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"Feel like I never get it," Susie grumbles. "Like, you, I’m pretty sure I basically understand, but Noelle, I just… I'm pretty sure she's having a good time, or whatever, but it just feels like I'm making stuff up as I go, and most of it doesn't work."
Kris huffs a laugh.
"Honestly... Noelle's easy once you figure her out."
"Yeah, well she's a pain in the ass to figure out in the first place," Susie mutters.
"You want me to show you?"
Susie shrugs, vaguely. "I mean, I guess, yeah? You’re thinking, what, like… next time…?"
Kris snorts.
“Don’t worry about scheduling; I’ll show you right now.”
Susie looks around at the moderately crowded flea market they’re standing in.
“Is that like, the thing? Public spaces?”
“Not really. You know what? Just watch.”
Susie shrugs.
"Hey, Noelle!"
Noelle straightens, still in the process of pocketing the change for whatever trinket she's just bought, and hurries back to them, shoving coins into her purse.
"What's up?" she asks.
"Just working something out with Susie, wanted to get your input on it," says Kris.
"Alright," she says, nodding, "what's the problem?"
Kris gestures down a direction from an intersection, and they start down that path.
"Actually, before I ask, Susie, can you carry... what did you just buy?"
"Oh, it's a little glass nebula orb!" Noelle says, holding up what is indeed a small glass sphere that does indeed contain what looks, at a squint, like a nebula. "I thought we could put it on the shelves in front of the lights and then we'd get a cool color effect on the ceiling!"
"Nice," says Kris, and Susie nods approvingly as Noelle hands it over.
"So, um... what was the question...?"
"Right," says Kris, slowing to a halt, and looking at Noelle. "Should be pretty simple. So, put your hands out towards me."
"Okay..." says Noelle.
"Palms up."
“If you put something gross in my hand...” Noelle warns, but Kris holds up their hands to reveal they’re empty, and she complies.
“That works,” says Kris. They turn momentarily to Susie. “So, first, this,” they say, taking hold of Noelle's wrists. "...And then you do this."
In a single fluid motion, they step forward, fully into Noelle's space, their body pressed up against hers, and twist her arms so her hands are pinned behind her back.
Susie's eyes widen, and Noelle visibly stiffens, but Kris seems unperturbed.
"Remember, you've gotta make sure you move your elbows right. You want your arms to be outside of hers."
"K- Kris, we're in public!" Noelle hisses, glancing back and forth; the turn they took from the intersection put them in a less busy street of this flea market, but there are still people walking by.
Kris’ expression twists into a too-pleasant smile. "Am I not allowed to give someone a hug in public?"
The noises Noelle is stifling are at once confused, nervous, and more than a bit excited.
"Anyway," they say, in a pleasant, conversational tone that is clearly an act, "once you get here, you can basically do whatever you want to her. This is probably the simplest approach, but anything that pins her hands is probably fine. Out to the sides, at the lower back instead of the upper back, above her head, though that’s better if she’s… not standing up,” they say delicately. “If you need your hands free, you can tie her hands behind her back instead of holding them… or if you’re feeling really daring you can hold her hands rather than pinning her wrists; that’s always fun, right?”
“Kris, not so-” Noelle hisses, evidently flustered out of her wits, “not so loud!”
“Nobody’s listening but Susie,” Kris says, the smile not leaving their face. They look back at Susie. “You're actually probably better suited to this than me, since my hands aren't big enough to pin both of her wrists at once, but honestly, she forgets to struggle half the time, and even when she remembers, she doesn’t try very hard." They look back up at Noelle, their face mere inches from hers. "Do you."
"Mmm," comes the strangled noise from Noelle's throat, eyes wide as she looks away in embarrassment.
"So... what, just like... pin her down, and...?"
"Do whatever you want," says Kris, shrugging. “Don’t worry if she struggles a bit; if she actually wants you to stop, she’ll ask." They look back up at Noelle. "Won’t you."
Noelle looks back down at them, the bright red of her cheeks only barely hidden by the fur, but says nothing.
“Won’t you,” Kris repeats, in a tone that makes it clear that wasn’t a rhetorical question.
Noelle swallows heavily, shuts her eyes, and nods, feverishly.
Kris kisses her, briefly.
"And she likes when you tell her it's cute how embarrassed she gets."
"I- that's-" Noelle protests, but-
Kris abruptly releases her wrists, and steps back, expression neutral again.
"Like I said," they say, their tone back to its normal, flat affect, “not hard at all.”
Noelle’s face is already buried in her hands.
"Wait," says Kris, and borrows Noelle's hand again. They gesture, and Susie steps closer.
"Put a finger here?"
Susie seems a bit taken off guard, but does so, placing the flat of a finger against Noelle's wrist.
“If her heart’s beating like that, you’ll know you’ve got it right.”
“That’s uh…” Susie says, nodding, “wow, okay, yeah.” She coughs, evidently a bit dazed by the past minute. “That’s… pretty cool.”
Kris gestures, noncommitally, then, in a single motion, slides the bag Susie was holding back onto Noelle’s arm.
“Anyway,” they say, “Noelle, was there anywhere else you wanted to look at?”
“Give me a second!?” she says, trying to rub the heat from her cheeks. “I- did you two have anything you wanted to check!?”
“Saw a place that sells shiny rocks back the other way,” says Kris, “we could get a bowl of them.”
“Ooh, like a snack bowl!” says Susie, abruptly perking up.
“Rock snack bowl,” says Kris, “Snock bowl.”
“Snock bowl,” agrees Susie, “yeah, we’re doing that.”
“See? Knew you’d get the hang of interior design,” says Kris. “Now, you walking, Noelle, or are we gonna have to kidnap you?”
“Ooh! You think that’d be good?” says Susie. “I bet we could totally-
“I’m already walking!” Says Noelle, panicked and flustered again as she steps out ahead of them.
They look at her.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Kris says to Susie.
“Totally. Wonder if anybody here sells those little plastic thingies they use to tie people’s hands together,” Susie muses.
“Keep an eye out,” agrees Kris.