When one thinks of the ocean, they think of either 2 things; its beauty or its hidden terrors.
Someone with the fear of the ocean only sees the endless black depths, without any knowledge what might be lurking down there. Those that see it for its beauty, see the vast variation of colours in its coral reefs, the seemingly endless aquatic creatures that calls it their home. Many think of either the whales, the giants of the sea and world. Or maybe even the sharks, the predators the can smell one drop of blood from miles away and with a bite force to crush rocks. But few think of its smaller, less intelligent citizen. A creature that brings fear, despite its low form of intelligence, and endless hoards. What creature is this?
The fluffy.
Now you might wonder; are there any fluffies in the sea? They alwayus complain how water is bad for them, which is usually the case if they are ferals or not beign watched by their owners. But you’d be surprised that the depths hide. Sea fluffies are more likely to be found in a lake in a forest, or a sewer system under your own city, for they aren’t usually seawater creatures. But in resent years, there have been sightings of them among the coral reefs outside of [REDACTED]. How they came there is unknown. Some think it may be a new prototype being tested, others simply think that some were thrown down there and managed to adapt. Whatever the reason may be, they have become the very thing they are on land. An annoyance.
These seafluffies have a sort of liquid covering their eyes, which other sorts of fluffies does not. This liquid helps them from the pain of the salt in the water. THis liquid can be removed with simple fresh water, making their eyes practically useless in any sort of water.
They are usually found in forests of seaweed, hiding from potential predators, or children. Some of the braver, or dumber ones, dare themselves out into deeper parts, making their home either in some hole in the rock formation of which the corals grow upon, or even in said corals if they are big enough. They are omnivore, but are too weak to hunt on their own. They can’t even hunt a dead shrimp. For the most part, their diet consists of seaweed, of which they make their home in. This usually lead many to be out in the open, ready to be hunted down by any creature. Yes, any! The dead shrimp I just mentioned? That one could kill a seafluffy! How you may ask? By either choking, or giving the seafluffy horrible stomach pain, causing severe diarréa, and even stomach cramps. Most of the time it’s either large crabs that end up being their demise. Their bodies are very brittle, so the claw of a crab can easily just snap one into 2. Those that live in the coral reef, however, may be hunted by bigger creatures, like a morray, or a stonefish. If the fluffy is big enough, it could attract sharks. It is very common for the sharks to look for fluffies when a mare is giving birth. The vast ammount of blood released makes them think it could be something bigger, like a seal. In most cases, they eat one real quick, and swim away. This natrually scares the fluffies, some even dying from the shock alone.
Now the birth of the seafluffies is a very special occation. When the mare gives birth, the foals come out in small geletine like eggs, that the mother eats after they are all born. Like normal fluffies, the mare will be exhausted, thus increasing the chance of the mother blindly eating one of the newborn. The milk they produce is also of a thicker connsitency, as to not just mix with the yucky seawater and float away. The foals are able to swim faster than what land fluffies can learn to walk, as their fins helps them more than hooves. This usually leads to them swimming away from the security of their mother, and end up as fish food. The size of the litter is also larger than their land dwelling cousins, often being around 5 to 12 born. They are born smaller than normal babies, due to the shell, but they grow quickly. Due to this rapid growth and vast numbers, they are becoming more and more of an issue for local areas, as they sometime manage to gain access to the sewer system, dying, and clogging up some pipe. Or they simply die to something dwelling in the ocean.
As normal fluffies, seafluffies are very fond of shiny things. Usually even more than their cousins. They will often hoard anythign that gleam in their homes, leaving little place from themself, or children. Mostly it is junk, like cans of some soda, or if they’re very lucky it could be a pearl from a clam. This kleptomancy is the main force that pushes the smarty behaviour in them. The more they gain, the more fluffies become impressed. That fame leads to the fluffy leading its new herd of shiny hoarding fools into deeper water, which leads them to either meet a cruel, yet funny, end. Others manage to find a good place to settle down, living a relativley normal life amongst their herd.
Just like their cousins, the seafluffies are often found eating anything they can get. As previously mentioned, they mainly eat seaweed. But they also eat sand if needed, or if they are very lucky, some dead fish. Though, that leads more to them swallowing the bones, which causes internal bleeding, ruptures in babies, or just choking to death. Mixed with their love for anythign shiny, even plastic can look like a fantastic treat. Now, eating it usually don’t kill them right away, but makes it more of a longer and painful procedure. The plastic gets stuck in their bowels, or if they are lucky, the stomach. How is it lucky? Well, then they could maybe manage to vomit it out, if they can think of it. If it gets stuck in the bowels, it’ll cause constipation, and will in turn leard to a very shitty way of dying, apologies for the pun. At times, babies can get stuck inside floating 6 pack casing, which stops their growth as they grow in the spot it was placed. Much like seaturtles that it unfortunatley happens to, if it was removed, it’d leave a permanent marking, in the shape of the body not growing. Even if they are flesh, or whatever unholy things that were made creating them, their body just cannot heal it. So if you see a seafluffy with one such around its body, do it a favour before it’s too late; end its suffering.
Now, we’ve talked quite the story about these vermin today, but it is not over just yet. It’s time to talk about my favourite form; the mutaded ones.
Be it due to radiation, or due to the prototype blood, they can mutate into other forms. The most common is the shark fluffy. These small predators actually makes them a bit of a threat. They grow sharper teeth, a back fin, and bigger back leg fins, so they can swim faster. This usually occurs when they resort to cannabalism, which happens to many a mares that eat one too many foals. Alone they can be an annoyance, but in greater numbers, they could in theory destroy, or even kill, humans. This type has luckily a very short lifespan, somewhat around from a couple of days, to just a week. None has lived passed 2 weeks, no matter the place they live in. Their bodies simply shutdown.
The second common one is one that is rarley seen, as it lurks in the darker depths of the sea. This transformation can onlly occur to the unicorns, as when they mutate, their horn grows a “tail” so to say, reaching out the horn, which lights up, like the deep sea anglers. This mutation occurs if said sea unicorn decides to dwell deeper in search for shiny things. In their blind pursuit, they become blind, and loose their cognitive functions. They are basically floating bags of meet with a light attached to them, which alerts other creatures of them, which in turn causes their death. If one is fortunate in staying alive, they will simply die of starvation, instead.
The third kind is a perculier one, which scientists have yet to figure out why it occurs. These fluffies grow tentacles instead of fins, and can have anywhere between 4 to 6 of them. These tend to live longer than any other mutated form, and if mated with another octofluffy, as they are called, their offspring will inturn have this mutation. As stated, it is unclear what causes it in the first place, be it some sort of diet of squid and ocotpus, or a simple random mutation. None has yet to be born from 2 regular seafluffies, whcih has annoyed several lead reserachers. These fluffies are harmless as any other fluffy is, but they have grown a second mouth where their anus was. This is still the smale hole its feeces comes out of, which they can taste all too well. Their babies also come out of this hole, and it isn’t uncommon for a baby to be covered in feeces and blood. The shell protects them from it, but the new teeth around the hole can at times rip it off too early, which leads the baby to be mixed in with the shit, and be rejected by its mother from it.
The fourth kind has only been witnessed once, in an enclosed harbor owned by a millionaire, that doesn’t want their name to be mentioned, for obvious reasons. This fourth mutation had the fluffy grow a large back end fin, much like a mermaid. The one that was found was quickly captured and put into a safe enviroment for studying. The object, named the merfluffy, was a mare with a smarty complex. It isn’t common to find it in them, but this one had a very aggressive form of it, demanding even after being punished. The merfluff had a long mane in the same colour as its own furr, and had 2 smaller fins in the front. A test in an attepmt to breed more of these was concluded in a failure, with none of the males surviving the encounter. The merfluff didn’t want any of them to touch her, so she ripped them to pieces with teeth that was at first found out to be the normal weak form of the teeth, but the ones used to killing were sharp like a sharks. The merfluffy was sedated in a second attempt, which lead to her giving birth to a litter of 5. However, the description of these foals has been wiped clear of any records, as they were too horrible to witness. They weren’t ugly, but malformed in several ways. The merfluff lived for another 2 years, with regular tests being done to it in a span of 1 to 2 weeks, before letting it be for a month. If they would continue on, it’d grow more fierce, and could potentially harm itself before any valuable research could be done.
The fifth kind, and last one, has also only been witnessed once. However the specimen couldn’t be captured. It was caught on film by a underwater camera that a small research team had placed at a depth of 2000 meters. This was to research other creatures, but this fluffy was seen for about 8 minutes on camera, the first 7 being blurred by the darkness around it. From what researchers could see, this fluffy was the size of a bear. Its furr had turn into a pale colouration, which isn’t uncommon, but the furr itself looked more like scales. The last minute of the recording showed its face, which confirmed it was a fluffy. Except this one was a lot more terrifying. It had no eyes in the sockets, and its ears were hanging low. But during the last few seconds, a smaller fish swam infront of it, and its entire head split into 4 giant jaws, which snapped around the fish. It then swam away, and has yet to be found again. It is thought to be a parasitical creature unknown to man that had simply copied the shape of a fluffies head, but nothing is known for sure.
So next time you travel to the beach, remember to watch the forest of seaweed for them, so you do not stomp on them. Afterall, it’d probably ruin your day to get dirty like that.
Good night, and thank you.
