[text] there is water at the bottom of the ocean

[nonscriptum]

[Originally, it started out as a well-meaning adventurous foray for personal edification, yadda, yadda, yadda. Time moves so slowly in Hadriel that Nate has been clawing at ways to occupy it, and since he's exhausted the library of any texts that aren't in gibberish it stands to reason he might seek personal fulfillment elsewhere. After waking up with the usual restlessness he considered the wide expanse of lakeside real estate out his window and thought, yeah, a swim sounds nice.

The swim was less than nice.

Several minor explosions and some (honestly) impressive spell-work later sees him soaked to the skin but otherwise unscathed outside of minor lacerations on one arm - there's really only so much you can do when trying to evade a shark with two fucking heads - scribbling quickly in a notebook with the sort of fervor reserved for the truly mad. Lake-adjacent, blessedly on the shore with a towel slung around bare shoulders, he quickly snaps a photograph of his work with his phone and hits SEND TO ALL.

The message is as follows:]

does anyone know what the hell this is
i found it at the bottom of the lake

Attachment: [monster.jpg]

p.s. don't go swimming in the lake

voice

[am_i_a_monster]

I'm Abigail. I'm new here. Well, new-ish. I think I've been here around three weeks.

[She paused for a moment, not wanting to say too much about her hallucinations from the stings, or the days after when she was convinced she had become mentally ill and everything was a hallucination. She has the worry that she's inherited something from her father, something seriously wrong with her and this place is so strange that a part of her still thinks she's lost her mind.]

I wasn't myself for a while. I thought I had this other life and was back in high school. And I was taking piano lessons too, which was cool. I was learning to play the harpsichord before I came here.

[She paused again.]

I haven't used social media in a while.

[She wasn't sure how long she was in hiding in her old life. It's strange to be interacting publicly again.]

I guess I just want to say hi. So, hi.