Ep 389: The Consequences are Coming for Seraphina and John....
An Addendum to my ep 375 Seraphina Essay (No Fast Pass Spoilers)
A good chunk of Sera's mental health undoubtedly revolves around John. If he's safe, then she's fine, but if he isn't, then she's not fine.
Are John and Sera fine right now? Haha... no....
Not only are they sleep deprived, but they're also not at full strength since they must've used up a good chunk of aura stopping Cinder/Scorch and saving the people in Eastbrook Town. Remember, Sera has been worried about John since ep 379: she belts it down the highway to get John healed ASAP, blames herself for not being able to come assist him in time against Cinder and Scorch, and even suggests taking a rest day so that she and John (but we know she only meant John) could recover more before going to Orrin. Obviously, John wasn't going to take any time to rest because he's the same kind of stubborn Sera is: neither of them ever stop until they win or their plans blow up in their face.
The stress and worry Sera has continues on in ep 382... once she and John realize that the Bureau is already around to capture Orrin, John immediately starts stressing out, which intensifies his pain and causes Sera to worry even more!! She literally starts trying to figure out how they could capture Orrin safely without endangering John too much, and John notices her worrying and tries to comfort her.
Unfortunately for John, Sera deflects his attempt at comforting her about his health since him being physically okay isn't the only thing that she's worried about. She has more foresight than him and is fully aware that even if the two of them were in tip-top shape, there was no guaranteeing they'd even be successful in capturing Orrin. The bottom line is that because Sera is worried for John and trying her best to prioritize his wants and needs, she decides that it would be best that both of them abandon the prospects of capturing Orrin for info IF there were no healers around for John to copy.
She knows that finding Jane means so much to John because he has no family left besides Cameron (who he can't stand) and wants to save his mom from being abused by the Bureau. But despite knowing that, Sera would still rather prioritize John's well-being over his personal goals because running away would at least guarantee his safety over the worse possibilities!! John doesn't even respond to her because he can't guarantee that he'd listen to her lol... he knows she's looking out for him, but again... stubborn and stubborner! We know that John has literally told her that he doesn't want to lose her in ep 290, but she obviously still feels the same way about him. She's not going to lose him as long as she has the strength to act, even if it meant forsaking his goals.
John is still weakened and the decision making falls to Sera as the leader (since she's smarter and stronger than John) between the two of them. Of course she wouldn't let him dive in head-first in a suicidal run after he nearly died the last time she wasn't able to stop him (Wellston raid). At the very least, Amelia being around (sorry guys, Theo was never relevant to the convo </3) did guarantee that John would get healed, but his aura levels are STILL not at 100%!!
In 386, John implies that it was indeed Sera's idea to ally with Kass and co. to capture Orrin. I am aware that Sera literally suggested the idea, but John would never have come up with such an idea because of his strong distrust towards the Bureau otherwise. He listens to Sera and stops threatening Kass and the others because he has faith in her leadership/plans; John might not trust Kass or the others (ignoring Arlo) but he does trust Sera wholeheartedly. Sera probably would rather not ally with Kass and co. either, but if she wants John to make it out of this situation in one piece, then allying with the enemy who has no other choice is the only way to go. Using evil to fight evil is only fair, right?
Sera takes on the burden of being the leader between her and John because she's simply used to it. I don't think she doubts John's ability to think for himself, but the two of them know full well that Sera is better suited for making better decisions and coming to conclusions faster than John can. Back then, she lived for others' expectations and never stopped to think or want anything for herself, and now that she is able to think for herself, Sera is still more than willing to take on these burdens and challenges so the others around her don't have to suffer as much. The crazy degree of selflessness Sera has seems to linger even after the years that have passed since she's met John... the feeling like she has to sacrifice herself probably intensified after she lost her ability. All that frustration about being useless bounced back once she regained her ability and now Sera's overworking herself to get shit done.
Even now in the current arc, Sera is literally volunteering herself to be possessed by Orrin to give themselves a better chance at winning (but again, no guarantees!!!):
Logically speaking, Sera would've been the best person for Orrin to target for possession regardless because of her overwhelming strength and the fact that Sera is a close-combat fighter (besides Jaxson, but this isn't about him), which made her the prime target for Orrin regardless of anyone else who was around. To me, there are probably a few reasons why Sera doesn't hesitate to sacrifice herself to get possessed and isn't visibly disturbed by the idea either.
Selflessness as a responsibility
Her complete faith in John
The blind focus on the goal ahead
I briefly touched upon the selflessness and self-sacrificing part of her character in my previous Sera essay. But to reiterate: Sera has a tendency to neglect herself so that other people don't have to suffer. Like the hero of Unordinary, Sera is more than willing to use her powers to help other people, but that desire is a double-edged blade. How much can one person bear alone before things blow up in her face or get too overwhelming again?
Sera is basically always the strongest person in the group, and she's always aware of that because it's simply true. There's barely anyone around who could rival her strength, and said strength is already a rarity as it is. What kind of person would she be if she let the weaker people around her struggle when she could just shoulder the burdens alone so they don't have to?
I mainly believe that Sera was so quick to volunteer herself because she felt like she had to AND because she didn't want John to fall victim to Orrin's possession. She knows what Keon did to him and his nightmares are still haunting him, so why put John in the line of fire and risk his mental health getting worse when she can take the mental hits for him? She loves him way too much to endanger him to such an extent... even if he took physical damage from a possessed Sera, he'd be able to heal those eventually. Mental damage against someone like John? Sera would never risk it!!
If she can take on the burden of being the sacrifice in this plan, then no one else has to suffer and risk their life by falling into Orrin's clutches. And everyone there saw those Bureau scouts kill themselves, so John's fear of something going wrong was definitely not unfounded...
Now, Sera's definitely still worried about John since she's willing to step up to be the possession guinea pig so he doesn't have to be one, but I also believe that her complete faith in John plays into her calm demeanor when discussing the sacrifice ploy.
Even though she knows he's not 100% okay, Sera fully believes that John alone is enough to stop her because he knows her weaknesses (her lack of defenses) and is strong enough to handle her. As far as Sera assumes, she thinks that John would never let Orrin actually kill him or her. She'd never let Orrin kill John, so the opposite must be true as well. Sacrificing herself is still a very risky plan, but Sera loves that boy more than life itself and has no doubts that he would be able to protect her and stall Orrin as best he could (with Arlo's help). She is aware that Orrin's possession is his biggest weapon too, but she also didn't really know what to expect when he did take her over either... she takes that huge gamble and betting on John doing whatever it took to stall Orrin and stay alive.
Lastly, Sera's goal here is to capture Orrin for a chance to glean any info about Jane from him. This goal of hers is shared with John's of course, and she's still prioritizing him above everything out of love/sacrifices she's willing to make for him. As long as she stays focused on that goal, then nothing else matters... right?
And here's where things start to get worse, I suppose...
While I did mention earlier that Sera tends to have a bit more foresight than John does in most scenarios, she certainly isn't perfect either. When she does focus on what's right in front of her, Sera forgets herself and also doesn't realize that some of her plans are still risky for the other people involved. The reason why Sera doesn't seem to stress out a lot about any consequences from all the dangerous shit she's up to is because she hasn't faced many situations that ended so poorly with long-lasting consequences.
She and John have nearly died a few times, but they've made it out just fine every time. Sera also doesn't dwell on "what-ifs" too, so anything she would have to worry about has to be directly influencing her or the people around her (ex. John being injured and still recovering). Her confidence in herself and John is blinding at times, which is why we start to see the consequences of her selflessness (would it be too evil if I called it carelessness?) creep up and start affecting both John and Sera in 389.
Although Sera was right to trust John to stall Orrin while he was possessing her, she definitely didn't account for how John would feel while handling her. She hasn't actually sparred against John (as far as we know) or fought him since 223-224, so she didn't actually know how well he would've fared against her. Sera probably assumed that John would fight back to restrain her, but he doesn't because he doesn't want to hurt her at all. And I don't think she would've minded if he actually hurt her if that's what needed to be done!!
But because John holds himself back, he ends up taking mental damage from seeing Sera's face and voice distorted in such a sadistic way and plenty of physical damage from letting Orrin!Sera beat him up. He's also worried sick that something could go insanely wrong for Sera, an idea which Orrin does entertain while he attacks John:
John doesn't react to the death threat Orrin directs at him, but once Orrin directs the death threat to Sera, John immediately reacts to defend himself. He most certainly still struggles with his self-worth and is probably still suicidal, but John would never let Sera die. If that means that he has to live so Orrin doesn't get a chance to kill Sera, so be it (insane statement, I am aware, but it's certainly a way to keep John alive!). Either way, John should know that he has to live for Sera's sake anyway... she did tell him not to throw his life away back in ep 346 after all!!
If Orrin wasn't such a sadist, things probably would've ended a lot worse for both John and Sera. A simple "die" command would've done Sera in immediately, but because of his long standing grudge against Jera, Orrin would rather torture John (and Sera) as long as he could with the intention of eventually taking them both out. Fortunately though, John does successfully manage to restrain Orrin!Sera by taking advantage of Sera's biggest weakness. If she can't rely on her speed, then she's essentially a sitting duck.
Thanks to Amelia, Arlo is able to bring his barrier back up to dispel Orrin's possession on Sera, and she wakes up to see the damage she's caused while she was unconscious.
Sera was completely unconscious while Orrin was using her body to beat John up, so it makes sense that her first reaction is to ask if their plan to stall Orrin had worked. But once she realizes that John is pretty hurt, she immediately starts to openly worry about him again. It really does feel like Sera had no idea she was capable of hurting him to such a degree, which is why we get this guilty look from Sera:
Now, we still don't get any thoughts from Sera in 389, which is normal for how Uru usually writes Sera, but I think it's pretty obvious what she could be thinking about. Even though she didn't have any control over herself, Sera still ended up hurting John pretty bad, and she's still painfully aware that he isn't in top shape either.
To me, Sera feels guilty that she hurt him as a direct result of her plan/sacrifice. From the way she gently touches the side of his bloodied face to the way she asks him if he was okay... she truly had no idea that John would sustain so much damage from stalling her alone. Of course she'd feel guilty that it was technically her that hurt him, even if Orrin was the one pulling the strings. Could she have done anything else to have prevented John from getting hurt so much? Not at all, which then also feeds into an idea of helplessness against Orrin and doubt that she could reliably keep John safe in such a dangerous situation.
Remember how that one Spectre asset told her to make sure John doesn't overexert himself back in 379?
Becoming one of the reasons why John has to overexert himself is certainly not a comforting feeling to sit with, even if they're quickly interrupted by all the Spectre jobbers attacking John's barrier. Sera doesn't even have the time to dwell on her actions or any of the consequences of John being injured thanks to her. John is hurt, but Sera isn't. She only had her aura drained from Orrin possessing her and making her rewind a bunch of damage, but John took damage and spent a fair deal of his own aura trying to stall against Orrin!Sera.
If Orrin was more efficient with Sera's ability (attacking in bursts like she does), then John would've taken a ton more damage before Arlo would've had the chance to free Sera. If John decided to actually fight back against Orrin!Sera, he would've taken a lot less damage from the fight...
Like I said earlier, Sera probably wouldn't have minded or taken it personally if John had tried a lot harder to stall Orrin. If she has to be hurt for the plan, then that's fine!! If John has to get hurt for the plan though?? Erm... Sera is not fine with that.
Those two are always sacrificing themselves for each other and placing a bigger emphasis on the other's safety over their own. They drive me nuts!!! John doesn't care about himself, but Sera cares about him so much and vice versa... they're so worried about each other but not thinking far enough ahead to protect themselves so the other wouldn't have to worry. That's why John wouldn't seem to care if Orrin killed him but he would care if Orrin killed Sera. It's why Sera doesn't mind getting possessed but she's distraught to see John so hurt as a direct consequence of her being possessed.
So... those consequences that Sera brushed off back in 375 are starting to rear their heads.
While there were plenty of consequences to how naive and foolishly the two of them acted back at Wellston, there never were any serious consequences that turned out for the worst for the two of them. But out here, John and Sera truly have limited options in the real world, away from the protection of the school. They can't risk being reckless and crazy without being willing to face things fully knowing that there's no guarantee that they're unstoppable or immune to getting screwed over. Doing crazy dangerous stuff doesn't worry Sera until she's confronted with the reality that she and John aren't immune to being heavily injured or potentially even dying.
The prison break wasn't a big deal to Sera or John since they hard carried the fighting and her plan worked out pretty well. There was that close call with Tarik recovering with his artificial version of Regeneration and paralyzing John's team, but everyone in our main cast basically came out of that arc with minimal injuries and no trauma (save for Blyke but this isn't about him right now).
But the fight against Scorch and Cinder injured John a lot, and he even points out that he was only lucky that those two were inept at using Flame Claws and that Valorian had a strong ability. It's an unfortunate reality check!! Sera can't help but worry for John because his strength is conditional. She knows that he can take care of himself just fine if he has the resources, but her faith in him being okay in fights without her is slightly shaken in 379. Sera starts to see that there are potentially long-lasting consequences without their friends or other allies to back them up. When it's just the two of them, they're still vulnerable despite their immense strength and confidence in almost every situation they find themselves in.
In the current arc/battle, Sera is fighting on the front lines, risking her freedom and autonomy, and beating the shit out of John just for a CHANCE to capture Orrin. There's always a chance that something would go horribly wrong, like John fears. And it didn't seem like Sera really considered anything could go so horribly wrong until the first thing she sees post-possession is John's scratched up, bloody face—damage she had done to him directly without her knowledge/consent.
John held himself back for Sera's sake and look what happened... the two of them end up being so worried about each other. Those consequences start mattering once either of them are in danger. John is adamant that he can't lose her (upgraded from "I don't want to lose you" from ep 290 hehe), and Sera is more than willing to put herself on the line for John's sake. This mission to capture Orrin isn't even Sera's... it's John's, and she doesn't mind doing all this since saving Jane would make them both happy in the end.
Because Sera is so focused on doing all this for John's mission to find Jane, she ends up blinding herself to the consequences that bounce off her and hit John. AGAIN, if Sera and John weren't main characters, Orrin would've killed them by now. John is right to fear for Sera's life since Orrin could've killed her at any opportunity and there wouldn't have been anything John or Sera have done to prevent a senseless death like that. If John took even more severe damage from a possessed Sera, the guilt would eat at her because he will always be the last person she'd ever want to hurt.
Can Sera remain as calm and calculating as she usually is when John is in danger? I fear not... we've seen her lose it when his status in unknown (ep 290) so what would happen if she becomes the reason why he could potentially be critically injured? It was Sera's idea to work with Kass and the others to take down Orrin because a healer was indeed present and she's determined to help John reunite with Jane. Additionally, it was also Sera's idea to offer herself up to drain Orrin's aura through being possessed, which John had a horrible experience with just from looking at Orrin!Sera alone! If her ideas cause John suffering, then would Sera continue to trust herself as John's guiding light in the dark??
Overall the situations Jera keep finding themselves in are pretty shitty, and they're still just kids at the end of the day. Neither of them have fully developed brains, so it's easy for either of them to not think things through or forget about themselves. Sera might be the smarter one out of the two of them, but she's not the scheming mastermind 5D chess player that people view her as.
I honestly hope that John will eventually confront Sera over her self-sacrificing attitude. She's always been around for him, but she's still continuing to haphazardly throw herself into hell for his sake. Everyone (the readers) knows that John doesn't care about himself that much, but Sera also having the same unfortunate habit as a consequence of her desires to support the people around her?? These two rub off on each other too much. I wonder if they're even aware that they tend to echo each other's behavior (not really caring about themselves, prioritizing the other, having outbursts when the other isn't fine, etc.)... probably not since they don't have the time to think about that kind of stuff, but still?!
While I am still plenty worried for Sera and her mental health, I will admit that I am still eating pretty damn good with all this angst going on. I love Jera, so can you really blame me for enjoying watching Sera fret over John or watching John crumble against Orrin!Sera??? Uru putting my fave blorbos into Horrible Situations will certainly strengthen their bond!!! TRUST!!!!
How long will it take before we see the consequences strike either John or Sera down? Who knows!!! With all this pressure building up though, I wouldn't be surprised if the consequences end up hitting John and Sera very hard and very quickly before either of them realize. I do wish for their happiness, but since everyone is still a wanted criminal, it's going to be way harder for them to stay happy together... not with all these threats looming around anyway.
Either way, I will continue to pray REALLY HARD for a happy ending for Sera and John!! They deserve to be happy after all the shit they've gone through throughout the course of the damn story. But as usual, we'll see what Uru has in store for our beloved protagonists <3
Opened 11 packs of the new unOrdinary TCG (Turf Wars) and somehow managed to miss out on the Safe House card (12/15)... haha... 🥲
If anyone is curious, this is where all the cards from the "Wellston" set of the TCG are from:
1/15 John - ep 222
2/15 Seraphina - ep 224
3/15 Arlo - ep 385 (diff outfit)
4/15 Remi - ep 222
5/15 Blyke - ep 195 (redrawn)
6/15 Isen - ep 191 (redrawn)
7/15 Cecile - ep 367
8/15 Zeke - ep 367
9/15 Elaine - ep 368
10/15 Infirmary - ep 290
11/15 Spectre Tech - ep 214
12/15 Safe House - ep 236
13/15 Triple Choco Cake - triple threat (1)
14/15 Gel John - ep 105
15/15 Uru-chan - posted on Uru's socials during Jan 2019
And the rules of the card game/Turf Wars if anyone is curious...!
I will be playing the TCG with my best friend eventually in the most botched way imaginable over vc one of these days. Godspeed to the both of us since we both don't play card games, and I've only ever played the Pokemon TCG Pocket version of the Pokemon card game... lel. But I do hope we get more cards in the future!! Definitely will be spending a bunch more money since it'll support Uru and I love having more merch!!! :D
^ Posted on Uru's Twitter and Instagram earlier (Aug 2, 2026)
First and foremost, to anyone reading this: DO NOT COPY SERA AND JOHN. DO NOT TRY TO DO PUSH-UPS WITH ANYONE OR ANYTHING ON YOUR BACK. THE RISK OF INJURY IS HIGH, AND THE PAIN WILL SUCK!!!!
You might be thinking "well, of course? Most people wouldn't be strong enough to do a push-up with someone on their back." And yes, but there seem to be a few unfortunate replies under Uru's post on Twitter that tried something similar (push-ups with weight on their back) who got hurt... so let's not copy what the fictional super-powered children do in a silly doodle!!
As usual, it's always entertaining to see Jera do fun and silly stuff outside of the horrible, horrible things they're experiencing in the ongoing story, even if the art isn't as complex or exciting.
Sera sits on John while he does push-ups and casually goes on her phone! John complains slightly but doesn't even try too hard to get her off him because he is almost always pretty tolerant of Sera's antics!! She's definitely bumming around a bit, but we all know that she's pretty dedicated to working out alongside John. Sera's just messing around cuz she can and finds it funny to mess around with him. That's why she's usually teasing him or taking his shit without his permission. John doesn't give a damn and just lets her do whatever LMAO. This too is love.
It's honestly sweet that even after everything and getting her ability back, Sera would still keep up the habit of running a ton (5 miles is around 8 km) and doing whatever other exercises John usually would do. Those two really are an inseparable pair!!!
Side note: There's no good way to decide when the official art that's separate from the main line story (think of the most recent Arlo-centered art) takes place, but I wanna think that the silly official arts we get are usually in some AU where everyone is happy while retaining their character development. After all, Sera only started working out with John in ep 120 (well, probably closer to around ep 114 timeline wise, since ep 120 is actually the first chapter we see Sera in her exercise outfit that she bought back in ep 114), but she continues to participate in these workout sessions with John even after all this time!! Consistency :3
We do have one previous official art that Uru posted back in July 2023 of Jera on an afternoon jog where they're still spending time together (every waking moment basically lol)! I suppose we wouldn't ever see John or Sera in these clothes again since they're outlaws on the run and Spectre agents now, but I like seeing Uru give us throwbacks on those simpler times. Or at least when people weren't dying and the worst injuries only sent people to the hospital lmao...!
One thing I did notice is that this is actually the first (oops) second time Uru's drawn Sera with a ponytail while she's in her workout attire. Previously, we've only seen Sera with her hair down whenever she works out with John (see images above), and we've only seen her hair up in a ponytail during the Blyke Prison Break arc in recent time (not counting younger Sera).
Edit: @greedd407 reminded me that we have seen Sera in her workout attire with a ponytail in official art before, and they are correct! Here you go. This Sera was posted in August 2022 and is the first time we've technically seen Sera tie her hair up! It's on me for not remembering LOL but that's what happens when you get distracted and also don't bother naming your files properly (I have almost all of Uru's official art saved on my computer)!!
But I guess seeing Sera with her hair up while she exercises makes a whole lot more sense... at least it wouldn't overheat her as bad as having her hair down when running a ton every day. I fully endorse Sera tying her hair up more often!! She isn't the same Sera from back then when she was miserable and so very alone, and I think we see the difference enough even when she wears her hair the same way she used to back then.
Frankly, I just hope Uru's taking care of herself... she's already been pretty open about her struggles around the end of each season, so we already know that she's been in the trenches and in hell overworking herself to death trying to make unOrdinary in a way that's satisfying enough for herself and most of the readers (mentally blowing up all the haters who have nothing but bad faith criticism for the series). She hasn't had the time really to make a lot of new official art that she'd send out to the 25$ tier patreons, which makes sense considering the crazy shit happening in the current arc + all the stuff she's probably juggling outside of the main story too. I just can't help but worry for her...!! But I'll continue to support her as much as I can regardless 😤
Anyway, I didn't actually have a lot to say about this new Jera doodle since it's sillay and a bit of projection on Uru's part about needing to work out more. I do hope we get more Jera pieces (cash cow ship lol) but I think Blysenmi are probably due for a new one since we haven't gotten any new Blysenmi pieces since September 2025... and we haven't actually seen the trio in the main story since February 2026 lol. The current arc is reaching its end though, so hopefully Uru can rest more when the action dies down...!
