Carving a lantern fruit

Carving a lantern fruit

Lelu was standing at the dark street corner, which was lit by the half empty wending machine. The street was usually one of the busier ones, because there was an airway station close by, but at the late hour the street looked oddly abandoned. Lelu peeked at his phone to check on the time. He wasn’t known for being punctual, but he honestly had nowhere else to be.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but the idea of the well known businessman Halus wanting to meet him privately for something secret was thrilling. He had a suspicion the guy was more than the wide smiles and catchy themes on drink advertisements. He had a suspicion, but not much proof.

Back in the day, when Lelu was newly introduced to a life of a part cybernetic xero, he dabbled on some freestyle fighting. He did lose his match but he remembers there being a lot of people wearing masks to cover their true identity amongst the cheering crowd. He also remembers getting to drink juice there, that did not have any labels, but tased a lot like JUO drink, which is the brand owned by Halu.

Also meeting the man for the first time months ago was also odd. Halu had behaved like they were child hood best friends or something. He was also oddly curious about his short lived career as a professional runner, like that wasn’t years in the past already. Everything about Halu made Lelu fully believe, that the guy was trouble, and Lelu couldn’t wait to get in the middle of it.

the Dark purple xero whit bright neon details appeared at the exact time he said he would. walking the empty street like he just finished up cleaning them. “Lelu! Great to see you could make it!” He smiled. It was wide and theethy, but the pink piercing eyes whit split pupils were wicked.

Lelu flexed his shoulders a bit, like preparing to punch the guy. He knew he looked tough despite being a lot shorter than the approaching xero. He had full intention to hear the details of the task he needed to do to the other and hopefully get in on the good parts. “Wouldn’t miss this. Mister ‘Drink, drink, drinkity drink’” He said mocking the theme on the others commercials. It was poppy and way too catchy for its own good. the instant Lelu said it out loud, he regretted it, because now it was stuck to his head again.

Halu walked right past Lelu, to check on the wending machine. swiftly he punched on his credentials to get a drink from it. “It’s gonna be a half hour walk into the woods. you want a drink?” He looked over his shoulder at the pink tough looking xero that seemed to have his brows stuck to each other as he frowned.

“Any recommendations?”

The whole walk, Halu kept up an idle conversation. Talking about the weather, the traffic, construction and events coming up. He asked if Lelu will be celebrating the Twilight carnival. Lelu was mostly just humming or growling his answers. not really taking intelligent part on the conversation. Halu even commented on that constantly, how he was a fan of the ‘quiet and strong’ act and how Lelu didn’t have much to say. Eventually they made it to the forest, where Halu got quieter. He started to take hesitant peeks over his shoulder to make sure no one was following.

Lelu realized the change in atmosphere. He kept a watchful eye on his surroundings and his ears open for sounds. There were shuttles flying high above them that made some gnarly sounds, giving the forest somewhat haunting vibe. The mossy base of the forest swallowed most sounds, not letting anything echo.

Lelu jumped a bit when he felt the other land a paw on his shoulder. “It’s just around that rock.” Halu whispered. Lelu didn’t recall Halu whispering the whole way there, so it made chills ran trough his long spine. the long fur at the tip of his tail started to wag as he tried to calm his nerves. Halu moved a three branch away from their path to lead Lelu into a small opening in the forest overseeing a large pond.

The sun had already nearly set, but the stars were bright enough in the sky so it was easy enough to see what was going on. The pond that was nearly a lake was dark and some mist had gathered over it. In the distance the city lights were making shiny reflections on the still water surface. In the small opening in the forest, hidden by some mossy rocks and tilted threes trying their best to reach for the sky, was a large fabric laid down and on it, an innocent looking basket.

Lelu relaxed a bit. Being mostly confused now. He didn’t know what he was expecting but clearly, not this. “What is this?” He whispered.

Halu was right behind him, trying to hide a grin. “A tradition.” He whispered unnecessarily close to Lelu’s ear.

Halu sat down on the fabric and patted it to invite Lelu to sit down whit him. He removed a cover from the basket to reveal a small electric lantern. He flipped it on on it’s dimmest setting, lighting the scene whit a warm pinkish tone. the fabric looked soft and inviting in the light and Lelu had nothing better to do anyway, so he hesitantly sat down next to the other xero.

The next item to come from the basket was two lantern fruits. The other was smaller but darker in tone, but both looked pretty ripe. Lelu finally put the pieces together on what was going on when Halu pulled out a set of carving tools from the basket.

Lelu frowned and looked at the brightly grinning xero whose mouth was glowing. “Are you serious?”

Halu nodded and handed a fruit to Lelu, who half out of a reflex took it. “I remember you saying that you are, and I quote, ‘a private person’. I want to know more about you, so I made sure to accommodate your privateness.” Halu explained, handing a carving knife to Lelu.

Lelu frowned but took the carving knife. “I thought you had a job for me. And now you tell me it’s just a date?”

Halu was surprised and the grin in his face didn’t falter for a second. his tail had a tip that was curled, but in his excitement the whole tail started to curl around itself just to straighten back out and curl again. “Oh boy… I didn’t think of it as a date but if you say so-“

Lelu interrupted him nearly screaming. “It’s not a date!” He nearly crushed the lantern fruit he was holding. a little bit of glowing juice came out from the spots where his nails punctured the skin of the fruit.

Halu tilted his head ears lazily slumping. He bit his bottom lip to hide a chuckle. It was a pity that the pink light and the fact that Lelu was pink in color, made it impossible to tell if he was blushing, but Halu wanted to imagine he was. “Defensive eih? That’s okay. You can think of it as a job if it helps you sleep tonight.”

Lelu started carving the fruit. He was going slow and trying his best, even while the results looked pretty hacked and uneven. “If this is a job, there should be a payment.” he mumbled. Not really expecting to get paid to hang out and carve a lantern fruit.

The dark xero leaned back on his hands to take a more comfortable position on the fabric. His tail curlet to accommodate his pose as he lounged, whit his chest puffed. he wasn’t in a hurry to start carving, enjoying the view of the other xero clearly struggling whit the craft. “Payment huh… that’s what you want?” He purred in a low tone. It was like the two weren’t really talking to each other, but just thinking out loud.

Lelu looked away from the fruit to mean mug the other. Halu didn’t miss how Lelu’s gaze tipped just for a second, before it returned back up to his eyelevel. “yeah.” He finally admitted. “I wanna get paid.”

Halu took the smaller lantern fruit and started carving absent mindedly. “Sure, I’ll pay you, for job well done that is. What are you carving?”

Lelu showed the fruit whit uneven two dots on it. “A face”

Halu smiled, easily carving exactly what he wanted the fruit to look like. “So that’s what you are happy to learn this year? A face?”

Lelu shrugged. “I learned to carve a face. Just now, isn’t that meta.”

Halu was quick to carve his image. It was a picture of wrapped candy. “I learned that I like Ru berry candy.”

Lelu frowned. “You… learned you like Ru berry candy… just this year?” Ru berries were super popular fruit and a snack on it’s own, but also popular enough, that if there was a candy, it most likely had a Ru berry flavor variant to it.

Halu nodded. “I’ve had them before, but just this year, I realized, that that’s my favorite. Out of all the candy made out of the rarest minerals or fruits from furthest ends of the galaxy, that I’ve dreamed of visiting, the one closest to home is my favorite.” He said whit a mellowed smile. He didn’t seem content whit that realization, more like defeated. He looked up at Lelu who had seized from carving. “Isn’t that pathetic.”

Lelu shrugged. “Don’t care really. You like what you like, who knows, maybe you just haven’t found anything better than Ru berry yet.”

Halu rolled to lay on his stoback and lean his cheeks on his palms to watch Lelu keep struggling whit the carving process. “What’s your favorite candy?”

Lelu smiled for the first time that evening. “Energon goodies! From that mechanic planet that is always in a war. Though they are hard to come buy and often guarded by mechanic war machines. totally worth it though! ups” He accidentally ripped the side of the face he carved connecting the eye to the mouth. he looked annoyed at the fruit, like it was the fruit’s fault.

Halu giggled. “You can’t be serious! I don’t think those are even meant to be consumed by organic life forms!”

Lelu looked at Halu annoyed. “Well what would you know, mister ‘I’m sad I like Ru berries’” He said mimicking a crying motion whit his arms taunting the other.

Halu got up to grab Lelu’s wrists to make him stop. “I wasn’t crying about it! If someone’s crying it’s your lantern fruit! look how you’ve butchered the poor thing!” He said pointing at the lantern whit a ripped eye that pretty much looked like it was crying.

Lelu tried to wrestle Halu to let him go, effectively pinning him against the sheet to peer his hands off. “The face was smiling till you started to distract me whit your sappy candy story!”

Halu managed to flip them around and wrap his legs around the shorter xero to stop him from rolling above him again. They wrestled for a good while whit half effort. Lelu didn’t try to punch or kick the other, while Halu was fully aware that if he went on too hard and tried to hit the other, he himself would be taken down in one punch. After a long fight they both gave up, losing interest in the subject enough to seize from escalating the fight. Halu was panting heavier than Lelu was, while they lied quietly for a while, Halu still holding Lelu down whit his legs.

After a long silence Halu let go of Lelu. “I’ll forgive your tab at my bar. Consider that as payment for carving a lantern fruit whit me.”

Lelu didn’t look at Halu. He kept his eyes in the stars above and the satellites that were hard to tell apart from the stars. “I learned this year that I miss someone.”

Halu thought for a moment that he didn’t hear the other correctly. “You what?”

Lelu didn’t repeat himself, as he got up, ready to leave. “So my whole tab is forgiven huh? That’s nice.”

Halu sat up too still puzzled over what he just heard. “Yeah… You’ll still come there right?” He didn’t mean to sound as begging as he did.

Lelu shrugged. “It’s the closest place to my apartment.” he looked at the glowing fruits on the fabric. “I’ll se you around.” was the last thing he said, before leaving the small opening, hidden by the forest.

Halu sat there for a while staring at the stars. He felt the calmest he had felt in years. Not really understanding why, but assuming he was just tired from wrestling.

In the weeks to come, Halu saw Lelu in his usual spot in the corner of the bar more often than not. He even paid for his drinks, like everyone else. Halu came around to talk and chat the other xero up every change he got, but the conversations were mostly one sided.

One night when he was closing the bar, he found a lone Ru berry candy at the table he was so used to seeing the pink xero sit at.