Mix: Ready for the Fire

[potentiality_26]

Fandom: Justified
Subject: Ava Crowder
Title: Ready for the Fire
Warnings/Notes: Spoilers for seasons 1-3; mentions of violence.  S4 introduced an arc for Ava that I don't feel is finished, so I've limited this to the first three seasons; made for waywardmixes challenge #23 (Character Study).  This is a gen mix, but my Ava/Raylan and Ava/Boyd feels are definitely showing in the summary.  Apologies.

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Justified is about Raylan Givens, a U.S. Marshal modeled after the quintessential Old West lawman. His shoot-first-try-not-to-ask-questions-at-all attitude has always made him unpopular with criminals and his bosses in the marshal service alike, but when he shoots a mobster in the middle of restaurant, he gets exiled to the Lexington marshal's office, where one of the locations under his purview is the mining county of Harlan- where he grew up.

Ava knew Raylan from childhood. When he left home with no intention of coming back, she married Bowman Crowder, who abused her for years. Raylan comes back to Harlan just when Ava has finished tying up the court proceedings ending her marriage- after she killed him with a shotgun while he was eating the fried chicken dinner she cooked for him. It’s no coincidence- Raylan is tracking Bowman’s ex-con brother, Boyd, who has left a trail of bodies in his wake and might be coming for Ava next.       

1. Wildflowers- Fierce Bad Rabbit

I don’t know what I’m doing round here anymore
Just waiting for a change
Or something maybe all the same

It’s not easy being a woman in Harlan County- but being a newly widowed Crowder is worse. Ava’s own family is gone, making her only kin a bunch of gun-toting nutcases who think they have some kind of claim on her because she made the mistake of marrying into a family like theirs. Raylan initially thought Boyd came after Ava for revenge, but in fact he’s interested in taking his brother’s place in her household- and he’s not the only one entertaining the idea. Handy with a gun as she is, Ava is in a lot of trouble.     

2. Things That Scare Me- Neko Case

Blackbirds frying on a wire
Same birds that followed me to school when I was young
Were they trying to tell me something?
Were they telling me to run?

The hammer clicks in place
The world's gonna pay
Right down in the face of God and his saints

Raylan shoots Boyd at Ava’s kitchen table in approximately the same place that she shot her husband. While Ava tries to rebuild her life in a town where there aren’t a lot of second chances, Raylan’s trouble follows him from Miami in the form of gunrunners with a grudge. It also doesn’t hurt that Ava’s father-in-law, Bo, is making deals with them in order to expand his criminal empire. Harlan is a dangerous place, and only getting more dangerous.     

3. Ambulance- Eisley

Is it really safe to say
That we're just made that way
Made to brave the pain?

'Cause I was told to get out
Told to leave
Told to have my things in the parking lot

Ava always liked Raylan, but to say the relationship they start ends badly would be a serious understatement. He leaves her to go back to his ex-wife, advising Ava to get out of Harlan so she won’t be dragged into the trouble he’s in.  A hurt Ava invetiably is dragged into it all the same; she gets kidnapped by Bo Crowder, who says he will let her go only if Raylan trades his life for hers.    

4. Look at Those Eyes- Alexz Johnson (The Demolition Crew Remix Radio Edit)

Like in the eye of a storm
You're changing form
You feel the pull of the time ticking by
Oh my look at these times

But look at who's right beside you
When you're alone barely holding on
You leave your worries behind you
You're not alone in the dark

When Raylan comes for Ava, he isn’t alone. Boyd Crowder survived the shooting a changed man. He found religion and apologized to Ava for the problems he caused in the past. He also agreed to stay out of her life- but his father has done him a number of wrongs as well and he joined forces with Raylan to finish the elder Crowder off once and for all.  It’s Boyd who shoots one of Ava’s captors and helps free her.  She may not like him, but there are less useful men to be side by side with in a crisis.

5. Skies of Grey- Po’ Girl

I could walk and never tire, never falter when I fly
And if you give me skies of grey
I'll bring you rain to wash us clean again

There isn’t a lot of lawful employment for a man in Harlan except in the mines, and that’s where Boyd takes work. He isn’t sure he believes in God after everything that’s happened, but he knows he wants to be a different man. Ava is alone with her bad memories in a house she can barely afford to keep, and she offers to rent Boyd a room- naturally based on the premise that she’ll throw him out if he even looks at her in a way she doesn’t like. She claims to want nothing more than his help with the house, but she and Boyd take care of each other. They’re both changing, though it’s difficult to tell if it’s for a better or worse just yet- and maybe they don’t have to change alone.

6. Come Back Home- Chris Pureka

There are terrors deep inside me
That are screaming bloody hell
And I’m trying to keep my hands from shaking
While you tell me where you’ve been

Ava had only one other rule for Boyd while he lived in her home- no trouble with the law. But if it’s hard for a man to get honest work in Harlan, it’s doubly hard for Boyd Crowder. Everyone knows about his extremely colorful past, and no one seems willing to let him forget it. Before he knows it he’s roped into robbing the mine he works in with three men who intend to kill him before it’s over. Boyd turns the tables on them easily and gets all the money for himself. He gives it Ava, and- having realized he will never be anything but an outlaw- he sets his eye on a bigger prize: controlling all the crime in Harlan county. He moves out without a word from her; Ava finds that she misses Boyd almost immediately.    

7. Voodoo- Alexz Johnson (Orange Lounge Version)

I know you're looking at your shadow
And getting by by the kindness of strangers
You got me wearing my stilettos
And now I'm looking out for any kind of danger

After making a splash in the Harlan underworld, Boyd comes back to see Ava one more time- but Ava wants him to stay with her for good.  If there’s anything women in Harlan know how to do, it’s how to be an outlaw’s girl; how to watch his back, tend his wounds, lie to the police- and most importantly how to keep out of anything that could come back to her should the worst happen. But though Ava chases off her share of Boyd’s enemies, doctors her share of injuries, and lies to the cops like a pro, she wants to be more than that.

8. Learn Me Right- Birdy ft. Mumford and Sons

We will run and scream
You will dance with me
We’ll fulfill our dreams and we’ll be free

Ava gets shot while helping Boyd take power in Harlan.  She pulls through, and it only makes her more determined. If Boyd understands anything, it’s that. The man who shot Ava, Dickie, is sent to prison, and Boyd gets himself sent to prison- by provoking a fight with Raylan- to follow Dickie and punish him. While Boyd is in prison, Ava takes charge of his people.

9. Shake It Out- Florence + the Machine

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

Once Boyd is out of jail, he and Ava’s position as the king and queen of Harlan is cemented. She and Boyd may be on a different side of the law from Raylan- but none of them mind using the other to get rid of a thorn in their side. Talking to Raylan about Boyd in the bar they run their business out of, Ava gets all the confirmation she needs that she’s finally on the right path for her. She has the life she wants, as Boyd's lover and right hand.

10. King and Lionheart- Of Monsters & Men

And as the world comes to an end
I'll be here to hold your hand
'Cause you're my king and I'm your lionheart
A lionheart

 

Comments

[witches.livejournal.com]

I really love the music you picked and though I've not seen this show, this mix has me interested in her character!

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad it worked for you even having not seen the show.

[flyingharmony.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with this fandom, but I really, really love the songs you picked! I might actually give the show a try at some point.

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Justified is an excellent show- I definitely recommend it.

[inabsentialuci.livejournal.com]

ALEXZ! =D

I don't know a lot about this fandom, but any mix that uses Alexz (twice!) is obviously amazing!

I really liked that the tone of the songs all fit well together, and I think the lyrics fit the blurbs you've used very well!

PS- I especially loved the remix of "Voodoo"! ♥

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

That version of "Voodoo" is lovely, isn't it? What I love about Alexz is that when I find a song with the perfect lyrics, there are a whole bunch of remixes to go through until I find one that's just what I wanted.

[the-pursuer.livejournal.com]

Great mix! I especially liked how the songs seem to get a little bit happier as Ava started finding her peace of mind. It's very consistent, and your song choices are really great! Amazing job, really!

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wanted this mix to have a positive build to it, because I love Ava so much and wanted this to be a story about her finding her way.

[an0ther-dreamer.livejournal.com]

Ava was a really good choice of this theme; she's had such an interesting and extreme character arc.

This mix has a really consistent mood and the songs suit the character and the show very well.

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love Ava, and I love that her arc ended up being so completely not what I expected going into the show, and yet so right at the same time. I had a lot of fun with it.

[poisontea.livejournal.com]

Oh, nice. I've never seen Justified, but you really made me feel like I got to know this character, and now I'm very much interested in watching sometime! These are great song choices and they fit the descriptions you gave so well. I love it!

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Justified is full of fascinating characters and I'm glad I was able to bring Ava across to you.