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!.
“Pleasure to meet you both,” he greeted the dogs. Almost as if they could respond to him. But so far, they hadn’t shown any signs of attacking him, but Lindsay knew better than to push. “This lot are my cousin’s. I don’t know how she keeps them in check, but I guess I need to add more to their run today to get them more tuckered out.”
His clothes were still damp, and he wasn’t exactly prepped for a runback. Even though his clothes were quickdry, the wet chafing wasn’t ideal for anyone. “Do Rodney and Sparks like fetch?” He knew Aofie’s did and it would allow him to recover a bit from his fall. Also to let him stand and get some sunshine. Lindsay wasn’t in a rush.
Lindsay took the creamer and poured some into the coffee that was offered to him. Goddamn, it would be a dangerous thing if he ever worked in a place like this. The food and the people always drew him in. After making sure his coffee was to his liking, and the cinnamon bun in hand – Lindsay thought briefly on the questions posed to him. “No one new yet, for full-time. But I have a few people that are interning under me which makes things fun. To help with college stuff.”
He never thought he would be getting so interested in the last few years that he decided to open the idea. But life was always full of surprises. After dipping the last bit of the cinnamon bun in his coffee and wiping his hands – Lindsay smiled. “How would you like to proceed for today? Front to back? Back to front? Are there some trees you want to look at first?”
“If you have some cream, I can fix that up to my liking,” he offered. “Well, I’ll take whatever sweet treats you have in stock. I can’t say no.” Lindsay was usually quite good about what he ate. His figure was maintained by his work, as well as his diet. Holiday time was when he really let himself go and have fun. When he did have sweets, he opted for sugar-free and high in protein.
He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment. “Not window breakers, Casper. Widowmakers. Which are branches that have broken off but are barely held in place by other branches. We call them widow makers because they’re extremely dangerous and can kill you.” Lindsay had come across a lot of them recently, which meant there was a lot of work to do on some of these properties. Thankfully, a lot of the people were willing to go. Especially those who lived in a controlled forest – where trees had to be cut down to help maintain a healthy ecosystem.
“Excellent. We can look after the coffee is in hand. I’m not expecting a lot of work, since I know y’all are very on top of things.”
“Nah, it’s all good – mate. I like it when people approach me. Better than people taking a sneaky picture and running away.” There were times, of course, when Lindsay had some weird interaction with fans. But that tended to be only in the states. WWE felt quite niche, but he was still recognizable in the smaller wrestling world of locals internationally. “Nice to meet you, Jax! I moved here a bit ago,” he grinned. “Though I do have a convention coming up in London. Guess old management pinged my location and insisted I go.” Lindsay was looking forward to it, actually. As much as he loved his current job – the wrestling side still needed to come out sometimes. “Still a nightmare to find decent greens here though…”
“Ah is it a childhood tree?” he asked. Most people who were upset about trees falling were ones that had a sentimental value to the tree. But like all living things, the return to earth was always a calling no one could escape. “If you and your household want to save some of the wood for anything, we can do that for you. If the wood is healthy, that is.” There were a few carpenters and artisans around that Lindsay was sure a sign or something meaningful could be made.
“I grew up with it. Dad was in the business for years. I liked trees and learning about them when I was younger. Didn’t get serious about it until a few years ago. I think it’s more of the adrenaline rush I can get from it,” he laughed. “It’s hard work and can take a lot from you physically and mentally. But what person says that they climb trees for work?”
“I’ll take some coffee, please. I’ll have to wait until the cider doughnuts, so when that comes around – you let Daisy know I need a whole sheet to myself,” Lindsay laughed. It was true. Daisy’s baking made all the hard work at the gym worth it. Maybe it was the sweet, farm girl façade. He didn’t know what made it all taste so good. He had plenty of baking at Parker’s but the Malloy’s fruit pies just hit different.
“Winter has been keeping us on our toes. A few fallen trees, but nothing too dangerous. Someone had a few widowmakers, and we found the culprit a few months back. Glad we did, or that person wouldn’t lost half their roof and electric line.” Lindsay was grateful for the clientele he had amassed, so much so – he found himself refusing a lot of new people. At least, as contracted personnel.
“Have y’all been keeping warm until spring? It looks like the new trees we planted last year are still good as new!” He had credited the malloys for being on top of their game for their trees. Small orchards were hard enough to maintain, but they worked long and hard to get things right.
“I mean, did you steal their voices when they did?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow. If Aofie taught him anything, that the Disney cartoon movies were quite great. The Little Mermaid being one of his favorites. “I would’ve…make them squirm a bit. But I think it’s a nice name,” Lindasy offered, with a truthful smile.
Finding that he wasn’t enjoying his feet getting wet further, he stepped onto the sand and slipped off his sneakers. Yikes was that a bad idea – but might as well enjoy the sand and salt. “You have some beautiful dogs there. What are their names?” Lindsay inquired, hoping that the question would lessen some of the awkwardness. His cousin’s dogs were off doing their own thing anyway, ignoring the 101 Dalmations knock-off greeting.
Lindsay waved a hand. “No, I’m fine. I’ve hit my head before, and nothing similar. Though, I have a feeling I have some sand burn...but I guess I could lie about that, too. Fought a sea bear, maybe?” He refused her hand and stood up, the dogs taking that a sign to go sniff the other dogs, before prancing about. At least they showed that they cared briefly, making sure he was still breathing. Some animals couldn’t give a living fuck. Aofie at least trained her dogs well. She needed to, with all the weird men that seemed to be coming into her life.
“Name’s Lindsay Walsh. Yes, yes go on...” he laughed, knowing full well what comments often followed. “I promise you; it is indeed a unisex name. And what is yours?” Lindsay asked, wringing out his hair. He pried some more of his wet strands away from his neck, before wrapping everything back into an even messier bun.
Lindsay quirked an eyebrow but followed her lead anyway. “Yes, there’s quite a bit of dead trees that decide to topple over. My team and I do try our best to get trees looked at before winter comes. Granted, we can get terrible weather any time of the year. But the weight of snow and ice tends to make winter a bit more dangerous.”
He smiled at her last comment. “I find that hard to believe,” he joked. Mainly because Lindsay stuck out. A lot. He was tall, burly, and truly hard to miss. “But I guess we just kept missing each other. Though, I do tend to prefer to be up higher than on the ground.”
It didn’t take long for them to get to the split tree in question. Lindsay could tell it was an English Oak. Old as Diana had mentioned. And it was indeed split, some of it barely holding on by a thread. So he stopped short, noticing some teetering of some questionable branches. “I won’t be able to inspect as close as I’d like, but I can tell we won’t be able to safely remove anything until the whole crew is out. Has this tree been here as long as the house or somewhat younger?”
Muscles flexed as Lindsay trekked the trail ahead of him. The winter weather could make a blue square a black diamond. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The trail was icy and still steep, but it made the trek more enjoyable. While there was a bit more focus, there was a rush of excitement. He had done these routes a few times and it was always different somehow.
As Lindsay was making his way past a boulder and working on finding his next step – he heard a voice next to him. “Yee-haw, buckaroo,” he smiled. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised if someone recognized me in these parts,” Lindsay laughed. “A lot sooner than I thought actually!”
Lindsay always enjoyed going out to the Malloy Orchard. Any of the farmlands in general. They were always so nice, and welcoming. Malloy’s were one of the first families that Lindsay worked with and were patient with him while he worked out the kinks of his business. It’s gotten to the point that he would knock off some pounds and they would give him free produce or whatever they thought was equal. Like a hidden agreement of sorts.
He pulled up, trailer in behind him and a few of the following trucks that would need. Lindsay was greeted by Casper. A bit of a shorter man but was a good farm hand. He read gangly but appearances weren’t everything, especially on this farm. The patriarch was older, but the guy could still handle a ram if needed.
“Nice to see you, Casper,” Lindsay greeted, giving the other man a firm shake. “No nothing yet. How about you show me where the trees are? Then we can work from there,” he added grabbing his work belt and a notepad.
Lindsay dint quite know why his cousin needed all these massive dogs. He loved them, there was no denying it – but my god. Aofie wasn’t exactly built like Linds, if anything, she was about half his size in height and weight, but she managed to deal with her three Irish wolfhound mixes. Lindsay could deal with them, too, but it was if children knew when mom or dad wasn’t around. Their behavior tended to change from well-behaved to slightly below that.
But here he was, stuck with Finn, Jensen, and Tilly. Three massive fiends bounced down the pebbles of the beach. Aofie was working late today and needed him to take her three dogs out. Of course, Dublin couldn’t do it either because he also had work. Maybe Lindsay needed to work Sunday, too – but out of his current family, he wasn’t available on the weekends.
The afternoon weather was bright, but the sun wasn’t too harsh. It wasn’t like Texas, where stepping out – all the moisture on him left. He had already built a decent sweat though, chasing these giant furballs through the woods and then into the edge of the beach.
Waves crashed, revealing glittering pebbles and sand. Lindsay felt like he needed to be riding a horse or something, like Fabio. Is that what women liked? Or was it the Harry Styles type now? He truly was lost in thought, only realizing he had lost control when he found himself damp. Screw that, soaking. And three dogs splashing around him. He had no idea what had happened. But it wasn’t the dogs that were prancing around him that made Lindsay embarrassed, it was the fact that he was looking up at the face of someone that was equally stunned at his presence.
“Uhhh...I promise my name isn’t Eric,” he said, not really comprehending what left his mouth. Lindsay really should’ve just sat up and run off, but the water felt good after his run. But his brain was finally wired to the right place, and he sat up. It was a good thing that he didn’t have his phone on him or his full wallet. “Lie to me and tell me I fell gracefully, and not over the air,” he laughed, pushing some wet hair off his forehead.
The voice was a sharp one, almost angry. But all Lindsay did was lift his eyebrows up. The woman that greeted him had a bit of a scowl on her face, kind of cute – but that was just him. But her features softened as she took all of Lindsay in. He used it but it always made him laugh when it did happen. Lindsay knew he looked good, as he worked hard for his physical appearance. His face? He was just lucky for good genes somewhere in the family.
“Good afternoon, I’m Lindsay, with Maple Creek Trees. I got a call to look at some bushes and trees around the property. I guess…kind of a checkup,” he laughed. It was obviously louder than most, one could say rivaling Zeus’ lighting strike. But nevertheless, Lindsay was outdoors so it didn’t matter what level it was – right?
“I believe a…” Lindsay held up his clipboard. “Ms. Diana called to make the appointment.”