A fractal made in Apophysis 2.09, overlaid upon itself
“If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times – 'but they are so pretty,'” I heard my uncle saying on the phone. “I don't care how much the girls are asking for them – they are on the contraband not allowed on Earth lists for a reason, and if they are not on the list for Rigel 5 yet, it's an oversight …
“OK, you don't like all the official speak? Try this: they are bejeweled bedbugs, and to remove them, you and your whole family are going to have to go through unpleasant decontamination before you can move anywhere else. Why would you need to move? Because your house and everything in it – and every item will be itemized – will be flash incinerated.”
Jewel Ticks are gorgeous, and they are not exactly bedbugs … blood isn't exactly what they are after. They are after iron, and in their natural habitat are happy in their iron-rich red soils. However, since iron and iron alloys are not as common in houses, they will go after the available iron sources – nails, frame items, rebar – and just, people, simply gently biting and quietly filtering the ferritin out of their victims' blood. They are so gentle that the bigger ones are kept as house pets, microscopically siphoning off iron while being petted and adored on a lap or shoulder.
Which is to say, Jewel Ticks outside their natural environment and not handled properly are deadly in a lot of ways. A good hatching of them will literally eat you out of house and home, and even one adult can induce severe anemia in household residents in just a few months if given the run of the house and the people. Not only that: they use their iron well: their exoskeleton makes them hard to kill at any temperature below the melting point of iron – hence, flash-incineration for severe cases of infestation. Adult Jewel Ticks in isolation are generally returned home, but by the time a house has multiple generations of them, it's too late for that.
“I could have said they are more like bloodsucking termites,” Uncle Benjamin said later, “but since some people are only going by what they feel, I picked the most immediate horror for an analogy that is somewhat accurate.”
I was shocked by how dangerous Jewel Ticks are - they suck iron from people and objects, and are super hard to kill. uncle Benjamin compared them to bedbugs, but it's a good comparison because it shows how bad they can be if not handled properly.
It is shocking -- I had to come up with a story worthy of their extraordinary appearance!