#pawprints

explanation of daemons for people who dont know: daemons come from "his dark materials", a book series written by philip pullman that has also been adapted into movies. the schtick is that every person has an animal that represents their soul essentially! and the animal acts like a person and can talk to them and stuff. and the species that the daemon is represents the person symbolically; children's daemons can change species at will, but as the person matures their daemon settles into their true form and can no longer shapeshift

here is chris and his daemon, mangrove! mangrove is a bengal cat. i chose her species basically on a whim but i found it fitting for chris bc he's ever so slightly more introverted than martin is, like cats are, but bengal cats in particular are really outgoing and playful and energetic and i think that duality matches him. also cats are known for climbing, and chris is the climbing brother! plus bengal cats are a mix between domestic cats and leopard cats, and leopard cats naturally live in forests. bengal cats just give off chris' vibe lol

as for the actual lore in this au, im still figuring it all out but i have some scattered ideas here and there:

i think martin was the one to name chris' daemon when they were kids, since he's the one who names everything

i think mangrove went a few good months/years without a name after chris was born, but im thinking that one time the kratt family is visiting a beach or something, and chris' daemon gets lost for a few hours in a mangrove, and when they finally find her that's what martin names her!

^ mangrove getting lost is supposed to be a metaphor for one's mind wandering. that and the fact that as we see in the show, whenever chris discovers something that interests him, he HAS to investigate it. and i think that trait would reflect itself in his daemon

i feel like growing up, chris didn't speak until he was like four lmfao. but MANGROVE herself was always super talkative and just talked for him

chris' creature power suit has a ton of claw marks from mangrove scrabbling all over him all the time hehe

i'd like to think he secretly has nicknames for her like grove, mango, rover. :3

when mangrove was unsettled one of her favorite forms was a gray squirrel