Blight’s Lantern Fruit

Kuiper raised his freshly carved lantern fruit proudly, as if showing it off to the world. He gazed at it fondly, admiring his handiwork; he’d created a night sky, decorated with tiny, meticulously sculpted stars. Its luciferase-laden flesh was illuminated with a yellowish glow where he’d chiseled away the outer rind. It reminded Kuiper of himself, constellations across its surface, similar to his pelt.

Blight peered over at Kuiper’s creation. He would never admit it, but he was envious of Kuiper’s keen attention to detail, and the fact that Kuiper was apparently an expert at lantern fruit carving. Blight’s eyes shifted to Orbit, whose lantern wasn’t nearly as grand, but the Tundra Xero didn’t seem too concerned.

Concentration was evident on Orbit’s face, brows furrowed and tongue sticking out while he worked toward completing his lantern. Blight watched for a moment with minimal interest before fixating back on his own lantern fruit, unaltered and nestled in his lap.

Blight hadn’t even started yet. They’d been sitting here for a couple hours now and he still hadn’t a clue of what to carve. His initial plan was to do a starry night sky, mostly because he thought it’d be easy, but after seeing Kuiper’s masterpiece, Blight suddenly didn’t feel so confident in the idea anymore.

“What’s on your mind?” a voice startled Blight. He looked up and saw Orbit smiling at him.

Blight shrugged and slumped onto his side, propping his head up with a hand. He wished he could lay on his back, but the three horns lining his spine made it impossible to do so comfortably. “I just don’t know what to carve. Do I have to do this?”

“I mean, you don’t have to, but we thought it would be fun to carve lantern fruits together for the Twilight Carnival,” Orbit explained. “Why don’t you do a night sky like we did? It’s not too complicated.”

Blight snuck a peek at Kuiper’s lantern again, then looked back to Orbit. “I guess I just wanna do something different.”

Setting his lantern aside, Kuiper turned to face them. “Well, you could also carve your favorite thing you’ve learned this year.”

The suggestion made Blight fall silent as he pondered. His favorite thing he’s learned this year… It took him a few minutes of mentally sifting through ideas, but eventually something came to mind. He personally thought it was kind of lame, but it was the best thing he could come up with, and he didn’t want to waste another second being unproductive. Not saying anything, he took hold of his carving tools that had remained untouched up until this moment, and he promptly got to work.

Orbit and Kuiper exchanged curious glances but remained quiet as Blight began to etch into his fruit. In the meantime, Orbit completed the finishing touches on his own lantern and held it out for them to see. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but what truly mattered was that Orbit was content.

“That looks good,” Blight said sincerely, then he frowned at the progress of the lantern in front of him. He couldn’t work any faster without unintentionally butchering it. “Sorry I got a late start. I might be here awhile.”

Waving nonchalantly, Kuiper reclined onto his back and raised his arms to rest his hands behind his head. “Take your time. I’m due for a nap.”

It wasn’t long before Blight found himself alone with nothing but his thoughts as Orbit and Kuiper snoozed in peace, but he could care less; he’d always been more of a loner, anyway, and to this day he was still trying to figure out how he wound up befriending them. Regardless, he was thankful for their company.

The silence that persisted while Blight worked was pleasant. His idea wasn’t intricate, but his lack of lantern carving experience did him no favors. He wished now more than ever that he had Kuiper’s talent. Tiny bits of the fruit’s outer rind had somehow made its way into the fur of his legs, clinging to him, but he paid no mind and refused to allow himself to get distracted.

In the end, after an unknown amount of time had passed, Blight managed to complete his task. He took the fruit into both hands, appreciating his admittedly shabby craftsmanship, but above all he was just glad to have it done.

“It’s finished,” Blight announced loud enough to rouse his friends from their slumber. Orbit and Kuiper stirred a bit, gradually regaining enough consciousness to inspect the lantern in question. They both squinted at it, uncertain as to what they were seeing.

“It’s, uh…” Kuiper racked his brain, trying to find the right words. “I like it?”

Orbit nodded in agreement, equally as clueless. “It’s a very nice… You know.”

“It’s a caramel apple,” Blight deadpanned. “Is it that bad? I thought it was obvious,” he rotated the fruit to re-evaluate his work, then wrinkled his nose at it.

“Now that you say that, I can kinda see it,” Orbit smiled. “You did a good job. So why a caramel apple?”

Blight hesitated, running his thumbs across the smooth skin of his lantern. “It’s kinda dumb, but this year I learned that I like caramel apples.”

“That’s not dumb,” Kuiper reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. “In fact, you kinda look like a caramel apple.”

Orbit smirked. “Well, you know what they say: you are what you eat.”

Blight couldn’t help but laugh at that. Looking down at his lantern once more, he smiled at it, proud to be able to say he partook in spite of his initial feelings toward the activity. Perhaps the Twilight Carnival wouldn’t be so bad after all, and if he’s lucky, maybe he’ll find some caramel apples there.