The two young men headed straight out to the village’s main street, shivering as the cold winter air slammed into them. It seemed that even a heavy sweater, long underwear, and thick parkas couldn’t hold a candle to a reindeers insulated fur, and Eric noticed Clyde moving a little closer as they walked until the two men stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder.
“Sorry… Just a little chilly,” Clyde said sheepishly, his breath puffing out in big clouds in front of him. He tried to consciously put a little more distance between himself and Eric, but Eric impulsively reached over to grab Clyde’s hand and pull him back.
“I don’t mind, Clyde. In fact, I kinda like it,” Eric said, then he felt a burning blush rise up in his cheek. “The warmth, I mean. It’s nice having a warm body next to you when it’s this cold out.”
By now, both men were blushing and burning with heat, ensuring they’d both stay plenty warm on the short walk down the road to the sauna, which was built in an impressive building resembling an elaborate log cabin. With multiple wings and many chimneys puffing out heavy gouts of thick steam into the sky, it was clearly a place that the community took pride in, as evidenced by the steady stream of people coming in and out.
“Busy night… Hope you’re not feeling too shy,” Clyde joked as they entered the front door and began removing their heavy winter clothes. The cute werefox who worked the sauna’s front desk ran over to take their coats and hang them in the coatroom as Eric and Clyde headed into the changing rooms together. “We’ve got all sorts of facilities here. Mixed-sex sauna, men- and women-only ones… private rooms, too, but you need to make a reservation for those. I’ve heard things can get really steamy in those private rooms, though…”
Eric rolled his eyes at such a lame joke , then he started stripping out of his clothes and stashing them away in an empty locker. “I don’t know, I bet things can get pretty steamy in those group saunas, too,” he shot back, earning a short laugh from his companion.
“Ooh, I didn’t take you for someone who’s into that sort of thing… Good to know,” Clyde teased as he quickly removed his clothes and revealed his naked human form to Eric for the first time. Eric hadn’t noticed it back at his cabin, but underneath that thick sweater Clyde’s human form was just as powerful-looking as he was as an anthro reindeer. Tight, tense muscles covered his chest and arms, and running between his pecs all the way down to his stomach was a thick rug of brown chest hair that matched the color of his reindeer form’s fur. As Clyde began to remove his pants, Eric’s eyes lingered on his companion’s naked body a bit longer than he had intended to, and Clyde immediately took notice.
“Eric, buddy. We’re here to relax our bodies and unwind, not make eyes at each other all night. Enjoy the steam, not the view,” Clyde said reassuringly as he covered his waist and crotch with a towel, hiding the main attraction from view for the time being.
“R-right. Sorry about that…” Eric stammered, doing the same and covering himself up before following Clyde to the main wing of the sauna building, which held all the non-private rooms. Clyde walked down the halls like he knew the place by heart, and after peeking into a few rooms he finally decided on one of the men-only rooms and stepped inside. Eric cautiously followed, and as soon as he stepped in he felt himself get blasted by an intense wave of heat and humidity that immediately got his pores sweating. Every gulp of steamy air that filled his lungs seemed to radiate through his whole body, banishing all the remaining chill of the winter air. Eric was already feeling a bit woozy from the heat, but he managed to stumble over to the bench where Clyde was already lounging and taking in the heat and sat down next to him.
Eric gave a quick glance around the room and saw that they weren’t the only ones enjoying themselves that evening. Laid out flat on his back on a nearby bench was a huge polar bear anthro, whose massive body was equal parts thick white fur, powerful muscle, and rippling blubber. Every deep breath the bear took in made his chubby body shudder almost hypnotically, and his fur was so soaked with sweat that it nearly stuck flat to skin.
“Evenin’ Clyde,” the polar bear rumbled without even opening his eyes. “You lose a bet or somethin’ and have to shave your fur off?”
“Afraid not, Johann. Just giving my new friend here a tour an thought I’d make him feel a little more at home,” Clyde responded without missing a beat. “Plus, I worked hard to come up with this form, so I like to get some use out of it whenever I can.”
“Hmm… Your choice, I guess. Never saw the appeal, myself. Too small, not enough fur. At least not in the spots that matter,” Johann said, then he opened one eye and glanced at Eric. “No offense meant, of course.”
“N-none taken, sir,” Eric said, inching a bit closer to Clyde without even thinking. Soon, the three of them had fallen silent, relaxing and enjoying the hot soak in the steam as sweat poured off of their bodies. A scented oil had been mixed into the steaming water, filling the room with an almost intoxicatingly heady atmosphere. “Hey, Clyde? What did you mean when you said you worked hard to come up with that form?”
“Huh? Oh, you mean by human form?” Clyde said, wiping some sweat away from his face. “Well, my completely natural form is an anthro reindeer, right? Learning to turn into a human is hard work, and once you figure out how to do it you usually pick one ‘body’ and stick with it. If I wanted to look a different way as a human, I’d basically have to start from the beginning again, so I made sure that the human form I do use is one I like.”
“Oh… Well, I like it t-“
Before Eric could finish his thought, the door to the sauna opened up and two men slipped inside while giggling incessantly. Eric looked over and almost mistook them for a pair of children until he got a better look at them. Although neither of them was even five feet tall, they were both clearly adult men, with fine, handsome features and completely smooth bodies, and each had long blond hair flowing past their shoulders. And lastly, each had a pair of long, pointed ears sticking out from beneath their golden locks of hair.
“Elves… Well, probably tourists who decided to become elves for the month,” Clyde murmured as the two short men collapsed onto another bench and immediately began running their hands over one another’s bodies and loudly making out. “Elves are naturally a very sexually charged people, but they usual know how to control themselves by the time they’re fully grown. But when humans turn into elves… well, it takes a while for them to get used to those kinds of urges. Better to just ignore them.”
However, despite Clyde’s words, Eric noticed that the towel over Clyde’s crotch was starting to twitch and rise a bit, a sure sign that Clyde was paying a bit more attention to the elves’ show than he wanted to admit. As the elves continued to do everything short of flat-out fucking each other, Eric heard a quiet tapping sound and followed the sound down to Clyde’s feet.
“Umm… Clyde? Your feet are…”
“Yeah, I know. Can’t help it…” Clyde responded, a look of embarrassment and annoyance on his face. From the mid-calf down, Clyde’s legs were covered in a short coating of brown fur, and each foot had changed into heavy, black hooves. “It’s a thing with us anthros… Maintaining this human form takes focus, and between the heat and those two elves, I guess I’m a little bit unfocused. Getting aroused tends to make you turn back into your real form, you know?”
“Uhh… I guess that makes sense…” Eric said, his eyes still locked on the tented towel covering Clyde’s crotch. Eric could almost imagine what it must look like under there, with a waterfall of sweat pouring off of it, and a thick coat of creamy, fur-like pubic hair perched right above his thick, erect-
*poof*
Eric heard the quietest of sounds right behind him, and he peeked back to try to figure out what it could possibly be. As soon as he did, however, he nearly let out a gasp as he spotted a fluffy tuft of a tail sticking right out of his backside, flicking up and down like it had a mind of its own. Eric knew it well, having seen it decorating the rear ends of all the other reindeer he’d seen so far, including himself whenever he wore the magical collar. He carefully touched his neck to make sure that the collar hadn’t been sneakily slipped onto him, but his neck was completely bare.
Somehow, he’d grown a reindeer tail without the magical collar.
“T-this is impossible…” Eric thought to himself in a panic. “I’m just woozy from the steam… probably been in here too long, right?”
However, he could feel the tail twitching behind him, bumping into the bench and constantly reminding him of its presence.
‘Getting aroused tends to make you turn back into your real form.’
Clyde’s words from moments earlier crept their way into his head, though what exactly those words implied for Eric were still unclear…