#illin

Now, do y’all mind if i scream into the void for a bit

Illin’s death at the end of the storyline really :) upset me :))) KAIN JUST ISN’T ALLOWED TO HAVE EVEN ONE (1) FRIEND FROM HIS DAYS IN THE DRAKAS HUH. AND IT’S DOUBLY UPSETTING BC ILLIN’S WHOLE THING WAS ABOUT HER WANTING TO LIVE AND HAVING SURVIVED FOR AS LONG AS SHE HAD IT ANGERS ME SHE JUST GETS MURDERED (and Kain barely even REACTS, SIR YOUR SISTER JUST KILLED YOUR FRIEND) AND HER DEATH ISN’T EVEN LIKE, FOR PLOT. LUSKA KILLS HER AND THEN THEY JUST MOVE ON,,, THE WAY I CLEARLY CAN’T. AND THIS ISN’T LIMITED TO JUST ILLIN, OH NO, TIRAG AND VIAS GET THAT TREATMENT TOO. Which I find especially weird for Tirag since like, he at least got the honor of actually having a drawn headshot with multiple expressions, tbh I seriously thought he’d at least do more but, I guess not.

And I know character death is like, a staple of Maple, this ain’t my first rodeo folks, I know that getting attached to side characters is just asking for pain but like, it’s frustrating because of the attempts at a build up for story. Kain’s storyline is kind of all over the place and really confusing until you take a second look at it and realize “oh THAT’S what they were trying to do, badly” (they,, really didn’t handle the memory manipulation all that well, it’s really difficult to figure out to what extent it’s being done on the Drakas, bc they clearly aren’t all getting hard resets (a la Zero), but more like their perception of how long they’ve been there is being fucked with? plot did not explain this well) which is doubly frustrating bc the potential is tHERE. I LOVE THIS EDGY IDIOT WITH A HEART OF GOLD AND I WISH HIS STORY WERE BETTER.

I’m particularly upset about Illin because (besides just liking her and being biased) she’s the only one who lives after the other’s get offed and like, you get these tiny hints and fragments of background and possible growth as a result of her survival that you think are gonna pay off in some way since everyone else is dead (like, seriously, WHY did past!Kain trust past!Illin with the coordinates to his home and WHY IS THIS FACT SO DOWNPLAYED, WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN BACKGROUND ON THEIR LIVES IN THE DRAKAS AND THE PEOPLE THEY WERE BEFORE THE MEMORY FUCKERY BEGAN. BACKSTORY ON KAIN’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE OTHERS IN HIS GROUP. Not to mention, Kain and Illin start off pretty distrustful of each other, despite (or because of?) their shared history as members of Drakas, but slowly Kain goes from ‘I’m not sure, maybe she would be the type to stab me in the back’ to ‘Hey Shadowdealers, look out for this woman, she’s a good person’. Like it’s such an interesting dynamic that could’ve been explored more, where they both could’ve worked through their shared trauma of what they went through and maybe heal and grow as people and learn to trust each other and others,and Kain would actually help her get that fucking collar off, bUT NO. NONE OF IT GOES ANYWHERE AND I AM ANGY.

To quote myself rambling at Ivy: GIVE ME THAT 'Distant and Unwilling (bc of Drakas) Co-workers' to 'Uncertain Allies' to 'Awkward Friends' to 'ACUTALLY FUCKING TRUSTING ONE ANOTHER' TO LOVERS THAT I CRAVE, NEXON