[ there's a ghost hanging around that dempsey can't see, no need to wait for them though! ]
The world was a pretty place and Dempsey didn't see any of it anymore. Shifting sands and distant mountains would have caught his attention once, like the clear night sky and all other beautiful things surrounding him. Instead he sees the emptiness. This place would be a death trap during the day, paws sinking into hot sand and the sun burning the skin of his back. There's no shade either, and he's not seeing any signs of water. Had he the option, Dempsey would have turned around and kept walking, but he's too tired for that. Supposed to be a group here, anyway; he — he needs the company. It'd been too long since he talked to people, and he knew if Rey were still here he'd ask if he was feeling alright for it. The answer is no, mostly because he's not there to ask. He'd been a talkative man before this whole mess, and now there are days when he struggles to open his mouth.
Maybe it was because he didn't have anything important to say now. Maybe it was because he fucked everything up when he opened his mouth. Maybe it's 'cause the last thing he said to his husband was calling him an asshole. The feline scrubs one of his paws over his face, getting sand into the thicker fur around his neck. He doesn't care. "Could use some company, Rey. If hallucinations show up on command, anyway," he whispers, taking a seat in the cool sand, looking at the moon like his husband's face would be there. "At least until someone else shows up. I'm sure they will eventually."
[ small bump? ]
Dying had been...easy. Not in the way that he'd wanted it, or that leaving Demps was a simple choice -it wasn't- but that all his years of living were so quickly reduced to cooling under the embers of a burned building. For all his experience, for all his will, there was no fight involved. Just a few last words sent to his husband and a condemning breathlessness. Nothing, and then something when he opened his eyes again. Where dying hadn't taken any effort, this- haunting business was shit. This whole situation had gone belly up, and the worst part of everything was falling short when Demps needed him. Every time he said his name he wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder, but that attempt had gotten pathetic after the first six times of passing through skin and bone.
Did it even count as passing through, when Rey was just a shadow?
"I'm here," he said, like he did every time, fruitless or not. Here, next to him, not up in the sky. At his side where he belonged, wherever that took him; it wasn't as though Rey could feel the sand. Nothing ever concrete. "Been a while since you've talked to anyone. Hope your charm's all still there." There wouldn't be an answer -there never was- but it felt wrong to keep silent, even though speaking without being heard was just about the equivalent.
[ INFORMATION ]
Loss was truly a killer to words, as she has also experienced. Moons she had spent alone, surrounded by no one but the flora and fauna of the gardens to keep her company, and she had stayed there all that time because of loss. Even though at that time she felt empowered, and free in a way, she was also free for the pain of her parent's death to finally hit her. It had been made real to her then that she wasn't just stuck away from them in an enemy clan, she was in her own clan, in their own territory, and they were not. Still, she could never imagine, and would never wish for them to be ghosts that followed her. It would be too difficult to see them, to hear them, but be unable to embrace them.
They had been on her mind today, more than they were every other day, as she paced through the hot sands. She wondered what they thought about her old mentor, and if they were angry with her for training with them. She knew it was pointless to think these things, as she would never get an answer. They weren't ghosts, but the tom she was approaching sure seemed to look like he'd seen one; or, heard one at least. "Who are you talking to?" Asked the silvery patterned catsune as she halted her pace in front of him, eyes scanning the area around him in search of a traveling partner. There was none, from what she could see, so she was curious as to who "Rey" was. "This is Solaris Kingdom territory, and I am Primerys, the Queen here. Is there something I could help you with, sir?"
[ apologies for the late reply!! welcome to solaris <3 ]