#tktober

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?"

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