“What is it?”
“You’re such a thickheaded oaf, you know that, Tommy? It’s a gift! Those reindeer are always hacking off pieces of themselves and giving them away, so I thought I’d try it…”
“Oh, sorry. I guess I should have realized. What are these symbols on the back? Some kind of werefox runes?”
“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you! It’s in English, clear as day! ‘L&T Forever’! …Look, it’s hard to write clearly when you’re scratching words into wood with your claws, okay?”
“…I love it, Lars. I’ll keep it forever, I promise.”
“…Forever’s a long time. You really mean it?”
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Tom’s eyes snapped open and he shot up in bed before reaching for his phone in the dark and turning it on to check the time “6AM… Right, forget it doesn’t get light around here until really late in the day,” he groaned, pulling himself out of bed and beginning to get dressed. He felt around in his pocket and felt something warm before sighing sadly as he remembered the flashes of memories that had been slipping into his dreams lately.
He withdrew Lar’s present to him from his pocket, looking at the silly little amulet he’d been given all those years ago in the dim light. ‘It’s made out of toenail clippings and fur I pulled off my hairbrush, so you don’t really need to keep it,’ the fox had said bashfully, but Tom would never let anything happen to it. Hell, he’d even worn it on the plane from Amsterdam to Stockholm when he’d come to find Eric, but the closer he got to the North Pole the warmer it became. Tom finally decided he’d need to take it off when he spotted a patch of white fur beginning to grow on the back of his arm, but he still kept it close to him at all times. He’d promise to keep it forever, and for all the other regrets he had about leaving Lars, he wasn’t going to break that promise.
“What am I doing…? I just wanted to come up here to help out my little brother,” Tom groaned, clutching his head in thought. “He’s got a family, he’s got friends, he’s got a future up here. He’s fine, so I…”
‘I could have the same thing, right? The only true mistakes are the one you don’t fix when you have the chance, so why not?‘
That damned conscience of his. It was gonna get him into real trouble one of these days, if he kept letting him tell him what to do. It had given him hell for months after he’d left the first time, and now it was acting up again.
“Fine, fine. We’ll do things your way,” Tom sighed as he pulled on his winter coat and got ready to leave for the day. “No promises, though. I've made enough of those.”
He slowly snuck out of Clyde’s guest room and down the stairs, peeking into the master bedroom and seeing his little brother still sleeping and completely pinned under the bigger reindeer’s warm body. A proud grin spread across Tom’s face, and he felt like he was watching his little bro become a real adult. He let the two lovebirds have their privacy and quietly made his exit after leaving a note letting them know where he’d be at, then he headed out the front door and down the road toward the train station back to the resort.
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“Tommy!! Are you serious, dude? What the hell kept you!?”
Tom had only just reached the station when a cheerful voice rang out through the cold morning air. He glanced around in confusion, trying to find the source of the voice, but then saw the top of a pointed hat and thought to look down.
“Dave, is that you! God, you’ve really grown… shorter, that is!” Tom said, immediately recognizing the face of his friend from years ago, even with the ridiculous outfit and the big pointed ears.
“Har, har. Wasn’t funny seven years ago, and it isn’t funny now,” the elf sighed. Even for an elf, he was pretty short, which might have been one of the side effects of his transformation. Dave had been with Tom’s group of friends that had stumbled upon Santa’s village, and eventually he decided he wanted to join the Christmas elf tribe while the others left. It had taken a lot of work to prove that he’d make a good elf, but eventually he’d gotten the big boss’s approval and earned his ears, so to speak.
“So, for real though. What are you doing here, Tommy? You’re not here for-“ Dave started to say, but Tom shook his head sadly and cut him off.
“Sorry, but it’s not like that. It’s my brother, he’s… Well, it’s a long story. I’ll explain on the train, okay?”
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Dave was delivering a shipment of toys from the workshop over to the resort, since they had so many extras that they were able to give them away as prizes for various games and activities all over the resort. Once his shipment was packed away in the back of the train, he found a seat alongside Tom and the two old friends started to catch up.
“…Huh, so little Eric’s growing up, huh? Good for him, y’know?” Dave said. “I shouldn’t say this, but one of the reasons they opened up this resort in the first place was to bring in more new blood into the different tribes. Freshen things up, modernize a bit.”
“One of the reasons? Any others?” Tom asked, glancing out the window and seeing the landscape rolling by in the distance. He remembered Lars telling him all the names of the mountains, and which ones held special significance to werefox ceremonies. He could still remember the names, too, like he’d just been told yesterday.
“I mean, making a bit of money’s another reason, sure. And the whole ‘spreading Christmas cheer’ thing’s always a big deal up here,” Dave admitted, nervously adjusting his hat a bit. “But… Well, it was actually the werefox tribe’s idea. Fiia and Lars, in particular. They went gung-ho about the whole thing a few years ago, had the plans made up and pitched it to the boss himself.”
“…If you’re implying that this whole resort was made just to give me a reason to come back here, I-“
“Whoa, buddy. I’m not implying anything,” Dave backtracked frantically. “I’m just saying those werefoxes are a little weird sometimes, and once they get an idea in their head it’s hard to talk them out of it…”
By now, the train was pulling into the station back at the main resort and the two friends rose out of their seats and made their way to the exits.
“Umm… Dave? It was nice seeing you, man,” Tom said, kneeling down a bit giving the small man a hug. “My brother, if he sticks around here… Keep an eye on him for me, okay?”
“...We elves don’t get out of the workshop much, Tommy. If you’re that worried, maybe someone else should be the one keeping an eye on him,” Dave sighed as he began to unload his shipment. “Merry Christmas, buddy.”
“I guess you might be right. Merry Christmas.”
With that in mind, Tom headed down the road back into the main resort, which was beginning to come alive as the tourists awoke and headed off to enjoy their vacations. Despite the cold, Tom took his time meandering around, trying to decide what he’d say if he ran into Lars again, or if he’d even have the courage to face the fox again…