[He's nervous about introducing more dangerous creatures to his sweetest little friends, but he actually trusts showing Lucifer and Belphagor more than showing his coworkers. The two devils are considerably more trustworthy than higher ranked staff.]
[Carrying a bento box full of onigiri, he approaches a familiar bench below a sakura tree. Beneath the tree, there are two children playing, one of them a small girl who can only be described as 'pink' and a boy who looks like he's probably a little ball of trouble.]
[They're not expecting Belphie to see them. Oak waves his arms.]
🍃Old man! Did you bring someone else here to have lunch with?🍃
🌸I was wondering when you'd visit.🌸 [Sakura says much more sweetly than oak, eyes innocent and bright.]
Yes, brat. [That part is obviously for the little boy, who is completely unfazed and seems just excited to see him.] I brought a friend. You can actually say hello to him. He can see you.
[Belphie follows behind the General, his pillow propped under his arm. His gaze is drawn by the blossoms, the petals floating through the air; it's been a long time since he experienced spring on Earth, and he'd forgotten about the way it could light up with color and sweet scents. It reminds him of why he liked it there so much when he was an angel, a sentiment he keeps to himself.]
Hello. [This is said curiously to the two children, his head cocked as he watches the pair of them. Nature spirits, obviously, smaller and more innocent-looking than they'd appear in his home realm. He forsakes the bench to settle on the ground, his pillow him his lap.]
[Sakura ducks shyly behind the General's legs at first, peering around his coat as if it's a curtain. But Oak has no such shyness. He walks right up to his bench and peers at Belphie by leaning over the back of it, blinking curiously.]
🍃You're not the same thing as the old man, are you? But you're not human!🍃 [He squints like he's trying to work out what the other person is.]
[The General gently coaxes Sakura out in front of him.] Say hello. I brought enough onigiri for everyone.
🌸Thank you.🌸 [She bows for the compliment.] 🌸I'm hoping I'll bloom big this year.🌸
[She gingerly approaches Belphie with much more caution, the timidness of a young deer, climbing onto the bench as the General opens up the bento box he brought.]
[As Oak addresses him Belphie smiles, canting his head.] You can tell? What do you think I am? [The word "demon" might be scary to them, so he doesn't offer it. Better to let the tree spirit make up his own mind.]
Bigger than you are already? [He glances up at the tree, impressed by it.] You're doing a good job.
[He gives the children time to adjust to his presence, like a game warden at ease with curious wild animals.]
🌸Thank you.🌸 [She says again, in her nigh on angelic (funny thing to describe but she pulls it off) voice, sitting beside of Belphie with her legs sticking out as she's nowhere near tall enough to sit flatfooted. When the General gets one of the onigiri unwrapped, she hurriedly starts to eat it.]
[As she's scarfing food, Oak sits on the other side of her.] 🍃Are you a flower? Or maybe a pillow spirit?🍃
Maybe what's important isn't what he is, but how he is. [The General says as he gives Oak a treat as well, and Oak pouts.]
🍃We're stuck here, though! This is the only way we get to meet new people!🍃
[As the General hands Belphie his own Onigiri, Sakura looks at the pillow thoughtfully.] 🌸Did you bring the pillow so you can sleep in my shade? You can do that if you want. I don't mind.🌸
[The little girl seems so hungry. Do they need food and not get it often? If so, he suddenly feels very sorry for them.]
No, I'm not a flower. [He glances at the General, feeding both of them, and then back at Oak pouting as he holds his onigiri.] What do you think he is? [They've clearly recognized that the General isn't a human, but aren't bothered by him.]
How many people do you get to meet?
[Accepting his onigiri, he offers Sakura his pillow to hold.] You don't? Then I will. I kind of am a pillow spirit.
🍃An old man!🍃 [Oak sounds so proud of himself as he immediately gets back off the bench, the way children with too much energy do. Sakura, in the meantime, enjoys her onigiri.]
He's old, too. [The General points at Belphie, but then takes up the newly abandoned place Oak's left.] He's older than me.
🍃Yeah but you're old like you wanna be old.🍃
[Sakura finally looks up at Belphie with big pink eyes.]
🌸I meet a lot of people, but no one human can see me. I like when people sleep under my branches. Sometimes they sit and eat and they tell stories to each other and I get to listen. And sometimes people confess their love, and people have to be so brave to do that.🌸
You're right about that. [There is something very old-man about the General, maybe just his maturity. Still, it's very funny to think of him as a grumpy elder, even though he's younger than Belphegor.]
[Sakura is so cute and angelic and Belphie feels his heart softening as she looks up at him. She reminds him a little bit of his littler sister, and he swallows a lump in his throat.]
I like sleeping. [He pauses.] If you want, maybe I could take my girlfriend to sit under your branches? And I could tell her I love her. If you'd like that.
[Her entire face brightens up.] 🌸Really?🌸 [Her eyes are so bright. Then she blushes in a way that matches the rest of her pinkness. When the General gives her another rice ball, she gobbles it a little more shyly than before. Yes, she'd like to see that.]
🍃Girls love triangles! You should make her a triangle. Or a mud ball.🍃 [Oak sounds so confident in this as he's currently looking at stray dandelions in the grass.]
Human women don't like mud triangles as much. I'm sorry to inform you.
🍃I guess food triangles will be okay then.🍃 [Oak sounds disappointed, but Sakura, still pink, finishes up her snack.]
🌸Girls like to be told they're pretty. I think boys like to hear that, too, though.🌸
[He thinks Ann would like the cherry blossoms. Humans like to take their significant others to look at them, he knows, and she'd probably appreciate it. It'll be romantic.]
Food triangles? [He doesn't make the connection despite eating his onigiri.]
Some boys do. My brother Asmo likes it a lot. She doesn't like it so much, because everyone tells her she's pretty, but not much else, like that she's tough or funny.
🌸Food triangles.🌸 [She holds up her onigiri as if indicating what that would be, and Oak nods firmly behind her.]
🌸That's really sad. To be told a nice thing so much it becomes bad, or takes away from the other nice things.🌸 [But she's still very little for having such big thoughts, even if it'll take her a long time to grow.]
🍃I hope I can tell you your flowers smell nice forever and it doesn't become sad.🍃 [Oak brings over a tiny little sprite in his hands, his fingers cupped around a little dandelion fairy.]
[And while he's not saying anything, the General's looking over the two kids fondly as they go about their introduction to this new 'sleep spirit'.]
Oh, food triangles. [He nods in understanding.] That makes sense.
It is sad. To make up for it I try to tell her things that she likes more, like how she's really strong. [Sakura can just think of other nice things, instead of nice things that have become bad.]
Your flowers do smell nice. [He watches the little boy bring over the sprite, and Sakura gaze down at it. They're adorable together.] Are you two a couple?
You did a very good job. [fjlasdkjfsdl she's so cute and little and he wants to put her in his pocket and feed her ice cream.]
Oh. [Belphegor thinks about how it might be possible to keep a tree spirit alive and in one place once the tree itself is gone. Lucifer will probably have an idea, but he isn't here right now.] Can you live somewhere other than your tree? Maybe we could make a house for you?
Are you sure? That's very nice of you, I think she'd love that.
[She nods as she starts her third, yes, third onigiri. Like a teeny tiny bottomless pit. A growing tree.] 🌸Just be gentle when you take them.🌸 [It's early, so no one has tried to take any of the lower hanging branches flowers.]
You're sitting on him, by the way. [The General says of Oak, before patting the back of the bench.] The reason he can be beside of her is because his wood is a part of the bench. I don't know where the rest is.
🍃I think I'm mulch in a few places, but the bits are too little for me to get attached to. This is the biggest piece. So that just means I have to keep my bench extra nice! So I can be by Sakura for a long time.🍃
[Benches don't seem to be replaced often, so the General only worries a little.]
[Is this the normal amount of onigiri that children eats? Belphie doesn't know. It's more than he would eat, but his baseline is skewed.] I'll be careful. I don't want to hurt you.
[Looking down at the bench, he frowns. Benches tend to last a while, he thinks, but the wood could still be damaged or rot or burn. He hopes it doesn't.] Did it hurt when they cut your tree down?
I'll help him trim them. [The General reassures her. He is sharp. He can make a cut pretty clean.]
[He's never figured it out, why they eat so much. Maybe she should have been offered offerings all along and they're the only ones that do it. But she's absolutely happy right now.]
🍃No, I just blacked out. And then I woke up here, by Sakura!🍃
🌸I'm glad he did. I was going to be so sad if he didn't come back.🌸 [She'd almost decided to stop blooming in her despair. And her earnestness over worrying about him makes Oak blush.]
[She's just a growing girl and it makes sense that she's a hungry little thing. Poor Sakura, needing her offerings, and poor Oak, being cut down like that. At least they're together.]
You're together now, so it's all right. That's all that matters.
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[Carrying a bento box full of onigiri, he approaches a familiar bench below a sakura tree. Beneath the tree, there are two children playing, one of them a small girl who can only be described as 'pink' and a boy who looks like he's probably a little ball of trouble.]
[They're not expecting Belphie to see them. Oak waves his arms.]
🍃Old man! Did you bring someone else here to have lunch with?🍃
🌸I was wondering when you'd visit.🌸 [Sakura says much more sweetly than oak, eyes innocent and bright.]
Yes, brat. [That part is obviously for the little boy, who is completely unfazed and seems just excited to see him.] I brought a friend. You can actually say hello to him. He can see you.
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Hello. [This is said curiously to the two children, his head cocked as he watches the pair of them. Nature spirits, obviously, smaller and more innocent-looking than they'd appear in his home realm. He forsakes the bench to settle on the ground, his pillow him his lap.]
I like your tree.
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🍃You're not the same thing as the old man, are you? But you're not human!🍃 [He squints like he's trying to work out what the other person is.]
[The General gently coaxes Sakura out in front of him.] Say hello. I brought enough onigiri for everyone.
🌸Thank you.🌸 [She bows for the compliment.] 🌸I'm hoping I'll bloom big this year.🌸
[She gingerly approaches Belphie with much more caution, the timidness of a young deer, climbing onto the bench as the General opens up the bento box he brought.]
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Bigger than you are already? [He glances up at the tree, impressed by it.] You're doing a good job.
[He gives the children time to adjust to his presence, like a game warden at ease with curious wild animals.]
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[As she's scarfing food, Oak sits on the other side of her.] 🍃Are you a flower? Or maybe a pillow spirit?🍃
Maybe what's important isn't what he is, but how he is. [The General says as he gives Oak a treat as well, and Oak pouts.]
🍃We're stuck here, though! This is the only way we get to meet new people!🍃
[As the General hands Belphie his own Onigiri, Sakura looks at the pillow thoughtfully.] 🌸Did you bring the pillow so you can sleep in my shade? You can do that if you want. I don't mind.🌸
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No, I'm not a flower. [He glances at the General, feeding both of them, and then back at Oak pouting as he holds his onigiri.] What do you think he is? [They've clearly recognized that the General isn't a human, but aren't bothered by him.]
How many people do you get to meet?
[Accepting his onigiri, he offers Sakura his pillow to hold.] You don't? Then I will. I kind of am a pillow spirit.
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He's old, too. [The General points at Belphie, but then takes up the newly abandoned place Oak's left.] He's older than me.
🍃Yeah but you're old like you wanna be old.🍃
[Sakura finally looks up at Belphie with big pink eyes.]
🌸I meet a lot of people, but no one human can see me. I like when people sleep under my branches. Sometimes they sit and eat and they tell stories to each other and I get to listen. And sometimes people confess their love, and people have to be so brave to do that.🌸
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[Sakura is so cute and angelic and Belphie feels his heart softening as she looks up at him. She reminds him a little bit of his littler sister, and he swallows a lump in his throat.]
I like sleeping. [He pauses.] If you want, maybe I could take my girlfriend to sit under your branches? And I could tell her I love her. If you'd like that.
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🍃Girls love triangles! You should make her a triangle. Or a mud ball.🍃 [Oak sounds so confident in this as he's currently looking at stray dandelions in the grass.]
Human women don't like mud triangles as much. I'm sorry to inform you.
🍃I guess food triangles will be okay then.🍃 [Oak sounds disappointed, but Sakura, still pink, finishes up her snack.]
🌸Girls like to be told they're pretty. I think boys like to hear that, too, though.🌸
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[He thinks Ann would like the cherry blossoms. Humans like to take their significant others to look at them, he knows, and she'd probably appreciate it. It'll be romantic.]
Food triangles? [He doesn't make the connection despite eating his onigiri.]
Some boys do. My brother Asmo likes it a lot. She doesn't like it so much, because everyone tells her she's pretty, but not much else, like that she's tough or funny.
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🌸That's really sad. To be told a nice thing so much it becomes bad, or takes away from the other nice things.🌸 [But she's still very little for having such big thoughts, even if it'll take her a long time to grow.]
🍃I hope I can tell you your flowers smell nice forever and it doesn't become sad.🍃 [Oak brings over a tiny little sprite in his hands, his fingers cupped around a little dandelion fairy.]
[And while he's not saying anything, the General's looking over the two kids fondly as they go about their introduction to this new 'sleep spirit'.]
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It is sad. To make up for it I try to tell her things that she likes more, like how she's really strong. [Sakura can just think of other nice things, instead of nice things that have become bad.]
Your flowers do smell nice. [He watches the little boy bring over the sprite, and Sakura gaze down at it. They're adorable together.] Are you two a couple?
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🍃We are! But... They cut down my tree.🍃
[He points over to where there's now a thicker path.] 🍃I used to be there.🍃
I asked your brother for information on that. [On helping Oak that is.] If he can find it.
🌸You can bring some of my flowers to your girlfriend if you want.🌸
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Oh. [Belphegor thinks about how it might be possible to keep a tree spirit alive and in one place once the tree itself is gone. Lucifer will probably have an idea, but he isn't here right now.] Can you live somewhere other than your tree? Maybe we could make a house for you?
Are you sure? That's very nice of you, I think she'd love that.
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You're sitting on him, by the way. [The General says of Oak, before patting the back of the bench.] The reason he can be beside of her is because his wood is a part of the bench. I don't know where the rest is.
🍃I think I'm mulch in a few places, but the bits are too little for me to get attached to. This is the biggest piece. So that just means I have to keep my bench extra nice! So I can be by Sakura for a long time.🍃
[Benches don't seem to be replaced often, so the General only worries a little.]
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[Looking down at the bench, he frowns. Benches tend to last a while, he thinks, but the wood could still be damaged or rot or burn. He hopes it doesn't.] Did it hurt when they cut your tree down?
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[He's never figured it out, why they eat so much. Maybe she should have been offered offerings all along and they're the only ones that do it. But she's absolutely happy right now.]
🍃No, I just blacked out. And then I woke up here, by Sakura!🍃
🌸I'm glad he did. I was going to be so sad if he didn't come back.🌸 [She'd almost decided to stop blooming in her despair. And her earnestness over worrying about him makes Oak blush.]
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You're together now, so it's all right. That's all that matters.