hey hey

“…Alright…” He didn’t sound particularly convinced.

Pomni stood up and tentatively stepped behind him, where his legs were sticking out. It looked sort of like his torso was inside the tire, almost. Caine’s collisions were absolutely terrible. That was probably how they ended up under the map in the first place. Pomni bit the inside of her cheek. She wasn’t entirely sure how to get him out.

“What’s your name?” she asked, just to fill the silence. “I’m Pomni.”

“Gummigoo,” he said.

Pomni snickered. “That name’s almost as dumb as mine.”

“My mum gave me that name, so—” It sounded like Gummigoo was about to prattle off some sort of insult, but he cut himself off instead. He went oddly quiet.

“Sorry, sorry.” Pomni shook her head. “Let’s just get this over with.”

After a bit of deliberating, Pomni chose to grab Gummigoo by his ankles and pull with all her might. He grunted as his claws scratched uselessly against the floor. He kicked back, almost hitting Pomni in the chest. She yelped and dropped his legs like a hot iron.

“I-I’m sorry, miss,” Gummigoo said, his voice now oddly higher in pitch. “You caught me by surprise.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Pomni apologized again. She hoped this wasn’t going to be a pattern. “I’ll try to be a bit more careful.” She paused for a second and took a deep breath. “I’m going to try to pull you out again, okay?”

Gummigoo hesitated, but he eventually nodded. Pomni grabbed him by the ankles once again and tugged. She grunted as she dug her heels into the ground to get some more friction, but he wouldn’t budge. Pomni was beginning to strain herself, and she squeezed her eyes shut so she could put all of her focus into pulling Gummigoo out.

Soon, her arms burned with exhaustion, and, with a huff, she forced herself to stop. Still holding onto his ankles, Pomni opened her eyes. She groaned internally when she saw Gummigoo hiding his head under his crossed arms, as though he were trying to squeeze his brain or something.

“You do realize you can help out, too, right?” she said, not bothering to hide the annoyance creeping into her tone.

“I know. I’m s-orry.” Gummigoo shook his head. “I just think I’m a li-little…” He clamped down on his mouth suddenly, and Pomni looked down at her hands, which were still perfectly wrapped around his ankles. Oh. Pomni experimentally flexed her fingers, and a sudden snicker burst out of Gummigoo. “Ahaha!” He clamped his mouth shut immediately. “I think I’m just a little sensitive there, miss.”

Of course. Only Caine of all people would think to make his NPCs…ugh.

Pomni sniffed, thoroughly unamused. “I’ll be…even more careful. I guess.”

She climbed further up Gummigoo’s legs to hopefully find a spot that wasn’t as…’sensitive’ as he put it, but, unfortunately, that seemed to be futile, as his giggles only got louder.

“M-Mihihiss!” Gummigoo hissed. “Are you dohoing this on purpose?”

“I’m not! I swear!” Pomni tightened her grip on Gummigoo’s shin (ignoring the way he yelped) and pulled as hard as she could. “You gotta help me out here, too, you know!” she grunted.

“Ehehehe—!” Gummigoo continued to snicker, but, to his credit, he managed to plant both of his palms on the ground and push. “Aha–haha…!”

He bit his tongue to try to quiet himself down, but that evidently didn’t work, especially when Pomni’s hands began to slip. “Ugh! Stop fidgeting!” She was trying to quell the irritation that was creeping up, but how was she supposed to help get him out from under there when he kept twitching?

Gummigoo gasped softly before breaking into another breathless bout of laughter. “I-I’m tryihih–AHA!” He kicked, violently this time, and managed to strike Pomni right in the stomach. She squawked and fell, landing square on her back. When she sat back up, she groaned and planted her face in her hands. “I’m sohorry!” Gummigoo exclaimed, still fighting through residual giggles. “I didn’t mean to kick you. That was just a reflex! Honest!”

“It’s okay,” Pomni said, standing up. “I know it was an accident.” She crossed her arms. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to get you out of there.”

“We can try again,” Gummigoo said. He was trying to turn his head to look at Pomni, but she was standing behind him, just out of sight. She wondered if he thought she was thinking about leaving him.

While Pomni wouldn’t do that, especially since she didn’t know where she’d even go, she had to admit that she wasn’t entirely sure what to do. She couldn’t get a steady hold on Gummigoo without him flailing around, and considering how it looked like he was clipping through the tire, it might have been nearly impossible to just pull him out. She would need to think of something else…

…

…

Ah.

Well, while it wasn’t the most dignified of solutions, it was better than nothing.

Pomni cracked her knuckles and stepped up to Gummigoo’s side. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“Ready for—haHA?!” Gummigoo choked on his own laughter as Pomni knelt down and dug her fingertips into his waist. “WhaHAHA? Whahahat are you—ahahaha! What are—hahahaha—you d-doing?!” He shrieked as his hands scrambled wildly in an attempt to escape.

“I know this is embarrassing!” Pomni targeted the smooth plane of his stomach, making sure to wiggle her fingers across every inch of skin she could. “But I really think this could work!”

“HAHAHA?? Whahahat are you ON abo—HEheheheh!” Gummigoo began to beat the floor with his fist as he thrashed violently in an attempt to knock Pomni’s hands off of him. “Lehehehet go of mehehehehe! Hahahaaa!”

Pomni’s face burned. God, what was she doing? She was about to give up when she noticed that, with all of his flailing, half of his torso had managed to slip out from under the tire. She had to keep going.

“Almost there!” She began to spider her fingers up and down his sides, making him flounder awkwardly underneath her touch.

“Stahahaaap! Pleehehhease!” Gummigoo hiccuped. His legs lashed out from underneath him as he shrieked with laughter.

Pomni was doing a pretty good job at dodging his attacks until he managed to kick her in the side with enough force to knock the wind out of her. In an instant, she crumpled to the ground. This was the third time she had fallen in the span of ten minutes!

She sat up with yet another apology on the tip of her tongue when she saw Gummigoo had rolled over next to the tire. Yes, he had managed to slip out! He was currently lying on the floor, curled up in a ball, while he breathed heavily.

“Are you okay?” Pomni asked. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Gummigoo shook his head and sat up. “No, not at all. As I said before…you just caught me by surprise. That’s all.”

“You can tell me,” Pomni said. She was trying to be helpful, but Caine’s avoidant tendencies were beginning to get on her nerves. She badly wanted to tell him to ‘just spit it out already,’ but that would be rude, and Pomni wasn’t rude. Or, well, she tried not to be.

Caine’s fingers twisted tighter around the hem of his glove. “It’s just that—well, I know it’s not a pleasant memory for either of us, but a long time ago, during that time, when I–or, well, when you, ah…” Caine cleared his throat. His voice pitched up an octave. “When you t-tickled me, I was, well, I’ve been processing it…” Caine trailed off and took a sudden and deep interest in the wallpaper.

Pomni blinked. “Okay?”

“Just–just for research, as one does!” He waved his hands defensively. “I wasn’t aware I could be ticklish considering how I’m, uh…” he gestured at himself. “…an artificial intelligence and all. And, and, and–it’s just an interesting anomaly. A glitch, perhaps! Something worth investigating further, and—”

“Caine.”

Now that Caine had started speaking, it seemed like he couldn’t stop. The words poured out of him like a waterfall. “—and I find myself, on occasion, in the dead of the night, wondering if it would happen again and whether perhaps it, uh, wasn’t as bad an experience as I initially–not that I’m asking you to, no, obviously not. That, heh, would be absurd. I would never—”

“Caine!” Pomni said, louder this time. That got him to shut up. She sat back and rubbed the side of her head. “Do you…” she paused, suddenly getting a little embarrassed herself. “Have you seriously been sneaking into my room every night because you want me to tickle you?”

Caine made a choked sound. “No! When you put it like that, it–it sounds—!”

“Then, what do you want?”

For the first time that night, Caine raised his head to look at Pomni properly. His teeth were quivering. “I think,” he muttered, “I would like that a little.” Suddenly, he shook his head. “Only if you’re comfortable with that, of course! I know I’m putting you in an awkward position, and, well, I, uh—”

Pomni rolled her eyes. “I’ll do it.”

Caine stopped. “Really?”

“Yeah, sure.” She shrugged. “If it would get you to stop waking me up in the middle of the night.”

Caine nodded eagerly. “That sounds wonderful!” “Okay, uh,” Pomni said, glancing around the room as though that might help. “How do you want to do this?”

Caine scratched his jaw. He opened his mouth to say something before he stopped. “I…haven’t thought that far.”

“Great.” Pomni forced a smile. She gestured at her bed. “Just lie down, I guess?”

Caine dutifully lowered himself onto the bed with the stiff movements of someone about to go through a medical procedure. He laced his fingers over his chest like he was about to sleep in a coffin. Pomni snorted.

“For the record, I would like to emphasize that this is simply for research purposes.” Caine started talking.

As he blabbered on about research or whatever, she remembered, vaguely, which spots had gotten to him last time. The ribs were pretty bad, and she was pretty sure his underarms had made him scream, which was kind of funny. She flexed her fingers awkwardly. “Are you ready?”

Caine kept talking, seemingly hadn’t heard her. “I mean, it’s my responsibility to learn more about you all and get on your level, right? And, uh, as silly as it may sound, I do genuinely think this is a great way to—eeeAH!”

Pomni pinched his side, which got him to shut up. Funnily enough, his hands shot to his mouth instead of to where she had touched him. He gawked at her with large, unbelieving eyes, and she laughed at the sheer absurdity of it. “Just for research purposes, huh?”

“I, uh, well, uh…!” Caine stuttered uselessly for a few seconds before Pomni began to scribble up his waist. He seemed to instinctively try to bite back his reactions (by literally biting his tongue) until Pomni managed to graze over his ribs. He jerked his arms down and yelped before breaking into loud laughter. “Wahahaha! Wait! Wait! Hahahaha!?”

“Do you really want me to stop? Already?” she asked, already slowing down a little. She didn’t want to take things too far, even though she had just started. How sensitive was this guy?

Caine didn’t answer directly. Instead, he shook his head before hugging himself and rolling from side to side. He kicked his legs aggressively when her fingers traveled down to his stomach, where she dug her thumbs into the spot right below where his navel would have been. It was a little funny seeing how little Pomni had to do to evoke such dramatic reactions from him.

“AHAHAHA! IT’S—AHAHAHA—TOOHOO…AHA!” Caine squealed when Pomni moved to tickle his hips. She was trying to give him some sort of reprieve, but that didn’t seem to work. Caine was sensitive all over. She wondered if this was some weird prank by Caine’s original developers or something he had somehow managed to develop over time.

“Caine, are you just messing with me?” she asked. After a little bit of deliberation, she chose to move over and sit on Caine’s legs to pin him down. With all of his bucking and flailing, she didn’t want to risk getting kicked in the stomach or anything like that. She began to squeeze his sides, moving her hands up and down as swiftly as she could.

Caine shook his head vigorously, seemingly too choked up by uproarious laughter to answer properly at first. “N-Nohohohoho, I’m—Eheheheh! Aahahahaaa…?!”

Pomni gave him an unimpressed look. Honestly, it was amazing how much he reminded her of a puppy. Was this the same guy who had put her through months of torture? This whole thing was too stupid for her to take seriously. Well, might as well get something out of it.

Pomni kneaded her fingers between each of his ribs. They felt kind of bony, at least, as close to bone as one could simulate here. It was interesting how humanistic yet alien Caine could be. “So,” she said as casually as she could, “are you really going to stop popping into my room in the middle of the night?”

Caine snorted when Pomni’s fingers landed a bit too close to his upper ribs. He wheezed weakly before bursting into another sharp string of laughter. “I PROHOHO–mihihihise! I-I promise! Hahahahaaa!”

He grabbed Pomni’s wrists but didn’t try to pull her hands off of him, which was a bit pathetic, honestly. Could Caine be considered to be ‘touch-starved’? Oh, who was she kidding? Of course, he was. This was Caine!

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I mean, how do I know you’re not just going to come waltzing in tomorrow just to ask for more tickles?” She cringed slightly at her own words. Now, she really felt like she was talking to some puppy begging for belly rubs.

Caine’s arms flew up to his mouth, where he clamped his entire face shut. “Hmmmph! Hehehemmmph! Mmmmph! Mmph!”

Pomni did a double take. “Are you good? Why are you hiding?” She fluttered her fingers along the small of his waist, making Caine jerk and flinch. “What? Did I embarrass you?” She kept tickling him, making sure to drill her fingers into where his sides curved into his hips.

Caine shook his head uselessly, still forcefully keeping his mouth shut with both of his arms. It seemed to be quite the hassle, considering how much his arms were twitching, stuck between wanting to protect his most vulnerable spots and wanting to hide his face away. It must have been difficult to hide your face when your entire mouth was your face. “Shhhehehehmmph—!”

Huh. Pomni wondered if he had been hoping to make this a regular occurrence. While Pomni wouldn’t mind, exactly, it was still a little odd, right? Who liked being tickled? It was pure torture, at least, according to her. Besides, there were better people to ask—like Ragatha and…okay, well, just Ragatha, to be honest. Sure, while Pomni had been the one to have found out about Caine’s, uh, weakness, Ragatha was a better choice for just about anything that involved feelings.

“Caine?” she prodded when he didn’t answer. “Caine? Don’t tell me you were actually thinking about coming to my room every night?”

Pomni rolled her eyes when Caine did nothing except giggle uselessly. Though she did smirk a little when she noticed that, in Caine’s attempt to force his mouth shut, he had left a certain spot, or, well, spots, vulnerable. One that Pomni knew where Caine was particularly sensitive.

She dug her fingers into his armpits, wiggling her thumbs deep into where he was the most ticklish.

“AAAAAHAHAH?!” Caine moreso shrieked rather than laughed as his arms came slamming down to his sides, accidentally pressing Pomni’s fingers deeper into his underarms. “P-P-POHOHOMNIIIII!” If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was whining. “I CAHAHAN’T! I cahahan’t take it! EhehehEHA–hahah!”

Pomni found herself giggling alongside him. “Wow, Caine, I can’t believe you’re that ticklish. How does that even happen?”

Caine squealed as she kept targeting his underarms. “HAHAHAhaaHahaha!” His laughter had turned frantic, but he wasn’t exactly thrashing around or anything like that. Yeah, sure, he was jerking around and the like, but if he really wanted to, he could buck her off. Probably.

“Like, it’s just weird, isn’t it?” Pomni said. “Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s funny. Cute, even. It’s just such an unexpected quirk.”

“G’ahahahaa–hup–haha—!” Caine made an odd noise. Somewhere between a hiccup and a squeak.

Pomni squinted. Despite not having blood, or a face for that matter, it looked sort of like he was blushing. Cartoonishly bright pink lines covered his face, much like one might see in one of Gangle’s drawings. God, Caine could be so obvious sometimes. It would be embarrassing if he weren’t so earnest about everything.

Pomni shook her head. “If you really want me to keep doing…this, then, could you please ask me next time instead of just sneaking inside my room when I’m asleep?” she asked. “I’m not going to tell the others anything if that’s what you’re worried about. It can just be, uh, our thing, I guess. If you want that.”

Caine grabbed Pomni’s hands and gently moved them away from his armpits. His chest heaved sharply as he tried to catch his breath. His expression looked almost dazed while he stared blankly at the ceiling. A part of him looked serene, which Pomni wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about. At least she hadn’t taken things too far.

Pomni slid off of Caine’s legs and froze when she felt something damp. Her sheets were moist from his sweat. Ew! She supposed she did end up going a little too far. Huh, maybe Pomni enjoyed tickling Caine more than she initially realized. She moved away to a drier part of her bed.

“Are you okay, Caine?” she asked tentatively. She reached out to press the back of her hand against his upper jaw before thinking better of it and pulling back. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had wanted to accomplish with that gesture.

Caine nodded languidly. “I’m fine, Pomni,” he said breathlessly. “That was much more intense than I thought it was going to be.” He chuckled.

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to—”

“No, no. It’s fine,” he said. “It was a new sensation. An, uh…enjoyable one at that.” His eyes lazily dragged over to where she was sitting. “Is it alright if I stay the night? I find that I’m a little tuckered out.”

Pomni cringed a little. She was planning on going to see if the circus had a digital laundry room, so she could wash her bedsheets, but Caine looked so peaceful that it almost felt cruel to shoo him away.

Eventually, she sighed and lay down, settling into her pillow. “That’s fine, Caine. Good night.”

“It’s hilarious!”

Pomni rolled her eyes. She turned toward the concession stand. Unfortunately, the line was a long one, filled with what seemed to be a dozen NPCs. Jax groaned. These things don’t even need to eat. Well, they didn’t need to eat, either, but at least they could enjoy the sensation.

After a while, Pomni spoke up. “What about you?”

“Hm?”

“You can be pretty touchy yourself from time to time,” she said. “Why is that? Are you ticklish?”

Jax snorted. The sound echoed lightly against the walls. “Don’t be ridiculous, Pompom. Only kids are ticklish.”

The last time Jax could remember being tickled was when he was around five or so. He was probably messing around with his friends in the playground. Even then, the only thing he did was kick his assailant directly in the jaw, so it wasn’t like he was all that sensitive back then either.

Jax vaguely recalled ending up getting into a fight with that kid after that. He won, of course. Ah, memories.

“What? If only kids are ticklish, then why’d you ask me if I was?”

Jax chuckled. He tried to jab his fingers into the crook of her neck, but she whipped her head out of the way last second.

“I dunno,” he said. “You seem pretty childish to me.”

Pomni shook her head. “Anyone can be ticklish.”

“Not me.” Jax pointed to himself with his thumb. “I guess I’m just better than you.”

“Okay. Whatever you say.”

Jax and Pomni took one step forward. He couldn’t believe after all of that, only one NPC had managed to order anything. What were they even doing up there? The adventure was going to end before they could even taste the popcorn.

He stretched again, this time crossing his arms behind his head. He was beginning to wonder if getting snacks was even worth it. He had originally planned to toss the kernels into Ragatha’s hair throughout the film, but he could probably find something else to throw at her.

Something skittered down Jax’s sides.

He screamed, the sound humiliatingly high-pitched. Jax jumped up in place. He kicked his leg out on instinct as he ran his hands down his sides to get rid of the lingering sensation.

“Ah, not ticklish, huh?”

Jax spun around. He was already inexplicably out of breath. He glared at Pomni, who was standing with her hands in the shape of claws. She wore that same stupid smirk she always wore when she thought she had gotten to him. Well! She hadn’t!

“Shut up!” Jax cringed at how pathetic he sounded. No, not pathetic. That wasn’t the right word, but his exclamation just felt so…so oddly desperate that it almost seemed like spiders were crawling down his back. “I’m not!”

“Then, what was that?” Pomni crossed her arms. “Don’t tell me I actually managed to scare you then.”

Jax wasn’t sure what that sudden spark underneath his skin had been, but it couldn’t have been because he was ticklish. That was entirely ridiculous. He wasn’t a child.

“No! You just caught me off guard. That’s all!”

Pomni nodded slowly before turning back toward the line. Jax let out a sigh that he tried to hide by clearing his throat. Good. She had decided to drop it.

The line moved forward, and Jax focused intently on the NPC in front of him. It was another one of those basic wooden ones that Caine loved to use when he was running out of ideas.

Jax didn’t notice Pomni had slipped behind him until feather light sensations began fluttering at his hips.

Thankfully, Jax had managed to hold back the yelp that had threatened to bubble out of him, but, then, his knees inconveniently dropped out from underneath him.

The moment Jax hit the ground, he began flailing around in desperation. It wasn’t a conscious decision. In fact, Jax was trying to stay still because he wasn’t ticklish and Pomni attacking the divots of his hips shouldn’t be affecting him like that. But, dang, something about the way her fingers danced up and down his hips made him want to crawl out of his skin.

“What are you doing?” He managed to choke out, fully aware of the way he was stuttering.

Pomni followed Jax to the floor. Her fingers wandered from his hips to his sides before wedging themselves into his armpits. She wiggled her fingers against his dreadfully sensitive skin, making his head spin.

“I think you could hazard a guess,” Pomni said. She dug her thumbs into his underarms.

“I told you that I’m n-n-nahAHAHAT—!” Before Jax could stop himself, a strange burst of laughter escaped his throat before he could fully understand why. Something foreign fizzed throughout him, sending sharp jolts of electricity up his skin.

Is this what being ticklish felt like? No! No, it couldn’t because he wasn’t! He couldn’t be!

Pomni chuckled. Her tone sounded oddly menacing. She pinched at the fatty part of his ribs, the area right underneath his armpits. “Come on, Jax. You can’t be this much in denial.”

“Be quihihihiet!” Jax hiccupped in between bouts of laughter.

He launched his hands at Pomni in an attempt to rip her wrists off of him, but she was too swift. Her fingertips found themselves digging into his stomach next. Jax squealed and doubled over, caught between his body trying to dull the sensations by pressing down on them and his brain yelling at him to run away.

Jax twisted this way and that but Pomni always seemed to be one step ahead of him. Her hands seemed to touch and poke every inch of his upper body. At one point, she managed to wrap her hands around his torso and squeeze, each of her digits buzzing with barely contained energy.

Jax tossed his head back and let out an ear-splitting cackle. “P-pomnihihihiiii!” He fell over to the side. “You ahaaha! You’re such a—! HAHAHAHA! A freak! Hahahaha!” Jax bucked and thrashed around.

Pomni stared at him, utterly appalled. “I’m the freak?”

That seemed to set her off because she shifted forward and planted herself on his shins. She curled her arm around his ankles, trapping them. Pomni ran her fingers down the soles of his feet. Jax tried to kick her, but he couldn’t even budge out of her grip. Ugh, how strong was this woman?

With no way to fight what was soon beginning to feel unbearable, Jax began tugging at his ears. Something warm began to trickle down his cheeks and Jax realized with abject horror that he was crying.

No, no, no, no, no!

“YEHEHES!” Jax tried to stop himself from laughing, but it seemed to bounce out of his mouth no matter what he did. “You’re such pervehehehert!” Occasionally, Pomni would reach up and scribble her fingertips against the back of his knees, forcing Jax to let out some odd noises. He couldn’t even describe it as other than a mix between a shriek and a cackle. “Onlyyyyy yoohoouehehehe! HahaHAhaha! Only you would behehehehe into this!”

“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong,” Pomni said. Her voice was oddly calm despite what was going on. It somehow made everything so much worse. “You’re always messing around with everyone. Why can’t I mess with you for a change?”

“HeheHEHEHE!” Jax broke out in tiny, hiccupy giggles as Pomni began to scribble her fingers along the tops of his feet.

Jax didn’t even know that spot could be ticklish in the first place, much less that he could be so sensitive there. How? Why? For some reason, giggling, despite being quieter, was so much more humiliating than straight up screaming with laughter. It just seemed so embarrassingly girly.

“What? Got nothing to say to that?” Pomni dragged a single index finger from his toes to the heel of his foot. It made Jax jerk his feet instinctively into her hands. She muttered a small, “Aww.”

Jax’s face erupted into what felt like flames. His cheeks burned, and he tried to hide his face in his hands, but the moment Pomni began pinching at his knees, his arms scrambled wildly in the air.

He tried kicking Pomni in the face, but she continued to hold on strong. Next, he tried to sit up and grab her by her jester hat, but she kept bobbing her head out of the way. Was it seriously that easy to overpower him? Was he that weak?

“Nyaahahaa!” Jax wasn’t even sure if what had come out of his mouth counted as a laugh. “Stohohop! Stahahaap it now!”

It took a full five seconds before Jax realized that Pomni actually heeded his request. Immediately, Jax sat up and drew his knees into his torso just in case Pomni decided to go for round two. He swallowed, suddenly glad that he didn’t have to open his mouth to breathe or else she would have noticed how out of breath he truly was.

Jax quickly wiped away his tears on the back of his hands. He flicked his wrists in disgust. Jax couldn’t believe he was actually ticklish. It was so, so, so stupid. Was it something Caine had decided it would be funny to add onto their avatars? Did that AI even know what tickling was?

He grimaced at the ground and pulled his knees tighter against his chest. A sharp, horrifying pang lodged itself somewhere in his stomach. It was so stupid. Why did he feel somewhat disappointed that Pomni had stopped so easily?

No, surely he was mistaken. Pomni, that prick, had brutally attacked him. No wonder he couldn’t think straight! That jester was messing with his head with her weird obsessions. Who even liked tickling like that? Honestly, she was worse than Gangle.

Jax dragged his hand over his ears and smirked at Pomni. She sat on her knees across from him. Her expression was blank as she stared at him.

“Tch, I didn’t take you for a…a…” Jax glanced to the side, his smile never leaving his face. “…a freak, Pomni.”

Pomni wrinkled her nose (well, the area where her nose would have been) and scoffed. “You’re so difficult, Jax.” She crossed her arms for a moment, and then she rolled her eyes. “But, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for tickling you like that. I didn’t mean to go that far.”

Jax sniffed. “Nah, you didn’t. Honestly, that barely affected me.” He chuckled when Pomni raised an eyebrow. “I was hamming it up a little for you. Consider it a joke.”

Pomni stared at him. It was enough for Jax’s ear to twitch briefly, but he managed to quell any further reactions.

“Whatever,” she said after a few seconds, thankfully dropping the matter. “Let’s just get our popcorn.” She stood up.

“Good call.” Jax leapt up in turn. “Oh, look, the line is basically empty.” He pointed to the concession stand where only two NPCs were waiting in line. “Great job passing the time, Pomni.”

She gave him another look. “Okay,” she said, elongating the word. Then, she went to stand in line, leaving Jax behind.

“Nonsense!” Caine shook his head, clearly not listening to anything you said. “I have gotten feedback from Pomni that my usual way of introducing our new members to their new home can be a bit…intense. So, allow me to—”

“No!” You shouted. The sheer height was starting to make you dizzy. “Put me down!” You weren’t sure if these cartoon bodies could survive a fall of this height, but you weren’t eager to contribute to the research.

You swung your leg back to get enough momentum to kick Caine in the stomach. You weren’t aiming particularly hard. You didn’t want him to drop you. You just wanted him to realize just how displeased you were with the current circumstances.

“Ack—! Don’t do that!”

“Then, put me down!”

“Absolutely not! We haven’t even started on our wonderful adventure!”

Now, Caine was just being stubborn. Fine, if he wasn’t going to be convinced, then you would have to force him to lower you back to the ground.

You mustered the inner confidence to let go of Caine’s arm and grab at the lapels of his jacket. “I wanna get down!” 

Caine reeled back on instinct. He tried to pry you off of him, but you held on hard. “Get off me!”

“No!”

Your hold began to loosen. For a moment, you lost your footing, and you slipped down an inch. Your heart began to race as you scrambled up to readjust your grip. On instinct, you smushed your face into his shoulder. You didn’t want to see yourself plummet to your death. Your fingers clawed their way around his body just to make sure you didn’t accidentally fall during the kerfuffle. 

You could feel Caine’s muscles(?) stiffen underneath you. His hand, which he had at some point placed on your mid-back, tightened as though he was trying to restrict you physically.

A pause.

“Don’t do that,” Caine said. 

His tone had lost all of its showmanship quality, now replaced with what vaguely sounded like an oddly high-pitched whine at the back of his throat.

Was that jerk laughing at you? Was that it? Did he find you fearing for your life that hilarious?

With newfound vigor, you dug your nails into Caine’s jacket and clung on. Caine made a strangled sound. It wasn’t one of pain (not that you thought you could hurt him) or even of annoyance. It was sharp and small and sort of stilted.

You paused, taking the time to tilt your head back and glare at him.

Wall-eyed, Caine stared at you.

You shifted your fingers deeper into his side.

“GHK—!” Now, that sound was unmistakable. 

Caine jerked mid-air, sending both of you bobbing a few feet to the left. You yelped and latched onto him tighter, but that only seemed to make things worse as he veered to the right.

“St-Stop that!” Caine exclaimed. A hint of desperation clung to the back of his voice, hardly obfuscated by his stutter. 

You frowned. You could use this somehow. Probably. Maybe.

“Not until you put me down,” you said. 

When he didn’t budge, you scribbled your fingers against his side. The movement was awkward, mechanical, at first, because you were still clinging to him for dear life. It didn’t seem to matter much, though. The effect was immediate. His shoulders shot up, and his jaw clacked down as a flurry of laughter tore through him.

“Ahaha—Nohohoho! Stahahap that!” Caine grabbed at your shoulders, but that didn’t really do anything to make you stop. “This is—” He interrupted himself with an odd-sounding snort. “Entihihirely unprofessional!”

“You’re the one who kidnapped me.” Your fingers continued to climb higher until they made their way to his ribs. 

“I did nohoho such thing—!” Caine gasped when you started flexing your fingers experimentally against what felt like bone. “AHAHAHAHA!” The sudden cackle made you flinch. His arms shook, seemingly caught between wanting to hold onto you and wanting to tear your hands off of him. “FINE! FIHIHINE!” His yelps sounded more like croaks at this point. You stopped for a moment to hear him out. “Perhahaps this tour can be conducted at a slightly lower altitude…”

The world lurched. You yelped as the circus grounds rushed closer beneath you, like an elevator dropping too fast. Caine seemed eager to hurl himself to the ground. Perhaps, he was worried that you would start up again.  

“Be careful!” You shouted, but you were already on the ground before you could finish the last syllable.

Caine hovered next to you, brushing the imaginary dirt off your shoulder. 

“There,” he announced with barely contained smugness. It seemed that he had already shaken off what had happened. “See? Perfectly safe. No harm done. Another successful act of benevolent leadership from your ever-reliable ringmaster.” 

You stared at him.

Several words had come out of his mouth that you strongly disagreed with. You should let him have a piece of your mind about how you really felt about his so-called benevolent leadership after messing with your coffee and flinging you in the air. 

Unfortunately, you weren’t particularly the talking type.

So, you tackled him to the ground.

Caine squawked as he landed awkwardly on his stomach. You sat down on his back, positioning your legs to pin him to the ground. “What are you doing?” His words came out clipped and harsh. He seemed to be too taken aback to remember he could teleport away. 

“You seriously call that successful?”

“Well, yes, I suppose I wou—AHAHAHAHA!” 

You pounced on his ribs, once more, since that seemed to be the spot that gave him a bit of trouble while he was busy swinging you around mid-air. Caine writhed underneath you. He clawed at the grass, but the flat texture barely provided any friction for him to grab onto. You could feel his legs kick out from underneath you. Considering how compact Caine’s body was, you ended up bouncing with each kick, but you held on fast and kept tickling him.

“You could have asked before doing any of that!” You lightly raked your fingertips up each crevice of his ribs. You did not leave any one untouched as you carefully counted up each side. You lingered just long enough at each spot to make him jerk and sputter before moving on to the next. “Now, my drink is probably lukewarm.”

Caine lifted his head weakly. He turned to the side in an attempt to make eye contact with you. Perhaps puppy-dog eyes were a potential strategy of his. Either way, you didn’t get to find out because you took the opportunity to wiggle your index finger under his chin.

A sudden spurt of laughter came out between puffed cheeks. “Pfttehehe…!” It was less of a giggle and more of a raspberry. You chuckled. 

Caine shot his head back to the ground and wrapped his arms around the entirety of his upper jaw to keep his mouth shut. 

“Aww, Caine!” You leaned forward. Any semblance of anger seemingly melted away at the mere sight of him trying to hide away. “Are you embarrassed?” 

Caine shook his head into the grass. “Nnnehehe…”

“Is that a no?” You asked. “So, you’re not embarrassed?”

With his arms situated above his head like that, it left his armpits completely exposed. You wondered if Caine realized that. Surely, he wouldn’t be this naive to…

You dug your fingers into his armpits. 

Caine shrieked.

Maybe he was.

“WAHAHAHA!” Caine’s arms slammed down to his sides with frightening speed. Oh, darn, now your hands were trapped. Oh, well.  “Nahahaha—! Nohohot theheHEHEHEERE!” He screamed. “Anywhere buhut—AHAHAHA!! Thehehehere!”

“Ah, so, we have preferences now, do we?”

You drilled your thumbs into the hollows of his armpits. He arched his back. His knees dug into the ground as he tried to give himself the proper leverage to push himself up, but you refused to give him the chance. Not until he apologized. 

“HAHAHAHA!” Caine’s laughter turned silent for a few beats. You could feel him squirming underneath you. His shoulders shook violently, which was the only indication he was still laughing. His cackles, loud and desperate, came back at full force once you started prodding at his sides. “HA! EHEHEHE!” 

You drummed his sides in quick, uneven taps. Every so often, you made sure to squish the muscle extra hard just to hear him squeal. “Are you ready to apologize, Caine?”

“For WHAHAHAHAT?!”

You blinked. Even when being tickled silly, he still had the gall to talk back. Well, if he wanted to be tickled so bad, he could have just said so.

“If you really don’t know, then I guess I’ll tell you,” you said, “Let’s see…you could apologize for interrupting my me-time, for not letting me finish my drink, for dragging me thousands of feet in the air, for refusing to put me down when I asked…” With every new thing you listed, you returned to spidering your fingers inside the hollows of his underarms. You delighted in the way Caine would let out a new squeaky shriek each time. If you were lucky, you would be rewarded with a snort.

Caine thrashed around. He punched the grass with his fists. The tips of his shoes dug into the ground. “AHAHA! STAHAHAP! Pleeehease!” He hiccuped. “I cahahan’t tahahake this anymore!”

Hearing Caine whine so desperately was enough to give you pause, but that only lasted for a second. “Not until you apologize,” you said. “FIHIIHIHI–AHAHA!” Tears welled up in Caine’s eyes and dribbled down his jaw. Ew. It looked like spit. “I’m sohohoho–s-sohohoohoryy! Now just stop! HAHAHA!”

True to your word, you stopped. You moved off his back and sat down in the grass next to him. 

Caine was heaving violently. He tried to stand up on his hands and knees, but his limbs were still shaking too much to support him. He was still hiccuping, the sound quiet and gentle compared to the harsher wheezes.

You probably would have felt bad for taking things too far if he weren’t an AI. Caine wasn’t human. He probably dealt with much worse daily, and it wouldn’t even phase him.

“Thank you…” Caine said. His words were heavy and drawn out as he was still struggling to catch his breath. That was pretty odd for an AI, now that you thought about it. “Now, where were we?” Caine stumbled onto his feet. It took him a little bit to regain his bearings, but he was floating in the air within seconds.

“Uh—”

“That’s right!” He announced, back to his regular showman voice. “We might have had a brief interruption, but now we’re ready to get back to the tour!!!”

“Wait!” You held up your hands. Did he listen to a word you said? “We can continue the tour after I finish my drink! Okay?” That was probably the closest you could get to a compromise with Caine. You could probably negotiate the whole being airborne thing a little later.

“What? No! We’re already behind schedule!” To prove his point, Caine shoved his wrist into your face. But there wasn’t a watch or anything else there.

You didn’t say anything. Instead, you wiggled your fingers in his direction. 

Caine tensed up and backed away a few inches, which made you giggle. “Alright! Fine! Tour after the coffee break!” His next sentence came out so quickly that the words slurred together into just one word. “Here,I’lltakeyouthere!”

Kinger watched him quietly. Caine waited for him to rebut his argument, but he didn’t say anything.

He wasn’t sure why he had gone to Kinger’s fort in the first place. If he wanted to sulk, he could do that anywhere in the circus. Yet, somehow, he ended up here.

“You know,” Kinger said, after a moment, “When I get sad, sometimes laughing helps.”

Caine turned his head away from Kinger. He clamped his mouth shut just so he wouldn’t have to look at that dratted chess piece.

“Well, good for you!”

“Actually,” Kinger dragged out the first word. “I think I know the real reason they didn’t like your adventure.”

“Really?” Against his better judgement, Caine turned back around. “Why?”

“They must have thought it was a little fishy.”

Caine gave him a long, blank stare before looking away, again.

Another bout of silence.

Then, something began to scribble up Caine’s ribs.

His entire body seized. He toppled over sideways with a startled yelp. “Wahahaahait!” Caine cackled. His voice remarkably higher-pitched than he was used to. “Hahahaaha! Stahahahap!”

Unfortunately, Kinger paid him no mind. Instead, he moved to the side, closer to Caine. Slipping through his defenses, Kinger dug into the vulnerable stretch of his ribs.

“See?” Kinger said, sounding a bit too chipper for a tormentor. “You sound better already.”

Caine pulled his knees to his chest and swung his legs around frantically in an attempt to kick Kinger in the chest. He missed. Multiple times. Gahhh! It was because he couldn’t concentrate long enough to do anything!

He slapped his hands over ribs, but Kinger simply moved over to his stomach, where he skritched at the center of his torso. “NyahaHAHAHA!” Caine convulsed, first folding in on himself then curling into a ball to try to get away from Kinger’s fingers. Since his hands weren’t exactly connected to his body, it wasn’t much use. “AHAHAHA!” They seemed to follow him everywhere Caine rolled.

“Do you feel better now?” Kinger dug his hands underneath Caine’s suit jacket and swept his fingers along his sides. With only the thin fabric of his shirt to protect him, every touch felt like a new jolt of electricity that tore through his skin and bubbled out through his mouth in shrill laughter.

Caine thrashed around. He managed to kick a pillow in Kinger’s direction, but he easily dodged it by not moving an inch.

He tried to protest some more, but it came out in a long wheeze. “Nohohoho!” Caine scrambled backward but was quickly rendered immobile by one of Kinger’s hands grabbing his leg.

Either Kinger’s hands were huge or his legs were tiny because the entirety of Kinger’s grip spanned his thigh.

“But you’ve been in here for quite a while,” Kinger said. His thumb massaged the muscle of Caine’s thigh, which caused him to sputter out a noise that sounded like some sort of odd howl. “I’m sure the others are wondering where you went.”

Caine instinctively curled around Kinger’s other hand when it started dancing across his stomach. He grabbed his hand to try to pull it off, but the one around his thigh took the opportunity to dive directly into his armpit.

Caine snapped his arms against his ribs. “Mmph—hehehehe!” He cringed at the sudden string of bright giggles that spilled from his mouth. Each sound seemingly squeakier than the last.

This whole situation was entirely idiotic! He was Caine for crying out loud!! The best and most perfect ringmaster and creator of this digital realm! He shouldn’t be rendered this helpless by just a simple touch.

There was no reason—absolutely no reason—for Kinger’s attack to be affecting him this much. Caine grabbed another pillow, but he dropped it once Kinger began targeting his other armpit. What sort of weakness was that?

It made something hot well up in the pit of his stomach, twisting around until whatever was left of his dignity crumpled into dust. Embarrassment pooled in his ribs as another burst of laughter flooded out of him. His face grew hot as he realized how little control he truly had.

And, yet…between the laughter and desperate squirming, there was something else. Caine could only describe it as an odd sort of lightness.

From his training data, Caine knew that tickling could be used as a form of bonding or social play. After decades of feeling isolated from humanity, the idea that Kinger, a human, would be willing to engage in such an absurd form of affection was…

…kind of fun?

No, that wasn’t the right word. Exhilarating perhaps?

Either way, Caine found himself accepting his fate and easing into Kinger’s touch.

“Come on, Caine,” Kinger said. His voice was way too soft for the situation. “Let’s go and do something fun with the rest of the gang.”

“Nahahaha!” Caine giggled, refusing just for the sake of it. He managed to sit up on his knees, but Kinger’s fingers (well, now just his index fingers) were still digging into his underarms. Caine bent over so far that his chest sat flush against his legs. He hugged himself, but that didn’t dull the fluttering feeling that swirled inside him. “Hehehehehe!”

Suddenly, Kinger’s hands disappeared. Caine peeked through one eyelid. He was outside of Kinger’s pillow fort, now floating a few feet above the center stage.

Ah, he had teleported away. He…sort of forgot he could do that.

Huh.

WELL, ANYWAY, it was now time for the next adventure: Amazing Undersea Journey into the Depths of the Deep Dark Abysmal Ocean Part TWO!!!!!!

And, oh, would you look at the time? Everyone was RUNNING LATE!!!

Gangle tilted her head to the side to look at Caine properly. Her smile was small and lopsided but surprisingly warm. “Y-Yeheah,” she said softly before curling one of her ribbons around Caine’s wrist. “Thihihis is nihice.”

She made an odd sound when Caine wiggled his fingers closer toward her side. It sounded like a mixture between a squeak and a snort. It was still pretty quiet, though. Like everything else Gangle did.

“Why?” Caine cocked his head to one side. “This is boring! There’s nothing show-stopping, jaw-dropping, or mind-bending happening!”

Gangle shrugged. “It’s relahahaxing. At least, I think it is…”

“Relaxing, huh?” Caine pinched one of Gangle’s ribbons. Her laughter grew a little louder. He did it again. “Can’t say that I see the appeal.”

“Hmmehehe…I’ll tihickle you next time if you want.” Gangle covered her mouth with the tip of her ribbon. “Mahaybe that’ll help.”

Caine blinked. He hadn’t realized that what he had been doing counted as ‘tickling.’ To be honest, tickling wasn’t something he had encountered outside of his training data. Something in his chest grew inexplicably warm. He would have to examine that further a little later.

Gangle’s grip on his wrist tightened, but never to the point where it was clear she was trying to pry him off. She didn’t look him directly in the eye, but the offer seemed earnest enough. Perhaps this was his best chance to finally bond with a human, even if he didn’t completely understand what tickling entailed. The mere thought made him giddy, but he knew he had to hold himself back unless he wanted to ruin his only chance.

Caine shot up in the air. Gangle shrieked and tumbled off the bed. The heel of her ribbon managed to tangle itself around her blanket. She flipped over and somehow fell directly on her face. Her mask snapped in two. 

“That sounds AMAZING!” Caine exclaimed, holding back as much as he could. “I’ll go to my office to prepare!”

“What.”

“Yay!” 

He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Ah! Wait!

He snapped his fingers and reappeared in Gangle’s room. 

She jumped, almost dropping the pieces of her mask that she had picked up in the process. “Huh?! Hey–!” Caine snapped his fingers to repair Gangle’s mask. When it snapped back together, she smiled and placed it back onto her face. She played with the end of one of her ribbons. “Th-thanks, Caine.” She paused, seemingly taking a moment to stare at the floor. “If you want, we could do this again tomorrow? Just…don’t tell anyone, alright?”

Caine grinned. “Okay! Yay!” 

Zooble scrunched up their shoulders. Their little wing accessory flicked up and down with each loud chirp of laughter. “Hmmehehe!” They began poking at the ribbons that curled around the invisible expanse of her stomach, which made Gangle let out a tiny squeal.

Ragatha turned away once more. Ah, geez, why couldn’t she stop staring? She tugged at the collar of her dress, vaguely wondering when it got so hot in here. A small part of her heart ached, and restless energy weaved through her. She tried to expel some of it by wringing her hands or pacing near the doorway but it did little to quell the butterflies that had somehow found their way to her stomach.

“Gangle, wait.”

Ragatha’s ears perked up.

Zooble continued. “It looks like someone wants to join in our little game.”

Ragatha froze. It took her a good three seconds to gain the confidence to turn back around. Still, her hands trembled.

Both Gangle and Zooble stared at her with wide, impish grins. Ragatha’s blood ran cold.

Then, her heart began to hammer with barely contained excitement.

Gangle giggled and tilted her mask to the side, looking much like those cute characters she liked to doodle in her sketchbook. Gangle smiled ever so sweetly before mouthing something.

Ragatha leaned forward curiously.

“Run.”

Oh?

Oh! Oh, goodness!

Ragatha did not need to be told twice.

She turned around and sprinted down the nearest hallway. Colorful wallpaper seemed to smear together as she ran as fast as could. Her shoes pounded against the floor loud enough to almost drown out her panicked laughter.

Unfortunately, ‘as fast as she could’ did not equal fast enough.

Something grabbed her shoulders, halting her hard enough that she nearly stumbled.

A gloved hand dug viciously into her side.

“EEAHAHA!” Ragatha shrieked. Her legs fell out from under her, but Zooble was more than ready to follow her to the ground. Two thin ribbons slithered up her torso and wiggled themselves neatly into the grooves of her armpits. “Oh my—yeyehahaaai!!” She clamped her arms down, but Gangle had already found her sweet spot.

“If you wanted to join us, you could have just asked,” Zooble said. “No need to stare.”

“We’re more than happy to share the love!” Gangle continued to drill the edges of her ribbons up her underarms.

Ragatha twisted helplessly underneath the attention. Laughter freely burst out of her, causing her to grin so hard that her cheeks ached. Every breath she took ended up dissolving into bright, uncontrollable giggles.

“Okayahahahay! I’ll hahaha! I’ll do that nehext tihihihime!” Ragatha leaned into Zooble’s hand as they began to scribble lightly across her soft, unguarded stomach. Zooble must have noticed because they began going faster, earning a clipped squawk from her. “AAAah—! I prohohomise! I prohomise! Ahaha!”

What happened next was mainly based on instinct rather than quick decision. Ragatha’s fingers darted out, and weaved their way in between a few of the ribbons that curled around Gangle’s sides.

She had primarily done that to ground herself, but Gangle jumped. “Eeeee…! Nohohoho—!” She squealed as Ragatha began to wiggle her fingers through the gaps.

Gangle’s ribbons flared outward in a startled burst before coiling around herself in some sort of way to protect her sensitive silk parts from Ragatha’s tickle attack.

Ragatha started to speak before biting her lip to stop herself. She genuinely didn’t think that would work. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say, but a newfound resolve wove its way between her fingers.

“I—” Ragatha stuttered briefly before gathering her footing. “I got you nohohow!”

She sat up before wiggling her fingers deeper into Gangle’s sides. She made sure to massage the edges of the ribbons that curled into one another, which made Gangle giggles increase an octave. She curled into a ball on the ground. Gangle tried to stop Ragatha by grabbing her wrists, but she didn’t get far.

“Hey!” Zooble started scratching at the lowest groove of Ragatha’s ribs, but they quickly faltered once she started drumming her fingers across their torso. “Hhehehey—!” They tried to repeat themselves, only for the sound to dissolve into a loud cackle.

Unfortunately, Zooble was stubborn, and they immediately dug their hand into Ragatha’s underarm. Ragatha flinched violently and fell into a cascade of hiccupy laughter. “Wahahaha! Zooble!”

Ragatha tried her best to maintain her grip on both Gangle and Zooble, which wasn’t easy to do considering how squirmy both of them were. Still, she managed.

Until Gangle managed to thread another ribbon up the back of her knee.

“Gahahahangle!” Ragatha kicked her legs out helplessly. “Stop tihihickling meee!!”

“You fihihirst!”

Ragatha stopped.

Gangle did too, and Zooble followed immediately after.

All three of them collapsed into a breathless heap onto the floor. They were practically a tangle of limbs, ribbons, and other spare parts.

“You’re both evil,” Ragatha declared through another bout of helpless giggles.

“Mm, maybe a little,” Zooble admitted.

Gangle only laughed softly. Her ribbons were still looped lazily around Ragatha’s wrists. “But, you still had fun, though, right?”

Ragatha opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. Her first instinct was to deny it on principle alone, but she didn’t want to lie to either of them, especially not when they took the time to include her during what was obviously meant to be a private moment.

Zooble poked her side, again, interrupting that thought.

Ragatha let out a startled squeak.

A clown with needles for teeth and bloody holes where its eyes should have been leapt out from the darkness within.

Gangle screamed.

She stumbled backward in blind panic, her ribbons twisted beneath her as her heel caught onto a jagged piece of linoleum. She crashed into Ragatha with a loud splat that rattled through the hallways.

Ragatha grunted as Gangle’s weight collapsed onto her. They both fell to the floor in a tangled heap of ribbons and fabric.

It took Ragatha a few seconds to regain her bearings. She groaned and tried to reach over to rub the part of her head that had directly hit the floor, but she found that she couldn’t exactly move her wrist. Ragatha tugged her arm once, twice, and then thrice but something held it back.

Somewhere on top of her, Gangle whimpered. “I’m sorry, Ragatha. I didn’t realize…” She trailed off.

“That’s quite alright,” Ragatha said. “This place is pretty scary, after all.” She tried to shift to the side to allow Gangle move off of her, but she still couldn’t budge. “Uh, hey, Gangle? Do you mind getting off of me?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry!” Gangle’s ribbons strained around her as she tried to get up, but after a few seconds, she hadn’t moved. She tried again, but still nothing. “Um,” Gangle stuttered. “I-I think I’m stuck.”

“Huh?”

“I think I’m…” Gangle tried a more delicate approach this time, but she still couldn’t get off of her. “…tangled around you.” She gave a sharper pull. Ragatha flinched as one of Gangle’s ribbons squeezed her torso. “Ah, so sorry!”

Ragatha shook her head. “Hey, it’s okay! These things happen.” She squinted through the dark, vaguely wishing that she had hit the light switch when she entered this place. At least, they would have been able to see what they were doing. “Do you think you can try to detangle yourself from me? One ribbon at a time?”

Gangle hummed. Ragatha could feel her pull at the ribbon that had curled itself around her arm. It twisted slightly as a knot was starting to form, but she slowed down and began weaving one end away from the beginning of a loop.

It was a gentle process, almost painstakingly so, since Gangle was now seemingly keen on drawing out every movement to its longest possible length. Too gentle. Ragatha only realized how tense she had gotten when the ribbon ghosted dangerously close to her underarm. The touch sent a sharp flicker throughout her increasingly warm body.

“Are you okay?” Gangle asked. She could be so astute at the worst of times.

“I’m fine,” Ragatha said, painfully aware of the giggle at the tip of her tongue. “It just tickles a bit.”

“I’m sorry,” Gangle said. “I’ll try to be more careful.”

Another ribbon loosened from around Ragatha’s waist, sliding inch by inch through the crook of her side. The movement was feather-light, hesitant, and almost timid, which made it worse.

Ragatha pressed her lips together. She was determined to stay still so as to not mess up Gangle’s concentration, but the fluttering feeling kept creeping up the back of her throat. Her shoulders jerked as the ribbon skimmed her side again. “Hmmhmhm…” A tiny laugh escaped before she could stop it.

“Oh, sorry…”

“Ihihit’s okay,” Ragatha said, now choosing to just embrace it. “Just…try to get it over with.”

“Okay.”

Gangle fiddled with the ribbon around her arm again. It drifted over to the top of her ribs, and Ragatha let out an odd noise. “Aha, Gahangle!” In spite of her laughter, Gangle kept going. The ribbon lingered against that particularly maddening spot. “Mmmhehehe…!”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Gangle kept muttering under her breath as she worked to untangle herself. Thankfully, she had managed to free the ribbon from around Ragatha’s arm, but she still had a lot more to do.

Gangle used her newly freed ribbon to coil around the others that clung to Ragatha’s torso. The fluttery silk skimmed over the small of her back, and goosebumps prickled her skin.

Ragatha’s breath hitched. “Hhh—hehehe…” She pressed her cheek against the floor. It was probably dirty, but that was the only way she could even attempt to ground herself and muffle her laughter even a bit. She hadn’t realized she was so…sensitive.

Ragatha squeezed her eyes shut.

The ribbons around her middle loosened, but even as they pulled free, they still seemed to tease her at the narrow pinch of her waist. Ragatha curled slightly inward. Her free hand grabbed onto one of the ribbons by instinct.

“I’m sorry, again,” Gangle said, but Ragatha could tell by the tiny lilt of her voice that she was starting to sound amused.

Honestly, Ragatha was beginning to find the humor in the situation, too. She wondered if getting tickled silly was a part of Caine’s idea of a spooky horror adventure.

“Hnk…hehere…” Ragatha reached out to grab another ribbon. This one clung tightly around her leg. She pulled at it, loosening it up a bit to try to make it easier for Gangle to free herself.

Gangle grinned softly. “Thanks…”

She slowly unwinded the ribbon from her leg, but the feather soft movement, especially near the back of her knee, let a new wave of sharp giggles spill out of her.

“Ehehehe! Are weheheee…are we almost done?”

“Kind of?” Gangle said. “I’m making a bit of progress, but it still might take a while.”

Gangle’s ribbons slithered down Ragatha’s shin. Somehow, that tickled as well? Was she just ticklish everywhere, then? How did she survive this long?

“Ohoho my gosh…!” Ragatha squealed, mainly as a response to the overwhelming gentle sensations rather than what Gangle had said.

“I-I’ll try to be quick, though!”

She moved onto the two ribbons that had somehow managed to curl around Ragatha’s other arm. As she slowly tried to unwind one from the other, they each ever so gently glided down the inside of her forearm.

Ragatha scrunched up her nose. The tension crackled beneath her skin, and she found her shoulders shaking once more with barely constrained laughter. “Ahaha, G-Gangle…” She shifted over to her side to give her more room to work. “…thahat spot’s bahahad…”

This time Gangle laughed out loud without even trying to hide it. “Ragatha, I’m barely touching you!”

“I knowww!” She whined. “I cahahan’t help it.”

“What if I just…”

Gangle fluttered the tip of her ribbon at the crease of Ragatha’s palm.

“Gahahangle!” Ragatha giggled. She clenched her hand shut. “You’re doing thahahat on purpose!”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.” Gangle returned to working on the ribbons tied around Ragatha’s arm. “It’s fun seeing you so giggly.”

“Ehehe, well, I’m glahad you’re having fun, theehehen.” Ragatha tried to make her tone sound sarcastic, but it didn’t work as she fought through the peals of giggles. Besides, it wasn’t like she got the chance to spend a lot of one-on-one time with Gangle, anyway. Ragatha was enjoying herself for the most part.

Soon, Gangle got into the rhythm of untying herself while Ragatha giggled freely underneath her. She tried to help in any way she could, but it was difficult due to how much she was twitching. Gangle didn’t seem to mind too much, though.

In fact, what Gangle had said earlier about it being fun to see Ragatha all ‘giggly’ replayed in her mind over and over again. Her cheeks grew warm. It wasn’t often Ragatha could laugh so freely in the circus, so this was all a little overwhelming, but it was also kind of nice? It was really nice, actually…

After a while, Gangle shifted to the side, and it took Ragatha a second to realize she was no longer on top of her. Slowly, Ragatha sat up onto her knees. She looked to her side to see Gangle laying down on the ground.

“That took so much longer than I thought it would,” Gangle groaned.

“Tell me about it.” Ragatha rubbed the back of her arm. She could feel the butterflies still flitting around her stomach.

“Should we try to find the others now?”

“Hm, sure, but I want to do something first.”

Gangle blinked before looking up at Ragatha curiously. “What?”

Ragatha wiggled her fingers in the air. “Getting my revenge!”

“Eeek! Nohohoh!” Gangle put her hands up to try to defend herself, but they were no match for Ragatha’s retaliation.