He blinks at the question frowns sideways at Aziraphale and blows out a slow breath.

"Noooo no no," he says, "avoided that. I'd have had to apply for a new body! Paperwork is appalling, not to mention that backlog -- you wouldn't have seen me for a decade, angel, not to mention I'd have had to explain what had happened and that is not appealing."

Just the thought of it makes him take another big sip of wine. Nnngh. This explosion had, at least, not ended with paperwork. Trouble is, he's not actually sure that's any better. He frowns in thought, fidgeting with his nearly empty glass of wine as he tries to settle on how to go about this.

"What do you know," he begins slowly, "about the tree?"

Big tree, magic tree, one everyone keeps talking about. Has a name, but he can never remember it for some reason. Too many letters.