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!.
Leo chuckled to himself as he finished setting up his latest prank; it was a good one and it was undoubtedly going to get him into a shit tonne of trouble - but it was worth it. Everyone seemed a little down recently, and he'd actually been on his best behaviour after the barn fire because it was like a mourning period; despite the luck that nobody had been seriously hurt. It was time to perk everyone back up, to bring back some normalcy to the world by pranking an unsuspecting member of Blue Acre.
It was a relatively simple plan, and 100% juvenile to boot, but he thought that might be what people needed. He knew he was going to get yelled at - but he couldn't help but help but feel that it would bring a little smile to their face for things to go back to how they were. He was hiding up in the hay loft, casually slung in one of the comfy seats near the back so he could watch the whole thing pan out. In his hand, he held a string - and at the other end of the string, balanced high on a beam, was a bucket of ice cold water, balancing precariously.
To add to it, he'd done that age old favourite of a second bucket, the other string in his spare hand, belancing on another beam just after the water. That bucket was full of glitter. It was going to make an awful, awful mess, and there would probably be glitter forever in the hay barn - but he had deliberately not done it over the hay, and well, at least there'd be a memento of Leo every time someone found another piece of the stuff.
Nat yawned as he headed up to the hayloft, shaking his head to remove the tiredness. He knew that taking on two jobs in one place would work him hard, but once he was used to it, it wouldn't wear on him so much. However, at the moment with the upkeep of the property - even the basics of weeding - and riding half a dozen horses was making him feel like he'd been through the wringer.
At the top of the stairs, he was wondering if he should have left his boots on, but guessed that getting a little hay on his socks wasn't the worst thing that could happen today, and right now, he had fifteen minutes to himself and he wasn't going to spend them in steel-capped boots. He glanced out the window, he could almost feel the distance between himself and Dylan, which wasn't that much really, and after their whole life together in the same house, it felt strange for them to have so much distance between them even if it was only for eight hours a day. He was wondering, again, if he could convince her to ride here.
He heard the footsteps on the stairs and grinned, unable to help but feel that surge of excitement he always did when he was about to surprise someone with a nice little interjection to their day. Sure, it might not seem like the nicest of surprises - it was a bit cold for the water to be an option, but how else would he make sure the glitter stuck? Glue seemed a bit too harsh, and he could at least offer the victim a towel or two to dry off with. Not really sure what to do about the glitter bomb he was about to create though; a hover perhaps? There was a quiet moment, just before the stranger appeared in his line of vision, where he considered this might be one of his less bright ideas. Then the victim came into view and it was too late.
They looked preoccupied, which was the perfect opportunity for Leo. He released his hold on bucket number one, watching it teeter and then tilt, water slooshing over the sides. It went a little off kilter, a majority of the water missing his intended target damn it, but a fair amount of it shot straight down as the bucket finally went over completely. Phase two. Leo released the second bucket and it swung down, a little slower than the water with how much less it weighed. The glitter poofed out, showering down on the individual.. .and then somewhat everywhere else too. "Ah woops," Leo muttered at the complete state of the place. That had not been intended... but at least it had kind of worked. He let out a loud burst of laughter and popped up from his hiding place - no need to stay hidden, time to face the music. "Surprise! You are our 1000 customer! Congratulations!!"
Nat paused as he heard a noise above him, but didn't think anything of it, as he was in a barn, and there were always noises here. What if it was a rat? Before he could think any further along that line, he was soaking wet and the cold water was enough to make him draw in a sharp breath. He started coughing as his mouth filled with some kind of powder. "Surprise! You are our 1000 customer! Congratulations!!" He coughed, spitting out the sparkling dust. Wait, sparkling dust?
His brow rose as he looked down at his clothes and the floor around him, everything sparkled like the fancy saddle pads some of the girls at their old yard owned. Freaking glitter! "I get paid to be here, not the other way around." He returned. "Which means you picked the wrong person." He looked down at himself again. "I look like a unicorn has thrown up over me." He was going to need to have a shower, and a human-sized lint roller, before he returned to work. His eyebrow rose as he looked at the man who had appeared, appraising him for a moment. "I'm Nat." He offered with a smile as he held out his hand.
He couldn't help but laugh at the state of the guy, even more so when the guy coughed and a blast of glitter blew out from his open lips. Okay, perhaps he shouldn't have been laughing at that; choking hazard and all, but Leo had never been entirely appropriate with these kinds of situations. He didn't recongise his victim, which he supposed could have been a bad thing - it wasn't a member of staff he'd met before at least, perhaps a newbie? The perfect time to meet the stables rival in that case! Leo's grin was someone victorious, but meant no maliciousness as he stepped forward, deliberately not looking at the mess he had no doubt would be his issue later to clean up when his sister got hold of his neck.
"I get paid to be here, not the other way around." An interesting response, and not seemingly an angry one at that either - was he in some kind of shock? He had been right though, a new staff member. This was going to be fun. "Well then it's your lucky day," He shrugged, though the only prize he had was a few more packets of glitter. Which might not be appreciated right now. "Which means you picked the wrong person." Leo shrugged and wrinkled his nose a little, "Nah, no such thing - anyone will do!" He wasn't fussy when it came to the victims of his pranks, though it did put him into the shit more with certain people. Pot luck was interesting. It kept him on his toes and made sure he was still tip-top at running and hiding. "I look like a unicorn has thrown up over me." Leo laughed again. "Yes, but it suits you!" He stepped forward to shake the offered hand a little skeptically, wondering if this was a ploy to get glitter all over him too. "I'm Nat." "Nice to meet you Nat, I'm Leo. You may have been warned about me," He considered it for a second, "You should have been warned about me."
"Well then it's your lucky day," Nat quirked a brow, not feeling particularly lucky right now. "Nah, no such thing - anyone will do!" The other brow rose to meet the first and he looked at the ground around him. "You realise that Cara's going to kill you?" He'd met her while exercising the horses, and had been told by the stablehands that she liked to keep the place meticulously tidy.
"Yes, but it suits you!" He pulled a face, knowing that he'd still be trying to get glitter out of his hair for the next week and Dyl was going to have way too much fun with this. "Nice to meet you Nat, I'm Leo. You may have been warned about me, You should have been warned about me." He gave a knowing smile as he shook Leo's hand. "Yes, I have been warned about you. A warning I passed onto my sister, since she rides at your place." He replied as he pulled the man forward and gave him a hug. The bible was big on teaching you to love thy neighbour, plus, if he was going to be covered in glitter, at least he now wasn't the only one. He stepped back, pleased with his caring and sharing attitude. "It's nice to be able to put a face to the name." He leaned forward and scrummed his hand through his wet hair, sending glitter flying though came away with his hands and wrists completely covered now.
Leo gave a sheepish grin at the raising of Nat's brows, doing his very best to give his innocent look. He was very good at it, he'd perfected it over the years and it had gained a 88% success rate. That might be exaggerating things a little, especially when it came to bringing Lily into the equation, but without her he was sure it'd be 99%... Nobody made it to 100, he wasn't unrealistic. "You realise that Cara's going to kill you?" Leo pursed his lips in consideration for a moment at the young woman and her surprisingly fierce expression and then shrugged, Lily's angry face swimming into view in place of Cara's. "I'll take my chances." He said with an accompanying confident nod.
Leo grinned again as Nat took his hand and shook it. He always appreciated a good sport, it made things all the more fun. Well done to the lad for taking the glitter on the chin. Literally. "Yes, I have been warned about you. A warning I passed onto my sister, since she rides at your place." Leo laughed and nodded again. "That's a fair warning to give. I hope to run into her at some poin-" and then he was caught unawares and pulled forward into a hug. He made a noise of surprise as he automatically reached out to steady himself by grabbing on to Nat. Glitter immediately met his palms and he grimaced, feeling the grind of glitter on his shirt too. Well that served him damn right. "It's nice to be able to put a face to the name." Leo laughed and patted the lad on the back as he released himself, looking down at the mess he now also contained. "Fair play to you, nicely done." He admitted with a hearty laugh.
"I'll take my chances." Nat gave a low whistle and shook his head in sympathy for the other man. "Yeah, good luck with that." He grinned, mostly because he knew, from the talk of the barn, that Naomi was fiercely protective of Cara, and he wouldn't want to get on Naomi's bad side.
"That's a fair warning to give. I hope to run into her at some poin-" Nat chuckled as he stepped back, mission accomplished. "Fair play to you, nicely done." He gave an exaggerated bow, before bending over and shaking like a wet dog, brushing his hands vigorously through his hair to try and remove most of it. After all, the floor was already covered in the stuff, he was just adding to the mess, not making one. "As for the case of my sister, I have no doubt that you'll meet at some point. She would have done something like that, should our lives have been... different." He frowned as he thought about what he'd just said. "Maybe her and you would be a bad combination, I doubt she needs your kind of... influence." The Williams siblings were slowly finding themselves, and while he was straight and narrow, it seemed that Dylan was more of the troublemaker kind of person - even while keeping top marks with her uni classes.
He headed over to the counter and washed the glitter from his hands, cupping water in his now clean palms and dropping it over the faucet to clean it of any stray sparkly bits he'd put there, and then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "Cookie?" He asked as he grabbed the biscuit container and opened it, holding it out to Leo.
"Yeah, good luck with that." Leo chuckled, knowing he must have seemed either moronic or just very very brave and he shrugged, his grin a little wry. "I'm guessing you must have met my sister, Lily, by now? I grew up facing that scary bossy boots, ain't nothing gonna put the fear of God in me worse than she can." Though he could admit he'd met a few that had come close. Perhaps it was just the family connection, or the triplet connection, or perhaps it was just Lily herself that was terrifying as he wasn't the first to believe it, but who could tell. He inclined his head in response to the bow, one fellow recognising another with respect.
He began attempting to dust off some of the mess, but it was a hopeless case, and all he did was transfer some of the glitter from his shirt to his palm. Well damn. "As for the case of my sister, I have no doubt that you'll meet at some point. She would have done something like that, should our lives have been... different." Leo raised a brow, wondering where that thought of Nat's was going exactly. It sounded like perhaps him and his sister didn't have the easiest of histories. "Maybe her and you would be a bad combination, I doubt she needs your kind of... influence." He chuckled at that, wriggling his eyebrows jokingly. "Oh well in that case she seems right up my alley - I do loooove to influence." He laughed heartily, knowing that those words often put the sense of horror in people.
Leo following Nat, keen to at least free his hands from glitter, and not thinking about the rest of it for now. He didn't even notice that a little puddle of glitter with every step he took. "Cookie?" He grinned and nodded, like the big kid he was, reaching in with now clean hand and taking one. Just the one, which was incredibly restrained for him. He hesitated with it almost to his lips. "This isn't retaliation is it? Some salt cookies or something just incase you need to get someone back for something?"
"I'm guessing you must have met my sister, Lily, by now? I grew up facing that scary bossy boots, ain't nothing gonna put the fear of God in me worse than she can." Nat shook his head, though he frowned a little as he wondered why people talked about the fear of God, it was fire and brimstone they were taught to fear, if they went against the teachings of the bible, not to fear the Almighty himself. He shook his head as he returned to the here and now. "No, Sir. Unlike like my sister, this place is pretty much the only place I go between where we live and the store."
"Oh well in that case she seems right up my alley - I do loooove to influence." Nat laughed and shook his head, knowing that this could be the start of something terrible. "Just... don't influence her too much." He shrugged, the last thing he needed was his twin to think it was fun to drop buckets of glitter on unsuspecting people.
"This isn't retaliation is it? Some salt cookies or something just incase you need to get someone back for something?" Nat burst out laughing as he took a biscuit himself and broke it in half easily. "Trust me. If I made this, it would be the weight of a brick and work well as hockey puck." He shrugged, not at all ashamed in his lack of backing abilities. "Where we grew up, females did all the cooking and cleaning and worked and kept the yard tidy." The fact that they were here so that Dylan could get a degree in business management would have them both strapped, if their grandmother ever found them. "Dyl tried to teach me to bake, and the result would have ended with us both needing a visit to the dentist."
He caught the frown but didn't think anything of it, making the assumption that Nat might have been trying to place whether he'd met Lily before or not. "No, Sir. Unlike like my sister, this place is pretty much the only place I go between where we live and the store." His eyebrows rose at that, surprised. "You should get out more," He realised that it probably didn't sound the way he meant it and he pulled a face, "I mean that, the town's pretty decent, you should get out for a drink or something, ya know?" He suggested, knowing he'd probably then find out the guy is a non drinker anyway so it's a moot point - though the bar did do nice mocktails too, he'd tried a few when the girls had been pregnant.
Leo quirked a brow at Nat's laugh, his own lips turning upward without permission. "Just... don't influence her too much." At that, he grinned full force. "I won't promise, but I'll try my very best?" he suggested with an innocent look - or as innocent as Leo was able to manage. He hadn't met the woman yet, that he knew of anyway, so who knew if or when the opportunity would present itself regardless. He doubted he'd even know who his sister was unless she had a particular likeness to him or introduced herself and it struck a reminder in him.
The laugh made Leo chuckle a little, he liked the guy, he seemed friendly enough especially having walked into one of Leo's traps. "Trust me. If I made this, it would be the weight of a brick and work well as hockey puck." He nodded thoughtfully at that and took a cookie, it was a valid point and not one he would have considered, given he could barely cook pasta. "Just checking, most people aren't quite as gracious when they get stuck in one of my pranks - not unless it's revenge." He joked, though he had to admit some people were better than others. "Where we grew up, females did all the cooking and cleaning and worked and kept the yard tidy. Dyl tried to teach me to bake, and the result would have ended with us both needing a visit to the dentist." Leo nodded in understanding, chewing a mouthful of cookie with an appreciative noise. "So you definitely didn't make these then? Because they're amazing." He took another bite, trying to remember to chew before he spoke. "I can't lie, our house is the same anyway, none of us men can cook, or not as well as the girls anyway, and certainly not me. Cook up a prank, that's more my thing."
"You should get out more," Nat shrugged. "I mean that, the town's pretty decent, you should get out for a drink or something, ya know?" He grinned and shrugged again. "I've never had a drink... an alcoholic one anywho." Once said, he wondered if that was something he probably shouldn't have mentioned but it was too late now. "And, between exercising horses and working as a groundskeeper here, I like heading home at the end of the day and crashing." Plus, he liked keeping to himself, the less people that saw him, the less people there were to mention meeting him and the less chance of word making its way back to where they had run from.
"I won't promise, but I'll try my very best?" His brow arched as he tried to work out how much of this man's word he should believe and he shrugged. "I'm thinking that I should be having this discussion with my sister." Not that she would take any more heed to his warning than Leo was, as she'd just remind him that he wasn't her keeper.
"Just checking, most people aren't quite as gracious when they get stuck in one of my pranks - not unless it's revenge." Nat grinned and bowed. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." At least that was one of the nicer scriptures, and the ones on revenge were all about the wrath of god, and he wasn't going there. "So you definitely didn't make these then? Because they're amazing." He laughed and shook his head. "There's a fresh box here every morning." He offered, and the sugar hit from whatever was in the box was a great way to start the day, and they were so much sweeter than what Dylan knew how to make. "I can't lie, our house is the same anyway, none of us men can cook, or not as well as the girls anyway, and certainly not me. Cook up a prank, that's more my thing." Nat's brows shot up, though part of him was pleased that how they were raised was a relative normality for people that were... well... normal.
He walked over and sat on one of the armchairs, only thinking about the glitter after it was too late to do anything about it. "Why the pranks?" He asked, genuinely curious about the why.
"I've never had a drink... an alcoholic one anywho." Leo raised his brows, unable to help the surprise on his face. As an avid drinker, he couldn't imagine a life without it - despite how he'd seen the things it did to people; like his father. "Any particular reason or just in need of a drinking buddy?" He asked, a little hint that he could potentially be that buddy. He had nothing against people who didn't drink, surprisingly he respected them for it, but he couldn't help but be nosey and ask why not. "And, between exercising horses and working as a groundskeeper here, I like heading home at the end of the day and crashing." Leo frowned a little, he understood the appeal, but he was also very much a people person and he found being around other people weirdly relaxing. "Well, if you ever find a spare moment and want someone to take you out for an OJ, let me know..." He offered with a quick grin.
Leo tried to keep on his very best smile, so that Nat would know he wasn't trying to be a tool, but that sometimes it just sort of happened. "I'm thinking that I should be having this discussion with my sister." He laughed a little at that and gave a sheepish grin. "I wish you the best of luck with that." and he honestly meant it too, because his sister had had the same conversation with him very many times and it had made not an inch of difference. He laughed again at the bow, finding his day having improved for the joking back and forth with this new found friend. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Leo tilted his head curiously, "Bible talk?" He asked, kindly switching out the word 'babble' that he had at least the presence of mind to realise that would be offensive.
"There's a fresh box here every morning." He tried not to look too shifty as he glanced to the box, stuffing the rest of the cookie in his mouth. "Every morning you say..." he mused, wondering whether he could manage to get in and out without being seen for the sake of the cookies. How many could he get away with taking too? Would it be too much to prank every day? Even he might struggle with that one, the ideas would probably run thin soon enough. Maybe he should come once a week and take the whole box - would anyone accuse him of being the cookie thief? It took him a minute to notice Nat had gone off to sit down, and he followed suit, thoughts still stuck on food. "Why the pranks?" Leo blinked and brough himself back to the present. "Oh that?" He shrugged, "just a bit of fun, keeps me out of mischief, believe it or not." He was a natural trouble maker, and he got bored easily, if it wasn't this, it would be something else - like the bar fights he somehow found himself in every now and then too. Really though it all came back to being a kid, when he used to pull stupid shit to entertain his siblings and make them laugh, drawing them away from the misery of household life or what their father had just been up to - and he'd just never grown out of it. Even when people didn't find it funny anymore.
"Any particular reason or just in need of a drinking buddy?" Nat pulled a face, trying to work out how to word his answer so he didn't sound like he was part of a cult. "We never had any in the house as we grew up, were homeschooled until we... uh, left. So really never had the encouragement from peers, as I hear most people get into drinks." There were also lectures as they grew up about the sins their mother had committed with alcohol and drugs, but that was a story for another day... like never. "Well, if you ever find a spare moment and want someone to take you out for an OJ, let me know..." He smiled and shrugged. "I might take you up on that offer, some day." Though was this the kind of person he wanted to go out drinking with? God only knew!
His brows quirked at the laugh. "I wish you the best of luck with that." He laughed too, knowing that he'd need a lot of luck trying to talk any sense into his sister. Dylan often forgot that only a couple of hours separated their ages, not years - as she seemed to think at times, and then she still did as she wanted. "Bible talk?" He shrugged. "It's a very long story." Was all he offered.
"Every morning you say..." He laughed and shook his head, he could almost see the wheel turning in the man's head. "Yup, every morning. Someday's there are two boxes, one with sweet things and the other with savoury. And no two days are alike." It really made up for the fact that they couldn't bake. Dylan was great at cooking and cleaning, but her skills as a pastry chef sucked. There again, Nat could burn a pot of water, so he really couldn't comment about his sister's skills. "Oh that? just a bit of fun, keeps me out of mischief, believe it or not." Nat sat back with a frown, his hands moving as he tried to mentally work through what the other man had said. "You create mischief to stay out of mischief? Okay." He laughed and shook his head, and not for the first time did he wonder what his life would be like if they have grown up in a "normal" home.
