"Reckless dogs," Otso seethed, "Imagine if the magic had gone out again and the boy changed back mid trip? They'd have had another emergency on top of the rescue." He shook his head and refocused as he set his clipboard down. Tess stood in front of him--human and wearing green and red scrubs. "Theresa, what is the status of the Mason Family?"
Cases and emergencies were beginning to pile up and the poor doctor was completely overwhelmed, so Tess had stepped in to assist along with a few of the locals. Vacation be damned, she still believed in her Nightingale Pledge and couldn't just sit there while people were in danger. They had set up a base of operations at each of the train stations so they could move quickly, though even that was beginning to slow them down. They couldn't count on flight, and the train was their only transportation. Theresa took charge of the Resort Station while Otso oversaw things from the Village Station since he had experience in tending to more diverse patients.
"They're going to be fine, but it could have been bad. They were entering the early stages of frostbite." She bit her lip and shook her head thinking about the poor children, who cried as the feeling had returned to their toes and fingers. "They're currently warming in blankets next to the fire with some of Mrs. Clause's hot cocoa. And I finished putting the cast on Lyle Winthrop--he had a nasty compound fracture. Matti is with him now. Is Michael back yet?"
Otso shook his head, "No, but he should be back any minute. It's getting late." Not having any medical training, Michael had volunteered to be gofer, running back and forth to get supplies as needed. Since he had finished changing, Otso wasn't worried about him being out in the cold, and they needed more supplies from Santa's Workshop. "Things are getting dire. If conditions don't improve within the next 24 hours I'm going to recommend that we close the resort until we can get things figured out. At the very least, we should cancel the excursions even though Lars won't be happy about it. If we had enough room in the Village, I'd say bring the humans here. It might just come to that." He sighed.
Theresa nodded and leaned against the wall as a blast of cold air signaled Michael's arrival. The wolf rushed in, shaking the snow out of his fur and looking out of breath. His arms were full of an assortment of packages, all wrapped in colorful paper. He set them down and shook his head. "I grabbed what I could, but I don't know exactly what is what. I don't understand why they feel the need to wrap everything. Doesn't it just make it harder to find what you're looking for? I'm pretty sure those big ones are blankets, at least."
The ridiculousness of the situation lightened the mood somewhat as they proceeded to tear into and sort the supplies before separating it into sets for Theresa to take back to her station.
"Did you see Santa at all while you were there?" Otso asked curiously, though he already knew the answer.
"Not a peep. Just a bunch of elves running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Please don't make me go back there," Michael pleaded, "Unless you absolutely need me to. They're scary."
Theresa was about to head to the train when the door flew open once more with another blast of snow. Johann walked in carrying an unconscious woman. "She collapsed outside of my shop. I don't know what happened." He looked around, trying to figure out where to put her. Tess blinked as she noticed that the woman had white fox ears peeking through her hair, delicate paws instead of feet, and a bushy white tail that laid limp across the polar bear's large furry arms. Aside from Michael, she hadn't seen anyone mid-transformation before.
Otso was already looking over his clipboard. "Take her to Bed 4. Here, I'll show you. Theresa can you please give me a hand before you leave?"
----
Eric sat staring out the window at the falling snow as he rubbed his sore shoulder. Practice had been brutal--Rudy had them pulling what felt like mountains of weights in teams across the ice. It wasn't necessarily the weight that bothered him--the resistance training he'd done in the last weeks had done wonders for his stamina--it was that the blocks kept getting caught on rocks and snags in the ice. He was surprised to miss the miles and miles of flying that usually took up the second half of the day.
To make matters worse, he couldn't help but feel a nagging in his chest. Something felt off and he couldn't quite place it. Initially he reasoned it away as stress from his injury and return to practice; he even thought it might just be due to the craziness going on around them. But this felt...deeper? He couldn't quite explain it, but he couldn't shake the feeling.
Clyde returned with one of the candles Lars and Tom had dropped off earlier that day. "We should probably keep a bundle of these in the bedroom, just in case," he said grumpily. After setting it down, he joined Eric on the bed, rubbing and kissing at his mate's sore shoulder. "Is everything OK, Söpö? You've got that look again."
Eric leaned back into Clyde's arms and sighed. "I'm just worried. What will happen if we can't fly on Christmas Eve? What will we do?"
Clyde nipped at his shoulder again as Eric felt something warm and hard beginning to grow against his back. The reindeer snorted, thinking. "I don't know. This has never happened before. I'm sure Santa and Rudy will figure something out. They always do. I think they're just conserving things for the Flight." He leaned forward and hugged Eric tightly, nuzzling at his cheek before pulling away. "I actually have something that might make you feel better!"
"Oh?" Eric looked up as Clyde bolted out of the room before quickly returning with his hooves behind his back.
Clyde looked excited. "It took me a lot longer than I thought it would, but I wanted to make sure it was even--nothing but the best for my rakas." He held out the wooden antler he had been working on when Eric was still bedridden. "I figured you could wear it on Christmas Eve, if you wanted." His eager look made Eric laugh and melt at the same time.
"That turned out beautifully, Clyde!" Eric couldn't take his eyes off of the piece. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and the reindeer had taken great pains to incorporate the natural grain and patterning of the wood into the finished piece. It was made to fit over the broken portion of his antler for support, with leather chords he could wrap around the base to secure it. It was a work of art. "Thank you. So much." He hugged Clyde and kissed him.
"Would you like to try it on?" Clyde suggested, looking just as excited. "Just to make sure it fits."
Soon Eric was staring at himself in the mirror and couldn't help but tear up as his silhouette was restored. Clyde had gone out of his way to make him feel attractive despite his broken antler, but without it he felt incomplete and off-balance. Now? He felt whole again. Whole and grateful.
He snorted and grinned at Clyde as he pushed him backwards and onto the bed before climbing onto his lap. His reindeer's cock responded immediately as he took it into his hooves and nipped at his nose. "Thank you. I love it. Almost as much as I love you."
"Anything for you, aarre." Clyde grinned and pulled Eric's hips against his own, thrusting their sheaths together.