Mirrors of All Sizes

It was a simple day for Inky as he and Remmy sat on the cruise boat that was going around the country whose name the both of them had forgotten five minutes after the captain, on the loudspeaker, announced that they were passing by yet another of the country’s sea-viewable tour spots. Both brothers lounged out on the boat deck next to the pool and enjoyed the feeling of the sun’s warmth mixed in with the smell of the salty sea air when the younger brother, Inky, spotted something shiny on the ground next to his older brother’s beach chair.

The shining object was small enough and far enough away that Inky could tell exactly what it was, and because it was reflecting the light in such a manner that it made looking at the object ever so slightly painful, Inky had to look away and it left him wondering. Remmy had never owned anything that was small and shiny, that Inky had known of, but the two were on a cruise of sorts, and Inky didn’t put it beyond his brother to buy something small for himself behind his brother’s back.

Reaching over and nudging Remmy a bit, Inky informed his brother that he should keep a better eye on his object and when the younger received a raised brow in response, Inky pointed downwards to the little shining object, and held back a little scream.

It looked like it had moved.

“Oh, that’s a spider.” Remmy responded quietly, “I didn’t lose it.”

“A spider?!” Inky hissed out and he quickly put distance between himself and the shining spider. “Why is it shiny?!”

“Most likely a mirror spider.” Remmy closed his eyes and leaned against the beach chair. “Some kinds of mirror spider are actually native to Australia here.”

“Why is it shiny?!” Inky’s eyes didn’t leave the slowly crawling monstrosity. “And where is its body?”

“It’s translucent to help camouflage the spider. The spider is shiny because the scale-like patches on its back reflect light to help confuse any predators who want to try and make it a snack.”

“It… it’s moving…” If Remmy had his eyes opened, he would have rolled them at the sheer display of ridiculousness that his brother was displaying.

“It’s a spider. Did you expect them to act like rocks?” Remmy couldn’t help but chuckle, finding the terror that his brother was feeling over a spider. Then, just because he could, “I don’t know if they’re poisonous… I think they aren’t, but you never know until you get bit.Shall I test my theory?”

“DON’T JUST SAY THAT!” Inky shouted and bolted from the pool area with a speed that Remmy didn’t typically see in his younger brother. Glancing down to the mirror spider that was walking away from him, Remmy couldn’t help but grin. His brother hadn’t said no to testing his theory.