Late night rambling
It’s better for me to ramble here rather than Twitter so…
I was listening through Mitski songs for no particular reason other than that I wanted to listen to them again and while I was listening to Washing Machine Heart, I realized that I could make it about Dr. Lovley.
Specifically the relationship between them and Sally before and after Grace’s absence. Sally has always been cold and closed off. When I think of her upbringing, she probably never had any true connections to anyone. Anyone who *did* get close enough were cut off when Sally went off to college.
Cary was probably the same; they’re analytical, smart, but not as cold as Sally. Cary pushed people in their way, always wanting to be the best. The only way I could see Cary having any sort of romantic or close friendship was to somehow aid them towards the top, where once they were there, throw their friends off.
Sally is arrogant in a subtle way, silently cutting people off. She believes she’s better than everyone else as well, but due to how hard she’s worked. Cary believes they were born better (sort of like Grace), which is why both of them butted heads so much.
Even though they both weren’t the best lab partners, they respected one another. To them, they were true equals. Sally liked Cary’s cunning, the way they’d do anything to get ahead. Cary admired Sally’s intellectual prowess and dedication to greatness. Both were cautious of being more than just lab partners.. but had this trust in one another they’ve never had with another. It was scary.
Eventually it turned more physical, during breaks they’d jump in supply closets and make out and such. Working in a secret corpo lab was stressful!! Their work time shenanigans would eventually come to an end when Grace and Kane were brought in.
The two were separated to teach and mentor the new hires, which both had good chemistry with. Sally and Grace were opposites in terms of energy and enthusiasm. Grace was haughty but tricksy, smart like a fox. She’d bend the rules to get results faster, which even Cary didn’t do. Sally was frustrated by this but also intrigued…
Kane was an intellectual genius on a completely different level than Sally. He made simulations so real Cary couldn’t tell the difference. He was also much kinder and actually open to their ideas and suggestions. Which was very unlike the stubborn Dr. Beste.
Grace would ignore Sally’s stubbornness, while Kane would embrace Cary’s ideas. The pairs would get along well, but Cary would always yearn to have Sally back… you could say they’ve caught feelings for our favorite scientist.
Sally however was more caught up on Grace. Subtle touches, a hand brushing against another while they washed their hands, Sally strangely protective of Grace when an experiment went a bit wrong or she wanted to self experiment… Cary would see all this… jealousy rose.
Sally and Grace would eventually get a bit more intimate, late nights in the labs turned into kisses on the counter. Sally would always complain about it being a safety hazard but wouldn’t let Grace pull away.
Even after Grace ‘disappeared’, Sally would yearn for her touch again… and put on an act to try and get that same feeling of love and affection from… Cary. It was easy to pretend Cary was Grace if she took off her glasses and all she saw was a blonde blur.
Of course it was never the same, Cary was just as desperate, perhaps even more since being away from Sally for so long. Eventually Sally was moved to Facility-0, Cary to Facility-04. Cary would send letters. Salty wouldn’t respond.
So anyway it’s like a one sided love thing between Sally and Cary which eventually turns into hate when Grace and Sally are contained and still pulled together while Cary is ignored.
All of this is to say: Washing Machine Heart is Cary coded from their POV, directed towards Sally.