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They watched it crash, waited for it to burn....but it didn't.
It was one long, harrowing moment of their digital reality caving in on itself...but then, nothing. A groan, static, and a whisper.
Things were broken, but they were stable.
They all waited, sure that this couldn't be it....but it honestly looked like it was.
Pomni takes the first step forward, away from the group, and carefully reaches out to try and touch a piece of glitched terrain.
"C-careful, Pomni..." Ragatha starts.
Pomni gives her a placating motion. "I don't think anything is volatile." She says....but then pauses, and looks to Kinger. "Kinger?"
Everyone else turns to him, too. He's still wearing the bucket, despite the surroundings growing dimmer, and from beneath it, his eyes scan the geometry, and then the group. "....I think the worst is behind us. But we should still be careful."
Pomni nods, and lowers her hand. "That's fair."
".....is he really gone?" Gangle speaks up softly. "He can't really be gone gone, can he? This place wouldn't still be......"
She trails off, but the question is clear. Kinger puts a hand to where his chin would be. "Despite....everything I thought I knew about this place, I guess he wasn't a load-bearing file. Things don't run....smoothly without him, clearly....but this doesn't seem like a crash."
Zooble, still reeling a bit from the....everything, takes a careful step forward, too. "....man." They look at Kinger, and sigh. "Hell of an accident, Kinger."
He rubs the back of his head. "The code was fighting me the whole way. Something overrode me after I fumbled the button." And then, slowly, he removes the bucket.
The silence is different, after. He holds it to his chest, and closes his eyes. "I'm so sorry, everyone. I did what I could, but I failed you."
Pomni jumps a little, but Ragatha is quicker than her to speak her mind. "You didn't....fail, you...saved us. I guess.........something had to change one way or another and....this is how it ended up happening."
She doesn't sound confident, but the effort is audible. "We're not going to get anywhere, blaming each other."
That, at least, receives a chorus of various agreeing noises.
Eventually...Pomni speaks again. "Now what?"
No one knows.
Kinger takes charge, albeit hesitantly. "....should we check to see what rooms are salvageable? If any of ours are?"
"Shit, my parts box...!" Zooble swears, "Figuring out if I'm stuck with these is a good step one, I think."
And so, the first one to walk off in the direction of the hall is Zooble, though everyone else follows. Jax lags silently behind, but he's still following.
There's an immediate problem.
A gaping glitch has formed a drop, a ravine that divides them from their goal. It stretches wide enough that none of them could hope to jump it.
The hole blocks the entrance to the hallway completely.
"Damnit." Zooble hisses, stepping close to the ravine and peering down. All the glitches on walls and other vertical surfaces shone through to the void.....but distantly, below, there was some kind of....pulsing black blob.
Zooble looks away from it, it could wait. "That's....probably a no, on our rooms, then?"
Pomni makes a face. "I don't think I had anything I cared about in mine, thankfully."
"I did...all my sketchbooks are in there." Gangle notes, despondent.
"....wait!" Exclaims Ragatha, bright and hopeful. "Kinger, you said we can all...make things, right?"
Pomni stands up straighter. "The word you used was...conjure, I think?"
Kinger looks between the two of them. Then his gaze shifts towards the other three. His brow furrows. He cracks his knuckles. "I bet I could make a bridge, if that's what you're getting at. I can certainly try."
Pomni goes to his side in an instant. "I can help! I figured it out, earlier."
Kinger smiles with his eyes at her. "I appreciate it. Bigger things take a lot more concentration, I'll bet."
And so, both focus intently on the gap. It takes a moment, but the pixels start to shift. It's a pattern, cycling between primary colors, uneven static, one change and then another, iterations upon iterations-
The floor combines with it. Zooble takes a step backwards, grabbing onto Gangle to pull her back, too. Ragatha wrings her hands. Jax watches, impassively.
Pomni closes her eyes as she focuses. Kinger keeps his firmly on the building bridge.
The floor geometry shifts, jutting out, forming a squished arch from one side to the other. Boards pop into place, supports on the sides, colors still cycling.
In but a few short moments Kinger taps Pomni on the shoulder, she startles, and the bridge stops shifting.
Now, they've got a finished product. A real, genuine bridge, looking wooden and reddish-brown but with a plastic sheen to it, rendered the same way everything else was.
Kinger puts a hand on it, then knocks.
Everyone waits with bated breath.
He turns and gives a thumbs up.
"You two are just.......fucking wizards or some shit. That's crazy." Zooble mutters, tension leaving their frame despite everything.
Pomni takes a step onto the bridge, stomping on it. She too is satisfied, and puts a hand on her hip. "It's easier than it looks. Kinger did most of the hard parts."
"Oh, you're too kind."
Zooble is quick to cross the bridge, having been given permission to. The others follow slower....
....aside from Jax, who turns around and slumps down deadly against a giant block.
Gangle notices first, and she grabs Pomni's wrist, and once she has her attention, gestures silently towards him.
Pomni frowns in his direction, shoots a determined smile and nod in Gangle's, and breaks away from the group. "I'll catch up, you guys go on ahead!"
Jax doesn't look at her as she finds a seat beside him.
Obediently, no one waits up.
"Come on, come on..." Zooble hisses to themself, running zigzag around floor holes as they try to reach their room as fast as possible. Some of the doors they pass have been swallowed up by the glitches, so they already know the safety of their own isn't guaranteed.
They're relieved when they reach their door, seeing it intact.
The relief fades when they open it, and see half the room gone.
Their parts box is gone.
Zooble takes a step into the glitched space anyway, brow furrowed as they survey the wreckage.
.....no, nothing important made it. Their bed was still there, somehow, balancing perfectly with only one leg still on solid ground....but who cared about that.
Just when they'd managed to find solace in it, the freedom to choose was taken from them.
When they turn around, they see Gangle standing in the doorframe.
She surveys the room too, expression crinkled with sympathy. "No luck?"
"No luck." Zooble repeats, trudging back out of the room. Gangle moves out of the way. "How's yours?"
Gangle gestures, and Zooble's gaze is drawn to one of the glitches. Ah, right, that's where Gangle's room normally is. The whole room was gone, eaten by the void.
Gangle seemed to be putting on a brave face, but her smile is wobbly. "I-it's....fine. It's not like I'm missing anything really important, like you-"
Zooble sees the deflection for what it is, and gently reaches out to take Gangle's hands in their own. "It's not a competition. Your sketchbooks mattered to you. Grieve. I won't judge you."
Her tears drop, and are replaced. A few times, even. Her wobbly smile slips, just as the tears do, slowly devolving into a shaky frown.
Ribbon hands squeeze Zooble's own.
Neither of them speak, and though Zooble doesn't vocalize it, they take the moment to grieve, too. Their spare parts, gone, no Caine to bring them back.
A minute passes before Ragatha joins them, hands wringing. "How, uh, goes it?"
Zooble gives a faint shake of their head as answer.
"Right, right. Well, hey, it might not be all bad! If Kinger and Pomni can, um, conjure a bridge, maybe we can conjure our stuff we're missing? It might work like that, I'm no expert..."
For a moment, all their grief is forgotten. Zooble's expression flattens out. "Wait. Wait a goddamn minute." They demand. Gangle squeezes their hand again. "Where's Kinger? I need a tutorial."
"Looking at his room, I think? We could probably regroup there."
They meet up with Kinger outside his door, and with little fanfare he begins a demonstration. "You need to visualize what you want. Reach inside yourself."
Gangle is eager, and she holds out her hands. She closes her eyes. "Visualize...!"
"If you're having trouble, try setting specific parameters in your head." He pauses, and then holds both his hands palm up. With a brief hum, he summons a pair of butterflies, one in each hand. One of them is static, and falls into his palm. The other flaps its wings, hovering above his hand. "Imagining the item in use, or in motion, can give you a more specific result."
Gangle does a quick nod, and though she doesn't open her eyes, she begins to mime drawing with her ribbons.
A moment later, a sketchbook falls into them.
She lets out a delighted gasp, mouth agape as she turns to Zooble.
Impressed, Zooble claps. "Surrounded by wizards!" They reiterate. "You picked that up quickly."
"I-I think knowing we can do it is the only real hurdle. And our imaginations." Gangle replies, smiling bashfully.
"Well shit, if it's really that easy..." Zooble holds out a hand, too, and then points at the ground with it. They imagine their parts box, go through the mental motions that they did every day, swapping parts out in their mind's eye.
And sure enough, their Zoobles box appears.
But with far less parts in it than usual.
They squint. "Ok no way it's just me with dud magic." They mutter, kneeling down to go through it. They realize what the catch was pretty quickly: the only parts in here were the ones they were imagining using when they summoned it.
.....wait, if it's that simple....?
They imagine an arm that would fit on a Barbie doll, and focus hard on the box.
It appears in the box.
They lift it out with shaky hands. "Holy shit. Gangle, holy shit."
"It's so nice, not hearing you censored." Gangle says, quiet, sheepish, but when their eyes meet she's smiling.
Zooble lets out a laugh of genuine euphoria. They swap out one of their arms for the doll arm immediately, and while it definitely beats a good few of their other parts, they don't feel any kind of immediate dopamine hit like they'd been expecting.
Still, they flex a properly-proportioned human arm for the first time in a while, and it feels right.
Ragatha too is happy for her. "Oh, you can make your own parts! I'm so happy for you, Zooble!"
"It's different. I might have to sketch out what I want for the rest of me, now that I have a real choice."
"....I don't remember, can you swap out your torso, too? I feel like I've seen you in other colors." Gangle ponders.
"...I think I could? I haven't tried that in a while but I'm willing to ship of theseus myself."
Gangle giggles.
Kinger waves them over, beginning to walk back towards the main room. "Let's meet back up with Pomni and Jax. I'm sure they'd like to know how we fared."
Zooble watches their box, for a moment, wondering if they really wanted to leave it behind. Hypothetically they could summon it whenever they wanted, right? They didn't have to lug it around with them.
Ragatha and Kinger are moving on, but Gangle waits, watching Zooble with soft eyes.
With a heavy heart, they elect to leave it. It was fine. Better than fine! A little bit of separation anxiety wouldn't kill them. They let out a sigh.
Gangle approaches, and gently takes their doll hand. "You ok?" She asks softly.
Zooble could never lie to her. "Better than I could be, honestly." They say simply. Then, after a pause, they continue, "...thanks, for worrying about me."
Her smile is so gentle, it makes their chest ache. Tears glimmer in the lowlight, expression pinched.
....Zooble looks back towards Kinger and Ragatha. Right this second, what they want isn't to follow. They want to stay here, with Gangle, separate from the group. See if anything happens.
They wonder if Gangle knows how she makes them feel. They suspect the feelings are mutual, but...they still haven't confessed.
....they can't muster up the nerve. The timing feels wrong.
They sigh, still holding Gangle's hand. "Let's...go meet the others."
She gives a faint nod, squeezing their hand. They walk back together.
Kinger ends up giving the group a tutorial, once they're all together again. Jax stares into space, disassociative, but the others listen with bated breath.
A plan is made. They had the power; they could all fix the circus. Repair what was broken, make it better, the way they wanted.
It was their circus now. They could decide how it was run.
The obvious step one was patching all the holes, so two by two they went, doing what they could to fix things. Ragatha was struggling the most with conjuring so Kinger went with her, Jax was definitely still unstable so Pomni wasn't leaving him alone, and Zooble and Gangle....went together, because that's how things went with them, didn't it? Attached at the hip. Acknowledging it only as much as they weren't flustered by it.
They were slow and methodical, with their patching. Zooble hated looking into the expanse of void below everything. They could still see that pulsing black thing at certain angles. It unnerved them.
Gangle patched each hole with a different pattern. This one had spots, another had tiger stripes, another intricate swirls. She seemed to be having fun with it. She kept glancing at Zooble every few patches or so.
Zooble was having a little more trouble. Well, not really, they just weren't as confident. Gangle conjured like it was an art she'd studied, miming sketching as she went, moving with flourishes of her ribbon hands. Zooble just pointed and squinted, imagining the floor stretching to reconnect.
They do their work quietly for a while, but eventually Gangle speaks up. "...do you feel better, now that you have that arm?"
It's a question they only somewhat know how to answer. "....a little. It's definitely better than most of my parts...but it's not perfect." They lower their voice, closing a floor gap with a sweep of their hand. They stare at the human palm. "I don't know what perfect looks like."
Gangle hums. "Maybe....it's the uncanny valley? The rest of you isn't exactly human-looking, so something that does doesn't match?"
She was so smart. Zooble sighs, clenching the fist. "Maybe. I kind of feel like that with most of my parts already. It's just...less with this one."
She's quiet, at that. Zooble looks up and notices she's taken a few steps towards them, closing a meager gap. "....you wanted to draw your own parts, now that we can conjure, right?" She opens her hands, and several sketchbooks fall into them. "We can do that right now, if you want."
She extends her hands, offering the sketchbooks.
Zooble feels...warm. "Aren't we supposed to be busy, fixing the gaps?"
"It can wait." Gangle replies. "You deserve to feel comfortable."
Shaky hands take one of the sketchbooks. "...thanks." They say, voice cracking embarrassingly. They felt seen, deliciously vulnerable. Gangle was practiced at bringing out that side of them. Keenly, they were aware of this fact. They had no intention of fighting it.
They both sit. Zooble opens the sketchbook, but it isn't empty. They flip through pages of various anime characters, a few of Ragatha... and themself. Lots of sketches of themself, actually. Wow.
Gangle buries her face in her hands. "J-just skip to the end, I only filled this one halfway, aaaaaaah...!"
Zooble laughs light. "They're really good, Gangle. I like how you...picture me. It's nice." They don't get an outside view of themself often. Mirrors didn't count, those just reflected their own perspective.
Gangle's version of them was so much easier to love. It was baked into every detail.
They could have this if they were brave.
Respectfully, though, they skip ahead to a blank page. They hold out an empty palm, and conjure a pencil to drop into it.
Gangle watching, they began to sketch a new everything.
They remembered well enough what they looked like when human, they hadn't been here so long as to forget that...but chasing a perfect recreation of it would be pointless. It was like Gangle had said: uncanny valley. They wouldn't be able to put together a full body Barbie and have it feel right. They needed something more personal.
What comparisons could be made? What parallels could be drawn? What were they, if not specifically human?
They remember being broader, for starters. They sketch out a torso that's more top-heavy. Blotches more symmetrical than the spots on their current one. Color....they weren't sure. They could color it after.
They wanted something artsy, interesting to look at. Maybe something they could change, moment to moment? They sketch out an arm made of clay. Having the ability to mold it into different shapes if they desired was...appealing. They decide to keep the doll arm for the other one, but they sketch out a version of it with a sleeve's worth of tattoos. Maybe they could be drawn on, with markers? They notate that so they don't forget.
.....hm. They hadn't hated having four arms during the gun adventure. They didn't want that many all the time, though. They sketch out a wing, feathery but batlike too, with a paw rather than a thumb claw. Something that could grasp, but didn't need to be perfectly articulate. Options. Options were what mattered.
Legs, legs....they usually prefer their right leg to be inorganic. They're used to that, it's familiar. Reminds them of their prosthetic. Any bit of reality was nice. They sketch something variable, a spinning piece that could go from peg to wheel. The other.....they weren't as sure.
They jump a little as Gangle leans into their side. "This looks really cool so far, Zooble." She says softly, awe in her voice.
It warms them, again. "I....guess I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I don't like. I'm glad this doesn't look like just...random shit on a page."
She giggles, the sound of it light and free. "You're a good artist, Zooble. I'd never call anything you made 'just random shit.'"
Lack of mouth be damned, Zooble smirks. "Swear again."
Gangle beams. "Shit!" She cheers.
They laugh. "That'll get old fast, probably, but it's nice right now." They lower the pencil....but pause, lifting it back up.
Gangle tilts her head cutely. "Artist block?"
".....no, I...." Zooble's digital heart pounds, and for a moment, they can't articulate why.
But as they look at Gangle, staring up at them with gentle curiosity, they understand their own sudden fluster.
They want Gangle to design the last few missing parts: the leg, the head ornaments, and chest piece. They want to have something of hers, her touch, to be part of them. There's no one in this life they trust more.
She's a part of them already, deep down.
They hand her the sketchbook. "....I think I want your input on this, actually."
Gangle takes the book, but not the pencil. "What kind of input? I don't want to overstep, this is about your body. That's really, really important."
Taking it seriously; warm, warm. Zooble hands her the pencil. "I'd like it if you designed the rest, actually."
Gangle's eyes go wide. She rapidly blinks away her tears. "Y-you, what? You want me to-" she hides behind her ribbons, mask tinting pink.
So cute. "Of course. There's no one I trust with this more than you." They pause, unsure for a moment, but they commit to a little teasing. "You draw me a lot, so you must have some idea in your head of what would look good on me, right?"
Gangle lets out a tiny squeal. "Hey, don't, now wait a second...!" She waves her hands around. "I have thoughts about character design sometimes but I don't know if I'm qualified for....this! It's your body! What if you hate what I pick??"
Hypothetically possible. Zooble elects for more honesty. "Then I'll swap it out. That's what I've been doing, right? I might not even like all the stuff I've sketched in practice. I just....want to see what you'd pick, if it was up to you. Humor me."
Still looking a little flustered, Gangle slowly lowers the pencil. "Um. I...." She shuts her mouth. Opens it....shuts it again. She leans forward over the sketchbook as if to hide it from view. "O-ok."
They nod back, and wait.
Gangle scribbles quickly. She scrambles to shove the sketchbook back into Zooble's hands after barely three minutes. "This is a daunting amount of responsibility so I only picked your head thingies!! Sorry, I'm sorry, I just would hate to waste your time-"
Zooble reaches out to hold one of Gangle's hands.
She shuts up.
Zooble surveys the 'head thingies' she picked, and nods approvingly. One was a short, curving-inward devil horn. The other was a long, flowing antenna that resembled a moth's. The asymmetry was appealing, and additionally these were both things that made sense to be on a head, which was more than a lot of their usual head ornaments had going for them. "No complaints here. Thank you."
Gangle squeezes their hand, staring very hard at the floor. "A-any time."
That left a chest ornament (which if they were being honest with themself was optional) and a left leg. They usually gravitated towards shoe-like feet...but if they have complete freedom then they ought to go a bit silly with it. They sketch out something raptorial, reptilian with claws. They'd never found any feet like that in their box, so maybe that was the secret thing they'd been missing.
Eh. Maybe, or maybe not. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they didn't get it right on the first try.
They had all the time in the world to figure it out.
Regardless, that's a full body custom-designed, minus the head. They didn't think they could swap their head itself out, and even if they could then that would be a bit too much separation from their sense of self. At least one thing had to be consistent.
With an exhale, they set the sketchbook in their lap, and look at what they've drawn. Gangle leans on them again as she too looks it over.
They normally looked....noisy, for lack of a better word, but the design on the page kicked it up a notch above normal. So much was going on, and while they currently still felt good about it, it hadn't been colored yet.
....they could decide on colors when they conjured it, right? Pomni didn't know what color to make the bridge until she and Kinger were finished with it.
"I like it! It's very you." Gangle says.
".....moment of truth. Making it real." Zooble replies, standing up and holding the sketchbook out in front of them. They hold out their hand, and focus.
The parts pop in, one by one. They pause, shifting things between colors until they were satisfied. The torso looked best in grayscale, the clay arm a muted brown, reptilian leg a bright green...paw-wing red, no, purple. Other leg, light and wooden with a pair of reddish-black wheels. Devil horn black, moth antenna beige....white? No, beige looked better.
....the parts all fall to the ground in a pile once they're made. The clay arm isn't holding its shape very well. The sockets on the torso are the wrong sizes.
With a huff, they adjust. With a pinch, the sockets shrink. They mold the clay arm into something more deliberate, and it stops falling apart. They attach it to the new torso...and then pause.
They look at Gangle. Gangle is looking over their work with eyes wide with interest. She notices the pause. "What's up?"
It's a flustering question. This is pushing it. They know they should reasonably cool it until they're actually dating (please god let that happen), but...
...the idea of getting Gangle's help with this feels vital. Necessary. They could put their head on the new body themself, maybe, but they really want it to be Gangle.
They want it to be her who puts them together.
Their wing and antennas twitch. They tap their foot. Gangle fixes them with a look that's worried, now. "Zooble?"
They spit it out carefully, like a toothpick in the mouth of someone more successful at nonchalance. "....I think I. Need your help. With this."
Blink blink blink. "My help...?"
Zooble nods, breathing deep. "....I think this body will collapse once I move my head onto the other torso, but if all the new limbs are already on it when I do, it'll be overwhelming, sensory-wise. S-so I think I need a body mediator."
Gangle's expression softens, her smile shy. "I...can do that. If you really trust me with this."
"I trust you." They confirm.
She stands up, sets her sketchbooks down, and rests a now free hand against the larger torso. Her mask tints pink. She clears her throat, adjusting the torso so it was properly propped against the block they'd been leaning on. "....wh-whenever you're ready, Zooble."
....maybe this would be intimate for both of them. They try not to get too excited. It was just....maintenance. With their (probably mutual) crush. Either they both acted normal about it or they both didn't.
....they'll put the ball in her court. Whatever this was, it would be up to her.
They lean down a bit, and close their eyes. "Ready."
Gentle ribbons loop around their head, and pull; it dislodges with a pop. The neck is a separate piece, which she notices, tucking Zooble's head under her arm to grab at that, too. It detaches easily, and she sticks it in the new torso's socket.
Zooble doesn't open their eyes until their head is placed on the new body, and they're just in time to watch their old body collapse, just as they predicted. It's an out-of-body experience, but they disregard it. They were used to it; not fond of it, but used to it.
Next, Gangle pries the doll arm from the collapsed pile and sticks it in the top right socket. Then, she frowns. "Wait, no, it's asymmetrical; you put your left arm on the top socket, but the right one on the lower one. The top right socket is for your wing thingies." She explains, almost to herself, prying the arm from the socket and moving it down.
The sockets tingle, a little, where her ribbons trace them. Or maybe they just feel tingly in general. "You really do notice those things, don't you?"
Gangle blushes. "O-oh, of course. You're so....distinct, and interesting..."
They can't help themself. "Interesting to draw, right?"
She squeaks. "Maybe.....!"
They breathe out a chuckle, and Gangle flusters further. She swiftly turns around, leaning down to grab things from the parts pile.
She pries out the wing first. Purple, feathered, with a paw. She gently traces the socket with a ribbon before inserting it.
Gentle was the key word, Zooble was noticing. She was so careful with them, with their parts. Treating them like something precious. Like fine art, maybe?
There's a metaphor in there somewhere. Hope dances in their chest. Something like a heartbeat thrums.
They flex the wing, clench the paw into a fist. Nod. "So far so good."
She nods back, posture gaining a smidge of confidence. "Ok, dinosaur leg next?" She pulls it out of the pile...and runs a ribbon along the length of it, discretely admiring. "These are really well-done scale details."
The find themselves bashful in the face of her praise, and they play it off as best as they can. "I'm good at visualizing, I guess."
"Really good!" Gangle agrees, turning back around to carefully attach the leg.
Zooble feels it keenly, holds in a satisfied sigh. They bend the limb, flex the raptorial toe claws.
.........still not perfect, but better than their usual. Usually they didn't have any really organic-looking parts in their box, aside from a few of their wings, so even if it wasn't human, the lizard leg was new in a good way.
Gangle struggles a bit with the next part, the swappable leg. It's much skinnier than the raptor leg, and the part that spins isn't locked, so it's hanging between-states. Making a right angle that prevents it from reaching the floor.
Gangle attaches it anyway, continuing to fiddle with it afterward. Eventually she gets it to lock, in the wheels down position. She looks proud of herself. "This one's neat!"
"Yeah, I like it too. Voluntary wheel. Wheel I can opt out of without having to change parts." Zooble states. "Just the head bits left?"
She nods, and they lean forward, presenting the ornaments still attached. With both arms attached to the new body, technically they could've done this last bit themself. But they don't want to. The process so far had felt...caring. Soft. They want her to finish it.
A ribbon wraps around one antenna, then the other. They dislodge with pops, and Gangle sets them down. "You...really do like what I picked, then? You weren't just saying that?" She asks, quiet, shy, fiddling with her hands and staring hard at the floor.
Zooble softens, reaching out with the clay arm intending to cup Gangle's cheek....but they falter. This wasn't up to them, right now it was up to her what this was.
They make to withdraw, but Gangle is faster. With eyes squeezed shut, she reaches out with one ribbon to pull Zooble's hand to its intended destination. Her face is alight with fluster, and she's still so cutely squinty, but she stays where she is, holding Zooble's hand to the side of her mask.
They could work with that. They rub at her mask with their thumb, and Gangle relaxes even as her fluster intensifies. "Of course I meant it. Lying would be playing with your feelings; I wouldn't do that to you."
She gives a shaky smile, at that. "H-ha, I didn't think so..." She says softly, daring to peek one eye open- only to immediately shut it with a squeak.
Zooble laughs a little. "What?"
"You're just, looking at me, like that!" She covers her face with her free hand. "How am I supposed to react??"
"Like what?" Zooble teases gently, continuing to rub a circle into Gangle's cheek. With their other hand, they reach up and pull her hand away from her face. "C'mon, I wanna see you."
Gangle flails her hand out of their grip and backs away out of range; for a moment they worry they've upset her, but she's giggling to herself. "Zooblllllle!! Let me at least put the last of the parts on you before you.....d-do whatever!!"
They lean forward again, imagining a grin. "Whatever you want."
She nods once, twice, and picks up the last two parts. The devil horn she twists into the socket, which makes Zooble shudder. The moth antenna clicks into place next, and Gangle gently brushes it behind their head rather than in front of it.
Her hand lingers on the side of their head. Zooble lets it.
Sheepish, shy, she brings her other hand up to rest atop the pointy side of the other end of the triangle. Then she just....watches. Brows furrow, then unfurrow, white face dusting pink anew.
But then, she seems to get self-conscious and backs off, pulling her ribbons away to wring them. "Th-that should be everything, yeah? Does it all feel alright?"
....she clearly wants this too, right? The signs are clear, she's just faltering in the confidence department. Maybe them being passive was giving her mixed signals? Zooble squints. "Feels....fine. Not perfect, but way better than my norm."
Moment of truth. They push off the wall, and stand.
They're lopsided, a bit. The weight this torso carries is different than what they're used to. With a kick, they swap the wheel for the peg, test how it holds them up. They stretch both arms above their head and hum.
...yeah. Not perfect, but way better than normal. They'd just have an adjustment period to deal with the way their sense of balance has shifted.
They look down -oh, this torso exaggerates their height discrepancy a bit- and give her their best smile. "Thank you, for your help with that."
She blinks up at them, and then looks away with continued fluster. "Oh, oh it was no trouble. You look....nice."
....Zooble is tired of waiting and tired of dancing around it. Gangle deserved a leap of faith. "So, now I'm all put-together. What do you wanna do now?" They ask smoothly, leaning forward, eyes half-lidded.
Clearly that does something to her because she squeaks again. "Ahhh, you keep looking at me like that!! How am I supposed to think in these conditions?!"
She walks backwards until her back hits another block. "Really putting me on the spot here, Zooble..!"
.....is she setting herself up to be kabedon'd? They think they know her well enough to make that guess an educated one. Still, they have to be sure she's not actually wanting distance. "I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I? I can stop if you-"
"Please don't oh my god I want this so bad-!" Gangle blurts, bold, and then slaps her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god." She mumbles, muffled.
Zooble laughs, relieved. "Good, good."
"Oh my god I sound so desperate...!"
"Gangle."
"I'm pathetic, we were being subtle and I ruined it-"
"You didn't ruin anything."
"But I-"
Zooble closes the distance. Gangle shuts up, stares up at them, and watches in flustered delight as Zooble's clay arm plants itself above her shoulder. Her hands still cover her mouth, but it's pretty obvious how hard she's smiling. In fact, she seems to be holding in some giggles, too.
Zooble laughs light, too, at the display. Why were either of them trying to be subtle in the first place? Watching this was way more fun. "You're adorable." They remark.
"Oh, you!" Gangle chirps back, waving a bashful hand. "You!!"
"Me. Now, are you gonna tell me what you want, or am I gonna have to get it out of you some other way?" The doll hand drifts down, hovering above where Gangle's hip would be if she had one, but no contact is made. Zooble waits.
Gangle giggles to herself, mask still dusted pink. "Oh, well, if I can make requests-"
A laugh back. "Of course."
She wrings her ribbons and looks up with big eyes. "It would be so so nice of you to, um, pick me up and hold me against the wall." She answers quickly, nearly tripping over the words. "If you want!! We can also do something else if-"
An arm loops underneath her, and once again, she is silenced. They adjust, and Gangle is propped up. She seems very happy about this situation. Zooble can tell because she's kicking her feet and squealing.
"You have good ideas, Gangle. See what happens when you share them?" They ponder aloud.
"You are, so nice to me. This is the best day of my life."
A hand caresses the side of Gangle's mask. "I'm glad I could give that to you, then. You deserve it." They say gently.
That's apparently Gangle's last straw, because she tips forward-
-and presses her face against Zooble's with a soft clink.
It....takes a moment for Zooble to understand what Gangle is doing. Neither of them have the parts to do it traditionally. Gangle has a mouth, but she doesn't have lips, nothing three-dimensional. Nothing she can use to put weight where there isn't any.
But all the same, Zooble understands.
This is a kiss, isn't it?
Gangle is kissing them.
Even without the substance, the feelings shine through. They press their face back against hers. The movement is mirrored, and even without lips or anything like them, they meet in a push and pull that means something. Miming, little more than miming, but their minds fill in the blanks.
One hand still holds Gangle up, but the other finds the small of her back. Their paw-wing reaches, taking the clay hand's place at her cheek. Gangle pulls away for only a brief moment, to smile so wide and delightful.
Zooble mirrors it as best as they can with no mouth, and chases. Their triangular head bonks into Gangle's mask with another clink.
"Hehehehe, Zooble!" She giggles, wrapping both ribbons around Zooble's head to pull them closer and keep them there.
"I'm not going anywhere, you know."
"I know! I'm just really, really happy!" She nuzzles her face into Zooble's, blinking away happy tears.
They feel the smile in their chest. The push and pull returns, eager and giddy. It must've looked so silly from the outside, but for once, Zooble isn't preoccupied thinking about appearances. They just want to relish in the happy moment, drink in the sound of Gangle's laughter.
There's a break in it, the moment paused with a gasp from Gangle.
"Hm?"
"I just got an idea. You're still missing a part, right? The chest piece?"
Zooble shrugs. "Technically. I'm not missing it that much, all things considered." They pull away from her to assess her expression. She looks contemplative. "Why? Also why now?"
The sheepishness returns. "Well, I....maybe I'm overstepping-"
"Impossible, but go on."
"-but...you wanted me to make it earlier, right? I...think I know what I'd like to see on you."
Zooble nods in permission, and Gangle unwraps their head, holding her hands out between them.
A moment later, an ornament drops into them. They have to crane their neck to see it, but when they do, they soften in sentimentality.
It's a heart.
It starts out a gray hollow shape, but Gangle alters it minutely. Fills it in, shifts its hue. Turns it green first, then red, and then a red-yellow gradient. That seems to be what she settles on, smiling as she shyly holds it out to them.
Though they still hold her, Zooble adjusts, giving them a bit of space between them; enough space for Gangle to attach it herself, if she wants.
She notices, and blushes again, but nevertheless presses the heart to Zooble's chest. She has to feel around to find the magnet, which isn't quite in the same spot as it is on the other torso, but find it she does.
And, yeah, maybe they were biased, but they approve of her choice. It felt nice.
She put them together, and helped them find their heart.
Who else ever could have?
She opens her mouth and just starts talking. "It's a gradient because a yellow heart symbolizes friendship and a red one is....r-romance." She falters, gaze searching. "....a-are we-?"
"Gangle." Zooble laughs. "Of course we are."
Gangle sags with relief and presses her mask to Zooble's chest. "Oh thank god."
Another laugh. "Did you think we were kissing a whole bunch as like, a friend thing?"
"Whuh, we could've been!! And it was barely kissing, I mean, I liked it and it was great, because you're great, but I would definitely've been down with kissing you as a friend thing too if that's why we were doing it so-" She shakes her head and whimpers out, "-I'm gonna stop talking now, I'm digging myself into a hole."
"No you're not." Zooble replies gently, caressing the back of her mask, the front still occupied. "For what it's worth, I love you both ways."
She squeaks, and gently bangs her fists against their torso. "I'm never gonna get used to that! Go easy on me!"
"Maybe I don't want to. Maybe I think you deserve to be smothered." Zooble teases, nuzzling her gently.
A giggle escapes Gangle, at the touch. "Noooo, haha, dooooon't...!"
They pepper the top of her mask in imagined kisses, relishing in her giddy sounds. Eventually she manages to pry her face out of Zooble's chest, and press her mask between their eyes again.
The push and pull returns, soft and languid. A small part of Zooble thinks they were probably meant to get back to fixing holes in terrain at some point....but that part is cast out for being a killjoy.
If they had forever, they were going to use it however they liked. And right then, they liked Gangle quite a bit.
No matter what the future held, they'd be fine with it, now that they had freedom.
Now that they had Gangle.