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!.
Stephanie quickly wrapped up her last lesson of the day. She had shuffled around her lessons for the day so that she could head over to the Matthew household for their annual Christmas decorating party.
She put the jumps away, just in case whoever taught after her didn't need them before heading to do the last check on her three horses. Stephanie smiled and gave each one a pet, knowing it must feel odd for them to see their human leave the barn so early. After that, she quickly ran to the washroom to change - not wanting to go to someone's house smelling like the barn if she could help it. She ran a brush through her hair and did some light makeup, wanting to hide the dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. Bradley was getting awfully good at noticing, so she was trying her best to hide it.
Once she was ready, she got into the car and drove off towards Oldaker Avenue, stopping at the grocery store to pick up a tray of brownies as a snack. It was drilled into her brain that she should always bring something if she was a guest somewhere. About twenty minutes later, she arrived at the Matthew home, parking her car in the driveway before getting out and carefully carrying the plate of brownies with her up the walkway. She used her free hand to ring the doorbell and waited to see which sibling would answer the door first.
Dark chocolate brown eyes stared at the ceiling of the pool house. If you had asked her a year ago where she would be living, Tiffany Matthew certainly would not have said Hickstead, England. In fact, the idea of living with her whole family again would have never crossed her mind in a million years. And yet here she was, living in the pool house like Ryan Atwood from the O.C. - an outsider in a rich person's home. She couldn't complain, Brad gave her the pool house as a favor and took the main house living quarters with their parents, a move she was eternally grateful for. The young woman knew she could be difficult with her parents, she had a habit of blowing up and walking off at the slightest of slightest comment and she knew she shouldn't be that way - her father had cancer, and yet here she was. Tiffany still found herself holding a grudge that started over ten years ago and even in the sight of cancer, she found herself still bitter and angry as she had been at eighteen.
Her phone alarm went off - cutting through her thoughts like a sharpened knife and snapping her to reality. Rolling over on her bed, she grabbed her phone to look at the time. Ah, Stephanie would be here soon, which meant that she needed to head over to the main house now. That was another mystery that preoccupied her time - why the heck her brother wasn't dating their childhood friend - okay, maybe she was really Brad's childhood friend and Tiffany herself had been the tag along. But she wouldn't but into that situation quite yet - not he was dating something and she didn't quite know what was on Stephanie's plate either. The young woman couldn't help but to wonder why they weren't dating when they seemed so perfect for each other. Maybe it was the romance novels speaking to her.
Getting up and off of the bed, she grabbed her favorite, and her opinion, classic Christmas movie 'The Holiday' and headed out the door. The cold temperature hit her fast and hard as she sprinted across the backyard and darted around the pool as quickly as possible before making it in through the back door, "It's just me!" She yelled into the house now, in case her parents were near, and she cut through the kitchen now towards the front of the house. Maybe she'd annoy Brad a bit. And then, the doorbell rang, ending any possibility of teasing him before the party of three. Or five, depending on whether or not their parents wanted to gush over the sight of Stephanie King, "I've got it!" she then yelled to the house before unlocking the door and throwing it open. As predicted, she found herself face to face with Stephanie King - except an older version of her. Truth be told, she couldn't even remember the last time she had seen the woman before her. Had she been fifteen? Didn't matter as she flashed a smile, "Hey! It's great to see you. Please come in, may I help you with those brownies before I assault you with a hug?"
[attr="class","brad-text"]The holidays were a nightmare. Not in his personal life, but in his professional life. So many planes needed maintenance and a lot of flights were canceled. It didn’t matter that he had the look and outfit of someone not in customer service. He and his team were still bombarded by angry, frustrated customers. Thankfully, there were a few good ones that bought coffee for the workers.
Bradley was hoping that it would be easier for home, but nope. A fucking party was planned. Not that it was a bad thing – but he was hoping he had more time to get into the holiday spirit. Nonetheless, he had prepped everything and got the roast into the oven.
It didn’t take long for Stephanie to show up, and Tiffany had already made it to the door. Bradley remained in the kitchen – as his time was occupied getting the cheeseboard set up. “Don’t be a holiday murderer,” he called out, commenting on the assault statement Tiffany had said.
Stephanie took a moment to glance at the decorations already outside the house, she expected nothing less than the extravagant lights. It reminded her of her younger days, lucky to be in Florida for the Holidays even with the WEF horse show. She always made time to come see her family and friends. It wasn't long before the door opened and a much older Tiffany than she remembered appeared behind the door.
"Tiff?! It's so great to see you. Yes! I didn't know what else to bring, I figured everyone but Bradley would eat the brownies." She carefully handed the tray over to the other brunette, shocked at how long it had been since the two women had seen each other. Stephanie entered the home, smelling the scent of food cooking away. She unlaced her boots and stepped out of them - making sure they were off to the side in case anyone else had been invited. Stephanie placed her bag and vest by her shoes, now ready for the hug.
She laughed at Bradley's comment. "No one is going to be murdered today, I promise. It's just harmless decorating." Stephanie loved Christmas, it meant a lot to her as a child - like many others. "How are you both doing? Holidays keeping you busy at work?" She was lucky in the fact that the Winter was when she was the least busy, though her clients were enjoying the flat work bootcamp she was putting them through.
Tiffany could not help but to laugh at the surprise in the other woman's voice when they first laid eyes on each other. She supposed it had been a long time since they two of them had spoken, let alone been in the same room. Just as it had been with all of Bradley's navy friends, Tiffany had been the tag along whenever Stephanie had come over as well when they were kids, thankfully, she had been generous to include her in their adventures, "Ah don't worry. My sweet tooth will make up for Bradley's absence of one. Are these dark or milk chocolate based? And yes, this is an important question." Given that it altered what beverage that they might be pairing them with.
She carefully took the tray from Stephanie now before wrapping her in a hug, expertly keeping the tray of coveted brownies safe. Somewhere from the kitchen, Bradley had to inject some smart ass comment which only made Tiffany roll her eyes. The woman gestured for her friend to follow her now, leading her into the kitchen where the smells of Bradley's slavery in the kitchen could accost them, "I have brought her to you alive and unmaimed." She jested at her brother now before placing the tray on a blank space of the counter, listening to Stephanie talk. Once prompted about her job, Tiffany just smiled, "Oh, same old stuff. Plenty of vaccines to be given for holiday travel at the base, and Hickstead is just whatever pops up at the ER. Thankfully nothing too exciting." And then...there was their dad, but Tiffany kept her mouth shut, uncertain of what Bradley has told Stephanie and what he hasn't - and given the energy, she had to keep note of when she should stop being a third wheel and run out of the room.
[attr="class","brad-text"]‘Well, if you aren’t going to murder me – might as well be the job I’m doing,” he commented. But he had to reign in his foul mood. Not only was work about to boil him over, but he also made a mistake that his parents ratted him out over. He had broken his relations with Tempe. Maybe, if work hadn’t stressed him out – he could’ve waited. All he had was to blame himself. The reaction to the breakup wasn’t what he was expecting, or maybe it was because Tempe had expected him to break up with her. That also left a sour taste.
He watched as the brownies were placed down, knowing full well he would avoid them if the shade wasn’t correct. Bradley had a cheesecake in the fridge that his name on it, anyway. “Almost got hit by a passenger yesterday, so that was a real treat. A Christmas miracle that I wasn’t hurt,” he laughed. “How are your lessons going?”
It felt good to see Tiffany again - adding another friend to her group. She knew the other woman didn't ride, but she was trying harder to get a life outside of the barn. "We can both eat them, they are milk chocolate. Knowing your brother he has something else to eat.' She was in such a hurry at the store that she forgot about Bradley's disgust for milk chocolate.
She unzipped her vest and hung it on the back of one of the chairs in the kitchen. The woman raised her eyebrow before speaking. "I hope no one wants to murder you. I'd like to keep you around, though I'm sure Tiff has something different to say." Steph couldn't imagine what working at the airport was like during the holidays. People wanted to travel and Christmas made those people go crazy. The woman turned her head to Tiff now, giving her a nod. "Oh, that does sound fun though. Anything really crazy happen though? Anyone jump off a building?" It was a bit morbid, but she always enjoyed hearing the hospital adventures.
"Wait, what happened?" It sounded like Bradley had quiet the adventure and she was curious to hear what he had to say. "Well, it depends on the group honestly. I feel like my school age students are getting to the end of their nerves with school, so they are definitely trying to press my buttons. My non student students seem to be enjoying them. Though ask them come no jumping January. No one likes that but it's for their own good."
When Stephanie told her that the said brownies were milk chocolate brownies, a deep and heavenly sigh could not help but to escape Tiffany, "Maybe we should just skip the real food and head straight into dessert." She commented now as they waltzed into the kitchen, "My brother can keep his chocolate free cheesecake." The mood upon entering the kitchen seemed quite foul though for a moment, and brown eyes shot her brother a look at his comment. Although it wasn't the comment that bothered her so much as it was the tone. Tiffany supposed she knew why though, given work, his breakup, and the matter of how their parents had treated said break up - but now was not the time to wallow, not with company involved who went by the name of Stephanie King, "I'm sure that passenger would have deserved the ole Navy style sucker punch," the woman quipped now, knowing fully well that nobody was allowed to hit her older brother other than herself.
As for herself, it took her a moment to realize what Stephanie meant by 'did anyone jump off a building' comment, "Thankfully no, but I've mainly been at the Army base verses Hickstead Hospital. Although, given how tiny this town is - I am sure I would have heard about it." Tiffany knew that holidays in combination with the dark hours usually brought out the worst in people, she had seen it before, but thankfully, it would appear that things would go by rather cheery this year in her new home. As her brother and Stephanie started their idle chit chat about themselves, Tiffany figured she better give the two some space and instead, tend herself to poking around the food and soon found herself invading Bradley's highly photogenetic charcuterie board, "What are non student students? Is that like a weird horse colloquial?" She asked now, neverminded that she was practically a chubby chipmunk with cheese, meat, and crackers. Manners were for strangers, not family and friends.
