[video, backdated to 9/7]

[welikeike]

[HELLO, it is Ike. Long time no see.]

Well, I'm back. I know I've never been much good at keeping up with the network, but I figured I'd make a post to say so. I haven't been gone for long, but it still feels like it's been a while. It's been... Two months, more or less. But now that I'm back...

[Ike's not as keyed up as when he arrived the first time. He's calm, if not a tad exhausted. After that, a new emotion worms its way onto his face, one of mild irritation. He sighs.]

The headmasters re-enrolled me as a senior again. To be honest, the past year feels like a dream to me somehow. ...That doesn't make much sense, does it? You all saw me graduate, right? I don't know what went wrong with the headmasters, but there was no getting through to them. It's like they couldn't remember it at all. So this is where I'm at.

It's... not so bad. I came to terms with a few things that have been bothering me when I went back home. Now, I feel like I can focus on what I'm doing while I'm here much better than before.

[He cuts narrating his thoughts short by dragging his eyes back to the lens of the camera quite deliberately, then focusing back on his computer screen.]

...Right. Anyway, I'm back, and I'm ready to start the year. Again. That's all I really have to say. [Time to... shut this off. Yeah.]

Comments

[trustycrowbar]

[Gordon's pretty sure he's seen a stare like that before, somewhere.]

Welcome back. Where did you go?

[welikeike]

[Maybe he has.]

Well... Long story short, I went back home. To Crimea. Somehow.

[Though he still can't make sense of how...]

[trustycrowbar]

[Actually yes. He has. He's seen it on a couple of faces back home. The ones who've gone through a battle or two.]

How long were you gone? You said two months, here...

[welikeike]

...And about two months back home. For a total of two months.

[Being one who hasn't experienced any weird mismatching time stuff, Ike is sufficiently confused by this line of questioning.]

Why is this a question? Of course I was gone for two months.

[trustycrowbar]

[He pauses and scruffs his hair, thoughtfully. Ike may be one of the lucky ones whose world syncs up perfectly with this one. Go figure.]

Sometimes it's not that simple. The relative flow of time is not always 1-to-one. Connor was gone from the academy for about two weeks, and in his own dimension months had passed.

[welikeike]

So that's why you're asking me, huh? I find it difficult to wrap my head around something like that, but... The ratio was one-to-one for me, I think.

I've heard only a little about this, so that's why I didn't understand your question at first.

[trustycrowbar]

It's okay. This is confusing even for those who study it for years. Your world is a rare case, if that's true. Some slow to a crawl, others speed up to a factor of months against weeks.

[welikeike]

I see... Well, to the best of my understanding. Is it always the same for each, erm, world? Will it always be that kind of situation if I went back home again?

[trustycrowbar]

I can't say for sure... but knowing what I know about wavefunctions and modes of temporal differential, I'd bet money that it won't be the same rate next time.

[welikeike]

Oh. I can't say for sure if I know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

It is what it is. I guess.