#//happy birthday gill!! again i hope these posts are legible

[blueberry-gills]

Legend has it that if you hike up to the peak of Glaseado Mountain on your birthday, you’ll get to see a wonderful gift of nature—Diamond Dust.

Gill only realized she had fallen asleep when she was stirred into consciousness. Her skin curdled under the feeling of something pressing against her cheek. Slowly, she peeled open her eyes.

The Drifloon floated back from her head, seemingly satisfied. Gill blinked blearily at her. She could feel Sizzle’s claws around her neck, digging into her flesh in tandem with her breathing. In any other instance, she’d be terrified.

“…What’s the time,” she said blankly, knowing full well there was no one nearby that could answer her.

“Loooooon.” The Drifloon leaned backward. Her tendrils grew taught around Gill’s arm. Gill felt one of them loosen, untwining from his jacket as the Drifloon raised it up- She could untangle herself at any time? She was just hanging on for fun? Oh Arceus, I can’t feel my hand, is that a blood flow or cold or kidnapping soul thing-?

Pressed her heart to his chin-

Wait wha-

-And tilted his head upwards.

Gill barely had time to react before the first snowflake landed on his nose.

The sky was a cloudy gray. A vast expanse of off-white, a mirror to the earth beneath it. You could argue it looked more beautiful earlier.

But that wasn’t the point.

It was snowing.

Gill’s breath hitched in her throat.

She had seen snow before, of course. Despite her aversion to the cold, she had spent quite a good amount of time in the Polar Biome at Blueberry, thank you very much. She had suffered through artificial winds whipping as snow sliced against your skin. Through opening your mouth and catching a face full of ice. And even before that, her parents had brought her to Montenevera before. Glaseado Mountain was nothing new.

What was new, however, was Diamond Dust.

…It really did look like crystal.

It was soft, gentle even, not fierce or piercing. The snowflakes melted on her blazing skin with a quiet numbness, sparkles dancing in her eyes. As if someone had thrown glitter into the heavens. As if Gill was resting inside a gorgeous snowglobe. A gentle breeze tousled her hair.

It was dazzling. It almost hurt to look at. Gill lifted her free hand and watched as the flakes tumbled out of the sky like dazed Ribombee, gently landing in her palm.

Like shavings of sunlight.

It was beautiful.

It was cold.

It was gorgeous.

It was really cold.

It was decadent.

It was so, so cold. Gill couldn’t feel his feet. Or hands. And he was pretty sure the Drifloon was still trying to lead his soul astray.

But the tears still pooled in her eyes and the glitter danced in her vision all the same.

It wasn’t Lental. It wasn’t the desert. It wasn’t a party in some fancy restaurant surrounded by friends and family who cared.

But it was the best she had.

…And it wasn’t too bad.

The Drifloon hummed in satisfaction as Gill stood up, grabbing the Pokeballs at her waist. Sizzle dug her claws in deeper.

Happy Birthday, Gill. She’s turning seventeen by herself on a mountaintop, speckled with freezing cold Diamond Dust.

With her team beside her. With Pepper sniffing at the long-since-dead Whismur-lite and Salt wordlessly watching beside her, with Locke flitting around and prodding Sizzle, with Key resting a tacky hand on Gill’s shoulder as Sugar decorates a tupperware of berries in cream, with Spice and Baryon watching from afar while Junebug curls up by her bag. With a Drifloon looming over her. (She ought to start thinking of a name.) With regret still lingering in her heart, but a resigned peace nestled beside. Blistering cold and shocking warmth.

And so, the taste of mint and chocolate in her mouth, her skin abuzz with relief and frostnip, Gill wiped the tears out of her eyes and smiled to herself.

Maybe today wasn’t a disappointment, after all.