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!.
The tears came easily. Mornings, noon and night. Nash still teared up when he looked at the photos of mum that hung on the walls throughout the house. Photos in which the family was still complete, photos that would never be the same again. They had gone from just filled frames to treasures that nobody could ever replace. If at any time in the future tragedy struck again and there was a fire, floor, or any kind of destruction to the house, those were the valuables he was going to save. No questions asked.
Nights were the hardest though, mentally. Nash spent many hours lying awake all through the night, weeping silently as he thought about how life had changed at the snap of a finger and there was nothing they could do to get her back. Nothing. The only thing Nash accomplished by trying to keep his emotions private was a wet pillow with the tears he cried. All of his brothers, and dad, probably had nights just like those but there was too much going on to actually talk about it together like reasonable people. Talk about the core of it all, about things that mattered and to remember mum as she should be remembered without all the arguing and drinking and mucking up. Christ, she would’ve kicked all of their arses if she was able to.
Nash wasn’t going to break though, he wasn’t going to admit he was a crybaby so he tried not to cry each morning as he woke up into a world where his mother was no longer physically present. It was quite difficult though when his younger brother, whom he shared a room with, was undoubtedly the spitting image of Tracey Breckah in everything. Literally everything. And he was right there each and every time Nash opened his eyes.
He had been awake for a while as he stared at the ceiling while listening to Creven tossing about and his sleepy mumbles. Nash remembered the days they’d crawl into a bed together just for company and giggles. They had been so close as the two youngest and while he still felt the closest to Crev, even in times of trouble, these days things were…different. His brother’s breathing changed. Ah, he was awake. The combination of the memories and the lack of sleep however made it hard for the fifteen year old to stay calm. ”Bloody hell, Crev," the frustrated sigh and words were clipped, ”you even breathe like mum. Can you knock it off?” Nash didn’t even wait for an answer and buried his head under his pillow. Was it unreasonable? Probably. Were they the best choice of words? Nope, but that’s how it had come out and he wasn’t going to take it back either.
mom... why was she walking away from him? she'd been right there when he'd walked out of the school doors, like she had always been when he'd been younger. this smiling face ready to greet him after the school day, patient enough to listen to his constant chatter and nonsense stories. she'd been there when he'd opened the doors but now, she was turning away from him. he tried to follow her but the steps he took, got him no closer. he quickened his step as he chased after her though she just kept getting further and further away. eventually he broke out into an all-out sprint as he tried to catch up to her, but she kept walking away from him, getting smaller and smaller in the distance until he could only see her as a speck. he tried to call out to her, to yell at her to get her to come back, to turn around but she didn't. he couldn't breathe anymore, he had to stop running. he hunched over on the footpath, his eyes still glued on the spot his mother was disappearing into and then just like that she was gone. the world around him turned dark, the wind started whipping around him and then suddenly...
his eyes flew open, and he felt his breath hitch as he found himself staring at his bedroom wall. the room was dark except for whatever moonlight streamed in through the window that was between his and his brother's beds. he brought his hand up to his chest and he could feel his heart pounding under his fingertips. he closed his eyes and did his best to keep his breathing slow, but he could feel the tears welling in the corners of his eyes. he squeezed his eyes closed as he buried his face into his pillow and all he could think about was going back to sleep, going back to sleep so he could see her face again. and then his brother's words broke the silence in the room, and he couldn't help the sting they had, the hurt they caused when it sunk in what his brother had said. "you want me to stop breathing?" he said back, trying his best to keep his voice as light as it always was but he couldn't deny that had hurt. "i can't exactly turn it off."
[attr="class","character-skycalls-text"]Even in the dusk of the room with the slight rays of the moon’s light coming through the curtain he could make out Creven’s figure in the other bed. Sharing a bedroom with his brother had been part of his life for as long as he could remember. Nash wasn’t even sure if he could ever sleep in a room by himself anymore, the steady breathing of Crev being asleep had always made him feel safe and it was a feeling of being home, being where he belonged. Ironically enough that same breathing sound was now the core of his frustration, the element that made him miss their mother so much more. Damn genetics.
His brother’s voice was mild but it was clear he wasn’t happy with what the older of the two had said, ”Well…no,” he mumbled from underneath the thick pillow. Of course he didn't want his brother to stop breathing, he didn’t even want to think about losing another member of their family. Shit, he seriously needed to think before he opened his damn mouth but it wasn’t like he could take it back. Apologizing now was only going to make him cry, “It’s not like the rest of us breathe that way, why do you have to?”
The other teen had been right, it wasn’t like the boy could actually change anything about his respiration. Was he lashing out because of his own grief and emotions to a brother who was dealing with the exact same stuff? ”Why are you awake anyways?” Geez, Nash, compassionate much? What the hell was wrong with him, things had never been this strained between him and Crev before. Sure, they fought and argued at times but he did that with most of his brothers, that was normal right? ‘Manners maketh the man’, that’s what their parents had always taught them. ‘If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all’, mum’s words. Well, mum wasn’t here anymore and he had lost faith in just about anything, if not everything.
well that was something. he hadn't been serious when he'd asked his brother if he wanted him to stop breathing but there was that small part of his mind that had worried the answer would have been yes. he shifted slightly, rolling onto his back and stared at the ceiling, almost narrowing his eyes at it as he tried to picture the sky above it. it was something his mother had taught him, when he'd woken from bad dreams when he'd been younger. she'd have laid next to him with her arms hugged tightly around him and told him to look through the ceiling and to count the stars in the sky. it had always worked a treat when he'd been younger and he'd always fallen back to sleep within moments but tonight he couldn't picture it. he couldn't form the images in his head, there was just a darkness that seemed to grow by the second.
"you'd have to ask someone else that question .." he said as he shifted restlessly in his bed. the longer he was awake the less tired he was feeling and it frustrated him just a little. he had a game in the morning, decent night sleeps were key for playing well. he knew that. he rubbed his fingers into his eyes slightly and couldn't help letting out a sigh as he dropped his hands beside his head, glancing over towards his brother's bed as he asked why he was awake. "because i'm not asleep." he couldn't help but say, his inner breckah coming out for a second before he caught himself and he chewed his lip a little. "no reason."
Maybe he should’ve just gone back to sleep or kept his mouth shut all together because the current situation was burdened with unspoken grief from both young boys. The darkness only added to the loaded conversation that they weren’t having. The noise from the bed on the other side of the room had grown quiet but Nash had heard Creven roll over. The breathing was steading out a little but it was still in the same familiar rhythm it had been before.
The fifteen year old rolled over too and clasped his hands behind his head on the pillow, his mind returned to all those years ago when they were still little. Shit. He suddenly knew exactly what Crev was doing. "You aren’t trying to count the stars, are ya?” his blunt voice made him cringe at his own words. ”You really think that stuff helps? That’s for babies, mate…”
Oh, he remembered the bad dreams Creven used to have and how mum would snuggle his little brother up next to her and taught him how to count the stars to calm him down and make him fall asleep. It would only be moments before she would notice Nash was awake as well and beckoned him over. Mum in between her two youngest sons, there hadn’t been a better and more safe and secure feeling in the whole wide world.
He swallowed back a tear, he wasn't going to reminisce much. It would only uncover too many emotions. It was easier to ignore his feelings because man, he could still smell her hair if he tried hard enough. His brother’s reply about having to ask someone else made him shrug in the dusky room. Ask who? Like, what was he even talking about? The sarcastic comment that followed was an answer in a way that was not unknown in their household, especially with six older brother’s and one younger one. It made him snort, ”Funny.”
”No reason. Hmm. Sure. You worried about your game or something?” It was the easiest thing to say to avoid the real underlying reason. They both knew that wasn't the cause of either of them being awake but there was no way he was saying ‘I miss her too’ right now.
as his brothers words reached his ears, crev physically flinched. his brother could have said anything else to him and it would have rolled off his back like water. he wasn't much for losing his temper like his brothers were. his mother had always said he was a lover and not a fighter but things had changed since her death. he'd been trying so hard to keep up appearances, to make everyone think he was fine so they didn't worry about him. if he could make them smile it was like he was helping their mum in some small way, even though she wasn't around anymore. she'd been the one who could make any of them smile on a bad day, someone still needed to do that in the family.
he took in a sharp breath and gripped his hand into his blanket. "mum didn't think so." he said as he pushed the blankets off and he sat up, running his hand through his hair quickly, not sure what to do with the feelings that were rushing over him. it was like that one comment about the stars had unraveled whatever think hold crev had been holding on his grief and it was pushing against his chest like a wave. he heard his brother ask if he was worried about his game. "don't pretend to care." he snapped as he shifted again in the bed, not sure what to do right now. normally he'd lay down and do what he'd been doing before but he couldn't bring himself to do it ... not now.
’Mum didn’t think so’. Nope, she didn’t and Nash knew it. Both brothers knew it but it was hard to take the words back without completely falling apart. Even if that was probably what they both needed to let out their emotions and grief. Oh, he knew it hadn’t been fair. There was no way he should be allowed to make his younger brother feel bad just because Creven was holding on to things so tightly that Nash wished he could do. Things hat would make him still feel close to her. As if she was right there in that bed, holding the both of them without a care in the world.
Shit. Shit. Shit. He had been so naive. The world was a cruel and ugly place that could take anyone away from you whenever you least expected it. Fuck that. ’don’t pretend to care.’ the clipped words from the other boy made him cringe. Asking about the game had merely been an apology wrapped up in avoidance. ”I do care…” the soft words were nothing like the passionate ones that fit the fifteen year old better. ”I do…it’s just….forget it”. No he wasn’t ready for any of that. Nash could hear the motions in the bed next to him, knowing Crev had sat up, ”It’s the middle of the night, get some sleep”
