#tickler!gangle

Ragatha jumped, her head swiveling over to the bed. “Gangle?” She squawked before clearing her throat. “You’re awake?”

Gangle’s face popped up from underneath the swell of blankets. “Yep.” She crawled across the mattress and nimbly slipped down to the floor. She sat on Ragatha’s other side.

“I’m so sorry for waking you up—”

“Don’t be.” Gangle held up a ribbon, effectively cutting Ragatha off. “I’m a light sleeper.” Her gaze dragged across the room before settling on the bin of spare parts in the corner. “Besides, I had a nightmare, too.” She must have heard Ragatha’s earlier conversation with Zooble.

“Oh…” Ragatha said. A part of her was glad she wasn’t alone. 

“What was it about?” Zooble asked.

Gangle shook her head. “It wasn’t anything crazy.” She brought her knees up to her chest before turning her head toward Ragatha. “I dreamt I was being chased. What about you?” 

Ragatha blinked. Her first instinct was to lie and say that she didn’t dream about anything at all, but she pushed past it. “Ah, um…”

Zooble placed their hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to share if you don’t want to.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Ragatha shook her head. She had already told Zooble, so it wouldn’t have been fair to keep Gangle in the dark. “It was about my mother…” Ragatha wanted to share more, but it was like her mouth had gone numb. Pressure suddenly welled behind her eyes. “B-but I’m fine, now, don’t worry! Thank you for being here for me.” She tried smiling again, but the corners of her lips trembled. 

For a while, nobody said anything. 

Then, Gangle piped up. “Do you want a hug?”

Ragatha wanted to say something, anything, but her tongue had turned to lead. All she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and nod. 

She heard shuffling before Gangle’s ribbons wrapped around her torso. They felt exactly how they looked: silky and smooth without being too delicate. Ragatha let her head fall into Gangle’s shoulder as she held her tight. She smelled vaguely like nylon.

Gangle rubbed small circles into her back, and Ragatha had to hold herself back from completely collapsing into her. 

One of Gangle’s ribbons slipped slightly too close to her side, and Ragatha twitched slightly, pulling away by instinct.

“I’m sorry,” Gangle said, unfurling herself from the embrace. 

“No, no, it’s fine.” Ragatha genuinely meant it as she rubbed her side. A part of her kind of wanted an excuse to laugh: a moment or two to forget about her troubles. “I wouldn’t mind if you…” Ragatha trailed off. The words ‘kept going’ lingered in the air, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them out loud. Her cheeks grew warm against her will.

“Are you sure?” Zooble asked, now directly behind Ragatha.

Since when did they get so close?? Ragatha’s chest stuttered, a familiar feeling of butterflies fluttering inside her. Gangle inched forward, as well, and she let out a sharp squeak. Ragatha covered her face with her hands before slowly nodding. 

She kept her face hidden, even as she felt one of Gangle’s ribbons curl up her arm. Silk grazed delicately up and down the underside of Ragatha’s forearm. The sensation was feather-like, as Gangle barely touched her, but she felt goosebumps nonetheless. 

Ragatha let out a small chirp when she felt something rake against her side. It must have been Zooble. She wasn’t expecting them to join in, as well. 

Ragatha began stuttering uselessly as their fingers drummed lightly at the spot just below her ribs. “Z-zoohoohble! I-I-I—! I’m–I’m…!” She wasn’t even sure what she was trying to say, but it didn’t take long for the two of them to coax the string of giggles that had been bubbling in the back of their throat. “Eek! O-oh my goodnehehehess! Guys! Ehehehe!” 

“You don’t have to keep things to yourself, you know,” Gangle said while targeting that weirdly sensitive spot at the crook of her elbow. She didn’t even know people could be ticklish there.

Ragatha’s hands shot out to stop Gangle, but she slipped through her clumsy attempts easily. She practically flailed about as she half-heartedly tried to grab at Gangle’s ribbons. At one point, she did manage to get a good grip, but Ragatha loosened her hold immediately, which Gangle thankfully didn’t comment on.

“I knohohow! I knohow!” Ragatha giggled, snorting a little when she felt Gangle poke along her side. “Eeeheeheep!”

Zooble chuckled under their breath. She wouldn’t have heard it if it weren’t for their sudden proximity. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so ticklish. It’s cute.” Their fingers trailed somewhat hesitantly under her arms, forcing Ragatha to clasp her arms against her sides.

Ragatha suspected that their last comment wasn’t something she was supposed to hear, but she couldn’t quite tell.

Now that she was no longer hiding her face, Ragatha felt strangely exposed, and she couldn’t quite tell if she disliked the feeling or not. She didn’t get to dwell on her thoughts for long because Zooble started kneading right in the center of her stomach.

“Mmmeehehehehee!” Ragatha let out a strange, startled giggle. She twisted herself away from Zooble’s torturous touch, only to have another one of Gangle’s ribbons flit against the crook of her neck. Ragatha scrunched up her chin to protect the sensitive area, but Gangle just moved onto the other side of her neck. “Eeheheehe! Ganglehehe!” Ragatha tried to complain, but her voice came out much higher in pitch than she had intended to. 

“Are you feeling better, Ragatha?” Gangle asked. Her ribbons fluttered against Ragatha’s neck, feeling more like dozens of feathers brushing against her skin.

Ragatha opened her mouth to speak, but Zooble began spidering their fingers right where her side met her hip, causing her to swallow a sharp gasp of air. She ended up snorting, again, instead. “Eeheheyaha!” Ragatha curled up into herself before trying again. “Heheheeyehehes!”

“Do you want us to stop, now?” Zooble asked.

For a moment, Ragatha thought about shaking her head no. She knew it was selfish, but she was kind of…enjoying the undivided attention. Ragatha had spent most of her life making sure that everyone else around her felt like they could rely on her. She wanted to make everyone feel cared for, but being on the receiving end of that care was addicting, in a way. Ragatha had never felt this way before, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to stop.

But Ragatha knew that Caine had another adventure lined up the next morning, and she didn’t want to keep Zooble and Gangle up for any longer than she already had. Besides, the tickling was starting to get a tad overwhelming. “Hehehe! Yehehes!” Ragatha squeaked out. “Heheheehee!”

With that, they stopped.

Exhausted and slightly breathless, Ragatha slumped against Zooble, who, surprisingly, placed their hand firmly on her side to hold her in place. “You doing good?” they asked.

Ragatha nodded. “Yeah,” she said, giggling softly. “I feel better now. Thank you.” She meant it.

Gangle gave her a tired half-smile before yawning. “That’s good,” she said. “I’m glad.” She let out a second yawn before lying down on the floor. Using her hands as a pillow, she curled into a ball and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, light snores fluttered out of her.

Ragatha giggled. “Aw, Zooble, Gangle fell asleep.” When Zooble didn’t respond, she peered curiously over her shoulder. 

Zooble’s eyes were closed as they leaned against the edge of their bed. They weren’t snoring, but Ragatha could tell by the slow rhythmic rise and fall of their chest that they had fallen under the same fate as Gangle. That was fast.

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.

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.