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!.
Blue green eyes just stared at the other teenager when he said that food was hard to come by. She wasn't sure if she agreed with that assessment, but maybe she had just been lucky. Plus, unlike him, she wasn't about to scuttle away if someone gave her attention - wanted or not. Sabine looked back at her chips, and sighed before handing them over, "Here - you can have them." She knew where to get tasty food anyways, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to share that information quite yet. As for people being good at hiding their emotions around her, Sabine just shrugged, "I think I'm just off-putting." After all, she did scowl alot.
Sabine gave thought to the question, "I think I'm half sneaky, half people just don't pay attention to me. Like...they know I'm a street kid and can't be bothered." People in Hickstead could be like that sometimes. Too snooty to care about anything as long as it didn't encroach on their turf. The pier was nice and pretty, but lonely enough she could get away with it. If she tried any of this shit on High Street, the cops would be called on her the second she uttered a breath. As for her parents, Sabine shrugged, "My parents weren't exactly upstanding citizens of Dublin...I have a brother. My mom took him and left me behind with my dad." She was still bitter about it from time to time, but whatever, she didn't need her fucking mom.
She glanced back at the skinny kid now, wondering if he had a similar story like her, "I'm Sabine."
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
That really was a basic choice for pizza, but who was Sabine to judge? She liked olives on her pizza. Besides, there were bigger fish to fry, or should she say, bigger pizza to fry - like Erin herself. Everything clicked about the girl, snapping into place in Sabine's head. The young woman all but confirmed it to her without saying anything out loud - just a simple nod. Still, the teenager got defensive and when she started spewing shit about Daz, she expected Erin to blush, instead, the opposite happened: "well I'm glad about that.. both parts."
It left the teenager flabbergasted for a moment, and it took a lot to leave her shocked. But just like that, she laughed - incredibly loud and obnoxious, and she felt her guard go down just a little bit. Maybe Erin Thorne wasn't as terrible as she thought. Even more so that she confirmed that she hadn't been with Daz. Blue green eyes stared at her for a moment, before finally saying, "Huh. You're smarter than me I guess. I have this problem where I don't like bullies so I go for the fight." Her dad may have been a gang member himself, and no father of the year, but at least he taught her to stand up for herself and her beliefs - even if his had sorta been trash from time to time.
She followed after Erin into the pizza shop now, slinking into the booth. It felt odd sitting in its cushy confines, or even eating inside of a restaurant. Sabine hadn't been able to do that for a few months now since leaving Dublin and her home behind. Erin studied the menu, even though it seemed simple given she knew what she wanted. Sabine didn't even bother, "So...besides giving me food, what is the point of hanging out with me? You seem to have your life figured out." After all, she looked nice and fancy, plus had the money.
Sabine Radley had been sitting on the street, with her back up against the wall of a building. She did that a lot in town, knowing that she had a mark on her back because of Daz Pricard. Truth be told, the teenager knew she deserved it. Had she still been back in her dad's gang in Dublin, it would have been the same. Some dumb ass walked onto their turf, tagged it, and then kneed them in the balls? Yeah, they'd be marked for death as well. A smirk graced her lips, thinking about how brutally nice it felt to take him to his knees, how exhilarating and utterly terrified she had been at the same time. Her hand went to her face, feeling the bump of the scar from the slash of his blade - still annoyed at its presence.
She had never felt pretty. This didn't help her feelings about it. Not that it mattered, Sabine supposed. She wasn't dating. Still, Sabine wondered if it made her look ugly in the eyes of a boy. A growl escaped her at the thought, ashamed that she was even fretting over a stupid thing like that as she took an aggressive bite out of her Dahlia Baker made sandwich - the sole reason why she had been in town in the first place. To pick it up from the shop. Sabine had made sure to zig zag her route, making random stops and cut across places, just in case she had been tailed. After all, it was okay if she got into trouble, but she wasn't about to drag any of her loved ones - what little she had - into her feud with Daz, just incase he knew about her life.
An angry voice perked her attention, echoing off the silent street. She turned her head, spotting a boy walking in her direction. Her earlier thoughts about her scar and being ugly flooded her all of the sudden, but it had clearly been in vain as he walked right on by her, not even noticing her. Figures. Still, her gaze remained on him, figuring she'd watch him walk around the corner. Instead, he stopped and stared at a parked car. A Mercedes. Sabine frowned, watching him as he stood there in a trance, thinking. Sabine knew that look all too well, "What did that car do to you to earn that look?"
Sabine Radley had left Seven Oaks stables in the wee hours of the morning, knowing it would be a hike through the wilderness to get to Blue Arces. She had been looking for Ilya, her friend, who usually hung out in the shadows of the hayloft at Seven Oaks. But he hadn't been there, in fact, he hadn't been any where she had checked in the last few days. The teenager supposed that was the issue with living on the street, sometimes it was hard to find someone when you had no way of contacting them.
The fact that she hadn't seen the older man had left her a little worried. Even though Ilya didn't say anything to her, it would take an idiot to not realize that he had some health issues. Hopefully, he wasn't dead. Sabine had vaugely remembered him hissy fitting about how some guy had found him, tried to drag him home because they were family and that their mother had freaked out on the street. Hopefully, instead of being dead in a ditch, Ilya was at Blue Arces - one of the posher stables. Sabine liked it there too when she wasn't hanging out at Dahlia Baker's house - mainly because of a black horse named Echo. But it had been a while since she had been, too many close calls with some of the kids there who seemed to tell she didn't belong, although Sabine hoped it was their snootirary that made them think that verses they could tell she was a street kid.
Heading down the hill now, Sabine realized she was going to have to skirt pass the large, looming house to make its way to the barn. She cursed under her breath, her thoughts had been scattered at her feet, not paying attention. This was Sabine's least favorite way to get to the barn - mainly because it ran a risk of running into the family that lived there. Still, there was no going back now. Quiet as a cat, swift as a deer, Sabine crept along the property, making it past the house. Now she just had to go through the hedge garden and - smack! Sabine collided with someone, stumbling back. Her instincts and armor went up, until her blue green eyes fell on a very familiar face, "Emma?"
She had run into the girl quite a few times now since their fateful day on the beach, they would hang out at the barn along with Wendell Alenko. But she had always met her there, at the barn, certainly not sneaking about, "Why are you up?" Didn't rich teenagers like to fucking sleep in?!
Erin seemed to freeze up on her - like a deer in the headlights, and Sabine knew she was onto something. They both clearly were doing some sort of dance that neither wanted to admit to. Thankfully, the promise of food always seemed to get te job done, at least for Sabine, as it snapped the slightly older woman out of her funk and motioned that they should get going. Sabine locked step with her, side by side, "Hm? Oh, I'm weird I guess. I like meat AND veggies on my pizza...plus olives which I suppose makes me a monster." Everyone in her family, well back when they were happy she supposed, hated them and always made fun of her when she ate them. Guess she didn't have to worry about that any more though, "You? And no, I won't judge you if you say ham and pineapple."
Blue green eyes clocked that small smile when Sabine had mentioned 'fancy college at London', wondering if she had been onto something with Erin now. Instead though, the blonde gave her quite the opposite, slowly stating now that she never went to college or school - that she learned from signs that lead to secrets - which came from the streets. Erin dragged that last part out slowly, her own blue green eyes meeting Sabine's. Ah. So they were the same - to a degree at least, she wasn't sure what put the girl out on the streets, but Sabine doubted it was the same as her's. Still, Sabine found herself staring, "I'm not with that mothereffer, Daz, if that's what you're concerned about." God, she had that stupid scar from him, "I nailed him in the balls so hard I hope he's permanently damaged." A mild pause before Sabine added, "I hope you weren't with that asshole." Sabine didn't really know what to say after that - was she suppose to offer up her background? Quite frankly, she didn't feel comfortable about that now - not when she didn't know where Erin's allegiance lies.
Sabine made a face as soon as Justin asked her what the heck a peanut butter and fluff sandwich was, following up with that it sounded 'gross'. Now that just annoyed her, "You're gross!" She fired back now, sticking out her tongue immaturely before stalking off to the kitchen as she heard the boy desperately ask Dahlia if she needed help with her backs. A smug look rested on Sabine's face, making her pratically skip into the kitchen now to take a dangerous bite of her sandwich as Justin finally came in with the bags - and boy - did he look forlorn to her, "Dahlia usually as the grocer pack the bags via item category, so it's simple enough unloading them - fridge, freezer, pantry."
The teenager made sure to point out each area before getting to work on the bags he brought with him, working quickly, mainly so she could grab another bite of her sandwich before Dahlia came back with more. Justin honestly looked a bit lost and confused, "You going to stay here?" She asked inquisitively, after all, it took her months to figure out that she wanted to do that. Sabine shut right up though when the woman came in: “How’s it going so far? I see no blood, so that’s good." Her tone was teasing and sickly sweet, causing the teenager to roll her blue green eyes, "We're fine, aren't we Justin?" She asked him now, before looking to Dahlia, "He and I know each other from the pier a few months back."
It did not go unnoticed by Sabine how the boy raised his eyebrows at her, as if shocked by her attitude which merely caused her to roll her blue green eyes. She didn't value being meek as a defensive mechanism, never did, and given the unsavory people that lingered on the edge of town, Sabine found being off putting a better safety mechanism than rolling over. To the boy's credit though, he didn't entirely roll over, but he clearly was still holding back from being down right hostile to her.
"So?" she countered now, "It's a full basket of chips - you really cannot expect me to not be distracted." To Sabine at least, it was very sound logic. Yeah, the might not be as crisp anymore, but fried potato still tasted good even when cold, "Well, you fooled me since you're afraid of scoff at me also. You just hit that with a poor excuse of a cough, yeah?" Now, she was just being a dick. Perhaps she should knock it off, it's not as if mystery kid was terrible like Daz or any of his gang members clearly were. It was tempting to get defensive over him asking about her food, but given how she looked and how he looked, they probably both had a good read on each other of being street kids. Took one to know one after all.
Blue green eyes stared at him for a solid thirty seconds, mulling the situation over before finally sighing, "The pier. It's prime picking during the summer season. People buy all of their food simply because of they smell and then change their mind. Plus, all the traffic leads to the stuffed up trash cans, so when there's overflow, they just leave it on top." He better not start taking all of the food though, Sabine would have serious issues if he did. His question prompted a scoff from her, "Yeah. I have. My parents didn't give me much, but I will admit they taught me to look out for myself." She cocked her head now, staring at him, "And you? Clearly you're not entirely a pushover nor afraid of stranger danger."
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
Sabine found herself simply staring at Erin Thorne like she had three heads. Nice to meet you? This was so strange. It would be even stranger if the young woman knew what Sabine was, but there was a look in Erin's blue green eyes that suggested she already knew, and the teenager didn't know how she felt about it. She knew though, that she had given herself away the second she had turned down Erin's offer for the best tuna sandwich ever, signaling that she was uncomfortable with that part of town, because it was his part of town. Stupidly enough, Sabine didn't quite regret what she had did, but it was annoying that she had to keep an eye out on her back now which pissed her off. Never before did Sabine ever think someone would have this much power over her and she was neither dating them nor related to them.
"Great, pizza it is," the teenager confirmed now, uncertain of where to go from here other than assuming they could walk there. She motioned for Erin to follow her now, as she stuffed her hands into her over sized hoodie and started shuffling along. This was certainly not how she imagined her day going, getting picked up by some nice do-gooder. A frown settled into Sabine's features, wondering if she had somehow gone soft and forgotten on what it was like to survive out on her own given how often she had been tripping up in Hickstead. She had been doing great until this fucking town, "How'd you know I needed to eat off campus?" she asked now, blue green eyes looking to Erin curiously, "What gave me away?" Well, the teenager was neither going to confirm nor deny her own status, but clearly, the pretty blonde had been onto something, "Did they teach you fancy things in London to look for?"
It was a good thing that Sabine had that butter knife because it certainly was not Dahlia Baker in the hall of Safe Haven. It was a teenager. A teenage boy. Blue green eyes narrowed at the stranger now, only now as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the hallway, did she realize that the person in it was not entirely a stranger. It was Justin. From the beach. And apparently, he still had his stupidly dry sense of humor: "It'll take you awhile to kill me with that. I have proof Dahlia invited me here. She didn't tell me anyone else would be here though." She gripped the butter knife a little tighter now, not because she was going to use it against him now, but mainly because he had been right - it was hardly a weapon to take someone out with. There was something more important to discuss anyways, "What do you mean 'she invited you?'"
Truth be told, Sabine Radley was feeling a little butthurt over that statement. Yeah, there were kids who lived here, who came in and out, but for some reason, the young woman thought that she was Dahlia's primary focus. But it became clear that she wasn't, if she was inviting Justin 'I can't handle talking sternly' Barron into the flux. In that moment, Sabine couldn't help but to think back on her conversation with Emma, how she would rather someone's hate than pity, that maybe she was just a project to be saved verses cared about, and right now, with Justin's arrival, maybe that was the truth. She would have to share Dahlia, and just like 'sharing' Echo at Blue Arces, Sabine didn't know quite how she felt about that. Before she could get further into interrogating Justin though with this butter knife - the woman herself appeared in the doorway.
“Good afternoon, you two,” she greeted, “If you’re going to waste some energy on a possible…duel, you can help put these groceries and supplies away. Sabine, do you mind showing Justin where the kitchen is?” The tone was unmistakable: Do not Fuck with Justin, Sabine. So the teenage merely grumbled nonsense, annoyed by this whole turn of events as she walked over to grab the bag of groceries from Dahlia, "Fine," she replied now, before nodding to Justin, "Follow me to the kitchen. I swear I won't stab you...but don't touch my peanut butter and fluff sandwich." And with that, she loudly stomped her way to the kitchen.
Sabine Radley had left Blue Arces at first light at the crack of dawn, figuring that she could do with some time away from the barn and that people were going to start wondering why they ran out of brown sugar scones so fast. With her backpack packed and classic iPod fully charged, the teenager left and headed out on her own, down the road and towards Hickstead, listening to music. The morning was eerily quiet, and not a soul had been out on the road, which didn't bother Sabine at all. She had been hoping to find Iyla in town, the weird homeless adult that she had befriended earlier in the year, but he oddly, he was no where to be found.
The thought made her frown, hoping he was okay, as her feet carried her beyond the streets of down town Hickstead and towards the Pier. At this time in the morning, it wouldn't be crowded, and while she hated dumpster diving, the Pier was usually full of discarded food. Luck would have it that the teenager would find herself a perfectly good basket of chips, hardly touched, sitting on top of one of the overflowing trash cans. She snatched it fast and quickly headed down to the beach now before anyone could notice her. In fact, she had been so preoccupied with escaping an imaginary figure, that she hadn't been paying attention to what was in front of her until her shoulder colliding with someone.
It startled the young woman, she stumbled a bit but caught her balance. Once she was certain she wasn't going to fall over again simply because gravity demanded such things, blue green eyes looked over at the culprit. She pulled her large headphones down, just in time for him to speak to her: "Watch it." His tone was stern, but one look at the kid, and Sabine knew that he could barely be older than her. Her gaze narrowed as he clutched her basket, "Why don't you watch it," she replied back now, equally stern, and unlike the boy, she wasn't startled by her tone at all, "And maybe you shouldn't snap at people if you're afraid of your own voice."
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
It felt like more and more days came by where Sabine Radley found herself at the Safe Haven in Oldaker and spent less of her time squatting around Hickstead and its many horse barns. The teenager didn't quite know what to think about the situation. There were too many feelings to unpack about it, but the draw of warm food, a bed, and strangely, an adult who seemed to care, had an affect on her. But Sabine herself still wasn't quite ready to admit that to Dahlia Baker or any one else, let alone herself, so she played it off as simply wanting food and a way to pass the time during the hot summer months because lets face it - horses, hay, and manure didn't smell great in the heat.
She did miss Ilya though, and annoying him, even if he wasn't ever that talkative with her. Sabine wondered about her cat vampire friend a lot, but knew better than to tell him about this place. He was significantly older than her, and despite his sickly appearance, appeared to think he was far better off on his own than with help. Yet that made her wonder if he was a ticking time bomb, not from personality but from his health. The thought made her frown, stopping her scribbling on paper with sharpies as she stared off, wondering. She was lucky she didn't have any health issues, and she was coming up on two years since running away from her father and Ireland. It was a strange feeling, right up there with her feelings about Dahlia.
"I don't need her," she said flatly to herself, uncertain of whether she believed herself or not and returned to scribbling. Sabine didn't know what she was making, something pop art with hearts and balloons - the sort of tag that would once again piss off Daz and his merry band of delinquents like no other. That was another problem she still faced, and one she wondered that she was accidently bringing to Dahlia's doorstep. Her thoughts seemed to bring the world to life though, as Sabine heard a loud creek out in the hallway on the main floor. Sabine paused, her blue green eyes snapping up to the door way, "Dahlia?" she called out, her hand swiping the butter knife from her plate that she had used earlier to be a child and cut the crusts off her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Sabine felt like a cat on edge, hair raised and body taught as she pushed herself up now, the chair falling back as she gripped the butter knife hard, everything her father had taught her when he thought she'd be joining his gang flushing back into her brain. She moved swiftly now to the door way, and stepped out into the main hallway to face whoever had crossed the threshold without announcing themselves.
Clearly, Ilya did not take well to the idea of being 'annoyed all night' given the look he just gave her. Fine, if he was going to be that way, she'd just grin right back - innocently of course, "Fine. Fine. I'll leave you alone." The teenager was, after all, perfectly capable of doing that as well. Typically it was her method of living and survival, putting up walls and a rough exterior to get people away from her. You had to do that, it was the only way to know you were truly save. And yet, Sabine felt different about the skinny, sickly looking young man across from her - perhaps it was because they were already off to a weird start. It wasn't every day she got into a hissing match with someone.
He was muttering over her name, almost as if he was committing it to memory inbetween chews before moving forward in conversation. Sabine practically scowled at the idea that she wasn't the only one who had been smart about using the stable lofts as home, "Really?" The knowledge alone put her on edge, that phantom feeling that she was being watched even though it was just her and Ilya. He rattled one name - one name that sounded familiar, but Sabine couldn't place it, "Cameron." The teenager muttered, before it hit her, "Wasn't he at that gun point incident at Starbucks? With Daz Pricard?" If that was the case, she hated the guy already. Okay okay, maybe she was jumping to the conclusion that anybody who was with Daz was a dirtbag - and that was putting it nicely - but it was hard to not judge given her own run ins with the gang leader and what she's heard.
There was also something else that she caught in Ilya's statement: they all ran away. Sabine cocked her head, looking at him curiously, "Why do they run away? You don't seem so scary...what'd you do? Hiss at them from the shadows?" The thought actually made her laugh, her imagination getting away with her thoughts, "Sorry, it's just funny to imagine. I almost want to draw it."
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
A snort of laughter actually escaped her when the stranger looked at her rather dumbfoundedly. It was probably rude of her to do so, after all, it was his face she was laughing at, but it was hard not to with that expression. The look also suggested to her that this man was very capable of talking, mainly because he appeared utterly annoyed at her for trying to beckon him over with an apple no different than a scene from a corny girl and her horse sort of movie. Sabine continued to hold out the apple as his eyes narrowed at her, it would take more than a look to scare her off. Besides, she had a feeling that he really wanted that apple.
Slowly but surely, cat man crossed the threshold between them. Sabine sat put, not moving, and she took watched him closely with her blue green eyes. She supposed they both mistrusted each other, but the teenager wasn't the sort of person to throw the first punch. Defense was always the best offense, right? Her gaze followed his hand as it reached over and delicately plucked the apple out of her hands, "You're welcome," she commented wrly as he turned away from her - exposing his back to her. Something that she wouldn't have expected from someone who had popped out of the shadows to promptly hiss at her. Maybe he would trust her after all.
"I do talk," he said, his voice rough in tone, "I just elect not to. Why fill the void with useless banter when silence is better." Despite the delivery, Sabine couldn't help but to grin, "Ah, he speaks!" He also probably didn't appreciate that little jab. Thinking over his words for real now, she just shrugged, "'Cause you're stuck with me for the night? And I get enough silence in my life, might as well annoy you." Okay, okay, she wasn't going to annoy him. Sabine planned on remaining rooted to this very spot until the morning, so it was best to avoid any altercations. The loud crunch of the apple signaled that the fruit wasn't going to last very long, but she did get a name out of it, "I'm Sabine," before following up, "Nice to meet you, Ilya." Was that the sort of thing you said to a fellow street kid? It would have to work, "I have to say, I thought I was the only kid who caught onto these horse lofts for staying warm." Granted, he looked like he wasn't a kid - probably had quite a few years on her, but she wasn't about to call him a hobo.
cause everybody knows something i don't wanna know so i'll stay right here cause i'm better all alone
"It's not, I've ruined your lunch. If I were you, I'd be annoyed." For the first time in her life, Sabine thought herself perfectly capable of murder because she wanted to strangle this young woman before her. All what they did was dance around each other trying to not piss each other off when clearly both of them had an agenda. The teenager knew her own agenda, it was to get the fuck out of there and go eat her ruined food. This blonde lady's agenda? Well, she wasn't quite certain other than she loved to apologize. And maybe...to help feed her. She certainly didn't want t trust blonde lady, who knew who she worked for or who she was friends with, but none dirt cafeteria food sounded so fucking good, it was hard for Sabine to agree with the logic of telling her to fuck off.
"I was only going to go home and read these so you'll be saving me from that," she said, with a smile, "We can go and get something off campus, if that doesn't feel too weird to you? You really shouldn't eat that now, and it's the least I can do." Okay, so Sabine had to admit that blonde lady had a nice smile. A trusting smile. Nothing creepy or dangerous about it unlike some other people whom she had run into recently. Blue green eyes narrowed at her, still thinking over her offer, "Besides, I could do with something too, so company would be kind of nice. I don't know many people here. Oh, sorry I'm Erin, by the way." Okay, well at least she finally had gotten a name out of blonde lady - wait, Erin, her name was Erin now. She didn't look dangerous, she certainly didn't seem dangerous other than possibly killing Sabine out of insanity by sorry. So Sabine did the unthinkable, she relented.
"I'm Sabine," she responded, still watching her, "I don't mind going off of campus," in fact, it would get her closer back to where she needed to go. But then a thought hit her, an unfortunate thought, "Um...we can't eat near that abandoned part of town..." Erin did not look like the kind of lady who ventured too close to Daz's area, but people had moments of stupidity, the teenager included, so it felt safe to voice her thoughts. Plus, regardless of how Sabine felt about what happened to her food, she didn't need to be dragging innocent people into her shit. Given that she had managed to escape Daz and his merry band of brainwashed by terror street kids, Sabine figured that left a dangerous mark on her back. And another thought hit her, that she was stupid to even set down ground work that elluded that she was in trouble, "We can do that Pizza place." The teenager said quickly, hoping to cover up anything about herself that she had just left exposed.
