Fluffies of the Sea - 1

Fluffies of the Sea - 1

	Calm waves lap against the side of a small marine biology vessel.  The white craft is large enough to comfortably house the small crew for the two week expedition.  Drifitng lazily over a small manmade reef the ship searches silently for a spot to weigh anchor.  Dolphins played in the boats powerful wake until the motors were cut. with the dolphins gone it is safe for another creature to play around the now calm ship.  Their plump bodies coated with long fluffy hairs that hover around the seal like creatures in the water.  As they bobb and splash above the waves the creatures converse with one another.  These odd marine creatures are sea fluffies.

	Floating with natural boyancy they expend no energy as they happily talk above the waves.  But, as the odd seagull dives at them and they use four leathery fins to quickly dive beneath the waves.  "Biwdy meanie! Unda wawa!"  A few unlucky pups are pulled into the air by their long fluffy tails.  "Ewp! Ewp! Nuu fwy! Wan wawaaaa! Wan mummah! Hewp bebbeh! Heeeww.w..w..."  Carried beyond sight the grieving mothers are embraced by re-emerging fluffies.  The biologists watch with some curiosity as these new residents to the sea play around their ship.  Here to inspect the man made reef project the biologists ready to enter the water.

	As the dive team leans over the edge of their ship the sea fluffies gather below front flippers extended. "Mistaws giff huggies? Come pway? Wan pway! Be daddeh?" The first diver enters the water feet first.  Scattering and smacking sea fluffies with the fins.  A corpse floats for a few minutes nearby before sinking into the deep, its neck broken by the impact.  Another cries heavily as it tries to swim away one fin broken in several places, "Ahhhh huu huu huu... Mistaws meanies! Giff huwties! Swim way! Swim way! Huuu..." Awkwardly it flails splashing too much with it's three other fins.  As the divers complete their final checks the fluffies begin to return.  "fwiend? pway?"

	Ignoring the creatures the dive team plunges beneath the waves.  Below them the relatively shallow water extends down only twenty five feet, but a series of sunken concrete pylons linked every ten feet by iron cables jut out from the sandy sea floor creating a hexagonal grid of pillars.  All manner of marine life swim by as the divers descend.  As they near the pylon field the lab grown coral becomes more and more visible flourishing in the man made reef.  Then a sea fluffy swims in front of the blonde divers mask.  Releasing a storm of bubbles the suprised diver jerks back and raises his arms to protect the mask.  But, almost instantly he realizes how foolish he seems.  The smiling sea fluffy snickers to itself and swims circles around the diver.  A few others watch from a distance and also smile at the prank, "how brave this fluffy is" they think.  Unamused the diver quickly reatches out and punches the fluffy in the stomach.  Releasing a burst of bubbles the fluffy gasps for air and realizes it is drowning.

	The divers watch passively as the nearby gang of fluffies swims quickly over to help their drowning friend.  But, thrashing and kicking as hard as it can the fluffy only manages to push them away.  Abandoned now, and only a few feet from air, the sea fluffy gasps and twitches its last before going belly up.  A small cloud of partially digested fecal matter seeps out of the body as it floats downward slowly.  A black haired diver smiles as he gives the signal for "are you okay?" the suprised blonde diver gives his partner the finger. They resume their inspection.

	Orchestrated by the international EPA to repopulate the delapitated coral fields the manmade reef project is almost through the trial stages.  The divers know that if their inspection goes well the coral fields will be placed around the region en'mass.  Trembling with excitement they begin the inspection.  With powerful flashlights they observe the pylons which have hundreds of smaller formations of coral sprouting from them and many kinds of fish already gathering.  Examining the pylons inside with their flashlights many types of moray eel are seen.  A curious tiger moray with its speckled pattern even leaves it's shelter to swim around the divers.  With an underwater clip board they check off species, growth status, and health of the reef.  For half an hour the divers swim through the towering pylons.  Several endangered species are seen, and even an extremely rare great white lumbers silently throught the pylon field.

	Satisfied with the initial survey and begining to reach their operation limit the divers begin to surface.  As they pass above the pillars they notice the fluffies swimming around the tops of the pillars grazing on long strands of algae, but not daring to dive past the algea covered cables beneath them.  Curious about this behavior the divers make note of it and resume their return to the surface.  Upon surfacing the divers are assaulted by the sea fluffies once more.  "Who you? Fwiend? Giff nummies? Pway?" Ignoring the fluffies they are easily pushed aside by the divers as they return to their craft.  On the deck an elderly gentleman yells to the divers and waves his gaunt hand over his head.  Long gray hair, thinned beyond the top of his skull, floats through the air.  His white hair also covers his chest which is seen through an open and ludicrously brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.

	This loud man with an even louder shirt is Doctor Mor, the head of the project.  He wanted to name the operation 'aqua land' but both the proud nation of Aqualand and the EPA naming committe denied his request. Instead they named the operation Water World.  And so Dr. Mor, heading up operation Water World, welcomes his trusted assistants back.  "So, what did you find? Are the coral samples growing properly? What about the marine life? And these... fluffies? What are they doing down there? Are-" The first diver to return is a gaunt young man with short blonde hair and several visible tattoos on his neck.  His long stubbled chin flits up and down when he talks and his red eyes remain focused on the gear he's working on.  "Doc, just keep your pants on.  We've got the report right here."  Handing him the clipboad the Doctor takes only a second to scan the page.  Removing the top of his wetsuit the blonde man is covered with tattoos from shoulder to shoulder and all down his arms.  Only the stomach and lower back are spared from the inky artwork.

	"I see... I see..." Looking up from the page Dr. Mor addresses the blonde tattooed assitant, "So, Segan what do you think?" Segan removes his flippers as he talks, "Well... the coral is growing well, a little faster than we predicted.  But, the marine life is coming more slowly.  Perhaps if we introudce species..." the second diver has boarded the boat and enters the discussion, "No, no, no, introducing coral is hard enough.  If we have to add the fish too we'll be over budget and outside our means."  Black haired and wide jawed he speaks with a slight hurried tone.  "Quite right Liam, the coral is required for the ecosystem, but it is up to nature to provide the diversity. mother nature has completely rebuilt before, we're just trying to speed up the process."  For a few minutes the divers remove their gear and sit in swim trunks drying in the sun as they chat with the Doctor.

	Then the topic returns to the fluffies seen both above and below the water.  "What do you two make of them? Personally I dislike them, I hope they aren't damaging the coral structures below... They weren't eating the coral were they?"  Segan laughs and slaps a tattooed hand against his bony knee, "Doc, these guys can barely eat the algae they suvive off let alone bite into coral." Liam adds, "yeah, also we noticed some strange behavior."  "Strange? How so?"  The doctor leans forward as he listens to Liam, "Well, we saw the fluffies swim down with us and witnessed a few eating algae growths off the connective ties and top of the concrete pillars." "Yeah Doc, they love the stuff, but what we didn't see were any fluffies below the ten foot line." "The top of the pillars?" "Yeah, we didn't get a long look, but they definitely keeping above the 10' mark."  The doctor sits back and places his thumb and index finger around his chin, deep in though.  "Well... I can't be certain yet... but, so long as they're not interfering with the coral structures we'll not worry about it for now.  Let's get back to work." "You got it doc man" "Yes sir!"

	Halfway through the expedition Segan decides to interview a few fluffies to try and determine why they act so strangely.  By interview of course Segan meant abduction and interrogation.  With a piece of bread at the end of a fishing line Segan waits patiently for his first guest.  No reason why he can't have fun while he works.  Whistling a tune attracts a few curious pups, but a larger male scares the children off. "Guu way! Dis fwuffy nummies! Nuu fow wittow fwuffies!" The pups swim away unhappily "Waaah! Meanie! wan nummies! Meanie!" Biting down on the bread Segan is patient.  Then he hears gold as the scream starts.

	Reeling in the screaming thrashing body before it drowns itself a puprle and green sea fluff is hanging by its cheek kicking and tring to grab its face.  "OWIES! MOUF HUWTIES! WHY HUWTIES? WHY NUMMIES HUWT? SOWWY! NUU WAAAA!!" Pulling the fluffy close Segan grabs and hold the fluffy by the nape of it's neck.  "AAH! MEANIE HUWT, WHY HUWT FWUFF?! WH-" carefully pinching closed the squeaking fluffy Segan says, "There is a hook in your mouth, if you want me to take it out, then be quiet. Do you understand?"  Nodding with tears flowing down his face Segan deftly removes the hook in one swift motion eliciting another cry from the fluffy. "Owies! Why huwt! Mistaw say nuu huwt!" "Not true, I said I'd get rid of the hook, didn't say it would be painless."

	After an enlightening conversation involving munstah, scawy, and huwties Segan decides to throw the fluffy back.  Placing another bit of bread on the hook Segan lets fly the line only to hear panicked screams sooner this time. Reeling in the same fluffy, except with the hook in his tongue and other cheek simultaniously, Segan simply picks up his bludgeon and puts the idiot out of his misery.  Liam, though more polite about it, gets similar results.  From what the two can piece together, "Big scary fish monsters eat fluffies that go too deep." "Well, I coulda guessed that would be what they said" Segan sighed.

	Deciding to use part of their next dive to investigate the strage fluffy behavior Liam and Segan, well to be fair Liam, befriends a few fluffies and gets one of them to go to "The deepiest deepestest wawa." After completing their checks the two walk into the water off the back of the boat and follow their guide down.  Follow is probably a bit generous as they simply float down behind the clumsy pink and cream fluffy.  Lack of any dorsal control or tail propultion means the fluffies spin around a lot to swim deeper twisting and using their whole bodies to propel themselves downwards.  Eventually the divers reach the 10' mark at the top of the pillars.  Several fluffies are swimming above the algae taking small bites and a few pups are being shown how to eat the green substance.  But, as they reach the precipice the fluffy guide loses her nerve.  She turns back and shakes her head as a pained look crosses her face.  Were she above water she would be crying.

	Segan gives her a slight poke in her side and she winces continuing down into the pillar forest below.  The divers remain above the nervous and noticeably more cautious fluffy.  Looking in every direction she flits her attention between one pillar and another always shifting her gaze and never staring for more than an instant.  When she is near the sandy bottom Liam and Segan swim out of her view and observe.  At first the fluffy doesn't notice the sudden disappearance of the "nice mistaw" and "meanie mistaw" but when she sees the divers are missing she poops herself and begins to paddle as fast as possible for the surface.  Terror drives her as she powers upwards.  But, before she can pass the halfway mark the source of fluffy terror is revealed.

	With a gaping maw of razor sharp teeth the tiger moray from earlier lashes outwards with lightning speed and clamps down on the fluffies side.  Instantly terrified to death she screams and expells all of her air and feces.  The sea is clouded by the murky fecal evacuation and blood.  But, the divers still see the pony being torn to shreds by a team of morays.  Each grabs a limb and rips it free spinning around till the bone and muscle seperate from torso.  The feast lasts for just a minute till nothing but the torso is left, the head long since swallowed whole.  Swallowing the torso whole the giant tiger moray retreats back to his cave.  Puffs of fluff and bone are seen floating out of the hole.  Above a terrified gang of sea fluffies and pups look on.