Mrs. Clause was a cook to outdo even Clara, and she was the first to admit it. Though Mrs. Clause had a few helper elves, she also had centuries of practicing her recipes, so the spread was beyond amazing, and out of respect for their guests everything was reindeer safe. Well, except Santa's pitcher of milk but that was expected. It was a good thing, too, since after that morning's events Eric was starved. Tag seemed to be in the same boat as both managed to get in third helpings.
Tag and Bix were there, too. As was Clara and Rudy. Rudy and Bix were in outfits much like the ones Clyde and Eric wore, though Tag's somehow seemed to be cut and shaped specifically to show off his muscles. Clara wore a dress of sparkling white and silver that reminded Eric of falling snow.
"This.. loaf." Eric said, motioning to something made from grains on his plate that reminded him of meat, but definitely wasn't. "You could sell this back home, I know there's plenty of vegetarians that would go nuts for it." Eric replied as he popped another piece in his mouth.
"Oh! We do." Mrs. Clause said cheerfully. "Most of the recipes I've come up with for the reindeer are sold as part of a vegetarian line down south. I need my projects while Kris here is busy with his, and I put all the profits back into the Workshop."
Eric looked over at Clyde and he just nodded. "She has her own line of cookies and gourmet hot chocolates, too. But they're always better right from her kitchen, the best really." Mrs. Clause beamed at the compliment, despite no doubt having heard it thousands of times.
"How are the other three teams?" Santa asked across the table to Rudy, who was chewing on a mouthful of carrots.
Rudy swallowed and nodded. "Full strength, and ready to assist if needed. The two new recruits coming from outside the teams means team three doesn't have any holes right now, so that's good. Even if three of them are in a bit of a sour mood."
Clyde leaned over and whispered into Eric's ear. Something he had to do embarrassingly frequently, to keep Eric up to speed. All these things he would have known if he had grown up here. "The other three candidates from this morning were all team three."
"Doesn't tell me anything, love." Eric said with a small laugh.
"Oh, right. Well, there's actually four teams. We're on the first team, team one, which is Santa's team. Team two is Mrs. Claus' team. Clara is actually on that one. Then each of them has a reserve team, three and four respectively. Teams one and three are all guys, the ladies are on teams two and four. It's rare we can do the whole globe in one night just us, especially as there are more humans each year, so we deploy those teams to fill in the gaps. Chief elves would do the riding disguised as Santa." Clyde whispered as Rudy and Santa talked logistics for a bit.
"Why break it up like that? Between the genders I mean?" Eric asked, more curious than anything.
"Because you bucks are too bull head stubborn to work with." Clara chimed in jokingly.
"Different opinions." Clyde said, laughing a little and shrugging. "I think it's just tradition. Others say it's to keep distractions to a minimum."
"Distractions? Aren't you and me going to be in harnesses right next to each other?" Eric asked as he popped a piece of some sort of oat cake into his mouth.
"Great. Isn't it." Clyde said as he pressed his nose against Eric's cheek.
"I will separate you two on the lines if I have to." Rudy piped up, more joking than anything. "But I know you two will be on your best behavior. You're not the first couple to run on the same reins, and you won't be the last."
Mrs. Clause was bustling around again, placing mugs of steaming hot chocolate in front of everyone. Eric's nose was almost immediately hit by the smell of the spices in it, and he had to keep himself from drooling.
"I'm not much for long winded toasts." Santa said, waving his hand as two festively wrapped packages floated off the table nearby. "But I do like to welcome new members to the team with a gift." A large box settled in front of Tag with a heavy thunk, while a smaller one alighted in front of Eric.
Tag was tearing into his almost immediately, much to Bix's chagrin. "Moose weights?! I've been wanting these for years." He pulled out a pair of dumbbells that had some symbols carved into them. "Moose can never get enough weight, so they made magic ones you can make heavier or lighter. Kettlebell, too?!"
"There's a moose tribe?" Eric said as he picked at the wrapping paper.
"Other side of the pole, closer to Canada." Rudy explained. "They avoid the village this time of year, they hate getting mistaken for overgrown reindeer." He just shrugged as if that was to be expected. "We have a hockey game against them every February. Tag, I might need you on the team this year. No offense, Eric."
"None taken. I do not want to be run over by a moose with knives on his hooves." Eric quipped to a laugh from Mrs. Clause. He flipped open the box once he had it open, revealing four metal rings. He held one up. Not rings, bracelets.
"Form locks?" Clyde asked, looking over to Santa who nodded. "Wow." At a curious glance from Eric, Clyde went on. "These are usually given to those of us who have to be away a while. We can change into human form, then put this on and we'll be locked in. No need to worry about form slips due, to, uh, certain emotions. But four of them?"
"So Eric can still visit his family, and maybe bring his mate along with him. I assume his brother and that mischievous little Lars might be inclined to go along, but they're his to bring what company he wants." Eric felt tears stating at the corners of his eyes.
"Thank you, it's perfect." Eric closed the box gingerly, resolved to learn to shift back human as soon as he could so Clyde could meet his family.
Tag was bouncing in his chair a little. "Aw, jäbä, summer surf trip to California! Beach babes! We gotta do it."
Bix put hand on his son's shoulder. "You two can talk about that, later."
----------------------------------
Eric watched Clyde undress from the bed, smiling as he did so. Sure it wasn't a lot to take off, and Clyde tended to wander the house in the nude anyway, but there was something enjoyable about watching him take off his clothes anyway. "So that was an intense day."
Clyde snorted and nodded his agreement. "I wasn't expecting my parents in that mix, but you charmed them right away like I knew you would." Hanging up his outfit in the armoire, he laughed softly. "At least they stayed off the topic of kids for now. I guess they want Rudy and Clara to have one first. We're still young enough they might wait a few years to pester us. I think they might decide to have a kid this summer though. I feel like they were waiting on me to settle down."
"Kids? But we're.. you mean adopting?" Eric watched Clyde come closer, grinning as he flopped on the bed giving him something warm to lean against. He stroked Clyde's chest fur, something he figured out his reindeer loved.
"No, our own." Clyde shakes his head. "I keep forgetting you didn't grow up here. You really think we can change your whole species but not switch gender about for a bit? Sure, it takes magic to do, but that's not too hard. In fact we do most of it with magic, goes back to he days where we were still a wandering tribe and unfortunately slow breeders. One fertility spell to make sure it takes, another spell to speed things up a bit, four months, you got a kid and you're back to yourself. The only part is deciding which of us has to do the heavy lifting."
Eric stared at Clyde, then down to his own stomach. "I mean if you don't want to have kids, that's okay, too." Clyde cut in.
"I just didn't think I would. You know. Not since I came out." Eric shook his head. "But if I were going to have some, you'd be a great father. For now though, let's just enjoy each other's company and have lots of pregnancy-free rutting."
"I like this plan, sydänkäpy." Clyde said as he rolled onto his back, pulling Eric atop him. "One more before bed?"