"I know that logically," Aliset nodded, her brows furrowing as she built hasty emotional walls to try and hold back the coming wave, acknowledge and soothe the migraine of fighting Koun's PSC, try to keep the feedback loop rapidly building from causing further issues. But the harder it suppressed what it saw as a potential psychic attack, the harder her brain fought it, and she didn't have much control over that back and forth resonating at increasing pitch. She knew the physics of it, knew logically where it usually peaked, an annoying headache or twitching eye for her. It was already well beyond that, and still climbing, to where lights hurt and gravity felt like waves of nausea. The soreness from her injuries wasn't helping. But what was was the coolness of Sacre's imprint right next to her. Solid, unchanging and refreshingly hard to move through. As long as she maintained contact, the resonance didn't seem like it was growing very fast.
"Just trying to keep the lizard brain from knowing that so it keeps giving me the happy drugs till everyone's safe from me. Cause I just blew the personal PSC in my bra. And now my head feels like it's about to explode. I have a spare in our room. You know, in case I forget to charge the battery or something dumb. So. Trying to keep the stress on, what did I miss? How long was I gone?"
She hadn't noticed if they were walking, and as soon as her spare collar was on, the migraine would fade. With nothing left to fight, nothing would be keeping her aware and stable. This would be when the pressure vessel of her mind blew off its load, flooding her with flashbacks and memories, rage, fear, stress, and grief that would have accumulated over her time. Not in waves or manageable chunks like humans did. No, more like quitting high doses of hard drugs cold turkey, like a building losing its foundation finally crumbled. Or like a fusion reactor couldn't produce enough power to maintain its shielding. She would feel it all in that instant.
Knowing this, she gently pulled Sacre to her quarters, armed the spare collar, and started a nest in the bedding. One that Sacre could easily and comfortably coil herself in. Throwing most of her clothes to the floor, she picked up the armed collar, looked to Sacre, and gave a smile, closing it around her neck and flipping the switch. "I love you."
Had she managed to say that out loud before her body, mind, and soul simply shut down? Her eyes glazed over, unfocused as her psychic signature fell away, and she tipped over. Her full weight slammed into the bed in a not quite unconscious but definitely dreaming disassociative state.