in the end, the hunter decided not to dwell too much on the placement of their snowy creation. it was guarding bloodhound's porch, and that was good enough for them.
bloodhound crouched down and settled into a kneel to plunge their cold fingers into the frigid snow, compacting it together on the ground first before lifting it into their hands to begin shaping it. they smoothed it over with their thumbs and palms, occasionally rearing their hand back to soothe the bone-aching chill in their hand before returning to shaping the snow. their mind, which had been cluttered for a while, felt blissfully blank for a change as they focused on rolling the snowball along the ground. it was quiet; empty and thoughtless.
when the midsection was just big enough to be relatively proportionate to the base of the snowman, they rolled it closer before straightening their spine and rolling their shoulders. when they lowered themself again, they placed their hands low on either side of the snowball, adjusting their grip several times. when they finally lifted, it was with the utmost care and caution so that they wouldn't crumble the snowball. it had some weight to it, but it was plenty manageable for bloodhound. steadily, they lowered it atop the first, giving it a couple small twists to secure it into place by creating a slightly flattened top of the base.
as they withdrew their hands from the snowball, they flexed their icy fingers a time or two to keep their blood flowing steady. when the head of the snowman had been placed, they watched as revenant packed the joint with snow, then looked toward their own snowball. it was in place, steady, and it was unlikely that the wind would knock it down, but he had a good idea nonetheless.
"you are wise." they followed in his lead and knelt down again, scooping up snow to begin packing their own gaps with snow. they made sure not to distort the shape of the snowman entirely, only packing in and smoothing it enough to keep it stable. when they were content with it, they rose to their feet and took a step back, admiring their handiwork so far.
for being both of their first times creating a snowman, it didn't look too bad. but it was missing something.
"gather arms for it; small sticks." they stepped closer and reached out towards the head of the snowman. "i will ensure it has a face." they carefully poked their index finger into its head twice, then dragged their finger just below the two holes they'd created to form a smile. they could go searching the region for small stones to fill in the gaps, but chose to stick with the half-assed hand-drawn face for now.
