[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...]

[punch_in_pink]

Wait...They forgot you graduated? I saw ya man, you were up there and shook their hand and everythin'!

[heartofarapier]

[Ohhhh. What a pleasant surprise.]

Ike.
Welcome back. I'm so happy to see you.

[ACTION]

[flowerofmtsilver]

[Don't mind this dude. He's just moving his giant potted plants out of your space. It'd been a while since he had a roommate, so there were more vegetation than usual taking up room everywhere. Some of them would go to the greenhouse, once Vinnie decided which.

After the video feed ended, the sweet smelling man piped up:]

Yeah, there's not much point in questionin' or reasonin' with the Headmasters. Shit like this kinda happens - you're lucky no one else got hit with amnesia.

[welikeike]

Yeah! I thought it was strange they wouldn't remember. The headmaster shuffled around some papers and said mine didn't exist, which is just odd. It managed to fool me into thinking it was all just a dream...

[It probably didn't help that he had that weird memory merge from the past year. His memories felt like they were in two places at once. ...And that wasn't normal at all.]

But thanks for letting me know. Makes me feel less... crazy.

[welikeike]

Eirik... Thanks. I'm glad to see you, too.

[And it's something of a relief to know that his memory of this place wasn't just a dream.]

I thought to send you a letter to tell you I made it home. It was so sudden that I couldn't tell you that I'd found a way back face-to-face. I never found the time to write it, though.

...And now I'm back in a similar predicament. I didn't intend to come back, but this time, I don't mind so much. Turns out a letter would have been a bit unnecessary after all.

[heartofarapier]

[There's something touching about the concept that he'd wanted to write her. She almost isn't certain how to take it. But it's pleasing and flattering.]

That you merely thought of me in your absence I think speaks more than enough. I wouldn't have expected that of you.

Admittedly, I kept the thoughts of your departure to myself, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, I've heard. I'm smiling more with you now than I did before. I must have missed you a great deal.

[ACTION]

[welikeike]

[Somehow, Ike sort of... forgot that Vinnie was there. He got a bit nervous talking in front of that camera. (Strange how that worked: he got more apprehensive talking in front of a computer than he did in front of a crowd of warriors. Not to say that talking as a commander wasn't nerve-wracking, but computers still weren't things he could say he was very comfortable with.)

He glanced up at Vinnie and pushed down the screen of his computer half-way.]

No one else? What do you mean by that?

[ACTION]

[flowerofmtsilver]

Well...

[There was a thoughtful expression that crept over Vinnie's face as he set down a giant tulip pot as carefully as he could. He was trying to downplay the possibility as much as he could, but in all honesty the sudden amnesia phenomenon still... kind of scared him.]

Sometimes people've come back without rememberin' they were ever here, I guess. Can't remember the shit they did or friends they made. Or some weird crap'll happen and only some've us remember it once it's all over with.

From the sounds've it, though, everyone else remembers you al'right. So it's probably best not t'think about it too much.

[punchtheflute]

Hey! Ike! Welcome back!

I'm sorry you have to do your senior year again. I know what that's like. I had to repeat a year once before because I went home then came back. But it had been a whole year for the school, only a week for me.

Hey, at least your classes will seem easier this time around because you already learned all the stuff for seniors!

[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...

[punch_in_pink]

Well, you ain't the first I've seen to hop back and forth. Kinda get used to seein' it. I can believe it if you said that's what happened.

[Though Mac believed everything.]

Least you got one more year to think 'bout things. It's always good to make good with what ya got.

[raw_angel_power]

I've been held back before! It's kind of humiliating, but it could be worse. Welcome back, by the way! I was disappointed to see you go, but pleased to see you back.

[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.

[welikeike]

Oh, you too? I guess we're in the same situation, you and I.

...Except being gone for a year, and only a week for you? What happened? Or maybe I mean to ask: What is with this school?

[punchtheflute]

I don't know what's up with this school! It can't seem to make up it's mind. It's so different for everyone who goes away. Some people can just come back with no problems. Some people disappear and come back with new memories, and then some people are away for just a few days but for them it's been longer, or the other way around.

But anyway, I took my little Sister home to Pallet town because she was upset about something at school and I could tell she could use the company, you know? We took the train, and it took about a week from the time I left to the time I got back. But when I got back, it wasn't 2012 any more, it was 2013!

[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]

I went home on accident, believe it or not. Not to say that I wasn't glad to be back, but it was... unexpected. Who knew that the walk between the main building and the sports facility was the way back to Crimea? [Ike shakes his head with a hint of a smile. He thinks it's ridiculous too.] ...Somehow, I don't think I'll be as lucky if I tried that again.

[raw_angel_power]

Man. I'm sorry you keep being pulled back here against your will. Kind of makes me feel bad for being happy to see you return. I'd rather send you home.

[welikeike]

It's unsettling how normal this weird forgetting-thing is treated around here... But at the same time, I fully understand it.

[He sighs. What a messed up place.]

I'll make the best of it. Like I said before, I feel better this time around. When I went home, something weird happened. It was weirder than being forgotten by the headmasters. And even though it was so weird, it puts me at ease. I'm not even sure how to put it into words... What happened, that is.

[welikeike]

I... That's such an extreme gap that I'm not sure what to think. A whole year! Your friends must have been worried sick about you, and you didn't even notice.

But to consider all of the things that could happen, I'm glad it was just the headmasters that forgot about me. It could have been much, much worse.

[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.

[welikeike]

Hey, it's not all bad. I know things are going well in Crimea, and I know that... Well, it's weird. And hard to explain. But I have a feeling everything is going well, even now that I'm here again.

[star_punched]

Sounds kinda complicated.

[Mac and Ike were probably safely called friendly acquaintances. But when people say things like that, Mac couldn't help but offer something.]

I got an ear, if you'd take it.