#lee!gangle

Neither of them really minded the silence; Zooble was content tinkering, and Gangle, for all her trembling hesitation, was glad to have someone who didn't think her drawings were a waste of time. Despite their differences, they had formed a unique bond with each other and found solace in each other's company.

"What do you think of this one?" Zooble asked, holding up their new arm for Gangle to see. It was a plain-looking design with spiraling lines of purple and yellow running along the surface.

Gangle looked up from the page and examined it. "I think it'd go look with that leg over there," she said, pointing a ribbon over to a pink leg across the room with yellow polka dots.

Looking over at the limb in question, Zooble nodded and gazed back down at the arm. With a sigh, they took it back off, tossing it back into the bin. "What are you drawing? Are you working on that manga you told me about? I'm kind of stoked to see what Himari's gonna do next."

With her tearful smile, Gangle looked back up at Zooble. "You remembered her name," she said, touched that someone put the effort into considering her art in a serious light. Her eyes glistened with a mixture of surprise and delight.

Zooble shrugged. "'Course I did, Gangle." They chuckled as they remembered something they had read in the last installment. "I really liked it when she told Yuto what for. Totally badass. Honestly, what was that idiot thinking?"

Gangle's smile widened as she looked up at her friend, holding her sketchbook close. "Yeah, he's not bright," she admitted. "I'm glad you like it so far, Zooble."

"Hey, what's not to like? Ignore what Jax said, because slice-of-life is a perfectly legitimate genre." Zooble wasn't really capable of smiling since they had no mouth, but their eyes showed that their words were genuine and heartfelt.

The artist on the floor sniffled. "You're too nice to me," she said.

Zooble scoffed. "Yeah, well, I'm not gonna go to jail for being nice to someone who deserves it." They reached into the toy box to try on another arm, pulling out a wobbly one with a rounded end. "Eugh. This one's weird. I thought I threw this one in the garbage."

"You threw it at Jax," Gangle recalled.

They shrugged again. "Like I said." Zooble tossed it into the closet and dug back into the box. "So, what's Himari up to this time? Or, do you not want to spoil it?"

Gangle pressed the sketchbook close to her again. "Well, I have ideas for the next part, but I'm working on something else at the moment."

Zooble raised an eyebrow but didn't inquire further. Silence hung in the room for a while, only interrupted by the occasional snap of a piece into and back out of Zooble's shoulder socket and the shy scratches of Gangle's pencil on the page.

Eventually, Zooble pulled out an arm that intrigued them. It had a light blue coloration and looked sturdier than the others. With a snap, they attached it and flexed the fingers at the end. "Huh. This one's got an extra finger. That's odd."

Gangle didn't look up from the page, nor did she say a word in response.

Noticing the awkward silence, Zooble glanced back down at their friend. "Gangle? You alright?"

Once more, if the ribbon-girl heard them, she did nothing to confirm it to Zooble.

"Hey, Gangle?" Worried, Zooble reached out and gave Gangle a gentle poke to a ribbon on her side. With a yelp, Gangle jumped about a meter off the ground in typical cartoon fashion, sending the sketchbook flying across the room to land in a heap next to her comedy mask.

"YES! Yes, I'm here!" Gangle snapped her head around to look at her friend, whose eyes were wide with concern. "Sorry, I got a little too focused-!"

Zooble nodded, raising their hands slightly. "Easy. It's okay, I was only wanting to ask about the arm. I'm sorry I startled you, but... what was that?"

Gangle rubbed the side-ribbon, as if to make a sensation go away. "You just... startled me, is all!" With a nervous laugh, she avoided Zooble's gaze.

Zooble raised their eyebrow again, but then squinted. "Wait. Are you ticklish?"

Squeaking, Gangle visibly tensed, stammering out, "T-that'd be pretty silly, w-wouldn't it! I'm j-just made of ribbons, so I don't think that's p-possible-!" As she spoke, she started crawling across the floor to get her sketchbook back. "Anyways, about the manga-"

"No, no. Just hold on a second. C'mere, you." Zooble reached out and picked up the near-weightless ribbon-girl and sat her on the bed next to them. "Let me try something." Zooble reached their hand out.

"Really, I d-don't think you'd- EEEP-!" Gangle jumped again as her side was poked, but this time she couldn't say she was startled. With an experimental scribble that made Gangle squeal again, it was confirmed.

"Yeah, you're ticklish alright. Funny, I guess that makes sense," Zooble spoke as they continued scribbling. "We can feel pain, after all, and since ticklishness is activating the same nerves, this checks out."

"Wahahahait! J-juhuhuhuhust... h-hahahang ohohohon!!" Gangle squeaked and squirmed in Zooble's grasp, trying to weasel her way out of her tickles. To Zooble's surprise, Gangle's tragedy mask was beginning to turn a different color.

"Woah, that's new." Zooble traced a finger against her mask. "You're turning pink. There's no way you're..."

"Q-Quihihihit ihIhihit! Z-Zoohoohooble!!" Gangle shot her arms up to cover her face, which was beginning to turn a bright shade of pink.

Zooble chuckled in surprise. "I can't believe it, you're blushing! That's wild, I didn't know you could do that! Look, your face is heating up!" Zooble slid their fingers along Gangle's ribbons, wrapping their hand around to get Gangle's other side and scribbling up and down along the surface.

"D-Dohohoho youhuhu hahave tohohoho brihihihing attehehehention tohohoho ihihihit!" Gangle squealed and wriggled about on the bed.

"Well, yeah." Zooble's voice gave away the fact that they were smiling cheekily. They pulled the ribbon-girl closer, pinching experimentally, which gave them a pleasing result.

"WahahAHAHAHAIT-!" Gangle squealed, kicking her legs as she shot her hands down to attempt to push Zooble's away, to no avail.

Zooble giggled along with her. "Man, you're really ticklish. This is amazing," they brought their fingers upward, pinching with one hand and scribbling with the other. "Guess this hand is pretty nifty, right? The extra finger sure is useful."

"IHIHIT- IHIHIT IHIHISN'T!!!" Gangle laughed out heartily, letting tears of mirth slide down her tragedy mask.

"Oh, it isn't? But it's so good at scribbling, especially right-"

"NOHOHNONONO PLEHEHEHEHEEASEE!!" Gangle shrieked as Zooble scribbled some fingers on her neck. "NOHOHOT THEHEHERE, FOHOHOR THEHEE LOHOHOVE OHOHOF-"

"Jeez! You can get pretty loud if you'd like to. This must be your worst spot, right?" Zooble spoke in a nonchalant and casual tone as they explored, which drove Gangle up the walls. "You sure you wouldn't mind if I just hung around here for a bit?"

"IHIHHI MIHIHIHIND!! ZOOHOOHOOBLEEHEEHEEHEE!!" Gangle's squeals rang in Zooble's ears, but they didn't mind. It was really refreshing to hear Gangle like this.

Gradually, Zooble slowed down their fingers until they were just grazing the smooth surface of Gangle's ribbons. Gangle's frantic squeaking and squealing softened to a light giggling as the sensation lingered.

"You're pretty ticklish, Ribbons. I didn't go too hard on you, did I?" Zooble asked.

Gangle shook her head shyly. "N-no, it was... not bad."

Zooble chuckled and hugged their ribbon friend close. "I could tell you were enjoying it. I'm glad you were having fun." They sighed contentedly, then added, "Your laughter is beautiful. It's... carefree in a way you very rarely express. It's so earnest. I really liked listening to it."

They could feel Gangle's face heat up as she pressed herself closer. "I can't remember the last time I could laugh like that... It felt amazing. Thank you, Zooble."

"No problem. It was a lot of fun for me, too."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Pomni's voice drifted through shyly. "Hey, Zooble? Are you alright in there?"

"We heard someone yelling," Ragatha's voice, "and we wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

"And I, simply wanting to do my part, came to make sure you weren't doing okay!"

Zooble rolled her eyes at Jax's quip. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just hanging out with Gangle. She said something pretty funny, so that laughing you heard was just me. Sorry."

"Oh~! So you and Gangle have been... hanging out~?" Jax's head pressed against the door teasingly. "Should we leave you two alone together~?"

"Shut the [BLOINK!] up, Jax! Buzz off!" Zooble wanted to throw something at him, but that would have meant loosening her hold on Gangle, so they swallowed their anger and stayed where they were.

With a snicker, Jax went, "C'mon, ladies, let's go make sure Kinger didn't destroy that Jenga tower while we were gone." Unhurriedly, the three pairs of footsteps faded from earshot.

Gangle peeked at Zooble. "Do... you promise not to tell him about this?"

"What, about your ticklishness? Yeah, no way in hell am I telling him about that. I don't even want to think about how he'd react. Don't worry, you're safe with me," Zooble reassured her, rubbing the ribbons along Gangle's back gently.

Gangle let that last sentence hang in her mind for a bit before sniffling again as a tear fell from her cheek. "Thank you for everything," she said softly.

"No worries. You deserve to have someone looking out for you."

They stayed like that for a while, but eventually, Gangle pulled away and walked across the room, picking up her sketchbook that she had thrown before. She sat back down on the bed next to Zooble, opening it to the page she had been working on earlier. Zooble's eyes widened.

Both of the pages in the open book comprised one piece. On the pages was a beautiful sketch of Gangle and Zooble sitting together on the grass under a night sky, their friends enjoying a picnic in the background as countless bright stars shone down. A smiling Moon hung above, and Zooble was pointing to a shooting star. Gangle was resting a hand on Zooble's. They looked so happy together.

It was Zooble's turn to blush. "It's... That's so pretty, Gangle," she breathed.

"You mean it?" Gangle asked. "You really like it?"

Caine

Switch

- This guys difficult cuz he’s just so tickleable but he also reeks of ler

- He adores tickling his performers, believing laughter is the best medicine for most issues, he can normally tell when tickles are the last thing someone needs though, wouldn’t wanna tickle a poor soul whilst they’re already suffering (cough.. Zooble.. cough)

- Frequently inputs tickling into his adventures, whether that means one little bit or the entire thing really depends on how the ai’s feeling that day, sometimes if one of his performers has made him upset, he goes straight to cooking up a tickling adventure as to torment them in revenge

- Absolutely BRUTAL with teases, you cannot tell me this guy wouldn’t be a monster, calls his lee cute little names like “my dear” and a very silly collection of pet names that really make zero sense whatsoever “my meowing milkmaid!!” …… “What did you just call me???”

- Caines main techniques involve calling Bubble for backup, summoning hands or feathers and pretending they’re some sort of rogue ai he’s got no control over, and making really bad jokes and then thanking his lee for being such a great audience

- His main targets are those who need to smile more in his eyes so he really just means anyone the second they aren’t smiling (god poor Gangle, better make sure that comedy mask doesn’t break when Caine’s in one of his “moods”)

- Just cuz he’s such a mean ler doesn’t mean he doesn’t get his shit absolutely wrecked sometimes

- Never thought it was possible for him to be ticklish until an incident with Jax before Ribbit had abstracted

- Absolutely loses it when he’s tickled, he cannot take what he dishes out for the life of him, it’s especially bad when he knows he had it coming cuz then he can’t even get all huffy after and eventually get his revenge

- Doesn’t normally stay in place when being tickled, teleporting and flying around as his ler desperately tries to keep him in one place, if he’s in a lee mood and he’s accidentally teleported away, he’ll come back to his ler and let them get back to business, swears this is just because he feels bad that they didn’t get to tickle him enough

- His worst spots are the bottom of his jaw, his stomach, and his armpits, you can hear it from across the circus if someone’s getting him there, normally you can hear his ler’s laughter ring out after a little while too, Caine recovers so quickly that it’s like a race for his ler to get out of there as fast as physically possible before he can get back up (he’ll teleport to them eventually anyways so there’s really no point)

- Main lers are literally anyone in the circus, but especially Bubble

Pomni

Lee-leaning Switch

- Only really goes after people if it’s for revenge, but when she does, god she’s good, if you thought Caine was mean, just wait for the actual people of the circus

- Painfully strategic, making quick notice of where her lee’s worst spots are and putting those nearly straight to use, since she normally only tickles for revenge she has every right to be as mean as she wants

- Doesn’t really tease as much as her friends, mainly just making little remarks on how loud her lee’s laughing

- If she isn’t getting revenge for something, I’d say she’s fairly nice, although it’s not too often you see her just tickling someone for no reason, sometimes she does feel bad when she sees her friends upset so she’ll try her best to put atleast a little smile on their faces

- Main targets are Jax (revenge), and Ragatha (she feels bad for being too mean to her often)

- Frequent victim of tickle attacks, whether it’s from Caine himself or one of her fellow performers

- Has the squeakiest, most high pitched laughter ever and will swear that she doesn’t like her life depends on it when it’s brung up

- Worst spots are her thighs, her ribs, her stomach and her chin, though if you get her sides just right she’ll absolutely lose it

- The type of lee that just freezes up on the spot instead of squirming around, really wishes that she wasn’t like that cuz it makes tickle attacks even worse for her, if she’s got it in her, sometimes she can even muster up one kick!!

- Main lers are Jax, Ragatha, and Kinger

Jax

Ler

- I really don’t have as much for him as people would want 💔 I just lowkey kinda hate him 💔💔

- I love lee Jax as much as the next guy trust me but he’s definitely mainly a ler, doesn’t mean he can’t get his shit wrecked though

- An absolutely torturous ler, complete and utter bully, he’ll scribble his fingers wherever they can reach just to hear his lee squeal

- Not really the type to give out cheer-up tickles, only really tickles people cuz he likes being mean, plus he thinks it’s funny when he leaves his lees a giggly, blushing mess

- Has the most evil teases in the circus, always wiggles his fingers at his lee, it’s always the funniest thing to him when someone’s giggling and he isn’t even doing anything, gets his lee in their worst spot whilst talking to them and acts oblivious “What’s with the laughter? I’m trying to have a serious conversation here!”

- His favourite techniques include, biting, raspberries (look after the new episode these two just seem way too fitting), and quickly switching between spots to really drive his lee insane

- Main targets are probably Pomni and Gangle, they’re just too easy for him to wreck

- Only times he really gets tickled are when people are annoyed with him and want revenge for attacks he’s launched on them, other than that he tries to avoid it, he prefers to be the one in control

- Has surprisingly smooth laughter, when he’s reaching his limit it gets all wheezy and soft

- Definitely a kicker, like imagine how cats kick when they’re biting, now imagine that as Jax whilst he’s getting his shit wrecked

- Worst spots are his armpits, his ears, his feet, and his neck, I mean come on it’s comically long I think it’d be hilarious to absolutely destroy him with

- Main lers are Pomni, Ragatha, and Zooble

Ragatha

Switch

- I genuinely can’t imagine her being mainly a lee or mainly a ler, so I feel switch just suits her best

- Genuinely the sweetest ler around, always makes sure she isn’t being too mean (unless it’s Jax), frequently checking in on the lee to ensure that they’re okay

- Thinks of tickling as a way to ground someone when they’re upset about being in the circus, their nerves are probably the most human thing about most of the circus dwellers so tickles are always a great reminder that they are in fact still human

- Always there for cheer-up tickles, she wants to see all her friends happy and smiling, no matter what it takes

- She’s the type of ler to tease with genuine compliments and little cheers for her lee, though if she’s tickling for revenge it’ll be nearly entirely baby-talk, she knows just how flustering that can be for her friends

- Her favourite techniques are gentle tracing on bad spots, she normally does try to avoid the worst spots unless she knows her lee likes getting absolutely destroyed

- Main targets are Jax, Pomni, and Kinger (gotta keep the old man sane somehow)

- She normally lets her friends tickle her if they so badly want to, though sometimes she does need a bit of a cheer up herself, so why not use her own methods on her

- Sweet, bubbly laughter, she gets all hiccupy when she’s nearing her limit

- Tries to hold back from squirming as she doesn’t wanna accidentally kick or punch her ler, instead she’ll hold onto her ler’s wrists, not to stop them, rather for just moral support

- Worst spots are her sides, her stomach, her back, and her knees

- Main lers are Pomni, Kinger, and Jax

Kinger

Ler-leaning switch

- I like to imagine he’s a sort of father figure for most of the circus

- Always a really gentle ler, the last thing he’d want is to accidentally go too rough on someone

- Inside of his “fortress” he gives the best cheer-up tickles, you could be the least ticklish person alive and he’d still get you giggling one way or another

- I just think he’d be really sweet when it comes to tickling, he’s said before that the worst thing you can do is make someone feel like they’re unwanted, so I like to imagine he does all sorts of silly things to bond with the circus, especially tickling

- When it comes to teasing, he normally tells really bad dad jokes whilst killing his lee with excruciatingly gentle tickles, occasionally tells his lee bug facts as he spiders his fingers around their worst spots

- His favourite techniques are gentle squeezing, gently tracing shapes, and rapid pokes, he just seems like the typa guy to tickle his lee to sleep if you’re picking up what I’m putting down

- Main targets are Pomni, Ragatha, and Gangle

- He’s not as ticklish as the others, but with the right attitude you can get a good giggle out of him

- His laughters soft and deep, it’s surprisingly soothing, it’s a shame he doesn’t laugh more

- Doesn’t really squirm, as I’ve stated he’s not really too ticklish so there’s not really much reason for him to move about in the first place

- Worst spots are the little cross design at the top of his head, his palms and his sides

- Main lers are Zooble, and Ragatha

Zooble

Ler

- I can’t picture them enjoying being on the receiving end of tickles whatsoever, especially with how they view their body

- You thought Jax was mean? Zooble doesn’t even need to have their whole body near you to absolutely destroy you, they could straight up just toss an arm over and suddenly you’re getting wrecked to oblivion

- Takes advantage of their detachable limbs at every opportunity, god forbid they’ve got a claw on that specific day because boy their lee’s gonna be heard throughout the circus

- Really sarcastic teasing, they like to laugh along with their lee sometimes, especially when they find them adorable (COUGH.. GANGLE.. COUGGHHH)

- Their favourite techniques are detaching their limbs to wreck their lee whilst they’re busy doing other stuff, pinching when they’ve got a crab claw hand, and cannot forget scribbling their fingers in their lee’s worst spots

- Main targets are Gangle (god google save me), Kinger, and Jax (to get him to shut up cuz he’s an asshole)

- Doesn’t really like being tickled, sometimes they do let Gangle tickle them, whatever makes her happy

- Only really ticklish on their torso and their neck

- Nice, deeper laughter, occasional snorting when they’re being got good

- Wouldn’t let anyone that isn’t Gangle ever touch them like that

Gangle

Lee

- The moment I’ve been waiting for (I’m gonna have so much fun with this)

- Doesn’t really tickle people much, occasionally tickles Zooble when they’re ok with it though

- You cannot tell me she isn’t apart of the tickle community, there’s just something about her… like she’s one of us I just know it

- Likes to draw tickle art when she’s bored, would rather die than show anyone, Jax caught her once and will forever use it as blackmail

- A lot of her art features her as a lee or her favourite anime characters as lees, she’s yet to figure out how to draw lers properly so all the lees she draws are victim to the floating hands of doom

- Submitted an adventure that included tickles to the suggestion box once, severely regretted it when the adventure the next day did indeed involve tickles (it had nothing to do with her that was entirely Caines idea)

- Has gotten her shit wrecked by every member of the circus atleast once, no matter how hard she tries to hide it, everyone knows she likes it

- As much as she likes getting tickled, she gets overstimulated pretty darn quick so sometimes when she’s starting to get too overwhelmed her ribbons will lose their shape and she’ll just kinda become a little melted pile of ribbons

- Cannot handle teasing for the life of her, it makes her absolutely lose it

- As much as everyone in the circus loves absolutely destroying her, they know her limit, they all make sure they don’t overstimulate her to the best of their abilities (surprisingly even Jax)

- When she’s got her comedy mask her laughters smooth and bubbly, but without it she’s all pitchy and squeaky, snorting and squealing frequently

- Gets all sorts of flustered when she sees a tickle scene in a show, cannot watch the others tickle eachother cuz she’ll actually lose her mind

- She’s normally too shy to actually ask for tickles so she’ll just sit in her room and draw tickle art until someone comes to check on her and eventually notices that strange tint of blush on her mask

- Sometimes when she’s getting wrecked too bad she’ll wrap around her ler for moral support

- Frequently receives cheer-up tickles

- Happy stims when she’s getting tickled

- When she’s trying not to laugh and she’s holding her breath, her mask starts spinning and it’s so ridiculous it makes both her and her ler laugh

- Her worst spots are where her chin would be, her hips, the backs of her knees, and her back

- Main lers are Zooble, Kinger, and (unfortunately) Jax