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estro-gem · 5 months

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Zooble x Gangle: Wind beneath Wings

The Amazing Digital Circus AU: Oasis

Author's note:

I want more content about these two! This is mostly fluffy Gangle-centric shenanigans, but I have a nice little Zooble-centric fic planned next.

For now, it's just our lil' bean being a lil' bean.

And also being a lil' minx. I want Gangle unhinged and set loose.

I want it so bad!

Warnings: Eh... nothing really worth calling out...

Awkward comments that may or may not count as flirting? Objectifying.

Misunderstandings.

Non-cis couple struggles/panic.

Nothing really triggering, I think (I hope).

SUMMARY:

Gangle and Zooble hangs out in the main room, the day after Pomni's arrival. The situation ends up with Gangle awkwardly trying to comfort the jester.

Things get worse as Pomni oversteps her boundaries, chasing Gangle back into Zooble's arms for comfort. Fluff and gossip ensues. That's about it.

Oh, Jax and Ragatha is there too!

All characters belong to Gooseworx.

WIND BENEATH WINGS

“Oi… newbie is NOT doing ok…”

Zooble’s words were mumbled to themself more than to their partner, who was currently wrapped and twisted around their torso and arms. Gangle’s comedy mask was dangling over their right shoulder, hanging upside down. Looked like Gangle was in a goofy mood today, if not strangely more clingy than usual. The Zolo-being couldn’t help but wonder if the new arrival from the day before had their partner feeling particularly protective. The thought alone left Zooble with a rush of fuzzy heat.

It's not like Zooble’s face gave anything away.

Pomni had just crept into the main area of the tent, fidgeting her hands together by tugging at the gloves fitted around their fingers. She didn’t notice them lounging idly on the colourful props that was collectively shoved to the side. Zooble figured that the only reason why they weren’t spotted yet, was because their body seamlessly blended in with the surroundings – even Gangle looked like a discarded Christmas decoration draped around them.

“You’re telling me things I already know, Zooble.” She dismissed, only swinging her head from side to side as she spoke with a hushed voice, “I noticed.”

“You always do, Smiley.” Zooble also replied in a soft tone to mirror her partner.

“Yes, I do.”

When did Gangle become so smug? She’d give Jax a run for his money if she kept it up…

Although it was not uncommon for the couple to break character when alone, there was something about Gangle’s mannerisms that had Zooble concerned. She was fixated on Pomni’s uncertain movements despite the light sway of her head. Every time Pomni would sweep to layout of the area with their eyes, the ribbonoid would tense up for the second that the jester’s eyes fall over their position, only to just miss them.

It wasn’t until Gangle snickered when Zooble realized that she wasn’t unnerved, but rather anticipating.

Waiting.

The sentient Zolo-sculpture huffed in amusement, “You hunting, little owl?”

“I can’t help but feel the unbearable urge to mess with her.” Gangle spoke almost numbly.

“Oh? Isn’t that Jax’s job?” Zooble quipped amused, “You have me believe that he has a bad influence on you.”

“Oh hush! I know you feel it too…” Gangle laughed, “You probably want to get back at everything that happened to you when you were still new here.”

“Nah, don’t care much for it anymore” they sighed. They couldn’t care enough about ruining someone else’s day while they had to focus on getting through their own.

Just drifting along peacefully, with their beloved Gangle.

Gangle stopped swinging her upside-down head, to stiffen her neck into looking at the triangular-faced abomination she cared for so dearly. Zooble’s heart almost jumped out of their chest when they felt the ribbons faintly constrict around their body, just to fall slack within the next moment.

“What if I care for it?” Gangle asked innocently. Her feral smile was not so innocent.

“Ay, ay!” Zooble mocked a stern tone, “Don’t go rogue now, you need to be nice-and-quiet-little-Gangle. What are you trying to be? A barer of chaos or something?”

“It’s so…” Gangle, once again distracted by Pomni’s shaking form, turned her head to fixate on the little jester again, “…tempting.”

“Oh, so I’m not tempting enough anymore, huh?” Zooble teasingly asked. Gangle wouldn’t stop eyeing Pomni, testing Zooble’s patience more than they were willing to admit.

“Hmmm…” Gangle mused, apparently in deep thought, “I think I prefer my meat a bit… fresher.”

That did it.

“That’s not what you said last night, YOU LITTLE #$@%&!!!” Zooble bellowed, digging their digits into the ribbons wrapped around their torso.

Gangle couldn’t stifle the abrupt squealing laughter that broke from her mouth. She spasmed as she desperately tried to break free from the Zolo-being, but to no avail. Her blasted ribbons got tangled and she didn’t possess the coordination to unravel herself when Zooble was responsible for her spasmic jerking. Her partner could be relentless when it came to tickle-fights.

She always lost.

“OkAY! Okay! Uncle! UNCLE!” Gangle practically screamed between her hysterics. It was music the Zooble’s ears, so they had no intent to stop just yet.

“Uncle? Who’s she? Don’t know her.” Despite Zooble’s enthusiastic motions, their voice appeared bored and uninterested.

“ZOOB, I can’t breATHE!”

“That’s ok, we can’t die here anyway…”

CRASH

In a flash, Zooble stopped and jumped at least 5 feet away from the source of the noise that interrupted their antics. Gangle was tightly wrapped around them, so to shield her, they grabbed her mask and nearly crushed it against their torso.

Their eyes land on Pomni, now alarmingly close, with a broken flowerpot at their feet and frazzled look on her face that never seemed to go away – it just varied in intensity. Gangle squirmed for Zooble to release her mask so she could turn her face to see, but the Zolo-being didn’t budge until the initial shock was gone and their mood was killed.

No fun today, it seemed.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Pomni frantically apologized, “I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I knocked into this block, and it knocked over-”

“Yeah, whatever, don’t care.” Zooble dismissed, rolling their eyes, “It pays to have situational awareness, by the way.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt!”

“Well, you did. Deal with it and move on.”

“But I-”

“Shut it and move on, jester!” Zooble cut Poni off, cringing uncomfortably as they turned on their heels and took long strides to walk away. They don’t let Gangle, now unraveling herself off them, slow them in the slightest. Zooble sauntered their way over to Jax, who just walked out into the main area himself, seemingly amused by whatever expression the Zolo-creature sported. Gangle only glanced back to her partner before turning around – her eyes now fixed on Pomni, suddenly wearing her tragedy mask.

When did she switch out her masks?

“They meant it literally, Pomni.” Gangle suddenly piped up with a gentle, but now raspy tone, “They accepted your apology and gave you good advice; around here, it’s best not to dwell on things. It will make you abstract faster.”

Pomni’s frown was replaced by a perplexed expression upon hearing the ribbonoid’s explanation.

“They looked so… bothered.” Pomni eyed the tears on Gangle’s face, “And you look miserable. You were laughing just now.”

“They are bothered, but not exactly by you, don’t worry.” Gangle didn’t bother trying to muster up a sad smile – it was too much effort for someone she didn’t trust yet, “I figured a happy face is the last thing you would want to be comforted by.”

“Actually, for a second, it made things seem more… normal?” Pomni chuckled awkwardly, stepping closer. “You actually have a cute laugh – I wouldn’t mind hearing it again some time.”

“Zooble loves my laugh too, they just won’t admit it – so don’t tell anyone!”

Pomni laughed a bit. Gangle was bombarded with the feeling of 2 mismatched eyes burning into her back, but didn’t turn to look just yet. That would give her partner mixed signals…

“Yeah, I’m not surprised!” Pomni took another step forward, tugging at her hair strand that was framing her face, “It’s a shame to see you cry, though… you’re smile lights up the room…”

This was getting interesting, in an uncomfortable way.

As soon as Pomni took a step forward, Gangle took a step back. Too close. The jester was getting just a little too close and saying things that were just a little too comfortable. She couldn’t tell what Pomni’s intentions were – just that she was new, scared and desperate for support – which was expected! But just how desperate Pomni was, was yet to be determined.

Despite the prior fantasies of Gangle toying with Pomni, that was all they were. Fantasies. It was never something that Gangle would ever act upon. She was a firm believer in the roles they each had – and judging by how quickly Zooble jumped back into character upon Pomni’s arrival, she was very sure that they shared the sentiment. When the couple was alone, they could be whatever they wanted and where-ever they wanted. Gangle had the knack of taking Zooble far away from the Circus, into their own little fantasies, flying above the clouds while riding on their wind.

Zooble was the turbulent to bring Gangle back down to the desert ground, before Gangle’s wings burnt out. The Zolo-being was very dynamic in her role; capable of passing by as a gentle breeze or lifting the earth to create a sandstorm to pin everyone down. They kept them grounded by living and acting in the moment.

The wind – careless, free and ever-present – never bothered by the matters of anyone else, moving as it pleases despite anyone who may enjoy or dread it. It hits you with heat and sand, biting at your skin to remind everyone that they are still trapped in the desert and that it’s best to find shelter within the hellscape of dunes – pushing those who stray away back – back to the oasis.

The wind always blew towards the oasis. The burrowing owl was happy to fly with it, back to her burrow, where it’s safest.

But as Pomni pushes back into Gangle’s space, despite her gentle prompts, Gangle did not feel so safe anymore.

“Zooble a great partner, we have a good thing going.” Gangle said almost abruptly, “Their rough around the edges, but also just easily misunderstood.”

“Partners, huh…? You two have a circus act together or something?” Pomni asked, genuinely intrigued, her voice shifting into an unknown tone, “I can only imagine what you are capable of! Your body is so weird…”

Gangle internally cringed at the unfortunate misunderstanding, wishing for a way out of the conversation. The whole interaction was draining her in a way that she wasn’t quite used to – having grown close to only a handful of characters over the course of their long stay together.

She didn’t like being ogled at like a zoo animal.

“We all do acts together, depending on what Caine has in store for us.” Gangle said, decisively looking back to Zooble, who was now choking Jax while he clawed at their arm. It was only a moment until Zooble and Jax noticed her gaze, causing them to share a swift glace with each other in their frozen positions, before Zooble loudly called out.

“Hey Gangle, help me kill this guy real quick?” Zooble refused to let Jax go, who managed to choke out something along the lines of ‘save me’.

Gangle’s hero in shining armer.

Gangle glanced at Pomni, “I’ll stop them from doing anything reckless.” She walked towards her friends in a hurry, “I’ll see you around!”

She didn’t wait for Pomni to answer.

When Gangle made it over to her partner and her friend, Zooble dropped Jax to flop onto the floor, almost limp with how he was previously robbed of air.

“All good?” Zooble asked, looking over the ribbonoid.

“Just peachy!” came Jax’s hoarse voice from below, “Thanks for asking!”

The abomination responded in kind by kicking the bunny in the side, who heaved and coughed dramatically. Zooble only rolled their eyes and waited for her partner to answer. Instead of a verbal answer, Gangle responded by lifting her arms towards her partner and waited patiently.

“Gangle wants uppies?” Zooble jested, but swiftly moved to hoist her up, allowing Gangle to wrap and twist her ribbons around her significant other’s torso in no time. It was easy for Zooble to endure. If the masked ribbon didn’t know and better, she wouldn’t have seen the look of mild concern briefly flash over Jax’s face before he dramatically gagged to express his disapproval of the couple’s PDA.

This is what she was comfortable with. This was her people – her home. She could be herself here. Not with some outsider.

Gangle giggle, “As if you and Raggs don’t suck each other’s faces off.”

Jax scrunched his face in disgust, “That’s disgusting… we don’t do that, by the way! I’m not even sweet on her. We’re not even friends.”

“Yeah, you’re right, you definitely aren’t friends.” Zooble piped in, before winking at Jax. They all knew about Jax’s boundaries about touching. They all knew about the deal between the bunny and the ragdoll, even when said bunny and ragdoll didn’t know themselves. Although Jax didn’t seem to pay Zooble’s quiet reassurance any mind, he was noticeably more at ease when he stood up again.

Damn bunny and his micro-expressions.

Zooble diverted their attention back to Gangle upon feeling her cling tighter than usual, “Did something happen?”

“Just hold onto me.” Gangle sighed, gaining the concern of the two surrounding her. No one expressed it, though. Their faces were trained and fixed as they usually were – Jax and his lazy grin, along with Zooble’s careless neutralism.

“What did she do to you?” the Zolo-creature asked casually, effectively hiding how their blood was starting to boil.

“Nothing!” Gangle whined, before whispering something that also resebled a whimper, “…Boundaries.”

“Pushing boundaries?” Zooble asked, quirking an eyebrow as their voice dropped down to its depths.

Gangle only looked ahead, catching the eyes of Jax, who was very intrigued by Gangle’s current state. The eye contact was unintentional, but it was enough for Jax to read something that spawned a sinister smile that could rattle anyone with how icy it appeared.

Spasmic, he abruptly turned his head to directly stare down the jester from across the room.

The snake was hungry again.

“You guys are disgusting. I’m leaving.” Jax exclaimed, stomping off, “Pomni!? Where are ya? I need your stupidity to reset my brain from seeing these lovebirds swapping spit!”

As always, Jax seemed to hit the nail where it hurt the most – for Pomni in this case. There was no way she could misunderstand the relationship between Gangle and Zooble now. When Gangle saw the shock and dread on the little jester’s face, whether it was due to Jax making his way over to her, or if it was due to realizing that Gangle had a significant other, the ribbonoid physically deflated with relief.

Zooble noticed.

“I’ll ask again, what did she do to you – exactly?”

“Probably not something really worth sending her into Jax’s coils, but at the time, she just made me uncomfortable.” Gangle said, sounding too ashamed for Zooble’s liking.

“Yeah? How? Spit it out.”

“She just… I don’t know, maybe I read too much into it?”

“Gangle.” Zooble took her face in hand to force the masked ribbon to face her. “Spit. It. Out.”

“She seemed flirty at the time!” Gangle babbled out upon request, “Pushy even. She didn’t understand that we… you know…?”

“That you are mine?” So straightforward, as Zooble always were, but it earned a nod from the tear-streaked girl, now a blushing mess.

The abomination huffed, clearly disapproving of the jester’s antics. They were so annoyed when Jax teased them about her ‘smooching up to Gangle,’ but they never thought that there was a hidden truth to the bunny’s words. Maybe they could get him to cough it out by choking it out of him harder next time. Still, the jester had no business making Gangle feel threatened in any way – Zooble’s blood had reason to boil after all.

Zooble wouldn’t show it, though. They calmed themselves with the fact that her girl came running into her arms as soon as she could.

Such a good little minx!

“Mmmkay, I get why Jax hates her now.” Zooble mused as they slowly started to walk to a more secluded area, “I think I’ll hop onto the hate-train too.”

“Don’t bother, she still new.” Gangle whined, not wanting to start or deal with any unnecessary drama, “She’ll learn as time goes by – I was just sensitive. It happens when I have my tragedy mask on-”

“I’m not having this.” Zooble cut in, “You are human, and you have boundaries. She needs to respect that – new or not… And until she learns that; my arms are always open. Anytime. Anywhere. Understood?”

Gangle’s heart wanted to burst, evident by the fresh flow of tears flowing down her face. She nodded, earning a small Zooble-version of a smile as they nuzzle their forehead against Gangle. They couldn’t kiss, but this was as close as they could get it and Gangle wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Now that that’s dealt with, I’d like to watch Pomni get her @$$ kicked by Jax.” Zooble said as they watched Gangle swap out her masks to smile up at them again, “Did you know that he basically hates her?”

Zooble currently lounged near the table, with Gangle wrapped around them, as she should.

“I didn’t know it ran that deep.” Gangle said, squeezing Zooble for a view seconds, watching and giggling as their face darkened with a blush, “I heard that Pomni left Raggs for dead with Kaufmo when he abstracted, so I guess I should’ve figured that one out by now. Oops, I guess.”

“Well, I heard that she shoved Raggs into Kaufmo to save herself.”

Gangle gasped, “No!”

“Yes! Jax didn’t say that specifically, but you know him. You can never get a straight word out of him.”

The couple’s attention got dragged back to Jax, who was currently dangling Pomni in the air by the two pom-poms of her hat, holding her up to flash her his most animalistic, predatory smile Zooble had seen him give. Pomni was curled into herself as best she could, eyes wild with dread.

“I bet he’s going to lose it and bite her head off.” Gangle challenged, earning a chuckle from her partner.

“Nah, I bet he’s gonna punt her across the room.”

Gangle huffed, “Not with those skinny legs.”

Zooble shot her with an incredulous look, “He’s a giant rabbit, have you ever even seen rabbit legs?”

“No, but apparently you saw his legs…?” the ribbonoid jested with a feral grin of her own, “Is there something I should know? Do you swing to both sides of the fence?”

“Don’t start with me, you little-”

“JAX, YOU PUT HER DOWN RIGHT NOW!” they got cut off by the hysterical cry of their beloved ragdoll, jumping into her roll again. While it was good to see her up and about after nearly dying the previous day, they collectively deflated upon the realization that they would not see the who would’ve won their little bet.

Well, there could always be a next time.

And there would, no doubt, be a next time.

For now, the couple was happy to just watch a bunny melt into a puddle at the sight of a ragdoll – something they had trained to spot after years of exposure to Jax’s micro-expressions. The sucker was in so deep for Ragatha, they couldn’t help but silently cheer them on. It was almost too bad that those two kept their affection for each other so silent. It was as if everyone knew that they were a couple, except the two that the couple consisted of.

It was almost tragic…

But it made up for everything by providing one hell of a show.

Some silly fanart/sketches of this fic: (CLICK HERE TO SEE)

Oasis: TADC AU list

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