Just the result of random conversation with a friend. My perspective on the shoopuf's from Maechen's POV. R&R if you feel like it!! Thanks for reading!
Note: I don't own FFX or the shoopufs, but i wish I had a Shoopuf more than FFXl
The History of the Shoopufs
The group of six guardians slowly approached the docking and loading station for the shoopuf's. They were informed that it would be a while before the Shoopuf departed for the far bank of the Moonflow, and so they waited. Tidus, being full of energy like normal, approached a familiar face, one they had seen before on the Mi'ihen Highroad.
"Hello, young one, would you like to hear the history, of the Shoopuf's?" the voice belonging to Maechen drawled slowly. Tidus, being full of energy, respectfully declined, but Maechen continued speaking, as if to himself.
The Shoopuf's history is longer than our own, at least what has been recorded by man. They are a race of proud beasts, living wherever they should choose, from the coldest waters around the sacred mountain Gagazet to the warmest waters of the Western Islands. Never extremely populous, the Shoopuf's have traveled in groups, or pods rather, of ten around the face of Spira and back again.
Before the machina wars in Bevelle, before Zanarkand was originally built, the Shoopuf's gathered there, once every few years. Mating pairs of Shoopuf's have never been seen, nor have the young of Shoopuf's. Scholars believe now that they stay in the deep water, until they are much larger. But anyways, the Shoopuf's made the pilgrimage to Zanarkand, long before there was a Zanarkand. Indeed, it has always been a holy place, in my eyes.
For all of the time that Zanarkand and Bevelle grew and while they continued building Machina, the Shoopuf's stayed away from the cities that would epitomize Sin. They stayed farther South, inhabiting much of the Moonflow, until that too had a giant ancient city built over it. The Shoopuf's moved further South yet, inhabiting the waters off of today's Luca, and still the human's influence spread. In the end, the last of the Shoopuf's lived in and around a smaller island perched in the far East, at the tip of a finger of islands. The Human's influence never reached there, however, as the Machina Wars and Sin's appearance destroyed all that the Shoopuf's have feared.
The Shoopuf's again migrated around Spira, no longer using the place where Zanarkand was to congregate but where they had ended up after the Human Onslaught. The Hypello, the least affected race from the appearance of Sin, befriended many of the Shoopuf travelling their many cities in the Moonflow. The Shoopuf had finally become domesticated, in a sense. The Hypello treat them well, with food, rest, shelter, and with the utmost care. Shoopuf deaths are the same as Hypello deaths in their culture, and their own funeral rights were given. But that is a story for another day.
The Hypello only befriended a few of the passing Shoopufs permanently. The urge to revisit the island of their birth was too compelling for some, and the Hypello let them go, knowing more would come. Indeed, the Shoopuf's must have a very long lifespan, at least Eighty years, for the stories of the Hypello to be true.
And that, is why these Hypello offer to cross the Moonflow with their Shoopuf. To earn money as friends, not with the Shoopuf being cattle. It is indeed a joyous time when the Shoopuf's have been around so long, as every thirty or so years; people must walk around the moonflow to Macalania Temple, as the Shoopuf's call to home draws them all back.
The Shoopuf's live for a very long time, probably greater than Eighty years. They grow to be one of the largest animals in Spira, and can dwell above or below water. They are omnivorous beasts by nature, but they do not eat on anything large. They filter the water for small organisms and plants, and they do this while awake or asleep. That would explain their slow movement, but ability to grow to such great heights, and the ability to sleep under water. But that is all that is known of the Shoopufs. They have been here for a long time, much of it we do not know, and they will be here long after I am gone.
And that, as they say, is that.
"Maechen is creepin me out, guys," Tidus said, watching the old man talk to himself about the wonders of Shoopufs.
"He is very intelligent, Tidus. But he is old, he could have lost his marbles," Yuna said, and giggled with Tidus. Khimari stood some distance away, and Auron and Lulu scowled at the two of them.
"At least I didn't hurt one, like my old man," Tidus said, and Auron turned to laugh. Auron's laugh infected them all, and they all burst out laughing. Maechen just paused to look at them funnily, and continued talking about everything underneath the sun.