We'd been in Brickhedge for only three days now, but already, I'd been asked to meet with the mayor to oversee some paperwork that had been piling up at his desk. I wasn't officially set to begin my new job as the Town Planner for another week, so I was still trying to get a feel of the layout of the town as well as rub elbows with some of the locals before taking my seat in the office.
After having to chase my friend and roommate out of the bathroom once again, I freshened myself up and threw on some proper attire that was a far cry from the usual hoodie and shorts combo that I always wore.
"You going to be all right on your own today, Brigs?"
The purple fox. My best friend in the whole world, one who was not only willing to move away from her family but was excited about the prospect of seeing more of the world outside of the confines of that city we'd both grown up in. Even if it was just a few hours away from our families, I knew the change of scenery would do us both some good.
"Yessir, I'm gonna head back to the coffee shop for a bite to eat and then browse the town a bit more." She said, looking up at me with those pink eyes of hers as she nodded.
She'd been wearing one of her low-cut tops this morning, one that showed off more than a modest amount of cleavage. The girl's proud of her body, but I wasn't sure she was making the best first impression on these laid-back mountain folk by doing so.
I reached down and grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it upwards, covering up the valley between her breasts. She rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip.
"Hey, hands off the merchandise there, buddy. Gay or not, these are strictly 'Look but don't touch' only!" She growled, pulling her shirt back down.
I threw both my hands up in a 'you got me, officer' gesture. "Just gotta go easy on these mountain folk for now, okay?"
"Ugh, fine. I guess you're right. I'll suppress myself, for your sake, Eligh. Typical man, always telling us women what we can and can't show do." She said with a smirk and a sarcastic tone. She reemerged from her room a few minutes later, wearing a wrinkled crew-neck tee and that plaid shirt of hers. "Better, master?" I had to draw the line somewhere, and mentioning how tightly that wrapped around her boobs was probably beyond it at this point.
I shook my head and turned for the door, grabbing my car keys and wallet. "I'll be at town hall most of the afternoon, so if you need me, give the place a call. My phone will be on sleep mode."
"Not even officially seated yet and they already got you coming in to pick up the slack. What was so important that they couldn't wait a few more days, anyway?"
I chewed on the idea of telling her the reason, unsure if it was something I could divulge or not. It wasn't exactly the inner workings of the city, but something anybeast could walk through town and see. "There's a new garden center opening up on the opposite side of town next week, and the owner wants to turn the land behind the building into a little homestead in order to grow her merchandise, but wanted to be sure it was actually all her property first before moving forward. I'm just going in to do a survey is all."
"Huh, boring. All right, well, have fun there, big guy."
Parked just outside our apartment, dwarfing all other modest vehicles that lined the curb, was my monster of an SUV. A beast of my stature, capping out at just over seven and a half feet in height, didn't have a whole lot of options available to them if they wanted to drive comfortably. The larger, spacious vehicles were more apt, accommodating both my height and mass; as I'm sure you've noticed or heard from everywhere, I am quite, how did she say it, 'ripped'.
Nestling myself into the driver's seat of my 2017 Nissan Armada, I turned the ignition and stirred the slumbering beast to life, creating a ruckus that was far louder than any noise I've ever personally made.
I chose office life for related reasons. I gew up on a farm in Michigan, the youngest of three cubs born to Ma and Pa Brannigon(Their names, seriously). Farming had been in my family going back generations, with the current Brannigons still living in the farmhouse my ancestors had built three centuries ago, albeit with quite a few modern makeovers throughout the decades.
My brothers and I only knew the hardships of the farm life growing up. From dusk til dawn, the four of us(my father included) would be out in the fields. It was hard, grueling work but ideally suited for bears. Our naturally muscular, bulky forms made the job far more manageable than it otherwise would be. To say that my brothers and I grew into healthy adults would be an understatement.
Only, they stopped growing at some point.
My brothers topped out at six feet each when we hit eighteen. I kept going, putting on another foot and a half over the next three years. When all was said and done, I towered over my father's height by a solid foot.
I parked in an employee-only parking spot outside of Town Hall, hanging my tag from the rear-view mirror. I twisted the top off of the little pill case that hung from my next and popped one of my anti-anxiety medications.
Having three perfectly healthy cubs, unfortunately, wasn't in the cards for my mother, for as soon as I hit puberty, I experienced a crash with my mental health that I thought I'd never get any relief from. I suppose it's natural for teenagers to experience some form of anxiety and depression all the while their hormones are raging inside them. Still, mine raged on for some time, which probably had something to do with my overgrowth.
I never saw the storm quell; it only intensified as time went on. I became disconnected from the social life that I had then. Not even the romantic and sexual attention I'd been garnering from other boys had served to do much in pulling me out of the mud.
After some five-odd years of a growing disconnect from my family, my parents finally forced me to see a doctor, a feat for them and their "Nothing a little bit of elbow grease and hard work won't fix' old-timey mindset.
I conquered the small flight of stairs in two steps where most beasts would have required four or five. Pulling the heavy glass door ajar, I was affronted by a blast of muggy, stale air. My claws tapped against the pristine tiled floor as I lumbered to the front desk, where a portly but well-groomed cockatoo waited for me, her hands obscured by a plume of wrist feathers steepled before her.
"Mr. Brannigon, so good to see you again," She said as she turned in her swivel chair to face her computer screen, "But I don't have you on the schedule for work until Monday. What brings you in today, dear?"
I liked Terri Kinkaid. She was professional in every sense of the word but also fostered a very motherly atmosphere about her. She seemed also the type to not take any nonsense from beasts coming up into the building trying to cause a stink, or at least that's how she seemed to me.
"How do you do, Mrs. Kinkaid? I'm here at the request of the mayor; actually, he said he had a few minor things he wanted to run through with me." He'd claimed it was the job but with training wheels in our phone call last night—something about a property inquiry with another new resident.
The cockatoo smiled and buzzed me in, "Right this way, Mr. Brannigon."
"Thank you, ma'am. And please, Eligh is fine." I said as I walked past her desk, feeling her eyes locking onto my butt as I strode by.
"Sure thing, Mr. Brannigon." I was pretty sure I could sense a smile as she spoke this time.
Getting looked at up and down was part of my everyday life, whether I liked it or not. Male or female, I cut what most had told me was a "striking, rugged image" that kickstarted the libido. I suppose I can see it; I mean, I'd look at another male that had similar features the same way, only without the... how should I say it? "Tent-polling". My antidepressants have pretty much killed that part of me, at least without some ahem... Physical manipulation.
I sat down at the mayor's desk, though Mr. Fillistein was nowhere to be seen, but the sound of an electric razor could be heard from the door to the left. I took the opportunity to look around the office that I'd soon be spending my days going in and out of throughout a workday.
It was a high-ceiling affair, with a large pinewood desk at the center and a huge bay window behind, giving a nice view of the mountainside and beyond. In the distance, a bald eagle soared through the air in search of prey.
I lowered myself slowly into the large cushioned seat beside the desk as I awaited the mayor's return, taking in the rich smell of the world outside that wafted in through the opened window. The room was hot and humid, in stark contrast to the lobby outside the heavy oak door.
The chair creaked beneath my weight, obviously not built to accommodate three-hundred and fifty-plus bounds. I felt a pang of anxiety break through the fog the medication had produced in my brain, hitting its mark and causing a tightness in my chest.
Then came the sweat. I was scared that I was breaking his lovely chair.
I quickly rose as the bathroom door swung open, the casually dressed Clydsdale emerging from within. He smiled and waved, smiling warmly as his hooves made clopping noises against the tiled floor.
"It's good to see you, Eligh! I hope you're finding Brickhedge to your liking, I bet your girlfriend must be loving the apartment you picked out, eh? Lovely view of the town from there."
Girlfriend? Brigid. "Oh, she's not my girlfriend," I said quickly, almost sounding as if the statement had offended me somehow. "Just a friend," I followed up, "More like a sister than anything."
"I see, well, I'll have you know that incest is ille--"
"What?!" My chest felt like someone had rolled my SUV up onto it and put it in Park. "Sir, I'm gay! Brigid is just a friend!" The horse struggled to keep a straight face in light of my apparent panic.
"I'm just yanking your chain there, son," He was almost in tears at the reaction I had to his accusations. I had to quickly remind myself that Mayor Fillistein had no inclination of my poor mental health, and that helped to calm me a bit, along with the tone in my voice.
He offered me a glass of fresh lemonade and patted me on the back. I eagerly swallowed the tart drink along with yet another anti-anxiety pill. I smiled as I gulped that down and then asked for some more.
It's no wonder that I'm still single, considering just how many partners I've had over the years. I can't handle confrontations of any kind. Even something as harmless as a jest at my expense will trip the alarms and send me spiraling. I can't even begin to imagine what an actual ill-meaning attack might do to me.
And if you're curious as to the basis behind my last statement: Yes, I am a bit of a slut, but this isn't the place or time to have an inner monologue.
"It's all right, really," I said, lying, downing my third glass of lemonade.
"You'll find Brickhedge to be a very accepting, inclusive town, Eligh. I promise my jest was all in good nature." He paused for a second. "But incest is absolutely illegal and disgusting, as I'm sure you already know."
I nodded.
If you've ever experienced anxiety, depression, or any sort of chemical imbalance, then you've definitely experienced the insistent second-guessing and unwillingness to trust. "You're fine, sir, really. I just... have problems." That was all the explanation he needed evidently, as he smiled and insisted that he understood and pressed the matter no further.
"If you're feeling better now, how about we look over the papers? I'd like to get a second opinion on this particular matter. Shall we?" Said the mayor, handing me a piece of paper with a house diagram, a property line in thick black ink, a second, thinner line in lighter ink, and a question mark across the center. In the upright corner was the address.
"Oldhill Farm, huh?" I said to myself, feeling a weird itch inside my brain that was somehow outside of both anxiety and depression.
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