MERVIN MOTHTOT: A Grinning Rival (Buddy short)

My claws clamped onto the ridged stem of a hollow ceramic jack-o'-lantern glowing mockingly upon the porch railing. A creature of pure nocturnal malice cannot allow a toothy orange vegetable to outshine his terrifying silhouette. I lunged forward, jamming my left talon through the triangular eye socket to wrench the flickering battery candle into my personal dominion. Naturally, the slick glazed ceramic tipped forward like an ungreased cannonball, dumping me belly-first across the damp cedar handrail while the candle inside rattled loose, strobing wildly against my face. Did I flinch in the erratic strobe? Absurd. I threw both spiked wings wide against the dark spindles, hooking one talon through the jagged smirk to claim the grinning pumpkin as my personal gargoyle podium.