) Primarily acts as an ambush predator, submerging itself in silt, mud or undergrowth with its nasal lures extended, wriggling a bioluminescent string that bounces and jiggles in the mist. Its sensitive, oversized tendril-like tongue lays flat underneath these lures, acting as a pressure plate on contact with its victim.
When a foolish fluffy takes that last fatal step onto the tongue, Two writhing leech-like appendages bite deep into a fluffy’s flesh, rending apart fluff with ease. The lamprey jaws then work swiftly to drain the creature of its blood, leaving a withered husk behind in moments which the Flufflouse will then bury, later laying its eggs in to perpetuate its lifecycle.
- Appearance -
Although a flufflouse is superficially similar to a fluffy, it lacks the empathy, kindness and gullibility of the real deal and exhibits a base cunning and cruelty tempered with an extreme level of patience. Flufflice thrive on the artificial blood of their victims and do not derive much if any nutrition from any other creature, making them specialist hunters.
Humans have been known to deploy Flufflice in areas they wish to protect, such as important crops or gardens, but the creatures are impossible to domesticate, require such a specific environment to live and are all-around unpleasant to look at so such usage is uncommon.
Fully emerged, a Flufflouse’s anatomy is perplexing and appears to have originated as a freakish mutation from feral fluffies. The head is covered in fur that is far coarser and shorter than a standard fluffs’, being closer to a boar than a biotoy’s, and two gangly nodules protrude from the front of the head that expand following a bloodmeal.
A Flufflouses’ eyes are shades of bright yellow, green or orange, with tiny slitted pupils and lazy eyelids that betray little emotion. The abdomen is covered in an insectile shell, with two fly-like wings that are largely vestigial - possibly betraying a Pegasus lineage in its origin. Instead of a mane, paper-like fronds flip and wave in the wind, perhaps acting as further camouflage when submerged. The Flufflouse has no tail to speak of, instead having an ovipositor that retracts into the body until required.
Instead of the soft, noodle-like legs of a Fluffy, the Flufflouse has a segmented loose-jointed appendage ending in a suction pad, dexterous enough to manipulate simple objects and strong enough to keep creatures pinned in its grasp.
- Hunting -
Flufflice are primarily ambush hunters, as mentioned above, but occasionally the need to be proactive will arise. Flufflice are independent hunters, only ever teaming up in dire circumstances. If a Flufflouse has to go on the attack, it will slowly patrol through the undergrowth, waving its lure and staying low to the ground while attempting to call out to a victim. A Flufflouse is only capable of mimicking single words such as “Sketties”, “Huggies”, “Wuv”, but in an unsettling cadence that slightly more aware fluffies will recognise as off.
A Flufflouse is only slightly faster than its prey, trundling along at an unimpressive rate, but its better clearance, smoother body and impressive dexterity allows it to navigate rough terrain far better than a fluffy. It has a high pain threshold, but only relative to fluffies - it is easy prey itself for any other creature and only slightly more tenacious when faced with human abusers, facts that are tempered with the knowledge that Flufflice taste disgusting to anything natural and do not react in any particularly entertaining way when harmed.
- Closing -
Flufflice are poorly understood curiosities that may hold some interesting solutions for culling and control of feral fluffy populations, but further monitoring is required to ensure that such mutations do not become commonplace. While fortunate that its behaviour is undoubtedly beneficial for population control, its very existence is alarming - if these creatures can undergo such a drastic change in what is seemingly a blink of an eye, what else may await in the future?