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Anyone who knew Gangle likely knew that she struggled with anxiety, and had done so for a long time now.
Even before getting trapped in the circus, she had always been the type of kid that most other kids looked at as an easy target for bullying and took full advantage of it.
Gangle had always struggled with standing up for herself, which only worsened things for her.
She couldn't count the amount of times some kids would walk up to her, notice that she was drawing anime characters, call her a weird little weeb, and crumple up the drawings.
Eventually, it got to a point where she just decided to not even bother trying to make any friends. No one would ever like someone as weird and shy and weak as her, after all.
Much to her surprise though, she did eventually make a few close friends that she grew to trust and enjoy hanging out with.
But then it didn't last, as she ended up in the circus.
And of course, circus life wasn't that great.
She thought she had left behind all the trauma of being bullied, but then she just found herself right back in that situation at the gloved hands of a certain purple rabbit.
He had even been the one to name her, much to her absolute dismay.
He had taken one look at the avatar that had become her new body, at the flimsy red ribbons and the fragile porcelain mask. He had then proceeded to comment “gee Crybaby, you look all gangly. Wait…that would make a nice name. You're Gangle now!”
Gangle couldn't say she was happy with that name, but it wasn't like she could remember the name she had been given back in the real world. And even worse, she still couldn't seem to stand up for herself.
But then she found that someone was apparently willing to do so.
The next person who arrived in the circus turned out to be someone with a magenta triangle head and multiple different pieces that made up their body.
They ended up being named Zooble, and Gangle found herself drawn to them for some reason.
She had found herself shocked the first time Zooble interacted with Jax, at the way they didn't even hesitate to fire back at him when they got teased.
They even…choked him.
Gangle remembered how stunned she had felt when she watched all that go down. Someone actually managed to stand up to Jax and not even appear the slightest bit afraid about it?
I'm even more of a coward than I thought, Gangle thought sadly.
Then there was one time Jax was teasing Gangle…again.
He had spotted her drawing. “Crybaby, you didn't tell me you're one of those…losers.”
Gangle curled in on herself with shaking hands, trying not to give in to her tears. She would not give Jax the satisfaction of letting him know that the seemingly small comment got to her so much. It felt as if she had once again become the shy little girl she used to be who endured endless teasing from so many kids she knew.
Zooble happened to be nearby, and they overheard what Jax had said.
Their eyes narrowed into slits as they marched over angrily.
Jax grinned, pointing at Gangle's sketchpad. “Hey, Zoobie. Look at th-”
He was then cut off by Zooble using their claw arm and choking him.
Zooble stared into the rabbit’s eyes. “Leave her alone.”
Gangle blinked in shock at seeing someone defend her so staunchly.
“Guh…” Jax attempted to free his neck from Zooble's claw hand.
Zooble released him after a minute, but not before glaring at him more. “I mean it, leave Gangle alone. She’s just doing something she enjoys, and you have no right to make her feel bad about it.”
Gangle paused, gazing up at Zooble. She felt her heart flutter a tiny bit.
Jax scoffed, grinning. “Psh, don't freak out, Crabby. It was just a joke.”
Zooble raised their claw hand threateningly. “Well, it wasn't funny. And if you think I'm going to just stand by and let you bully my friend, then you've got another thing coming.”
Surprisingly, Jax seemed to register the message and realize that he should probably ship now.
He looked at the claw hand, then grinned more and skulked off. “Later, losers.”
Zooble rolled their eyes, then turned to Gangle. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah…” Gangle was now also finding it hard to speak for some reason. Why had Zooble being so stern and telling Jax off been so…
Gangle quickly shook her head, shocked at the direction her own mind had started to wander to. Where did that thought come from?
Zooble reached over and put an arm around the masked ribbon. “He won't bully you while I'm around. Okay?”
Gangle felt her mask face heat up at both the words and the gesture. “Okay…”
From there, Gangle and Zooble began to hang out more and develop a friendship.
Zooble was there to reassure Gangle after the fast food adventure when she was in charge and might have let the power go to her head a bit, and Gangle was there for Zooble whenever they got stuck in some old unpleasant memories and needed to talk through them.
Cut to present day, and the two of them had recently taken their relationship to the next level with some confessions of deeper feelings.
They knew each other pretty well by this point…which was why Zooble could tell when Gangle wasn't okay even if she was attempting to conceal it.
Today happened to be one of those days.
Gangle had woken up feeling anxious, though she couldn't quite place it.
Which wasn't really anything new.
It often took her a bit to figure out why she was even anxious in the first place, and that was when she did manage to figure it out. At least half the time, she just found herself stuck in a bottomless pit of anxiety with no answers.
A lot of thoughts were rushing through her head right now. Memories of being bullied as a kid, being bullied now by Jax, wanting so desperately to make friends but being afraid to try after all the times she had been rejected, wondering if anyone back in the real world even noticed that she was gone and if so, what they thought. Were they all glad to finally be without her? Did they miss her? Did they even notice she was no longer there?
Gangle often found herself getting stuck on that last thought.
She had never thought very highly of herself, and being stuck in a circus she could never escape from only magnified those feelings.
She couldn't help but think that no one she knew in her old life even noticed she was gone. She felt that insignificant.
But then she shrugged it off, hopped out of bed, and put on the comedy mask that had been broken and shattered so many times. Just like she had.
She exited her room, trying with all the little energy she had left in her to appear as if nothing was wrong, as if she wasn't currently trying to fight off yet another random anxiety attack.
She noticed Zooble and Jax bickering as usual and headed over to the former.
As soon as Zooble noticed Gangle, all of their attention switched to her.
“Hi, Zooble,” Gangle greeted, trying to sound happy.
“Hey, Gang.” Zooble's eyes crinkled to indicate their smile.
Gangle returned the smile, hoping that it looked believable enough to keep her partner from questioning. Please, Zooble, please don't ask what's wrong. Please…
Zooble squinted slightly, noticing that something seemed off. “Gangle, are you okay?”
“Uh…yeah!” Gangle fibbed.
Zooble raised an eyebrow. “You sure? Your hands are shaking…which I know always happens when you're sad or anxious.”
Gangle froze and stole a glance down at her hands…which, just as Zooble pointed out, were in fact shaking.
Great.
How was she supposed to be convincing now?
How was she supposed to still try and fib her way out of this when an unmistakable symptom of her ever-present anxiety was happening?
She pasted another smile onto her face. “I'm fine, really! I'm just…excited about something!”
Zooble squinted doubtfully.
Gangle’s eyes darted around.
“Gangle, I know you're lying,” Zooble said bluntly.
Gangle blinked, still feeling anxious and now also feeling bad that she wasn't being honest to someone she trusted so much.
She hung her head. “I'm sorry…”
Zooble looked at her. “I'm not mad, I'm just worried.”
“You're…not?”
“Gang, of course I'm not. I'm just worried about you, like I told you.”
Gangle fell silent, wishing she could just tell Zooble everything.
But she didn't have the first clue where to start…and she also didn't want to share that information in front of everyone.
“All right, that's it. We're skipping the adventure today,” Zooble announced, their tone leaving no room for argument.
“Wait, huh?” Gangle blinked.
Zooble took the masked ribbon’s hand and headed off to their room.
Gangle felt her heart skipping multiple beats just as she did every time the mix and match of shapes touched her.
Once Zooble reached Gangle's room, they ushered the masked ribbon inside and closed the door.
“Now, what's bothering you?” Zooble asked.
“Uhm…” Gangle thought about it. “I don't know if it's anything in particular, I just woke up feeling a bit anxious.”
Zooble nodded, listening.
Gangle sighed. “I was also thinking about all the times people have made fun of me. Jax, some kids I knew in the real world, even some coworkers I had once I started working. And…I also started to wonder if anyone I knew even notices or cares that I'm gone.”
Zooble gave their girlfriend a sympathetic look. “I get that. It's hard to think back to our old lives for so many reasons. One of which being that we’ll never know if anyone knows or cares that we're gone.”
“Yeah…” Gangle averted her gaze, not noticing that her hands had started to shake again.
Zooble stole a glance at Gangle, then reached over and took one of her hands.
Gangle blinked and looked over at Zooble.
Zooble just held her gaze, not saying anything.
But they didn't need to.
To Gangle, one of the most comforting things about Zooble was how they could just sit there in silence and still give off an air of comfort.
The two of them sat in silence for a minute.
Zooble then looked over at Gangle again. “Hey, Gang…I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's hard to be stuck somewhere you can't escape from and be left wondering what's happening in the real world and if anyone remembers you.”
Gangle nodded. Something told her she should feel more let down by her partner’s blunt words. But the way Zooble was always honest about things comforted her more than anything else.
“But…” Zooble continued. “There are ways we can try and combat it.”
“How?” Gangle asked.
Zooble thought for a minute, then glanced at their partner again. “Well…what I personally like to try and do is remember that as much as it sucks to not know if the people I cared about in my old life remember me or think about me, I have people that I care about here now…you most of all.”
Gangle felt her face heat up a bit at those last few words. “Y-yeah…that makes sense. And you're the one I care about the most here, too.”
Zooble's eyes crinkled to indicate that they were smiling.
Gangle returned the smile and leaned against her partner a bit.
Zooble's arm reached over and settled down on the masked ribbon.
Gangle began to feel the anxiety slowly fade away. It wasn't completely gone, but that wasn't anything new.
As much as she knew she would likely never stop thinking about the people she cared about in her old life, she was thankful to have made friends here. And not just that, she had also managed to get a partner. Something she never thought she would do.
Maybe the world wasn't so bad after all. At least, not all the time. Not when she had Zooble by her side.