#ousamaa

Just found out one of my bridesmaids who recently had a baby died last month and I think part of my world collapsed. We just reconnected after years apart, and I moved across the country and was a state away from her, but I was giving her some room to be a new mom before I planned to finally storm her house this summer for our reunion. I missed her funeral. She was younger than me. Her baby was born in January.

I feel like I should reach out to our other friends from back in the day but also like that's a terrible thing to do after not talking to them, but everyone has pretty much abandoned Facebook and understandably her wife didn't directly reach out to me or I would've gone to the funeral.

I don't know what to feel or do. I loved this girl so much. So much of who I am folds back to when we were close. I know how much of an impact she had on me, and I feel like that means I should reach out to our other friends from back then to let them know too, but that also feels like overreach. I know I have to tag at least a few here. This isn't the kind of post I wanted to make about any of us.

Cookiepants, you have no idea how much you mean to me, even though I know I tried to tell you every now and then. I can't believe you're gone. I can't believe YGOTAS is still going. The Afterlife better have wifi for you.

I'll see you there someday, @ousamaa

I think it's entirely possible that mothy google translated the term, or otherwise used less than accurate translation methods for arriving at the spell name. I don’t expect he speaks Russian, after all.

I would--I know there’s a full version out there somewhere but I’ve just never gotten around to it, and I forgot to write down the lyrics when I knew where I could find them.

If Irina were sent back in time in the exact same universe, then Levia, Behemo, and the others would be gone, hence, “no Gods”.  It wouldn’t matter where she got her prophecies from at that point – Levia would never tempt Kiril into throwing Elluka Chirclatia’s body into Sin since she wouldn’t be there, Elluka Clockworker wouldn’t exist, and a lot of events wouldn’t be able to go the same way simply because of their absence.  If it was the same universe, there’d be a lot of souls lacking, as well, since they’d have moved on to the Fourth Period.  I’m not sure how to think about that, though.  In any case, things would be very different, but in my opinion, “Utopia” would still be quite out of reach. If she were sent to another universe, it’s hard to say exactly how events would go, because we simply don’t have any information.  However, the only souls from the “first” third period would be Irina, Adam, Eve, and Gammon.  Levia and Behemo could exist in this universe, but if only four people retain memories of the first go-around, then the “karma of evil” will repeat itself, and everything will (presumably) turn out the same way, although, again, we don’t know anything about it since mothy hasn’t elaborated on it. In terms of the “first” time around, I believe the Original Sin Story that we’re presented with, Maria Moonlit talking with Levia and Behemo for prophecies, etc. is the beginning of everything simply because of the “Clockwork Lullaby -Key of Word-” music video.  The gears leading to the fourth period say “IV” for the Heavenly/Hellish ending.  The gears leading to Graveyard ending says “III’” (three prime?), indicating to me that Banica’s events at least start in the original third period, even if they end up somewhere else.  Finally, the gears leading to the Court ending say “III-2”, meaning to me it’s the second time around. Sorry this is so very long-winded, but I wanted to give my thoughts.  Hopefully it makes sense, even if I missed some details/something doesn’t work.

I’m not sure I entirely understand what you’re saying in your first scenario–You’ll have to forgive me, as I don’t study quantum physics.

How would Irina going back in time mean that the gods are gone? If she goes back in time, then she is, presumably, going back to a point in the timeline where the gods are present. Along with everyone else, as this would all be before the Fourth Period. I’m not sure how going back in time in the same universe could ever result in events that are different than what has already occurred. Unless you are referring to a circumstance where she is not actually going back in time (as it is seems your scenario involves the idea of a fixed chronology that cannot be circumvented that is independent of chronological events) but rather causing the Third Period to repeat itself, and are considering the Fourth Period to be a separate universe that everyone else has already left to.

Or to try and clarify my point, it seems you are saying that, if there is time travel, despite the Court ending taking place in the past it would still somehow be after everyone had left to the Fourth Period, an event that has yet to take place. This sounds impossible to me unless it is not actual time travel, but rather a reproduction of the Third Period taking place after the fact in a way that resembles time travel.

As for your second scenario my only comment is that Levia and Behemo would definitely not exist in the new universe. Mothy has already established that there are no gods in the Court ending. You’re absolutely right that the ending hasn’t been clarified much outside of a few details like that, so it’s hard to speculate.

I also generally agree with your third paragraph, though I disagree that Banica’s ending starts in the Third Period (I mean, yes it does start there as all the endings start there, but she does go to a parallel universe, which is what I think the III’ is meant to represent).

It’s theorized that there are multiple types of time travel, but it’s essentially broken down into time travel in the same universe, and time travel into another universe (like in Banica’s ending).  Since same-universe time travel is harder for me to understand than different-universe time travel, I may be getting this wrong.  However, my line of thinking is that if all of the souls that once existed in the Third Period have now moved onto the Fourth Period (which I assumed is a different universe), Irina going back in time in the same universe couldn’t bring back the exact same souls that left if those souls are in a completely different universe. However, the Fourth Period may not be a new universe.  Since it looks to me like all of the endings seem to exist simultaneously, I made the assumption that the Fourth Period is a different universe.  It doesn’t make sense to me for, say, Michaela’s exact same soul to exist both as a forest spirit when Irina goes back in time and as someone who is living in the Fourth Period.  But, there’s no precedent for the Fourth Period being another universe, either; so far, the First, Second, and Third periods have existed in the same universe (albeit the Second Period being its own “world” created within the First Period). There’s my attempt to clarify the same-universe points I was attempting to make – The Court ending being in another universe is another entire can of worms (Although you are correct, Levia and Behemo wouldn’t exist in the Court ending regardless since “no gods” is written pretty explicitly.  That’s my bad.).  I also only have a handful of people I can bounce any of this particular brand of science off of in real life, so I could very well be missing something – I’m sorry that what was meant to be a short reply to the anon asking about the time travel in the Court ending turned into this convoluted mess!  (It doesn’t help that I also tend to be long-winded.) Like you said, the series has been very soft-science, and how Mothy decides the Court ending works in his own world could be very contrary to how I’m thinking of it. The only thing I think I could say with some certainty is that the very beginning of the entire Evillious series as we’ve experienced it up to this point, including Maria Moonlit and her prophecies, occurred in the OSS as we’ve experienced it.  Irina re-doing the Third Period (however that may happen), I’m pretty sure, is indicated by the Court ending saying “III-2”.  Everything we experienced to this point would be “III-1”, if you will.  Finally, based on her saying that she’ll re-do the cycle however many times it takes for her to get the ending that she truly wants, that the number next to the ‘III’ might increase indefinitely.

Ah, okay--so if I'm understanding correctly, your conception of time travel in this scenario isn't so much actual time travel as I imagine it (which is simply moving to a previous or future point chronologically), but rather more in effect like instituting a world which is structured like a previous point in the timeline, which is constrained to the universe where it is occurring (as in, the time travel doesn't send Irina and the others backwards so much as bring the rest of the Third Period's past forward, and this doesn't impact the other universes at all). And the problem with that is that there's a contradiction in the exact same thing existing in two different places, as would naturally happen given that elements of the Third Period’s past have moved to another world that is not being time-traveled.

My thinking (which is perhaps simplified) was just that (to use your example) Michaela's soul would not actually exist in two separate places--if Irina went back in time, Michaela's soul would exist only in the Third Period at that point, because her soul would not have yet left to the Fourth Period, as it would be a previous point in both universes' histories, not just a previous point in the Third Period alone.

I don't know if I've got that completely but I think that's the point of confusion.

It's true there's no precedent for the Fourth Period being a new universe, although I think it might be one simply because there is mention of souls who haven't yet moved on there, implying it's more like a sort of exodus into a new world than some world-altering wave like we originally may have thought. This has not been elaborated on, though, so it's up in the air.