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!.
I’d always thought I was above being fascinated by anyone but myself.
Sage Lavigne couldn't believe that the day was finally - first day on the job. He had gotten the low down over the phone from his boss, and Sage had been to Blue Arces enough to know the in's and out's of the place as a visitor, but he figured there was more to it as an employee. His parents had surprised him with the purchase of a horse recently, who would be arriving soon from the Sale Yard, or maybe already had, truth be told, Sage hadn't been tracking the situation that much.
He knew that he should be thankful that he was the son of two ranked equestrians, that they could afford to give him a half decent show stallion, and yet, Sage remained to have parental issues over it. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise him that even though he was convinced he got this groom position to Naomi Clarke on his own that they didn't have something to do with it behind his back. How he loathed them merely because they weren't around when he was growing up, and now they thought they could just meddle in his affairs like it was nothing. But that didn't matter to Sage, all what mattered that he was going to beat them one of these days.
With that resolution burning in his mind, Sage walked through the grounds now and headed straight to the office. Blue eyes took in the space once he entered, reminding him of all of Naomi Clarke's accomplishments over her equestrian career between the trophies, rossettes, and winning pictures of her horses. Sage knew the woman had another rider or two working underneath her - two women - but as far as he was concerned, he would get to the top of selected riders for Naomi's horses. Shockingly, Naomi's gatekeeper, Sofia Papaioannou, wasn't at her desk, something Sage relished as he moved towards the closed door. Upon hearing typing behind it, he knocked and pushed the door open, "Ms. Clarke. It's Sage Lavigne. Your new groom."
Naomi read through the email from the owner of a stallion she had asked to cover a couple of her mares, her brows dipped as she tried to work out what the person was trying to say, or rather why the person was trying to charge her double the agreed price for the use to the stud. She closed her eyes as she drew in a deep breath through her nose and exhaled just as slowly through pursed lips. Clicking on the reply button, she began to type out a response, telling the person that she now was no longer interested in his, or his stud's, services, and she hoped he had a lovely day, each press of the key gave away her frustration, making her pleased that Sofia at said she was going to be away from her desk.
Her brow furrowed at the sound of a knock on the door, though the voice that followed the know brought a smile to her face before the door finished opening, and she clicked send. "Welcome, Sage." She said, her voice warm and welcoming, as she turned her attention away from the email. "Please, call me Naomi, everyone else does around here." Well, almost everyone, but she wasn't going to get into semantics. "Have a seat." She motioned to the two guest chairs opposite her desk. "And tell me a bit about yourself." She knew about the young man, but she liked to hear what people thought of themselves, allowing them to preen their own feathers so to speak.
I’d always thought I was above being fascinated by anyone but myself.
"Naomi," Sage said out loud, rolling the name off of his tongue and lips, "I think I can handle that." Still, he hovered in the doorway of her office, blue eyes staring at the woman before him. She was warm and welcoming, a far cry from his parents. It was strange, given that Naomi Clarke was on same footing as them, but the young man supposed that even in the Equestrian World, there were high ranking people who weren't complete snobs. As Naomi motioned to the two guest chairs in front of her desk, Sage supposed he should probably step inside her domain now.
He crossed the threshold, and when he wasn't struck by lightening, Sage continued his way to those chairs. As he slid into them silently, Naomi Clarke then asked the deadliest question known to man: "And tell me a bit about yourself." Blue eyes locked with hers, how he hated this question. It was always a trap. The young man stalled, leaning back in his chair and shifting, as if he were attempting to get comfortable, when really he was trying to figure out the best way at not coming off as a dick. Unfortunately, Sage Lavigne didn't know how to do that, so he went for simple, "I can stay in the saddle and ride whatever you throw at me, ma'am," he managed now, "Without complaining, of course." Not to her face at least.
Naomi gave an amused smile as it seemed to take Sage a bit before he stepped into her office. A single eyebrow arched at his reply and she rolled her eyes, as it was an answer she expected from teenagers who wanted to ride, but hadn't ridden very much before. However, the young man's resume told her everything she wanted to know, but she wanted to hear all that info from him. "Okay, so you have a bum made of glue. Well done." She gave a soft smile. "Give me some more information about what got you into riding, what kind of riding you've done and where you want to see your riding taking you, and, most importantly, what is it about horses that you enjoy the most?" The answer to her last question really meant the most to her, as it was the why that people spent so much time around horses.