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For today's adventure, Caine had sent them on a voyage across the sea on an old pirate ship. Today's mission was to be the terror of the seven seas and return home with booty, as the ringmaster had put it, right before Bubble made a comment turning that phrasing sexual and getting yelled at for not being PG.
They got pirate costumes and sabers, Kinger being their scatter-brained captain today, simply because Caine chose by seniority. That made it a lot harder to get where they needed to, even more so because they didn't have a map yet, but apparently that was the first part of their task. Obviously they didn't have a map leading to the map, so that caused more complications.
Caine had also warned them of dangers they would face at sea; they had already met another pirate crew, escalating into a fight on deck as the other crew tried to hijack their ship. Pomni nearly got stabbed, one pirate tried to steal one of Zooble's pieces and got thrown off the ship by them, and Jax was having the time of his life swinging from ropes to attack people with his saber. Afterwards they cleared their ship of the dead action figures and sailed on.
A thick grey mist enveloped their ship far too quickly for it to be natural, so they all grabbed their sabers in preparation for danger, though Jax looked excited rather than apprehensive.
Instead of fighting, they heard a song.
“Ah-ah~ Ah-ahh...”
“What... is that?” Zooble asked, frowning.
“Ah-ah~ Ah-ahh...”
“There's a light...” Gangle pointed out meekly, her comedy mask already shattered in their confrontation with the other pirates.
The others looked where she pointed, and indeed, there was a colorful glow in the mist in front of them, the colors shifting and fading, getting brighter as they got closer, until the could make out the shape of an abstraction.
Everyone tensed in fear, except for Kinger, who stepped to the bow of the ship. “Love...?”
The abstraction dove underwater, and when it came up again closer to the ship, instead of the abstraction there was a brown queen chess piece, with a red mermaid tail. She didn't have a mouth, but she smiled up at Kinger with her eyes. “Hello, cuddlebug. I've missed you.”
“Queenie...” He reached down and she reached up.
“Did you know there are bugs in the sea? Come down here, I'll show you! And then I'll never leave you again, I promise. I know how lost you are without me.” She giggled sweetly, lovingly.
Kinger was mesmerized. She would have grabbed him had the others not pulled him back.
“Kinger, no! That's not-” Pomni said, but stopped when another melody sounded.
Zooble turned the ship around to get away from the false Queenie before Kinger could do something stupid. His pupils were dilated as he stared at the light shining from the mermaid, trying to reach out to her. The others had to hold him back until Queenie disappeared in the mist again. He stopped struggling against his friends once she was out of his sight. He blinked, shook his head, and stared out at the sea.
But not long after, another mermaid appeared in front of them, in the form of Gummigoo. He tipped his hat to Pomni. “Hey there, 'lil miss. Long time no see.”
She rushed to the edge of the ship, holding on to the railing. “Gummigoo? You remember me?” She asked, breathless.
“Of course I do. How could I ever forget my first real friend?”
She smiled, clutching the railing tightly as warmth filled her chest.
“Why don't'cha take a dip? We have lots of catchin' up ta do.”
“Pomni, no!” Ragatha pulled her away, and again Zooble steered the ship in another direction. “That's not real! I mean, Gummigoo isn't real anyways, but- that's a siren, Pomni.”
They heard neighing, and everyone frowned in confusion. Ragatha walked to the other side of the ship as Zooble brought them away from the fake Gummigoo, narrowing her eyes in confusion. There, in the distance, they saw horses running over the waves like on solid land.
Ragatha gasped. “My horses! Those are my horses!” She grasped the railing of the ship, leaning forward to get a better look at them, frolicking on the water. “Chestnut and Butterscotch and Alfredo...” She almost whispered, a smile on her lips.
“Ragatha.” Zooble scolded her, already turning the ship into another direction.
The ragdoll shook her head and slapped her cheeks a little. “Right. Right. They're sirens. But they look so real... and I haven't seen them in such a long time, can't I just look?”
“No!” Pomni said, pulling her away from the railing.
“That has to be one of the dangers Caine told us about...” Gangle sniffled. “Like from mythology. They take the form of what you desire most to lure sailors into the water...”
As they distanced themselves from the horses, Jax stood at the railing, frowning out at the grey sea stretching out in front of them, his arms crossed. “Uh, if the crybaby is right, then why does that one look like me?”
The others rushed over to him to see what he was looking at, and indeed, there was mermaid Jax. A shimmering pink fishtail replaced his legs, and without his overalls he was just left shirtless. Lounging on a rock, he was smirking up at his new audience.
“Hey there, cutie. I've been waiting for you.”
The entire crew, minus Jax, looked disturbed. He looked mostly annoyed, frowning at them all. “Okay, whose fantasy is this?”
“Don't be shy, beautiful.” The siren said. “I've missed my sweet anime princess~”
Jax groaned. “Oh. It's Gangle.”
The others stared at her with horrified expressions, and she looked like she wanted the ship to swallow her. Her white mask turned pale, if that was even possible, and siren Jax threw her a kiss. “Gangle~ Don't tease me like that, you know I get mad when you ignore me~”
He dove in the water and came up again near the ship. “Don't keep me waiting, gorgeous~”
“Ew.” Jax frowned down at his mirror image.
“Dito.” Zooble agreed, but for entirely different reasons. “I did not want that picture of you in my head.”
“Do you want me to do that kabedon thing again, angel?”
The others stared at her in confusion as to what that could possibly mean. Gangle buried her face in her hands, actively wanting to die.
“Hey, you are not the victim here.” Jax scowled and pointed at her.
“Oh, but she loves being my victim.” Siren Jax said with a cheeky smile. He winked at her again. “Don't you, angel face?”
“Sail away, sail away!” Gangle screeched, her eyes closed.
“Uh, right.” Zooble quickly rushed back to steer them away from siren Jax.
“Aww, no, don't leave me, cupcake. You're breaking my heart.” Unlike the other sirens they had encountered so far, he actually followed their ship.
“Good!” She shouted, grabbing a bottle of rum to throw at him. He dodged it easily, smirking. “You're so hot when you're angry, sugarplum.”
“I don't wanna hear that!” She found more stuff to throw at him, getting worried looks from her friends. Ragatha put a hand on her shoulder. “Uhm, Gangle- maybe you should just calm down.” She said.
“Come into my arms, princess! You can ravage me if you want!” He bared his sharp teeth in a seductive smile.
The real Jax turned away. “I don't know if I should laugh at you or retch right now. But I'll definitely lock my door at night.”
“Oh, don't be such a prude. We can share her.” Siren Jax snickered before looking at her again. “Would you like that, honey? Having two of me to love and adore you? Or to be mean to you~ We'll do anything you want~”
The next bottle was thrown by Jax instead of Gangle, with such speed it shattered against the fake's head and knocked him out cleanly. He disappeared under the waves and silence haunted their ship for a moment.
They finally found the end of the mist, and as they were back in the clear, a pixelated message appeared above them, congratulating them on resisting the sirens' temptations and rewarding them with the treasure map.
“Uhm... good work, team!” Ragatha tried to cheer them up nervously, not addressing the elephant in the room. “Let's go and... get that booty! Arr!”
Her attempts did nothing to get rid of the awkwardness, but they all went with her poor distraction if only for the sake of continuity.
And Gangle contemplated drowning herself, seeing as her life was over now anyway.
~~~
They finished that adventure, and Gangle scarcely said a word during the whole thing, spacing out. The others gave her worried looks, but none of them really felt like saying much either. Even Ragatha was having trouble finding something motivating to say.
When they finally got back to the circus, she ran off to her room before Caine could greet them. The AI watched her leave with confusion and worry, scratching his head. “What is her problem?” He asked.
“You crossed a line this time.” Zooble scolded, pointing an accusing claw at him as they rushed to follow Gangle.
He watched them leave as well, perplexed, before turning to the others. “What did I do?”
Gangle's door got slammed just as Zooble walked around the corner, calling out to her; “Gangle! Wait, let's talk!”
They stopped in front of Gangle's room, putting a hand on the door, a worried look on their face. “Gangle, it's not as bad as you think...”
They heard sobbing from inside the room. “Not that bad?! It's terrible!”
Zooble sighed. “Would you please just let me in? I'd rather not talk about this out here in the hall. Just open the door and we can calm you down. I promise you it's not as bad as it feels right now.” They said.
There was silence for a moment, then the door opened a little, a saddened Gangle peeking out. There was a soft smile in Zooble's eyes as they looked at their friend, going in and closing the door softly behind themselves.
Gangle sat down on her bed, softly petting the space beside her. Zooble took the invitation, brows knitted as they regarded the sniffling spiral of ribbons. Gangle chuckled, a self-deprecating sound. “Heh... you must think I'm pretty weird now, huh?”
Zooble frowned and averted their eyes. “Ah... what's weird, really? We're all stuck in this digital hellhole, I don't think any of us are normal.”
“Yeah, but... Oh god, everyone knows that I'm atrracted to Jax!” She buried her mask in her hands. “I though my social life was dead when I got trapped here with only a few other people, but nope! Moment of death; this adventure!” She laughed through her tears.
Zooble put a hand on her back, trying to be comforting. “Hey, nothing is dead. Okay, sure, it was a shock seeing that siren twink, but honestly, no one will blame you. We've been trapped in here for years, and all of us are a little pent up, right?” They smiled.
Gangle sobbed, though she tried to smile back. “Yeah, I guess...”
“And if anyone tries to give you s[#!%] for that, especially Jax, then I'll beat them into a pulp.” Zooble said, punching their fist into their claw for emphasis. Gangle couldn't help but giggle. “Thanks... though I still feel mortified about what happened...” She hugged herself.
“That's understandable... Caine just showed all of us something extremely private. But, really, this is no one's business but yours. No one has the right to stick their nose into it without your permission.” They said. Their eyes trailed off, a pinched look on their face. “That said... can I ask you something?”
Gangle sighed. “Okay...” She whined.
“And this isn't judging, I'm just curious... but what do you find attractive about him?”
Gangle frowned at them. “It feels very judging.”
“No, just- okay, let's take his personality aside for this, I'm- I'm frustrated too, okay? I wanted to figure out if anything here can get someone going, and apparently it's possible, so... you don't have to answer, obviously. Just curious.”
“Well... he looks good, okay?” She replied, avoiding eye-contact. A small smile snuck onto her face. “He's... handsome. And... he can never know this, but you know how he said that I like when he's mean to me? Well... he's not wrong...” She cringed.
“Oh... okay, well... he doesn't know that, so that's still him being a d[!<^], but you don't have to feel bad about it. Many people are into that kind of thing.” They shrugged.
“You don't think it's weird?”
“Gangle, any sort of pleasure one can get in a place like this something to hold on to. As long as no one gets hurt, there's nothing anyone has to be ashamed of.”
Gangle sighed in relief. “Thanks, Zooble... I feel better now.” She smiled up at them.
Zooble smiled back with their eyes, and the two of them hugged. “Don't mention it.”
She took a deep breath when she pulled back again, wiping at her tears. “I still don't look forward to facing everyone else again... especially Jax. He seemed really freaked out and angry, and for good reason this time.”
“Don't worry about that a[$$]hole. He doesn't have the right to be angry at you for anything. Besides, I already promised you I'll beat him up if he dares to give you any s[#!%] about this.” Zooble replied, a hand on Gangle's shoulder.
The ribbon character showed them a weak smile in return, knowing that if the roles were reversed, they would call Jax a pervert and freak over this. Maybe they thought the same about her now, but they'd never say so, not to her face. Zooble was way too nice for that, and they treated Gangle like glass now and then, wanting to protect her.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“No problem.” They squeezed her shoulder and got up to leave. “And don't worry, tomorrow things will look better already. The world isn't ending because of a little embarrassment, even though it sometimes feels like it does.”
“Yeah, you're probably right... Good night, Zooble.”
“Good night, Gangle.”
~~~
The next morning, taking a deep breath, Gangle stepped out of her room and into the hallway. Heart hammering and hands shaking, she closed the door behind herself. She was almost relieved when no one else was out in the hall, even though she knew that would only delay her seeing the others and their reactions. But that relief was cut short anyway, when a door opened, and none other than the resident jerk himself stepped out.
When his eyes landed on her, that big grin plastered on his face, she shrunk in on herself, disappearing in his large shadow as he stepped closer to her. “Well, hello there, my sweet anime princess! Slept well even without me there to hold you?”
She cringed and wrapped her arms around herself in a hug. “Jax! That's not funny at all!” She cried. “Can you please just forget what you saw yesterday?”
He put a hand to his chin, pretending like he was thinking about that suggestion, then he shrugged. “Hmm... no, I don't think I will.”
Gangle sighed, a look of distress in her eyes. “Please... I'm sorry, okay? And I know you're mad, but-”
“Mad? I'm not mad, sugarplum.”
She scowled. “Would you stop using those siren's petnames? It's hilarious, I know!” She threw her arms up, only to realize that other thing he said. “Wait, you're not mad? But you were...”
“I was surprised, I admit.” He put a hand on his hip and looked up. “And I also have an image to maintain in front of the others. But between you and me?”
He slapped his hands against the wall either side of her head, effectively trapping her between his arms. Gangle felt heat rise to her face, her mask blushing furiously. He showed her a sharp, handsome grin that made her weak in the knees- well, ribbons.
“It wasn't a bad surprise, per se.”
She swallowed. “What... what are you doing, Jax?”
He huffed, amused. “I know what kabedon means, Gangle. You should have just told the others it's someone pushing another person against the wall like this, they probably think that it's hard hentai stuff now.”
“You... you know?! And you know what hentai is?!”
“Looks like we're both full of surprises lately.” He smirked. He took one hand away from the wall, trailing the edge of her mask in a gentle, shiver-inducing motion. “Don't get me wrong, you are a freak and all, but... I wouldn't mind making your fantasies come true.”
Her mask turned as red as a tomato. “...What?”
“You in or not?” He pouted a little at her continued confusion in response to his seduction, raising a brow at her.
“I- you're pranking me, right? You just want to call me a pervert!”
“As if I need any more proof for that. You gave me enough material for a lifetieme already.” He grinned.
Gangle scowled up at him.
He sighed and leaned away again. “Gangle, believe it or not, but I'm just as down bad as you are. All of us are, who are we kidding?” He crossed his arms. “I don't want anyone to know about this. I'm just looking for fun, angel face.”
He winked at her like that siren had, knowing exactly that she liked all those petnames because her desire given form had used them in front of everyone.
“So, if you want that too...” He raised his arms and shrugged. “I could come to your room after today's adventure.”
She looked up at him, swallowing. She felt sweaty for some reason, her heart stuttering.
“...If this is a prank, Zooble is gonna beat you up.” She mumbled weakly.
“Noted. And absolutely terrifying.” He grinned. “Is that a yes?”
Gangle looked up and down the hall to make sure that no one else was coming around the corner. Then she turned to look at him again, frowning sternly. “Come to my room after dinner tonight. And make sure that no one sees you.”
He chuckled. “Anything for you, princess.”
They walked to the common area together, and with every step Gangle felt the pit in her stomach grow. Full of nervousness, but also... excitement. She'd had fantasies about this, sure, but she hadn't realized just how much she wanted it to be reality until that possibility was within reach. The thought of Jax wanting her just as much as she wanted him made her incredibly hot.
The thought of the things he might do to her... and the things she wanted to do to him. The thought of him without these overalls on alone was already doing things to her.
And still, she was nervous too. Both because of the possibility of this being a joke thought up by Jax, and because she had to face her other friends in about thirty seconds. That would definitely be a very uncomfortable morning.
“And... be normal in front of the others.” She whispered as they rounded the corner.
“No problem.” He replied cheerily, putting a hand on her back and pushing her to the ground full force, in full sight of the others, breaking her new comedy mask.
“Jax! How could you?!” Ragatha called out, running over to Gangle to help her up, Pomni with her. Zooble stomped up to him with a look that could kill, grabbing him by the straps of his overalls. “What's your f[&<?]ing problem?”
He raised his hands in mock defense, an easy smirk on his face. “Oh no, is Gangle infectious? Already getting handsy with me, Zooble?”
Their scowl deepened, their eye twitching with rage as their grip on him loosened for a second. “Do you want to get beaten up?”
“Oh, are you into that?”
That finally made them let go of him, a disgusted look on their face as they turned their back on him to rejoin the others. “F[§/<] you, you freak. You're not worth my attention.”
They walked back to the couches, and Gangle was the only one looking back at him. He smiled and, again, winked at her.
That normal enough for you? He mouthed.
She surpressed a giggle and turned back around.
~~~