Welcome to Hickstead, home to both Seven Oak Stables, and Blue Acre - two rival stables. Both offer opportunities for their clients to reach the highest level of excellence. Each stable differs from the other, so choose wisely and never forget, loyalty is everything... Meanwhile as the stables battle it out, there's trouble brewing at the university. Be careful, if you don't pick a side you may get caught in the cross-fire...
This is an chilled out rpg with a super friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Remember to sign up with your characters full name in all caps and don't forget to do your claims! Thank you and Welcome, we've been established since 10th March 2009 but unfortunately have had to close guest view of our boards due to multiple sites ripping off our hard work, such a shame! Come chat to us in Discord before joining if you like!.
Lily hummed to herself as she finished the frosting on the twins birthday cake. She'd gone for chocolate, as it was the least likely to call any arguments, and she'd almost asked someone in town to make it but decided she could go to the trouble of doing it herself. She was a decent cook and baking wasn't too much of a side-ways step from that. Everything looked perfect and she was pleased, her family had taken her strict instructions and followed them to the letter without too much of a grumble. Lily couldn't help it, Flick and Rose were growing up so fast and heading toward the age were they were going to remember these kinds of events, she wanted it to be special. She hadn't tried to vomit too much girlie-ness into it, knowing that Flick didn't particularly like pink, whilst Rose did. She'd gone for a variety of colours, thinking 'rainbow' instead.
The decorations looked wonderful and once she'd completed the piping, she carefully put the case away for the moment they would light the candles and sing happy birthday. The kids were already running about in excitement, dashing in and out of the kitchen as they chased each other. A blonde head streaked past, quickly followed by a darker head slightly older, as Claire and Zeke zipped past her. "Careful!" She called to them, knowing she would be ignored as they chased each other with loud giggles. Her caution was followed with a soft smile and she picked up a plate of uncooked chicken wings to take out to the garden where everyone was mostly congregated - placing them next to the open BBQ to be cooked.
there was a familiar pit in his stomach as he helped get everything ready for today. had he loved watching the joy on the girls face when they'd come down this morning to their birthday breakfast? did he love the fact they were at the age where they started to get excited about birthdays and parties? of course he was. did he love seeing how happy they were right now? absolutely. what was causing the pit in his stomach was the fact they were getting older. they weren't babies anymore. they were passed the terrible twos and they were becoming their own little people. as different as chalk and cheese yet still so connected to each other, it was amazing to watch. but they were one year older, one year closer to being teenagers and he wasn't looking forward to that. he smiled from his spot at the BBQ though, having finally beaten leo to the appliance and declaring himself cook for the day. he clicked the tongs together a few times as he waited for it to heat up.
he took in the people around him as he stood there waiting, the kids were spread over the lawn, joined by claire and zeke as they jumped down from the deck. chance was sitting in the middle of the lawn with slade and rory, blowing bubbles for them as maya did her best to get as close to the pool as she could without actually getting into the water. if there was water, she'd be in it. and then there were the birthday girls. he couldn't see rose, but he was sure someone had eyes on her. flick was up, holding a giant water pistol she'd been given for her birthday and she was hunting around for her next target.
he looked away from the kids as lily came up next to him and set down some uncooked chicken wings for him to put on when it was ready. "please tell me they're just for me and everyone else is having sausages?" he joked as he set down the tongs and he picked up the can of coke he had sitting next to the BBQ. it was the tame stuff for now, but he had no doubt once the kids were all down later that night that the alcohol would come out.
-- i thought so we can keep track of whose posted, if we just copy and paste this tag list and then strike our characters as we post them? then when everyone is crossed off that's the posting order? and because peps only has ashley in here, maybe clips and i go a few more times, then ash can jump in and then clips and i can put the rest in?
TWENTY FIVE | STUDYING LAW/FIRE FIGHTER | LILIANA HONEY WHITE-COLE CLAIRE WHITE | 4 ROSE WHITE | 3 FELICITY WHITE | 3 SLADE WHITE | 1
Leo tipped the beer up and took in the swallowed the remaining dregs, laughing as he watched Jarad try to sneak up behind Maya to pounce on her. Bear lay at his feet, wagging his tail slowly as he observed the kids rough housing, wanting to join in. He was a good dog, and though he had endless bounds of energy, he did listen to his owners commands when he had to. Now the kids were getting older and more resilient, it wasn't such an issue for Bear to join in the play. Generally he just bounced around them barking, ears, tail and tongue all flapping at once in the excitement, but he had to be careful when the little-one's were around, in case Bear knocked them over. Glancing around and see the others occupied elsewhere, Leo ruffled Bear's ears and then gave a wave toward the kids. "Go-on then," he laughed as Bear leapt to his paws and went running to the two older kids; circling them with a happy bark at the play.
"Anyone want another?" He asked to the family around him, he'd thrown himself into a folding chair in the sun and some of them had come to join him whilst they waited on food. He waggled the empty beer bottle to indicate what he meant as he stood and stretched. "If so... get it yourself." He grinned, heading toward the back door and catching the end of Luke's words as Lily placed raw meat to be cooked. "please tell me they're just for me and everyone else is having sausages?" He had to admit he wasn't best pleased to have been relegated to supervisor instead of manager of the BBQ, and he'd had to sit so he didn't hover at Luke's shoulder to make sure the fool didn't burn anything. "Please tell me it's time for me to take over the cooking so you don't ruin it," He raised a brow, just because it was the twin's birthday didn't mean the food would fare better in Luke's hands.
Logan rolled his eyes at Leo's comment, still only halfway through his beer. "You're an ass," He didn't raise his voice too loudly, though it was far from the worst words the children would have heard in their years growing up as the Whites. He didn't really mean it either, his brother's sense of humour was not for everyone but he didn't tend to give them a choice either way. He took another sip of his beer and then rested it against his knee, watching Leo walk away and then get distracted by the BBQ. "Bets on how long it takes before he wrestles tongs out of Luke's hands?" He joked, shaking his head. His brother had a thing about BBQing, he just loved wearing the apron. Even Logan couldn't pretend to understand his brother's brain sometimes, and Leo was not exactly the most complicated of people.
He reached down with his free hand to scratch at Kye's head. The border collie was getting on in years now and though he watched Bear prancing about, much like his sister, Pixie - Lily's Merle collie - he didn't attempt to join in. He was happy to lie in the shade beneath Logan's chair and bask in the atmosphere, tail softly wagging at the touch of his owners hand. Logan had had him since arriving in Hickstead, picking him up as a pup along with his sister as a present to Lily for letting his stay on as hired help. Leo had already brought home Bear before that - without so much as a warning, picking him up abandoned from the side of the road. "I do hope Luke doesn't burn everything though," He admitted, knowing exactly how terrible a cook his best friend was.
sitting in one of the chairs next to logan, james looked at the kids running all around him. he was keeping track of jared, who was so desperate to one up his older cousin that he was for sure about three seconds from giving himself away and coping a heap of water in the face. when it happened, james would only laugh. it was all in good fun and he knew it might bother jare for a second to lose but he would get over it quickly. tae however, the more reserved toddler that he was, was sitting on his lap and resting back against his chest. he was more than happy to sit and watch the rest of the world go by, taking everything in, playing when he wanted but being just as content to watch the other kids. james has his arms wrapped around him lightly as he lounged back against the chair and he looked at leo. "oh dude, uncool." he joked as he looked at logan. "i want to put money on two minutes, especially since lily just walked out with more meat." he said with a grin. his brother was known for many things and being protective of the bbq was one of them.
honestly he was surprised that luke had managed to beat his brother in the first place. normally it was the most guarded possession leo owned but maybe luke had been sneaky. he'd gotten here after the fact so he had no idea. he reached his hand down and reached to pat kye just after logan had. "what you doing old boy?" he said lightly as he watched bear go bounding down to go play with the kids. he'd left his own dogs at home today. there was going to be enough chaos without adding his two into the mix. mis was okay, but roamer would be in everyone's face, trying to get into everything and making trouble so he'd thought it best. "i'd rather burnt than raw. remember last time?" he grinned as he looked over at the bbq, watching lily and luke together.
bella smiled as she watched claire and zeke dash through the kitchen. the chaos was spread from the inside to the outside as family and friend alike had gathered to celebrate rose and flick's birthday. the noise was almost deafening, the children running around like they were crazy and fun was being had almost everywhere and it was amazing. she'd never thought she'd be able to live in a chaotic house but she wouldn't change it for the world. she'd married leo and gained his family as her own and she loved it. she'd grown up with her sister and she loved her but it had just been the two of them, there was none of the chaos her children had and she was glad for her children had it, it was a fun way to grow up it seemed.
"do you think those two will ever stop chasing each other?" bella said with a smile as she opened another bag of crisps and dumped them into a bowl. bella was in charge of emptying the snacks and refilling the bowls that were getting eaten as if food was going out of fashion. she picked up the bowls she'd filled and stacked them as carefully as she could before she followed lily out into the garden. setting the bowls down on the table she smiled as little hands reached for the food. she helped ollie grab some lollies and sent him on his way with a kiss to his head as she walked over to where the grown ups of the party had found refuge. "oh ye people of little faith." she said as she settled down onto the chair leo had vacated when he'd gone to get his beer.
Ashley pulled into her cousin's driveway and rolled to a stop, lifting the handbrake into place after nudging the gearstick into neutral. She pulled out the keys and glanced to Damon with a grin "Ready for an afternoon of chaos?" She loved spending time with her family but it was definitely wild with all of the children. She glanced down for a second at the new ring on her left hand, wondering whether to take it off for the party or not. Of course she wanted to tell everyone about the proposal but it was the twins big day and her news could wait. She left it on anyway, figuring nobody would likely be staring at her hands any time soon.
She got out of the car and moved around to open the back door for her impatiently waiting son. He hadn't shut up for the whole car ride; excitedly chatting about seeing his cousins, eating cake and playing party games. Her heart warmed at how happy he was and how easily he'd seemed to settle into life in a new country/town over the past six months. She'd had doubts over the past few weeks on whether they'd made the right decision in coming home - with Jason harassing her, but josh's happiness reassured her that she had made the right choice.
She released the hyper child from his restraints and let out a laugh as he shot off like a canon towards the house "don't crash into anyone!" She yelled after him, rolling her eyes with a grin as she glanced back to Damon, doing a double take to make sure he'd picked up the twins presents. "I guess he's excited." She watched the brown haired boy disappear into the house, straight into the garden no doubt to find his cousins. Ashley made her way through the house to the kitchen and stepped out into the garden, scanning the environment until her eyes landed on josh who had found his older cousin to play with. she smiled as she spotted her brother on a chair and moved up behind him to ruffle his hair "Sup brother" she grinned, leaning down to give him a quick hug and kiss her nephew on the head.
"Ready for an afternoon of chaos?" Damon blew out a breath and glanced out the window to the front of the giant house - deceptively quiet and still - before he looked back to his fiance. Damn, he was never going to tire of calling her that. "Nope," but he grinned to contract his words. Her family were quite something, the adults were loud and seemed to have their fingers in all different kinds of pies, and there were so many of them, and the kids were nuts and often underfoot, along with the dogs. But he liked it actually. He used to be nervous about them, but he'd grown up since his awkward young adult stage, and he had come to learn how to handle Leo's dead pan jokes. Considering the family he came from, it was just an adjustment.
He climbed out of the car when she did and went to grab the bags - they hadn't brought too much, birthday presents neatly wrapped for the twins birthdays, along with a couple of home made bits for the BBQ. He was sure they likely already had plenty of food but there was enough of them that he knew it was unlikely to go to waste. Damon smiled at his son's enthusiasm and went to take Ashley's spare hand as they went for the front door. He gave his fiance's hand a gentle squeeze as they headed up to the house, letting out a small chuckle as their son zipped off ahead of them. "don't crash into anyone!""Or anything!" He added, envisioning the hyper child to headbutt straight into a door or an expensive vase.
"I guess he's excited." He smiled and nodded, shifting the bags in his other hand so he didn't drop them as they went through into the kitchen. "I'm surprised you weren't hot on heels," He joked, flashing her a quick grin and releasing her hand so he could place the presents on the impressive pile he saw in the entryway, before he followed her out to the garden not long after. His eyes flickered to the BBQ where Leo watched avidly and his lips quirked. "Did I miss the fight that determined the BBQ king today?" He joked as he headed over to Luke and Lily where the meat slowly sizzled.
Lexi was upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms with Rory changing her quickly. It had been far too exciting being passed around the family, and Rory had made her excitement well known. Lexi had volunteered to take one for the team, using the moment to take a breath as she changed the little tyke. She grinned down at the smiling face and placed a light kiss on Rory's forehead when she was done and re-dressed. Compared to the two boys, Rory had been an absolute dream. It had been helpful, with the recent stress of her 'brother' and the drama that had accompanied it, her and James were finally back on track, and things had settled at home. But it was still taking her time to get over it. Bad vibes lingered, and it took time to settle back into routine and to unwind from the tension.
She headed back down with Rory in arms, just in time to follow the new arrivals into the garden and she smiled, "Hey you two," She welcomed, going to give Ashley a quick - and careful - hug with baby in arms. She glanced over to the BBQ where they all seemed to be hedging bets on Leo and his inability to leave meat on the fire alone. "Maybe he should have been a chef?" She suggested, rocking Rory slightly and passing her glance to her other children to make sure they were all behaving themselves before she went to take a spare seat with the rest of the congregated adults. Looking back over to Ashley, she saw Damon had paused up by the BBQ, "How is everything?" She asked Ash, seeing that she looked well, and catching Damon's adoring looks her way like he just couldn't help himself.
logan glanced out the window as he headed up the stairs to the bedrooms. he could see the kids sneaking around the backyard, all desperate to try and not get hit with the water from the pistols but so keen to drown someone else. he shook his head a little and chuckled as he took the stairs two at a time till he reached his and logan's room. it had been hard adjusting to a newborn, he'd watched logan's family do it time and time again with their children but it was still a steep learning curve. he wouldn't change it for the world though. he walked across to where thatcher was stirring and he leaned down to lift the baby into his arms. "good nap?" he said as he grabbed an extra blanket to wrap around his son as he brought him back downstairs to join in the chaos that was now his family.
as he walked outside he saw they'd been joined by damon, ashley and by the sounds of the kids josh too. he shifted thatch in his arms as he walked back into the fray, dodging children, avoiding dogs as he made ihs way over to where most of the family was sitting and talking. "he doesn't have the attention span to be a chef." he grinned a little as he walked past lexi to sit down in the chair next to logan. "a child sure, but not a chef." he joked as he tucked the blanket closer around thatcher. "though i'm not itching to end up in hospital again, so i wouldn't mind if leo took over the BBQ." he said with a grin as he looked over at the kids to check on them.
chance dropped to the ground in the middle of the grass, the water gun that was now empty fell to the ground next to him and he held both arms up in surrender to the hundred and one cousins that had turned their guns onto him in the last minute. he felt soaked through to the skin and he was laughing as he tried to catch his breath. "i surrender!" he called to them as he lifted his head to see them smile back for about a second before they ran to fill up their guns, with one of the birthday girls, flick, leading the pack to the hose. after a minute he sat up and crossed his legs and decided that he'd stay there and just watch for a while. he'd become an expert on keeping an eye on multiple kids at once, since he'd come to live in the house. there were so manh of them but he couldn't hide the fact he loved it. it was the first time he'd ever felt a lot of love and he never wanted to leave. he couldn't help but laugh as he watched jare sneak up on maya and for once, he managed to get the better of her. he watched as the younger boy was able to pounce on maya from behind and she let out an almost savage war cry as she tustled with him. there was no such thing as delicate in this family it seemed. he reached his hand to wave to ashley and damon when they walked into the backyard and he grinned at josh. "josh! avenge me!" he said with a grin as he held up the water gun and waved it at him so he knew he could come take it so he could join in the fight.
he pushed up from the grass and shook the grass off his jeans as he walked back up to the back of the house where everyone else was sitting. as he walked past leo on his way to the cooler to get a soda he couldn't help but smile and look up at his uncle. "think we should just order pizza now?" knowing full well that his uncle wanted to take over the bbq because he was, at least a self proclaimed, king of the bbq. he kept walking to the cooler though, grabbing out something cold before he dropped into one of the lounge chairs in the shade, feeling just a little warm from laying in the sun like he had. "we have faith aunty bella." he said with a grin as he cracked open the soda can. "it's just not very well placed in uncle luke's cooking skills." it was a sign of how far he'd come since joining the family, there had been months where he hadn't uttered more than a word to anyone but logan and maya, but now he could joke with all of them, trusted none of them to hurt him and know that they were his family.
"do you think those two will ever stop chasing each other?" She smiled at Bella as she looked after the running children, giving a slight shake to her head. "I hope they don't, it's too adorable." She laughed, "I wonder if they're playing kiss-chase," She joked; they mostly had family here today but they'd invited some of the kids friends to make it a proper children's party. She always felt so lucky that their kids all got along so well though, she loved how close she was with her siblings and now -most- of her cousins, but to see all of their kids playing together, growing up so close, she absolutely loved it.
"please tell me they're just for me and everyone else is having sausages?" She raised an eyebrow at her husband and then went to pat his stomach, "I think you might want to start watching your weight as it is, honey." A slow smile spread across her face despite the fact that the aforementioned stomach she'd just patted was rock solid. She didn't know how he did it. "Please tell me it's time for me to take over the cooking so you don't ruin it," Lily glanced up as her brother came to join them, rolling her eyes. "What is it with men and fire? It does not make you an automatic macho man." She rolled her eyes and went to pick up Luke's discarded tongs, pointing them at her bother and then Luke, "No arguments about the BBQ, or I'll be cooking it," And she snapped the tongs together twice with a sharp clack to emphasise her warning.
As she heard the door go and another excited child come charging through, she turned to wave a greeting to Ashley and Damon. "Hey! Welcome!" She called out, leaving them to filter their way through the troops of people as everyone greeted them in turn and the kids turned to drag Josh into their fun and games. Claire toddled over, pausing her running with Zeke and grabbing Jare on the way, "Joshyy come play!"
he couldn't help but smile and squirm a little as she patted his stomach and he turned to look at her. he knew she was joking, though he did know that at some point he'd have to start watching what he ate. he was lucky though, he had a job that involved him putting a lot of effort into his fitness because if he didn't he wouldn't be able to do his job and that could cost someone their life. "you're just jealous i can eat anything." he teased her as he reached to pat her on the bottom as he turned back to the bbq in order to check the meat.
"never leo, never." he said as he reached behind him to rest his hand on the handle of the grill. he didn't know what it was but there was something about cooking the food at his little girls birthday party that was important to him. his job was busy and it kept him away for a lot of the time. especially when he was working his night rounds and had to stay at the station. he missed bedtimes and dinner times and a lot of the craziness that his kids got up to so this, this meant a lot to him.
he heard all the talk over from the other members of the family and he looked across at them with a look of mock indignation. "logan .. even you? my bestest buddy?" he said with a laugh as he shook his head a little and turned back to the bbq for a second to make sure nothing was burning, as was apparently their worries. anything he did burn would get tossed to the dogs before they could see it, if he burned something he'd never live it down for the end of his days. "chance!? oh my god .. you too? you've been spending too much time with leo." he said with a grin as he picked up the tongs to turn some of the sausages when they looked about done. "at least my kids like my cooking." even though most of it came from a packet on the rare nights that he was the one who had to feed them.
TWENTY FIVE | STUDYING LAW/FIRE FIGHTER | LILIANA HONEY WHITE-COLE CLAIRE WHITE | 4 ROSE WHITE | 3 FELICITY WHITE | 3 SLADE WHITE | 1
"think we should just order pizza now?" Leo grinned down at Chance as he wandered past, "Not if I have anything to do with it kid," He reached out to ruffle his hair in passing and was brought back to the current situation when Lily suddenly snapped tongs in his face. "Hey," he protested, jerking his face back out of her range. "I just have everyone's best interests at heart! Like nobody getting food poisoning!" He rolled his eyes and shot Luke a pointed look. He was not going to let the boy serve up platefuls of half cooked meat, nobody needed to have to fight for a bathroom - even in Lily's huge house there wasn't quite enough for one each.
"never leo, never." He raised an eyebrow, taking note of the way Luke rested his hands on the grill - Leo's eyes narrowed. As if he was going to actually fight the boy for it, that was just ridiculous. Tempting.... but he wouldn't. The food would go everywhere, it would be such a waste, plus Lily would be upset watching Luke lose against her brother. "Yes, you hold onto that," He raised a brow, as if that would help him. He smirked however as the others made their comments on Luke's cooking abilities. "See, they all doubt your skills, you should just give it up already." He tried not to sound like he was whining. "chance!? oh my god .. you too? you've been spending too much time with leo." Leo frowned, looking offended, "Oi, there is nothing wrong with that. I am the best uncle." He stuck his chest out proudly. "at least my kids like my cooking." He gave Luke a dubious look as he reluctantly figured he'd have to give up on trying to take over. "Are you sure....?"
"i want to put money on two minutes, especially since lily just walked out with more meat." Logan chuckled at that and pretended to flip open a pad and pretend to write this down. "Anymore takers on two minutes?" He asked with a small grin. Logan reached down to ruffle Kye's ears again as more of his family settled down with them. They had a collection of garden chairs in their corner, arranged so they could still enjoy the sun as it slowly went down and keep an eye on the kids as they ran ragged. They would hopefully all be tired for the night and sleep well - he could see Chance zipping in and out helping keep them entertained and his heart warmed to see how well he'd relaxed into the family.
"he doesn't have the attention span to be a chef." Logan craned his neck up to look at Ranger when he moved past and came to sit beside him, Thatcher peacefully in his arms. "a child sure, but not a chef." He snorted at that and shook his head. "Careful now he'll come after you with the tongs for that kind of comment," He joked, though even Leo wouldn't call himself a chef by any means- meat was about all his skill point, it was himself or mostly Lily that had the hand for cooking in the family. "though i'm not itching to end up in hospital again, so i wouldn't mind if leo took over the BBQ." Logan grinned and shook his head slightly. "I think we'll be alright; just check the chicken," He winked, though he trusted Luke enough to at least get BBQ right.
Of course his voice had carried, "logan .. even you? my bestest buddy?" Logan gave a hearty laugh as his comment was overhead and he turned in his chair to give Luke a cheeky grin, "I had to go with the majority and... I'm sorry dude but I was there that time you tried to make tuna pasta bake. I still have nightmares," He shuddered and then grinned to show he was just messing. Seeing Chance coming his way he smiled, "hey bud, you giving your uncle Luke a hard time too?"
