Jayflying

Hey y'all!

I go by a couple of things in a couple of different places— you can call me Jay or JJ, but you might catch me answering to a few other things here or there (Avian, for example, being my alias from twitch chat).

I'm your resident fandom essayist and worldbuilder! There's nothing I love more than applying realism to things that realism should not be applied to. Whether that means overanalyzing canonical events, prodding at a character's mental state to figure out what makes them function, or playing around with the gaps in a narrative's canon: I will make a big deal out of the little details, and then commit wholeheartedly to the implications.

A blanket warning though: I do engage with mature topics. When heavy content appears or can be inferred from canon, I do not play it for laughs, so consider this your one heads-up for discussion of violence, assault, trauma, drug use, discrimination, mental illness, self-harm, etc, etc, etc.

I'm not going to say "DNI unless over [whatever age]", because I don't consider infantilizing minors to be particularly productive. Responsible discussion of, and engagement with, mature or "dark" media always will be one of the safest ways to develop a robust understanding of such serious topics, and that's true for all ages.

Just... do so responsibly? There's never any shame in having to take a step back and say, "actually, this conversation/post/etc is not for me". Don't unnecessarily trigger yourselves on the internet, y'all.

Oh and while this should come as no surprise, I also swear. What? I'm an adult. I say fuck sometimes.

Here's a list of my major fandoms, a.k.a "The things I can info-dump about on command if you send me an ask about them". (I will delightedly answer any specific questions you send me. And any nonspecific questions. Fuck it, you could just send me the ask "Tell me a fun fact" and I absolutely would.)

MCYT: (Life Series, Hermitcraft, Empires SMP, Cowboy SMP, Vampires SMP, Soul Hunt SMP)

Ace Attorney: (Mainline games + AAI; If I ignore the AAI2 Official Translation for long enough maybe it will go away)

Pokemon: (PL:A my beloved)

The Legend of Zelda

The Elder Scrolls (I cannot believe I initially forgot to add this to the list; I am a TES lore encyclopedia who occasionally dabbles in other fandoms to give myself a break from Aurbic metaphysics)

This one happens to be one of my oldest still-existing WIPs! I first wrote most of this when ESMP 2 was still ongoing, and I actually only rediscovered I still had it when I went looking through my WIP folder for this ask game.

One of my favorite moments in Pixlriffs' ESMP 2 series is when The Crown itself smites him for no obvious reason; that's just got so many potential implications based on how you choose to interpret the worldbuilding, and that's fun. Which is what this fic is about! Pix getting obliterated by god(?) for his crimes in a past life, and the aftermath of that: waking back up as a restless spirit, memories beginning to blur between who he is and who he was, so long ago.

On that note, here's a snippet of him waking up immediately after getting smited!

So, Cowboy SMP from 4C's perspective is basically the story of a dude having simultaneously the worst and the weirdest month of his life. He's hit rock bottom. His career collapsed. He's lost everything important to him. He's forced to return to his middle-of-nowhere rural hometown because he's out of options. A dust storm proceeds to wipe most of that hometown off the map, and now he's stuck here, forced to rebuild his entire life from scratch.

And then suddenly aliens.

But the real complicating factor that's making his life even worse? It's the way that Cherri, a newcomer he neither knows nor trusts, has dragged Apo, a long-time friend of his, into her scheming and petty mischief. The way that whatever's going on between the two of them is clearly unhealthy, and 4C feels like he's the only one aware of that. The way that Cherri seems to be trying to intimidate him into silence.

Understandably that's a sort of angst I can't resist toying with.

RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous, and tag as many people as you have WIPs. Anyone can send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Now, uh, fun fact: dear god I have a lot of WIPs, because I tend to write about 300 words and then leave an idea to sit for anywhere between two days and two years. I will not be tagging people for this because I genuinely cannot think of enough people to tag. If you are reading this post and wanna engage in this game, consider yourself tagged. By me.

Anyway, here's the titles of (most of) all of the files in my WIP folder! [Relevant fandom in square brackets]

Guiding Light [Bannerfall]

No one would call this death by misadventure [Soul Hunt]

Pyro, that's the worst anyone's ever done it [VSMP]

Compartmentalize this I dare you [VSMP]

Just Another Fall(en) [VSMP]

The Fix-It Time Loop Torment Nexus -> Loop 1: Postcanon [VSMP]

Dealstruck and Dreaded [Cowboy SMP]

There's blood at the bottom of this leap of faith [Cowboy SMP]

Sandstorm (This doesn't end at the last breath) [Cowboy SMP]

Breaking ground [Cowboy SMP]

In the blood [Cowboy SMP]

NSC - Cycle [Life Series]

NSC - Prideful Innocence [Life Series]

NSC - Once in Forever [Life Series]

Twelve Crowns [ESMP 1]

Pix is still not a king [ESMP 2]

And y'know what, for fun, here's a couple of my non-mcyt ones; specifically, my Ace Attorney AU fic folder

TL - Only the Good Die Young

TL - Never An Ever After

Eulogy of Eleven Days

In other news I blinked and it's been 3 days and I've watched every bannerfall stream vod Nominalgravy has

You said thissss..

"If any human had the time and focus to truly learn what the books were actually teaching them to do, they wouldn't even need the book's enchantment anymore, because that knowledge would simply be theirs to use. At that point, they could maybe begin to learn the theory behind what they were doing, and start making adjustments to the spells— perhaps even write new ones entirely."

Will Abolish ever get here?? He undoubtedly could right?

I kinda just want my guy to be able to do any kind of magic he wantssss

Ok thanksss <33

Across iterations of the time loop, Abolish does get pretty adept with all the tome powers we've seen in canon. And I do mean all of them. Abolish's memory doesn't reset between loops, so he pretty much just memorizes each spell one by one over time.

Which, yes, does mean that by some of the later loops, Abolish is pulling out holy water on day 1.

Also, gotta say how much i love the concept of "Holy =/= safe." Genuinely one of my favorite concepts. Especially if used in a manner thats similar to "Holy power may be used, at a cost." So like, a magic user whos focus is Holy magic, yet their body burns every time they call on it, leaving scars upon scars in a pattern of a beautiful tragedy.

On that note; what do you think of the idea of Vampires eventually learning to use the Holy powers as well. Specifically, im thinking in the concept of Abolish post cure. No doubt he gets used to the burn that is the Holy power curing him. And no doubt he learns to ignore it. Its Abolish after all. But when turned, vamps loose their book powers. And we never see anyone post cure try to use one.

I imagine if they did, the lingering penance would make it so they either A. Feel like theyre burning from the inside out, as their unclean forms try to weld what they once forsake. Or B. That they normally wouldn't be able to push thru the all consuming Holy burn that I can imagine consuming the books provides; something that forms a mental block preventing cured vamps from consuming them. Thoughts?

Either way, would Abolish be someone to push through and re-consume a book? Would that be something to occur? Because if there exists a loop where he is turned early, then cured (or even remaining as a vampire, imagine that attempt), and he trys to relearn his fire spell... oof. Imagine the angst of that; your magic and your form, eternally at war, unable to be truly at rest as they continuously battle for dominance in your soul; as your blood burns, beating heart pumping liters of liquid fire all throughout, but knowing its something new to try, something different, and even if it seems unrelated to freedom, at least it might just be one step closer.

Now imagine Scott reaction to a vampire using holy powers.

The thing about Holy powers, at least the type derived from the Holy Spirits we see in Oakhurst, is that they are not innate to the user. Mere mortals cannot manipulate that kind of energy on their own. The living can serve as a vessel for it, but can't redirect it— can't even see or grasp it. Such power can only be adequately channeled by the Holy Spirits themselves, and those few stray ghosts that, while not forsaken, stand apart from their number.

The abilities we see utilized in Oakhurst are a kind of magic in which spells are perhaps best explained as "incredibly precise prayers". Not prayers made of words as we'd know them, but invocations made of image and sensation; intention, want, and force of will. Though in Oakhurst it comes so easily as to mistake for instinctive, it's not the humans themselves that call down fire, that halt evil with a word, that bestow blessings of fortune and fortitude. It is the Holy Spirits doing that, fulfilling any request faithfully made of them.

As far as forms of magic go, holy magic is notoriously unreliable.

In most places and contexts, those who call to the Spirits will likely go unheard— and therefore unanswered. While the forces of Good are technically, if not omniscient, something very close to it, they perceive the world at such a vast scale that to process every detail would take longer than the passage of time itself. For all their good intentions, if they aren't already paying attention to just the right place at just the right time... well, a single mortal's cry is easily missed until it's too late.

And even in the contexts where a cry would be heard? The Holy Spirits have rules they cannot break. Rules that dictate when they can and cannot answer. Rules that dictate when they must and must not answer. For it is in the very nature of the Holy Spirits to empower the light and repel the darkness. They can do nothing else.

If a creature of the light calls upon their power by proper incantation, and their request does not wish darkness (that is, death or intentional, unavoidable harm) upon another living being, then the Holy Spirits must oblige the request, exactly as phrased.

If a creature of unholy power calls upon the Holy Spirits for any reason other than to request a release from the darkness, then the Spirits cannot respond.

(I'm sure you can already foresee how these rules, while entirely and sincerely benevolent in intention, leave plenty of room for abuse of divine power, the dangers of human error, and cries for help met with silence.)

In fact, the only reason the powers we see in canon even work so consistently is because the Holy Spirits cling to Oakhurst, and scattered the tomes around Oakhurst's tombs for humans to find. The tomes are guiding enchantments, meant to teach even humans entirely ignorant of divine magic how to perform a single pre-written invocation of the Spirits. If any human had the time and focus to truly learn what the books were actually teaching them to do, they wouldn't even need the book's enchantment anymore, because that knowledge would simply be theirs to use. At that point, they could maybe begin to learn the theory behind what they were doing, and start making adjustments to the spells— perhaps even write new ones entirely.

As for the question of how these powers would work for a cured former vampire?

If they've been cured, they're not a vampire anymore. There may still be traces of the venom dormant in their system, but the curse is burned away. The physicality remains; the arcane aspects are gone. As far as the Holy Spirits are concerned? That's a human person. That's a creature of the light now. If they call, the Spirits will answer— with no special consequence or punishment or payment required.

(Side note! Spells designed to broadly target humans, or specific types of supernatural creature, will be confused by a cured vampire seeming physically "vampiric" but spiritually human. Unless a specific exception is written into the spell, it just won't do anything for a former vampire.)

I certainly still intend to! I've had a half-finished version of my thoughts on episode 4's ending sitting in my drafts for a while now, and I could definitely find a lot to say about episode 5...

The problem is, though, that the Soul Hunt finale kind of wounded me emotionally (/pos) in a way that MCYT hasn't managed to do since, like, Last Life, and any time I think too hard about Shadow Jaw I somehow find myself staring at a blank wall listening to Volta by The Crane Wives or Mountains by Message To Bears on loop for an unclear amount of time.

I love when a story has the proven existence of Holy forces, the true and sincere presence of divine Goodness, and those forces are not corrupt, and not secretly evil— and yet still are capable of doing things that can be unambiguously described as "deeply fucked up".

There's something strangely compelling to me about the concept of a divinity that doesn't have flaws, per se, but has rules and limitations and sometimes those three words are close enough in meaning that the difference ceases to matter.

Supernatural power that's so overwhelmingly potent it can cause harm. Immortality made clumsy by its inability to comprehend the scale of mortal lives, how brief, how fragile. Goodness that fails to comprehend the distress its actions may cause, because it knows with prescient clarity that this is The Best Way, and cannot understand that mortals do not already see the clear path between cause and consequence. A Heaven that will do Good works through you, whether you consent to the necessary sacrifices involved or not. (Or, on the contrary— a Heaven so tightly bound not to violate the autonomy of free will that they are forced to look on in silent witness to atrocity, unless their intervention is specifically and purposefully invoked.)

I will literally never get tired of this sort of thing in fiction. Limited divinity; the way any rules, even the rules of the divine, will inevitably find edge cases or rules-lawyering where they do not function as intended; the inherently alien nature of things that Are Not Human and Do Not Think Like Humanity (even when those things are, objectively speaking, Good and have benevolent intent)

No further criteria? No reason provided? Just do it? Well okay then!

I'm not sure whether you wanted me to offer pokemon these folks would be, or partner pokemon they would have, but I'm going with the latter, because on pure vibes alone, a couple of character + pokemon pairings come to mind already:

I could see Renhardt with a Herdier, possibly shiny (not that he would realize if it was)

Martyn with a Sawsbuck (which he definitely caught while it was a cool and impressive Sawsbuck, he totally didn't raise it from a Deerling, this isn't his childhood partner pokemon, that would be weird and embarrassing and stop asking–)

Abolish with an Umbreon (who definitely is his childhood partner pokemon, he "doesn't battle much" but fortunately Umbreon evolves via friendship so that didn't matter— oh why is this thing near-perfect IVs and severely over-leveled, what the hell—)

Owen with a Crobat (he's not its original trainer.)

Scott Goldsmith with a Swellow (Elegant. Swift. Strong enough. Easy enough to replace.)

For this time loop to have any purpose whatsoever, there are some things that cannot be reset. Such as, memory and soul, Abolish himself.

Which would not be noteworthy in any way if vampirism was merely a physical condition, but it has always been something more. Vampirism is, by its very nature, arcane. It is a transformation that reshapes body, mind, and soul in equal measure, and forges a bond between sire and fledgling that goes beyond "bloodline" as mortals would understand it. When a fledgling is first turned, it is that sire bond that anchors their soul to their new existence, that keeps them tethered to life (or more accurately, to undeath) as everything that they are acclimates to what they have now become.

That kind of bond carves out a space in the fledgling's soul by blood and force, and takes root so deeply in the self that it can only be safely formed once. The shape of each sire's bond is unique but consistent, almost like an arcane fingerprint they leave upon their fledglings.

To try and form a second distinct bond of that nature is not inherently lethal. However, if the two bonds differ too much in shape — likely due to the two sires differing in bloodline or temperament — to try and fit both into the soul would carve so much out of its structure that it could, in theory, shatter entirely. (In practice, a fledgling typically dies from the physical stress before anything... worse... can occur.)

Now, Abolish is, for multiple reasons, something of a unique case, as far as the topic of vampirism is concerned.

The Cure that was found in Oakhurst, the Trinity of Restoration, doesn't neatly return a vampire to humanity with no lasting consequence. It burns the sire bond out of the soul with holy fire, but the space where that bond was does not heal. A former vampire — though they are freed from the influence of their sire — cannot risk being turned again, for a second bond still has the potential to kill them outright if it differs too much in shape. This is why the cure books, out of an abundance of caution, claim that a cured vampire physically cannot be turned again whatsoever.

For obvious reasons, the ancient author never accounted for the possibility of a former vampire being turned again by their original sire (seeing as the cure requires that sire to be irreversibly dead). But Abolish figures out entirely through firsthand experience that Legundo — and only Legundo — can, in fact, safely turn him again in each iteration of the time loop. The bond fits right back into the space it made for itself the first time around, so Abolish is at no risk of any further permanent magical damage.

As the Holy Spirits warned him, "That which is done cannot be undone, only redone."