Yet another picture inspired by a chat with the ever-adorable  bouch, just in time for Christmas! (almost...)

Bouch shared with me some pictures from one of many Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer musical productions that go on every Christmas, and I just fell in love with the costumes:

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So thickly padded and plush, yet slinky and svelte, with useless hoof mittens to keep you snugly trapped in your reindeer suit, a big smiling deer head perched atop your own with no hiding your blushing cheeks from the adoring audience.

The way I see it, the musical always needs new cast members to fill the herd of prancing pawing reindeer extras, but it's hard to find qualified applicants. So when the giddy grinning bat and fox knocked at the dressing room door following an inspired performance, coach reindeer knew with one look that he found his newest stars.

The blushing pair were ushered in without a word, finding all the cast members still in costume. The new visitors immediately caused a stampede, all the deer stomping up to greet them with hugs, nuzzles, and smothering affection. Bouch and Red found it odd that it was the deer heads, not the performers underneath, that kept eye contact with the two, not acknowledging the person inside - as if still in character. The two chalked it up to a dedication to their craft, too busy basking in the squeeze of soft pillowy haunches and leathery hooves to think anything of it.

It didn't take long for the bat and fox to melt into the hooves of the deer boys and deer girls, but a shrill whistle broke their trance as the performers broke from the cuddlepile and arranged in a perfect chorus line. With another whistle they began to dance in unison - legs lifting high and stomping down, a dainty gaint with hooves hanging from limp wrists that turned into a happy dance. The two watched the reindeer skip and frolic with perfect choreography, leaving them slack jawed and smiling as the precious prancing deer.

With the audience members rapt, the baseball-capped coach blew his whistle once more. The line parted as two deer trotted forward, holding in their hooves two baggy bundles of brown fur and fluff that they marched up and unfurled in front of Bouch and Red. They were greeted with the sight of two deer suits - spandex outfits with the same thick padded haunches and plump shiny hooves as the rest of the troupe. Topped off by two long-lashed, bow-decked, adorable reindeer girl heads! Too stunned to speak, the pair stood frozen as the other deer created a circle around their new friends, the suits pushed into their chests insistently. Hooves scrabbled at their clothes quickly denuding the pair, graciously opening the reindeer costumes to let the dizzy bat and befuddled fox step right in. The pillowy prison was tugged up nice and snug, a zip sealing the two in a warm cozy embrace that helped cement that ditzy happy aura that pervaded everything.

The deer stepped back and let the two fawns explore their new bodies. Clumsily at first, the enormous plush thighs and boot-sized hooves made walking precarious, and the oversized hoof-hands did little to help steady their wobble. But with each stomp the girls gained confidence, the weighty rump easing them into a feminine sashay that made their tails wiggle so cutely! Before long the two were prancing and rearing up like real reindeer, and as their old identities slipped away all of the other reindeer gathered around to welcome their newest members with a big hug.

...and here we bring us to the picture at hand, where Bouch and Red are giving their first performance in front of a live audience. The crowd was amazed that these two first-time performers were able to slip into their roles so easily, and everyone was convinced that this blushing bat and flustered fox were just two little happy prancing deer girls.