YEAAAAASSSHHHHH ZOOBLE HAVE ADORABLE GIGGLE AND I FOCKING KNOW IT - Tumblr Posts

STOP WHEN RAGATHA TICKLED ZOOBLE MAKE MY HEART GO BOOM!!!!💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

(QUANDO RAGATHA HA FATTO IL SOLLETICO A ZOOBLE HA FATTO FARE AL MIO CUORE BOOM!!!!💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕)

Caine’s Extravagant Obscure and Explore Championship

TickleTober Day 4: Hide and Seek

Lees: Pomni, Kinger and Zooble

Lers: Jax, Gangle and Ragatha

Summary: Caine’s latest in-house adventure involves the circus members playing a totally not a rip-off version of Hide and Seek. Jax introduces a twist that catches on.

After the events that happened at the Candy Carrier Kingdom, Caine, despite all his ignorance, recognised that the circus members needed a lighter, more fun adventure for their day. Really, they didn’t need some problem to deal with at all, but his artificial mind wouldn’t be able to comprehend that. Instead, her perused through his old files, looking at the games he’d have planned if a child ever entered the circus, before finally landing on one. Obscure and Explore, a play on Hide and Seek because Caine would never stoop so low as to blatantly copy a game, he always had to put his own spin on things.

With a comically large and loud trumpet, Caine emitted a screeching, piercing sound through the tent, enough to penetrate the walls of each circus’ members room, resulting in some annoyed groaning or horrified screaming. It did work however as one by one, they teetered out of their rooms, knowing better than to go against Caine lest he just become more persistent. Once Zooble finally left their room, Caine figured it would be the best time to explain their new adventure.

“Now, I know all of you critters are a little tired after yesterday, so I’ve managed to prepare something that will be sure to give you your fill of absolutely fantastic fun to make up for that!” He cheered, though no one marched his excitement. Ragatha put on a polite face, which was painfully obvious to everyone except him.

“Thanks, Caine,” Ragatha didn’t know when she started treating Caine like a human, but it helped ease her mind to think of him as the same to them, instead of what he really was, a God amongst the tormented. “What is it?”

“I hope your prepared, my dear, for the first annual Extravagant Obscure and Explore Championship! Here’s how it goes, you’ll be spliced into two groups, one the Obscurers, the other, the Explorers! The Obscurers will have one minute to find a place to hide in the tent before the Explorers have to go looking for them! They’ll have one hour to find all the Obscurers, if they do, they’ll win and if they don’t, their loss!”

It wasn’t the worst idea he’d had, it wasn’t pleasing to Zooble to learn that this was an in-house adventure, they’d already had one of those just two days ago. They did not want to have to deal with the others’ today, especially Caine.

“Isn’t that just hide and seek?” Jax asked, placing a hand on his hip as he gazed at Caine with a disinterested stare.

“No, it’s totally different!!” Caine shrieked, waving a dismissive hand at him. “You’ve never played a game like this in a digital world before, have you? And since I’m making this into an annual competition, you’ll be able to count exactly how many years you’ll spend in here!” Caine explained excitedly, though that didn’t seem to please anyone.

“Uh, don’t do tha-.” Pomni was cut off by a snap of Caine’s fingers, teleporting her across the floor of the circus, with Kinger and Zooble standing beside her. Opposite to them was Jax, Ragatha and Gangle, with Caine floating between them. Jax’s team were all given a vest with a large E on it, and a pair of dentures chomping at the centre of the letter that resembled Caine. Pomni’s team had a large O on it, of which the centre was filled with playing cards, vaguely resembling a face.

“Uh, whose this supposed to b-?” Pomn pointed to her vest though she quickly cut off once again.

“Jax, Ragatha, Gangle, you’ll be the Explorers; Pomni, Kingle and Zooble will be our obscures!” Caine said, a little louder than usual.

“Ugh, do I have to?” Zooble groaned, already trying to rip off their vest, though it proved difficult since their head was a triangle.

“But of course, my dear, if we don’t have you than the teams will be uneven, and Bubble hasn’t been allowed to play since The Incident.” Caine steered into the distance as his tone took on a rare seriousness that almost made the others concerned, but he quickly bounced back.

“Bottom line is, you’ll all be participating today so good luck, my dears,” Caine flicked a few buttons on his Wacky Watch ™ and a large, digital timer was displayed at the top of the tent, set to one minute. “Now, once I disappear this timer will start, so Explorers, close your hide to give the others a chance to hide!” Surprisingly, they all complied though Jax was sure to take peaks whenever Caine wasn’t looking. In an instant, Caine had flushed away and the timer began ticking down and down.

“Well, #{$+ this, I’m going back to my room,” Zooble shrugged dismissively, before walking away from her teammates, leaving Pomni and Kinger alone. Pomni was going to awkwardly offer him a goodbye as she went to hide, but he was already staring off into the distance and shaking violently so instead, she just opened her mouth, closed it again before dashing away.

30 seconds. Pomni didn’t know why she was taking any of this seriously, she should’ve ignored whatever Caine was saying to her, none of it mattered anymore. He was just an AI, a few strings of code that didn’t understand them-hey, that table could be a good hiding spot-who had no idea what they even wanted and was only write one out of a thousand times.

15 seconds. Caine was stubborn and cruel, even if it was unintentional, he didn’t save her time of day, any of their time, even Jax’s. She’d gladly leave him here once she got the chance. Why was she taking this seriously? Why was she currently crawling underneath a fake dining table covered in fake food that barely even fit her? Pomni couldn’t answer that, but it was probably something about seeing Ragatha and Gangle excited to go along with this, for whatever reason.

0 seconds. An annoying beeping filled the tent, the two girls opened their eyes to see Jax’s already wide open.

“Well, I’m off to go find the newbie,” he announced, placing his hands behind his back. He didn’t earn a reaction out of the other two but thankfully for his own ego, he wasn’t focused on them at the moment., so they were spared from any further annoyances. Jax was keen on following Pomni, he knew that she couldn’t be holding up all together after yesterday and thought that this would be his chance to make it a little worse for her. He saw her walking off into a side room, where Caine stored the supplies for the feast Bubble prepared for them a little while ago. Jax was expecting to have to put in a little amount of effort to finding Pomni but it was blatantly obvious when he stepped in, spotting the jester’s legs sticking out from underneath the table instnatly, her red and blue shoes sticking out against the golden polygons that textured the floor.

“Oh gee, I wonder where Pomni could be,” Jax’s uninterested, infantilising voice spread through the near empty room as he hopped up on to the table, pretending to look around while Pomni was painfully aware of how obvious she was now, but trying to shuffle her way fully under the table now would just be pathetic, in her opinion. She was just about to announce herself to Jax sourly, before a gloved hand plunged its finger into the back of her knee.

“I-eeeee!!” Pomni squealed at the touch, her legs blindly kicking about, a blush forming on her cheeks from the noise she just produced.

“Oh, clown girl, is that you? What are you doing under there?” Jax grinned to himself, squeezing Pomni’s knee once again before she could respond, producing another loud squeal as well as getting her to kick her feet against the ground in frustration.

“I-it was for aaaaaadventure, ohohobviously, stop thahat!” Pomni screeched at him, trying to shuffle her way out from underneath the table but it was like her legs had turned to jelly, she couldn’t focus on anything when laughing.

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything!” Jax had to hold back a laugh at Pommi’s frustrated cry, continuing to bully her knees by jabbing his thick, gloved fingers into the back of her knees, or just by giving them a good squeezing.

“Jahahahax, if you don’t stop rihihight #¥$^ing now, I swear-!” Pomni got cut off once again, because apparently no one cares about what she has to say.

“You’ll do what?” Jax asked, his voice wasn’t threatening or teasing, it was just knowing, he knew Pomni wouldn’t end up doing anything to get him back for this, either because she was practically stuck at the moment or because she lacked the confidence to enact revenge. All Pomni do was bury her face in her elbows and let put her frustrated squealing and giggles into them, wildly kicking her legs about in hopes that Jax would just get bored trying to keep up with her. Instead, he just dug his hands even harder to the back of her knees, latching into him as his fingers practically vibrated against her skin.

“Jahahahahahax!!” Pomni cried, satisfying his attention fill for the day. “Quihihihit it!” To her surprise, she actually felt Jax’s tough leave her body, although the phantom tickles did leave her a twitchy mess.

“Well, if your too ticklish to handle it,” he shrugged, already making his way to the door as to not have to deal with the consequences of his actions, “tell Dentures I participated if you see him. Oh, and the aim of Hide and Seek is to not get found, by the way.” Jax added unhelpfully before finally deciding to dash off, leaving Pomni to recover and slowly roll her way out from under the table.

•••

Ragatha unfortunately felt like she had an idea on where to find Zooble. Their room. Well, they did announce pretty loudly so it wasn’t a hard deduction to make, but Ragatha would’ve already known. Zooble had a habit of refusing to take part in Caine’s adventures, one that they made no secret of. Maybe it developed from some deep-rooted hatred they have for the ringmaster, or maybe theyjust preferred being left on their own. Either way, it left Ragatha stumped on how to help them, it seemed like the tasks Caine set them on were the only way to keep them sane, but she didn’t want to be too pushy to her friend. She gave a gentle knock to Zooble’s door, being allowed in once she confirmed that it was her.

“Found you!” Ragatha pointed her fingers at Zooble awkwardly, chuckling a little. They were sitting on their bed, back against the frame of it with their knees curled upwards. “You know, it can’t be good to stay cooped up in here all day.” Ragatha commented lightly, but Zooble averted her gaze from here.

“Yeah, no. I’m not living my life based on what someone else wants me to do, especially some AI.” Zooble huffed, if there’s one thing that they remembered from their life, it was a hatred for authority. Being plunged into a world where they had no control whatsoever, not even of how they looked, not even of their own bodies, was a living nightmare and as far as they were concerned, they could think of a good place where Caine could shove his routines.

“Oh well then…could I stay in here with you?” Ragatha offered gently, shocking Zooble lightly, having expected to be met with nothing but persistence. Luckily even Ragatha managed to see that Zooble didn’t need an elaborate adventure right now, maybe just a friend. Wordlessly, Zooble patted a spot next to them on the bed to which Ragatha took delightedly.

“Do you want some help getting that vest off?” Ragatha offered and Zooble immediately felt like a weight has been lifted, happily sighing and breaking out in a rare smile.

“Please,” they confirmed, meekly raising their arms above their head to allow Ragatha to relieve them of their clothing. She got to work immediately, grabbing the cuffs of the sleeves, starting to worm their way up Zooble’s awkwardly shaped arms. Rags that didn’t mess the way Zooble shuddered as her fingers ended up brushing up against what could only be described as Zooble’s armpits.

“Ticklish?” She asked with a small smile, and a tone she found she hadn’t genuinely used in a while.

“Don’t you dare.” Zooble warned them, though after years and years of putting up with Zooble’s rejections, Ragatha could tell that this wasn’t one of their serious grievances, just a playful dispute between friends.

“Oh, but how could I not?” Ragatha lamented with a playful grin, before deciding to plunge her nails into Zooble’s sides. Their skin felt akin to a bean bag, squish able and filled with…something. Zooble let a shriek before bouncing back against the top of her bed frame, wriggling about against Ragatha’s fingers as they kicked their legs back and forth.

“Nohohoho!” They whined, not able to remember the last time she had laughed, or shrieked this much but it felt oddly right in this moment.

“Wow, your such a squirmer, Zoobs!” Ragatha commented playfully, crawling down her fingers to the little bit of torso left exposed by Zooble’s vest, sliding her fingers against the pudgy skin. Zooble couldn’t keep their arms raised any longer, gently batting away at Ragatha’s arms as they whined beneath their breath.

“I’m a fihihihghter!” They corrected her, a few darker shades of violet appearing on their pink face. Ragatha stayed determined however, drilling her thumbs into Zooble’s tummy, which was proving to be a very sensitive spot for the poor enby. Zooble covered their face with their hands to the best of their ability.

“No fair, lemme say that smile!” Ragatha promoted her by jabbing her fingers into Zooble’s armpits, causing them to let out a wild cry and jolt upwards on the bed. Their arms immediately crashed down, wriggling against their sides and trapping Ragatha’s fingers. Zooble tilted their head away from Ragatha slightly, a genuine, happy smile on their mismatched face, with adorable giggles pouring out of it to top it off.

“Adorable.” Ragatha commented gently, circling her fingers against Zooble’s armpits for another few moments before stopping, leaving them a little more than flustered from the whole ordeal. While Zooble was still recovering from the sudden tickling session, Ragatha worked on removing their vest from them, triumphantly pulling it over their head before tossing it across the floor. Zooble leaned their body against Ragatha’s a little, just enough so that their shoulders were touching with Zooble still curled in on themselves.

“I..uh, thank, you know, for all of that,” Zooble commented, staring at a random spot on their bed, not needing to look at Ragatha to know that they were smiling gratefully.

•••

Gangle, armed with their comedy mask, began striding through the tent on her search for Kinger, given that her other two teammates had already went off looking for Pomni and Zooble. Even though Kinger was going to be the hardest to find, Gangle didn’t actually mind that. She got time alone when wandering through the tent, no fear of having her comedy mask being shattered, simply able to put her mind on the task at hand. And credit where credit is due, Kinger was the best Obscurer of their bunch, but time wasn’t an issue in the circus.

Gangle stopped as she noticed something that she probably should’ve taken note of before, a pillow fort, right in front of the stage, with some small muttering and rambling coming from inside. She manoeuvred her way over to the entrance of the smooth, soft cyan and white pillows, swinging her way inside.

“Found you, Kinger!” She announced cheerfully, hunched over in the comfortable spot, able to see Kinger sitting curled up in the corner. For a few moments, he simply sat there in silence looking at her, as if he was zoned out but he was quickly dragged back to reality.

“AHHHHHHHH-oh it’s just you, Gangle.” Kinger smiled once he came to his senses, Gangle initially jumped back startled from his scream but managed to relax. “What are we doing?” He asked, tilting his head.

“Kinger, we were all playing Hide and Seek!” Gangle whined, a little annoyed at herself that it took her so long to find someone who wasn’t even hiding before giggling a little at the fact that he was the person who took the longest to find.

“Oh, well, I found you!” Kinger announced, earning yet another giggle from Gangle.

“It’s the other way around, silly!” Gangle exclaimed, lightly poking Kinger in the side, to which he almost comically bounced back, practically lunging across the cozy fort. The two just stared at each other for a moment, Gangle half ready to apologise but Kinger beat her to it.

“A-ha, my apologies, Gangle, it’s been a while since I was tickled.” Even the word came off of his tongue awkwardly, like it hadn’t been used in a while. When was the last time he’d been tickled? It must’ve been when he was with…

As Kinger searched through his already forgetful mind, Gangle scooted over to him, a little bit of curiosity twinkling through their mask. They extended one of their ribbon-esque arms towards the man, before carefully wrapping it around his stomach beneath his robe. Kinger was too lost in thought to take note of the touch, only beginning to notice it once Gangle began circling her arm around his waist.

“Pfft-ahahahah, Gahahahangle!!” He cried out, curling in on himself even more, but nothing he could do could pull himself free of Gangle’s mischievous arm.

“Sorry Kings, this is just too cute!” Gangle announced, a delightful expression spreading across her mask, adoration being evident in her pitch black eyes.

“I dohohohn’t mind!’ Kinger admitted casually. “Just a bihihit perplexed abohohout why yohohour doing this!” Kinger asked, deciding now was going to be one of his moments where he’d be incredibly perceptive. Gangle paused for a moment in consideration before leaning against Kinger in a comfortable embrace, keeping her arms wrapped around him.

“You just seemed like you haven’t had attention like this in a while…I thought you could use it.” Gangle figuratively let down her mask, finding a chance to be vulnerable on her own terms with Kinger. His eyes squinted in gratitude whilst placing a disembodied hand atop Gangle’s head.

“Thanks, kiddo.”

••••

“Haha, Bubble, that is-that is not funny, that’s tragic.” The remnants of Caine and Bubble’s conversation seeped back into the tent as Caine teleported the two of them back their, ready to check in on the results of his latest adventure. It seemed like the Obscurers were doing their job very well at first glance since he couldn’t see any of them, only catching sight of Jax. Caine immediately flew down next to him, planting his cane on the ground next to the rabbit’s feet.

“Jax, my boy, how’s the adventure go?! Did you have fun?!” Caine asked, and if Jax didn’t know better, he wouldn’t of recognised the desperation in his voice, or in Caine’s widened eyes, fixed on him. Jax simply waved a hand dismissively at the ringleader.

“Oh yeah, Teeth, I definitely had fun!” Jax grinned, more than usual as he choose his wording carefully.

“Fantabulous! Where are the others?! I need to congratulate and/or degrade them for their victory/defeat!” Caine said, gazing around the room. Jax stared him down for a few moments, then looked around the room before shrugging.

“They uh, pretty sure most of them are resting right now. Why not surprise them with that bright and early tomorrow morning?” Jax suggested, already feeling amused as he imagined their reactions.

“Jax, your a genius!” Caine cried, shaking his hand gratefully before floating back up into the air. “Well, I won’t interrupt your rest either, my dear, have a lovely night and remember; I’m always watching!” And with a snap of his fingers, Caine was gone again and Jax was alone. He stared at the empty space where Caine was, then around once more. Casually, he turned and began striding with confidence, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Oi, Pomni, your not still on the floor like an idiot, are you? Come on, I wanna see how much damage we can do to Caine’s stuff before he gets back!”

•••