krisriel is the most folgers commercial-esque ship I have right now. I like krisriel, but so much of it is so mysterious right now! I do think there is unhealthy codependence to it, as seemingly comes naturally to all of asriel's relationships, although it's interesting that we see it filtered mainly through kris here. whether its been in his relationship with chara or frisk in the main game, usually when we see codependent yearning it comes from asriel's big little fucked up heart. in the context of deltarune, kris is the one who is having a hard time letting go of asriel as asriel goes off into the big world. what does this mean about the asriel of deltarune? I want to know. we do have what we've come to 'think' of asriel through ralsei who seems set up to mimic fanon asriel's traits... what does THAT mean I wonder? anyway on kris and asriel specifics it seems like there's a lot to it... it's easy to imagine the two had a lot of secrecy and dark little secrets. the game at least implies one BIG dark secret between them (whatever happened to noelle's sister)... it's a small town too, so I imagine the nature of secret keeping was extra tightly wound. they seem like they did everything together, and two... one thing that's rarely emphasized is the town's religion and how caught up in it even kris and asriel were. there's no specifics given, but there's an oppressive atmosphere in that so much of their childhood is caught up in it and integrated into it. there's angel dolls they spent 'a lot of time making big wings for', noelle and dess were also in a youth group. asriel was in choir, kris liked the communion wine. asriel enjoys religious ska... it seems so much of their life is inherently intertwined with religion and while we don't know the details in full, we can imagine that this is the kind of atmosphere that leads to more secret keeping and very private ways of acting out that the two probably kept with one another. there's a fantasy catholic sense to it. asriel kissed someone, and they all went to church a bunch to make up for it... the idea of sins. so there's a different reason the two have been pushed into creating their own bubble or their own little world than in the original undertale... moving on from that, kris is someone who seems to be failing to thrive without asriel. we know asriel did a lot for them, and kris is constantly reminded of asriel everywhere they go and desperate to have him back. we know there's some weird guilt kris feels towards asriel (you've already taken enough). it's all super compelling, and it's SO easy to dive in and explore the different things this means and the different way things have developed between them. I love when two characters are inseparable, obviously, and I love all the suggestions about these two having a private and intimate world. Kris also seems to try to conceal some of what you can find out about asriel too - in ch 2 when you can 'look' in asriel's room, kris closes their eyes. they don't want you to 'know' what's inside. or even maybe, because they want to protect asriel from the player. heartwarming and sad.

ANYWAY... i love krisriel. it's one of the things that offers new tantalizing hints every chapter. it's SO part of some central mysteries too, and you know it's only on its way to getting more fucked up. it's so inherently codependent and I can't wait for when asriel returns from college for christmas and kris says 'you're my present this year'

and thank you so much cool anon!! merry christmas to you too