#twc detectives

Nina Cried Power is a fucking amazing song about protest and Black artists and voices (featuring Mavis Staples!!), and im absolutely not going to go 'omg its just like my (white) oc/blorbo ship', nor am i erasing it from this list so i can just focus on the other songs. that'd just be shitty.

i do think of Salt in relation to it, because it's about structures of power, the awareness of them and fight against them- and it's about a tradition of music which was Huge for Salt's introduction to the World Outside The Forest. we're talking about (basically) a prepper's transfem kid raised in isolation, who moved to the city when she was 18 years old and immediately found herself drowning in an alien world. but forefront in the things she came to love about the world was music. Black music, protest music, music that talked about the world she was trying to learn and navigate, that helped contextualise and give her terminology to comprehend what was going on. it's what shaped her world before she met Ava...

Almost (Sweet Music) - this feels like... what could happen to Salt and Ava if their eventual relationship was less tethered to/by the plot of TWC (and Morag. and Felix.) lmao. I could see them having time together, then apart, then struggling to think of and focus on others when the ghost of that unsatisfied love hangs over them

Movement - Ava might try to hold her distance but the two are tidally locked from the moment they meet. i speak of icebergs and salt air, because it is both the swell of the sea and pull of the moon that draws them in close and once more apart.

No Plan - oh my god this is so deeply Salt and how she feels about Ava once she realises her feelings towards her and that Ava feels the same. there's no plan, there's no race to be run. inevitability and patience. there's just something about this song which makes my heart ache and feel satisfied with the ache just how i know it sits in Salt's chest when she looks at Ava.

Nobody - ...later on, Salt will start to air the truth between them, whether Ava wants her to or not (oh she aches hearing it). it'll be in private, she's not trying to get Nat or Felix in on trying to peer pressure Ava out of her reluctance. this song is the dry warmth of Salt's almost-flirting, her reminders to Ava that the door is open whenever Ava wants to try meeting her on the other side.

To Noise Making (Sing) - we all know that Ava falls in love at first sight. but Ava first saw Salt from such distance. surveillance across the street, witnessless observation. so the part of Ava that tries to deny her feelings got a headstart, she let herself Not Think of it.

Remember when you'd sing just for the fuck of it? Any joy it would bring, honey, the look of it Was as sweet as the sound Your head tilt back, your funny mouth to the clouds

it fell apart when she watched Salt sing to herself, spin in solitary dance. that was the moment it really hit.

As It Was - im gonna link this and this from sera's asks. be aware there's b5 spoilers for the A romance. ok with that context. hooBOY. but that... sounds like itmight well be a wakeup call for A...

so this song to me? its when Ava finally turns around and starts towards Salt. when she finally embraces that she wants her, wants this.

Shrike - if Salt does hit a frustration point? this is the What If of that. and it could fit for Ava too, trying to move on. it's just a good one for their Struggling.

Talk - ...okay this one is. potentially the song for the OC i might use for the As It Was scenario if i keep that plot point for Salt and Ava >w> We Shall See hehe

Be - and here's their smut song i mean like cmon "With the same sweet shock of when Adam Ava first came" OK LEAV ME ALONE BYEEEE

Dinner and Diatribes - Salt's disillusionment and unhappiness in the city, the spark when she runs into Ava in the hall- the possibility that could linger in her mind of What If but feel smothered by Life Remains The Same

Would that I - Salt clutching Ava's hand in the cathedral. gasped laughter as the tree falls, as Ava whirls Salt to safety. Ava turning her head into Salt's touch in the Hall of Mirrors. sparks, sparks- they'll build to a fire sure enough, with time.

Sunlight - ok but like. this is the most Li Sar's Plot song ever. cmon. listen to it. its also great for Salt and Ava bc of how Ava wants to try and turn away and deny. and its also great bc Li Sar is going to be infecting Salt when we get to that plot.

Lena (M) would go for Nate who is her actual bestfriend in my M playthrough lol I can see them matching well, and out of the other UB members he’s the one i can see her fall for, had M not existed. 

Kiara (A) would go for Mason (her bestfriend). They actually do share things in common so i can see them working well together as a couple, but not sure if they’d last. Still, he’s the one she’d go for if there was no Adam. 

Gina (N) wouldn’t go for anyone. I really can’t see her liking anyone else in UB romantically.