Rivencliff - Chapter 1 Teaser (Patreon)

Hello fellow Residents!

As a special thanks for your incredible support, here a teaser for the script of Chapter 1!
It's a first draft and will probably go through some revisions, but I couldn't wait to share this with you. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1

Buru exhaled gently, Rivencliff greeting him as he looked out his window first thing in the morning. The day was young and he breathed openly and easily, filling his lungs with clean, fresh air. It was a far cry from the life that he had led, though the bull didn’t want to look back on that time: even when it was fresh in his memory.

Taro…

Buru shuddered. No. Not then. Not when the valley drifted with mist, not many yet awake for the day.

It had all been going so well, Taro and him getting along so well, even though Taro had been his first boyfriend. All he’d wanted was to settle down with Taro and start a life together – properly, in a new place, where they could build the life they wanted. And yet, in a turn of fate, Taro had not even unpacked before heading out again, leaving Buru behind in Rivencliff: the home that they had chosen together.

He tipped forward, lips pressed together. His chest ached. Still, he ignored it. It wasn’t worth paying attention to.

I still can’t imagine… What was that bull thinking?

Yet it was not up to Buru to work out what his ex-partner had thought or hadn’t thought. It was just the way of it for him to carry on, even if he had never been taught how to pick up the fragmented pieces of his heart before.

It was time to learn, clearly. If the bull had led him on, there was nothing he could do about it. He had a job to do there.

Of course, Buru hadn’t moved to Rivencliff for no reason or with no plan. He was grateful, at least, that few in the village – quite a large, active one, to be fair – knew of his troubles, so it was something of a fresh start for him.

He liked that. It was better that way. Better than people coming up to him and giving him a sad, knowing smile, trying to make him feel better. Frankly, Buru didn’t know what could make him feel better.

There were a couple of questions, but they were easily brushed off. He said that Taro had helped him move. In the end, that had been true. Even if he hadn’t wanted it to be.

Otherwise, he told no one. Rivencliff was the new beginning that he so sorely needed and, even though he had only been there for a few days, he had a good feel for the place. With so many diverse cultures all coming together, it was something of a hotspot for merchants and trade. The people there would change weekly, moving through on their travels, always shifting, all kinds of anthros coming together.

Even richer folk passed though too, even though there were very few rich folk in residence: just passing through.

Yes… Yes, he wanted to stay there. Buru had already decided when he had settled into his two-story home, with the ground floor and the second level. He tried not to think about the fact that it was now too large for him, really. The empty space there had been meant to be filled by Taro.

The curtains fluttering across his window beckoned him to look out again, but Buru turned from it, sliding the window closed but leaving the shutters open on the outside. It was not yet warm enough to need them to keep out the heat of the day.

He had a shop to get to.