Ava Ironlung: A Field Guide
This is mostly some bullet points I wrote out for my own writing reference more than anything.
In this time between Iron Lung leaving cinemas and the dvd release, itās easy to lose sight of what characterization is actively present in the film. So thatās what this is trying to avoid! š yippie
If you want my credentials, I wrote drowning in air which is (currently) the most popular thing in Avaās character tag AND the most popular non-crossover fic for Iron Lung in general. I like this film a lot, and I spend a great deal of effort keeping the characters and world consistent to what Mark has set out for us. If you disagree with the characterization in my story, you will probably disagree with my observations here.
(which is fineāBUT you better be able to back it up if youāre vocal because I can cite my sources extensively)
Anyway, onto the character:
For obvious reasons, most of Avaās characterization is shown through dialogue. This works in the film, but while writing any fic where sheās physically present we must also contend with her Mannerisms. Primarily, the thing I like to rely on here is hesitation. She hesitates a LOT, not in her actions, but when trying to articulate herself (nicely) to others thereās always a notable pause. See: āI, uhāI donāt know. This isnāt exactly standard procedure. Just, ram it.ā
Notably this hesitation to rephrase herself is only present when she thinks itās both useful, and sheās being given a similar courtesy in return. She doesn't seem to grace personal insults with a response at all, and often talks past or actively removes herself from circular conversation. Physically turning away when she doesn't like what someone is saying is also a mannerism I find useful to include.
When we see her angry it's almost exclusively in reference to the people around her not fulfilling their roles, or not acting in accordance to the stakes of the situation. When Simon is calm and compliant with the mission she even jokes! ("our goal is to avoid something more calamitous, that's what keeps us all alive :)" <- to the guy who just hit everyone with the radiation beam is Really Funny actually. there's legitimate levity in her voice it's great #smallwins)
When writing from another character's perspective (usually Simon), I often lean on "blunt" and "abrasive" as adverbs, then sprinkle in her softer traits through less obvious physical action (staying nearby when someone is hurt, taking responsibly when things goes wrong etc), and usually this will go mostly uncommented on by both Ava and the person noticing it. Essentially, she is capable of kindness but not usually of being nice on a personal level.
"Bland" is also a word I like to use a LOT. She says a lot of things blandly that really shouldn't be said that way at all. ("So look out for sparks or flames or anything like that." <- with the inflection of someone on page 27 of 58 of a boring instruction manual is NOTT the tone you should be using for the guy who's never done this before and is clearly very very scared. anyway)
At no point does Ava ever ask for anything she wouldn't be willing to do herself. This is both one of her most admirable traits, and the cause of most of her conflicts. She gets angry when people aren't willing to commit the same sacrifice to The Mission as she is; but from an outside perspective it looks like she's just making unreasonable demands and then getting shout-y when she receives pushback. Which,,, she is. BUT it's important to remember the context.
Sheās painfully honest when sheās angry, and more often than not itās a result of deep-set stress about the situation. The ācalculated risksā rant are her most talked about lines, but she yells at Simon because it seems to cut through his panic. Her shouting about needing to know if thereās internal damage to the submarine otherwise he could die is probably the best example of this. She shouts because thatās what he responds to, but the words being said removed from the context of tone are often?? idk, they either benefit Simon or they benefit the mission. She never seems to care about much else enough to raise her voice.
The ship sheās the Captain of isnāt a spaceship, itās probably a really big tugboat. The ship is on the oceanās surface throughout the film, mostly proven by how quickly the Iron Lung is dropped from itās hangar into the ocean.
This is also why the COI is so hesitant to send anyone down to retrieve the SM-13. The submarine had been attached to the tugboat by a chain, so when Ellie (the fish) basically kidnapped Simon, the ship was almost dragged under the surface as well. A submarine is one thing but the tugboat is blatantly not something the Consolidation is capable of replacing. By going to retrieve the Simon/black box (from their perspective), Ava does actively endanger the entire crew by potentially further alerting the oceanās life to the presence of the ship.
Based on the āCaptain has had a consolidated stick up her ass since the quiet raptureā line from David, itās implied theyāve known each other a Really long time. Lots of fun implications to explore there, and combined with Simon seeing the sun go as a teenager, it puts together a general timeline on how long itās been since that event happened).
On the note of personal connections, she also seems to have been close with the SM-8 crew before they died. Ellie initially mistakes Simon for Ava and says that she āalways has a planā, and that āit doesnāt have to be like before/they can work together this time.āāimplying that their last contact had been and argument the researcher has since forgiven her for.
According to the practical fx lead, the goal for Avaās scar was to have it look as if a ālarge hookā had pierced the flesh around her cheek and torn up, skimming her eye. This leans into headcanon territory and the evidence is from something outside the film itself, BUT given that the submarines are themselves lowered into the ocean on large hooksā I think itās reasonable to assume something went wrong with the launch or retrieval of one of those submarines. This also lines up with the fact their internal dock seems to be in the same place as the control room to??? save space & air I guess. idk, everything in the COI seems to be running on fumes.
