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!.
[attr="class","character-skycalls-h"]"All the world's a stage"
[attr="class","character-skycalls-text"]Year 11. How the hell he had even made it this was far still a mystery on its own. Nash wasn’t some academic miracle-child and while he really did try, sometimes certain classes, or teachers, just didn’t match with him. Besides, mucking about on purpose was way more fun to make the schooldays pass. Drama class was different though, it was something he took seriously and thoroughly enjoyed. He definitely wasn’t attending school to be remembered for his scholar skills, nope, it was pretty obvious to any of the other students or teachers what the boy was aiming for.
To be or not to be auditioning for the play of Hamlet that they were going to be putting on this semester wasn’t really a question at all. He was Nash Breckah for Pete's sake, of course he was going to be first in line to try and get the lead part. It was his drive, it was in his blood, it was all he lived for. He was not going to settle for anything less than being the main performer in the production if he could help it. Okay, so things had been different over the last couple of months and while he couldn’t wait to let the play take over his life again, to skip out of the grief and pain that had been so very prominent he also felt heartbroken that his mother wasn’t ever going to be in the audience to see him perform on stage anymore. Never again
Oh shit. The silence around him snapped him out of his thoughts, was it his turn to say something? Nash could feel eyes staring at him as he gazed into the auditorium. It almost made him feel small and vulnerable and he wasn’t having it, he needed to reel in this part to move on. No suffocating, not now. He looked at the notes in his hands, the lines were easy to recite but the action part was something he had not thought through quite well. -Takes the skull- Yea, not happening, he wasn’t touching anything related to death ever again. ”Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him,...” he practically stammered out, ”blah, blah and so on. I’m not picking up that skull, Mr. Gallagher.” Nash stated in an almost frustrated manner as he pointed at the prop on the floor and took a deep breath, hoping he was able to keep it all together. ”Can't you just have us practice some fight scenes or something?” The teen wondered as he hopped off the stage, knowing exactly what his teacher excelled in as he tried to twist the situation as fast as he could. He was not going to lose face or show any kind of emotion in front of his classmates or teacher.
Shakespeare, it was something Robin loved. Maybe a bit more than others, but it was an important aspect of acting – especially in England. There was something about knowing the cadences, as well as the monologues that were important. It wasn’t for everyone, and he knew that. It wasn’t that everyone liked or could handle. Robin saw it as something that made or broke a future actor. If someone couldn’t survive Shakespeare, then maybe the stage wasn’t the place. Of course, that could change – but he hadn’t been proven wrong yet.
Robin had his students break up for the first half of class. He would help with a few things if asked, but he wanted to give them some time to go over lines with their peers. The Spring show was nearing the start of auditions, so extra time during class was much needed. The twenty minutes passed quite quickly before he called upon the group wanting the leads. Hamlet people were a good chunk, but the friendly competition was needed. Unfortunately, the loss was needed in the theatre. Made people understand that getting parts was a part of it.
Nash went first. Robin knew him to be a dedicated student, but a little too dedicated. He had noticed him hanging around too long, which wasn’t uncommon – but it was a constant action. As if there was something wrong, but Robin didn’t know what. He had talked to a few of the other teachers, and they all said Nash was a bit aloof in class – truly viewing Cs as equal passing.
There was a decent start, but then silence, and then continuation. Robin looked at his student, leaning into the table that was behind him. “Why not?” he asked. “And no, we’re not going to do a sword fight until tomorrow.”
When Nash got closer to Robin, he looked him dead in the eye. “If you need a moment, take it. The rest of your group will go first. We will continue this conversation after class,” he whispered, before calling up Trevor to the stage. There were a few whispers, but Robin shot a glance – and it simmered to nothing.
[attr="class","character-skycalls-h"]"All the world's a stage"
[attr="class","character-skycalls-text"]What was happening? This wasn’t him. Choking on stage had never happened to him before, not even during an opening night of one of the school plays. Sure, he had been nervous before, ya know, a healthy dose of tension every aspiring, and professional, performer needed but he had never actually almost freaked out. This didn’t feel good though, he felt his emotions running higher than they should but mostly he was just angry at himself for not having anticipated this being able to occur. It was Hamlet for crying out loud, death was as prominent in the play as it was in the Breckah family life at the moment.
”Because it’s only a practice round, right? Not as important as the real thing…” he shrugged, knowing these little moments could be of way more importance than he let on but he was not going to share his true feelings in front of his entire year. They already felt sorry for him, he could feel it at several moments throughout the day. Nash tried not to look at the man but he could feel the teacher’s eyes on him. This was not the sort of stuff that he was used to happening in drama class, this was the class he could destress in usually. His safe haven.
The quiet words made him look up, hoping Mr. Gallagher wouldn’t see the pain in his eyes. Take a moment? To do what exactly? Think about stuff he was avoiding in the first place? Nash snorted softly, this man was hilarious. He didn’t want to be different, things were already different and this would only single him out even more. ‘The others will go first’, Nash mulled over the words as he tried not to openly scowl when Trevor got called up to the stage. Did he just fuck up his chance to get lead roll in the Spring production?
Nash picked up a chair, spun it around, and sat down with his arms folded over the back. Like, what conversation was there to continue? ”Nah, I’m alright, I’ll watch Trevor show us all how it’s done” he replied, not liking the whispers from the rest of the class, ”sword fighting still sounds more fun though”
Robin gave another quick glance to Nash before continuing class. He didn’t like having to single students out, but when they were acting not like their usual selves, it made him worry. Maybe he worried a bit more than he needed, but he was a teacher. He wanted to make sure his students were okay and set up for a decent future.
The auditions went slow, but that was alright. “Good job everyone, please start memorizing the monologues you want to use for the Spring show auditions.” Eyes watched as students began to shuffle out, but Robin prevented Nash from bolting out with one wooden sword. Not in a menacing way, but Robin knew what the boy wanted. And he would give it to him, whether he cooperated or not.
“C’mon,” he said. “Let me see you run through your lines again. I can have my back turned to you, if you want. Or..” his voice became softer. More paternal. “We can chat about what’s going on. I’ve been told you’ve been missing some classes.” There was a high chance that Nash would choose the first option, but there was also the possibility he would crumble and then talk. It wasn’t like math class or science. Nash’s whole academic career wasn’t carried on the back of drama class. But Robin knew his habits enough that if Nash was screwing up in his class, on things Robin knew he was confident in – that was odd.
[attr="class","character-skycalls-h"]"All the world's a stage"
[attr="class","character-skycalls-text"]It was like literally Shakespearean torture sitting through his other classmates practise rounds and Mr. Gallagher’s words about them needing to memorize their monologues couldn’t be more spot on. No shit, man, these kids needed some work. Why did he have to be so damn emotional and sensitive about the props today? Fuck. He could’ve made an impression and failed, this wasn't like this. Not in drama class.
The wooden sword prevented him from exiting the auditorium and initially Nash just wanted to let his attitude do the work but the teacher’s softer expression somehow got to him. ”Nothings going on but the new usual” he snorted as he tried to grin without losing face ”It’s all good, life’s grand.” Ah, so there were teachers who had been snitching to other teachers. Great. The teen liked Mr. Gallagher and he wasn’t going to tell him anything that would make the man dislike him. There weren’t a whole lot of adults he liked right now since pretty much all of them were on his case about something and he hadn’t even been the cause of all this nonsense.
All this definitely felt like an extended class or some therapy session. ”I have class ya know…”, he said, the statement not bearing much strength as the truth was it was probably one of the classes he hadn’t been attending regularly. ”Do I get to wield that sword if I comply?” He didn’t necessarily want to do that either right now since that had been more of an act to stay on stage instead of having Trevor take over but hey, if he was going to get interrogated he may as well try to get something good out of it too.
Robin arched an eyebrow. “You mean study hall? The one that you expertly seem to slip out of…oh I don’t know, three times a week?” he inquired, lowering the sword. Robin didn’t believe him, obviously. But he would humor Nash’s request. Robin wasn’t one that liked to do any kind of bartering – but with Nash, he had a feeling a bit of a bribe was needed.
“Yes, but only the wooden one today. What questions you answer will depend on the movement you learn. But we stretch first. You’re welcome to fill the air with complaints, or we work in silence.” Robin walked up to the now empty stage, placing the wooden sword on the table. He took a seat, legs in a butterfly position, to start stretching his hips.
”This blows,” Yea, he was not used to being called out like that. ”I’d rather be in study hall.” No, he really didn’t mean that but it was the easiest thing to say to pretend he hated being held back when in all honesty it was the most comfortable feeling he had in a long time. Even thought he man was annoying as fuck at time, Mr. Gallagher made him feel like someone was actually paying attention to him. And to his messing about.
Oh, he was good, those were definitely bribes. Bribes which Nash Breckah was pretty interested in. ”You’re not very nice, ya know that? I probably don’t have any answers for your questions anyways” he said casually as he followed the teacher up the stage moments after the man had sat down and followed suit. ”Why do you need to stretch for sword fighting anyways?”
“Well, why do you exercise your vocal cords before you sing?” Robin answered back, giving the same level of sass, albeit a bit more joking. “It not only helps prevent injuries but also helps calm yourself. Make you focus on something like you’re breathing and forget the world for a moment.”
He closed his resting his hands on his knees. Robin made his body stack the right way before taking a deep breath in. Then, he exhaled, pressing his knees down to the stage floor. He repeated the same thing, before opening his eyes again. “Are you enjoying other classes at school? Any other teachers?” he asked, figuring it was best to ask things that weren’t as intense.
The sassy reply made him scrunch up his face, partially in jest. Who did Mr. Gallagher think he even was to match his tone so annoyingly accurate. Heck, the explanation made sense alright but that didn’t mean he was liking it. Okay, maybe some of it sounded hopeful. “Forgetting about the world actually sounds really damn good” he muttered, doing his best not to give in to it all but it was hard to keep the irritation going.
Before he knew it he was mirroring his drama teacher, planted down on the stage floor, deep breaths and all. Nash figured it was the best he could do or he would still be here till five o’clock and that was not happening. Besides, it didn’t matter how he stretched anyways since the man had his eyes closed.
‘Are you enjoying other classes at school? Any other teachers?’ The teen had been trying to focus on inhaling and exhaling but couldn't help but snort. “Enjoying? School? Nope. This whole drama period is doable when certain teachers aren’t being all up my case,” the nod of his head made it clear he was talking about the only teacher present at the moment, “but beside that, it’s all a waste of time”
