#wellston private high school

[godblesssmg]

Chapters: 2/5 Fandom: unOrdinary (Webcomic) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Blyke/Remi (unOrdinary), Cecile/Isen (unOrdinary), Arlo & Elaine (unOrdinary), John Doe & Seraphina (unOrdinary) Characters: Blyke (unOrdinary), Remi (unOrdinary), Isen (unOrdinary), Cecile (unOrdinary), Elaine (unOrdinary), Arlo (unOrdinary), Seraphina (unOrdinary), John Doe (unOrdinary) Additional Tags: Wellston High (unOrdinary), Blyke x Remi, Isen x Cecile, unOrdinary but they all have a crush on each other, as it should tbh, Elaine likes Arlo, and everyone knows it, Cecile is a feminist icon, Remi likes someone and she thinks she's good at hiding it, spoiler: she's not, who knows what Seraphina is thinking? not me, they are all in love AND bored, Isen is annoying, Blyke is done, Arlo is even more done, John just exists, these kids haven't had fun since the trip to Rowden, why use your ability for useful things when you can just use it because yes, mentions of ovaries and testicles, no I'm not kidding I told you that the kids are BORED, King Blyke, Queen Remi, Jack Isen, johnny is no longer in his "i'm literally neurodivergent and a minor" era so he's not annoying here, look Arlo just wants to graduate, How NOT to flirt with a girl ft. Isen, Blemi, Blyke x Remi supremacy, Mentions of War, believe it or not this is not crack, Romance, Like Ron Weasley once said, All is fair in love and war... and this is a bit of both. Summary:

After an incident where Isen was almost left without the ability to have children, Wellston's top students came up with an idea: to participate in a competition together. The winners of the competition would be rewarded with a handsome prize, and the losers would be punished. The rules were simple: first, having any sort of contact with with the other team was strictly forbidden; and second, crushes were not allowed.

An unOrdinary fanfic about romance, war, and four boys and four girls that try to decide what's worse between being born with ovaries and being born with testicles.

[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.

[stingro]

For the writing prompts, pls do Holdlo id actually give u my kidney.

kazz this must be you and please don't give me ur kidney.

Ice Bath

holdlo. 451 words. please note it is NOT implied rem/lo, for clarification.

Normal guys don’t go to Wellston Private High. That’s the rule of nature. Normal guys don’t go to one of the most prestigious high schools in the country without some kind of innate talent, but Holden is significantly More Normal than the rest of the school. He stays comfortably at a high position; not high enough to be a subject of gossip through the rumor mill, but enough that if he stares at someone for long enough, they’ll move out of his way or nervously say hi to him.

His best friend is his forever King of the school. His best friend is pulling away from him, more and more, with each passing day. He’s said his best friend’s name less this week than he has passed him in the hallway. 

Holden sees his best friend in class, ghosts under his eyes, beneath his hands when he writes. Arlo fidgets uncomfortably with the dog tag necklace he keeps under his button-up when he thinks no one is looking. Holden thinks that one day, soon, Arlo will blink without opening his eyes ever again. Thinks that soon, he’ll have to submerge himself in the tub and make himself an ice bath for the Authorities. 

Guys like Arlo are sufficiently Not Normal. Arlo couldn’t kill a man, but could maim someone without blinking an eye in the past. But, he frowns at overblown, unnecessary displays of cruelty now, picking it out of his nails with a pencil instead of digging into it, blood and teeth and all. Holden likes the less cruel Arlo, who's softer with his words and hands, but misses the boy who cracked down on chaos with smooth fists. And he's seen the way Arlo looks at Remi nowadays, the distance between them only multiplying with each rotation around the sun.

But, in those rare moments that they spend together, Arlo looks almost the same as before. The smallest, briefest of smiles on his face from minutes of talking to each other, the kind only a best friend could get.

The smiles get smaller, the frowns get larger, and Holden imagines Arlo's hands dripping black, blood as dark as the Bureau itself. It must be, because why else would ghosts rest on his body with no other footrest? Why else would he flinch when his phone buzzes, looking at the screen like he wants it to crack?

(One day, he gets Arlo coffee, and Arlo looks like he might cry.)

Then, he looks at Arlo. And Arlo looks back at him, through him, like he's a mirage in the snow. Never here.

The ice he makes only grows in the spaces between them. Holden doesn't know how to break it.

[school-of-all-time]

Round 1, Bracket 1

[spoopy-noodlez]

UnOrdinary/BNHA Crossover Idea

So I've been looking for one but have yet to find one, so here's an idea if anyone is interested.

Quick Warning: Possible UnOrdinary and BNHA spoilers if you aren't caught up.

So I was thinking about how instead of John going to Wellston Private High School, he goes to UA with intention of going into General Studies to pursue a career in Writing like his father.

Would UnOrdinary be illegal in BNHA? Yes, because in BNHA they look down on Vigilantism. They wouldn't want a book that promotes it. But I strongly believe that Izuku would have a copy of the book.

In this AU, John doesn't meet Seraphina or any of the others. He does go through that Joker fiasco but when he was still in Grade school like in the original story, but instead of continuing and going to Wellston, he goes to Aldera and follows Izuku to UA.

These two are best friends, convince me otherwise.

So like UA is a top prestigious school, they have to keep track of who they're taking in. So they do background checks on all the students that apply.

They find out John's past and seem him as a possible threat, but they don't lock him up. Instead, they put him in 1-A to train as a hero and keep him from going down the wrong path.

It doesn't go as planned.

Extra:

The people who took away Seraphina's ability would still exist, working with the people that took away Tamaki's Quirk.

I also believe that John would believe in Stain's ideology, but he would not like Stain as a person.

[ordinaryunordinary]

Change

After receiving some alarming news Valerie ask to meet with Arlo in an attempt to make sure his views haven’t changed

4000+ Words

CW: Death/mentions of murder

In the Bureau of Authority, a blonde woman sat at her desk typing away on her computer. For the second time that morning her phone buzzed away next to her. A sigh escaped her, she knew it was her nephew calling, but she was so absorbed with work that she didn’t have to time to answer him. She had just finished typing up another referral when the door to her office opened and a young man stepped in.

“Hello Kingsley, is there something you need?” The man fiddled with his fingers as he approached her desk, looking nervous as the blonde stood and now towered over him. “I’m V-Valerie I received some news.” But before he could speak anymore, Valerie lifted a hand in the air to stop him. “Chin up and stop stuttering.” The man nodded and took a deep breath.

”ma’am, I received some news about your nephew today. It involves one of the three students you are inspected and I just thought you want want to know.” Valerie arched an eyebrow, “continue.” The man dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone and came to stand beside Valerie. “I found these on a social media account run by a woman named Elizabeth, who I believe is the mother of Remi.” Valerie nodded as the man opened his files and presented the screen to her.

She frowned, the photo was of four individuals. Arlo, Remi, a greenette and bluette. “Who are the two older boys,” she asked. “Rei and Kuyo. Rei is the superhero known as X-Static that was successfully terminated three months ago and we still have no connection as to where Kuyo is. However, we do know the two boys attended the same college so we have a lead.” The woman hummed before studying the picture once more.

In the picture Arlo was still clearly a first year, his ever present frown on his face but his eyes, showed joy. The group of four was sitting on the steps of Wellston highschool, though this “Kuyo” bore a brown uniform rather than the Wellston one and Remi was in casual clothing.

“This picture was taken the day before Rei’s graduation, and the group later went to the park and hung out until the stars were out.”

Valerie frowned once more, the Arlo she remembers was never the social type. Preferring to stay on the side lines and watch rather than take part in the activities. “There’s more,” the man spoke before swiping to the next photo.

In this one, Arlo was a second year, him and Remi wearing matching uniforms while the older boys wore matching black uniforms. In the back there were fireworks going off and a clear crowd could be seen gathered around them, but the four were huddled together and everyone was smiling. Including her nephew Arlo. Valerie looked to the male for context.

”The group went to a concert for Kuyo’s birthday.”

Now Valerie was even more confused. Arlo had his moments where he could be social, but she knew for a fact that the blonde would never attended a concert such as the one in the photo. “Is there more,” she asked and the man nodded. “There’s two more, this next one was taken at Remi’s birthday party during your nephews third year of highschool.”

Valerie scoffed, that Remi girl was sitting on top of the green guys shoulders while Arlo sat on the blue guys, the older males standing in a pool while Remi and Arlo held pool noodles in their arms. “This one is actually a video,” the man spoke and pressed play.

”En garde, Arlo!”

“You think you could beat me Remi, you forget that I took fencing in middle school.”

Kuyo laughed while Rei giggled, “don’t fall Remi.” Remi looked down at her brother offended giving Arlo the perfect chance to strike. He whacked her one with the noodle causing her to lose her balance which then cause Rei to lose his and they both fell back into the pool. “That was fast,” Kuyo laughed and reached up to high-five the blonde.

However, Kuyo was soon knocked off his feet and he and Arlo splashed into the pool with Rei and Remi coming up behind them. “This is revenge, you won’t get rid of us that easily.” A woman’s laugh could be heard from behind the camera before the video stopped. Valerie blinked, she could feel a vein in her head throbbing and urged the man to move to the last one.

In the final photo, it was Arlo taking the photo and from his stance it was a selfie with the other three behind him. This was the same Arlo she had met with just a few weeks ago but this Arlo held a warm smile and his eyes had shown happiness. “This was taken on Arlo’s birthday in his fourth year. The group surprised him with an ice cream cake and they spent the night at his apartment playing board games.”

The man paused when Valerie slowly pushed the phone away and turned toward the window. “Ma’am?” Valerie didn’t turn, “thank you for bringing this to my attention, but I think I see the point you were trying to make.” The man understood when he was excused and quickly thanked Valerie for her time before briskly leaving the room.

Valerie glared at the sky, Arlo has always cared about the hierarchy and keeping a clean image. Her mind flashed between the photos and video she had seen, but around those three, it seems as though he couldn’t care less. The woman looked back to her phone to see two missed call notifications looking back at her. She sighed before picking up the phone and pressing the call back button. I have to be sure that his opinions haven’t been swayed.

———

Valerie drummed her fingers on the table of the cafe. She arrived a little earlier than the time she had suggested to reserve a table in the back so they could talk privately. The doorbell chimed and she looked over to see Arlo come in and thank the person who opened the door for him. Valerie smiled as her nephew came over and joined him. “Hello Arlo, how have you been.” Arlo shrugged, looking unimpressed as usually, but there was a certain apprehension hidden in his eyes that wasn’t there when they met before.

“I’m the same as I was last time Aunt Val.” The woman nodded and kept a kind smile hoping it would prompt her nephew to do the same but he simply blinked at her. “Anyway, what did you call me here for?” Valerie sighed, “well I figured last time we talked too much about business and such so I figured we could have a more personal conversation.” Arlo drummed lightly on the table before nodding, “sure.”

Arlo moved to rest his arms on the table folded over one another, “what have you been doing these past years? I haven’t gotten to speak personally with you since my first year of highschool.” The woman nodded, “I’ve been so absorbed with work I hardly have time to myself. However, I did manage to sneak away for a beach excursion a few months ago.” Her nephew nodded, “you enjoyed it.”

”Oh yes, very much. It was exactly what the getaway I needed.” Valerie smiles recalling her moments relaxing in the sand. “Getaway huh?”

Arlo still drummed away on the table, never looking interested in the slightest. His aunt frowned, “and you? How have you been?” Arlo shrugged, “same old.” Valerie let out a deep exhale. Her nephew had never been one for many words, but she had never experienced this much difficulty in getting him to talk.

“How are your friends,” she decided to subtle approach the topic. She couldn’t outright ask if it’s opinion on the hierarchy had changed without offending him, so she would have to creep slowly. Arlo narrowed his eyes before glancing at the table, “they’re fine.”

“What about your classmate who lost her ability?”

Arlo’s eyes widened and she watched as he chewed on his lip before speaking, “she’s fine as well.” The woman hummed, leaning back in her chair and eyeing her nephew. “Any news on her recovery?” Arlo shook his head, “there’s no sign that she’ll ever get it back.” Valerie nodded, “I’m sure the authorities will figure it out.” To her dismay, Arlo let out a huff, his face set to a small smirk, “sure.”

A few seconds of silence passed, enough time for their drinks to come out, before Valerie spoke again. “Any progress toward getting your king position back?” She seemed to strike a nerve, Arlo’s grip on his drink tightening and eyes falling down into a glare. “I already told you I’m fine without it, I don’t want it back.” The woman scowled, “and why is that, you should aim to be at the top.” Arlo scoffed, “I’m number three aunt Val, I’m high enough. I’m comfortable where I am, and I still help around the school. I don’t need to be the king to better the kingdom.”

The blonde sighed, taking a sip of his drink before speaking, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so aggressive.” Though Valerie dismissed the behavior, she had a feeling that his words had been genuine. “Well, what have you done around the school since you lost your title?” Arlo rolled his eyes, “just small things, I’ve mostly been helping with Remi and the safe house.” Valerie arched an eyebrow, “safe house?”

Arlo nodded, “it’s a space where students can hang out, get school work done, or just chill regardless of their rank or ability and feel safe.” Under the table, Valerie clenched her fist. Remi, that was the name of the girl from the files and the photos. So she is having an effect on Arlo, that will have to end . She knew her next words would be a low blow, but she had to see her nephews reaction to gauge how far these people had drug him down.

“So in your first few years of highschool you were friends with Remi, Rei, and Kuyo, why don’t you guys do that now?”

———

Arlo froze, his hands rolled into fist and he stared down at his lap.

“How come you never told me about this little friend group you had?”

I have never mentioned anything about them to my aunt, so she must’ve gone through some files somewhere and found info on them. However, that thought unnerved him. That was implying that Valerie was looking for information related to the four of them, which could potentially mean that they were in danger.

He took a deep breath, he had to play this safe. The worst thing that could happen was him revealing that he knew that EMBER was created by the authorities;he couldn’t allow that to happen. Although he was nervous about how to answer his aunt, he was also hurt. He knew, that she knew that Rei was dead. And from that she could likely assume why the group didn’t get together anymore, so what was her reason for bringing them up?

“Aunt Val, Rei died three months ago. We discussed this a few weeks ago when you met Remi.” His aunt nodded, his chin resting in her palm and her eyes narrowing at him to where he felt she was trying to stare into his soul.

He felt like he was sitting in front of someone with a lie detector ability. If he said the wrong thing some alert would go off in their head and they would take immediate action. Though he assumed that was how it had to be in the authorities. In all honesty, he never expected himself to be in this situation, choosing his words carefully to avoid punishment from the authorities. He had always been in their side, but now, he quite despised his past self that defended them without any hesitation.

“Ah, that’s right, my apologies. However my second question still stands. How come you never told me about this?” Arlo shrugged, his next words weren’t even a lie, it was a truth he had come to terms with years ago. “I didn’t want to.” He couldn’t hide his slight wince at his aunt shocked look. Though she quickly covered it up, he could tell she was hurt by his statement. The young man sighed, “it was nothing against you personally. It was just,” he took a breath,” I want to make a friendship that wasn’t made through connections. I wanted someone to be friends with me because they liked me. Not because I was related to some high ranking authoritative figure.”

His aunt nodded, and he hoped that he worded that right. Because truthfully, Valerie herself had nothing to do with his decision. Leading up to his highschool years, most of Arlo’s “friends” had only been friends with him because of his level or affiliation with the authorities.

“So what was so special about them,” Valerie then asked. Arlo huffed, he could sense the interrogation coming from a mile away. But if he wanted to avoid raising any suspicion he would have to go along and answer her questions as truthfully as he could.

“Because that’s exactly what they did. Rei came first, I actually met him outside of school and only realized he was the king when I later saw him in the hallways. I just remember we were looking for the same book at a bookstore and got into a conversation about the series.” A faint smile made his way onto his face, “and our friendship simply grew from there. I don’t think we ever discussed ranks or ability until his graduation. And even then, it was an awkward conversation because we had never spoken about it before.”

Valerie shifted, crossing her legs over one another as she listened intently to her nephew. But at this point, Arlo had forgotten that she was there and was merely reminiscing.

“Because I made such quick friends with Rei, it was long until I met Remi. And Remi was like Rei on drugs. Rei was a lot more soft spoken and sometimes reserved, while Remi was always out there ready to change the world. Of course, so was Rei, but in his own time. When he was around others he was more focused on them than whatever worries he had.” A small laugh escaped his lips.

“I remember I didn’t like Remi that much when I first met her. She felt like she was just trying to be Rei, but the more I got to know her, the more I discovered the difference between the two. Even so, Remi was just like her brother in the fact that she accepted me for me and had no concern about my background or who I was related to.”

Arlo huffed, “and Kuyo, I absolutely hated Kuyo at first. But it was mostly because I had such high respect for Rei and valued him as a friend. Rei and Kuyo didn’t get along for their first two years of highschool and I heard from Kuyo that he used to say a lot of mean things to Rei that really damaged his mental state. But the reason I got to be friends with him, is because he’s the kind of person that realizes he’s made a mistake and tries to fix it. Of course, I’m sure Rei helped him with some of that, but Kuyo eventually became a better person. And I’m sure that’s the whole reason Rei introduced me to him. It gave me an example of someone who was obsessed with levels and all that stuff but eventually changed and went by their own values.”

Arlo had to swallow, his throat becoming slightly dry. Huh, he hadn’t talked about his friendships with anyone aside from his mom. And while he wasn’t the biggest fan of revealing all that stuff to his aunt, he was happy to remember those events again.

“Sounds like a blast,” Valerie hummed. Arlo nodded, taking a breath and forcing himself to focus on on the situation once more. He had allowed himself to be a bit vulnerable, hopefully that would throw Valerie off of him for a bit. “Now obviously,” she began, “you seem to hold these people very close to your heart.” Arlo nodded, “I consider those three my closest friends and they are among the people I trust the most.”

He could see his aunt bite her cheek, a sign that she was thinking of her next words. “So how did you handle having different viewpoints on things such as the hierarchy? Because it’s obvious that you firmly uphold the hierarchy, but these three don’t. With one of them being a vigilante and the other two having very close relationships with him.” Arlo sighed, he knew this question could get him in trouble.

A part of him wanted to believe that his aunt wouldn’t report anything he said to the authorities, but he also had a dreadful feeling that everything he said was being memorized and stored somewhere for Valerie to repeat his exact words later on to her superiors. Arlo didn’t know if his aunt had any connection to the part of the authorities that created EMBER, and he really hoped that she had nothing to do with it, but he had no guarantee that her words wouldn’t be overheard by someone who was involved with the shadow organization. So no matter how much he wanted to trust his aunt, he couldn’t bring himself to let her know everything.

“As I said before, it wasn’t really brought up. I’m sure we had conversations and debates every once in a while, but it was never the main focus of our friendship.” Valerie frowned, “you never brought it up? With it being such a controversial topic, I would assume that you would want to surround yourself by people with agreeing opinions.”

“Quite honestly aunt Val I didn’t care,” Arlo flinched, he didn’t mean to say that. Valerie narrowed her eyes into a glare at him, “you didn’t care?” The blonde boy gulped and shifted in his seat, “no, I didn’t. I mean, it was definitely something I thought about from time to time-“ Valerie held up a hand, “don’t make excuses Arlo, you meant exactly what you just said, you didn’t care.” Arlo took a shaky breath, he was walking on thin ice with his aunt. One wrong step and the ice would crack and welcome her into all of his past actions through the past month.

Helping Seraphina recover her ability, working in the safe house, discovering the truth about EMBER. There were too many secrets he was keeping from his aunt, and there was no way back, he had to tread carefully.

“I wanted it to be a genuine friendship, not a business rank related friendship.” The woman hummed, “I can understand that.” Arlo held in his sigh of relief, he wasn’t out of danger yet, his aunt still held a level of suspicion in her eyes. “So have you not met with the other two since the vigilante’s death?” Arlo nodded, “I see Remi nearly everyday at school so we often speak to one another,” by mentioning his school, he hoped Valerie would think of their friendship as a casual schoolmate relationship. “And the other boy,” Valerie continued. Arlo shook his head, “I haven’t spoken to Kuyo since Rei’s funeral, he kind of shut himself away from everyone after Rei died .”

That part wasn’t entirely true. He had talked to Kuyo over the phone about a month and a half ago to check up on him. Physically he actually hadn’t seen the blue haired man since the funeral, but they had stayed somewhat in touch. Arlo did know where Kuyo lived though, since he and Rei shared a dorm and Arlo would often visit, so it wasn’t impossible for him to see the other. But he understood that Kuyo wanted space and was willing to leave him alone for the time being.

“Interesting, most people seek comfort when they are grieving.”

“No, I understand where he’s coming from.”

Valerie arched an eyebrow, “you do?” Arlo nodded, “when Rei died…I didn’t know how to handle it. So I pretended to be angry, rather than admitting how hurt I was. I pushed everyone away, I went to the funeral, and then I never wanted to see any of those people again. I didn’t want anything to remind me that Rei was dead, I wanted to pretend that he never existed in the first place. I thought it would be less painful than admitting he was dead.”

Arlo swallowed, a lump forming in his throat as he spoke. “When…when my mom died, I want to be left alone. But I was instantly bombarded by every member of my family. And I understand that they all had good intentions, but it just became, overwhelming.”

Arlo shook his head, swallowing again to ease the tension in his chest. “Well, everyone handles death in different ways.” Arlo nodded, slightly glaring at his aunt. She had gotten over his mother’s death too quickly for his liking, but as she said, everyone had their ways of coping.

“But if anything, I feel that experience has made you stronger. Look at the person you are now Arlo, I feel like without that boys influence you wouldn’t be in this same position.” Arlo’s teeth grinded together. She isn’t wrong, if it hadn’t been for Rei, I would never be questioning the authorities. I wouldn’t be aiding the others in their own investigations .

“Be that as it may, I would trade everything I have gotten just to bring him back.” Valerie leaned back, not expecting the words that came out of her nephews mouth. “I may have grown stronger but I would become the weakest person on earth just to see him again. I would trade my position and rank in this world just to give him another hug.” Arlo’s head hung low, “if I had known that I would only get one more day with him, then I would’ve stopped running away from those hugs.”

Valerie tapped her fingers in the table as he continued, “I don’t care what it would take, I would do anything to get him back. I’d become a cripple, I’d throw myself at EMBER, I would become a vigilante just to see him smile one more time.” As Arlo’s voice rose, so did his emotions. “What did he do aunt Val? What did he do that made EMBER kill him? Did he know something about them, did he have the strength to take him down, what did he know that made them have to kill him?” Valerie simply blinked as Arlo balled his hands, his face pointed toward the table and teeth clenched as hard as he could.

“What was it? Was he too kind, too genuine, was it because he actually wanted to help people. He was a hero aunt Val, a hero ! He wanted to keep people safe, he didn’t even care if he got hurt in the process. So why? Why him!” Arlo panted, two tiny droplets of water resting in the table below him as he tried to regain his composure.

“I don’t remember you talking about your mother like that.”

The blonde flinched, “Valerie, I tolerate a lot of things.” He lifted his face, look at his aunt throw the hair of his bangs. “But I will not tolerate you talking about Rei or my mother with the tone you have now.” Valerie clicked her tongue, “continue.”

“My mom died of age, of an illness she had since she was a child. But she died happily, she fulfilled every goal she set in life, her bucket list was empty when she died. She left this world in piece.” Arlo stop to catch his breath, a few moments of silence passing between the two of them.

“Rei was murdered and left in a filthy alley.”

Valerie studied Arlo, watching as he tried to calm himself, but would ultimately tense up again. “My mom died surrounded by her family, we sent her away peacefully when she died in her sleep. Rei died alone and in pain. There was no one there with him, no one to tell him everything would be okay. He died from his injuries, so it probably took hours for him to finally bleed out and succumb to his wounds.”

Arlo sighed, “no one was there for him.”

Nothing more needed to be said, Valerie knew she had offended her nephew and Arlo didn’t plan on telling her anything else that was personal to him. “Well,” she sighed, “I apologize for bringing up such painful memories.” Arlo shook his head, “my mom liked them, she said they were good influences. I’m sure you disagree, however, I think I finally see what my mom was talking about.”

Arlo could see it, Valerie scratching her nails against the table as she grew frustrated. Those weren’t the answers she wanted to her and he knew that. But all he could do was paint a smug smile on his face and watched as his aunt glared. “Well, it was lovely to see you again Aunt Val, I have to get going now. Remi is organizing an event for the safe house and I volunteered to help.” The young man smiled to his aunt before he stood to take his leave.

“Arlo,” Valerie called, she had to try one last time before she was sure her nephew had turned his back on her. “I can recommend you to the authorities, they’d accept you on the spot, and then you can have anything you want. What do you want the most, the authorities can give that to you.” Arlo sighed, a bitter smile on his face, “I want Rei back.”

Valerie nodded as Arlo officially turned away from her. He could feel her stare burning into his back as he thanked the door person once again. Arlo left with a bitter taste in his mouth and an urge to visit the cemetery. To visit both his mother and Rei, but first he wanted to see if Remi was up for dinner.

——

Valerie watched through the window as Arlo walked away from her before she pulled out her phone and called one of her workers. It only took a single ring for them to pick up, they all knew not to keep her waiting. “Kingsley?”

“Yes ma’am.”

As much as it pained her to say so, “please add Arlo into our files along with the other three.” She swallowed, she wouldn’t allow her emotions to get in between herself and her work. “Moving on, how is our latest experiment going?”

“Surprisingly well, Keon finally managed to break down his walls and get into his head. We’ll have a war machine on our side here soon.” Valerie nodded to herself, a sinister smile making its way into her face.

Patrons in the cafe would say they felt a sudden chill and yet it also felt like flames were licking at their skin as the blonde woman left the cafe.

“Experiment Zero was a success Volcan.”

“Yes, tell Keon I will be there soon. Though he may have broken through, I have to be sure he stays broken.”

The woman hung up, pocketing her phone before cracking each of her fingers. A sudden thrill went through her and she found herself clicking her growing nails.

‘ I want Rei back.’

She smirked, the authorities can give you anything you want Arlo. I never said you would like it.

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode178

Honorable mentions:

Evie is harmless and I’m glad y’all finally believe me. Looking forward for some future Evie/Remi interactions 

If Remi was originally going to be late to class before meeting with Evie, there is no way she hasn’t missed, like, half of her class

Does John ever go to class or just he just wander the hallways looking scary all day long

I swear to god why does John look like he hasn't slept recently because he didn’t used to look like that..---? John should be getting more sleep if anything--then again the whole Serathing just happened

No one:

Me: posting this, late and short :)

Arlo’s backstory:

So his bias towards authority is from his family

Interesting mix with rei

^^^lots of reasons to support the system

Authorities is ember because arlo’s aunt is authorities and shes volcan so-- (maybe)

I really appreciate Arlo’s openness to knowing more about the authority situation instead of blindly backing the authorities

Is this going to turn into some ‘captain america winter soldier’ type shit because Arlo realizing the authorities have been ember this whole time and running from them and fighting against them---and just the fact that arlo as captain america is the coolest thing i’ve thought of :0

Evie and the fake Joker:

Interesting lines: “They’ve hurt both me and my friends!” and “I don’t really want to help Joker…”

^^both grouping the fake jokers together and associating them with alliance with Joker, as if he’s their leader rather than just an influencer

Darren:

Short section because Darren had a very limited time on screen

The quote, “What the hell is Vaughn thinking?”

^^will the teachers finally be getting involved?

The teachers have acted very strangely

Quote from the unordinary wiki page for vaughn: He does not interfere with the student body, preferring to let them sort things out and think for themselves. However, he does care about their well-being; at least when it comes to outside threats.”

Vaughn is very anti-authorities which always has to be taken into account. Is this why he hesitates to interfere

I also think that Vaughn is aware of the authorities/EMBER thing, but that’s for another time

“Vaughn seems to have become headmaster of Wellston Private High School some time after Rei enrolled, replacing the previous headmistress.” -quote from vaughn page

Anyway, the most Vaughn has done for the recent Joker situation is telling John that he cannot harm his fellow students anymore

The Newspaper:

Has Isen exposed John? Personally, I doubt it, but we’ll see--

Nobody even glanced at John when he went into the hallway or even seemed shocked by what they were reading

I reckon that the story is either Isen trying to convince everyone that Joker is someone else, or is Isen trying to explain what kind of person Joker is and why you shouldn’t look up to him. This second option is my most likely. It makes sense with the story I guess, maybe. I’m not really sure I’m just waiting for the new episode

There is obviously still that issue that nobody would probably believe Isen

[fork-tectors]

as long as i'm here ║ rei

; vigilante au as long as i’m here ; rei x vigilante! older! reader

   "What do you mean you're going out again? Mom trusted you to keep an eye on me and now you're leaving yet again?"

"I'm really sorry, Rei. It's extremely important that I go."

"Much more important than me?"

"I apologize, I do need to leave."

***

It went back when Rei was first enrolled to Wellston Private Highschool, I was his mentor. Chosen by his mother and Headmaster Vaughn, the reason was extremely obvious why they had picked me over anyone else. I was always unbelievably close with Rei despite our age gap and had been friends with him (and his family) for a huge amount of time and they'd figure if it was better that he was comfortable with his tutor. That and I was one of the academically excellent students and also a part of the roster; one of the royals. A Jack, specifically if you prefer.

I was a third year, all the while, he was a freshman. I would help him be well accustomed to the school's rules and places. I would visit him in his dorms to ask about how he's doing. Kuyo would be often annoyed that I was there ninety-nine percent of the time. Not that I cared about that, all I cared about how Rei was doing with school and how optimistic he always was. I found it always so endearing. He cared so much for others just like me, my reason that I decided that I wanted to become a vigilante; I wanted to be an aid to society. When 'UnOrdinary' was published, it influenced lots of high-tiers to do the same. It created a larger group of superheroes. Sadly, all my vigilante work came to a halt once I had graduated when my family learned of my doings, to say that they were unpleasantly frustrated was an understatement. They called me stupid and mocked me, that I was wasting my 'godly' powers on 'unworthy lowly humans'. My parents were very austere on the fact I was to be their perfect little daughter, since I was an only child.

"You impolitic wastrel of a daughter, how much foolishness do you intend to create?!" A direct statement from my mother herself, that didn't stop my works though.

When Rei had found out, he wasn't that approving of my decision, knowing that with that activity I was putting my self in danger. He cared about other people but he didn't want me to sacrifice my health. And, he was right but I didn't confess to that as I was very stubborn and refuse to be told so.

"(Y/n)! You're all beaten up and covered in wounds and bruises!" He yelled frantically as I calmly sat on his bed since the wounds didn't rather bother me, my costume still wrapped around my taller figure, but now shredded and bloodied to the point that part of your body that shouldn't be on display was seen through the ripped clothing.

I pulled down my light [ favorite colo(u)r ] cotton mask to my neck and chuckled, "I guess, I have to get this outfit fixed like last time but more major adjustments," I joked, eyeing my current ragged wear. He aggressively slammed both his hands on the table out of infuriation, which took me by suprise. He never seemed to express emotions of anger which made me worried yet also quite shocked at his sudden outburst.

"How are you still like this after almost dying?!" He shouted, abruptly turning face to face with me.

"Look, Rei. I've been doing this for almost a year. I can handle this-"

"NO. Why can't you understand the risks you're all taking?!" I sighed, faintly rolling my [ eye colo(u)r ] eyes.

"I can't understand why you're doing this. I thought you wanted to help others. Why won't you be a more supportive friend?" I grumbled, my eyes narrowing down slightly at the carpeted bedroom floor.

He let out a quiet annoyed groan from his lips and held his right hand up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I am trying to be supportive... I'm just scared to lose you. You did almost died today..."

I smiled gently and took two of his small hands before placing it at my chest near my beating heart, "'almost', but, I'm still here anyways. Heart pumping and talking to you. You do trust me, right?"

He looks at me, my words seemed to have made no assurance to him, "I do trust you, honest. I'm just afraid of what would happen if you do die..."

I drop his hands. "Come here. Sit down beside me," I pat down to the unoccupied space to my right, motioning for him to be seated. He does as he was told while I give him an another smile. He seemed to be acting severely anxious than before.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, let's go out. We barely been able to go out since you and I are usually always swamped with work. My treat," I grinned innocently, awaiting for his response, "what do you say?"

He proceeds to hug me and place his head on the crook of my neck as he kneels in his bed. I didn't hug back, not that I didn't want to. Rei's arms hugged my side, which clamped my arms to sides making me unable to even lift my arm.

"That would be great. Thanks, (N/n)," he unwraps himself from the embrace, not without leaving a hasty peck on my cheek. A not-so-noticable furious crimson color effectively blooming at my features. I placed the tip of my fingers at where he had planted the small kiss at, lightly scratching it.

"You should really stop doing that," I mumbled shyly, rubbing my cheek carefully.

"That's no problem, I love you anyways. What's wrong with showing it?" he chuckles as I blatantly stare at him.

"Rei. I'm sixteen; nearly turning seventeen and you're only fifteen. Don't you think it's a bit odd?" I try explaining to him, him obviously not catching on on what I'm pointing out. He was so oblivious that it hurts.  

He shrugs his shoulders, clearly still not understanding, "What's so wrong with showing affection to someone I love?"  

God dammit Rei, stop confessing your love to me. It feels weird, I thought, feeling my frustration blooming alongside the blush that kept growing prominently on my facial feature.  

"Nevermind," I huffed, lowering then shaking my head. A chuckle infiltrating my breath, "get dressed, I'm going back to my dorm to get changed. Better be ready when I come back, we're heading out."  

[ word count ║ 1105 words ]

[ unedited ]

[unordinary-fan-anime]

Wellston Private High School comes to life

[nooralsibai]

This Yemeini Immigrant Knows Donald Trump Is So Wrong About America

Published on Bustle Jan. 25

American culture, it seems, is at a crossroads between celebrating or denying its immigrant past and future. From Chimimanda Ngozi Adiche’s Americanah to Jon Stewart’s critically-acclaimed film Rosewater, immigrant stories have become an integral part of the American canon. But when they aren’t packaged for American consumption, they are often rejected and feared. With so much uncertainty running rampant through the nation's collective psyche, it's easy to get bogged down and forget the reason we're fighting the rising tide of xenophobia in the first place.

That's why Zaynab Abdi, an immigrant from Yemen who went from being a two-time asylum seeker to a pre-law student in Minnesota, is so inspirational.

In spite of people who would erase stories like Abdi’s from the American narrative, her story of war, revolution, and the desire to make the world a better place is the reminder we all need of the truly great America we know and love.

Abdi says her life in her hometown of Aden, Yemen was both normal and pleasant: She had friends, she was getting an education, and she lived in a supportive community. That all changed when revolution came to Yemen during the Arab Spring. Abdi and her sister moved to Egypt, only to move once again when Egypt began to revolt against its own government.

"When the revolution happened, it was horrible, not just for me but for everyone," Abdi says. "We lost our house, our future, everything. When we moved from Yemen to Egypt, another revolution started."

The wartime experience Abdi describes are the kind most Americans will never have to face. Her classroom was bombed, her school was threatened, and there was a food shortage due to difficult border crossings between cities. Abdi was intent on continuing her education, but when she reached Egypt, she spent the first of her two years there unable to attend school.

"I couldn’t go to school for a year because I was sick and couldn’t pay for it," Abdi says. "I was so sad because I couldn’t finish my education."

That sadness abated when she was granted a visa to enter the United States from her Somali mother, who won the Green Card lottery 16 years prior and was finally able to sponsor her. Although Abdi was able to come over, her sister wasn't so lucky. Her sister was not granted an American visa, and faced a dangerous (and expensive) journey to Europe, where she spent six months in a refugee camp before settling in Holland.

Initially, Abdi experienced some difficulty adjusting to life in Minnesota, where her mother settled amid the Twin Cities' large Somali population. But eventually, she found her stride in Minneapolis, and graduated from Wellstone International High School with a 4.0 GPA.  

Last fall in 2016, Abdi started college at St. Catherine University, an all-girl's private school in St. Paul, with the hopes of becoming a human rights and immigrant rights lawyer. "I thought that going to law school would give me the power to give back to those people who don’t have a voice," Abdi explains. "Some people use the law just for business and money, but for me, I have another goal."

Soon after starting school, Abdi got the chance to meet Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work as an education advocate for girls worldwide. That meeting in Minneapolis led to the opportunity of a lifetime — Abdi was contacted by the Malala Fund, who works to ensure education for girls across the world, to speak at a series of events before the United Nations during their general assembly in New York.

“I did this through hard work. There are a lot of girls, a lot of people who are refugees that can do even better than me," Abdi said during one of the UN sessions. "They just need the chance to study like me — to have the freedom of education."

But since Trump's shocking election to the presidency, Abdi says she and many of her Muslim friends no longer feel as though America will embrace them.

"I was more scared about the support that Trump gets more than Trump himself. It just makes me feel like everyone I know didn’t like me, they hate me, they have this idea that I’m a terrorist," Abdi explains. "Attacking the Muslim community has affected a lot after the election, a lot of people are saying that they don’t feel safe."

As an immigrant who came to the United States to escape war in two countries, Abdi says she knows firsthand how great America can be — and that Trump's slogan of "make America great again" means something very different to her.  

"I know America is great. My mom has been here for 16 years in this great America. I’ve seen how it’s great — not the other 'great' that people are trying to misinterpret," Abdi adds.

With immigrants like Abdi, America already is great — and it's people like her who will lead the growing wave against the xenophobic policies that might very well accompany the incoming administration.

[school-of-all-time]

School of All Time Qualifiers

Wellston Private High School from UnOrdinary

Princess Charm School from Barbie Princess Charm School

Avengers Academy from Marvel Comics

Phoenix Drop High from My Street: Phoenix Drop High

Bullworth Academy from Bully

The top two schools will advance to the bracket rounds. The third place winner could possibly advance as well if it gets a large enough number of votes.

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 172

Honorable mentions:

Them saying joker when they mean a fake joker is really messing with me. At the same time, that idea is very interesting because it further promotes that joker is no longer one person now, he's a mantle that others can take up and claim too. Like a gang or something. Now, Joker is bigger than John.

I mention my posts for both episode 170 and the first part of 147 in this episode so you can search for those on my page by searching #episode 170 and #episode 147. If you want to, I dunno … :/. I think these posts really help to elaborate on my thought and everything I left unspoken in this episode post because I would just be repeating myself.

Yes, holden, you are kinda scary

Every once in a while I just think about how we haven’t even seen a proper teacher or authority in this school besides Darren for a whole while

My favorite words are: “anyways” and “obviously.” wbk.

My transitions have gone so downhill and I don’t know how to fix itttt

Terrence:

    We been knew that anytime Terrence shows up, I have to say something about it and this episode is very far from an exception. We get drama here ladies and gentlemen. 

    The first part of this episode is very attention drawing to him and really exposes him the most out of any part of the whole comic, which is saying something since we don’t even get that much, but still. First of all, and yes I’m jumping right into this, Roland says to Seraphina, “He turns invisible… that's his ability. He doesn’t like sharing it with others for some reason…” And not only does this statement sound hella vague and suspenseful, it explains why we’ve known so little about Terrence. He keeps himself very private and hidden away from others. Sure, he hangs around people and has friends and is a reporter, but he isn’t as inclined to share things about himself. In fact, the UnOrdinary Wikia (fan-run but still) states, “From what little is known about him, Terrence is a very secretive individual and uses his ability to aid his journalism.”  All of this very much supports the next idea that comes from Seraphina. 

    Right after learning of Terrence’s ability, Sera thinks, “Invisibility? That day, on our way back from Kovoro Mall… the person following us also had invisibility. Is this just a coincidence?” And I know everyone reading the episode breathed a sigh of relief. Here’s a quote from my own episode analysis of episode 147 (July), “Though it is not technically canon, most people believe that Terrence is the invisible guy that tried to sneak up on Seraphina and John in episode 10 and the invisible person that was involved with the whole situation at Kovoro mall. Neither cases were dwelt upon long or pushed into further investigation by the characters.” Guess what, now this issue is being addressed by Seraphina and I couldn’t be happier. One of the things preventing any characters from associating Terrence with their run-ins with invisible people has been because they never learned Terrence’s ability. He’s well known by Isen (and maybe Arlo) because of the school paper, and possibly Remi because of her concerns with high-tiers, but if Seraphina, one of his “friends” is only learning about his ability now, there is no way they really know too. Obviously Cecile knows because she used to be head of the newspaper and used Terrence’s ability to her own advantage, but Isen didn’t even want to be promoted to that so he hasn’t really put much into that. Regardless, Seraphina is the first character to be bringing this kind of thing up. 

    Again, though, I’m going to be using something I wrote in my episode 147 analysis because it ties into this episode in a more frightening way. “The characters [of UnOrdinary] often investigate and look into anything suspicious around them. Arlo and Isen looked into John. Remi chased after EMBER (one of the more... special cases), When Seraphina got kidnapped- literally everyone’s perspective revolved around it. Uru-Chan allowed her characters to look into the ultimately lesser conflicts. Yes, Arlo discovering John’s abilities proved to be maybe the biggest plot point/ turning point in UnOrdinary, but after that happened, the story still went on. Seraphina getting kidnapped? Not much to do with that endgame climax we’re all waiting for. I’ll say it again for the people in the back who aren’t paying attention.

Uru-Chan doesn’t let her characters investigate anything that will be endgame conflict.

Am I saying that right? Whatever, you all get the gist of what I’m saying.

The events that aren’t directly crucial to UnOrdinary’s ultimate climax have all been examined.

Which means: Whatever hasn’t been properly addressed by the comic that should’ve based on the character’s usual actions will be important to the eventual and overall plot. -------Terrence, and the person we readers believe him to be, falls under the category of things that should have been addressed more and were not. Like I listed before [referencing the rest of my episode 147 analysis]: the chase outside the mall, the teddy-bear scandal with the superhero posse. I can’t imagine John just letting someone who was invisible sneak up on him and Seraphina and just not give them another thought.”

Yes, this is just a big word blob, but I think it’s obvious why I chose to include the whole thing here. In July, I said that the characters of UnOrdinary weren’t “allowed” to investigate Terrence and similar situations because furthering any investigation into that would progress the endgame timeline and therefore point the story toward its finale. By leaving these concepts alone for so long, uru-chan has made sure that her story continues and doesn’t wrap up before she intends. It is a story-telling tactic. And, don’t worry, I’m not saying that this episode is proof that UnOrdinary is ending soon or anything like that because it is confirmed (by uru-chan) that UnOrdinary has at least two seasons and will be over 300 episodes long so calm down. I’m saying that uru-chan is making sure we remember her ultimate, underlying story. I’m not sure if you read my review for episode 170, but I talk about a similar concept in that post. Anyway, the appearance of any investigation into Terrence and the part of the storyline that he represents means that we are working up to a climax. A new major turning point in the story. And this makes sense too, considering we’re literally about to have that Seraphina and John confrontation. I think that, along with the obvious repercussions that will come out of that happening, we will also get a major(ish) development for our endgame plot line, because through it is far the end of the story, there has to be some progression throughout the comic or else when it would be brought up in the end, it would feel out of place.

I also think that there’s a chance there won’t be a major turning point like I just said (I love contradicting myself), but rather just a small reminder for the same reason that uru-chan is trying to keep her endgame storyline vague and elongating. I know those words didn’t make sense, but I hope you understand. Because, in its own way, any development into the underlying plot can be considered a major thing, I don’t think this matters too much. Who knows, we might get really unlucky and the only thing we get is this episode, that little mention of insight. The important thing is: we got some acknowledgement and it’s a big deal.

So: I think that with this whole underlying plot thing dealing with EMBER, the authorities, Terrence (I talk about this underlying plot a lot in my analysis of episode 170 without really identifying it as such [my bad]) is at a point where it’s willing to expose itself an unknown amount to keep its relevance in the story. That’s really all, and I know it doesn’t sound like much, but because this storyline has been so hidden and secretive in the past, this is really a much bigger deal than it seems.

    Now, I would make predictions about how this is going to play out or what Sera is going to do, if she even does anything, but nobody’s got time for my clownery, so let’s move on.

The Drama:

    I’m bad at predictions, so I won’t be talking about what I think is going to happen between John and Sera, though you may be wondering how, then, will I be able to execute a section on this. Well, I kind of needed to say something about this for my sanity so I’ll figure it out. Anyway, the whole confrontation between John and Sera is going to be so dramatic and climactic it’s gonna be wild. At least for the story.

    The thing that interests me is just the given effects that this event will have on the story. More specifically: Joker.

    Now, we all know that Joker is John (flashbacks to “Seraphina is Joker” post). And his whole thing right now is being this dictator of Wellston that defeated all of the past royals and  took down the hierarchy. We got that part. But one of the biggest aspects of Joker is his anonymity. Joker is an unknown student at Wellston, which allows other students to assume his identity, making Joker into a much larger thing than just one person. I said something about this in the honorable mentions.

    Anyway, back to this episode, if we do get this John and Seraphina confrontation and she does tell him that she knows that he’s Joker, I’m willing to bet the Joker we all know is going to change drastically. Seraphina is one of the sole reasons for Joker's creation and you can bet she can tear it down just as fast. The biggest known reason for John hiding his identity as Joker is because of Seraphina. John wanted her to keep believing his lie, his fake personality, and obviously by exposing himself as the powerful, violent terror, he would be dispelling any illusion of cripple John. But if Seraphina happened to find out, like she did, the situation becomes a bit more complicated.

Once John learns that Seraphina knows who he is, and he no doubt will (likely in their confrontation next episode), there will be no more reason for him to stay anonymous. Especially because John doesn’t seem too fond of the fake Jokers running around claiming his authority and beating up low-tiers, including Seraphina. 

So I think it’s pretty obvious what I’m suggesting will happen. I think that Joker is going to unmask himself to the school. I know that’s a prediction and I said I wouldn’t make a prediction, but this is like a general, bigger scale prediction, so it’s less finicky than any prediction of what exactly our confrontation is going to look like, so you’re just gonna have to deal. Anyway, I think that this unmasking of John is going to be really exciting in terms of seeing how John reacts to truly returning, again, to the person he was at New Bostin. As I’ve said before, I believe that this story is going to run full circle, as I believe even Sera’s said. I talk about this a lot in my post for episode 167 (#episode 167), especially focusing on John’s mental state throughout, so an update on that would be so interesting to me because that was one of my favorite posts to write, content-wise. 

Anyways, I’m just going to end this post here even though I feel like I just dropped a lot of ideas, but didn’t really emphasize how important I feel they are to the story, but that’s fine.

[fork-tectors]

flirtatious defenses ║ arlo

flirtatious defenses ; arlo x flirty! reader

[ edited ] [ word count ║ 974 words ]

Of all of Wellston Private Highschool's population, there was only one with an eccentric aura. Bright and calming. Everyone seemed to enjoy this person's presence. They were as caring, strength-y and nice as Remi, possibly even over-topping the pink-haired girl. Well, not actually stronger though.

Enough for the blonde king to notice her. How could he not? She was possibly one of the best things to ever enroll in this school, not that he'd confess. On the first day she had arrived, she was the main gossip passed around to each student. They were surprised by her pleasing traits. Though the teachers weren't so fond of your blinding aura in the early hours of the morning.

Their only flaw being was that...

They were a complete flirt.

Every communicative interaction would always end or begin with a flirty statement or some sort of nickname similar to 'love', 'sweetheart', 'sugar', and etc. At first, it put people uncomfortable. But as soon as a few months passed, it became a natural occurrence if you were to approach the (h/c)-haired girl. No one really questioned her about this.

But, one remained uncomfortable with this. It was Arlo.

He hated that he felt something in the pits of his stomach that he had never experienced before. It was nice but oh how he hated that she was the person to give him this. He couldn't comprehend why. The simplest eye contact with her was able to make his knees weak and vulnerable, his face flustered to the point he wasn't able to mutter a full word coherently and left dumbfounded, unable to utter stuff audible until she finally leaves then he regains his stature once again. None of the pupils was to ever see this side of their defense king, as much as it was really visible, they didn't quite spare a glance to their king since they were often intimidated by their presence.

He never thought of opening up about his situation to anyone. He considered consulting Remi about this. He didn't like the idea of someone acknowledging that he had some sort of weakness for a person. He had created a stern and stone-faced facade that many would recognize to be his. He wasn't gonna put any of that at stake.

"She is 'moderately' attractive, but I still don't like her," he stated to himself, fully denying it. He would imagine her (h/l) (h/c) hair, enticing (e/c) eyes, (s/c) complexion then shook his head aggressively before declaring the same words above.

* * *

With a familiar click of the rooftop entrance, out came an endearing voice. "So, Hun, what did you call me for?"

Arlo stood firm, leaning on the railing whilst scanning the view below him, not minding that the person he invited up has already arrived. (Y/n) grunted, brought up her hands to his face then started snapping her fingers aggressively, "hey honey?~ Wouldn't you like to explain why you asked for me?"

Finally coming to his senses, the girl hastily caught his attention. He knew why he needed her. His grades were dropping in a specific class he attended with her. He also knew why his grades were dropping, but that is not to be mentioned here.

The teacher saw his odd change of behavior, he would often look to be in a trance and would rarely be able to hand in complete tasks. After classes, Arlo was told to stay in the classroom as his classmates were leaving the room. His blue eyes watching her walk out until she disappeared, a fleeting smile peaking from his lips.

"Arlo," the teacher spoke, "I've noticed that your grades have been lowering, what would be the reason for this?"

He sneered at himself in disgust, not enjoying that the feelings given to him were causing such a distraction for him and his reputation. He was assigned now to be her tutee until his average would restore back to its original place. He hated (Y/n), but now, he had no choice.

"I presumed that you would've been informed about this already?" He glances at the girl, checking every distinguishable feature she had. God, her physical appearance is astonishing. Seeing her beauty up close was a satisfying scene to see.

She smiles apologetically, "Apologies sweetheart, I just got off from finishing schoolwork and seems to be a bit dazed. Mind telling me?~"

She placed her finger on the side of lips, dragging the word 'hmm' as she looks to have an idea. "How 'bout we chat this over some drinks? Kinda like a date~"

Arlo instantly agreed, all the while professionally wording his statement, completely ignoring that she called it a date. Not that he minds.

On their way out, He kept giving (Y/n) glances as if it wasn't obvious enough that he admired her. And of course, she was no oblivious idiot. Everything about him was easy to read, denying every feeling he had for you. Looking incredibly agitated whenever she leaves, cursing himself silently. She just patiently waited for him to give in and accept it that he fancied her very much. A heavenly chuckle escaped from her lips which caused the king himself to be flustered by the action. In response to this, he ignores it and averts his view to something else.

* * *

"... You'll be willing to teach me?" He sounded confused.

"No need to be shocked, Hun. It's my pleasure to teach someone as high and mighty as you," she then sips on her purchased drink.

Everything else that happened next was a blur to Arlo. All that he recalled was every gesture she did that was gracing his stone heart. Maybe these emotions weren't as vexatious as he believed it to be.

Maybe it would be a good decision for someone to reveal Arlo's never-before-seen softer side.

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 166

Honorable mentions:

I always love seeing a student with John’s old ‘loser’/helmet hair lmao it makes me happy

For the first time ever, when I say ‘Remi, pop off queen’ you know I actually mean it lol

Tldr: the high-tiers (can’t really call them “royals” anymore can we) establish themselves and prove their worths as paragons (perfect examples) of what royals should be and i applaud them for it

The amount of joker masks that the superhero posse brought in has to be representation of their power. Isen, the lowest-ranking of the superhero posse brought 1, Remi brought 3, and Blyke brought 3. You might be thinking ‘hey remi is more powerful than blyke’ but we know that he’s been working hard recently and because he only has one more mask than Remi, i think this idea is plausible. so let me believe that blyke is more powerful than remi please.

Nothing to really say about Isen except that he needs a hug

Going to ignore that remi listed cecile as someone she wanted to recruit help from because i would just get my hopes up

Only occured to me now that i could pull off a John and Rei comparison especially after reflecting over episode 150

Arlo and seraphina give off such close vibes and it’s obviously because they got close (or at least intensely familiar) when they were the king and queen and i just- i absolutely love when plots or characters go full circle and reflect (revisit?) the start of the story even though that sounds anti-development, it’s not im just bad at explanations.

WHAT I WOULD GIVE FOR CECILE TO BACKSTAB JOHN not that i don’t like john because i absolutely aDORE him because of his impact on the story, but i just want to see Cecile backstab someone and john is convient

just me talking for a bit, scroll if you want to skip to the actual content i understand ;( :

Okay: so.

I’ve figured out that instead of putting little talkative comments in the honorable mentions like I’ve been doing lately, I can put them here and not feel like total trash and that I’m downgrading the post so that’s fun.

Anyway, sorry if the massive ton of parentheses(?spelling) i'm using is confusing or hard to read. I mean, I won’t fix it, but I hope it’s not too bad ya know

Again: sorry for talking like im texting someone in 2017 it’s an issue, im aware. No one ever says anything, but yeah?? Im sorry???

Im panic-writing this an hour before the new episode drops so hopefully this is up before then, there’s no real hope though it takes me 10 minutes just to transfer this from my google doc to tumblr because i have to manually re-add all of the bold and italics and bullet points. Still not removing this bit tho even if (lmao “if”) it’s late ;)

Talking too much, but whenever you see (?”spelling/grammar/word choice/etc”), that just means that I messed up in that way, but I’m too distracted to fix it. Figured i should say that eventually seeing as i literally do that every post

Next post will not be written in first person at all because i think it makes these feel way too familiar and makes new readers uncomfortable which is stupid but is how i would feel so we’re experimenting. If you’ve never read one of my posts, i just act very informal with everything i do and i just want to say, i'm not in this tightly knit niche group that reads these and that ive been friends with for years. i just. Talk like this. So don’t feel like you’re eavesdropping by reading one of these. I really hope im not an outlier in feeling this way when reading other peoples post because if nobody actually feels this way, im bout to be real embarrased oops.

Im getting the talking out of my system because no talking next post.

Yeah this post is late. But: i stopped for pizza in the middle and my webtoon isn’t loading so im like sitting around waiting for it to

Remi:

    Now, in this episode particularly, it has occurred to me that I need to give Remi credit where credit is due. I made a post (AN: multiple posts but we’ll ignore that) over a year ago talking about her abilities as queen and- I did her pretty dirty. Not unfairly, but dirty. I basically dissed her a lot and said that she wasn’t a good queen in any sense. And I’ve done this multiple times (AN: ignore last AN) because I can remember at least 2 other times when I just berated Remi over and over for being shit queen.

    I’m not going to disagree with myself in this post (because I didn’t lie), but I want to give her some credit because I do believe she has changed recently and it has affected how I view her as a position of royalty. And, yes, while it is unclear if she is currently technically still a royal, what with John having somehow destroyed the entire concept of Wellston having royals (?), she has been taking the actions and responsibilities that a royal would. So-

    What made me want to write this out was in this episode, episode 166, I really realized/noticed her attitude and actions dealing with and revolving around this whole joker situation (currently more about the fake jokers) was?? Actually productive?? To explain: In this episode, we see Remi approaching a group of low-tiers who are worriedly talking about the joker situation and 1. Analyzes the conversation in reference to the measures she, Blyke, and Isen are taking to prevent the situation, 2. Reassures the low-tiers that qualified help (her, Blyke, and Isen [aka the superhero posse]) is doing the best they can, and 3. Asks if they have any suggestions or ideas that might help them attain their goal. Like?? Hello?? The Professionalism? And the way she didn’t let her disappointment that her previous efforts up until now affect her is a stark contrast from the Remi of the past. I’ve ripped her apart because of just how often her emotions would completely overwhelm any sense she had. So: that stood out. But, anyway, big picture again: This whole short little scene from her was so impressive?

    Honestly, the fact that Remi is going through all this effort to stop the fake jokers and make sure the low-tiers are safe is very different than what we would’ve seen from her in the past. One of the common reasons that I kept saying Remi was a bad queen was because she didn’t care about her responsibilities and didn’t take her authority seriously. There are even examples of Arlo, or others, telling her this (the example that came to my mind was when Remi was warning students about EMBER and Arlo stepped in [and the reason behind the events of this example helps to support my next point] {ALSO (sorry) afternote: I was reading through everything I’ve ever said about Remi’s leadership and I used this exact example in my post “Remi” from just over a year ago}). Another reason that I was against Remi as queen, which ties nicely with the previous reason (this sounds like repetition of like two seconds ago when I said that my last reason would support this point, but it’s not because words), was that she prioritized personal missions over things her school needed her to do. I remember being very pissed around episodes 110-120 because she ignored the big conflicts happening at Wellston in order to track down this separate crime organization (EMBER) and took Blyke and Isen with her (royals)(who were both against the idea). And I know that her reason for doing this is valid and I do respect her for attempting to avenge her brother, and I would have let this slide if she gave one thought or listened to Isen and Blyke at all about Wellston. I know this still sounds bad on my part, but it was many instances stacked on top of each other of Remi being, not just unconcerned, but unknowing, about Wellston’s current state as a school. At that time, Remi was the queen, she was one of the school’s royals, whose job was to maintain order and peace within the school. I couldn’t see any instances of Remi even attempting to do that. That was in the past though, because obviously, things are different now, like I said. Currently, Remi has gone out of her way to dedicate herself to the wellbeing of Wellston, that is obvious in the way she has been talking with low-tiers and unmasking fake Jokers. I only hope that her new motivation isn’t just a phase brought upon her due to her personal relationship/conflict with Joker, with John. I want to know if John ever happens to be dethroned or Remi somehow gets her technical authority back, will she still be dedicated to the school, or is her motive purely situational? I hope not? Because we’ve seen lots of change from her recently what with learning of the low-tiers mistreatment and all, so let’s cross our fingers.

    Regardless, there has been improvement in Remi. In her leadership and dedication. And that needs to be acknowledged. So I am doing it. Yeah. Here you go. Badge of honor for Remi.

    Obviously, most of what I’ve said also applies to Isen and Blyke, who are honestly going above and beyond (especially Blyke), just this section is a response to my previous statements of how Remi is not a good queen, not only for Wellston, just in general. And, again, while I still agree with my evaluation of Remi as a queen in reference to her past self and past episodes, This is a new development I felt obligated to talk about. :).

Blyke’s idea (?word choice confuses me):

Wowee this is a fun one. So: Blyke broke up a fake joker fight in a hallway this episode, and i just have to acknowledge this like I did for remi: props, but anyway, I was very intrigued by the way he handled the damage control like?? He refuses for the fake joker to be unmasked (?grammar) and gives the reason, “I’m not about to show his face so that you all can just gang up on him later!” And: applause. I think that this has occurred to me before, I just never dwelled on that idea, so I was taken off guard by this from Blyke. He was able to understand this and form a plan with how to deal with it? I don’t know about you, but that screams king behavior. Anyway, what Blyke does is take the fake joker to a separate room and unmasks him privately then talks with him as a way to both protect the fake joker’s safety and discourage him from any future stunts like the one he pulled a sec ago. And?? This is so great because, guys, this is liTERALLY the concept of like anger management and behavior therapy?? 

I especially liked how Blyke took the time to hear the low-tier out(something that the high-tiers are really starting to do [technically because of john because john became joker and caused all of this {and since john wanted to destroy the hierarchy because high-tiers didn’t give a shit about the low-tiers in a way he’s achieved his goal, albeit unknowingly}]). And, like i literally just said, by hearing him out, he’s creating yet another bubble of safety around the low-tier because immediately after (okay maybe not immediately, blyke did scold him a bit), Blyke says that whenever the low-tier is being picked on, he can come to Blyke. And NOT ONLY does this whole thing help with the fake jokers issue, but Blyke, along with Isen and Remi, are creating trust and respect between the low-tiers and high-tiers. This is them doing the hierarchy right! They are establishing themselves as leaders and as people that can be relied upon, which is exactly who the royals are supposed to be.

Just want to say: He also talked about how the guy who got attacked should also reflect on his actions, and yes, this deserves recognition, but this has been a common theme, so I didn’t think it was worth really discussing. Blyke got bonus points for this. Extra credit if you will.

    Remi’s idea:

    Back to Remi, but her idea about recruiting John to help get rid of the Jokers? Excuse me? The innovation, the growth, the potential. And, I know this was shut down pretty quickly by Blyke, but I still have to talk about it??? And this section is starting off horribly because there was absolutely no transition or introduction but hello?? 

    Anyway, obviously the fact that Remi would even suggest getting any help from John (Joker) is astonishing. 1. He literally beat up everyone present in the scene 2. Honestly from what john’s doing for all anyone knows, he likes that low-tiers are faking being joker (remi even points this out lmao) 3. Again, he beat everyone up? Not exactly looking good for any kind of compromise. And yet despite these obvious reasons, Remi still lists him as a possible ally. Why?

    Because when she met up with him before he completely dethroned the Wellston hierarchy, she noticed similarities in their goals and their beliefs. She says, and quotation marks mean quote, “When I spoke with him… I really thought both of us wanted the same thing… Just that our methods of approaching the situation were different.” !!!!!!! Remi knows that they really want the same thing: a safe environment for low-tiers. That was the one thing that John kept repeating over and over when they met up and talked (episode 150) (other than the fact that royals are shit but-): he wanted to create a school environment that was safe for the low-tiers. Whether or not that’s his goal now, or if he’s acting with that goal in mind, Remi obviously remembered this the most from their conversation because it seemed so similar to the way she was thinking. And Remi thinks that it would be possible that John would prioritize this over his dedication to his own personal project of destroying the school :).

    Anyway, this whole idea is scrapped by Isen and Blyke who give valid arguments as to why trying to ally with John is a really bad idea, but oh my god the way my heart stopped.

    This section is basically a summary and very quick, but this scene in the comic was riveting because of this. I just don’t know what else to say.

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 170

Honorable mentions:

Blyke is pissed at this guy

I’m not sure if I can call the superhero posse the superhero posse anymore because Blyke is kind of doing his solo superhero thing now, but I mean he’s part of the posse, and nothing is really contradicting. Yeah I’ll keep calling them that. The nature of the group changed, but not the basics.

Superhero posse is Remi, Blyke, and Isen btw

At the end of my first paragraph, when I say, “-with the complications of a real world situation,” I am aware that the UnOrdinary universe is not real, lmao. The phrasing I used is to try to convey that the factors of things like actual performance ability in regards to power are the roots of this system. So rather than being presented with a society whose classifications exist just for the hell of it, like it seems with a lot of stories, it is clear in UnOrdinary that the hierarchy is prompted and necessary, which makes it harder to debate the morality of its nature when presented with issues like discrimination or abuse of authority. Just a quick note. Probably should have made that more clear, but I didn’t want to go too off topic lol. I do that too much already.

Tfw you didn’t think you would find much to write about and the all of a sudden you have pages of writing

No clue what to say about the end of the episode. I don’t have any predictions as to what Kuyo might want. His history with Rei could go either way because we still don’t know if he stayed a hierarchical abuser or if he eventually turned to Rei’s side. Until we know that, and maybe even then, I won’t say anything.

^^also just lazy this is long already and I have to write another of these

My eyes are numb to this sorry if the transitions are confusing

Low Tiers vs. High Tiers: Newside and Origin Edition:

So, and I’m aware this is a skillfully awful way to start this post, we’re all aware of how bad the tensions are between different tiers, especially in places like Wellston. But in this episode, and the few before it, there’s finally a chance to explore into this concept outside of the select group of teenagers that make up Wellston Private High School. And, yes, we’ve gotten a few examples outside of this when Remi spent time as a vigilante, and also when the superhero posse got into some trouble at Kovoro mall. I don’t know, Remi just brings out the injustice in people for some reason? Anyway, I’m bringing this up now because I don’t think I’ve really talked about this before even when the other examples were relevant. To be fair, I don’t think I was writing these for most examples and during the first superhero arc (Remi’s), I had just started and my posts were like maximum 300 words long. Anyway, I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity now. It’s always really refreshing to see outside the small bubble we’re normally confined to as the usual focus of the story is on the hierarchy struggle in Wellston and everything to do with it. Though this Blyke arc is very much centered around his struggle with his power and his goal of advancing in the hierarchy, it also opens a window for us to see out, again, into that underlying concept similar to Wellston’s power struggle, but on a more extreme scale. Obviously, the villain of our story, John, is the main focus in the comic because he is the main character, but the villain(?) of the UnOrdinary universe is painted to be the struggle between low and high tiers. The hierachy’s paradoxical creation of social imbalance and social stability is the underlying focus behind uru-chan’s writing in this comic. This is a comic about class struggle with the complications of a real world situation (see honorable mentions above for clarification).

The social dynamic between the different tiers is magnified in the recent chapters’ events and location. We are already aware and comfortable with the concept of higher-tiers (not like high-tiers but higher) preying on low-tier districts to gain power quickly, so it’s a bit less noticeable, or standout, now, for me anyway. But in comparisons to the power struggle at Wellston currently (Joker situation), the situations in these worse off towns is still significantly worse. I’m just going to summarize what’s happening really fast, but hopefully you already know what’s happening because I’m bad at explaining. So basically: lower/mid-tiers or straight up mid-tiers (no known naturally higher-tiers have done this to our knowledge, but more on that later) pick a district known to be filled with low-tiers (always weaker than the offender) and attempt take over in hopes of gaining authority and power. Because no higher-tier has been seen attempting this, I want to say that the cause of this is the feeling deprivation of it in their normal life, where their ability grants them nothing special. Similar to how John reacted shortly after he gained his powers at first, they want to become the oppressor instead of the victims that they’ve always been. By going to lower-tier districts where around a 3.0 (or with aid, something higher), give or take is stronger than anyone else around, these people become “trigger-happy” for lack of a better word. They take advantage of finally being able to do something that they never have before and take it a little far. I do not think there are many motives other than this, especially because in this episode when Blyke was approaching the Newside woman, she thought, “Does he plan on toying with us, just like Lance did?” Take note of the word toying. From her word choices in her conversation with Blyke, I’ve pieced together that all Lance really did was mess things up around Newside, never really doing anything focused or thought through. He was thoughtless and impulsive. Destroyed their town and terrorized its people only because he could. I’ve also hinted at a little bit the use of ability enhancers. From Remi’s superhero arc, we know that some of these lower-tiers are injecting themselves with this enhancement drug to shoot up in strength to be able to attempt anything like this. This means that even if you are the lowest of the low, you have a chance at tasting power, which obviously stretches the number of people pulling something like this. I’m not too concerned about this today, however, because it’s kind of separate from the topic of hierarchical conflict, or at least enough for me to separate it from this post.

This entire concept of low-tier invasion and takeover is an example, probably the most telling one, of the dangers that come from such a polarizing system as the UnOrdinary hierarchy.

Everything I’ve said really seems to lead to the fact that dealing with both injustice and discrimination around ability and people trying to change who they were born to be is unavoidable in a world like UnOrdinary. Obviously, this ranking system was put into place for a reason as exemplified by Rei’s reign at Wellston. But as the world reaches new ages and innovative thinking, the confines of the hierarchical ladder aren’t as stable and reliable as they used to be. I’m sure in the past, the hierarchy has gone along almost without a hitch, but as violence grows due to the harsh pedestal the hierarchy unintentionally puts high-tiers on, and radical ideals are being placed into the heads of anyone who will listen (UnOrdinary the book), the structure of the hierarchy is becoming more fluid, which is confusingly ironic. It’s like the historical Age of Enlightenment reborn. People as a whole are growing more and more restless.

So, the big question is whether or not the hierarchy is still the best design for UnOrdinary’s society. Because while it has created a cushion for accidental and catastrophic incompetence in a more general, everyday context, it has evolved into less normalized, yes, but harsher clashes between the different ability levels. I will say that I, personally, support the idea of the hierarchy because order, when done right, will always defeat brute force. What I’d like to say is that, with proper involvement with the authorities, I think the hierarchical system would run smoothly. And yet they are caught in this circle of trying to stop revolutionary thinking among its civilians. This is why the authorities are trying to put an end to the superhero movement, not because the heroes are helping to clean up the streets, but because in doing so, the superheroes are disrupting the natural hierarchy. See the irony? The authorities aren’t doing what they need to do to stop the hierarchical uprising because they’re busy trying to stop people from rising up against the hierarchy, which somehow contradict. Now, all of this needs a beginning. This cycle obviously had to start somewhere or else the entire history of the hierarchy wouldn’t be so good and desired. The superhero movement is this start for this cycle and they all stem from the same thing: the revolutionary ideas that came from revolutionary thinkers: the book UnOrdinary. Obviously, before this there were some issues with the hierarchical system (allowing John to abuse his power as king), but the issue is more extreme and relevant as I explained in the second paragraph (the thick one), because of the lower-tiers feeling unsatisfied and acting out on other low-tiers because of that. But I really want to let myself believe that UnOrdinary set off a chain reaction in the UnOrdinary universe leading to the class struggles in the extreme state they are currently in. And as the comic is obviously called UnOrdinary, I like to think that there is a reason for that title rather than something so personal and niche as a sentiment of John’s.

[unordinary-analysis]

Alright so there are two things I want to ask: 1. Can you maybe give your thoughts about Blyke and the way he might be thinking about the hierarchy? (He is somehow the only one in the moment who both knows that the way low tiers are treated isn't right but also that there is a reason for the hierarchy and why it exists)

First off, I’m sorry this took so long to answer. I only could go on my phone for a few days and I really didn’t want to answer this on that. Also, this was pretty difficult to answer.

So... Blyke.

This question took me off guard. I haven’t really been thinking about Blyke for a while. But thanks for the question.

Before I get onto his current thoughts on the hierarchy, I want to explore how he felt at the beginning/throughout the comic.

Blyke’s stance, initially, or maybe generally, on the hierarchy is very much inherited from Arlo, and Arlo’s beliefs. We obviously know Arlo’s beliefs. Arlo believes that the hierarchy is necessary to maintain order and helps people understand where they stand in society, a lesson he learned from Rei’s failure. Arlo loves the hierarchy and seemed to praise it or at least verbalize its advantages (he does not want someone making the same mistake Rei did purely because they were uneducated). As someone who works (?), trains, and studies with Arlo, and just, I don’t know, has been taken under his wing, it really is a given that Blyke had the same ideals as Arlo. Anyone can see that he looks up to Arlo.

So, Blyke used to have similar beliefs about the hierarchy. But just because he believed in it, doesn’t mean he exactly enforced it. I’ll explain because that probably didn’t come across as what I really mean (I’m bad with word choice R.I.P.). What I’m trying to say is, Blyke wasn’t as obsessed with showcasing his power and reminding people of his status, I feel, as the other high-tiers, like Cecile, Arlo, and the old Seraphina. I can’t really recal many times when Blyke used his authority to get something, though I could be wrong (I’m bad with remembering too). I also realize that most high-tiers didn’t exactly lord their authority over anyone’s head, but I mean stay with me. I guess I just never felt that Blyke thought he was at the top of the hierarchy. Like, sure he was the jack, but that was only because Seraphina step down and chose him as such.

In episode 149, Blyke says, “Oh, high-tier stuff... Wish I could relate...” Now I know this was said lightheartedly, but I mean he sTIlL sAiD It.

Also, in episode 137, Blyke tells Arlo, “Lately, I just don’t feel confident in my strength. The way I fight is so bland and obvious... My ability is nowhere near as flexible as yours or Remi’s...”

But of course, I can’t really just assume all of this. Blyke was, and is, one of the most powerful students at Wellston. Sure, he wasn’t an Arlo or a Seraphina, but he could probably defeat like 99% of the student body (considering that they attend a prestigious private school and those tend to be smaller than public schools). Blyke is also aware of his future as Wellston’s king. So. I don’t know how he feels lmao. Look at me wasting time again.

Recently, though, Arlo’s and Blyke’s views of the hierarchy have differed a bit. Has Arlo’s changed? Has Blyke’s?

I’m not going to answer that because I’m tired and that isn’t even the question I’ve been asked.

I personally think that Blyke’s views on the hierarchy are one of the most balanced out of every character. Like you said, he understands that the low-tiers need to be treated better, but he also knows that the hierarchy is the best way to run Wellston.

I think that Blyke began taking his thoughts and his own opinions seriously after he met with Arlo about when he would take over as king. Before, he would just accept whatever he was told and pretty much acted based off that because, hey, like I said, Arlo is more powerful and higher ranking; he probably knows best. I’m not trying to say that Blyke only became sympathetic towards the low-tiers after this happened, because he really has always been fair. I’m saying that Blyke started thinking for himself after he met with Arlo that night to talk about the responsibilities of King.

Right now, I think that Blyke is a bit preoccuppied with Joker. I’ve looked through the last 15 or maybe 20 episodes to help answer this question, but nothing could clearly be used as evidence of how Blyke thinks of the hierarchy.

So, like you and I both said before, I think Blyke is just very balanced when it comes to his beliefs about the hierarchy.

Only thing is, I don’t think that Blyke is really obsessed with the hierarchy like John or Arlo. It has taken a backseat to all of the other issues that Blyke has been dealing with.

So: final statement:

Blyke is one of the most open-minded characters in regards to the hierarchy. He understands both the positives and negatives, but above all, knows that it is there for a reason. He isn’t the most passionate about the hierarchy, but doesn’t ignore it as much as other high-tiers seem to (Isen, Remi). I think with these views, Blyke would make an excellent king.

Sorry if I didn’t really answer this well, I couldn’t find much: hence my final statement saying that he isn’t too passionate about the hierarchy and its inner workings. :)

Thank you for leaving the ask and I’ll definitely finish your second ask much quicker than this one.