>>55397836Kieran was a lonely kid because of his shyness and his sister trying to protect him by pushing strangers away from him. But he definitely felt very lonely.
Read what he says when he's trying to pull the dormant Terapagos out of the wall. He was frustrated that everyone had an easy time to make friends but him. Then someone like the MC comes along, showing him once again how easy it was for others to make friends. Even his sister, who was really rude to them at the beginning, started to get all chummy with them. And then even Ogerpon chose them over him.
He says it himself: the MC is everything he wanted to be. And he blamed it on his lack of strength, because the MC is strong and Kieran had an ego when it came to battling to begin with. That's why he got so obsessed with the idea of getting stronger and beating the MC. He thought that's what he needed to do to become like them. To be seen and admired by others.
So these we're all things that were eating at him all this time, but no one really knew. Nobody truly understood why Kieran became like this, and nobody knew Kieran developed the misconception that it's strength that makes the MC so successful. Because Kieran never communicated those feelings - he never learned how.
Carmine is a similar story. It's extremely obvious that she hides her insecurities and gentle side behind a rough, arrogant exterior. She doesn't want to let people get close to her out of fear of getting hurt or whatever. She can't communicate her feelings for shit.
