---

the snow that crunches beneath his boot is soft and forgiving, like his sister. the snow in the trees seems to blend his hair out of existence but contrasts his tan skin. he walks leisurely. the day is beautiful, and he is alone. with the events that have transpired in the last few weeks, he seldom gets the chance to truly feel alone.

the frigid air must have scared off most of the other patrons on this early morning. the only other being in sight is his mudbray. "yankee, i'm surprised you like the snow so much." the two haven't known each other long -- it was only month or so ago when he explored shoal cave with nikolai. the mudbray neighs his response and flicks his oversized hooves to kick up some of the fluff that lies beneath them.

---

[attr="class","valeria"]

---

"what was that?" his eyes glaze over, passing cait's and looking off toward the ballroom. a chill charges through him, and gilbert loses all interest in his glass of wine. setting it on the snack table, he makes toward the commotion in an attempt to satiate his curiosity. he dare not appear concerned, dare not blame rocket before he must -- nevertheless, hairs raise on the back of his neck for fear of the worst.

the walk is quick but lasts a lifetime; what awaits him at his destination is worth the eternal jaunt. "articuno..." the name slips out under his breath, perhaps forced by the sheer majesty of the elegant cerulean beast before him. its voice calls to each of them individually but commands the attention of every face in the room as if its words boom off the walls.

it is awe that strikes gilbert valeria silent, but it is duty that makes him want to speak up again. his face goes numb and leaves only his ocular muscles active. he watches one person, two people approach the regal legendary, each offering something of themselves to hold articuno's spirit.

he wonders if it is for the good of hoenn that they do so. no offer in the world can assure him of their sanctity, thus nothing will ease him if an unknown individual bears the burden.

he must try for the sake of his loved ones.

he steps forward, eyes straying for an instant to watch his fellow councilman snap a selfie with the bird -- they snap back to the cosmic eyes that seem to look at everyone in the room all at once.

suddenly, gilbert is compelled to grasp the ring that dangles around his neck on his father's gold chain -- rosalie's engagement ring. his hand shows it to articuno, tugging the chain until it is taut around his neck, begging articuno to see it for what it is and what it stands for -- the last reminder of a pure relationship that drowned itself in mental anguish and turmoil.

"all i have to offer you are times of strife. i've seen my life change in many ways in the last few years, for better...and for worse..." the gaze between them breaks; gilbert cannot help but look at the ring, turning it over in his hand to marvel at its beauty. "This ring reminds me of the good...the love...that still existed in my life during that period. I hope that in it you can see what I have been through and what I can survive."

his voice carries with enough bravado for everyone to hear it, but beneath the smooth elegy, he quivers in both sadness and fear.

---

- goes to the ballroom, marvels at articuno
- doesn't trust anyone else to be responsible for this
- offers dead fiancee's engagement ring
- says it is a reminder of love that existed in times of personal turmoil

gilbert nods at silph in response, a slight frown paired with pinched in eyebrows to confirm that he agrees with him regarding his point. he knows this, understands this, and feels like his words are being warped for a curt response. "of course." he responds politely, watching kim walk over into the spotlight for a moment by himself. gilbert allows his gaze to linger on fernando for a moment as he watches kim from behind the curtain. his eyes fall down upon the man's entire frame, searching for any hostility toward him.

to imply that gilbert's intentions are not pure, especially in his and kim's midst, irks the mossdeep native deeply enough to seize the moment to clarify. "fernando, i just want to make it clear; i'm here for the benefit of hoenn. and i'll help out however i need to." he refuses to be meek in the presence of someone with such a defined edge to him, and allows for response from fernando but is not given enough time from kim.

upon hearing his name from the stage, gilbert steps away from silph and into the limelight where the crowd claps for both him and kim cole. "hello, everyone. it's an honor to be here. as mr. cole said, i am gilbert valeria of mossdeep city," his eyes land on a few city council members from his hometown and he offers them a slight smile.

"as you all know, kim will be our primary representative in commissioner goode's absence. i am thrilled to be working in conjunction with him and our other council members to combat the challenges our nation is currently facing, and i assure you that each one of us will be giving it our full effort to promise a better future for everyone in hoenn," some claps interrupt him, and he smiles again. his grin lets on modesty, even if it is practiced in a setting such as this. he puts up a hand to quell their applause.

"i will be responsible for a lot of the internal affairs of the league. a lot of the issues with our day-to-day functionality, such as missing gym leaders and newly appointed ones, will come through me. even with external threats, we must be sure to keep our own gears turning, so to speak. and i must say, it's one of the few things i can surely say that i am good at!" the humble joke earns a chuckle from the collective crowd; gilbert takes the opportunity to gesture to the side of the stage.

"here's the fantastic fernando silph!"

kim cole-essam FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","valeria"]

---

gilbert valeria approaches the center of the coliseum slowly and alone. the crowd around him roars in anticipation, perhaps still dazzled by victor evans 's song, but he soaks it in as love for himself nonetheless. somewhere between the point where he began walking out and the center of the coliseum floor, gilbert decides that this is all supported by sheer confidence. when he arrives in the middle, he raises his hands up above his hand dramatically, creating a 'V' with his arms. the crowd continues to roar.

"happy holidays everyone, from fleur and myself!" his arm reaches back down to his belt and plucks a pokeball, summoning a singular dustox. when he'd captured her as a wurmple, he thought she'd be a beautifly -- so she was named fleur.

dustox is way cooler.

the moth-like pokemon circles her trainer a few times in the air, her tiny body swallowed by the massive stadium. it serves as her entry to the stage before she begins what they'd practiced.

"this is the time of year where ice-type pokemon shine," he begins speaking again, words paced in a calculated way to keep on track with the dustox. she is flying all through the air, stopping here and there to erect a light screen. the plates of reflective light are setting up in a circular shape all through the air, but their purpose remains unclear to the audience. "they get to put their crystalline beauty on display for all of you, which is wonderful!"

the dustox floats above gilbert again, her deflectors set up. she summons a whirlwind -- gilbert stands in the middle of it, but the winds are calmer than a normal whirlwind. they're almost zephyrs, swirling above the trainer in a massive coil that slowly expands upward toward the ceiling. "i myself don't find myself training ice-types so often. i don't know why..." now, fleur unleashes a silver wind into the whirlwind.

tiny white particles dance on the silver wind. the spores catch in the whirlwind, amassing into a massive white ball that fleur controls with the psychic energy imbued in her essence. it resembles a blizzard in the whirlwind, which begins to pick up more and more to spin the white spores around in the bubble. he pauses, allowing the crowd to marvel at the faux-blizzard fleur has created.

"but i wanted to show you my amazing partner, who might prove to you that this time of year isn't just for ice-types! psybeam!" it's the first command he's given her, as if to draw the crowds attention to the dustox. she flies up and unleashes a psybeam at one of the light screens. it bounces off of it, soaring through the whirlwind into another panel, then into another panel, all until it hits the top panel and shoots into the ground to finish.

her eyes glow as she hovers beneath the mess she's made in mid-air: it's a whirlwind containing a bubble of white spore from the silver wind with psychic particles from the psybeam creating lines through the orb in all different directions.

she lets out a cry and the psybeam's lingering particles burst with energy, disbanding the whirlwind and sending the spores into the shape of a massive spinning snowflake in the air created by the silver wind.

the crowd cheers and gilbert bows. "thanks so much! give it up for fleur!"

---

- uses dustox, talks about how winter is for ice-types.
- light screen to create reflective panels in mid air, then whirlwind and silver wind to create a faux-blizzard in a self-contained orb.
- psybeam reflects off the panels, beam passes through the blizzard and dustox uses the psychic energy to turn the blizzard into a giant, floating snowflake.
- EDIT: lmao i wrote this for like 45+ min a rolled a 3 GOODBYE

[attr="class","valeria"]

---

if he hadn't immediately felt the inappropriateness of the conversation choice when it first came out of his mouth, he'd feel it the instant cait responded. she's visibly uncomfortable; enough so to force gilbert's ashamed eyes to the floor. they stay there until his counterpart says she probably did not do much.

"you being there, slowing down rockets, occupying them, battling them -- it had to have saved one person. Or dozens, hundreds." he forces a smile onto his visage; it is a soft, comforting one. it does not lead on that gilbert himself is shaken by cait's mere reaction. what exactly had he missed?

he nods at the mention of a promotion. it's a congratulation. "i just wanted to personally thank you for putting yourself on the line for slateport and its citizens. not everybody could have done that. the promotion was well-deserved." even if they'd lost the city. gilbert had seen what was left of it in person himself -- it was a mess. it makes him think of @lily and wonders if she ever made it to mauville.

he sips the glass of wine that has been sitting idly in one of his hands before finally responding to cait once again. "it is a shame. but it isn't permanent." his voice feigns something omniscient, but he has no idea. only hope. silph will have to be the one to take the city back.

"sorry, my manners have flown by the wayside! i apologize for digging up any skeletons."

---

- conversational misstep
- thanks cait and reassures her that her presence saved lives
- also assures her that slateport will belong to the league again
- apologizes for bringing it up

the world around him is crystallized, undisturbed. the treehouses above him hold the snow of staunchly, their connective wooden bridges casting shadows of the moon's light onto the freshly decorated jungle floor below. gilbert valeria is alone; it is peacefully haunting, the silence.

fortree called him to speak with an official, but the meeting left him unfulfilled and the night leaves him wanting more from these 24 hours. he rarely spends time in fortree -- this night will be the only one in the foreseeable future.

the conditions could not be better, if a bit cold. the bite of the air stimulates his brain, thoughts and solutions for the world's problems threatening to breakthrough his psyche into the physical world. it is as if the silent night surrounding him begs his mind to reveal its deepest concoctions.

"oh, my..." his eyes watch as the snow before him swirls up from the earth, flakes whirling in the gaps between the trees. they are an introduction to what gilbert will later come to understand as a pure materialization of the serenity that soothes this particular night in fortree city. 

alolan ninetales. one by one they prance through, a pack that moves as silently as the night and intoxicates gilbert just as much. their grace is more entertaining than any coordinating contest can encapsulate, and even in that moment he recognizes his observation as a gift from the gods, or rosalie, or whatever else.

though he means to be nothing but a bystander, fate stops one of them -- perhaps it is attracted to the grief that still hides behind lively eyes. it is true beauty, and it is kismet that brings them together.

gilbert tosses a pokeball, knowing that it will shake, shake, shake, and stop, a snowglobe to remember this one night.

[attr="class","valeria"]

---

gilbert's demeanor predisposes him to discomfort at certain levels of...worship, for lack of a better term. he tells himself the over-friendly, over-eager, over...everything that seems to come from certain people is always good natured. it isn't of course: he knows this from years in power.

the predicament only recently has ramped up, his appointment to council making people fawn over him constantly. only now the stakes are higher than they were when he was just running the space center; trusting the wrong person in present-day hoenn can be fatal.

cait's bumbling, however, strikes him as honest. nevertheless, he shifts awkwardly for a moment, disguising the discomfort with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "yes, that gilbert valeria. but the honor is mine, miss alfric!" his posture eases back into its perfect form as the moment passes and things return to something resembling normal conversation. he turns and plucks another lady lock from the table, his eyes searching some realm beyond the snacks for something.

the last name strikes him now. alfric.

"pardon me if i'm wrong, but i was reading reports regarding the...confrontation in slateport. you were there, yes? your name is starting to ring a bell." it's so inappropriate, potentially traumatic, but he does not hold his tongue. some have shied away from the topic, some have resented him for his absence.

her last line only hits him now, and he looks around to see that truly nobody is looking at him. "oh, right, this is more than ideal. it's easier to connect with people one-on-one, you know?" the smile eases back across his features, the smooth one that is known to allure.

it is, of course, not intentional.

---

- doesn't like hero worship (not that that's what this is necessarily)
- recalls cait's name from slateport reports
- promises that one on one conversations are better

[attr="class","valeria"]

---

the green-haired woman fixates on the lady locks, her behavior following his as they both take their share of the treat. she expresses her lack of knowledge regarding the dessert; it shocks gilbert enough to cock his head to the side and raise his eyebrows, as if to say he's taken aback. a friendly smirk indicates that it is in jest, the screwed up face acting as his response instead of a verbal one.

he prefers to let her try it before speaking on the matter; when she says it's good, he smiles, a chuckle escaping from beneath his incredibly perfect teeth. "i'm glad you like them! so good, they're kalosian, i believe! i'm sure there's some bakery in lumiose that specializes in these." his eyes immediately return to the table in search of a galette, but return to the girl's after an unsuccessful search.

"manners are a tad overrated! though i'm glad you still remembered to introduce yourself." again he smiles, his handing slipping into hers just firmly enough. his entire body leans forward into the handshake, eyes bouncing over to acknowledge the decidueye before resting on cait. "it's a pleasure to meet you, cait and decidueye. i'm gilbert valeria. gilbert or gil works just fine though!" the irony of talking about manners with the best-mannered man in hoenn flies miles over gilbert's head.

"and, i have to say, you look wonderful, truly..." the even, chipper timbre that often coats his words falters for a second -- not out of embarrassment, but hesitation. "...but you've got some powdered sugar right on the tip of your nose. riiiight on the tip. barely noticeable, but we're friends. friends need to keep an eye out, right?" by this point he has released her hand and returned to a more upright, proper posture, and acknowledges the thought of the old woman who trained him in etiquette watching his every move here tonight.

appearance is everything when you're in power. "...actually you have some on your cheek, too. so sorry. now we're real friends."

---

- officially meets cait alfric and decidueye
- suuuper prim and proper
- still tells her she has powdered sugar on her nose and cheek
- tells cait that they're friends!!

[attr="class","selkPlotter"]


[newclass=#zeke]--two-birds-accent-1:#8fbbfc; --two-birds-accent-2:#345a92; [/newclass]



[newclass=#aya]--two-birds-accent-1:#7566ae; --two-birds-accent-2:#372c64; [/newclass]





[newclass=#gilbert]--two-birds-accent-1:#e8ab50; --two-birds-accent-2:#da8f20; [/newclass]




[newclass=#sage]--two-birds-accent-1:#7ebd54; --two-birds-accent-2:#4b7033; [/newclass]

[attr="class","selkCredit"]SELKIE

[attr="class","valeria"]

---

"councilman valeria! welcome!"

a hand reaches out to the doorman -- attached to it is the primmest, most proper tuxedo available in the hoenn region. beneath the tuxedo is the honey-kissed skin of gilbert valeria, the mossdeep native and current member of the commissioner's council. "hello, hello! you look fantastic! thank you for making everyone feel safe here at this wonderful event!" beneath the words is the tone of friendly authenticity. gilbert smiles the same smile he gives to every person who helps him; it is so practiced that it has surpassed outward believability.

it's his goal for the night: make everyone feel important. he is late but the circumstances are out of his control -- he's just assigned another new gym leader and he was in charge of some of the internal affairs regarding said assignment. the people here may not be all of the people that have been displaced by the massacre that took place in slateport city, but surely each of them has been affected. each of them has had a family member die, or a business fail, or a night of lost sleep from fear.

rocket and SILAS BLACKWELL must know the rippling effect of the havoc they have wreaked; gilbert often thinks about how that information sits in their psyches.

gilbert is a combee, bouncing from conglomeration to conglomeration to share a few words and hear a few concerns. at the end of the day, he is a new employee with a desperate desire to feel accepted.

the lack of a commissioner is apparent in his eyes, but he wonders just how noticed her lack of presence is. in his rounds through, he notices a lot of faces that he recognizes, among them FERNANDO SILPH -- to stop and speak with him would be to ignore others who may not have the opportunity to speak with a councilman ever again. gilbert knows that he and fernando will be in contact, so he passes him with nothing more than a mere wave.

"sometimes it's hard to resist the urge to just stand here and eat all the hors d'oeuvres." gilbert hears the lonely mumblings of a green-haired woman with a decidueye and approaches her with a danish in hand. everywhere around them, people mingle with plates of appetizers and glasses of wine. he, too, has acquired a glass of kalosian wine.

his lips curl around the rim of the glass and sip in the sweet nectar while his eyes scan the room; gilbert has positioned his body such that he and cait alfric are standing side by side, both looking out onto the greater room beyond them. servers crawl between the cliques that have formed, trays of snacks above them for picking, but a table sits behind cait and gilbert with a hearty selection of sweets.

"perhaps if we stand here in front of the table...nobody will steal all of the good stuff...particularly the lady locks." he turns and plucks one of the powdery desserts from the buffet and takes a bite, the other danish now precariously cradled between the pinky and ring finger of the other hand.

---

- went around being super friendly so feel free to talk to him!
- waved to FERNANDO SILPH bc i enjoy tagging spiral
- stands next to cait alfric to chat and eat goodies