Sole ticks are a parasitic species that live in the soles of shoes.
Life Cycle
Sole ticks start life in tiny sticky eggs laid on the bottom of shoes. As someone walks in the shoe, some eggs may be dislodged and later stepped on and picked up by other shoes, spreading the sole tick. On hatching, sole ticks borough into the shoe where they will spend the majority of their life cycle until it is time to breed. The tick, lodged in the sole, only has its head sticking out into the inside of the shoe. At the end of its life, a female tick will dislodge from the shoe, and search for a male tick. Once found, the female tick will pull the male tick from the shoe, and force a mating ritual, before discarding the male, laying eggs, and allowing the cycle to continue. The female tick dies after laying the eggs.
Diet and Feeding
The sole tick feeds on the sweat of their shoes user. They are relatively harmless to the human using the shoe, but will eat any dead skin or blood if the opportunity arises. They can not survive outside of the shoe, and are difficult to keep alive in captivity beyond keeping them in a shoe that is regularly worn.
Variations
Several variations of Sole Tick have been discovered thus far; a standard species that is most widely found, the far weaker Sock Sole Tick that is almost exclusively found in the socks of long distance travelers, and the Hydrochloric Sole Tick which was genetically engineered to live in the metal of protective shoes (this species can inadvertently cause harm to humans)
Discovery
The sole tick was discovered by the Pox Pope of the Children of the Flock. Their discovery was celebrated by the church, and opened a whole new field of research into parasites that had evolved to live in clothing but fed off of close contact hosts.
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