Loadedupright

That said, let’s explore what would happen to a person if they spent the vast majority of their time in a box that’s only lit by their own flame. That is, of course, assuming that he even had extra light to spare with the manacles pulling his elemental power from him.

First, without the sun, his Circadian rhythm would shift radically, and that’s ignoring beatings, compulsions, etc that could make it even worse.

With no sunlight, windows, clocks or calendar, humans experience this change when they spend long periods of time in caves. Researchers found that many subjects ended up in a pattern of 18-20 hours awake, and then 10-12 hours asleep.

Gideon would not have a meaningful concept of “morning” or “day.”

After months of this, or years, an hour could feel like days, days could feel like hours, weeks would blur together and entire months could disappear without conscious notice.

Using research on prisoners kept in solitary confinement, who have access to light, but not windows, individuals begin to lose their ability estimate how long they have been imprisoned.

If you asked Gideon how long he’d been imprisoned, he genuinely might not know or be able to answer accurately. He might guess 4 years when it’s been 7, or 10 years when it has been 5.

I tend to think in this situation, Gideon might use meals to count time.

He would use events to organize memory.

“This happened before I broke that guard’s arm,” “That was after they tried branding me,” etc.

Upon escaping, sunlight might actually be too intense.

A prisoner in a box for ten years would likely find the light overwhelming, though I imagine Gideon wouldn’t be bothered much by the heat.

He would have a very hard time falling asleep at normal hours (sleep would already be a struggle, but I will rein in my ADHD and stay on topic). He might fall asleep during the day and be awake all night, or awake for multiple days and then crash for 2 or 3. It’s likely that he would have extremely strong emotional reactions to sunrises and sunsets, as well as changes in weather.

He would constantly be checking the sky to reorient himself, and he’d be acutely aware of the seasons in a way he hadn’t been since before the train.

For a long period, he would rely on artificial schedules a lot, and he might even tend to follow the old train schedule if it was kept strict, because it’s familiar and already ingrained.

With freedom would come disorientation. After his initial food binge that I have no doubt would occur, he’d have trouble knowing when to eat or sleep anymore.

Importantly, Gideon’s perception of the passage of time would be warped for a very long period.

He would likely be able to estimate how long he was on the train once he escaped because he aged, he listened to the guards talking (we know this because that’s why he was able to and motivated to escape), he’d see management and workers come and go.

For a long time off the train, he’d struggle with things like “was that yesterday, or last week?”

He’d sleep at odd hours, not pay attention to dates, organize memories around major events instead of calendars or trusting his own memory to correctly interpret and store when something occurred.

Now, because it’s Gideon, he might not care much about that, I imagine it would depend on what kind of memories we’re talking about.

If he cared to know, he might tend to almost obsessively or compulsively ask what time it is, or what day of the week until he reacquired a normal and working rhythm after a long period of freedom.

Anyway, probably for the best that he was picked up by a gator folk who carries a pocket watch.