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!.
“It sounds like they will need some adjusting later, since their teacher is pregnant and will pop soon! Congratulations to the new mum.” Elaene often wondered what her life would be like if she had a better pregnancy experience. She was riddled with fear with Fionn. It took way too long for her to get some kind of help. Granted, at least she got help.
“How lovely! I think students often enjoy that. Gives them an outlet more than they think it does.” It’s probably why journaling and poetry were popular. Sometimes speaking was harder than a pen and paper. “Shakespeare is a hit or miss. I do enjoy seeing the plays though, Tempest is one of my chosen ones. Does the school offer theatre here?” Elaene inquired.
“That is true,” Elaene laughed. “Children, no matter their age – always seemed to make a mess somehow.” Even though Fionn and Michael were adults now, there were still times that she felt like she was reminding them to clean up after themselves. Maybe it was the fact that she would continue to be a parent until she died. However, the mud pies and playing tag were always a welcomed sight.
She was thankful that her lunch wasn’t something that needed a lot of refrigeration. But also, the new lunch box had proved itself worthy of being a good one. Elaene took a seat and opened her lunch kit. It wasn’t anything special. A spinach tortilla wrap, encasing hummus, falafel, lettuce, and pickled onions.
“The class wasn’t as bad as I thought!” Elaene replied, squirting some hand sanitizer into her palms. “It did take me some time to adjust to what they were learning, and for them to adjust to me. I think they were expecting some math sheets and downtime. How was yours?”
“Ah, of course! I’m Mrs. Murphy, but you can call me Elaene. It looks like we’re just missing a few assignments, that’s all.” Well, there were a few tests that were missed – but she wasn’t about to make the hidden guilt worse. Also, the book wasn’t one of her favorites – but she wasn’t about to voice that out loud.
“So, Nash...that’s quite an awesome name. It’s unique! Is there anything that you’ve found yourself struggling a bit more in math class? Anything that your teacher explains but you just haven’t found the right way to approach it yet?” Elaene was prepared to be either shut down or something along the lines. But she wanted to give Nash the feeling of being able to present himself the way he wanted. Even if it was an aloof teen who didn’t think school counted for anything. “Minimum 45 minutes. But we can go longer if needed.”
“Oh, awesome, thanks!” Elaene smiled. “Beth? Nice to meet you. I’m Elaene, math cover.” She followed alongside the other woman, happy that the first person she found was kind enough. However, she had an inkling of a feeling most of the teachers here would be helpful. There was always that one person that seemed to hate being around, but they were often in their goblin hole, with their door closed. Or chaperoning the lunchroom of students.
It didn’t take long for the pair to get to the lounge. But Elaene made sure to find some landmarks and remember them, so it would be easier for her later. “Wow, it is a lot larger and nicer than some of the other ones I’ve been in. It looks...somewhat new?”
“Oh, excellent! And how are you enjoying that?” Elaene asked, taking a glance at the book she put on the table. It was a basic one, that almost every school seemed to have. At least it was colorful, compared to some of the so-called adult ones.
“Me? No, Daphne. I’m what you call a traveling teacher!” she smiled, brightly. Sounded more fun than a tutor. “So,” she started. “What percentiles have you gone up to? Can you tell me…what twenty-five percent of one-hundred is?” While that question could be considered easy to answer, Elaene knew not everyone learned at the same pace.
Elaene lifted her eyebrow when the young man introduced himself. He was aloof, and it would be a bit of a challenge. But Elaene was ready for it. “Well, that’s a good teacher – isn’t it?” she gave him a soft smile. Maybe her view of a good teacher was different than others. Usually, when a student was guided to excel and better themselves – that was a good sign. Hopefully.
“How about we see what you’re working on and what you're so-called behind on?” She had a good idea, as she got some of the curriculum from the math teacher. Elaene was surprised at how much Nash was missing, but she wasn’t going to admit that she knew what was going on.
So Elaene had one of Shaun’s kids. Interesting. It wasn’t her first choice, but she came recommended – so there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Maybe it was a way to understand and get to know her nephews. For the sake of privacy and ease, she took Nash after school. Better than her home or his home, since she didn’t think Shaun would appreciate her coming into his home. Despite giving her verbal permission to do so.
It didn’t take long for the school day to kind of teeter towards the end of the day and Elaene found herself in one of the spare rooms of the school. She had a spread of things in front of herself, to help break things down – but it would all depend on what her student was working on. She was nervous but was ready. Elaene was a professional after all. Family, or not.
The door creaked open and Elaene saw a young man, that definitely was a mix of Shaun and Tracee. "Nash, correct?" she asked, calmly with a soft smile. "Please, come in!"
“Now why would I do that?” she asked. “Blaming you is the last of my worries. I escaped when I could and I got out. Our siblings…they can rot with whatever poison oak is up their ass.” Elaene rolled her eyes, but she knew she needed to hold back the comments. It wasn’t the time to talk about them. It was about being a safe person for the family she cared about and wanted to be in her life.
“Yeah, there are times I think she only stayed in touch with me so she could relay the failures. But I’ve learned to just say I’m alive, and that’s it. But I think it’s time I cut her off for good…” Elaene didn’t know why she was still hanging on the thread of hope. Maybe it was because her mother did her best when Elaene was growing up. There were still happy memories before the crazy father happened.
She quirked an eyebrow at his response when it came to his son’s. Her curiosity peaked, but Elane kept quiet. “Raising kids…it’s always a battle, but there’s always wins and losses. I think once things settle down, everyone will be in a better mindset.” She didn’t have a partner who died in a tragedy, leaving her hanging to care for a lot of boys.
“You’re correct, I’m glad that I healed as well as I did. Though, I feel guilty that Pat quit her dream job to care for me. Which is one of the reasons why I’m here. She found a job that she wanted, and I couldn’t say no to her – when she already sacrificed so much.” Elaene rested her head on her left palm. Maybe life worked in weird ways, and it was giving her a good streak for a bit.
“Is that so? Well, I guess I should try to open my inner thesaurus,” she replied, trying to lighten the mood. “Good to know. Though, I don’t want to cross any boundaries. Keith only tells me things that he thinks are okay to share. Don’t know if that means anything or not.”
“But the invitation is the same for you. Granted, I live in the city – so it might be more of a trek. Our house is still under a lot of redecoration. I’m told I need to not get too involved since the stress might undo all the hard work put into me,” she snorted.
“I’m not blaming you, Shaun,” she replied, with the same edge. “At least you were to escape and not deal with Dad’s rant on religion. They told me I got possessed by the devil when I got pregnant.” If her eyes could roll all the way to the past, they would. “If anything, I envy that you were able to get out as fast as you did.” If Elaene was to stay any longer than she had, there was a chance she wouldn’t be here now. If the so-called exorcism wouldn’t kill her, the back-alley abortion would’ve. But there is no point in explaining her trauma to her brother. They all had their own issues. Well, mainly Shaun and Elaene. The others…she would hex them if she could.
She let out a soft sigh, before rubbing her eyelids with her fingers. “I’m aware…Keith told me.” She wasn’t going to say that he could’ve told her first, over his biological family. “I chewed mom out over it. There are times I want to believe she’s a victim too…but I think the idea of giving herself a bad name is scaring her into staying.” Elane looked at her older brother with kind eyes. Out of the siblings, she appeared to have healed a bit more than the rest. “If your sons thought that...would’ve they stayed with you? I mean, they’re still around and talking to you. None of them have outright cut you out, right?”
There wasn’t a moment that Elaene believed that her brother was truthful in his statement about his shoulder. But it was something she would let slide. “Yeah, nothing like a staph infection wreaking havoc on a valve – so you need to get a life-altering surgery at 40.”
Elaene took another sip of her coffee and switched which leg was crossed over to the other side. “Maybe it is the string of trauma, but twenty years later, is better than never. If we’re going to live this close, might as well get used to it. Our kids are going to start asking questions…and lying isn’t in my forte.”
“Yeah, you made that pretty clear when you left first.” She didn’t fault him, but she resented him a little bit. Mainly since Shaun had left, home life was far from bearable. It was probably why she and Keith were able to connect as well as they were. She had run into him when he was in London. It was like some string between the two, signaling them they were related.
“It’s okay. I don’t think he would know what to do either. He’s met a few of his cousins from what I hear.” Elaene tilted her head at his comment about being a bad father and she made a soft scoff. “As long as you’re not becoming dad, I think you’re fine. You seem to have proven that you have an ounce of care?” Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best comment. But Dad was living a piece of hell and that’s all she knew.
“Well, that makes the both of us. A busted shoulder and an open-heart surgery aren’t exactly comparable...”
“I don’t expect anything further than this conversation. But I just wanted to see how things were going. I’m glad you’re at least still kicking.” And that was true. “I just don’t see myself avoiding you forever, does that make sense?”
Elaene wanted to smack him, but instead – she walked over and placed his coffee in front of him, before taking a seat. She crossed her legs and leaned back – signaling a relaxed position. No threat, no need to be so uptight. “Tá a fhios agat an freagra.You know the answer. Which son is the black sheep?” Keith was fully aware that Elaene would throw him under the bus and had given her permission to. It was as if he was expecting it.
“Well, not like you reached out to me either. The one brother that I hoped would,” Elaene added. “I’m only here because I almost died.” It was better to get straight to the point. “My wife insisted I slow down a bit, so we moved. My son lives here, as well – so I’m impressed you two haven’t made yourselves acquainted yet.” Elaene twirled a loose strand of hair between her index and middle finger as she took a sip of her coffee. “But then again, we're not from a tapestry that tries in that type of situation.”
“For once, someone wasn’t exaggerating that you look…terrible.”
Elaene didn’t quite know what to do about the situation she had put herself in. She had run into Keith, shopping for groceries. He had somewhat caught her up on what was happening, but she didn’t know what to do with the information. Elaene knew that everyone in that family was dealing with someone and something. But Elane knew that if she didn’t do this now, it wouldn’t happen.
She had gotten her brother’s number from Keith and had texted him to start the conversation. A response wasn’t had, but she saw it as something that she at least gave him a warning. A warning that she was around.
Finding his gym wasn’t hard, and it was a cute little walk in the early fall. The weather was cool and it wasn’t something that bothered her. It kept her active. Elaene didn’t know if he had the same coffee order as he did years ago, so she opted for a strong black from a coffee shop on the way over. She had decaf with sugar-free creamer. Elaene was good to go for caffeine, but she had to watch herself better.
She got to the gym; and told the front desk she had a meeting with the boss. He had attempted to confirm, but she stared him down back to his seat. Elaene made her way to Shaun’s office, to watch him chug down another cup of coffee. “Still chugging coffee like a granny with her whiskey creams. Good thing I brought a replacement, huh?” Elaene said, leaning against the door frame, the coffee in her hands.
Elaene’s first day of sub-work, and she was already quite lost. She hadn’t expected to be called so early, but if she remembered correctly – the woman she was covering was pregnant. She couldn’t remember, which may or may not be a good thing. Either way, she was in now – and the first class went well. The students were probably thrown off, as subs usually meant not a lot of hard work. But Elaene didn’t work like that.
Lunch came around, and Elaene was struggling to get to the staff room. She had a bit a of late start, so she walked in and was whisked into the classroom as it was all last minute. Elaene, not someone who liked to waste time – found a classroom that had a staff person in it. A fluffy head of fake red hair poked in after she gave a knock, to alert the others of her presence.
“Hi!” she started. “I was wondering if you had the moment to lead me to the staff break room. I was called at the last minute and wasn’t given the tour of the maze yet,” Elane added, with a gentle laugh.
Well, she had managed to get another student. Granted, Elaene told herself not to get too surprised. She had managed to mass quite a few, in the two months she had been in Hickstead. Her wife and kids probably didn’t help with that fact either. But it kept her busy, without being too overworked. It wasn’t the news station and TV appearances, having to wake up super early.
Today, she would be starting with someone named Daphne. A younger girl recently turned eight if she remembered. Father was single, so Elaene would be meeting Daphne at the daycare the young girl was at after school. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far of a drive. Plus, the weather was still nice enough to enjoy the ride.
After missing the house twice, Elaene was finally in front of the house that was Tree House Day Care. She could hear children, something that she enjoyed. There was something about the laughs of the children that made Elaene think fondly of Fionn when he was that age.
She gave a firm, but aggressive knock and was greeted quite quickly. “Mrs. Murphy?” Her greeter was a tall man, roughly ten years or so younger than she was. He was dressed well, not someone she thought worked with kids – but Elaene kept her mouth shut on that one.
“That’s me!”
“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Courtney. Come on in, and I’ll get Daphne ready for you.”
Elaene followed and quickly slipped off her shoes, realizing the well-organized shoe rack at the entrance. She heard some voices and Courtney returned with a young girl. “Daphne, this is Mrs. Murphy. She’s here to help with some of your math questions!”
“Hello, nice to meet you!”
“We’ll be sharing the homework room, so there won’t be a lot of distractions.” Courtney led Elaene, with Daphne in his hand, to the classroom that was mentioned. It was a cute room with a big table on one side, and then desks on the other side. Tiny, but manageable for the kids they looked after.
“I’ll be over by the desks helping with some letter practice. If you two need anything, please let me know!”
“Thank you, Courtney,” Elaene smiled, before taking a seat at the table. “So, Daphne...what are you working on in math class right now?”