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!.
"Because I've got better places to be, and blackmailing us to sit here and listen to this guy spew bullshit, is fucked up."
She rolled her eyes. "Technicalities, of course you'll be using them to get away with it." She snorted derisively. "The gun may only be metaphorical but 5% of a grade will make the different between a 1st and a 2nd at the end of it. Surprisingly, I'm sure, we all actually give a shit about our grades - or we wouldn't be here. So if you won't class this as threat, in the very least it's blackmail."
"This is pointless. All this is going to achieve is a pot shot back and forth of who can insult you the best. We don't want to talk about 'what mental health means to you', we do not want to be here at all - I don't get why that's so hard for you to wrap your head around."
He let her spew on and on. He knew that he would not hear the end of this when she came to see him next. But that was a later issue.
"Then get up, and get out," he replied simply, "The door is right there."
"Oh sure, we're just here for the fun of it, that's why we're all being super nice and welcoming for you, sweetie."
She gave a clap of her hands, a slow one at that, for his big speech about being gay. "Congratulations on coming out of the closet. Looks like all you're succeeding is doing is pissing people off. Maybe you should stick to your Friday voluntary sessions and call this one a failure."
"There are no failings here, despite what you might think. I got what I was after here."
”She’s got a point Pash.”
"Really? Well, if it is to be blackmail, then you should all care enough to attend and do the minimum."
He smiled, but it was cold.
"How much more torturous could this get? It's pretty bad so far you know, Pash - I'm considering whittling down a pen.." She didn't specify who it would be for. "Women only wish they were like me, and that's probably why you're not interested in them. I would feel sad for you but there's no need to be quite so defense about it... anyone would think that was overly defensive Pash... over compensating perhaps..."
He snorted, "Well, well - another misuse of terms. You've just decided the fate of the class madam. Defensive behavior will be the focus of this month's assessment. By the end of this month I will be expected at minimum, a one page research paper on Defensive Behavior."
He turned to the board behind him and began writing with the black marker, "This paper will be required by the end of the month, failure to hand in the minimum page - which is 500 words - will have an automatic failure. You will need to include the definition of what Defensive Behavior is, examples, reasoning and causes for such behavior. When it was first officially sited, whom by, and if it has any links to disorders or traumas."
Turning back and setting the marker down, he gestured at the board - "Take notes, a picture - I don't care enough to hold your hands through this. You are all so adult enough that I think you can manage this. Once you are done with that, you are free to leave - I've already taken the roster."
He moved into his chair and began working on papers that were situated on the desk, already writing down his observations of this class.
Pasha let the class respond in turn with their own arguments and raised a slight brow.
"It's still my choice, ours choice if we decide whether or not we want to seek out help. It is a choice - whether you do something about it or not, whether you choose to wallow or accept it or whatever. I don't appreciate having my choice taken away from me, and not even just that.. but to be threatened to attend this session. Please explain how that puts anyone in a good mindset to discuss their mental wellbeing?"
Theia shrugged, unaffected by the name calling, as she often was when people tried to insult her. "Why should I? You've hit the nail on head with our motley crew, perfect assumptions Mr Therapist, and I don't care to know a damn cent about you."
"Yes, you all have a choice, but this is one of those fickle things when it comes to choice and mental health but we won't dive on that today, I don't think anyone here is actually capable understanding. But yes, you have a choice to seek out help. This is one class a week for little under an hour Miss - but let's review something," he leaned over and picked up a piece of paper from the desk and cleared his throat, "This new class is mandatory, being only one day a week, to talk about mental health and will take up only five percent of your final grade. Failure to attend class may see disciplinary action... I don't read anything here that says you are being held at gun point. And the definition of a threat, to be threatened is a statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone in retribution for something done or not done."
He smiled, "So, that means you are afraid and by choice you remain. Interesting. And that's fine, I don't expect anyone to actually care. You all have your own agendas. But this class isn't here for you to soul search and understand, that is what Fridays are for."
"Yeah, I would. It's their life, they can go around fucking it up however they want." She smiled sweetly. "You're taking away my fun by taking away my afternoon. I have things I'd rather be doing." "Thank you, I can't wait to get that made into a badge. I'm glad you noticed the status without the need for my crown." She was damn right the queen bee, and she wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm going to assume you make most of you salary on women who come crying to you about their cheating husbands. And, FYI, if you slipped them a little something extra they'd probably get over it a hell of a lot quicker."
He tilted his head slightly to the side, "Well then, I imagine you'd be fine going back to your dorm room to find a friend dead from an overdose. It's not a title I would be proud of personally, queen bees tend to alienate others for their own benefits because they are too lazy to work for their own satisfaction - handed everything. And you are wrong about that assumption. A lot of my salary comes from trying to help young adults put their lives back together after attempting to end everything, because they have an abusive past, or have neurological disorders."
”Hole in one Shaye.” He cast a sideways glance at Shiloh ”Especially with blondie.” He kept his opinion to himself for a change, opting to observe the man a little longer in order to get a better read on him. He snorted and rolled his eyes. ”She isn’t joking either Pash, she definitely owns a crown.”
Pasha looked over to the young man, taking a moment to assess him a little more. He was a little harder to crack than the girls. "I have no doubt that she owns a crown, though I'm willing to guess it's cheap plastic and mirror backed glass gems."
”Well seeing as you labelled us almost a little too perfectly, I’d say you’re either unnaturally good at reading people or the head of the university gave you a heads up on who to look out for.”
Pasha turned slightly to face the next speaker, "If I knew who to look out for, I'd be calling you by your names, alas I don't. Before I became a therapist for the public, I was a Forensic Psychologist. I was often in legal rooms helping to define the states of men and women for the crimes they committed. I read people without having to talk to them most of the time. So yes, I've spoken with serial killers, sociopaths, psychopaths and almost every other sick and twisted bastards that are in various prisons."
"Uhhh are you even allowed to talk to us like that?" She looked him up and down like he was worth a lot less, her voice brash. "Which one am I supposed to be? If you give us name badges I'm sure we'd love to write them down for you." She rolled her eyes. "You want an assumption? Fine, have several." She pursed her lips as she coldly swept her gaze over him, unimpressed. "I assume you haven't been laid in quite some time, which attributes to the uptightness of your self rigteous attitude. In fact I bet your divorced. And now gay...because no woman would put up with you."
"You're the one that claimed that you are here by force. Is your memory that trash?" Pasha's smile turned into a smirk as he waved the paper in his hand, "If you cared to read the letters sent out to you, you'd know that yes, I am allowed to speak to you like this. To quote - these lessons are no bars held." He laughed at her assumptions, how wild, "Now to disprove that - I'm not uptight, if I was, this class would be a lot more torturous for you, and my ability to get laid is more on point than yours. I am not self righteous, I'm actually quite self deprecating on a regular basis. I am quite happily gay and will remain that way until the sun stops shining, and never married - and if marrying a woman was on my list of things to do, I wouldn't because if women are like you then I would never want to touch one thank you very much. Any more assumptions or can I assume that you are throwing up an irritated barrier?"
Pasha listened to the protests, having well and truly expected it. He didn't expect it to be a smooth start and he had to thank the fact that he was more patient than most people at any given point. His eyes first turned to Theia, she was the first to throw in her verdict.
"So Miss, you want to say that health of the mind is a choice? So you'd rather elect to suffer or be impacted over finding better alternatives to cope with something?" he tilted his head, "And who said I was going to ask how you were all feeling? I don't believe that I put that on the papers and I never said that this was what it was about."
His eyes turned to the next speaker, mentally shivering at her tone, "So you'd be content knowing someone who has - let's say depression - go about their lives and making choices of their own? You are here only because the campus heads would like this class to be apart of their guidelines and asked me - a professional - to fill in that position. No one is taking away fun here Miss. I'm not here to tell you that you can't do something you deem fun. That defeats my purpose."
As another piped up, he nodded, "Quite right Miss. A state of well-being, affecting how a person thinks, feels and behaves." His smile broadening a touch as the only present male student added onto, "Very much so sir." He left the comment alone.
He looked at the last speaker and raised a brow, "Who here said that what you find amusing means you need therapy? If you are so inclined and enlightened my dear to want to understand yourself, you are all the more welcome to put headphones in your ears and ignore this class. No one here is saying you are fucked up - that's your own label on something you don't like."
His smile took a slightly unpleasant twist.
"Since most here in the room are more inclined to assume, let us play a game. It's quite simple. There is only one main rule - everyone is fair game. It's called Assumptions. You'll catch on quickly enough," he shrugged and focused in, "Starting with Miss 'We Don't Get to Understand Things On Our Own'. I assume that you are a Know it All. For you, mister 'My Mental Health is Declining by Being Here', I'm going to assume that you are a Cocky Bastard. You, Miss 'We're All Here By Force', I'm assuming that you are a Bitchy Queen Bee that wants everything her own way. And Finally Miss 'Bullshit Questions' - I'm going to assume that you are Pissed at the World and Like Following in other people's shadows." His eyes went back to the one student who hadn't being overly sarcastic, "And you Miss 'Appreciating Attractive Men', I'm going to assume that you are generally a nice individual, if a little too bold."
He looked about, "Go on now, make your return assumptions about me."
Pasha was sat back in his chair going over his notes that he'd prepared for the class as the first bodies started filing in. He spared them a glance in passing, but never gave any of them more than two seconds of eye contact. Once he felt sure that the last person had come in for the moment, he looked at those present a little more closely, ignoring their murmuring. Whatever was being discussed wasn't all that important to him and frankly, his mind shut those initial words out anyway. They were new to the class and likely had something to say about it.
"There is a sheet of paper on each of your desks," he said calmly, his voice warm - a smile hidden amongst his words, "It's a very brief questionnaire - you have the entire lesson to fill it out as we talk; please do not put your names on the papers. If you want to take notes, that is fine - I encourage it really, as the end of each month there will be a quiz on what we've discussed."
He got up from his chair, moving around to the front of it and leaned against the desk, once again studying faces, arms folded, "My name is Pasha Shaye. I don't expect much from you all - just simple respect in my classes. Fall asleep, catch up on other classes, or pay attention."
He tilted his head and briefly checked his watch, "So, now that that is out of the way, can anyone tell me what me what they believe mental health to be? No need to raise hands, speak in turn - no formalities here."
He never lingered on any faces for all that long; he recognized Theia but he basically ignored her to focus on the rabble that was around her. They all looked about as entertained and enthused as lions in a circus. He'd expected some sourness to his class, it was all part and parcel of the job.
Pasha walked into the room he'd been assigned for the new mental health class that the university and college had made compulsory for students and set his brief case under the desk. He wasn't used to having to teach, but that was fine. Even in a room full of challenged, not yet fully formed adults, he was confident that he'd have some control. It couldn't be that bad, right?
Even so, he'd been warned that there were a few cases he'd have to be aware of - or at least, the personalities that were brighter than the rest. Holding that in mind, he began writing on the board and setting up the lesson in preparation for the students he was going to be dealing with.
He moved through the desks, putting down a sheet of paper on each as minor ten minute questionnaire for them. It would help him to understand what they knew, and he wasn't about to patronize these young men and women. Hell, he'd even asked for a warning note to go home to parents about this class - these were teenagers, they were bound to be vulgar and unruly at times, so he would treat like with like and he didn't want parents coming in saying their kid felt insulted because he shouted at that student to shut up.
Sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind and to get through to those that didn't want that hand to help them out of their situation, and he knew that this class was not going to help everyone completely, but that was why this was a one day a week class, with the Friday being there for students to come to him on their own time away from friends, since group sharing could lead to bullying. Either way, he was as prepared as he could be, returning to his desk up front to wait for the class to fill up.
full name • Pasha Ryker Shaye nicknames • Shay age • Thirty birthday • January 1st occupation • Psychologist [Former Forensic Psychologist & Stripper] gender • Male sexuality • Bi-sexual [More Male Leaning]
the appearance
face claim• Jason Morgan
identifying features• Blue eyes, Dirty Blonde Hair
the personality
likes • Reading, Helping People, Gardening, His Cat - Salem, Dancing on his own, Comedy Movies dislikes • People trying to self-diagnose, Tuna, Shit Music, People correcting him on colours, being dragged out to parties, loud cars, his friends questioning the dancing pole in his living room. strengths • Can read people incredibly well, Good Dancer [secretly still practices his routines] weaknesses • Colour blind, Constantly Over Thinking dreams • To really help people fears • Not being able to find someone to love overall personality • Pasha is an odd ball that has an unfortunate habit of picking through people's words and expressions. It irritates a lot of people that see him outside of work, who just want to have a good time. He's hard to read, having mastered the ability to compartmentalize everything and keep things to himself. He can be cheeky and flirty after a couple of drinks and can be an amazing friend when he's a little loosened up. He likes his privacy though, and it can be hard to get him out of the house, so when he is dragged out, he stands out like a sore thumb in a suit.
the history
father • Sherman Dane Shaye, 55, Mortician mother • Kelly Ann Shaye, 54, Police Officer siblings • Kane Julian Shaye [Younger Brother] important people • ----- hometown • Bath, England overall history • Pasha doesn't like talking about his past. But he will disclose it was fine enough, he just doesn't talk about his early years.
He was a good kid, had good grades, and his parents had high expectations of him. Between himself and his brother, his parents had an easy time of it, and yet Kane was the favorite. He moved out of home after an argument to pursue his dream job.
Being out in the world without support, Pasha had to resort to unusual means to pay the bills. He doesn't regret what he's done, he just thinks it's best not to bring it up lest it change people's views of him. He came out of university as a fully qualified Forensic Psychologist but after a few years dropped from the field after it was all too impersonal and went on to re-study Psychology and came away from it a registered shrink to help others through their problems.
He moved into Hickstead at twenty-seven, and ultimately dropped his 'hobby' to persue his work, but from time to time he finds a spare moment to actually relax and do what comes naturally to him.
**notes; Pasha was a very popular stripper in Bath for a long while, which helped to pay his bills. He did more... private, intimate shows from time to time when things were in a pinch, and even competed in local shows where he could. He was mostly a solo act, but from time to time he'd get together with a bunch of other men for charity shows and group performances. Held several titles whilst performing.
the role player
alias • Blackjac, Jac age • Mid 20s other characters • There's a lot...
