Chapter Text
Zooble had only offered to drive Ragatha to her place because they weren’t sure that Ragatha could get there on her own. And, well, Gangle had seemed a bit ‘off’, and they’d wanted her to have the opportunity to self-soothe. Not that they wouldn’t have helped Ragatha if she’d asked them. Certainly they were happy to help the girl out, if she needed it. It was just that they weren’t exactly close. In fact, up until lately, Zooble wouldn’t have even considered any of the gang ‘friends’. But now things were changing. Kind of funny how a new arrival could change everything so quickly. Pomni had only been there for a few weeks, and already she’d managed to affect them all so much.
The little silver car zipped down a fake highway, a few other silver cars of the same make and model driving past them. Land stretched on both sides, as far as the render distance allowed, and disappeared in the distance into a nice gray cloud. Ragatha was sprawled out in the passenger seat, smiling at nothing and looking out the window, face pressed against it. Zooble flicked through the radio stations, until deciding that ‘nature sounds’ was better than ‘smooth jazz’.
”I miss music,” Ragatha sighed, softly, so quiet that Zooble almost missed it entirely.
”Yeah? What kind did you listen to?” Zooble asked, realizing that they really didn’t even have a guess. Maybe…show tunes. Yeah, show tunes would make sense.
”Hm,” Ragatha sighed, dreamily, “Soft rock.”
Zooble looked over at her, surprised, “Yeah?”
”Hmm. What about you?” Ragatha asked, rolling her body to look at them, eye half-lidded.
”Uh, I guess whatever was playing where I worked. Usually some kind of rock or metal.”
”Twins!” Ragatha laughed, and one of her hands gently pushed on Zooble’s shoulder. They didn’t have the heart to tell her that ‘soft rock’ was nothing like real rock.
”Do you know where your place is?” Zooble asked, glancing around for any kind of hint as to where her apartment could be.
”Take a left at the light," Ragatha mumbled dreamily.
They drove on in silence, the sound of rain filling the car, the only other sound being Ragatha’s soft, breathy directions. When Zooble finally parked, they were surprised that it wasn’t an apartment at all, but an entire house. With a yard. And a driveway. Zooble wondered, briefly, if maybe she had roommates. But that would be insane, because Caine would have had to think of that and program them. But their own apartment was definitely an apartment, in this particular adventure, and when they thought about it, they could picture it in their mind rather clearly. It felt really familiar, like they’d lived there for years.
”Come on,” Zooble said, climbing out of their car, “I’ll walk you in.”
They opened Ragatha’s door and caught her as she slumped out. Ragatha struggled to her feet, and Zooble locked an arm around her waist as Ragatha fumbled in her pockets for her keys. When she pulled them out, Zooble took them, looking at them as they walked up the front step, past manicured bushes and stepping up under the dangling front porch chandelier. The key itself was a cute little thing, red with black dots like a ladybug and it was on a keyring with a tag that said Keep Calm and Carry On.
The door unlocked easily, and Zooble pushed the front door open only to be met with the most nineties of all houses they had ever seen. The tan front entry way was all tile floor and beige walls. There was a basket to the left with a lid, and a small table to the right that had bowl on top for keys. Zooble pulled Ragatha in and shut the door behind them, looking up the double-story entryway to see the gold-and-glass chandelier dangling above them. Zooble put the keys in the bowl with a soft tink and then steadied Ragatha as she tugged her shoes off, dumping them into the basket.
”Want to come in?” Ragatha asked, voice slurred. “What else is there to do, right? Unless you’re rather be all alone than spend time with me. Guess I couldn’t blame ya for that…”
Zooble furrowed their brow as she trailed off, sighing, stumbling towards the back of the house, from tan tiles to tan carpet, waving one hand over her shoulder, “Nobody else wants to hang out with me, either.”
Ugh. They didn’t really feel close to her, no, but she was…fine. She was fine. Not someone they’d have hung out with in the real world, but this wasn't the real world. And as much as they liked their own apartment, they felt like this house Ragatha had was really interesting. Like there were secrets here, like this house was, well, maybe not the one Ragatha had had, before, but close. An approximation of it, at least.
”Oh,” Zooble said, aloud, as they realized that meant their apartment, the one they could clearly picture in their mind now, was likely their real apartment, too. Suddenly they faltered, not sure if maybe they’d rather go home and pretend life was normal for a while. Pretend that in the morning they’d wake up and they wouldn’t have this body anymore, and there would be no Circus, and there’d be no Gangle or Ragatha or Pomni or Jax to even think about.
But after a moment, Zooble followed Ragatha through the front living room and then into the kitchen. The floor was tile, the countertops were granite, and all the appliances were a beautiful, gray stainless steel. Ragatha tugged the fridge open and pulled out a can of soda, and then seemed to realize Zooble was still there. Her eye widened, momentarily, and then she kind of fell onto the counter, resting her chin in her hand, and beaming up at them.
”Where are my manners? Would you like something to drink?”
”Uh, sure..? What do you have?”
”Gosh, what don’t I have? Soda, juice, water, milk, whatever you want. I’ve got one of those….Costco memberships,” She whispered the last part, leaning forward sloppily, so one hand fell off the side of the island counter. She nearly toppled to the side, but Zooble caught her, steadying her.
”Uh, soda’s fine. Let’s get you to the couch, huh?”
”Yeah, great, mmm, but the fridge is open,” Ragatha laughed, and leaned over, nudging it closed with her fingertips, free hand steadying herself on Zooble.
Zooble helped her cross the room to the L-shaped couch, dumping her onto the light green fabric with a soft poff of the cushions. Ragatha laughed, softly, and then sat up on her elbows, drawing one of her knees up, making a little space on the couch.
”Sit?”
Something felt kind of off. Like the air was kind of heavy and the lights were too dim and the room was too warm and small. The same kind of feeling that happened when you lingered at a party too long and the host was too attentive and you realized, too late, that things were going to get…intimate. But this was Ragatha, who had never shown interest of any kind in anyone in the entire time they’d been in the circus. Or before that, as far as they could tell, because if Ragatha had struck out or lost someone dear to her, they were certain Jax would have gleefully told everyone all the time. So after a brief moment of hesitation, they sat.
The couch was placed around a square coffee table with a glass top. There were books underneath, so the titles could be read through the top, and they all seemed to be garden or horse books. There was a stack of cork coasters with a cowgirl motif burned into the bottoms, and the whole living room was pointed at the largest and thickest television Zooble had ever seen. There were speakers around it, too, and a few remotes were on the side table, with a lamp and a basket filled with soft white balls. Under the television was a big, chunky DVD Player and VCR combo.
“Uh,” Zooble said, “Hey, Ragatha? Do you have any movies?”
”Hm? Yeah, there’s a door,” She waved, and then laughed, “Got a shelf. Oooh, you want to watch a movie? With me?” She sat up then, all soft and slouchy, and curled her legs under herself, so she could crawl closer until her black-clad knees brushed Zooble’s thigh. “Really? You can pick!”
Zooble hadn’t really meant that, but like, what were they going to do now? They were kind of locked in, here. If they dipped now, she would certainly take it personally. So they stood up and headed through the door into what appeared to be a guest bathroom, and then a guest bedroom. There was a rack of VHS tapes, and a smaller shelf next to it of DVDs. Zooble was getting a strange feeling that these weren’t vintage to Ragatha, and the thought made a sharp jolt of panic shoot through them. Just how long, exactly, had the girl been locked up in here? And how many of those miserable years were spent with Jax? They grabbed a tape randomly and headed back to the living room.
Ragatha had taken her little visor off, and it was thrown carelessly at the foot of the stairs, and the lighting in the living room somehow seemed even moodier, now. The TV was now on, too, and Zooble stepped up to push the tape into the VCR. Then they went and sat on the couch beside Ragatha, giving her a respectful distance.
Which lasted until the first trailer ended, and then Ragatha slid across the couch, until their hips were pressed together. Zooble looked at her curiously, and one of Ragatha’s hands came up to rest on their knee.
”Y’know,” She said, words slurred, “I’ve always really admired how direct you are.”
Zooble glanced down at the hand on their knee, and wondered if she knew that they weren’t a man. Although now that they were thinking about it, she’d never talked about guys, ever. Not that she could, there weren’t really any around, but no past boyfriends, no mentioning if she found someone cute, not even talk of celebrities, really. In comparison to Pomni and Gangle, well, shit. How had they not noticed it before? They were still contemplating what exactly they should do when she sat up on her knees, and pressed her body into the side of them, her face getting awfully close to theirs.
”And you’re such a perfect shade of pink. Y’know, that always was my favorite color,” Ragatha said.
”Great,” Zooble replied, and gently eased back from her. Ragatha didn’t seem to notice, though she did sit back on her heels.
But then a moment later both of her hands were busy undoing the buttons on her shirt. Zooble was not entirely sure what she was even doing, because they hadn’t like— well, they supposed it would be rather hard to kiss them, but it seemed to them that this whole thing had gone from nothing to way too much at the drop of a hat.
“Hey, Ragatha, what—“
”I haven’t done this in a while, sorry,” Ragatha laughed, “I think I went out of order. Here.”
She leaned heavily forward, her whole body pressing against them, pressing her face into the side of theirs, so her soft hair brushed all over them, and the smell of her filled their nose. She smelled softly of flowers, under the smell of working in a McDonald’s equivalent for twelve hours. Especially her hair, which retained the scent of conditioner. They wondered if she washed it, or if this was just how she smelled out in the real world and that was now part of her new body just because of that. And then they wondered, briefly, how they smelled, and if it was nice. They didn’t have to wonder for long, though.
”You smell good,” Ragatha said, and pressed her whole face to them, rubbing on them like a cat might, until she slid down their body and pressed her face into their neck.
Zooble gasped, body tingling from the sensation. They tried to stand up but Ragatha was stronger than she looked, and she pushed them back down, and pinned them in place. Which was much worse, actually, because the girl was never very direct, and she wanted this bad enough to be assertive. Which was, unfortunately, super hot.
”Everything feels so nice,” Ragatha sighed, dreamily, “I want to help you feel nice, too.”
”Maybe, uh, when you’re feeling better?”
”I feel great!” Ragatha said, and her mouth brushed up against Zooble’s neck, making them shudder.
”Okay, well, I should probably get going—“
”Aw, but you just got here!” Ragatha sat back, hands on their shoulders now, straddling one of their thighs.
Zooble tried to remember what pieces they’d used that day, and how substantial they were. Could they even take Ragatha to bed if they wanted to? Maybe, but they didn’t think they’d feel much pleasure out of it. Ragatha sat down, resting on them, and the heat between her legs radiated through both sets of their Spudsy’s Standard Issue Black Dickey’s and made Zooble’s mind race. Especially as her hands moved from their shoulders and started to unbutton her Spudsy Standard Issue Black Button Down.
Her chest was the same soft tan as the rest of her, but to Zooble’s surprise, it became pretty clear pretty fast that the girl was fucking stacked. And now that they’d noticed that, their eyes dragged over the rest of her. Hourglass figure, even in a stupid fast food uniform.
“Wait,” Zooble said, hand resting on hers.
Ragatha’s face, which had been kind of soft and smiley, now shifted into a little anxious expression, and she looked at Zooble as if they’d kicked her.
”You don’t want me?”
What a loaded fucking question. Especially because, well, it had been kind of a while, and Ragatha was certainly attractive, no denying that. They were pretty sure she was considered the most attractive to everyone in the circus, as she was the closest to an approximation of an actual human being. Even if Jax seemed less than interested in her personality, Zooble had caught him eyeing her more than once. And Gangle sometimes drew her friends, and Ragatha always had a certain quality in her sketches that made it clear even Gangle (who was, as far as they could tell, straight) thought she was the prettiest one.
“It’s not that,” Zooble decided to skirt the question, hoping she was too drunk or whatever to notice, “It’s just, uh…you’re not well. Let’s do this when you’re sober—“
Ragatha relaxed, immediately, and leaned forward, so their chests brushed against each other, and her mouth pressed a soft, plush kiss to their face. No mouth to kiss back with, which unsettled Zooble a little, but Ragatha didn’t seem to mind. Go figure, because Ragatha was used to seeing Zooble. She knew what Zooble had, and what they could offer.
“Come on,” Ragatha said, a little whiny, “No one touches me anymore, and I miss it. Pomni’s too busy flirting with NPC’s to even pay attention to me, let alone touch. Touch me. Please.”
Zooble didn’t know what Pomni had to do with anything, but they kind of remembered Ragatha complaining to Gangle about her, too. After a moment they rose a hand tentatively, and Ragatha grabbed their wrist, pressing the palm of their hand to the side of her breast, letting out a short, hot gasp at the contact. Zooble liked it and the shuddering rush of pleasure that shot through them with nowhere to go. They hadn’t really thought about it much, until now, but they didn’t exactly have sexual organs. Not like the clearly well-endowed Ragatha, so maybe they were going to rile themselves up with no way of getting any pay off. Then again, seeing sad little Ragatha all unwound and gasping could be fun all on its own.
Woo, boy, they liked the idea of that. So much so that it stunned them, and they froze up for a minute. They hadn’t thought of Ragatha even twice over, until earlier this evening when they’d held her in their arms while cleaning, and that they’d brushed off as a fluke. But now that their hand was on her breast and her face was rubbing over theirs, well, okay, they were kind of into her. At least physically.
They brushed a thumb over her breast, and felt through her shirt that her nipple was hard, already. Damn, the girl was aching to be touched. She gasped out loud, and she rolled her hips forward, dragging herself along their thigh, sending jolts of pleasure up through them as she moaned softly from the contact.
”More,” Ragatha gasped, “Please, touch me, please. Please.”
She pulled both of their hands up, dismayed to find that one was a spatula, but not really too deterred. If Zooble knew they’d have fistfuls of her to play with, they might have swapped back to a normal hand after leaving Spudsy’s. Ragatha rocked on their thigh, and they realized that they had the zig-zag piece, there, and that it seemed to be exactly what Ragatha had been hoping for, as she ground down against it, the ridges making her moan, kind of desperately, like she’d been starving for any kind of contact for decades. And…well. Maybe she had been.
Ragatha jerked back, almost sliding off their lap, and zooble caught her with both hands, steadying her, as Ragatha’s hands undid the rest of her shirt. Zooble made a noise somewhere in their throat as she tugged the shirt free of her pants and tossed it to the floor. And before Zooble could really take in the sight of her bare, Ragatha was fumbling for her belt, and Zooble was pretty sure they were actually going to fuck. Or at least the approximation of it. Ragatha’s hands were struggling with the belt, and she let out a low whine.
”I can’t get it. Help me!”
”If you’re not sober enough to unbuckle your belt—“ Zooble started, the last sliver of responsibility pushing them to cock block themselves.
But Ragatha wasn’t having any of it, and she grabbed their face with both hands, jerking them up off the back of the couch, her mouth kissing their face gently. If they had a mouth, this would be way more fun, for sure, as they were pretty sure the girl knew what she was doing, even if her movements were clumsy from years of no practice and the dulling effect of being ‘drunk’.
“Touch me, please, Zooble.”
”Yeah, alright,” Zooble said, and wrapped their spatula arm around her waist, so she wouldn’t slip off and collapse on the floor in a little puddle like she had at the Spudsy’s. And then they brushed the fingers of their relatively normal hand down over her bare chest, until fingertips touched rigid nipple, and Ragatha moaned.
“Oh, please, please, more,” Ragatha said breathily, face rubbing against Zooble’s again as she writhed on their thigh.
Zooble wasn’t sure what possessed them, they’d never played games quite like this, but something about Ragatha’s never-ending neediness and pleading was really, really doing it for them. So they said, “Beg me.”
Ragatha squirmed, grinding her hips down, and she pressed forward, sounding desperate, voice pitching sharply upwards as she whined, “Zooble, please. Please, please keep touching me. More. As much as you want. I would have let you have me earlier, if I’d known how you felt! But I know now, and you can have as much of me as you want. I’ll always be here for you, however you want me.”
”Wait—“
”I don’t mind if you only want me sometimes,” Ragatha continued, rubbing their faces together, “Nobody ever wants me all the time. I’m just so glad someone wants me sometimes, and I never thought for even a moment it would be you, but, well, color me surprised!”
“What?”
“You helped me! You didn’t have to, and you did,” Ragatha pressed against them, one of her hands dropping to Zooble’s thigh, soft thumb rubbing along the inner seam, so Zooble shuddered under the attention.
What the fuck unfair bullshit was it that they got to feel everything she did? Not only did it feel really good but it also got them really horny. Kind of hard to think through all the fuzzy static Ragatha was encouraging in their brain. How long had it been? And when had they last been this eager? They were pretty sure if they asked her to, Ragatha would do anything. Especially if they told her how good she was, how much they enjoyed what she was doing. A little light praise kink. Ooh, she’d eat that right up, wouldn’t she?
“You helped me. Nobody ever helps me,” Ragatha continued, leaning back so she could look into their eyes, “My own Mom tells me to f### off. But you helped me. Just because. Nobody has ever liked me that much! You didn’t even think I’d— I’d repay you for your kindness…But don’t worry, I never let a debt go unpaid.”
”Debt?” Zooble said, dazed. “Wait, like you?”
”Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” Ragatha slurred, “Your secret’s safe with me. But you gotta, listen, shh, you’ve gotta be patient. I’ve never done this with someone who’s not a guy—“
”Oh,” Zooble didn’t know how to feel about that, now that it was said. On one hand, good that she knew they weren’t a guy. On the other hand, they hoped she realized they weren’t a girl, either. “Uh—“
”—and I’m not sure what I’m doing now,” Ragatha said, “Especially ‘cause you’re so…different.”
Zooble made a face, and Ragatha’s eye blew wide.
”Not like that! Oh, no, I’m so— that’s not— I mean cause you’ve got nothing,” Ragatha said, and her hand brushed up between Zooble’s legs, as if to highlight the lack of genitalia. As if Zooble wasn’t acutely aware of how absolutely royally screwed they were, right now.
But it still felt really, really nice, and they grit out a groan at the contact, pressing into her hand. Ragatha giggled, a little tittering sound that made Zooble’s stomach tense up. If they weren’t into her by the end of this, they’d be surprised. Not that ‘this’ should be going anywhere because she was drunk as shit. And drunkenly, right now, rubbing her hand against Zooble’s, well, between their legs. Against their body. And it felt fucking great.
”I want us both to feel good,” Ragatha said, pressing their faces together again, eye closing and looking too soft for a drunken hookup. Soft enough that the logical part of Zooble, the part that knew this was Ragatha, and a ‘no strings attached’ situation simply wasn’t possible here, started yelling at them to pull back and run.
”I’m sure you do,” Zooble said, ignoring the logical part of themselves to instead embrace the dark side.
”What do you want me to do? Tell me what you like,” Ragatha mumbled, dragging her face down their neck, “I’ll do it.”
”I know,” Zooble said, hesitating and then awkwardly adding, “That’s because you’re such a good girl, aren’t you?”
Ragatha tensed up in their lap, her mouth letting out a soft, short, puff of hot air on their neck, and then she shuddered. Her whole body kind of rolled from it, and she let out a low, desperate, breathy moan. Her hands tightened on their body, the one between their legs curling up against them, so for a moment their mind blanked out from the amount of feeling that rushed through them with no outlet. The first sexual touch since they’d landed here, and Ragatha was warm and soft and incredibly willing. They didn’t even know they had a thing for a needy partner until now. What a fucking trip.
”Come on,” Zooble managed, finally, “Show me how good you are.”
”I want to,” Ragatha said, eagerly, “But I don’t know what you want me to do!”
What did Zooble want her to do? Take off the rest of her clothes, maybe. Tell them what Pomni had to do with anything. Touch herself, maybe, while Zooble watched. That sounded like fun, actually. They bet she’d be a little shy, at first, but get really into it if they seemed into it. She was always super keen on the LARPing, anyway, so that should translate, in time. She liked to play pretend and Zooble wasn’t against her enjoying herself or behaving a little silly. In fact, casting their mind back, they could think of several times that she’d come back from an adventure excited and talkative. How many times had they rebuffed her efforts to befriend them? How many months had they shot her down for any interaction?
“Can you take me to your bedroom?”
“Can I!” Ragatha cried, delighted, and hopped off their lap.
For a brief moment Zooble forgot entirely what they were even doing, because the visual of Ragatha hopping around sans top, no bra, was a bit distracting. But luckily for them, Ragatha was not easily distracted now that she had a goal. She took Zooble’s spatula in hand and gently tugged them to her staircase. And then up they went, passing a little alcove that was filled with decor. Vases with sticks sticking out the top, a horse figurine, that sort of thing, all placed just so in the alcove, which was kind of awkwardly above them, and had a big window in it. The stars shone down through it, as Ragatha hadn’t bothered to switch the big, gold chandelier on when they’d approached the steps.
Ragatha led them down a hall, past closed doors. Zooble wondered if whatever programming Caine used to build (seemingly) Ragatha’s real house could only access the parts of it that she could remember best. Or if Ragatha just happened to keep a lot of doors closed in her too-big, too-empty house.
Her bedroom was huge, with vaulted ceilings and a tiny room was attached to it with a smaller couch and a television. There was also a large bathroom that Zooble could see through an open arch. Everything was decorated, but none of it felt like Ragatha, really. Then again, how much did they even know about the girl before them?
She undid her belt as she stumbled towards her bed, and managed, miraculously, to undo it as she sat, heavily, on the edge. Zooble followed her into the room, trying to look respectfully but already knowing they’d lost the battle here. Ragatha bent over, tugging her pants off, and Zooble made a noise at how cute her underwear was.
”Are you always so girly?” Zooble asked, crossing the room.
Ragatha blushed, ducking her head, “Um, yeah…is that okay?”
”Do you like to dress that way?”
”Of course!” Ragatha said, looking up with a sparkling eye when they got close. Zooble nudged her legs apart, stepping between them,
“Then it’s okay,” Zooble told her, and rested their good hand on her cheek. Ragatha flinched, as if expecting to be struck, and when her body realized it was a safe touch, she sagged into it, her eye closing, smile tugging at her lips. Zooble rubbed a thumb over her cheek, “All that matters is that you like how you dress.”
”I want to dress to please you, too.”
”I doubt that,” Zooble said, amused, “We haven’t exactly been close.”
”So? I always hoped you’d talk to me more. You’re so cool.”
Zooble wasn’t sure if they fully believed her, but honestly she had no reason to lie to them. They were already clearly going to do this. Gently, they shoved her back, and she leaned away, expression hurt.
“Lay down for me.”
Ragatha’s expression shifted instantly, and she happily scooted back, falling onto her back, twisting to see Zooble. She was always pretty, but she looked especially so now in the soft lighting of her room, with her soft yarn hair all around her plush little head. Ugh, life was so weird. Zooble eased themselves on the bed, too, and pulled one of her legs to the side by her ankle, earning them a giggle. Cute.
”Anything you don’t like?”
”Jax,” Ragatha said, and then laughed, giddily, when Zooble snorted. “No, I’m easy. Do whatever you’d like to me.”
There was a pause as Zooble rubbed a thumb over the bow on the front of her cute little underwear: a lacy and silk pair in her signature periwinkle color. Cute, just like her. A hint of her femininity under her Spudsy uniform. A reminder that this was Ragatha, and this was a bad idea. Clingy, needy, desperate Ragatha.
”Dress me up,” Ragatha said, laughing softly, “I’m your dolly.”
”Yeah,” Zooble said, “Help me undress you.”
Ragatha did, lifting her hips so Zooble could tug her underwear down, and they yearned for a mouth to be able to taste her. Instead they settled for moving so they were leaning over her and could see her face clearly. A pink blush spread over her, darkening when she noticed they were watching her. Ragatha’s hand joined Zooble’s, which was resting on her stomach.
”Touch me,” Ragatha begged, softly, and dragged Zooble’s hand down between her legs.
God, she was wet. Like over the top, messy kind of wet. Needy, desperate Ragatha in-fucking-deed. And even the briefest of touches had her arching up on her bed, moaning softly. Poor girl, how many years had she been trapped here? All alone? Losing people left and right, until she’d ended up stuck with Jax.
Zooble shifted their hand until their thumb was pressed up against her clit. Thank God, she had all the normal human parts and they didn’t have to play ‘guess how to get her off’ like they’d have to play with them. They gave her a lazy little rub, a wide, slow circle of their thumb. Ragatha moaned again, louder this time, and one of her hands grabbed at her own breast as the other gripped Zooble’s wrist, letting them slowly explore her.
”Do you do this a lot?” Zooble asked.
”Touch myself?” Ragatha asked, confused, voice pitching as Zooble’s finger prodded gently at her entrance. “Please—“
Zooble was happy to oblige, and gently pressed into her, delighting at the rush of pleasure they felt when her walls squeezed down around their digit, Ragatha’s desperate little cry exactly what they were hoping she’d sound like. Her hand gripped her breast, tightly, giving it a squeeze and pinching her own nipple so she sighed aloud.
”Yeah. Do you?”
”Oh, but it’s not the same,” Ragatha said, looking up at them affectionately, “It’s always better with a partner, don’t you think?”
”I guess it depends on the partner.”
”I like this one,” Ragatha said, and the hand that was holding Zooble’s wrist came up to run over the side of their face, thumb brushing over the flat front, fingers along the rigid side, until she was wrapping her hand around their antennae, thumb brushing under the tip of the arrow.
It was kind of weird, but if they turned off their mind (the part of them that was loudly letting them know they didn’t like that part of them) they could enjoy the sensation of being touched. And it felt pretty good, honestly, even though it was a bit weird at first. Kind of sexual, but they could sense it would improve the less they thought about it and the more they focused in on the pretty little sounds Ragatha was letting out as they rubbed their thumb in tight circles on her clit and their fingers worked gently inside her, curling upwards in a sort of stroking, drawn out ‘come here’ motion.
Ragatha’s eye closed and she writhed down, pressing into their hand, as her mouth hung open, letting out sweet, sharp sounds. Zooble leaned down, pressing their head to hers, looking down between them to see where their hand was working her. And then their middle finger hit something, and Ragath let out s shrill sound and tensed up, grabbing them, letting out a gasping, ragged breath as they followed that spot, rubbing against it, chasing her pleasure as she squirmed on their hand. They hadn’t been with such a naturally vocal partner in years, and this was especially nice, because they knew Ragatha was kind of shy and kind of quiet. She was so easy to undo and they found it hot as hell that she was likely not even aware how much noise she was making, or how sopping wet she was. Incredible.
Her hands gripped Zooble, suddenly, strong and firm, and she tightened up all over, curling up, gasping out so loud that when she inhaled again it dragged in painfully. Ragatha drew her legs up, and then she tossed her head, another sharp cry, and she tried to squirm away. But this part was Zooble’s favorite, and they leaned down, using their other arm to hold her down, and looping one of their legs over hers, effectively holding her down enough that her tossing couldn’t dislodge their hand. And not for the first time they wondered if she’d ever been touched properly. Poor girl.
“Good girl. That’s it. Let go for me,” Zooble mumbled, absently, not even thinking about her desperate, affection-starved mentality. They just wanted her to know she was good, that her sounds and reaction was normal. But that had pushed the girl right over the edge of the orgasm that Zooble had been holding her at, and Ragatha thrashed under them, squirming and crying out as she clamped down on Zooble’s fingers, which paid her frantic movements absolutely no mind. She would have to climb fully out of bed to shake Zooble now, and she was forced to endure what Zooble thought had to be her first real orgasm.
Ragatha had been crying out quite a bit, but when she came she made a low, whining, desperate keening sound in her throat like an animal. And when Zooble thought she was done, that they would need to let her gear back up for a round two, they let her go. But by then Ragatha’s drunk hands were back on them, stroking their face, running soft plush fingers over hard plastic.
“Ohh,” Ragatha sighed, dreamily, “You’re incredible."
“So are you,” Zooble said, “You did great. How are you feeling?”
Ragatha laughed lightly, “Mmm, can't walk, can barely talk, deaf in one ear. Reaaaally good.”
“Good,” Zooble eased themselves back towards the edge of the bed, but needy little Ragatha was panicked immediately.
“You’re not leaving are you? I didn’t even get to return the favor!”
“Uh, well, you don’t really need to do that. I haven’t found a way to get off since I’ve been here, and trust me, I’ve tried.”
“Okay but, um…We’ll be back home soon anyway. Why waste time driving around? Please stay here. Please.”
It was hard to say no. Her soft features were tense with anxiety, and the smell of her still filled the room. Their hand was still shiny from her slick, and she was reaching for them with both hands, naked and vulnerable and heartbroken already. Fucking hell, they knew this had been a horrible idea. That the clingy girl would latch on and not let them go again until they got kind of mean. They needed to cut ties and run. Now.
“Alright,” Zooble said, and was surprised that their heart lurched and how happy that simple decision had made her.
The girl was broken, that was kind of the short of it. When Zooble laid down, she curled up against them, head on their shoulder, fragrant yarn hair brushing their solid face. The girl was super fucking broken.
But maybe they could learn to live with that.