Welcome to Gaia! ::

Abbi

"The pleasure is ours," Aleria said, and clasped their hand around the proffered one. It was cool-- cold, in fact-- and the fingers were long and spindly, tipped with claws. But the grip was strong, and the smile was sharp, if a bit too wide. The teeth were razored at the edges.

"You may call us Aleria. We were once an arctic flora demon. You are a fine candidate for the youngling."

Leslie leaned against the wall, the scowl stronger than ever. "Jesus christ, don't be creepy."

Aleria narrowed their eyes, flicking to the side to give Leslie a look he had certainly felt before in his head: stern disapproval. "Please pay him no mind. It was indeed a compliment. "

America

Leslie looked pained, and a little regretful that he'd brought them here.

"But he is closer to immortal than ever, now," Aleria refuted, polite. This was not a heated debate, or at least, not for them. Leslie had certainly tried to argue a few times, but he'd never been the best at expressing his point in anything but expletives. "It is but natural that we relish that which gives us power." Their gaze slid to the side, fond of their charge, grumpy as he was.

They moved to stand behind him, gripping his shoulder tight, but without cruelty. "We have a long time to learn to unmake what his society has told him what he is supposed to do."

Leslie shrugged the grip off, abruptly jumping out of his chair to pace, snarling. "I told you not to talk about this s**t."

"We did not agree to your terms, youngling."

"You should have."

America

Leslie returned it with a shrug, opting to light a cigarette with his idle hands. Aleria just looked puzzled, as if America had set her hair on fire.

"But what does being a bad person have to do with this conversation, Miss Jones?"

Abbi

It would be much nicer to think that when that too long and too cold hand wrapped around her own that Abbi looked surprised but pleasant, like an animated character whose hair might stand on end but would still power through to be polite. Instead the teen just looked startled with a very serious attempt at being chipper.
She was careful to note that the creature, Aleria it seemed, used a plural pronoun and while Abbi could get that since they seemed pretty gender neutral the plural caught her off guard. There was only the one... Right?
"Wow an arctic flora demon? So did you have like flowers or something-- Waitamintue. A candidate? For... For what?" Large blue eyes blinked up at Aleria.

"Oh! Uh you wanna come in and sit down?" Abbi gestured to her room with a smile back at the creature and at Leslie.

Abbi

"Ah, no, but we had vines." They smiled, tracing where veins would be in their arms. "They ran within us, powering us. Another voice. "Nothing so nefarious, youngling, do not be alarmed."

Leslie pushed past them both to sit on the floor, leaning himself up against the bed. He looked sleepy as none other, and disapproving at everything. So...about his usual self.

"Merely for friendship, as he needs additional good influences."

"Christ, you're not my mother. We already are friends, you know that, so just. Don't be weird."

America

Aleria stumbled, gouging their nails into the wall for support. A bit like a gangly giraffe, Leslie thought. The demon did not appreciate his analogy.

"Of course," they replied, and reached out to ruffle Leslie's hair with a most righteous noogie.

Shu

"Quite the astute observation," Aleria replied, fond and indulgent. "To be more specific: we were once two creatures, bound vines within a host as the source of our fear. But that is all we know; and now we are one, and speak together with two voices."

The demon clapped their hand in delight at Shu's honest show of enthusiasm. "If only he were so charmed by such things," they bemoaned, which prompted a show of Leslie's middle finger in his weapon's direction. "Your guess is most correct! We are an arctic flora demon."

Aleria extended one hand-- thin and bony, with fingers that were too long-- and shook Shu's with careful grace. "It is our pleasure to meet you. We are Aleria, with no meddling middle or surly surname."

Leslie took a seat nearby on the floor, boredly fiddling with his phone.

"I would like to meet him, should you ever take him out for walks. It feels a bit like my old body, but could not tell you exactly the difference. I do not recall. I do not think I can consume, it would not end well."