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!.
Slowly, carefully, Shaun sank into the old recliner on the front porch with a glass of Coke in hand. His head throbbed wildly, his stomach turning as his vision wavered - a disorientating feeling sweeping his body like a tsunami. It was everywhere, but as quickly as it reached its destination, he found it receding to some other place he forgot could ache. He let his head rest in his free hand, feeling the tremble in his other side. It wasn't good, but as long as he was careful, he was less likely to do something stupid. He'd made sure Nash was ok then carefully gotten a drink and made his way outside.
Just a couple minutes, settle his nerves, a cigarette - he'd go in and start sorting out the washing and getting that going because he most certainly wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon. After a moment he let himself relax and slouch into the recliner, staring at the glass - what he wouldn't give for a little bit of Scotch or even Whiskey in his drink. He almost mulled it over, considered getting up to fetch one of the remaining bottles in the house to pour into his drink. But he'd gone almost three months now without touching another drop of alcohol. He instead he just sipped the Coke as it was before pulling a cigarette from a nearly empty packet and lit it. He hadn't intended on reducing the amount he smoked either, it was simply happening. Instead of a pack a day, it was a pack over five or so days - not that he dared to share that achievement with the kids. It's not all about you Shaun.
Sighing, he inhaled sharply and let the smoke out slow, his eyes dropping shut. Fuck was he tired. He was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, and even more so physically worn out. Jace was wearing him into the ground fast. He had to talk to Kyle tomorrow, get some sort of idea on how to get Jace seen to. He couldn't afford another head-knock.
Derek had had a long couple of days, and it was with a heavy stomach of guilt that he detoured on his way home to drop by the old homestead. It was always an odd mix of feelings when he headed down the road, a strange mixture of anxiety, that churning sick feeling, and worry and guilt - what had happened since he had last dropped in, or what hadn't happened. Guilt he hadn't popped by sooner, anxiety because he didn't really want to be there, it made him feel on edge. He brought with him Chinese food, there wouldn't be quite enough for everyone - feeding the five thousand took a lot of money and a lot of Chinese - but it was something, a tasty treat for the taste buds and all that.
His foot steps slowed as he saw the figure on the front porch, frowning slightly until he figured out which figure it was. Then he acknowledged the state of him and his head tilted curiously. Something was up, he could see it - feel it - the second he stepped onto the property. That wasn't unusual, but some days were better than others, sometimes the atmosphere wasn't so heavy with dread and gloom. His brow furrowed as he paused in front of the slumped figure of his father, a brief glance to the drink in his hand and wondering if he were to sniff it, whether it would contain alcohol. He dismissed the thought - not his problem. "What's happened?" He asked, because clearly something had and there was no point beating around the bush.
Shaun's eyes were almost fully shut as he sat there - a short nap couldn't hurt right? Just a few minutes, that's all it would be. He had things to do. Had to do. Couldn't be avoided. Yet no sooner did he feel like he was about to slip off, the sound of feet brought him back to the present, almost like a paranoia-trigger - was it Jace?
He sat up a little straighter once he recognised Derek approaching like he was a hazardous snake in the way.
"What's happened?" He asked.
He quirked a tired brow, "Why does anything need to have happened?"
He sipped the drink before setting it on the small timber table beside the couch, "And no, before you ask - there is no alcohol in it."
He turned his full attention to Derek, trying to read his face, "What's brought you around tonight?"
He watched his father straighten as he heard Derek's words, and he wondered if he'd just interrupted his dad sleeping once he realised he'd had his eyes closed. It was too late to take it back now though, he'd woken the beast. Again he briefly wondered what was in the glass, if it had sent his father to sleep already - maybe it wasn't his first. It hit hard that it didn't take much for him to think the worst of Shaun, but until he'd been proven otherwise, he couldn't help but fall back on the things he knew as opposed to the things he was being told.
"Why does anything need to have happened?" Derek raised a brow, remaining standing as he watched his dad take a drink. "And no, before you ask - there is no alcohol in it." He pressed his lips together, hating that it was in his mind to ask that and the fact that his father had guessed it. "Alright," He responded with a shrug, not denying that he'd been thinking it, that he still didn't trust his father's word. "And because there seems to be an air about you like there's been trouble." He added defensively. Since when was something not wrong? It made more sense to ask than it did to assume it was all fine.
"What's brought you around tonight?" Derek blinked and then remembered himself why he had come home. He raised his right hand as if that answered the question as the white bag swung from his fingertips. "I brought Chinese, you hungry?" He asked, as much as a white flag as his dad was going to get for assuming he was drunk out front.
"Alright," He responded with a shrug. "And because there seems to be an air about you like there's been trouble."
Derek wasn't wrong and Shaun knew it - how often was it that the house was actually calm and content? It was such a rare thing that he doubted that it existed at all, but even so, the fact that it was the first thing that Derek thought of stung just a little. And that fact there was 'an air' about him also wasn't too far wrong, it just wasn't what his son thought it was but what point was there in explaining it to him? Derek had always been the logical one, practically driven by it and rarely if ever emotion. So how could he explain what he was feeling to a young man that he doubted would care about it? Who would simply wash it aside as if it were simply laundry.
"Can't a man be tired?" he asked softly, no hostility about him as he set his drink on the side table. If only you could understand the tiredness I feel...
"I brought Chinese, you hungry?"
Carefully, he made faint dismissive gesture as he rubbed at his face, "Uh- no, no I am good. I'd just put it aside for the boys to pick at."
He almost added how much his sons were like buzzards in regards to food, but somehow he couldn't even make the light hearted joke. It felt like what little teasing he'd ever done was now a no go for any of his sons.
He knew his father couldn't argue with him on that part, just the way Derek couldn't have argued that he wondered if there was alcohol in Shaun's drink. Whether his dad liked it or not, there was always something going on in the house - even just because of the sheer volume of people in the family. The more people in the mix, the more likely there were to be arguments - people had different wants and needs, opposing opinions, did actions that others would disagree on. It was natural for families to have drama, it just seemed to be on some kind of epic scale for the Breckah's. They were a family of fighters, what more did Shaun expect?
"Can't a man be tired?" Derek looked at his father - really looked at him - taking it all in. He sighed, a heavy sort of sigh that should come with a man twice his age. "Of course, especially when you carry so much baggage." He didn't meant it in a bad way, he could have said burden, but he couldn't not be a little bit sour about how the 'burden' of the family seemed to lie with more than just Shaun. But every day, even the weight of alcoholism alone, and the grief of loss, would be enough to drive a man to bed every day. It was were Derek's opinion was one of sorting himself out, getting ahead of the game, shouldering the responsibilities that couldn't be shelved or fixed. "Perhaps you should be talking to someone more professional." He said it quietly, knowing his father would hate his words. It was true though, counsellors seemed to get the best out of people. "You might not then feel quite so tired."
Derek frowned slightly as his father dismissed the offer. "Uh- no, no I am good. I'd just put it aside for the boys to pick at.""When was the last time you ate?" He asked, giving him a critical eye. He felt like the father, but he couldn't help it. Who else was going to look out for Shaun, if he didn't? "If not Chinese, I can at least make you a sandwich or something? We could eat together?"
