#this started as notetaking and turned into writing BCNDNFNH

[tovaicas]

rouvastre shows actual signs of turning into a lightwarden earlier than kholusia so. hee hee

alisaie especially (but tbh most of the scions), who is intimately familiar with the process, is in denial the whole time. at least until they’re actively dying from it.

rouvastre is ishgardian by birth, and thus affected by the ratatoskr curse. this is Bad:tm: bc it means their body is already inclined to change without the force of five lightwardens spurring it on. ryne has a hell of a time trying to stem it and only just barely manages it

they’re particularly agitated in rak’tika; some of the worst of drk is happening at the same time and rak’tika is abt when they get really aware via y’shtola abt how much shit they’re in, but h/c time one of the early signs of light corruption is hypersensitivity.

the first of the skin conditions starts showing up in rak’tika. hard patches of scales, that sort of thing, first red and itchy then white. you just brushed against the wrong plant in the swamps, it’s fine, it’s not spreading

(it’s not fine. it is.)

by ahm araeng they’re starting to lose time. awareness. a few minutes occasionally turns into an hour. two. three. it gets more frequent. thancred doesn’t let you take watch anymore after you spent an entire night completely unaware of what was going on around you. you don’t remember what happened that night.

(you don’t know how long it took him to rouse you. and he looks so scared and haunted that you don’t want to ask.)

by kholusia they’ve drifted away mid-conversation a few times. y’shtola looks terrified but you tell her you’re fine.

(fray keeps yelling at you to wake up, and that’s what keeps you stable. but they’re getting less and less distinct by the day.)

every morning you wake up hungrier. nothing sates you anymore. every day is a new ache, a new pain, but it’s fine. just damage from the road.

(something is shifting beneath your skin.)

you collapse. you wake up to a light-bathed crystarium to fray’s voice yelling in your ear. it’s been six days.

(you assume you’ve been asleep the whole time. the scions will never tell you that you spent five of them awake and unaware and completely unresponsive. ryne looks utterly exhausted. everyone else looks broken and haunted.)

there is a nectarine sitting on your table. you don’t see it.

(just in case.)