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...
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Following the barn fire at Blue Acre stables, Lily has requested volunteers to help clean up the mess. At current, no culprits of the fire have been found, and tension is still rife, but some good standing citizens decide to go across to the rival yard to help. Naomi and Quinn take the lead in what needs doing - the debris needs to be cleared away before work can start of the new barn. Naturally, with tension still high between the rival stables, a fight breaks out, with accusational fingers pointed in all directions.
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* No word count! This is to keep the thread on the move even if your muse is suffering, but please be mindful to give something for everyone to respond to. * No god-modding still counts - it may be difficult with everyone in here but try not to move people's characters around without checking. * Follow the posting order, don't jump your turn. * 3 days allowance to reply - after that, we'll skip your turn so the plot can keep moving.
Lily pulled up in the car park, managing to squeeze the truck into one of the last available spaces. It looked like turnout was high for Blue Acre, and Lily was glad - she was bringing another full car load of people but it made her feel better to know that many people had arrived to help. She temporarily locked the doors as Leo tried to make a run for it, ignoring his noise of protest. "Behave yourself," She warned, twisting around in the drivers seat to shoot him a firm look. He rolled his eyes and muttered something but she figured that would be sufficient and let him loose.
Locking the truck behind them, Lily made her way over to a group of people standing just aside from the huge mess of what remained of their barn. A heavy feeling settled in Lily's stomach and she swallowed - they were lucky nobody had been seriously hurt, including the animals, but it still hurt to see the site of the devastation. God knew how Naomi felt about it. She gave the group a quick wave and sought out Naomi, "We're here, where would you like us?"
<3 LUCAS JACOB COLE | THREE DAUGHTERS (ROSE, FELICITY, CLAIRE) | ONE SON (SLADE) THREE HORSES (SAFFRON, REBEL, ADONIS)
Naomi finished setting up a table with bottles of water and a few boxes of food. Her baking would never measure up to that of Cara's, but it was the best she could do. She then moved onto another table where that was ready for anything pulled out of the devastation could be left and then gone through later. In fact, she was doing her best to not look at the remains of what was her life, she may as well have been staring at it. The only problem, was that when she did look at the mess, all she wanted to do was burst into tears, and that wouldn't do when she had so many people coming to help her today.
She walked to stand by what she had deemed as the check-in table. There was a box of stickers with Hi, I'm and a place to write a name, if people so felt the need, but everyone that would be here today should know each other, and if not, she was sure a quick introduction would solve that. The stickers were just because she thought it would be amusing to offer them. Spread across the table were also the blueprints of what the new barn would look like, along with detailed drawings of the new building. When she'd asked their eldest to design a new barn for them, she should have known the child would go above ad beyond.
"We're here, where would you like us?" She glanced up at the voice and smiled toward Lily, wanting to give the woman a hug. "Thank you so much for coming to help." After all, the other woman had her own barn to run. She gestured vaguely around her. "Pretty much damage control, clean up." She pointed toward an area with a tent over it. "That's where the tack room was, and we're still trying to see what can be salvaged from it, there are buckets in there, and a table over there for what it found."
there were about a hundred places that he'd rather be this morning. lily had been very persuasive when she'd been forcing them to commit to coming and helping today. he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the family who weren't here, namely luke and ranger had ducked out under the guise of shifts they couldn't change. it wasn't that he had a problem with lending a helping hand, but there was something about being at the blue acres stable that felt a little shifty. he'd not really bought into the whole rivalry between the two places but it did feel a little disloyal to be there.
he'd arrived just before lily had pulled up, having waited till he'd seen the familiar truck pull into the carpark before he'd gotten out of his own and he'd walked over to join them. "been read the riot act?" he joked with leo as he fell into step beside him. he watched lily and naomi hug before he nodded his own greeting to the other woman before he looked to where the tack room had been. "shouldn't take too long to go through it. do you want to inspect everything that's found? or are you happy for us to just toss things that look ruined."
TWENTY FIVE | RACING INSTRUCTOR/PERSONAL TRAINER | LEXI SAFFI WHITE JARED WHITE | 6 TAITE WHITE | 4 RORY WHITE | 2
Leo held Lily's stare as she glared at him in the car, scolding him like a child before he'd even touched the handle. He saved his eye roll for when she'd turned away and couldn't see it. "I always behave," He muttered, though it was a half assed attempt to redeem himself and even if couldn't believe it. "been read the riot act?" He heard James ask and he snorted, pulling a 'kill me now' face and then checking to see if Lily had caught it - luckily for his neck, she was busy hugging the enemy - Naomi. "I don't understand why I get the special treatment," He huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and trying not to look like a petulant adult.
He heard the instructions and his eyes fell to what was left of the barn, his mouth turning down at the corners, brows furrowing. Even if he hated this place and was an annoyingly knobhead sometimes, he still wouldn't wish this on anyone. He wasn't a complete asshole. He knew some people thought he had a hand in what happened, but for once in his life he could claim innocence and mean it. "I'll help with the heavy lifting - with you being such a weakling and all," He smirked going to grab James' bicep and squeeze it jokingly.
Christopher had come with his family to help out. Not that he wanted to be there either. When his cousin Leo said that he always behaved he gave a laugh. "Oh sure you do your a little angel" he said joking with his cousin. "If anyone is going to be good help here its me" he said. He laughed although he wasnt serious on anything he was saying thats how he was. He is a very big jokester.
He had come to help not that he wanted to. He firgured they should also give advice on what to do since there were some students here too. He would wait for his cousin lily's say though to start doing things. He wasnt the kind of person that wanted to tell people what to do. Nor did he like being told what to do unless they were family. He was so happy though to be here with his two favorite people his cousin and his cousin that he considered his brother. "So what now" he asked.
He ran his hand though his hair he wondered who had started the fire anyways. No one he knew had done it that he knew of. So he wondered who started the fire and why sure there was a rivalry but he never would try to do anything melishuse other than teasing the others. He wouldnt physically hurt them in any way. So he wondered who could have done it.
Angél's heart had broken when she had heard about the fire, it wasn't even her own barn, but she had seen enough news stories about forest fires, houses burning down, and things like that to know that horses could have lost their lives. When she had heard that they were asking for volunteers to help clean up, she had begged her papa to let her help, and he had to come too, and she kept on until he had finally caved, so here they were.
Her hands flew to her mouth as she jumped out of her father's Jeep and looked at the destruction the fire had caused. "Oh mon Dieu!" She whispered as she reached for her papa's hand. Obviously seeing it on the television, and seeing it... smelling it, in person were two different things. She wet her lips as she allowed the man to lead her forward. Maybe she should have let her talk him out of this, she didn't know if she could handle what she might find here. What if there were bones hidden in all that burned stuff? She pressed her lips together with a whimper, she didn't want to be here anymore. However, she had made such a fuss about being able to help, she could imagine how disappointed her papa would be if she couldn't go through with this.
Nic had known about the fire, as it had been all the students had been talking about for close to a month after the fact, and when he had heard about the rebuild, he had a feeling that his slightly naïve and ever-generous daughter would want to help. He had done his best to talk the girl out of the idea, without going too into detail about what she might come across, but no matter what he said, she wouldn't be deterred, so here they were.
He took the child's hand as she took in the destruction before them, and he admired her courage as she didn't beg to go home and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he locked the Jeep and they walked over to greet the woman in charge.
After listening to what was happening, he steered his daughter toward the tent where the tack room used to be, knowing that she would be a help in there, and wouldn't come across anything that would be likely to give her nightmares. "I'm going to go and help move some of the big boards, you stay in here and help find bits of tack that can be reused." Most of the leather would all be ash, but the bits and stirrups would still be in one piece and he was sure that buckles could probably be reused too. "If you need any help, the adults in here will be able to help you."
bella pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail as she got out of the truck. she smiled to herself as she listened to her husband and his sister talk to each other. she did trust leo to behave himself at least a little bit today, he was aware of the reason they were there. although the boys had made it perfectly clear that they didn't really want to be. she hadn't seen the damage to the barn yet but as they walked up to it she couldn't help but be shocked by it. she wasn't sure what she'd been expecting but it surprised her all the same, and how easily it could have happened to the barn she called home.
she laughed a little as she heard leo tease james and she looked at him and smiled. "or perhaps lily and i'll do the heavy lifting while you sit two around and whine?" she said as she nudged leo as she walked past him and over to the tent they had set up over what had been the tack room. she crouched down to sift through the ash and dirt to pick up a tarnished bit piece and she brushed it off with her fingers as a two familiar faces entered the tent. "of course." she said with a friendly smile down to the girl. "you can help us keep those boys in line." she said as she motioned to leo, james and chris. "they might need some telling off when they slack."
TWENTY FIVE | STAY AT HOME MUM | LEONARDO SAMUEL WHITE MAYA WHITE | 7 KEGAN WHITE | 4 OLIVER WHITE | 4
Dallas had arrived before the White's. Having been at Seven Oaks since he'd moved to the area almost six years ago, he had a fair amount of respect for the family and it's clients. He didn't believe anyone at the yard would have had the capacity to do something like this though, even with the rivalry thick between competitors. He'd felt that rivalry when competing, had even let it needle him a little to really spur him on and encourage his thirst to win. But he didn't let it get to his head - that was where you had to draw the line between competitiveness and being a full on meathead.
He had put himself into the wreckage - he was larger built than others, and he was happy to help heft about the heavy stuff so the others could decide what was worth keeping. He'd picked out a few bits of what was left of a saddle and bridle, wincing at the expensive brand cut into the leather - such a shame. His mouth twisted, brows lowering as he wondered how someone could go this far. Someone could have been hurt or killed, hell so could the horses. For any horse lover, it was downright insane. He glanced up as a couple of the White's headed his way. "There's a few heavy rafters here that we could do with lifting together,"
Feeling the pain as innocence dies Looking at life, through my own eyes
Alison’s brother had teased her about wanting to help. He had allowed her to, as long as she promised to call him if she had a panic attack or anything.
Alison went from Seven Oaks to Blue Acres, in the backseat of a car driven by one of the other volunteers. Once there, Alison looked around for something to do that could be helpful. She had a decent amount of upper body strength, but she could not lift anything too heavy.
Alison noticed a metal bucket, lying in the rubble. She knelt down, picked up the bucket, and set it in front of her. She then started collecting some bricks and putting them into the bucket.
Amber wasn't exactly what you would call thrilled to find out she was going to be lumbering refreshments over to the stables. When her boss had asked for volunteers to help take some drinks over to those helping with the wreck, she hadn't had the presence of mind to put 2 and 2 together and realise he meant the stables. She'd been here a couple of times to bother Mik but otherwise, she kept well away. Luckily for her, it wasn't her family's yard - though as she pulled up she saw their blonde heads from afar, too recognisable to miss. Collaborating with one of the coffee shops in town that were providing snacks, Amber helped heft a few crates to a table set up for the workers. She really regretting saying yes now as she caught one of her cousins eye across the yard and couldn't stop herself grimacing. She focused on setting up the selection of choices - mostly bottles of water and two flavours of J2O, and some of the cheaper beer. No point handing out the expensive stuff. "Anyone thirsty?" She asked as a few volunteers walked past, looking a little grimy after hefting about the wreckage.
Mik had been in the middle of what had once been a really nice looking barn since the early hours of the day. In all honesty, he'd been working through the place since they were given the okay to start moving things. Between his normal jobs of making sure the horses were ok, and thanking whoever was out there that they had managed to get so many of the horses out, and then to the Whites for offering them stalls for the horses that wouldn't cope with living out in the pastures, they were doing their best to try and sort of the mess before the demolishing team came in to level the ground so that they could start building again.
As he headed to his vehicle, for yet another pair of work glove, he only stopped himself from running a hand through his hair. All of him was covered in dust, ash and grim, and his hands were the worst, so he wasn't going to put them anywhere near his head, even if he did want to pull his hair out at times. "Anyone thirsty?" He paused mid-step at the sound of a familiar voice and he he finished pulling off his ruined gloves as he turned toward the voice. "I'd love a chilled bottle of water." He said with a hopeful smile, anything to wash the taste of ash out of his mouth.
Adalia was gutted for the stables. She hadn't been riding here long, having been having lessons with Ethan and had been thoroughly enjoying them, thinking that she might like to look into a share of her own horse. She wasn't ready to buy but she wanted to improve and learn more. This, was devastating though. She had taken pictures of the wreckage, in order to document what had happened, and encourage the fundraising going on at the park next week. She headed over to where Amber had set up to grab some water, smiling a small thanks before heading back over to where they were sorting through what might be salvageable. "Where were we putting tack pieces?" She asked again, straightening up with half a bridle that looked like it had potential.
Tricksy viewed the wreckage with an rather distant look in her eyes - it was a coldness, numbness that had settled in ever since the devastating fire. The late night call, the despair that seeped into Quinn's voice, it left her stunned. She had been there to move some of the horses - the expensive show horses were transported in lorries but those that could, the majority of the herd, Tricksy and volunteers took through the fields, herding them into the far paddocks of Seven Oaks.
Now, she was back, dressed in an old t-shirt and jeans, a sticker with her name plastered with a smiling face. She exchanged a quick 'hello' with Naomi and waved to Quinn before heading into the wreckage. She worked quietly, trying to pull as many pieces of what remained into the bucket. The sign of an almost untouched bridle among the wreckage almost made her cry but she bit her lip, continuing to work. Around her, men and women from around town pitched in, some chatting and joking, others quiet like her.
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