Eric let out a deep sigh of relief when Clyde’s parents finally left. Reindeer goodbyes, he had soon found, took quite a while, as there was always room for ‘one last cup of tea for the road’ and always time to share one last bit of news about cousin Ole in the village on the other side of the mountains. And he’d learned just as quickly that reindeer culture seemed to revolve entirely around feasts.
“So, let me get this straight… We’ve got dinner with the Clauses tonight, dinner with the sleigh team the night after that, dinner with your parents sometime in the next week…”
“Probably a few dinners with them, to be honest,” Clyde added a bit sheepishly.
“…And a ‘mating ceremony’, which I can only assume involves a feast of some sort,” Eric finished, rubbing his stomach. “They think I’m still too thin, don’t they? That’s the only explanation for all this eating they’re subjecting me to…”
“Perhaps that is a bit of it, but to be honest we just like to eat,” Clyde said with a grin. “Especially in the winter when there’s not much else to do. Once the springtime rolls around and some of the snow melts, there should be more to do around here, and by then we’ll have taught you how to take a human form so we can take a day trip down to Oulu or Tromsø for a little excitement.”
“I can’t wait. But to be honest, I think I’m going to enjoy the simple life around here for as long as I can…” Eric said. “Anyway, we’ve got to go get something nice for me to wear to dinner, right? What’s a formal outfit for reindeer look like, anyway?”
“Bells, usually. And maybe a little leather, some gold if that’s your style. Since we don’t wear much, we like to make the little that we do wear a bit special, so-“
As they were chatting, there was a quick knock at the door. “Reindeer don’t usually knock,” Clyde said to himself, wondering who it could be at this time.
“It’s gotta be Tom! Finally, where the hell has he been…?” Eric said, opening the door and crossing his arms in front of him. “Tom, where were you all… oh.”
--------------------------------------------------
The tall, snow-white werefox stood shyly in front of the two reindeer, his long tail flipping back and forth nervously.
“So… What do you think?” Tom asked, doing a playful twirl to show off his body from every angle. It had taken almost twice as long as Lars had estimated, but in the end they’d finally managed to change every last part of him, from the tip of his whiskered nose to the clawed tips of his paws. His tail was particularly impressive, even by werefox standards, with a thick coating of the softest-looking fur either Eric or Clyde had ever seen on a fox. Tom had still not quite gotten used to walking around in nothing but his fur like most werefoxes, so he wore his old clothes as much as he still could, which meant cutting a hole in the back of his pants for his tail and rolling up his pant-legs to give his paws a little more room.
“You look wonderful, Tom, but…” Eric began to say, wondering the best way to phrase it. However, Clyde had already raised his hoof to cover his nose, so he just came out and said it.
“You stink, veli. Like sex, booze, and sweat,” the big reindeer sighed, fanning a hoof in front of his face.
“And gasoline. And what I can only assume is fox saliva,” Eric added. “How many times did you and Lars do it today, anyway?”
“Only once, technically. It just took a while,” Tom admitted with a sly chuckle. “He assured me that it was a venerable werefox ceremony, but I started to have my doubts around the five hour mark. But, I guess in the end it had the desired effect…”
“So, where is he, anyway?” Clyde asked curiously, though he wasn’t sure he could handle much more of that smell in his house.
“Oh, once we got back to Santa’s village, Fiia was already waiting to drag him back to work,” Tom said with a laugh. “Calling him something like ‘kiimainen mulkkun aivot’ as she pulled him away by the tail, whatever that means.”
They moved to the living room and Tom collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. Clyde quickly handed him a cup of tea, which Tom gratefully accepted and began to sip to regain some of his strength.
“So, you decided to stay, then? I mean, I figured you would…” Eric said, impressed with the lengths his brother had went to in order to prove himself worthy of joining the werefox tribe.
“Yeah. I mean, getting the chance to eat with Rudy’s family, seeing how well you’d already started fitting in… I knew I’d be happy here, too,” Tom said confidently. “Seven years ago, I was worried I’d regret it if I stayed, but now that I’m back I know how impossible that would be. Me and Lars, we’re going to be married in the spring, then we’ll be working to get the resort ready for next year’s load of tourists. I can do all the things I loved back in my old life, but now I get to do it with the man I love…”
Clyde, ever the romantic, nearly started to tear up at that, but he managed to keep himself under control and pull Tom into a tight hug.
“Well, no matter what you look like, you and I are brothers. Anything you need, ask, and you can consider it done.”
“That means a lot, Clyde. Thanks,” Tom said gratefully, then he blushed bright red under his fur. “Uhh… On that topic, would you mind if I borrowed your shower and a bed for about… 12 hours?”
Clyde’s tail twitched hearing that, and he knew he’d have a hell of a time washing that smell out of his house, but he had just given his word that he’d do anything.
“O-of course. Anything, veli.”
-----------------------------------------
While Tom attended to his personal hygiene, Eric and Clyde finally headed out to pick up a nice outfit for Eric to wear to dinner with the Clauses. Johann the polar bear had set up his shop just at the edge of the village, preferring to do business with the various tribes of the North Pole rather than deal with tourists. As such, his clothing was specifically designed for non-humans, which made it the perfect place to stop for some authentic reindeer formalwear.
“I must say, you’re looking much better than you did at the sauna,” Johann boomed happily as he quickly measured Eric’s size, wrapping measuring tapes around his shoulders and waist. “Both of you! I told you, didn’t I? Humans just don’t have enough fur.”
“It’s all about fur for you, isn’t it Johann?” Clyde laughed. While Eric was being measured, Clyde was looking at a few gold antler caps, which were made to be fit over the prongs of their antlers to give them a bit of flair. They’d probably be too painful for Eric since he still had a bit of velvet on his antlers, but once they’d had a bit of time to harden up they would probably look rather good on the young reindeer.
“I think I’m starting to agree with him, though,” Eric said once his measurements were done. “I don’t think I’d ever agree to live up here without a thick coat of fur.”
“Well, let’s see how much you like it come springtime and you have your first shedding, ei. You can be the one to deal with that mess, söpö.”
The three of them had a good laugh at that, and eventually Eric picked out a piece of formalwear that he liked, a dress harness that Johann assured him would make him look quite distinguished at dinner. A few leather straps crossed his chest and waist, decorated with a few tastefully placed bells, and a pair of delicately embroidered straps looped around his shoulders a bit like suspenders. Eric had never really seen anything like it on a human, which made it all the more interesting for him to try out now that he was a reindeer. He finished off the ensemble with a (non-magical) leather collar decorated with a few golden studs, then he stepped back to give Clyde a good look at him.
“Hmm, I think you truly are a natural,” Clyde muttered, impressed at how easily Eric had adapted to reindeer fashion already. “Of course, you could go in just your fur and still be the most handsome man at the dinner.”
“Mmm, if you say so. But, Santa said I’ve been on the good list 18 years running, and I’d rather not break that record by showing up naked to a dinner party at his house,” Eric laughed. “Speaking of which, shall we be on our way?”