You sound like you're doing the best thing within your immediate control right now, which is being interested in the other player. Honestly, you could read volumes from the secret tickle library of forbidden knowledge and probably not get as far as just being open-minded and exploring safely with others in person over time. As long as your being reasonable and safe, experiment! Individuals vary so much that there are just no silver bullets. What is fun or tickles one person to insanity, might be boring or not even tickle a little bit for another person. That being said, here are a few things to think about that might help without being hyper-specific:
- Explore the body. Everyone's is different. Some people think they are most ticklish on their feet, but then you touch their elbows and they lose it, never having known they were ticklish there. Map out their sensitivity by exploring every inch they have consented to being touched. Not only is it fun to explore in this way, but you can uncover fun surprises and terribly ticklish micro spots.
- Get inspired by browsing bondage images. There are millions of images online of different bondage scenarios, positions, and gear being used. Different positions and types of bondage create different states of vulnerability. Stretched muscles and nerves are usually much more ticklish. Different positions create different vulnerabilities in that way. I think a lot of people think of bondage as serving only to keep people safe and to prevent someone from stopping the tickling, but it also holds the body in very specific positions of stretched vulnerability.
- You are playing with real live individuals, and they are all very different in so many ways. Talk with them thoroughly about what they like, what they don't, what they know works, etc. Help them help you help them.
- Tools are fun, and you can experiment with them almost endlessly (and sometimes get fabulous results), but I'd recommend spending a good bit of time using your hands. The more hand work you get in, the more you build an intuition for what kinds of tickling works best in what areas on different people. You also get the added tactile feedback, which you can learn to use for improving timing and predictive tickling. Regarding the fun aspect, many lees prefer the more organic feeling of human touch to tools, but not all. Again, communicate with them about what they like the most.
- Lastly, don't fall into the trap of chasing the high score. Lean into the connection with the person, the exchange of energy between the two of you, and embrace the journey more than the destination. Explore different types of tickling with different people, be flexible, and you'll learn more over time while having fun and with a lot less pressure.
I hope some of this was helpful. Good luck!
🙂
