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!.
He smiled automatically as the guy grinned, unable to help it - it seemed this stranger had one of those frustratingly infectious grins, forcing everyone else to smile when they saw it. Not that it was a problem or anything, Theo was a pretty friendly guy and he had no issues with people that were also open to a quick smile. "yeah, i've never understood that" Theo chuckled at that and gave a slight nod in understanding, "Oh so you're one of those people." He joked, as if it were a bad thing. He did see it from both sides, but he was too much of a perfectionist to let things go and it was hard to slow his brain down.
The quiet fell on them but Theo didn't find it uncomfortable, instead he took the moment to stretch it out a little. Perhaps that was enough for the morning anyway, it didn't matter, he hadn't set out with a specific plan anyway. "i guess you're one of the only ones on campus" Theo glanced around for a moment and then back to Mav with a raise of a brow. "That's not small talk for 'this is the perfect opportunity to murder you' is it?" He joked, he was pretty good at small talk most of the time, but only because he just didn't overthink things and spent a lot of time around people. "i'm ready to go again if you want someone to run with." Theo shrugged, "yeah sure, company is always nice." Sometimes he preferred his own thoughts but Mav seemed like a chilled out kind of person and he could always use more of that. "Set the pace and we'll see if I can handle it." He had good and bad days with running but he didn't like to set other people back -that was the great thing about a perfectionist, they never got in your way to be perfect - and if Mav was a quick runner, he didn't want to hold him back.
Theo didn't think about how spooky it might be for his voice to suddenly appear out of nowhere, he realised it when he saw the kid flinch, and immediately felt a flash of guilt. Nobody liked a jump scare when they weren't expecting it, especially at this time in the morning when you were in your own head - or he assumed at least. What else would someone be doing at this time in the morning out on their own; certainly not paying attention to the outside world. He noticed the movement of his hand and wondered briefly if he was hurt in some way. It wasn't his business to ask, he didn't know the kid and that kind of thing was a bit personal for stranger's small talk.
"hey." Well, at least he hadn't upset or pissed the guy off, so he had that going for him. Theo returned the smile with a quick one of his own, he recognised the kid but couldn't put a name immediately to the face. He was good at that kind of thing most of the time, unless he wasn't in the head space. "oh yeah, to much sitting on a couch and not enough cardio." Theo raised a brow slightly at that, the guy didn't particularly seem like a couch potato, but maybe it had something to do with the hand and the wince. "I think most people enjoy it that way around," He commented, swinging his arms a little to keep warm. "are you out here to run?" Theo nodded, glancing out at the track for a moment, "Yeah, I try and set the morning right with one if I can."
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.
"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.
He glanced at Jack as he flicked on a light, hearing the quiet of the house. Jack's house always seemed to be a peaceful place, and even when everyone was out there was a warmth about the place that felt comforting. Not that he had a terrible homelife, he guessed that was the kind of thing people felt when they had a bad home-life, it was just nice that it felt like that as a visitor. He always felt welcome, like if he had to go somewhere for help, he could go to Jack's. "I think so. . mums car was gone and dad's still at work." He hadn't noticed the driveway, but then he hadn't been thinking about it. "Or not. ." Theo gave an easy smile, having also suddenly heard some noises coming from the kitchen, and assuming it wasn't a burguler banging about in there making lunch.
He followed Jack into the kitchen, seeing a girl who he recognised as his friend's sister making something over the hob. "Hey Harps, whatcha making? Feel like making me and Theo some too?" He gave a quick smile and raised his hand in a hello, eyebrows raising slightly as she seemed startled and grated her fingers. Ouch. He hadn't thought they were being so quiet. Lads, but default, were generally not quiet. “Oh, hey – um, yeah – sure! I’m just making Gram’s mac ‘n cheese. You know those Midwesterners love their forty pounds of cheese and noodles. It’ll be a bit so hopefully, you’re not too starving right now?” Theo gave her a quick smile, "Mac and cheese sounds good to me, I'd be grateful for it. Thanks."
Theo liked to be up early. He had never been a great sleeper and even less now he was at University and he had assignments and readings and sports teams practices piling up and up and up. He was a control freak at the best of times, and overly critical of himself. He demanded only the best from himself, 110% at all times or he was not only letting himself down but his family and his teammates. There was no room for error and that meant he had a tight schedule to keep to. 4:30am might seem excessive to some, to those who parties their nights away. And indeed he even joined them when it was a particular party. He had to be seen to joining in with his teammates, it was good morale and it kept away the taunts or ribbing that he was a lightweight or boring. Reputation and all that really was everything. But his day started at 4.30. He liked routine and structure to his day and the best way to kickstart it was with exercise. It got the heart pumping, and the blood moving and then by the time he was done, showered and dressed then his brain was awake enough for homework.
Sometimes he went off campus for his morning run. The hills were excellent for cardio and he'd come up with a couple of good circuits to make his body work for his breakfast but a lot of the time he used the campus and worked on his HIIT. The track was perfect for sprinting and otherwise he found the flat and springy surface too easy for a general run for him to feel a good hard workout. He grabbed his water from the fridge, put in his earbuds and walked over to the track, slowly warming up on his way over. Usually he was the first one there, as by the time he was dressed and stretched and picking up his warm up pace, it was 5am and most students were still asleep. On occasion another sports team member would join him but usually not until the clock ticked toward 6am. It was why he was surprised to see a figure out on the track ahead of him. They were taking a moment to pause and as Theo picked up his light jog to get moving he frowned slightly, wondering if there was something wrong by the other person's posture. As he drew closer he saw it was a guy his own age who he vaguely recognised but didn't remember a name. Unusual for him too as he made a point of knowing everyone on campus to be friendly. He wasn't like the stereotype jocks you got on TV and silly teen movies. "Hey," he called out to the guy before he got too close, not wanting to scare him he had hadn't already heard him. "Are you okay?"
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.
I think you're bluffing and now you're shitting yourself because you've realised you're behind me. I wish you all the best in beating me, it'll never happen.
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.
Theo had had a pretty busy morning, but then again most of his mornings were busy. He had written himself a tight schedule, with almost every minute of his life organised efficiently. Some of his friends thought it was nuts when they saw his calendar, how he could spend so many hours a night on homework with his sports practices and everything else in between. Sleep was sometimes illusive for him and he occasionally found himself finishing projects at 3am instead anyway, which gave him a little more room in the day to play with; even as it felt like his eyelids were drooping down his face. Nobody ever thought he looked tired; in fact nobody had any idea that he was such a study freak unless they knew him well. That was how he liked it.
Tonight he'd squeezed in some socialising time - practice came first, but once that was done and they had showered, he'd grabbed his stuff and followed Jack back to his house. He had been here a few times; it was a nice place, typically American family type of house and very homely but he liked it. It was nice to get off campus sometimes too, and he put out of mind the amount of work he still had left to complete. It was tough, it needled at him, but tonight wasn't about that. He thought Jack might mention study and he did have his books, but he'd figured it was more going to be about hanging out and getting something to eat. Jack was good for Theo, he seemed to be able to remind him not to work too hard and to eat at the right times when he sometimes got stuck in his head. Theo was grateful for it. As they headed inside, he hung back and let his friend go first, noticing the silence that greeted them. "Is everyone out?"
GENDER: Dude AGE: Eighteen D.O.B: 9th May SEXUALITY: Bisexual - doesn't know it yet STATUS: Crushing PLAY-BY: Thomas Langhendries HEIGHT: 5ft11 HAIR: Dirty blonde EYES: Brown
"WE'RE BURNING THAT MIDNIGHT OIL, SO WHEN"
TATTOOS: None SCARS: None DRINK: Not really - uninterested SMOKE: Nope DRIVE: Learning GLASSES: Nope HOME: Hickstead, England BORN AND RAISED: Hickstead, England
"YOU'RE READY, TAKE OFF YOUR MASK, I NEED"
at first glance you'd think he had strict parents but the pressure he puts himself under all comes from internal, popular but doesn't care more for being it, a good egg, thoughtful and considerate, will always lend a hand to help, calm and quite centered on the outside but is actually quite a stress-head, internalises a lot and doesn't let people know when he's struggling, perfectionist but only with himself, is a worrier though doesn't show it, hard worker, pushes himself past the limit, competitive at sports, motivational with his team and will get stuck in with them, can get obsessive and hyper-focused/fixated and then struggles to come out of it, ridiculous strict and tough on himself sometimes to the point of beating himself up and punishing/restricting himself, bit of a control freak when it comes to his life and struggles to let go of it, not good at being spontaneous and though he will accept a challenge he will only go so far to prove it, patient and is good with kids; especially troubled kids.
LIKES: being prepared; not good with surprises , knowing everyone so they can feel included , studying , being on the field playing a match , winning - who doesn't, but is happy if the game was well played , helping his parents with foster kids , giving second chances , school holidays; so he had more time to study and can catch up on sleep , making people feel good about themselves , mending fences between people/setting them up , horses and riding , a good roast dinner DISLIKES: being anything less than perfect , getting a bad grade , pop up tests , people who only live to party , party games - truth or dare/spin the bottle etc , sterotypes , bullies , losing a sports game; but is generally a good sport , unsportsmanlike behaviour or sore losers/people that don't play fair , getting things wrong - will beat himself up about it , driving; finds it stressful but has passed his test , spicy food STRENGTHS: hard worker, always knuckles down and will do his best to be the best , leading people; he's a good captain and team leader , perfectionist; he'll never give less than 100% , good with troubled kids; has a way of drawing them out their shell WEAKNESSES: food - on and off has an eating disorder , control; unable to let go of it , dares - the only time he might cross a line or be anything less than perfect , overly tough on himself to the point of obsessive at times, can then miss out on things by being restrictive FEARS: failing , letting his parents or his team down , not being able to have kids like his parents struggled SECRETS: has an eating disorder
"EVERYTHING FOR THIS TO LAST, I WANT A LOVE"
STATUS IN SOCIETY: Middle Class OCCUPATION: Student - Business & Sports part time Luna Lounge busboy EXPERTISE: Sports - particularly Rugby, Football and Cricket WEALTH: Moderate PROUDEST MOMENT: It would be hard to pin down his proudest moment, he is often not proud of himself - always striving to be better. If he had to chose then probably being made Captain at his new University. MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: His first failing grade, it was in Science and he'd studied hard but it wasn't his strongest subject. He felt like he'd let everyone down and struggled not to get upset with himself for it.
"WHERE MY HEART CAN STAND, COME SHOW ME"
FATHER(S): Joshua William Buchanan - fifty - Head Teacher MOTHER(S): Jessica Jody Bucanan - fourty-seven - riding instructor STEP-PARENT(S): None OTHER HALF: Sort of crushing on MAVERICK THOMAS BRECKAH SIBLINGS: None CHILDREN: None
Theo's childhood is nothing to write home about. He was born to your run of the mill one mum, one dad family in a two up, two down house. He was born the only child, though his parents tried for another baby in the years following his birth, the closest they ever got was a miscarriage during the second trimester, and after that they didn't seem able to conceive at all. In the end, they looked at adopting, and then from that it rolled around to fostering. Both parents had stable jobs with stellar records, and their son was doing well, there was no reason for them not to foster. They had been lucky enough to have at least one child of their own and whilst they would love to have more via adoption they thought they liked the idea of temporarily helping, until the children could move on to their permanent homes.
It meant that Theo had a revolving door of temporary brothers and sisters growing up, but he didn't mind. It was tough at times, some kids were troubled - volatile at times, or took up much of his parents attention, so he worked hard instead to be perfect. He wanted to be the one they could rely on, they could trust and be proud of and know that he would never do anything wrong. He put a lot of pressure on himself, and in school knuckled down to get as perfect grades as he could, forgoing parties and the invites to go out, turning down the opportunities to date when he hit his teenage years. He could have gone another route and ended up as a geek or a nerd, however his love for sport and physical exercise meant that he was named Captain of a couple of the university school teams, putting him firmly into the jock group. He never cared much for being popular, and though he was happy to sit with the top lot of the school and date the head cheerleader, he didn't like bullying and made a point of standing up for the 'little people', being friends with everyone and making sure to know everyone's names.
Theo always had a clear plan of what he wanted to achieve in life. He wanted to go to uni on a sports scholarship to help take the worry of money off his parents, and he wanted to pair it with something practical for a decent job once he finished. He passed his GCSE's in the top percent of his class, and then his A Levels, and is just heading off to the local university as a Business and Sports student.
PETS
--
THE STORY SO FAR
credit for this application goes to xxx.alix.xxx of caution 2.0