I genuinely wonder if the weird route is being set up for us to take control of Noelle.
It's a long shot but I have a feeling when we re-equipped the thorn ring, we split a part of the soul and literally shoved it inside noelle via the thorn.
When we refuse to think about susie and get the choice to think about noelle, we hear her thanking us as if she knows we can hear her and we can see a small glimmering red light.
At first I thought this small light was the thorn ring and blood but the light sways way to much to be her hand.
Her speech appears to be broken and obsessive either as an indicator that we control her and those aren't her words, or she's literally broken after realizing a godlike entity is reading her thoughts and torturing her.
Lord knows I have enough experience with bad shroom trips to know that feeling.