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!.
Carmen shrugged his satchel over his shoulder as he walked along looking for his next class. He didn't mind if he was late to it, he'd make up the time in study when he got off campus. But of course that didn't mean that he wanted to be late to everyone of his classes. He still wanted to get his grades and get into a medical course that took him out of this shit heap.
He mentally shrugged however. It was just how it was going to be, and maybe if some fucked up God granted it, he might just catch the briefest glimpse of his younger brother and get the satisfaction knowing that he was at the least alive and not buried in some ditch or hooked to the table on cocaine. As long as he seemed perfectly healthy, then there was no reason to otherwise approach him.
He was making friends, getting by, setting up fights to win and get disrupted by the cops once his rounds were done. He liked that sort of chaos, the thrill that came with knowing that he was piling the enemies higher and higher on his shoulders, the satisfaction that so long as he cooperated and handed over names, times and dates then he would not be serving jail time for his various smaller and less than ok crimes. He'd get away, survive, and once he had his degree he would be free to walk away from it all and live the life he wanted for the most part.
It still drove him mad to know that his career in dance was no longer going to be able to take off the way he'd first wanted it to, a job gone wrong. He knew what he was doing was risky, he could end up dead and no one the wiser that he was in the ground somewhere.
Theo was not having his best day, and he was trying hard not to show it. He didn't do good with letting it out, his stress and worries were always kept internal, squished right down at the bottom where nobody but himself would know about them. Normally he was fine, he was able to work through his issue and get on with fixing it, but when it got bad, he had a habit of going down the rabbit hole, forgetting to get enough sleep, forgetting to eat, and only leaving his dorm room for lessons and practice. Today was one of those; he had done the unthinkable and almost missed a deadline. Usually his schedule was meticulous and he was careful to input everything that was due and when, but he'd written in his presentation for a week after it was due and now he hadn't gotten further than a title page.
Typically, it was a back to back lesson kind of Wednesday, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he'd be spending the next 13 hours knuckling down in his room to finish this as best he could. His stomach churned in knots, lunch long forgotten, at the thought of not doing it well enough and getting a terrible grade. He didn't do bad grades. He was busy rushing from his previous class to the library for research on is presentation, something he normally didn't do. A typical jock in most respects, Theo didn't rush or hurry around campus, he didn't duck his head, he strutted about with the rest of the untouchable sporty crew - no, not one of Shiloh's silly bitches despite being stuck with the very same as a dorm mate - but for this moment he was. So much so that as he hefted his backpack of books higher, he mis-judged the space between two students ahead. One of them knocked him, which in turn meant he knocked into the other. The bag dropped with a heavy thud from his arm. "Damn it." He muttered with a sigh, working hard to shove down that rare impatience as he bent to retrieve his stuff, sparing the other student a quick smile of apology. "Sorry." He might be a jock, but he wasn't an asshole.
"Damn it." He muttered with a sigh, working hard to shove down that rare impatience as he bent to retrieve his stuff, sparing the other student a quick smile of apology. "Sorry."
His books hit the floor and another time, he might've been overly pissed by it. But rather than being pissed off, he merely shrugged.
"It's fine," he said, popping down to pick up his books, "Happens."
And that was true, when there were hundreds of people funneling to and from classes in a hallway, bumping into people was normal. He glanced at the student; a face he didn't recognize. It shouldn't have surprised him any more and yet here he was surprised that there was someone he hadn't met. He frowned before shaking head - no way this one was involved in anything bad, he would've known that face if he was.
There was that moment, as always when these kinds of accidents happened, where Theo couldn't be sure on the reaction he would get. People often squared up to him just on the assumption that he was your typical Jock, which could make things unnecessarily tense. It was why his apology was so quick, accompanied with the smile. If he could slide that in quick enough, people paused for a second and changed their opinion - and then their attitude. It was his fault after all, why wouldn't he apologise and bend to fix his error? "It's fine, Happens." Theo gave a nod, offering over one of the fellow student's books with another brief smile of appreciation, collecting the rest of his and going to stand.
"What's being a couple minutes late to a class?" Theo straightened carefully enough so that he wouldn't end up knocking into somebody else on his ascent - being tall did have the odd disadvantage sometimes. He glanced at his watch with the mention of time and tried not to give too tight of a smile at the sight of it, "The library, actually, but it's all the same really isn't it." He admitted - time lost for the library wasn't as worrying as class, it just meant that he'd have that little less time there. "Sorry to have disrupted your journey," He added, "I'm Theo." As he didn't think he knew the guy, and the guy in turn seemed to be looking at Theo as if he was trying to figure out who he was.
"The library, actually, but it's all the same really isn't it."
"Sorry to have disrupted your journey," He added, "I'm Theo."
"I get that," Carmen nodded, "Much of a muchness."
Carmen couldn't help but shrug, his smile lop-sided as he offered a hand to shake, "Ah, it's nothing. Honest. I don't think the teachers are going to care too much. Nice to meet you Theo, I'm Carmen."
He wasn't even sure why he was going through the niceties if he was being honest with himself. He wasn't usually the sort that did 'nice' in such a formal manner, but here he was. Maybe it was to appear less threatening? Who knew, it would have to do until he could sit down and figure out what his brain was trying to do to him.
"I get that, Much of a muchness." Theo gave an easy smile at that and nodded, "very true," He agreed, the only difference really was that the library was more solitary learning than the classroom; using your own initiative to find the required books and the like. He preferred it, found it easier to crack on with things than the busy and sometimes disruptive setting of the classroom. As a jock,a lot of the others tried to pull him into their wise crack jokes and prank pulling to upset the teachers, but that wasn't Theo's aim in school - he had high expectations on himself and didn't like being an asshole, which made the dynamic sometimes difficult; though his friends knew him well enough now that they'd just roll their eyes at his 'no' and give it a rest.
He shifted the books in his hands in order to shake the one offered to him. He had no qualms about making new friends and acquaintances. "Ah, it's nothing. Honest. I don't think the teachers are going to care too much. Nice to meet you Theo, I'm Carmen." He smiled at that, a relaxed grin that had always come naturally to him - the kind that would get him in trouble if he was differently inclined. Instead, it seemed to win him friendship, and hearts he wasn't intending on keeping. "Nice to meet you Carmen," He always said someone's name back to them to make sure he hadn't fucked it up, and it helped him remember. He was good with faces, but made a point to remember everyone's - it made a difference to someone's day. "What class are you off to?" He asked, knowing he might be able to help him out if he knew what the guy was running late for; a short cut, either to class or with how to avoid trouble from the teacher.
Carmen chuckled and gave a slight bow, "Pleasure is all mine."
"What class are you off to?"
He straightened and shrugged a little, "Maths, oddly enough. Not that I care enough to really attend. Just one of those filler classes to make sure I can do numbers. I know you need to do some Maths for nursing, but I've got it down pat."
Which wasn't boasting as such, he was good at Maths - always had been - but attending the lectures for shit he didn't need really weren't the most appealing for the next hour or more.
Theo's brows rose just slightly at the small bow, but his lips twitched into another smile. Well at least the guy seemed good natured enough, he'd bumped into enough busy people over the years to have been met with less friendly responses... until they realised who he was and generally tended to back off. Not always the case, some people liked to puff their chests out and give it 'what for', but Theo wasn't interested in that behaviour and would roll his eyes and move on. But most knew his face - that was the thing with cliques in these kinds of places, everybody knew everybody if you were worth knowing. He didn't even particularly feel worth knowing but apparently everyone else did. "Pleasure is all mine." Theo gave a slight incline of his head in response, acknowledging his polite words.
"Maths, oddly enough. Not that I care enough to really attend. Just one of those filler classes to make sure I can do numbers. I know you need to do some Maths for nursing, but I've got it down pat." Theo chuckled a little at that, shifting the books in his hand again to make them easier to hold. "Don't you just love it - I think they just enjoy piling on as much on your plate as possible." He commented with shake of his head. He enjoyed his classes and he wanted to do well, but it was tough sometimes when it felt like they were throwing more than was necessary at you.
