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!.
mav might not have been a student at the campus, but he did take the liberty of using the sports fields when he was there visiting his friends. he didn't play for any of the teams but he figured there was no harm in using them to try and keep fit. besides the chance of running into someone here who cared about him enough to tell him to stop running were slim, if jace saw him he'd probably egg him on in the hopes it would kill him or something. link maybe but the chance of him being out on the field and not somewhere with his head buried into a book were slim to none at the best of times. so here he was, out here on a cool crisp morning, having crashed the night on the floor of dani's dorm room.
the air was cool and his breath was hot as he breathed out slowly, trying to keep it controlled as he ran around the track. he couldn't play football at the moment but he could make sure he tried to keep the cardio up while he was off the field. broken bones be damned, he wasn't losing months of conditioning because of what had happened. if he laid down he'd give up and that wasn't in his nature. so he was pushing through it, even though he could tell that he was probably running a little funny to accommodate the broken ribs he was once again suffering through thanks to jace, his hand rested on his side over them to offer some support as he jogged. he'd rather be sprint training but that was out of the question, that would really make him feel like he was dying.
he slowly pulled up to a stop and he brought his other hand to the back of his head as he leaned back a little, grimmacing as he did and as he tried to catch his breath. "fuck.." he mumbled into the cold air around him as he glanced around the track, half checking that no one was going to jump out of nowhere and bust his balls for being out there. it was something of a fear of his, he didn't want to get banned from campus because most of his friends were stupid enough to be studying here. he couldn't see anyone but it wasn't exactly full light yet so there were plenty of shadows for people to be hiding in but he figured it anyone had a problem with him being out here, they wouldn't keep it hidden for long.
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?"
he did his best not to jump as there was suddenly a voice behind him, but he couldn't help it. he'd grown up in a house full of brothers and one of their favourite tactics for torture had been the jump scare. he'd learned to expect it but they'd grown up in the last few years, well slightly, so he wasn't as used to it as he once had been. the jolt from his jump pulled at his ribs a little and caused his hand to tighten a little across his shirt, his fingers gripping it gently, but he hid whatever trace of a wince there might have been. it had been almost beaten into him his whole life that weakness wasn't something you ever showed, no matter what was happening. stiff upper lip, a steel gaze and an iron clad resolve. that was how you dealt with life.
"hey." he said, letting his mouth turn up into a semblance of a smile. he knew the face but he couldn't place the name. but that wasn't uncommon. he didn't go to the college so he really only knew the faces of the friends he had, he hadn't put much effort into getting to know the names of anyone else on campus, maybe it wasn't the polite thing to do but it wasn't like he was here all the time. "oh yeah, to much sitting on a couch and not enough cardio." he didn't elaborate further but he let his hand drop from his chest and he straightened a little. "are you out here to run?"
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."
he let the grin spread across his face in amusement at the joke. it was true, there were plenty of people who preferred sitting on a couch than being up and about, he wasn't one of them. he didn't think anyone in his family really was, or whether they'd have been allowed to be considering what their father did for a living. "yeah, i've never understood that" he had the feeling that the guy was like him. much preferring to move his body than letting it waste away.
it felt like a stupid question but mav struggled a little at small talk. he wasn't a big conversationalist to start with, talking to people he didn't know was always a big of a struggle, but he didn't want to just not try. it would rude to just walk away and even though his mother was gone now, the manners she'd tried to beat into him and his brothers had stuck somewhat slightly. "i guess you're one of the only ones on campus" it was no secret that they were the only two out here, it still felt a little odd, that in all this space it was just them. "i'm ready to go again if you want someone to run with." he wasn't really, but he figured it was a safer option than just standing there, they were just getting cold.
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.
mav grinned at the joke and he shrugged a little. "i guess i could try to deny it but, i'd be lying." he said with a small laugh. he couldn't help it, he hadn't been raised in an environment that would let him sit on a couch all day, he was sure his father would have had his guts for it. he bounced on the balls of his feet a little as silence fell, though he had to hide a grimace when it jolted his ribs a little and made them ache. he laughed in earnest as the question was asked and he shook his head and held his hands out slightly in front of him. "nah, i doubt i could run fast enough to catch you to kill you." he grinned. "plus it's a long way to drag a body to my car." if crime shows had taught him anything, it was that leaving a body in the middle of a campus would get him caught quicker than he could spin a story.
he nodded a little as theo agreed to run with him and told him to set the pace. well now he was slightly worried and he couldn't put his finger on why. if he ran to fast, he'd likely pass out before too long and there was no wat that was something he'd risk happening in front of a stranger, especially the stranger with the quick grin. but if he ran to slow it might mess with theo's pacing or perhaps he'd judge him. mentally he shook himself when he reminded himself that he didn't care about that, at least not usually. "got it, lets go." he said as he shook his legs slightly to wake them up a little before he took off at a jog, his hand resting on his ribs lightly to support them.
"i guess i could try to deny it but, i'd be lying." Theo gave a small smile, understanding that. He usually tried to hide his inability to be lazy under the guise of being busy. To be fair, he often was, but even if didn't need to be, he would still be pouring over his books, still be working out in the gym right up until it closed, still adding another hour to his practise sessions that he didn't need to do. He exhausted himself, and yet it still never felt like enough. He wondered if it ever would, or if he was cursed to always need more, to feel he needed to do more.
He picked up the pace a little as they walked, getting himself warmer before they began to jog again - the last thing he needed to do was pull something, "nah, i doubt i could run fast enough to catch you to kill you." Theo mimed wiping sweat from his forehead, "well, that's a relief, I wasn't in the mood for a sprint.""plus it's a long way to drag a body to my car." Theo raised a brow, glancing back over his shoulder to where the car park was, and then giving a shrug, "perhaps you're stronger than you look, and this is all a ruse." He joked, knowing he'd at least be somewhat of a burden if someone did want to cart him off to the boot of a car.
Theo gave his arms a little warm up, swinging them about until the other guy started off at a jog. He didn't care about the pace, he'd already got his workout mostly in anyway so it didn't matter to him - this was just extra now. "got it, lets go." He nodded and struck off at the same pace as Mav, matching him after a moment so he didn't fuck off too fast, or start too slow. After a few moments, he settled into it, glancing over to see if the other guy was okay and noticing the resting hand. "You okay?" He asked, wondering if he had a stitch.
