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!.
Bruce squeezed her shoulder gently when she covered his hand with her own, he was going to be a rock and not even a storm was going to move him from where he was standing behind her chair. His years of doing natural horsemanship came in handy, as he regulated his breathing and make sure to keep himself as relaxed as possible, rolling his shoulders once to remove any stiffness as he watched and listened to everything that was going on around them.
He squeezed her shoulder gently as Flynn reacted to what was happening, though he knew to keep quiet, keep the attention away from their table. As relaxed as he may look, his mind was running at full speed as he tried to work out all the possible scenarios that could happen, and all he wanted was to get Flynn home, safely.
Daz stayed sat where he was, continuing to observe. Outwardly, he gave nothing away - a stoic, unemotional face, which would give off the impression that he was being cautious about the situation, or was in shock, when internally he was the one that had orchestrated this entire thing, he was the reason this was happening. It was not the way he would have done things by a long shot, Cam was making a bit of a pig's ear on it, but he was getting to the point eventually. You're going to need to spill blood, boy. He thought, eyes narrowing very slightly at the way that a few of the customers began standing up to the challenge. The kid being the till had some balls - stupid balls, but all the same he hadn't crumpled. Another guy was standing up for them now too, and there was a woman sidling about as though she was holding onto a secret.
The key to this kind of success was having control of the situation - and then holding onto it. Cam was going to lose control very quickly. He was being ganged up on, and they didn't have his respect. Only a few seemed genuinely scared; the couple still sat at the table were clearly trying to stay out of the limelight. Cam should have utilised that, should have taken better hold of the captives. Taken all phones out of the equation, bundled them together, scared the shit out of them. It wouldn't matter too much if he got the money, but he was getting points for style here too, and handling. So far, he was on middle ground. Daz shifted in his seat, considering whether he should get involved and wind the others up, or if he should stick to where he was. He tilted his chin up, careful to keep his face in shadow as he looked from one face to another. Slowly, he went to stand, deciding he would make a few moves to see how Cam handled some extra pressure.
There was so much going on around him, his heart was hammering in his chest and yet his breathing was easy. He caught flickers of movement that sent off alarm bells. He wasn't made for this, but he had to - he didn't want to die, that threat was always hanging over him. He didn't want be in trouble, he just wanted safety again. But he let that tangent of thought go. Control. He needed control.
"Oi, that's enough. He said he'd give you the money, there's no need for violence." He reasoned. "The police will already be on the way, just take your money and go."
"Alright, I'm up." He said through gritted teeth. "I'll get you the money, but promise you'll let everyone go."
Cam growled audibly, turning his head to the first speaker, "No need for violence? No need? Since you seem so keen to gamble..."
He didn't even think as his knife moved away from the man's throat to his chest, and with a hard motion, stabbed the blade jaggedly into the man's ribs, feeling the instant the man's hot blood began to run.
"His life is now mine on a whim. So - sit. The fuck. DOWN!" he roared, finally seeing Daz move.
He leaned into the cashier's ear, "Nothing personal, but time now is of the essence. Try not to struggle, you'll only make things worse. Just remember, my hand was forced by that man over there."
He held his hand steady, he knew that enough movement one way or the other was bad - as if this wasn't bad enough. His throat was burning with pain of use. He gestured with his free hand at the other boy he's brought in with the baseball bat and then to the man who told him to stop the violence.
"He has pissed me off," Cam seethed, "Maybe move closer to the blonde lady there. We'll see if he's willing to gamble. Talk again sir, and I will have him beat the life out of that woman."
Cam didn't know how he didn't simply buckle over and throw up, all of this was so wrong, and yet he was calm about it all. Ordering violence where he had never done so before. The boy with the bat moved closer to the pregnant woman with a wickedly cruel smile.
Things were escalating at an alarming rate and Flynn felt her heart begin to pound. Bruce's squeeze on her shoulder helped to settle her a little, but it wasn't enough. As people began to try and talk to the boy, to negotiate, to try and calm matters, she saw the switch flick in his expression. "No need for violence? No need? Since you seem so keen to gamble..." She flinched and let out a noise, unable to help it with the shock as the boy stabbed Ben. The rush of red was instant, and Flynn reacted on impulse, moving to stand, her heart in her throat. "Oh my God." She choked out, a hand going to her mouth to try and shut herself up. The nurse in her rose it's head, wanting to rush over and help him. She couldn't stand by and watch someone in pain, bleed out in front of her.
"His life is now mine on a whim. So - sit. The fuck. DOWN!" Flynn hesitated, still half standing, wanting to move over to Ben and knowing that she could be next if she did - and it wasn't for her she was worried, but the child she now carried. "He has pissed me off, Maybe move closer to the blonde lady there. We'll see if he's willing to gamble. Talk again sir, and I will have him beat the life out of that woman." Her blood chilled at the words and she swallowed hard as someone moved closer to her, the look in his face held no compassion, no mercy. She knew that without doubt, the guy would have no issue with hurting her if he was told to. She reached for Bruce's hand, trying to draw strength from him as her stomach turned, her eyes went to Ben once again and she hated to draw attention to herself but she had to say it. "Please, I'm a nurse.. let me help him." She cleared her throat. "At least let me keep him alive until you're out of here." She tried that angle, because God knew how else it would work.
he really didn’t know what had gotten over her. Maybe it was because the cashier was stabbed, and someone was pleading to help him. It was a distraction, right? It felt like her body was moving on its own. Dahlia was once hiding, but now, she had climbed over the counter.
An arm reached out, and in her fist – a massive bunch of fabric. But the forward momentum she had, was reversed. Like someone had pushed rewind. One of the goons had managed to grab Dahlia, pulling her back. But she refused to let go, pulling the hood of the attacker with the knife.
Her eyes caught the color of the hair, briefly before she was thrown down – back over the counter that she was originally behind. Her body ached – screaming coming from the shoulder that she landed on with a slam. But she had her phone. It was still tightly gripped in her hand. It hadn’t fallen or snatches from her, but she quickly stuffed it into her shirt. If they wanted it, they would be faced with a sexual assault charge.
"No need for violence? No need? Since you seem so keen to gamble..." Mason’s eyes narrowed in response to the guy’s words - he was sounding unhinged. They were the worst, harder to reason with. He inhaled sharply when Ben was stabbed, his eyes lowering to the pool of blood that began to run out of the wound. He’d need a closer look to see if the location of the knife had hit anything vital. "His life is now mine on a whim. So - sit. The fuck. DOWN!” Mason stayed standing but backed off slightly to where he could still keep an eye on Ben and the wound.
He glanced briefly at the guy with the baseball bat as he moved closer to the blonde and her boyfriend – who looked like he could hold his own. The kid was trying to look menacing but the lack of muscle wasn’t doing much for him. Flashing lights of police cars outside caught his eyes briefly before a commotion to his left captured his attention; another woman was being thrown back of the counter, drawing eyes towards her which gave him the opportunity to edge back forward, flicking the loose lid off his hot coffee and throwing it in the direction of Cameron’s face, hoping it would distract him enough to loosen his hold on the knife while Mason charged forward to tackle him to the ground.
24 - adrenaline junkie - compassionate - firefighter/paramedic - straight - in love with WREN LORENA FLETCHER
Kennedy rested her head against the wall behind her, still hidden from sight. She felt trapped, feeling like she needed to do something. The brunette heard a commotion and watched as the cashier got stabbed after he had meddled with their plan to rob the coffee shop. She winced, knowing it wasn't a pleasant feeling having her fair share of stab wounds herself.
The sound of police sirens startled her even more, worried she'd be found out about her drug run. She saw Lorenzo's car pull up behind the police and a few seconds later her phone pinged loudly. Kennedy cursed under her breath, knowing one of the robbers would hear. Sure enough, one of the criminals ran towards the sound of her phone and found her. "Don't move little lady." The stranger said, pulling out a knife from his pocket. She whacked her purse against his face, hoping it would be a distraction. Her bag hit the target and the man grabbed his face in pain. He used his fist and hit her face - she was sure she'd have some bruising in the morning. Thinking quickly, she kicked him in the shin.
He heard the growl and Ben froze carefully, ceasing movement as he felt a change come over the man holding him. Something had switched, which didn't bode well for Ben. He had felt there was an opportunity at first to perhaps talk their way out of this. Something about the kid made it seem that he didn't really want to be here, doing this, and that perhaps he could have been persuaded out of it. "No need for violence? No need? Since you seem so keen to gamble..." Ben barely had a chance to take a breath before it happened. He felt the absence of the blade at his throat almost the exact same moment he felt the slide of the metal between his ribs.
It wasn't smooth, and it wasn't pain free. It took a moment for it to catch up on him, the shock of it creating a single moment of peace - relief that the knife was no longer at his throat before the onslaught of agony from the blade's entry point. He let out an involuntary grunt and tried to sag forward, collapsing over the wound as the blood began to pour. "His life is now mine on a whim. So - sit. The fuck. DOWN!" Ben winced at the volume of his voice, but it was just a pin prick compared to the burning pain of the stab wound. "Nothing personal, but time now is of the essence. Try not to struggle, you'll only make things worse. Just remember, my hand was forced by that man over there."
Ben said nothing, he knew better than to antagonise the man. It was nobodies fault but the hand which held the weapon. "Everyone h-has a ch-choice." He ground out through gritted teeth, another groan following the words, unable to help himself. So much for keeping quiet. "He has pissed me off, Maybe move closer to the blonde lady there. We'll see if he's willing to gamble. Talk again sir, and I will have him beat the life out of that woman." The words were just a background buzz to him, as if the background were on a dial being turned up and down. "Please, I'm a nurse.. let me help him. At least let me keep him alive until you're out of here." He heard a woman speak, giving an imperceptible shake of his head. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt. "I'm f-fine." Not that it was very convincing, but he didn't need any more casualties. How he was going to stand up and open the till now, he wasn't sure. He'd slumped as low as he could in Cam's hold and the prospect of straightening up made him feel ill.
With his hand casually resting on Flynn’s shoulder, Bruce remained in his relaxed stance as he watched what was happening around them. While he watched, he noticed that people really weren’t that much different from humans and he saw the moment that the switch slipped in the young man with the knife at the counter, the moment when it really all did hit the fan. However, he kept his casualness in place, reassuring hand on Flynn’s shoulder - though he now wondered if he was also partly keeping her in place, as the nurse in her would be wanting to go and see to the wounded man.
Blonde woman, wait, what? He watched the young man with the bat turn toward them, his brows arched as he shifted his position, his energy rising with it. Sure, he wasn’t a huge guy, but he was a wall of muscle. When he had been a pony club instructor, one of his students had said that he was like a grizzly bear when he was showing the children how to raise their energy to stop their ponies from running over them. The young boy had said that Bruce had gone from soft and cuddly to looking like he was seven feet tall, the man was hoping that he’d give off those vibes today.
He gave the bat-wielding male a warning smile. “If you want to leave here with both your arms still attached to your body, you may want to step away.” His tone was friendly, though held an undertone of a very serious warning. Sure, Bruce was normally the most friendliest guy on the planet, but had no worries of also showing the guy a more creative way to use his bat.
Daz assessed the situation, watching with keen interest as the drama truly began to unfold, being careful to keep himself unseen for now as movement seemed to erupt from all sides. Cam was losing control of the situation, and fast. It wasn't going to take much for the hostages to tip the balance and take over. Stabbing Ben was bold, perhaps a little stupid - Ben would be able to identify him easily enough at such close quarters, unless Cam had been smart enough to stab him somewhere that would kill him before he gave a statement. He had also incited a bit of rebellion in the others for the movement, and Daz wasn't convinced the rest of the gang were following Cam's orders anymore - rather that they were doing whatever they pleased. Chaos sprang to mind.
Time to really ramp shit up, see how Cam handled having pressure from the outside. He pressed call on his phone, knowing Cam couldn't stop him from dialing in the police. He raised the phone to his lips and in a few low words, described the situation. Hanging up without giving them more than they needed, he smirked across at Cam and began to slink around the outside of the trouble, giving a few of the gang members a well needed shove if they came too close, a show of proof he was still on side of the hostages. It wasn't long before the sirens began to wail, coming closer by the second. He glanced across to Cam as if to say 'your move'.
Everything was spiralling way out of control and Cam didn't know what to do. In his head, this had played out so differently and all these people... they screwed him over. Why was it that he was stuck in this spot? He was almost yanked off his feet by Dahlia - the thin fabric of his hoodie shredding easily as she clung to it and was pushed back, leaving his face out in the open. That was when the true panic set in, the genuine panic. Because no sooner did he lose his anominity another woman was fighting back and chaos errupted. He barely caught Daz's eye when a man came at him.
His flight kicked in, a wave of instinct - raw and unfiltered as he took the knife back from the man's body and threw it directly at the man charging him.
"Scatter!"
The lights, the sirens, the fact everything fell apart - he had to cut his loss now. Had to get away from the situation. There was no reclaiming any of that and now he had to worry about getting out alive. He hoped above all that he was at least able to get away - ducking by any hands that grabbed him, fleeing for that door. He wouldn't be sticking around to get the other boys out of trouble. He'd warned them that it was every man for himself if things went south.
She heard the words blonde woman, and her eyes took a brief stock of the room, then she straightened, her spine stiffening as she realised what was being said. She didn't let the fear show, though it strained her eyes, and her lips thinned at the thought of what the kid was suggesting, she knew that it was better to stay strong, not to show weakness. She watched as the guy with the bat swung it in a threatening manor, but abruptly paused at the sight of Bruce drawing himself up to height. “If you want to leave here with both your arms still attached to your body, you may want to step away.” Flynn reached out carefully to squeeze Bruce's hand, in support and thanks to him for staying at her side.
Things were begin to heat up, she could feel it in the tension of the air, in the way that the gang were acting, the desperation of their behaviour. Things were spiraling, and it was only going to go one way or the other. She heard the wail of sirens and glanced to Bruce and then the guy at the front who seemed to be in charge, hearing him shout 'scatter' and causing a flurry of movement. Flynn kept close to Bruce, hoping they would all just rush out and by pass her. Her eyes went to Ben, keeping an eye on the moment she could go to help him until the ambulances arrived.
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