Thanks to xexnoncores,
UncannyClown, and
Anorrack for critique and feedback. This would not be what it is without their help.
Writing this was something of a trip. I've never written anything quite this length before, and at times it felt like a struggle to get words onto a page (well, a screen), especially in an eloquent manner. Creating a detailed outline helped, though I only realized I had to have the story end using the same stream of consciousness as I started with the very last day of writing. For this piece, I wanted to try and work with ideas I've been refining for a while. The Veil and what it means, first of all, but also just how strange a place like Earth must look through the eyes of people from elsewhere in the cosmos. Far from normality being the norm, it might be something of an exception.
I may try and polish this after the contest ends. As long as this took to write, at times I felt like I was rushing myself.