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Sephiroth was crouched down by a bush outside of the cave, arm stretched out as a blue dwarf tarantula crawled onto his gloved hand. It was smaller than the tarantulas that Sephiroth has seen in the labs, but more beautiful than the rest.
It reminded him of the antilles pinktoe tarantula. Both were vibrant in color, and both were Sephiroth’s favorites. He remembered one time Hojo had allowed him to check out a book from the library, and it was an encyclopedia of tarantulas. Those two had fascinated him the most.
He watched as the spider crawled further up his arm curiously. He didn’t even notice it when Matt crouched down next to him, looking over at the spider on his arm.
“I’m assuming you like spiders?” Matt asked, breaking his attention away momentarily.
He nodded. “I do. I prefer tarantulas, though. I’ve never actually seen this kind in person before, only in books. They’re very beautiful…” He said, a small smile on his face as he turned back to look at it.
“They are.” Matt nodded. “Have you ever seen a goliath birdeater?” He asked.
Sephiroth shook his head. Though he has heard of them… they were large, as the name implied, one of the largest kinds of spiders there were. The huntsman was longer, though.
“Once I had a mission with Glenn in Gongaga.” Matt started. “We had to go there by boat, and when we were on the mission, a couple of those tarantulas had gotten into the mako supply in Gongaga, then boarded our boat. At least that’s what we believe to have happened… Well, anyways, the tarantulas were mutated by the mako, and had grown into the size of a… say, baloir?”
Sephiroth’s eyes widened momentarily. “How many were there?”
“About… three, if I’m remembering correctly.” Matt then let out a quiet laugh. “Glenn was absolutely terrified of them. He’s always been afraid of spiders, so this was his worst nightmare come true.”
That… sounded amusing if he was being entirely honest. “He’s afraid of spiders?” Sephiroth questioned. Glenn had always looked so fearless, especially in battle.
“He is. He’s terrified of them, in fact.” Matt chuckled. “A couple of cadets and I had to deal with the goliaths since they were hostile once we approached them, while Glenn-”
“Hey! What’re you two nerds talking about?!” Glenn had seemingly come out of nowhere. He was loud, and Sephiroth was afraid that the tarantula would get scared and run off.
“Be quiet, Glenn.” Matt rolled his eyes, and then pointed at the spider on Sephiroth’s arm. Glenn clearly didn’t see what Matt was pointing at, since he approached the pair and crouched down on Sephiroth’s other side to get a better look.
“What do you have there- great fucking Gaia!” The man swore and quickly backed away as soon as he saw the tarantula. “What the hell is that?!”
“A blue dwarf beauty tarantula.” Matt answered, looking amused by Glenn’s reaction. “Now lower your voice or you’ll scare it away.”
“Oh I know that fucking thing isn’t capable of that shit, it-”
“Glenn, please…” Sephiroth sighed quietly, a small frown on his face as the spider tensed up.
Glenn sighed, quieter this time. “Why do you even have that thing in your arm, kid?” He had stopped shouting at least.
“I liked it.” Sephiroth responded with, watching as the spider crawled down his arm and back onto his hand, before returning to the bush it came from. “It’s pretty. Tarantulas are hardly venomous anyways.”
“Doesn’t make them any less freaky.” Glenn retorted, crossing his arms. “Seriously, what’s the appeal?”
Sephiroth shrugged. “They’re cool. And fuzzy… oh, Matt was telling me about something that happened on a mission- did you know that the reason that Goliath birdeater tarantulas are called that since they can actually eat birds? Oh, and judging by the size of the ones you saw in Gongaga, it wouldn’t be surprising if they could adapt to eating-”
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t want to hear about it!“ Glenn huffed.
Sephiroth sighed, squinting his eyes at the bush to see if the tarantula was still there. He let out another sigh upon realizing that it was gone now. There were plenty of other spiders on this island, though he had wanted to watch the blue dwarf for just a little while longer.
“Glenn…” Matt sighed.
“Uh… sorry if I scared it away, kid.” Glenn sounded genuinely apologetic at least.
Sephiroth shook his head. “It’s fine, it was likely going to leave soon anyways.” He said, standing up from the bush.
There were plenty of tarantulas on this island, and with that… plenty of opportunities to get his revenge on Glenn for scaring away the blue dwarf.