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!.
Why was it so busy? It was summer after all. Perry just had to get used to it by now, even though he had been working the docks for a bit now. Three years, right? He hadn’t been fired yet. Though, there have been some tight times. Perry wasn’t dumb, he knew he was pushing buttons. He knew when to push them when no one was watching either. Of course, there were a few complaints. But nothing that got him fired. At least, not yet.
Perry was organizing the ropes on the dock. Typical preventing tripping hazard kind of stuff. He had his blue tooth buds in, listening to the podcast about sailing. The podcast he had on English paper quilting was more interesting – but he couldn’t hear that here. It wasn’t manly.
The patron that was standing next to him, caught him by shock. “Why are you staring at me?” he snapped, not wanting to pause his podcast.
“Woah, man…I just wanted some help with my boat.”
Perry rolled his eyes. “I’m busy, so go ask someone else.”
The patron wanted to say something else, but Perry could tell he wasn’t about to start a scene. When he left to find someone else, Perry muttered under his breath and returned to organizing the rope.
Christian had finished dropping the kids off at school before he headed into work. He clocked in and greeted Cal - who was busy in the office doing paperwork. As he had worked there for a long time already, he knew what he needed to do. The dark haired man was assigned to fix the boat he had been working on for about a week now.
He chatted for a few minutes about the day before heading to the garage where his project boat was stored. On his way there, he stopped. There was a customer gave a disgruntled look before he left and a coworker of his just ignoring him.
After letting out a quiet sigh, he walked over to Perry and tapped him gently on the shoulder. "Excuse me, can I talk to you about the situation with the customer?" Christian raised his eyebrow and waited for the younger man to turn around. Someone had to teach this kid a lesson in manners - and not turning away a client.
"That wasn't exactly the right way to handle something like that. You just turned a customer away - a paying one too."
His short few minutes of serenity were short-lived. God damn Perry thought to himself. He didn’t know who was scarier. Cal or Christian? Both men could beat him up. Cal’s words were for sure sharper, Christian was just…big.
Perry stopped his podcast and looked at the man in front of him. Sure, Perry was tall – but Christian was like the hulk. He could see the man’s wide chest almost puffed out. Christian was probably about to give him a verbal check of sorts, meaning Cal would learn of it later. Urgh.
Perry stood there for a second before rolling his eyes and letting out a huff. “He could’ve asked Tim, who he passed by. Do I look like someone that everyone needs to approach?” So much for watching his tone and words. Christian wasn’t his dad. Nor was Cal.
Christian crossed his arms and looked at Perry sternly. He knew he wasn't the boss, but Cal trusted him enough to help out with as much as he could.
He knew he could come off as scary but as long as he was respected. "Right but he clearly didn't see Tim and wanted to get some help from you." He raised his eyebrow. "I know it's difficult to be approachable but it's part of working here."
The man didn't know if Perry had a bad day or not, but he wasn't one to get his coworkers to talk about his feelings. It was something he only talked to a few people about. "I know we can all have off days and that you aren't a robot but...you do need to help customers." Christian was a pretty chatty person but dealing with people was part of his job after all.
"Do you think you could put some sort of effort in?"
“Dude, why are you trying to tell me like a dad?” Perry contorted his face. He needed it. He needed someone who would give him the business. While his grandmother did it, it was more in a motherly way. Sure, she was scary sometimes – but right now, Chris was scarier.
“Fine. I’ll make myself look more approachable,” he huffed. Perry did a massive, fake smile. “Better?” he asked, knowing fully it wasn’t. He didn’t know why it was so hard, being able to be friendly. Were his daddy issues that awful? To be fair, his dad did run – but there were people out there that were homeless. Or jumping through the hoops to get home. Perry had a home, he had jobs and food. Why was he struggling to see all of that?
"I think you'd rather see my dad side than my worst." He didn't have to get angry often, but people would flee if he was. Being tough was something he had to learn from being in the Navy, and something he had to learn quickly. There were times where there wasn't any time to be nice or polite. "But really though, is something bothering you? Is that why your being a grouch?"
He knew that men talking about their feelings was still considered taboo but, he wanted to make sure his coworkers were feeling alright. Christian raised his eyebrow at the fake smile. "Uh, no offence but that's a little too Hollywood cheese. Do you not smile usually?" He didn't recall ever seeing Perry smile. Everyone tended to keep to themselves though, as they all had their individual tasks and boats to work on.
"Clearly, I spend too much of my free time with women because I'm asking about your feelings. I just want to make sure you're alright." Christopher could sometimes come off as cold to his coworkers but he tried his best to be kind and respectful towards others around him.
Perry rolled his eyes. “Why do you care anyways?” he asked, his tone wavering a bit. “We just work together.” That was correct. They just worked together. There was no need to care about each other than basic dock and boat safety. Perry never understood why people always asked about kids and family, or anything outside of that. Wasn’t work just…work?
“I’m not important to you.” Perry’s voice cracked, and he hoped Christina didn’t hear it. But he probably did. Perry’s eyes were blinking now, pretending that the salty air was whipping too hard. His body remained tensed and his hands gripped the rope he was holding.
Christian raised his eyebrow as he noticed the eye roll. "Call it my father instinct that I learned as soon as I became the oldest brother. Just because we work together doesn't mean I can't care about you." It was a feeling he had for everyone of his coworkers that were younger than him. Being human brought a hell of a lot of stress and emotions - and he quickly learned that stuffing them down instead of letting them out made things much worse.
He let out a sigh, wondering if this was about to turn into a counselling session - something he had only done a handful of times with various family members when they were younger. "If I've made you feel that way, I do apologize. I know we are all supposed to act tough in order to be cool or whatever, but you don't always have to be." He was terrible at it, though being in the Navy didn't exactly help. The emotional baggage needed to be hidden from plain sight - something that was devastating to his fellow comrades. "Is there something bothering you?" Christian wasn't going to leave until there was some sort of solution found, whatever work he had for the day could wait.
“What? No, nothing,” Perry grumbled. It was evident that Christian wasn’t going to leave him alone about it. But that didn’t mean Perry could still deny everything and anything. If he was going to be watched, he could at least be watched working. The young man picked up some rope and began coiling it like he was taught, the roughness catching on some dead skin.
He should have opened it, but it was hard. His therapist had mentioned talking to someone else, to branch out. Not in the medical, shrink sense – but in the way of connecting more. “I just don’t like people that’s all. Especially snobs.”
Christian arched his eyebrow. He had learned that if someone denied something that they were lying - most of the time anyway. "Alright, alright. I'll drop it. Promise me you'll talk to someone about it though." Even if it made things worse, it often helped to talk to anyone about the person's problems. It was out in the open world after that. He often ended up talking it out with Ama, she was always a good listener - though he didn't like burdening her with all of his problems. It was part of being in a steady relationship though.
He crossed his arms, letting out a quiet sigh. His dark eyes glanced around the dock - wondering if there was something he could do to help. "Snobs are always going to be there. Unfortunately, you just have to give them the cheesy professional customer service voice. And laugh about them every once and awhile." The more and more he worked on boats, he realized people like that often treated their boats like their children - if something went wrong they were the first one they blamed. "They are looking for someone to blame most of the time. The trick is to not take it too seriously."
Christian knew it was easier said than done. Even he struggled with it - especially not bringing work home with him. "Does that help? It'll be hard at first but we are all here for you."
Damn, he wanted to open so much – but what could he do? He had to upkeep that image. He had to be the person that his dad wanted him to be, right? No crying, no showing any kind of weakness. It would bring him back, bring him to say he was proud. Perry knew Christian was a father himself. He wondered how he parented. He also had a long-term partner. There were a lot of philosophical questions rumbling around his brain.
When Christian kindly lectured him again, Perry couldn’t help but look at him. Allowing the older man to see that his eyes were nearly swollen. Perry knew his face couldn’t hide his truths, but at least Christian and Cal managed to let him do his thing. At least, until the hours were over. He knew he had to work hard. He needed this job. Not because he was broken, but because it was healing.
“Thanks,” Perry sighed. “If the bossman let me just hide away, maybe I would be better.” But Perry knew he couldn’t hide forever. He was already hiding seventy-five percent of himself. “I’ll try to plaster the salesman's face on for the rest of the day.”
