Poor Friend
Poor Friend
"Uh-huh," Ariel squished the toy that looked like a deer and shoved it on Damien's cheek, "Look. This is the softest one. It feels like a cloud."
Damien took that deer from Ariel's hand. He also squished that toy and said in an impressed voice, "Wow! This really feels so soft."
He then pursed his lips and mumbled softly, "All of my toys are made out of wood. And they are not this colorful at all." He pouted even more and then said, "They all look as if they are made out of charcoal."
Ariel grabbed and pushed that deer on Damien's chest. And then she smiled and said, "Then you can keep this one." She also grabbed another toy which was in the shape of a carrot and then gave it to Damien, "Take this one as well."
Damien looked a bit surprised by that action from Ariel. He stiffened his hands and then asked, "You mean I can play with them while you are here?"
Ariel shook her head and replied in a sweet voice, "No. These two are yours from today. You can play with them whenever you want to."
"Then what about you?" Damien put the toys on Ariel's lap and said, "I cannot accept what is yours. I am fine with my own toys."
Damien wasn't used to getting any items from someone else other than his mother. So, he didn't think that taking something that belonged to someone else would be welcomed by his mother.
Ariel wasn't the one to give up on what she wanted to do. So she pulled Damien's cloth by the collar and then shoved both deer and carrot inside his cloth.
And then she said while giving a sweet smile, "I have lots of toys at home. You should keep them. I don't have to bring toys with me when I come to play with you next time."
Damien wanted to accept the toys. He really liked their colors and softness. Still, he glanced towards his mother to get her approval so that he wouldn't get scolded later.
He saw his mother give a smile to him and nod her head. So he grinned and accepted, "Okay. I will take them. Thank you for giving them to me."
He then pulled them out of his collar and asked curiously, "So, what are these anyway? Do these kinds of things exist where you live?"
Ariel nodded her head very enthusiastically. She pointed at the spotted deer toy and said, "This is called a cow. It is an animal. It gives us milk. And we can… we can also eat them if they become rude and don't give us milk."
"Ohhhhhh…" Damien raised his brows in amusement. He didn't know that some animals could give milk.
Theodore was fisting over his mouth and trying not to burst into laughter after hearing that description from his daughter. He was so glad that he decided to watch the kids because he was getting to hear amusing things. He was truly delighted.
Damien then shook the carrot and asked, "And what is it? Is it also an animal?" He liked the vibrant orange color of the carrot which somewhat matched the atmosphere of Hell.
Ariel glanced at the carrot and clicked her tongue. Its name was at the tip of her tongue but she was unable to say its name.
So she instead explained what it was, "This is… um… this is a stick that grows inside the soil. You can eat this stick after making the soil go away. It tastes really sweet."
"So this is food…" Damien was even more amazed by that carrot. "I never had these kinds of foods ever."
"What do you eat then?" Ariel casually shot that question at Damien but then she recalled what Ramon had told her that demons would eat.
At that particular moment, she forgot her father denying Ramon's claim and she was evidently afraid to hear Damien's answer. She didn't want to hear from him that he ate other children.
But Damien's answer was very confusing for her. "I feed on aura mostly. Food is for some special occasion only."
Ariel blinked twice and then asked again, "What do you eat then?"
Damien also batted his eyes in confusion because he had just answered that question. So he said, "Aura."
"What's Ora?" Ariel curiously glanced at Damien.
"Mmmm…" Damien looked down at himself and then pointed at the ash grey aura around him, "Can you see this grey air around me?"
Ariel nodded her head and agreed.
"This is my natural aura." He then pointed at Ariel's light blue aura and said, "And can you see this blue air around you, right? This is your aura."
"Oh…" Ariel tried catching the air hovering around her and asked, "And how do you eat this? I cannot catch it."
Theodore wasn't so sure if it was a good idea to let Damien carry on with his explanation about the aura. But he let him continue anyway because Ariel seemed genuinely interested to know more at the moment.
He knew that if he was to make Ariel sit down and start explaining things as if he was taking a class then it would be impossible to make her focus. So he watched the two of them continue their talk.
"You cannot eat the natural aura of the others. You can only eat the aura they produce when they are feeling a certain kind of emotion." Damien suddenly sounded like a very smart kid when he began to talk about the aura.
Ariel was not understanding a word that Damien was saying though.
And Damien could also tell by her expression that everything that he was saying was going above her head.
So he tried to simplify what he was saying, "For example, I can eat the air that other demons produce when they get angry. The air looks different when people get angry. And I can absorb that air into my body."
This time, Ariel understood a few words like angry and absorb. So she clasped her hands together and said, "Show me. Show me."
Damien laughed at that excited friend of his. And then he said, "But no one is angry right now, silly. I will show you when someone gets angry."
Ariel nodded her head and then asked again, "Do you just eat air? Or do you also eat bread and eggs and potatoto like me?"
Damien furrowed his brows because he didn't know what she was talking about. The only food that he ate was the meat of beasts that were occasionally hunted down by his mother, not out of necessity but as a source of entertainment.
And he answered, "I don't eat such things you mentioned. I haven't seen them."
"Ah! So you eat air from angry demons." Ariel sadly nodded her head. She thought that her friend was so poor that he only survived by eating air.
She then comfortingly held Damien's hand and said in a serious tone, "Next time, I will bring food for you, okay? Lots of it."
Damien had never eaten food from Earth so he wasn't that excited about something which he hadn't tasted. However, he was happy that his friend was going to bring those bizarre things that she named earlier. "Okay. We will feast together."