forest thunder and snow tonight | hugo day one

We catch polar bears and Axyl runs off. I'm used to it - Pops and the others would vanish without a trace, lured towards whatever scent they caught on the air (whether it was women or money) and then show up hours later with either a black eye or a grin on their face, their cheeks spread wide.

I'm not surprised that he feels the need to wander and roam. It's our nature to want to explore the boundaries in front of us, and with dire polar bears, we've opened up the far reaches of the arena. Snow falls like stars in the galaxy, bright against the blackness as I lean back on the polar bear, stretching arms high above my head.

I lean down and pat his side, because it has to be a he. I couldn't see any anatomy and frankly, I wasn't gonna go looking, either. 

"We gotta give you a name, don't we, bud? How about something butch? Manly, ya know? Like...Butch?"

The bear swivels its head around, glaring at me as my familiar floats along, a talisman of optimism, a beacon of hope in a place where hope has no home.

"Think he likes it?" I ask the moth, who shakes it's head, snow falling from its eyes. "Alright, we'll workshop it, I guess. And think of your's too."