you are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand

There had always been a careful tension that lay between them, a fiber pulled taut, always on the verge of snapping completely- but Thalia had always found that intriguing, exciting even. Most wolves she felt were beneath her, with their heads in the clouds, but Theory was grounded and felt present. Challenging, but not to an absurd degree. And yet everything had changed all at once in the face of her cousin's disappointment and the realization of just how close she'd been to destroying everything she'd worked for here... and Theory's sickness had only carved an even deeper divide between them. Their planets were no longer orbiting close; Theory was a planet far away, in a entirely world alien to her.

Seeing her now, in this state, only drove that point further home. She was deeply unwell and Thalia wasn't willing to risk herself by getting too close. Though she'd always been selfish at her core, in the face of this strange sickness, or plague, or whatever it was - her self-preservation had only been made all that much clearer. She watched cautiously as Theory snarled at her, brow furrowing tightly. It was rare she displayed much emotion at all, but something that almost looked like fear suddenly wove its way across her features. "You know.. you know that I'm needed back home," Thalia replied carefully, but before she could rationalize her thoughts Theory was snapping at her, telling her to leave. "I don't get why-" Her words trailed off as Theory snapped at her, and then fumbled, her mood shifting so suddenly it made her head spin.

What the fuck was going on with her? The deja vu struck her suddenly though unlike Theory she was suspended in the present, frozen still until Theory stumbled her way. Sharply she pulled back, reeling back toward the water in a desperate attempt to avoid straying too close. "Theory..." She started carefully, slowly. Something was wrong with her mind; she wasn't right and it was obvious. Had the sickness really gripped her so swiftly, so mercilessly? Thalia was torn between an array of thoughts - from worrying for Theory, to wondering if perhaps Thalia hadn't fucked things up at all. Surely when Theory was well she'd realize nothing had happened between them at all. Thalia could convince her that whatever worries she was having were in her head, she could... do something to smooth things out, to not ruin everything she'd done.

Sure, there was an awful long of assuming being done on her part but she couldn't help it, her mind working a frantic pace as she slowly pulled back further and further until the water of the bay was lapping at her hind paws. Everything had been different since she'd come back home from Aerie, and though the sickness had come soon after she feared the doubt in her had been sown in her mid before the illness gripped her. But maybe there was a way to change her mind once she was well- there had to be. "Theory," she finally repeated, her tone colder this time. "I need to go back home. And you need to rest." Please, her eyes begged, though the words couldn't quite reach her tongue. There was no hint of heartache in her tone though the way her chest clenched painfully was proof to her of the way it was continuing to shatter; it was a feeling unlike anything she'd experienced before, raw and all-consuming.