#unordinary sera

[mashiee]

rei plays rhythm games and thats final

[beehiveofblorbos]

Wellston top 8 students as cards! And why I care too much about this

Seraphina: Queen of Clovers -> Ace of Spades

John: Joker

Arlo: King of Diamonds

Remi: Jack of Diamonds -> Queen of Hearts

Cecile: Jack of Spades

Blyke: Ten of Hearts -> Jack of Hearts -> King of Clovers

Isen: Seven of Clovers -> Jack of Clovers

Terrence: Eight of Diamonds

I used Clovers as the suit name instead of the traditional Clubs because clovers are associated with luck (even though these aren’t the four leaf ones), and the Class of Clovers (John/Sera/Blyke/Isen’s year, possibly also Terrence’s) was ridiculously and disproportionately overpowered.

First I want to address Cecile actually she’s weirdly the linchpin in all this. I made her the Jack because I do think she was the Jack that Remi dethroned (while Sera was still Queen), and I ended up choosing Spades for her as it’s the war-like suit that fits the order of Unordinary’s world, as well as her lack of hesitance to use her power to get the job done.

I ended up taking a lot of inspiration from the game of New Texis Hold ‘Em Sera plays with John and William early on. In it, the community cards are the Ten of Hearts, King of Diamonds, and Jack of Clovers. I wanted to make these match up with the Royals at the time.

Given that, it seemed obvious that Arlo would be the King of Diamonds; the untouchable king. Remi would fit neatly as the Jack of Clovers, which kind of fits the relative backseat she seems to have initially taken as the Queen early on. Nobody respects her authority, and the power transfer does seem to be recent. That was kind of a justification I used to say she’s not in her final form yet.

I gave Blyke then the Ten of Hearts, as he’s the third Royal but honestly really shouldn’t be anywhere near the Royals, even if he’s got the spirit of it.

The cards in Sera’s hand are the Queen and Ace of Spades. Seeing as she rose from the role of Queen to the Ace, and the Ace is the most powerful card in the game, I assigned her the Ace of Spades pretty much automatically. Plus she has Ace of Spades imagery, which I pointed out before. But I’d like to reserve the Queen of Spades, and instead make Sera start as the Queen of Clovers. Again, that’s her set in with the rest of the Class of Clovers. When Sera ascends to Ace of Spades, Remi becomes the Queen… and I think it’s not hard to agree that Remi is the Queen of Hearts

With most of Wellston’s Top Five covered, I just wanna check in on John; not much to say here as he’s the Joker, plain and simple. This also ties into that card game hehe

I’d rather do Terrence before Isen, so here goes: he pretty much just goes along with the hierarchy and isn’t driven by his own agenda, so he could be one of the counting cards. I picked Eight since that was the rank he died at. He doesn’t fall under any of the other suits easily, so I just picked Diamonds to isolate him.

I imagine Isen starting at Seven of Clovers, since he entered in that class and ended at that rank. He gets to ascend to Jack, just as he did in story, and he maintains his Clover class.

Meanwhile, Blyke is promoted to Jack of Hearts, since he spends a lot of his time as Jack basically being Remi’s lieutenant. He doesn’t actually get serious about the role until after X-Rei visits Brannish, and by that point his dethronement from Jack is already imminent. So directly from Jack of Hearts, he gets to rise to King of Clovers. He really was a King of the people, and we see that in how people respond to his ascension to the role. So he gets to take the King role in the Clovers suite, finally leaving Hearts as he’s found his own motivation beyond Remi’s.

[transterrence]

happy lesbian week of visibility <3

[ilikefictionstuff]

john during *that* part of unordinary

[stingro]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: unOrdinary (Webcomic) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: John Doe & Seraphina (unOrdinary), Claire & Seraphina (unOrdinary), implied claire/seraphina Characters: Seraphina (unOrdinary), Claire (unOrdinary), John Doe (unOrdinary) Additional Tags: Angst, Character Death, Character Study, Grief/Mourning, Pre-Relationship, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Abuse Summary:

There is a funeral for a boy, and two of his best friends meet for the first time there. Funny how life works out that way.

[mashed-tots]

i made some funky pixels :]

[hesitantsorrows]

Poor John! He doesn't have the benefit of pausing time like you Sera!

[serlinesstuff]

Very random uno headcanons

I think isen smells like lavender. no explanation

arlo cant use chopsticks. remi tries to teach him with no success

sera only likes swedish fish gummies

remi wanted a dog when she was little but rei and their dad were deathly allergic so they got her a funky looking rock and she cherishes it to this day

john will never admit it but he sleeps with stuffies when he's upset and will get very sad and apologize if one of the stuffies fall off the bed

sera's parents never taught her or leilah actually important life skills (like socializing, or domestic stuff like laundry or cooking) bc it would "get in the way if their studies and training, which is why arlo had to teach a confused first year sera how to use a toaster

on a similar note, arlos parents always taught arlo how to make his own life and live on his own, bc they wanted their child to become some self-made prodigy

blykes parents are divorced.

for his few years of college, rei had the most atrocious college-student-cooking because all he would do everyday was sleep (bc vigilante rei) and study (bc he is a good boy) he once cooked pickles on the stove bc it was all he had left and called it a day

isen eats rlly slowly cause he likes to take in all the flavour of the food hes eating. he also gets full very easily (same)

blyke listens to self-help or motivation podcasts in the morning while getting ready for school

while in their acquaintance stage, remi and isen bondes over the drama isen knew. remis a gossip addict (while it's never over anything serious, mostly just silly stuff)

john knows moderately well(-ish) how to cook, since William wasn't home a lot because of his job and taught John how to cook and not burn the house down

isen sometimes thinks John is adopted

arlo's hair routine takes him half an hour because he has really bad bed hair in the morning

isen, however, wakes up looking like he had just brushed his hair with the comb of god

elaine is that one person who had everything in her locker. she wants to make sure she can help people outside of just healing them. she has gum, mints, a comb, some emergency snacks, bandages, pads, perfume, and a whole hair care collection

remi always decorates her locker for holidays. for one halloween, she out spiders on the outside of her locker and a little witch figure that held her hair ties, and for christmas she puts up small lights and her locker always smells like candy canes and gingerbread

as a kid, blyke once ate a gingerbread man and his friend jokingly told him that gingerbread man's are actually alive and he nearly cried. the next day his friend pranked him by putting a gingerbread woman on his desk with a note "you killed my hubby >:(

isen is allergic to milk. not in a lactose intolerant way, but an actual allergy (like peanut allergy) way. he likes almond and strawberry milk

[beehiveofblorbos]

This is John Unordinary and this is why I love him to pieces and why Jeraphina eats me up.

it’s the way Sera doesn’t even realize he’s hiding anything until post-John v Arlo when he’s begging her not to look at him. until that point it’s just like “oh yeah my friend John he’s so funny and he lives outside the hierarchy just like me”

it’s to the point that when she loses her ability she’s like “oh wdym I should be worried it looks super easy I’ll prob end up in the infirmary a bit but not a big deal right?” bc HE makes it look so easy, she’s never had to worry about him or think twice about how a cripple is capable of living outside the hierarchy, how someone who can’t fight back can afford to act so recklessly

meanwhile John himself at the time is barely hanging on by a string and the string is the existence of Sera herself convincing and reminding him that some ppl have value or worth and also half the glue binding the string is actual literal torture done to a child

it’s how increasingly attentive she becomes to his smallest cues (like the shake of his hands post-Keon convo) bc she begins to realize that she doesn’t really know when he hides stuff from her and she so desperately wants to be there for him and to feel useful at least in this way, but he won’t let her

they’re both to an extent like this tbh like sera doesn’t tell him abt her home life rly + they both end up processing a lot of stuff separately, to the point that although they’re integral to each other’s character growth neither of them know how much the other was influenced by them rly

but John to the MAX. Man carried on that façade under torture for an entire year in front of literally everyone ever.

do we get that everyone who knows anything about John’s backstory got it from tracking it down or blackmailing it out of him or smthg??? like idk if Sera knows abt the readjustment classes, im pretty sure it’s only Arlo and uh. What

You know, when I see fictional characters who repress all their emotions, they're usually aloof and very blunt about keeping people at a distance, sometimes to an edgy degree—but what I don't see nearly enough are the emotionally repressed characters who are just…mellow.

Think about it. In real life, the person that's bottling up all their emotions is not the one that's brooding in the corner and snaps at you for trying to befriend them. More often than not, it's that friendly person in your circle who makes easy conversation with you, laughs with you, and listens and gives advice whenever you're upset. But you never see them upset, in fact they seem to have endless patience for you and everything around them—and so you call them their friend, you trust them. And only after months of telling them all your secrets do you realize…

…they've never actually told you anything about themselves.

[tgirlswagseraphina]

New Uru art! I don't think anyone's posted this here yet.

[unordinary-diary]

Seraphina and Arlo: The Brainwashing of High Tiers

Exposition:

— Remi, Episode 50.

There is a heavy implication that Seraphina and Arlo were raised in much the same way. The pressure on Seraphina comes from her parents, so I’ll extrapolate that the same goes for Arlo. This raises the question: how do the authorities create such a strong societal pressure on such a small percentage of the population? Most high tiers will probably not know any other high tiers besides their parents. Take Wellston Private High School for example: it’s the most prestigious private school around, and canonically has the “highest concentration of high tiers in the region”. There are six high tiers in Wellston. Apply this to god tiers specifically, and there are only three. Not to mention that this current group of students is uniquely strong, even for Wellston. In Rei’s senior year, he was the strongest at 5.8 max.

So much of this brainwashing relies on the parents to do all of the work, and it only takes one or two people to break the cycle. So how are the authorities creating this immense pressure? One tactic could be by isolating high tiers. There is a very widespread concept that one shouldn’t associate with those outside their level range. A caste system like this that affects everyone is much easier to create and maintain than an expectation for a small group, and it also means that high tiers are only being influenced by those who are also high level. This creates an echo chamber. I’ve researched cults and how they brainwash victims, and the first step in the process is isolating them in exactly this way.

But, if there are so few high tiers, how the hell are they supposed be isolated from other groups? The answer is that high tiers are just isolated in general. Take a look at Arlo: his only friend is Remi, and even her, he keeps at an arm’s length. Arlo is only close with Remi in the first place because he was close with Rei, who, at the time of meeting Arlo, was presumably close in level with him. [EDIT: I forgot about Holden, which I think says a lot about his relevance. He is kept at more than an arm’s length and doesn’t seem to have any actual influence on Arlo, let alone a deep relationship. He is also not presented as an equal.] Take a look at Seraphina: before meeting John, she didn’t seem to have any friends other than possibly Arlo. Seraphina and Arlo pre-John seemed to have had more of a professional relationship, and while they were not close in level, Arlo did fit the bill of being a fellow god tier, and strong enough to also be brainwashed.

Now let’s look at Remi. In episode 60, Cecile says to Remi: “And yet here you are... Always hanging around those two monkeys, Blyke and Isen. Letting them treat you as an equal even though you’re in a completely different league.” This struck me as odd because, aside from Cecile herself, the Wellston students closest in level to Remi were Arlo, Blyke, and Isen. And who is she friends with? She actually was doing a pretty good job at following that social convention, unless Cecile wanted to be friends with Remi, which she clearly didn’t. But... her friends were still not close enough to her level. Was she supposed to just not have friends at all? The answer seems to be a resounding yes. Can you think of any genuine friends that Cecile has either?

Friendship simply isn’t considered a necessity for high tiers.

But... why is it that Arlo and Seraphina were brainwashed differently? Creating a societal norm for an isolated group of people is one thing, because those people’s mindsets feed into each other. Putting pressure on individual families to keep them in line, but doing it all in different ways? That would be near impossible. My theory is that Seraphina recieved the typical high tier brainwashing, and that Arlo was raised differently because he was being groomed to work for the authorities. Seraphina didn’t have a set career path planned out for her, but if she’s trying to be “perfect” by the standards of those controlling her, she’s bound to end up going in a direction that pleases them. Arlo on the other hand was specifically planned to become an authority figure. That’s why his brainwashing is so centered on leadership. Also, growing up with direct contact to the authorities makes it more possible for them to customize his brainwashing in this way.

But does all of this apply to high tiers in general, or is it specific to god tiers? Let’s take a look at the high tiers in Wellston. We have Seraphina, John, Arlo, Terrence, Remi, Cecile, and Blyke. John is a unique circumstance because he wasn’t raised by high tiers, so we’ll cross him off the list. Terrence was also unique, so we can cross him off as well. Remi was different from the norm as well. Why is that? Well, Remi actually wasn’t raised by high tiers either. Rei said on screen that both of his parents were elites. We can cross Remi off. Blyke doesn’t fit the bill either, but that’s easy to explain. He was an elite for a large part of the story, and he shot up rather quickly. We don’t know much of his family, but he probably wasn’t expected to be a high tier at all, and was raised as an elite. (All of this also serves to emphasize how much of this brainwashing comes from a person’s parents.) That leaves only Seraphina, Arlo, and Cecile to look at.

Cecile does seem to have high tier brainwashing, but it’s not nearly as intense as with Seraphina and Arlo. She doesn’t seem “obsessive”, and she wasn’t one of the examples Remi mentioned in chapter 50. It’s clear that high tiers are brainwashed in general, but god tiers are kept on a much shorter leash. This makes sense, obviously, because keeping a population in control like that is less necessary the lower the level. However, it’s also a chicken an egg situation: god tiers are both more important to keep in control, and also easier to keep in control. It’s important to note just how many exceptions we had to cross off. People like Remi and Blyke aren’t actually that unusual— a lower leveled high tier is much more likely to have non-high tier parents, or to have not always been a high tier themselves, or just in general, to have way more day-to-day interaction with non-high tiers. The brainwashing gets more and more diffused the lower down the ladder you go.

[mashiee]

hdz

[beehiveofblorbos]

VERY interesting line out of someone whose ability is capable of “Rewind”.

I’ve spoken before about how John’s ability is symbolic of his mindset of giving as good as he’s gotten, and Arlo’s ability is symbolic of his refusal to let anyone in. So that kind of led me to wonder about the meaningfulness of the other main cast character abilities.

So when I saw this, I was literally gutted with surprise. What a starting point.

in a way, i wonder if Sera is speaking to herself as well as John? After all, she spent a lot of time wishing she’d never lost her ability, and early in the King John arc she often derides herself for believing John’s words and luxuriating in a lie.

just as John saw himself in Seraphina when they first met, throughout John’s breakdown Seraphina begins to see herself in John - her old self, who was blinded by everything around her and didn’t use her authority for anything of importance.

A big theme of Unordinary is moving forward. Another post I was thinking about while writing this is this one, by @unordinary-diary

And there’s more, too. Remi and John have both repeatedly endangered themselves due to their inability to move on from the deaths of Rei and William (not that either should be expected to: it’s been months or weeks). The entire problem a lot of high tiers have had, and that a lot of John’s development is centered around, is the inability to move forward from their pasts or fixations (Seraphina’s perfection, Arlo’s order). And even Blyke’s rapid improvement and ascension to high tier was a result of his inability to move on from the powerlessness he felt during Joker, and later John’s, reign over Wellston.

So what if Sera is the character meant to embody that theme through her ability? I mean, her ability’s got a few more parts to it other than Rewind. She can freeze time, so literally sink back into the past and reflect on it, but even that’s mostly talked about as her moving faster than everyone. And when she loses her ability, she spends more time dwelling on her situation than ever… which is actually beneficial to her. And it is a nuanced topic, it’s not like Unordinary is saying you shouldn’t self reflect either

[reymilie]

This panel was too cute to not draw #2.

[unordinaries]

unordinary 340 spoilers

so i’ve been thinking about it and on one hand, isen suggesting they leave john and run is a pretty sobering moment because he really is just clinging to the first real opportunity he has to protect his best friends who won’t stop getting into situations where he quite literally can’t but on the other hand it is also kinda like. (gently grabs isen by the shoulders) hey man. we saw valerie’s level. i think you’re gonna need that guy later

[stingro]

Sketches (plus closeups):