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!.
‘Be home before dark’, were words he had heard often over the years as he went out after school or on weekends to be with his friends. Playing outside, hanging about Hickstead with friends getting up to mostly innocent shenanigans or just being huddled up on a sofa at one of their houses to make sure that PlayStation got its hours in. Nash scoffed as he pulled at the hoodie that was literally stuck to his hair from the rainfall. Life had been so good and he had never even realized. The words about being back at a certain time hadn’t been spoken out loud anymore ever since, ya know, that fateful night. Matters had changed. Home didn’t exist anymore. It was just a brick house with a bunch of people living inside, their blood connection overshadowed by grief.
He had told his father he wouldn’t need a ride home today, told him that there were some extra rehearsals for the school play he had to attend. Were there? No, but his dad didn’t need to know that. It was plausible enough even if mum would’ve seen right through him had she still been here. Then again, if she had been here, he wouldn’t have been lingering at school just to avoid going home. All of this was so messed up. It had been quiet after classes had ended and Nash had even managed to finish some homework out of sheer boredom before heading to the cemetery. Visiting mum’s grave had become a habit when he was able to go down there by himself, there was no way he was sharing his tears with anyone else. How long had it been? Three months? It felt like forever already, the pain had left such a deep immense imprint which was never going to heal according to the teen.
The rain had changed from a light drizzle into a heavy downpour as he headed back in the dusk through Echo Valley Park towards Oldaker Avenue. Maybe the weather today actually symbolized the Breckah family life. Ha. No shit. The cobblestones were wet and slippery but at least this was a road you could walk on instead of the sandy muddy paths at the park. Nash tried to step around some of the puddles as he dug his cold hands deep into the pocket of his damp jacket. Ah, who was he kidding anyways, his trainers were completely soaked already as was everything else. God, he hated wet socks.
As he made his approach closer to the residential part of town, he felt his mood shift. The constant rain didn’t help either and he stopped in his tracks, wondering if he even wanted to go back to his family. Maybe he could just disappear for a while, wasn't there anywhere he could go? Anywhere but the house.
Derek had had a long couple of weeks. He'd taken on some extra shifts at the club, as they'd been so desperate for the help. Things had picked up with the beginning of a new university year and all that, the fresh blood had been fast to hit the town in an attempt to paint it red. He didn't mind all that much, though the teenage behaviour did start to wear in him quite fast after a heavy night, it wasn't as if the adult behaved any better. If anything they could often be worse. At least when you threatened the youngsters they tended to give you a sheepish look and buck up their ideas a little. It wasn't just his bouncer role that had been busy though, he'd had an influx of clients, a couple of those with quite a demand for large and complex pieces of art. In his spare time when he should have been sleeping, he'd been sketching instead. Designing and then sometimes having to redesign the tattoo's as the individuals they were for requested changes or adjustments. Some of them had been pickier than his usual lot too, which hadn't helped with his lack of spare time. At least his bank account would feel a little more fed than usual. Which would definitely help when it came to the expense of Christmas with a lot of siblings.
He felt a twinge of guilt, as always, that he hadn't been back to the family house recently because of his work. He still made an attempt to drop in when he could to least make sure there was some knd of decent food in the fridge, that the water was still running, and the electrics hadn't been switched off. If he couldn't, he'd at least text the runts to check in, but his phone had been silent from familial messages and that did worry him a little. Perhaps it shouldn't. There was the saying that no news was good news after all. Still, he made a quiet vow to himself as he packed the car up with his monthly food shop that he'd pop by tomorrow to see everyone was okay.
It wasn't long before Derek was on his way home. Heavy traffic and a road closure sent him a different way home to the usual, which found him driving closer to the house than he had anticipated, and when he caught sight of a familiar figure standing in the middle of the pavement, despite the gloom of the day, he frowned. He dialed down the sound of his music and made a split second decision to pull over to the side of the road, winding down his passenger window and leaning across the seats so he could shout his brother's name and hopefully be heard. "Nick?! What are you doing!"
Rain kept pouring down as if it matched his mood and the teen had never known life could take such drastic changes in such a short period of time. It put a whole new light onto so many things in this crazy world they called life. RIght now it just so happened to be actual light as the headlights that came out of nowhere put the gloomy scenes around him in focus. While Nash knew people around here on these roads were mostly locals and would never drive very fast, the beams still made him jump. He had been so lost in thought as to where he could disappear to, leaving Hickstead forever, that there hadn’t been any notice to his surroundings.
The voice was a familiar one, one he could recognize anywhere, just like any of his other brothers’. Derek. Great. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the words coming out of his older brother’s mouth were the ones that had his anger and frustration spike higher than they had yet today. Nick?? Nash scoffed and shook his head, what the hell was going on in this family? Maybe it was just the universe playing some kind of horrific game with him and he would go home later and mum would still be there and he would be able to hug her. A few tears started to form in his eyes but there was no way he was giving in to them, not here. Not now.
”It’s Nash,” he snarled as he stepped to the side of the road and kicked his foot at the ground, the wet sock in his shoe sent a cold shiver down his spine. ”Is that how long you’ve not been to the house? Fuck off, Derek”
He knew he'd fucked up almost immediately. The look on his brother's face when he clocked Derek was heartbreaking, and he gave a quiet sigh. That was his mistake, he knew Nick preferred Nash, but sometimes things stuck in your head, like your brother's name - and he always thought of Nick as Nick. He was going to pay for it now, but he'd take it - he'd take whatever was thrown at him in order to take away whatever was eating at the young kid. At least his words got him to move to the side of the road, which was an improvement from being in the middle of it. Next he just needed to get him into the car, and hopefully come back with Derek for a bit. It looked like Nick needed a moment away from the house, some dry clothes and some food.
”It’s Nash,” Yep, there it was. Derek pressed his lips together to avoid saying anything more incriminating. He pulled the handbrake up on his car and took it out of gear, but left it running, blasting on the heat. It was pouring outside, and he didn't have a jacket on, but he'd suffer it to get his brother in the damn warm. "I'm sorry, Nash, slip of the tongue." He spoke like he had a gun to his head and was putting up his hands, trying to de-escalate a situation. He -slightly reluctantly- got out the car, immediately pelted with rain to the point his shirt stuck to his body like a second skin. "What are you doing out here, in the middle of the road?" He asked, coming around the front of the car to get closer to his brother.
”Is that how long you’ve not been to the house? Fuck off, Derek” He frowned - his signature look - and shook his head, "I know, and I had plans to be over again soon, things have been busy at work." He explained, knowing it wouldn't cut it for his brother, but trying anyway. "Will you get in the car with me, please?" He pleaded, "Come back to the flat, I've got pizza, and dry clothes." His first attempt at a bribe, he hoped it worked, he could already feel cold setting in and he wondered how Nash hadn't felt it yet - he'd get sick if he stayed out here, believe it or not as his brother probably wouldn't, Derek gave a hell of a damn about the kid.
