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!.
It was a warm morning, as if England had finally understood that summertime was upon them, and the temperature finally caught up. The skies were blue, and not a threat of a thunder cloud could be seen. Due to this, Sabine Radley emerged from the shadows of the Blue Arces hayloft and dared to live her backpack of processions tucked away behind a rather tall stack of hay bales. The teenager wasn't sure where her cat loving friend had went off to, but she didn't question Ilya's whereabouts were anymore, now that she trusted him. He could come and go as he pleased as long as his antics didn't get them caught, which was the same promise she had given to them. They were squatters and she figured that Blue Arces didn't care for street urchins living in their hayloft.
But Sabine had gotten bold since her run in with the boy who lived at that big house behind the hedges, who barely questioned her existence when she stumbled into him one morning as she was trying to get to the hayloft the very first time. By the pure skin of her teeth, she had passed herself off as a student, and he didn't seem to question it. No cops came, no social services, nothing. And the few times later that she did pop out and walk around the barn, nobody seemed to question her either. She just attempted to look the part (well, no equestrian clothes at all), but she carried herself well enough it seemed since everybody left her alone.
Which is what lead her to todays activity of heading down to the pastures, once again unnoticed, to look at the horses. Sabine didn't know why she liked to watch the horses, but she did. Maybe she envied them and how they were unburden by the stupidity of the world. Maybe she was secretly a horse girl and didn't want to admit it. Or maybe, even worse, Sabine just wanted a friend. A friend who wouldn't judge her for being, well, her. It wasn't long before she was at the pastures, the horses lounging around, and then Sabine caught sight of one - standing out in the shade by himself, ignoring the other horses. He was as black as night, and the teenager was pretty certain she knew his name from prowling around at night when the lights go off.
Getting up on the fence, she held out her hand in a greeting (was that how people greeted horses?), and leaned over, "Echo! Hey!" At least, she thought this was Echo. But Sabine didn't have much time to think about it as her weight and gravity had other ideas and promptly caused her to tumble over the pasture fence and into the field, and unluckily for her, Echo and his pasture mates were not the only witnesses.
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
It was nice to just spend a quiet moment away from the craziness of his life, sat with a book, leaning against a tree and Echo grazing just a short distance away in the shade. There was just something appealling to the life that for just a spare moment, Eryx could genuinely relax. Here, there was just the sounds of song birds and horses and the occassional rider or hand talking in the distance. Calm. Serene. Beautiful.
"Echo! Hey!"
Of course, the sound of his horse's name being called broke that peace as he leaned forward a touch to watch a young lady at the fence. He raised a brow at this, and at the way his horse looked up from his mouthful of grass and nickered curiously. And then with no grace whatsoever, she fell into the pasture. He smiled a little before standing up, tucking his book under his arm and cued Echo to follow him over.
He tilted his head slightly as he reached the fenceline where the young woman had fallen in, that small amused smile still present.
"Apparently, gravity and yourself don't quite seem to agree," he mused before offering her a hand to stand up, "But ever more curious is how my horse has reacted to you - he normally wouldn't have even glanced at another person's call."
He didn't stop Echo from reaching out to the young lady as he sniffed at her hair curiously, ever the gentleman.
Sabine couldn't get over how gravity just rudely wiped her out like that, into a horse pasture of all things. The teenager supposed that she should be lucky that she hadn't landed in some horse poop, not that there were people around to make her never live it down. Only Sabine herself was capable of remembering this moment in time, and for that, she was quite happy with. Blue green eyes merely squinted at the cloudless blue sky as the teenager's body began to recover from the shock of hitting the ground with quite a force. Even the fall could not knock out her sense of hearing though, as she heard the approaching hoofsteps of Echo and...feet?
Sure enough, Echo's big, black velvety nose wasn't the only thing that appeared hovering above her now, there was a person there too. It startled her, enough to break her out of the shock, "Your horse?" This was quite the revelation to her - the teenager had never witnessed anyone else other than the stablehands interact with the black horse, so naturally, Sabine had thought that the barn had owned him. She pushed herself up now into a sitting position, still peering up at the man as Echo sniffed her, no doubt, wild hair now. Comforted by the black horse's presence, she could not help but to reach up and stroke Echo's face for a moment before turning her attention back to the man, "Well...he is my...friend."
The teenager wasn't sure what else to describe the horse as, other than that. When Iyla was gone from the barns, Sabine didn't have much of people to hang with, at least, not people who would question her presence. Echo always seemed alone as well, so the young woman thought he made the perfect object of her affections and nobody would question it. However, she was wrong. And now, feeling a little grumpy and a little protective over her not-horse, Sabine crossed her arms stubbornly and then added on equally stubbornly, "You know Mister, I've been here for a while now and I feel like this is the first time I've ever seen you with Echo. How do I know that he's really your horse?" Okay, really she should shut up, Echo wasn't her horse, but it had felt that way for the past month, and already, Sabine felt protective and willing to jeopardize her presence over it.
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
