Fruit of His Labor

In the confines of his small home, Ziggy was almost completely curled around a dull, olive green lantern fruit nearly half of his own size. His fur was matted down in some places by little bits of yellow-colored goop and pulp, though most of that stuff was collected in chunks in a nearby bowl. He had no idea how many he’d done so far, some he’d already done by request, some he gave away as display examples when he was introducing others to the Twilight Carnival. And some were decorations for the laboratory, of course. This time, however, he was carving it for himself. This was the third one he’d done for himself, as indicated by the bits of green and yellow scattered around him. Those fruits were already on display outside, tied and strung up to either side of the door. This one was huge, and was going to sit in the entry room, where visitors could see it first thing.

Of course, by virtue of being so big, it had plenty of mass to spare. That meant plenty of food. Ziggy’s collection of carving knives had all seen use at some point in the evening, all now gently glowing green with streaks of juice on them. He’d gone for a starry, constellation type pattern as was common, for the other two fruits, but for this one, he was going all out; he’d mad shallow cuts, slices barely cutting into the rind and only barely reaching the fruit layer such that it would have a duller glow, in wavy patterns. It wasn’t perfect, but anyone who knew what this star cluster was would know that this little pattern he was making was to resemble a nebula, a cloud of stardust. “Conveniently,” this star cluster also had particularly bright stars, meaning he could make deeper cuts and get bigger “stars” for the fruit.

Nearly an hour and a half in, Ziggy was nearly done, and only just noticing how tired he was from the day of almost nonstop carving. With a little shake of his head, he urged himself to finish, determined to make sure he had this done before the night was done. The little bit of adrenaline pushed him further… a little too much. His paw shook a little as exhaustion was kicking in, and he nicked the lantern fruit where he was planning on leaving it dark. A low growl escaped his throat, and his mind raced to come up with a correction. This part of the star map really didn’t have anything. Some little small stars, but nothing that would stand out enough like the rest that he’d already carved out. Nothing close, or at least bright enough when viewed through the telescope.

Of course, there was something he could do. A signature! This was a work of art, after all, and one that he was particularly proud of. He turned the lantern fruit a bit, holding it in place with his feet paws and tail, and scraped out the little bit of trailing nebula spots that he wanted to add on… and then, he grabbed the piercing knife, that would cut just enough so that he could get his signature. And with that done, he placed the knife back with the other tools, then flopped back onto the floor, sighing and stretching his legs out. “Finally.”

He just mustered the energy to get up and grab the wet towel he’d set aside, wiped his feet a bit, then cleaned up the whole area that he’d made a mess out of. The few minutes it took were excruciatingly long to him, but eventually the floor was only occupied by himself, the lantern fruit that had been cleaned off, and the bowls of fruit chunks, which there was plenty of. The seed itself was surprisingly small for how big the fruit was, and that was already placed in a preserving bin so he could figure out what he wanted to do with that later. But with the bowls in his arms, he headed toward his kitchen counter, where several other containers full of the stuff rested. He filled one last container with fruit, leaving him with just two bowls, which he planned to eat tonight. First, he put everything into the fridge, and the two bowls were placed into the freezer.

It would take a few minutes, but that was fine by him. Heading to the back of his house, he reached the bathroom. A quick flick of his tail pushed the door shut behind him, and then he walked right into the shower stall that was open and waiting for him. Ziggy closed the stall, then pressed the shower button, and a spray of steaming hot water showered over him. It stung, but it was a sort of good sting, satisfying in a way with the cold of the day getting forced from his body. The little Xero went so far as to take a seat on the floor, so he could rest in the hot water for a moment. It was all he needed, the warmth billowing out through his body until there was no cold left, the warm, steamy air in his lungs after being filled with the smell of lantern fruit for the whole day; and finally, his muscles relaxing, after tensely holding several different positions for too long.

A soft sigh escaped his snout, and he forced himself to press down on the floor and push himself to his feet, so he could really scrub out the bits of lantern fruit stuck in his fur. It wasn’t matted down and sticky anymore, but that wasn’t enough to actually get it out. He ended up spending a bit longer than he planned, partly because he was struggling to reach the little antennae on his back. He did have a tool for that, but he was drained and tired to think of using it. Soon enough, he’d gotten plenty clean, enough to satisfy himself, and he shut off the water, causing the little drizzle to slow to a stop.

Ziggy stepped out of the shower, and over to his wall mounted air dryers, which he switched on and moved in front of. With practiced efficiency, he brushed his paws through his fur, getting himself as dry as he could hope for in just under a minute. Satisfied he wouldn’t drip water everywhere, he headed out and back over to the kitchen with just a little bit of a jog, looking forward to the promise of a good snack.

The kitchen was filled with the sounds of soft clattering and doors opening and closing. For several moments, Ziggy had entered a flurry of activity, gathering little bits of fruit, ice, and a drink, all of which went into a little blender. He set a cup with a built-in straw next to it all. Then, out came the lantern fruit bits, chilled and just starting the process of freezing. Down into the blender those went, and finally he turned the darn thing on. As that went, he quickly handwashed all the bowls he’d used, then set them up onto a drying rack, finishing only a few seconds after the blender. Once more, he had to shake his head to bring himself back into focus, so that he could take the lid off of his cup and pour the mixture into it. Then, he took a brief moment to clean the blender, set that on the rack, and at long last, he snatched up his drink and scurried off to his bedroom.

Everything had been set up this morning: the room’s temperature, the cup holder on his bedside table, the big heavy blankets all neatly tucked in with the corner facing him pulled back so he could easily slip into bed. And of course, the little adventure novel that had his attention lately was resting on the other pillow.

The Xero turned and lifted his ears, perking them up and looking back into the rest of the house, just doubly checking he couldn’t see any lights or hear the hum of any machine still running. Satisfied, he did a short little nod and shut the door, before padding over to the bed. The cup went into its little slot, and Ziggy hopped right onto the bed, swooping himself under the covers. He propped himself up against the back using his pillows, and swiped up the book with both his paws. “Alright, you, no cliffhangers tonight, you hear?” He muttered at it, before reaching over to his cup and slurping up his drink. With a couple gulps, a chill went right through his body and he shivered intensely, eyes shut but a grin plastered across his snout. A very, very successful drink indeed.

And finally, he opened the book to his bookmark and got to reading, at least as much as he could before he succumbed to tiredness and fell asleep, book still in hand.