I have been repeatedly watching the gif of Lance Kingston screaming, and it got me thinking: you know, Ilya didn't really get an opportunity to scream in Staring at the Sun. But he is of course very stoic, so he wouldn't. UNLESS... What do you think it would take to get Ilya to scream?
Signed,
A Sicko
Beloved sicko,
I have not only been watching the same loop (the SOUNDS! the ANGUISH!) but also have been having the very same thoughts about what it would take. Because it has to happen.
I mean. There was a very valid reason for him not being able to scream in SatS. I think he tried. But.
I think there are 2 main components needed to make this happen, and I'm gonna ramble so here comes the cut:
So, assuming we're keeping it in-universe!
1: Fear
As you say, he's stoic. He's Slavic, and depressed. The issue with Ilya and fear is that he would be in fervent denial (to others and himself) about ever experiencing it. Thus, the fast cars. The play styles that have him canonically baiting Scott Hunter into sucker-punching him, for fun. Fear belongs to people who think they have something worth losing. And Ilya is a treasure-trove of devastating self-worth issues. It takes him until That Incident in TLG to express anything approaching it, and it's arguably because he's terrified of never seeing Shane again.
Before that, the most he's ever expressed it (inwardly at least), is when he sees Shane wiped out on the ice.
So. It's gonna take a LOT to get him genuinely, deeply terrified, maybe.
I think he should be selfishly terrified, too. It has to go beyond just being scared that whatever happens to him will be so bad that it would break Shane in the aftermath: it should be something about himself that he's finally learned to cherish, that he's about to lose.
2: Pain
He's good at pain. He's a hockey player! He has to be! It's also a very fair assumption that he was raised in an environment where admitting to feeling it, is unforgivable. Again with the stoicism.
The canonical injuries he's absorbed are already abundant (Ribs! Teeth! Knees!) but all stillvery dealable with.
To break through his practiced defiance of vulnerability, the pain would have to be immediate (gotta tear that scream out). Severe, and with the promise of it lasting beyond what he already knows he can deal with. More than a bone break, probably. Something that even if he survives it, he'll never fully recover from.
...anyway I'm gonna do some reading about cut achilles tendons 👀
