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[unordinary-diary]

Ok what's the rat king au about?

Rat King AU

Ask game

This AU was mostly thought up by my brother, so I don’t actually know why it’s called the Rat King AU. I asked him and he explained that he’d gotten the image of the king of the sewer rats calling upon his army, and that image was associated with this au. Sorry to disappoint, but there are no actual rats involved.

The premise of this au is that John, instead of having his Joker arc, he befriends all of the low tiers in the school and they become the ruling class through not strength but by numbers, kind of like a labor union or a school of fish. They all become the royals, and they call themselves the Royal Council. My brother and I discussed a scene where they show up to turf wars with all these people, and the King of the other school goes to ask: “Okay, one on one, or three on three?” But instead he goes: “Are we doing this one on one, or three on.... seventy-five...?”. John looks back at his group to ask— “Tournament mode or zombies mode?” And everyone is cheering for zombies mode.

John never hides his ability in this au, so because of both his power and the fact that he brought them together, he’s definitely the leader and they kind of... worship him. (Seraphina was also kind of a founding member, mostly because of her relation to John, but she’s a little more distant iykwim.) While they are fighting back against the oppressive system that placed them at the bottom, they’re still very much conditioned to follow the strongest person and that habit doesn’t go away so quickly. John hates the attention. He insists that he’s not the leader, and they all have equal voice, but that is definitely not true no matter how much he tries. (John’s still willing to take charge as a leader and such, he just doesn’t want to be treated like a king is basically what I mean.)

Now, because this is a hypothetical created through brainstorming between siblings while sitting outside at like 10:30 PM, it happens to have a branch that is silly and unserious that was created as we slowly devolved into madness. The funny-funny version of this au is that John’s cult following is like... an actual cult. They worship him for real. They have shrines and posters advertising their glorious leader. They bow to him. John is tearing his hair out. This is not what he wanted. Not just his group but the whole school treats him with reverence because even in the other system he’s still at the top. Arlo can be found putting up “ALL HAIL OUR LEADER JOHN” posters in the halls.

“Why are you doing that?” Someone asks “Don’t you hate John?”

“I do,” Arlo answers. “I’m doing this specifically to piss him off.”

Now in the serious version of the au... probably the silly version too tbh, the Authorities thicken the plot. Be aware that all of the lore after this point was brainstormed about 10 minutes ago so it might have holes.

Arlo probably calls his aunt for advice. “Hey, what do I do? The school is currently run by like 50 teenagers and not a single one knows what they’re doing.” This puts the Royal Council on the authorities’ radar as a threat to the current system. By “coincidence”, a new kid transfers to Wellston within a few days. His name is Berrence. (He probably has a better name in the serious version but right now I can only imagine him as being like.. a badly traced picture of Terrence with his hair recolored neon green or something.) He is a mole for the authorities, pretending to be a low tier within the Royal Council. He makes a list of names of the members and reports back.

So, shit gets real when the authorities start tracking down members. They try to get into the dorms to go and arrest the students, but Vaughn is like “lol nope” so they can’t. They have trouble getting a warrant because they can’t just openly admit that they put a spy in a high school, so instead they target students once they step off campus. Logically they would be killing those kids, but for the sake of the tone they’re just getting locked up without trial. The authorities didn’t count on people actually noticing or caring about the disappearance of low tiers, so when they notice and warn all members not to leave campus, they get thwarted. That’s when the authorities actually end up going on campus and yatta yatta, stuff happens, this is as far as we got.

There was something about a public execution for John where he says something about the One Piece (??idk) and then Seraphina rescues him, but there’s not really a plot beyond the disappearing students part. Not yet anyway.

[unordinary-diary]

Blyke and John: the Followup

In my last entry, I pointed out the similarities between chapters 249 and 121, but I had hit the image limit and wasn’t able to embed screenshots. I got around this by linking the chapters, but this is probably my favorite parallel, and to do it justice I think I need to really put them next to each other.

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

(121) (249)

It’s the same fucking scene but backwards and in a different font.

They’re the SAAAAAAAAAAME!!!!!!!!

This was definitely on purpose. Shit like this ^^ doesn’t happen by accident.

[unordinary-diary]

Ooh can we hear about the band au for the Unordinary ask game?

oh yes this is one of my favorites!

Band AU

Okay so for this one I actually have stuff written down for it already. Copy/pasted from my notes is their roles in the band:

Arlo: Manager and synth player

Blyke: Drummer

Isen: songwriter, PR guy, and assorted behind-the-scenes tasks

John: backup singer & bassist 

Remi: electric guitar player

Seraphina: Lead singer

Arlo as the manager mostly because I can’t see him not taking the leadership role, and synth player because my brother and I thought piano fit his vibes but we swapped it when we decided it was a rock band. Isen’s behind the scenes because I imagine him staying out of the spotlight. John is on bass mostly because bass strings are really hard to break, and therefore really dramatic to have him break one in the heat of whatever dramatic climax moment there is.

I also wrote a little mock ao3 summary for the au:

Rei’s band was selected to participate in an upscale, annual music event, with a chance to win a lot of money. It’s a tournament style competition for which they have a year to prepare X amount of songs. Not only do they have the chance to win money, but it’s an incredible opportunity to get their names out there, and winning could even make their whole career. Unfortunately, Rei dies before the competition, leaving the rest of the band grief-stricken. Arlo steps up as the manager, and Remi as the singer.

“I can’t do it,” said Remi.

“What?” Arlo asked.

“I’m telling you while there’s still time. I can’t sing and play at the same time with out screwing up one or the other. We have to find another singer.”

Or: Seraphina and John audition for a band.

I also wrote out the start of a plot outline but it’s in word vomit format so I’m not posting it like that. Something that definitely happens though is that Zeke and his cronies are also competing, and they play dirty and try to sabotage our main characters. Also they definitely play a tribute song for Rei.

This one is… probably the most developed au I have? Ive got a vague plot, even. Really this only exists because I thought their abilities could make really cool effects for a concert.

[unordinary-diary]

Blyke and John: Parallel Characters

I’ve written multiple entries about this,

[x] [x] [x]

But I’m back to make a comprehensive analysis about the glaring similarities between these two. I’ll try not to repeat myself here.

‼️SPOILER WARNING for the whole series‼️ but this mostly focuses on the story before John’s suspension.

Firstly, this scene:

ch. 121

This conversation takes place near the beginning of the Joker arc. It’s after John targets Zeke, after he targets Juni, and the day before he goes after Seraphina’s kidnappers. The timing is important.

“If someone hit your best friend, would you let it slide?”

That question is supposed to remind us what John does to people who hurt Seraphina: hunting them down and sending them to the hospital. Blyke shooting a destructive beam really close to John was an example of a trait they share: they both blow up violently when people mistreat their friends.

John’s downward spiral carries strong themes of hypocrisy. He’s angry at the world, he’s angry at himself, and as a coping mechanism, he chooses to believe that everyone else is as bad as he is. That means that most of the traits he hates others for are the same things he hates about himself. In this scene, Blyke is unintentionally calling out this hypocrisy: “What I did is no different from what you do”.

But Blyke’s just trying to connect with John here, he has no idea what John’s been doing. And John, of course, doesn’t give a shit about what Blyke has to say. This line was here for the audience to notice.

They’re both so similar, but their similarity immediately causes tension between them because, well, John was on the wrong end of Blyke’s protectiveness.

I really love the way this was written— there are so many flashbacks to this scene, but they remember it differently. John remembers the part that hurt him— he’d describe it as “the time that jackass shot a beam at me”. Blyke remembers the part that hurt him, or rather, hurt Remi: “the time that jackass hit Remi for no reason”.

Blyke and John are both hotheaded characters with strong ideals. They’re similar enough that Seraphina points it out:

(ch. 80)

As Blyke grows as a character, he becomes more like John: sticking up for low tiers and speaking out against the injustice in the world. But while Blyke is doing that more, John is going in the opposite direction, until they are fully opposed to each other.

Speaking of Blyke’s character arc, it took me a few rereads to actually understand what part of him changed. His kindness, selflessness, bravery— all of those things were there from the start. Blyke’s character arc was about becoming more aware of his surroundings, and how his carelessness can harm others. Blyke was never malicious, but after X-Rei and integrating more with the school, he becomes aware of people suffering around him and how he unintentionally contributes to it. He becomes less reckless, privy to the flaws in the system he grew up not questioning, and uses his power more responsibly. He even comes up with a more controlled way to wield his ability. The part of Blyke that changes is his maturity.

Part of John’s character arc is also about being careful. It’s not as close of a parallel as other things are, but one of the things that John works on during his redemption arc is holding back. Both of them learn self-control throughout the series, and for John, that means acting early before his emotions spiral out of hand.

Adding onto my first point about the two of them wanting to protect their friends— the fact that they can’t do that makes them both angry and desperate. For most of the story, the “block” that prevents John from protecting Seraphina is in his head. It’s his own trauma that holds him back. The block that prevents Blyke from protecting his friends is, guess what? Also John’s trauma! Parallels abound.

Another thing I noticed in Episode 80 is this:

Notice that when Seraphina says “I’d take that over strength any day,” John is looking at the camera. He’s avoiding Sera’s gaze. Seraphina is saying she prefers honesty over strength. John is very strong, and very dishonest, but Seraphina thinks the opposite because John is so dishonest. John appears to be reflecting on this disconnect.

In relation to this analysis, Seraphina is actually pointing out a major difference between Blyke and John. Beyond that, she’s praising Blyke’s traits, (less strong but very open) above John’s traits, (strong as fuck but a liar with his pants on fire). Furthermore, John really cares what Seraphina thinks of him. Knowing that she would think less of him is the main reason why he spent so much time and effort preventing her from catching his lies.

This leads into my main point here: Blyke is the “goody-two-shoes” version of John. Or, more accurately, the person that John wants to be. Blyke has a clean track record and doesn’t really get into trouble. He is respected and left alone by the school without being hated and feared, he de-escalates conflicts without taking things too far, he doesn’t lose control, he’s someone Seraphina thinks highly of, hell, even his grades are better! Blyke represents everything that John wants to be, and the person that he could have been if he’d gone down a different path.

But, crucially, John is also what Blyke wants to be. Well, not wholly, but his ability? His strength? It’s one of the things John hates about himself, but Blyke wants that strength so desperately that he risks his life for it over and over again.

They’re both desperate to be like each other, even when they hate each other the most. Neither of them have any idea how alike they already are.

I don’t know what Season 3 holds in store for us, but I do hope that John realizes that Blyke embodies who he wants to be, because mutual jealousy would be a very interesting dynamic to explore in my opinion. I also hope that it ends up being something they can bond over, by helping each other accomplish their personal goals. (Blyke being another helper in John’s character arc, and John helping Blyke train.)

A side note: John beat up Blyke four separate times. That’s more than any other character, which is interesting because John’s main rival is supposed to be Arlo. For reference, John has beaten Arlo twice, three times if you count the time when Seraphina intervened, and he only beat him unconscious once. But John beat Blyke to the point of passing out all four times, the worst of which being a shot clean through his chest. (shoulder? Unclear. S1 finale).

It’s odd, isn’t it? Out of everyone, Blyke is the one who John physically hurt the most. John’s only grudge against him is an old memory from episode 33, of an event that didn’t actually harm him. John’s grudge against Arlo is much more serious and again— that’s his main rival. So why is it that he’s so much more violent towards Blyke?

The problem here is that I’ve been thinking about these fights as “John picking on Blyke”. And that’s… kind of true? But while Blyke didn’t start any of these fights, they were all consensual in a way. He didn’t seek to fight John, nor was he ever happy about fighting John, but he was always a willing participant.

(138, 153, 206, & 211)

In three out of these four fights, John didn’t even expect to be fighting Blyke going into it. This is significant because while Arlo is John’s main rival, John absolutely fills that role for Blyke. Blyke’s own agency is what leads to most of these events. The reason, narratively speaking, why they fight so much is not for John’s character, but for Blyke.

For John, his reason for fighting Blyke so much is not narrative but moreso symbolic. John is angry at everyone and everything, but ultimately the person he hates the most is himself. It’s only fitting that the character most like him would bear the brunt of his wrath.

As John is having his positive character arc (suspension and post-suspension), he is becoming more like Blyke, and the two of them reach a point where they’re even more similar than they were at the start of the series.

In the Rowden amusement park, John does start to realize how similar they are:

(249)

Additionally, I want to draw your attention to the parallels between this scene:

Blyke and John’s argument in chapter 249

(which the image limit won’t let me add, scroll until you see red hair.)

And this scene:

Argument in ch. 121 (it’s at the beginning)

Two sides of the same coin.

Furthermore, in the S2 finale, Blyke is shown being taken to Keon. There is an implication that by Season 3, Blyke and John will share Keon-related trauma as well. Despite my pessimistic predictions, I do hope that this is a similarity that can bring them together rather than tear them apart.

[unordinary-diary]

*GASP* omg there’s a new post in the Unordinary tag—

oh shit that’s my post

[unordinary-diary]

Part 2

Debating getting rid of the hearts on the text for Remi’s

What if I made some super dope fanarts with like, proverbs on them?

Like this sorta. Like a top text bottom text meme but all edgy and cool. What then? Could the world handle it?

[unordinary-diary]

Thoughts on the medieval au?

Medieval AU

ask game

Okay so the medieval AU focuses on John and Seraphina. It’s basically a ship fic premise, but I’m not big into shipping so I might make it platonic through sheer brute force. Haven’t decided yet. Either way, the other characters aren’t really involved.

(Side note, the name isn’t entirely accurate because it’s not historically accurate to any specific time period. It’s more like those classic fantasy settings that are loosely based on old-timey Europe — you all know what I’m talking about.)

So basically: Seraphina is a rich noble lady, and John is a peasant boy. They meet, and their relationship progresses much like canon. John helps Seraphina loosen up and let go of expectations, in large part by annoying her into being his friend.

The twist is that Sera’s John-inspired character development coincides head on with a fancy rich-people ball or something. You see, there’s gonna be a whole lot of other high-tiers there, and Sera’s mom wants her to go to this ball to find the strongest guy there and marry him. Narissa wants Sera to look her best and be on the top of her game with like, flirting and whatnot to increase her chance of getting the “best” husband. Increase the family’s status or whatever.

Sera, of course, doesn’t want this. As she’s preparing for the ball, she decides last minute to cut off her hair, and by “last minute” I mean in the dressing room. Narissa freaks out but she doesn’t have time to be mad at her daughter so she just has the servants cut her hair even so that it actually looks nice and then they send her off to the event. At the ball, John shows up (snuck in to say hi). Sera decides “fuck this shit” and sneaks off to go have fun with John instead.

So, yeah! It’s a bit trope-y but I think it’s cute.

Might decide to have Arlo also be at the ball, but I can’t think of anything notable for him to do and it would be a little unusual to have a main cast member as a background/cameo character.

[unordinary-diary]

In JWNCAU would John still want to become king of New Bostin? Would he become powerful enough like Jane to be targeted for his powers?

Good question!

ask game

In the JWNCAU, John does still become New Bostin’s king, but because of Jane’s parenting he ends up stepping down and giving the throne back to Zirian. (Jane gets involved and tells John to either be a better king or don’t be king at all, and John chooses to abdicate.) Then, we can get a really sweet moment when John comes home from school and tells Jane he gave up his title. He thinks she’ll be disappointed with his choice but she hugs him and says “No, I’m proud of you”.

As for the second question... considering that the basis for this au is that Jane was left alone, I don’t see a reason why John would be targeted instead of her. In regards to his strength, I do think John would be more powerful in this au than canon, because Jane would help him use it and he wouldn’t have hidden his ability. However, I really don’t think that John is going to be as strong as his mom. I’d give him an 8.0 max. The main reason for that is William. I don’t entirely know how ability genetics works, but I imagine that William’s genetics would give John a lower level than if Jane had a child with another high tier. That’s also my theory on why he was a late-bloomer— Willaim’s genetics made his ability develop much later. It also happened to Terrence: Weak mother + strong father = strong late bloomer, but he’s still weaker than his father.

Another reason why I think John would be weaker than Jane is that Jane was probably pressured her whole life to become stronger and stronger. I highly doubt Jane would pressure John like that, so he’s quite a bit weaker than he would be if she did.

I’m gonna place him at a 7.8 in this au, but with potential to get stronger during the story.

[unordinary-diary]

For the ask game : with the Rei never died AU, do you think Rei would help Remi, Blyke, and Isen doing their investigation, or would he be too protective of his little sister ( if Remi even started doing vigilante stuff in this AU ) ? Also, would he aproove of what John was doing in Wellston ( like Joker and King John arcs ) ?

Rei Never Dies AU

ask game

Okay so, in the Rei Never Dies AU, Remi never becomes a superhero, because her motivation was getting revenge. Without Rei dying, there’s no superhero motive for her. However, Blyke probably still would become a superhero because his motive remains untouched. But, just like canon, he’d be laying low, not looking for EMBER, and easily talked out of it when his friends find out. Though it would be cool if he met Rei on his adventures, I’m thinking Rei saves him from Lennon instead of Kuyo.

As for whether or not Rei would approve of John’s actions during his Joker and King arcs... I think we all know the answer to that. I mean, at this point, deep down, even John doesn’t want John to be doing what John is doing.

In fact, one of my favorite things I’ve imagined about this AU is how pissed off Rei would be when he finds out someone put his little sister in the hospital. I like to imagine he’s roommates with Kuyo in college too, so picture this:

Rei gets home from visiting Remi at the hospital. She dejectedly told him all about what John’s been doing at school, and Rei jokingly asked: “Do you want me to go to your school and beat him up for you?” Remi had laughed it off. Kuyo sees Rei opening his secret drawer with a dark look in his eyes, “Dude,” Kuyo says, “You’re not really getting suited up for this—”

“I’m NOT above beating up a high schooler, Kuyo.” Rei says.

Anyway, I just think it would be super cool to have Rei show up in Wellston as X-Static and face off with John. Whether Rei tracks John down and meets him off of school property, or if he just shows up on campus, honestly depends on how ballsy Rei is feeling.

I also like this idea a lot because from Rei’s perspective, this is no different from his regular vigilante work. A strong person is terrorizing a bunch of people who are much weaker than him. The people responsible for stopping him are looking the other way, so Rei steps in. The only difference is that this time it’s personal.

Unfortunately I don’t know how to make this into a satisfying plot point because... obviously Rei loses, and then what? All it does is give the other characters one more reason to hate John, and gives John one more thing to feel guilty over once he’s chilled out again. Both of those things are already in surplus as it is.

However, since I like this idea so much, I offer two possible solutions to this plot issue:

Rei takes an amp

Rei is able to get through to John

But you know what’s even cooler than options 1 or 2? Both. Just imagine it! Glorious.

I could write more exploring those options but this is getting a bit long so I’ll clip it here.

[unordinary-diary]

I’ve gotten no asks yet so thank you @coldinfluencerbeliever for volunteering! I’m not entirely sure if you meant to participate in the ask game because this is a statement and not a question, but you’re the only one with your hand up so you’ve been called on.

You’re absolutely right! Jane never being captured totally changes John’s entire story. That is the basis for this au:

Jane Was Never Captured AU

Okay so, we don’t know much about Jane, but I’m certain she wouldn’t have tolerated her son being bullied. At this point, there’s no telling whether Jane is above beating up middle-schoolers or not, but even if she is, she’d have gone to the school’s administration, or even the bullies’ parents, and raised hell. Unlike William, Jane has the power and influence to actually do something about the bullying.

This means that while I imagine John still got bullied, and his friends probably more so, John wouldn’t be completely helpless to stop it since he has his mom backing him. His mistreatment would be lessened, and his resentment and anger wouldn’t have built up nearly as badly. While his ability developed, Jane would be giving him guidance that William couldn’t, including teaching him to use his power responsibly. And even if he still went down the same dark path, Jane would be there to smack some sense into him like Seraphina was in mid- season 2. (It’s entirely possible that Jane is too gentle for that, but regardless, I highly doubt that the New Bostin Massacre would have happened in this AU.)

Therefore, in the Jane Was Never Captured AU, John doesn’t go full reign-of-terror, doesn’t get expelled from New Bostin, doesn’t go to readjustment, doesn’t go to Wellston, isn’t involved with the main plot at all, and most importantly: UnOrdinary by W. H. Doe never gets written.

So... it’s possible that Rei never became a superhero. However, I actually prefer the idea that he did anyway, and he was just the first/one of the first/one of very few. But with superheroes being pretty much unheard of (either just Rei or Rei and very few others), EMBER wouldn’t have been created.

So, yeah. The Jane Was Never Captured AU intertwines with the Rei Never Dies AU. It’s basically an add-on, I suppose. Or a branch of it? They’re not really the same AU, but Rei also lives in the JWNCAU.

But uhhh, yeah! John with Jane in his life is basically just a much healthier John. Which, if you think about it, is essentially just Blyke but better at lying, worse at school, plus some hair dye. (These two are so fucking similar it’s been EATING my brain)

The JWNCAU is essentially a catch-all fix-it au, but not entirely, because it means John never gets involved with Wellston. John was also responsible for a lot of the good that happens in the story— without him, the other main characters don’t get their character development. Remi, Blyke and Isen could probably get theirs some other way, but Arlo and Seraphina needed John in order to grow.

This au tears down the whole story and files it down to a blank slate. The parameters for what gets built on that slate is basically: find another way for John and Seraphina to meet, and find some other way for Arlo, Remi, Blyke and Isen to get their character development. That’s the sandbox we’re playing in.

When I was brainstorming this au with my brother, he basically said that “The problem with this au is that it changes so much, I don’t even know where to go with it.” Which... true. But there are SO. MANY. Directions to take this au into. I’m thinking of them as I’m typing.

Anyway, my ask box is open if you want more.

[unordinary-diary]

Alternate Universe story ideas.

[EDIT]: it appears that the medieval au never made it onto this list

- Medieval AU

I wasn’t planning on posting this but screw it— ask me about any of these aus and I’ll tell you about them. If I get repeats and I’ve run out of lore, I’ll just make up more.

I’m only gonna answer asks when I feel like it, so don’t be disappointed if I don’t answer, but also don’t be afraid of annoying me.

[unordinary-diary]

According to the internet it’s Arlo’s birthday?

[unordinary-diary]

What if I made some super dope fanarts with like, proverbs on them?

Like this sorta. Like a top text bottom text meme but all edgy and cool. What then? Could the world handle it?

[unordinary-diary]

I don’t know how to title this without it sounding… weird, but I uh… wanted to talk about Arlo’s neck? Let me explain.

Arlo gets bothered by his shirt being tight around his neck. Now, this is obviously because he had just been strangled, and I wouldn’t think anything of it except—

— it seems to be a callback to early Arlo, who kept his tie loose.

Now, I considered that Arlo might have some sensitivity in his neck, or some strangulation trauma, old injury, skin condition, what have you, and that Rein strangling him reinvigorated it, but it honestly doesn’t seem likely. It’s not like Arlo consistently kept his tie loose— in fact I believe it was just in the prologue. It’s true that after the prologue, we don’t see Arlo in his uniform for quite awhile (not until he approaches John, I think) so it’s possible that he started tying it tighter within that time, but he doesn’t have it loosened in flashbacks.

Truly I think the prologue was a fluke, and that Uru hadn’t decided on his style yet. (Nor had she nailed down his barrier color). However, the timing of this makes me believe it was intentional.

We have Arlo meeting Rein again, which calls back to Arlo’s first major appearance in the story. We also get in the same chapter, the shirt neck thing, which subtly calls back to Arlo’s first ever appearance. In the first interaction between Rein and Arlo, Arlo strangles Rein. In the next interaction, much later, Rein strangles Arlo. Immediately after, Arlo is bothered by his shirt. This particular wardrobe issue carries with it themes of strangulation as well.

I believe that Arlo’s struggle with the tight shirt was an intentional, if subtle, callback to early arlo.

[unordinary-diary]

@apocalypsos I’m intrigued by that last part, and I’d like an elaboration if you wouldn’t mind!

That absolutely works thematically, as his barrier can be both protective or smothering with the way he traps people and shrinks it on them.

However, it’s just not what I’ve observed in the story. Arlo is not a mother hen.

I was going to say that while you mention “people” plural, I can’t think of anyone who he protects besides Remi. However, Arlo does also protect Seraphina, albeit to a lesser degree.

Still, regardless of who Arlo protects, and regardless of whether his protection is wanted or not, I can’t think of a single time he reached the point of smothering. Arlo’s protection always seemed quite reasonable and warranted to me. From — “Don’t use yourself as bait for the high-tier murderers are you stupid” to— “Please try to get hurt as little as possible by this uniquely violent guy who I can’t stop from attacking you” to— “You really really shouldn’t meet with these dangerous shady people to make a dangerous shady deal, but if you insist on it then I’m going with you” to— “These people just ambushed us, let’s leave.” to— “FYI the government is hunting you down so you should leave before they get here” — none of it ever seemed excessive to me.

What events were you referring to in which Arlo seemed smothering?

This was too long to be a reply, but you can respond in the replies if you wish.

So I have a question about Arlo’s powers that you might have the answer to

Do you know what the bleeding is all about? Like when he starts coughing up blood after his barrier breaks. Does he just like straight up start bleeding internally or something?

Anyway I love this blog sm you are giving me the unO content I crave

Ah, thank you! Yes, I absolutely have the answer. In fact, I’m going to take this opportunity to make a post that was already floating in my head.

Arlo and Recoil Damage

First, to answer your question in a literal sense, yes. It’s definitely internal bleeding. Specifically, damage to his lungs.

It’s also not at all unprecedented for a person to be wounded like this. Every person with a conjuring type ability takes damage when their conjures are damaged.

(Rein in ch. 16)

(Cecile attacking Arlo, ch. 109)

The difference with Arlo, is that his damage happens below the skin. Here’s where it gets juicy.

Symbolism

Arlo’s ability is very symbolic, possibly the most so of anyone in the series. His nigh unbreakable barrier he puts around himself represents his metaphorical walls, and how he keeps everyone at a distance. His passive makes him invulnerable— he gets punched in the face, clawed at, stabbed at, etc, and doesn’t even blink. The only way to hurt Arlo is to break through his barrier. And when his walls are broken down, there’s a wound in his chest. It’s not literal enough to be his heart that bleeds, but it’s very close.

There’s also something that’s been kicking around in my head for awhile—

“You’re the strongest one out of all of us here right now. You can try to brush this whole thing off... but to the rest of us, it’s still scary. If even you can’t protect yourself, what can the rest of us do?” — Remi, Ep. 61.

I remembered the line being “When people as strong as you show fear, it scares the rest of us.” However, that must have come from a different scene and I won’t track it down.

It’s plain and simple: High tiers have been taught their whole lives to bottle things up.

This is also seen reflected in Seraphina—

(ep. 20) Granted, the circumstances here are very different, but it’s a similar idea. High tiers showing emotions scares people.

So they bottle them up...

… until they explode.

(Ep. 106)

The judgment Arlo and Seraphina face is very similar. Seraphina rejects these expectations before the story starts, but Arlo has yet to do so. He is very much like the Seraphina we see in flashbacks.

All of this is to say: it is significant that his barrier wounds are internal. The little bit of blood we can see is mainly there so the audience knows he’s injured— but otherwise? Barrier cracks aren’t an injury that people can really see. Recoil damage is typically reflected as scratches, so his internal wounds are both unique, and symbolic of the way he hides his feelings.

[unordinary-diary]

Remi and Swimming

Why can’t Remi swim?

That’s a genuine question. Why does Remi, at seventeen years old, not know how to swim?

After some quick research, I found that being unable to swim is actually way more common than I thought. Still, I want to speculate on Remi’s reason.

The Red Cross lists fear as the top reason people cited for not learning to swim. Other reasons I can think of for not learning to swim are: couldn’t afford lessons, didn’t live near a pool or body of water, disability, or simply never made time to learn.

However, in Remi’s case, I think it’s much more likely because of her ability than anything else.

It could be because her parents wanted to wait until she had better control of her ability before putting her in water with other kids. This of course, raises the question of why she didn’t learn before her ability developed. It could also be that someone in her family had an incident in the water, and the family was very cautious after that.

I personally like to believe that Rei had an ability-related incident when Remi was quite young, and her parents wanted to keep Rei out of the water until he could control his ability better. Because it would be mean to take Remi swimming and make Rei stay behind or on land, Remi’s lessons got put off indefinitely until they were forgotten about.

Of course, this scenario also means that Rei never finished learning to swim either.

I also like the idea that their mom was the one who had a swimming accident, and was somewhat traumatized by it and therefore extremely paranoid about putting her kids in the water. This explanation would also mean that Rei probably couldn’t swim.

I will now kindly place here for my own enjoyment, a reminder that Blyke was the one who taught Remi to swim and it was cute as fuck:

♡

[unordinary-diary]

did a little doodle of Farrah