#beeelderly

kris + noelle

one layer is the childhood friends piece which really taps into the nostalgia/escapism that's everywhere in dltr, the idea of going back to a simpler/happier/better time, but repair for them kinda goes against all of that... like one piece of it is that if it wasn't for the influence of the soul then kris wouldn't even be talking to noelle (whether it's from their own depression/guilt/??? from past events or it's from trying to protect noelle from weird route)... ok as I'm typing this out I'm formulating my thoughts, I think you could see some potential reasons for kris to avoid noelle being 1) memories of a happier time are too painful to revisit, 2) those memories are precious to them and having to confront the present will naturally warp/taint those memories (like watching a vhs over and over and over again to the point where the tape corrupts yknow), 3) kris feels too guilty(/???) to revisit the relationship with everything unresolved. distance is what reinforces the current status quo and keeps them in their respective roles, 'the weird kid' and 'the good kid'. so their distance keeps them frozen in amber. you only really kris take an active role against it during the weird route, which is also when the dynamic between kris and noelle gets more overtly romantic (rancid). it's like... I think to kris, being with noelle is like poking an open wound, and to noelle, being with kris is like regaining a lost part of herself. it's like that one line in that mitski song, 'how did I let our love die/when you're the only other keeper of my most precious memories' but with completely different emotions on their respective ends. something I hope to see is, after all this time noelle's in sync with kris, but we don't get to see as much how in sync kris is with noelle. also, in terms of arcs... noelle's whole thing is that kris is one of two people she feels comfortable saying no to and dropping the mask with, and that arc would theoretically be more about building confidence and being able to experience this outside of kris... so kris' role in this scenario is to become obsolete if we're considering this from utilitarian character development, unless it's turned around to noelle being able to advocate for herself and what she wants and that want includes being with kris. we're seeing a fucked up version of that in the weird route lol.

susie + kris

they're kind of soul mates. they're drift compatible. it's like, whereas noelle is capable of reading and anticipating kris, susie isn't reading anything because she doesn't have to. susie also represents everything kris probably wishes they could embody, the strength to grow and the courage/stubbornness/naivety to fight fate. (susie also probably represents/embodies a blank slate, someone who might have her own baggage but isn't tied down to *this* baggage and isn't tied up in some convoluted long term scheme). I think there's gonna be multidirectional weird jealousy for kris, like on one hand 1) that's their estranged childhood friend susie is getting close to and fulfilling all the dreams of, she gets to just come in and skip all the grief/trauma/etc and start fresh with someone kris used to be close to, 2) that's their extremely cool new best friend that their estranged childhood friend is getting close to, kris is the one going on all the crazy adventures with her but noelle gets to come in out of nowhere and get cozy... whereas on susie's end she sees kris with a loving mother (sans incident notwithstanding) and with a ??? relationship with noelle while also wanting (initially) to keep the dark world as Their Thing so the multidirectional jealousy goes multiple ways. I think the common factor in the relationship susie and noelle have with kris is that they both feel like they can be their authentic selves with kris. anyway I talked about what susie represents to kris, but kris also represents to susie, from her perspective, I think someone who actually is fully themself (dramatic irony). similar to noelle, susie used to put on a front most of the time (and that front would provoke fear) so someone who seems to just go at their own pace probably makes her recalibrate... actually, I'd say noelle can read kris without necessarily understanding what's below the surface, whereas susie can call kris out without really knowing what's going on.

susie + noelle

they both kind of represent each other's ideals, which means they're both always trying to be their best selves around each other. that's one of the reasons I think they're both so comforted by kris, because kris 'third wheeling' gets them out of their heads and actually engaging with each other. and kris. in some ways, susie represents the same thing to noelle that she does to kris, someone who can reject the status quo and do whatever she wants. she's also like... the funny thing about noelle is that any route is a win-win situation. either she's right and susie's actually pretty nice and they can be friends, or she's wrong and susie's going to bully her but that's okay because she's status-quo scary (and hot) not unknown scary. like the thing with the haunted house where noelle wasn't scared by anything she'd already memorized but was super freaked out by alphys jumpscare lol. anyway because of that noelle gets to throw herself into a blank-slate relationship wholeheartedly. noelle also kind of represents the same thing kris represents to susie, in being fully accepted for who she is and even celebrated for it. where they differ is that for noelle, susie comes from outside of hometown so she's a lot more separate from what noelle considers stifling and restrictive, it's that blank slate. and for susie, kris is on her level, but acceptance from noelle is like... significant in that it's acceptance from someone with higher social/economic status. I don't mean in a shallow way really, but there's going to be some nuance to that validation/acceptance... or conversely, being able to humanize an ideal and have someone who used to seem higher-status become a peer, which is also pretty powerful... or, being the ideal of your ideal, like a recursive thing. plus, something about being an outcast is I'd imagine susie isn't used to having overtly romantic attraction directed towards her, so this is the first time she's feeling 'desirable' (object of romantic attraction) which is gonna rewire her brain a bit. something my friend was talking about was how she thinks susie's giving noelle what she thinks noelle needs based on her own experience (like setting up the room, same brand of escapism) but it's not actually going to match noelle's needs. they kind of need to break through the mutual ideal filter