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!.
”Oh I know I’m a catch. . me and relationships just don’t mix lately. . jackass has ruined that for me. . but we’ll see how things go in the future. . never know prince/princess charming might be round the corner” Adalia gave her a soft smile, she could understand it - how tough it must be to trust someone again after you'd been hurt, but her friend deserved to find the right person. "You deserve the world, when you find that person who'll give it to you make sure you let me vet them first." She grinned, "I'll put them through the wringer before they even get to you," She winked, and though she wasn't generally that kind of person, she absolutely would for her friend.
She scooped another spoonfull of ice cream, savouring the sweet flavour as Zoe digested what she said. ”Sweet could be nice? And if nothing comes of it, he sounds like he’d be a good friend regardless. Ah you’ve gotta watch out for the boys with the chat, they’ll chat you straight into bed” Adalia laughed and nodded, "Sweet is nice, but sometimes... I don't know, is it bad if I say that I need a bit more than that? I need a little something... an edge maybe? A nice guy is great but will he put you up against the wall?" She blushed a little but laughed at herself all the same. ”Hey, I’m hot and nice and there’s no catch with me.” Adalia sighed dramatically, "The catch is I'm not into girls - so yes, there is always a catch!"
”We did actually, it was fun.” Adalia grinned, though was not surprised. She had met some of Zo's work friends over the years and whilst they weren't all entirely her kind of people, they did seem like relatively down to earth individuals. Some of them looked a little on the scary side, but Adalia liked to think they probably stood up for their co-workers when they needed it, and that was alright with her. "Good, I'm glad - though you definitely need to get yourself out there, anyone would be lucky to get even a shot!" Her friend was funny, easy to talk to and hell, gorgeous, why she was single Adalia had no idea.
Adalia rolled her eyes at the snort. ”Well that sounds like a challenge” She laughed after another sip of her wine. "Down girl," She joked in return, helping herself to more ice cream to avoid answering her next question. ”Okay spill the tea!” Adalia pulled a face, she loved girl talk but she felt so awkward about it sometimes. "Well, I danced with a guy called Aaron? He seemed sweet, though I think he's still hung up on his ex. He might pop round some time... and then there was Mal," She bit her lip but couldn't hide the grin. "He had the chat, you know, and damn is he pretty to look at." She sighed. "It surely can't be real though, being as hot as he is and nice, there must be a catch?"
”I wish, it was for ‘team building’ – not that we need it but yeah it was really fun, we did a smash room as well which was thrilling” Adalia grinned at Zoe's tone, "and did the team manage to bond?" She teased, though it sounded like they had had fun regardless, and she knew that Zoe's work colleagues were generally pretty decent people. The only downside to her job was that she worked alone, and the only people she would meet were her customers or the owners or managers of the venues she hired for shoots. She didn't mind though, she made good use of her friends to be sociable.
Adalia laughed at Zoe's wink, ”Well if you ever change your mind, I’ll show you the ropes.” Adalia gave her a playful look in response, "I don't think you could handle me." She joked, though in all honesty, she didn't think she could handle dating women - it was much too hard work, she preferred them as friends; even though she moaned thoroughly about men she did like them, and they were good for some things - reaching tall shelves, opening jam jars, being big spoon at night. Adalia's expression brightened as the ice cream appeared and she put down her wine glass to pick up the treat. ”So, anything new with your love life?” she took up the offered spoon gladly, digging in without preamble. "Hmmm...well..." She swallowed her mouthful as she mused the question, "I guess...kind of?" She supposed it was almost busy for her. With meeting Aaron at the ball and getting along well, to meeting Mal at the ball and being interested in seeing all his tattoos...and then there was still Ethan....
She heard the shouts go up as did the others and she frowned slightly in confusion, raising her head from her search and rolling her shoulders against the ache that had settled there from her bent over position. "What's going on?" She asked someone who passed her, before she decided to join the hype and headed over to the group converging around a found Seven Oak's jumper. Her frown deepened, and the name that was called she didn't recognise. But what did play on her mind - and she couldn't quite keep in the words - was "but why would it be here? Does this Tripp person come to BA a lot?"
“Not a problem. We wouldn’t start without you.” Adalia smiled back, but she wouldn't have minded if they did - she could easily catch up when it came to food and wine. "Oh good, glad you are both hungry.” She nodded to that - she was starving and quite happy to ea up everything they'd all brought together; it was looking to be a good night. “I haven’t had a chance to try this one. One of my friends back home sent it to me.” Adalia glanced at the label curiously, "I think it should be a good wine," She mused, not knowing much on wines but enough to know the one's she liked and didn't.
“I also made a cake from scratch.” Her eyes alighted at that, "Oh yes, cake! What kind of cake?" She had a sweet tooth and couldn't help clapping her hands together in eagerness for sugar. ”Seriously? Do you want a wife?” She pretended to look offended as she turned to Zoe, "What about me? Am I not good wife material?" She joked, though her cooking skills were not quite up to par with this. She picked up another couple of carrot sticks to adorn with hummus, munching happily away.
\Adalia took a sip of her wine as Zoe mentioned that everyone had been super needy this week, flashing her a sympathetic smile. “Anyone really terrible either of you would like to gossip about?” Adalia laughed at that and shook her head, glancing to Zoe to see if she had some awful gossip to start them off. ”Not that I can think of right now, what about you guys?” She grinned at Zoe, "And here I was thinking you'd have the best gossip," She shook her head, "I don't right now, though I do feel that some of the new liveries at Blue Acres seem to be a little up themselves, did you two get that impression?"
”If only! Moses had us axe throwing the other day, that could work” Her eyebrows went up in interest, "Oh really? That sounds like fun!" She didn't know there was somewhere local she could do that. She was anything but violent, as quite a soft centered soul, but everyone needed an outlet from time to time. "Was he trying to upskill the team for robbers or bad customers?" She joked, thinking that most of them probably didn't need the help, they all looked like they could handle themselves pretty damn well.
Adalia didn't expect Zoe to have the answers to everything, but maybe she had a better idea than Adalia did on how to find a good man. She had male friends that seemed nice - Ethan was one, he was always sweet and funny. ”No idea! I’d say try batting for the other team like me but girls are just as hard” Adalia laughed and popped another crisp into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "I wish it were that simple that I could just flip sides.. whilst I can appreciate a pretty woman, I don't want to date one." She grinned.
”Like cockroaches.” Adalia snorted, "If only it were so easy to crush them," She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows slightly and taking another sip of wine. If anyone would understand, it was Zoe. She was glad to have such a good friend as she did, never any judgement, just someone to offload to who listened and understood and would give advice if needed. ”Because they got spoiled by their mothers and didn’t learn the word no as a child and probably because society stroke their damn egos too much” Adalia sighed and pulled a face, "So how in the hell are you supposed to find a good one?" She mused, her question genuine even if Zoe didn't have the answers to those kinds of questions.
Adalia picked up some crisps, munching away whilst Zoe spoke. ”Yeah he’s ringing from burner phones the creep. Cause they’re slime balls that say what girls want to hear” She frowned. "I'm sorry, that's awful." Another couple of crisps and a sip of wine as she mulled it over. "Could we go 'Horrible Bosses' and try to pay someone to knock him off?" She teased, knowing it wasn't the answer but it would make them feel better.
”Late as usual herondale!” Adalia rolled her eyes but gave an easy grin, "Wouldn't want to let you guys down," She teased, it was a habit of hers to blow in a little behind the times but what could you do? She often got caught up editing or painting and would suddenly realise the time and have to run like the wind. “Oh, don’t worry we wouldn’t start without you.” Adalia grinned and used her toes to pull off her shoes in the door way, shuffling them to the side and making them somewhat neat. "Thank God for that," She joked, nodding as Cassie said about feeding an army. "I mean, I'm starved so I could eat for five," She shrugged. She may or may not have missed lunch but there'd be plenty for tea at least.
“Do you two want to start with white wine? Or I’ve got red as well.” At Zoe's glance, Adalia gave a non committal shrug. "I'll take either right now." She didn't have a particular favourite, it generally depended on her mood and the taste of the wine itself. ”I’ll take a white please!” She nodded in agreement. "Ditto for me too please," Moving into the kitchen to continue the conversation and collect her wine. “I’ve got a baked brie in the oven to start off with and a vegetable tray with hummus to start off. Please, make yourselves at home. How have your weeks been?” Adalia's stomach rumbled, "Urgh you're the best," she said, the scent of baking cheese already hitting her nostrils. ”Not to bad, pretty busy actually! How’s yours been?” Adalia picked up a carrot stick and dunked it in a generous helping of hummas, unable to wait. "Client's have been somewhat demanding this week but I'm so glad for this evening, I've been looking forward to it."
Adalia was running late - typical - on the evenings she had nothing to do, she was always well ahead of time and then wasted the evening trying to get ahead with her work and editing photos with a film, but the night she had plans, her client for the afternoon had wanted just one more photo, just one more location, one more pose. Adalia was happy to snap away - the customer needed to be happy - but they had over run quite a bit, and her client hadn't exactly been all that gracious. Rushing home to her flat she was glad that she would only need to head up a floor to get to where she needed to be, jumping in then out of the shower in record time and throwing on some comfy but nice enough clothes for a friendly dinner and wine evening.
She put a brush through her hair and then slung it up into a pony tail, pulling on her favourite hoodie and grabbing the bag of snacks she'd brought on a whim yesterday - Cassie said she had it covered, but there was always room for more crisps. Trying not to rush too much she headed up to the flat just as the door was about to shut on her, "I'm here, I'm here!" She called out with a grin and picked up a half jog to get her foot in the door before they could leave her outside. "Sorry, work and all that bullshit! I brought crisps.. oh and some dip!" She added, routing around in the Tesco bag to find both still in there from her mad dash. "Where's the wine??"
She glanced around and saw the bucket where people were putting tack pieces, dumping the half charred bridle that might have been salvageable. She didn't know everything about horses yet, but some of the bridle pieces might be able to be cleaned up and used. She headed back to her post, upending a couple more wooden pieces and then frowning as she came across a piece that looked less burned that the rest. Interesting. She hefted another bit of barn wall out of her way, ignoring the splinters that dug into her skin and she tipped the wood over, uncovering an expensive looking saddle that had managed to avoid the fire. "No way." She smiled, it felt like finding gold in the desert. Grabbing the saddle she hefted it up, minimal damage, it looked just a little dirty. She hurried over to the barn owner with it, "Naomi, this managed to survive! I don't know if you'd be able to identify who's it is?" She asked, knowing that it was likely one of the liveries and they'd be glad to have it back intact.
Adalia was gutted for the stables. She hadn't been riding here long, having been having lessons with Ethan and had been thoroughly enjoying them, thinking that she might like to look into a share of her own horse. She wasn't ready to buy but she wanted to improve and learn more. This, was devastating though. She had taken pictures of the wreckage, in order to document what had happened, and encourage the fundraising going on at the park next week. She headed over to where Amber had set up to grab some water, smiling a small thanks before heading back over to where they were sorting through what might be salvageable. "Where were we putting tack pieces?" She asked again, straightening up with half a bridle that looked like it had potential.
Adalia stuck out her tongue as she felt the nudge of her friends foot. "Please, I need you in my life too much to kill you." She snorted and settled into her seat, taking a sip of wine and relaxing into the soft of the cushions. "Well that's comforting.." she murmured, but it was just teasing between friends. "Yeah. . or a girl, they're drama too. .mhmm, I could be down for being single for life with wine." She contemplated it for a moment and then pulled a face. "Mmm definitely couldn't handle a girl, way too much hard work. Lot's of maintenance and emotional support involved," she laughed and shook her head. "Plus they'd be missing an important part," she joked, delving back into her wine.
"I don't even know how the asshole got my number." Adalia rolled her eyes, picking up a handful of crisps she'd put out to nibble on. "They'll always find a way to creep back in when they want something." she curled her top lip in distaste. "Apparently he's been in jail for the past couple of years. .aggravated assault, shocker." She let out an unsurprising noise at that. "Wanted me to know he stills loves me, he's a changed man, blah blah blah....ughh now i'm going to have to change my number again. .I love this one as well, it's so easy to remember" Adalia felt for her friend, "Why do men never seem to understand that 'no' word? I mean, it's just too letters, not difficult to understand, almost the same in every fucking language." She sighed and took another drink of wine. "Could you get his number blocked? Or is he contacting you with different numbers? They never bloody change, don't know how some girls can fall for that crap." she rolled her eyes, Adalia might be soft sometimes and sweet, but she wasn't a complete fool.
"if I was going to murder you, an axe wouldn't be my weapon of choice." Adalia tilted her head curiously. "Well... whatever it is just make sure it's quick." she decided, though somehow she highly doubted her best friend would be putting a knife through her back anytime soon. Or at least she sincerely hoped so, there was quite a lot she wanted to accomplish still in her life. "of course." She smiled, following Zoe to the lounge so they could chill out.
"Me and wine have a very special relationship. .might as well be my other half." She laughed and nodded in agreement. "it would be better than a guy... always there to comfort you, make you happy, never yell or disagree with you. Perfect." she sighed wistfully then smiled. She was all quiet in the guy department right then, and she was kind of glad about it. It was nice to get on with her own things for the time being, and be a single pringle. Though, she did miss it occasionally. "Connor called today. ." She blinked and sat forward slightly. "What did he want? What did you say?"
She heard the door go just as she opened the bottle - right on cue. "I could have been an axe murderer or anything for all you know" Addy snorted and glanced over her shoulder at Zoe, raising her eyebrows. "I don't see an axe, I think I'm safe." she made a show of glancing over her friend before turning back to the important stuff - the wine! Okay sure she probably should check who she's buzzing up before she does, just on the off chance it's a stranger - but the town was relatively safe compared to most places and if it happened to be an axe murderer then she'd only have herself to blame.
She returned the hug, spying the ice cream in her hand and grinning. "Ah, my favourite!" she could practically already taste it. Adalia had a real weakness for ice cream, in particular cookie dough. Zoe knew her well. "ugh wine. .how i love thee." She laughed and poured out equal measures, putting the wine back in the fridge to stay chill and handing over a glass. "It's my best friend... after you of course," she teased, clinking her glass to Zoe's. "drink up." she smiled and raised the glass to her lips, taking a long sip and relaxing. Perfect.
Adalia hummed to herself as she finished washing the conditioner out of her long hair. She'd had a pretty long day and she was ready to chill out and put her feet up. She'd had a few photography jobs for awkward clients, which made the day feel longer, and shedd picked up a few random shifts at the local Starbucks for extra cash. Her bank balance was running low and she needed to decide what to do about it. She loved photography but doing it alone seemed impossible these days. She couldn't do events on her own, she needed more bodies, and weddings were few and far between in a small town.
Sighing she got out the shower and toweled off, slipping into her comfortable pyjamas and drying her hair whilst she still had time. Zoe wasn't due for another fifteen minutes. Even after her hair was brushed and dried she had just enough time to order their pizzas (their usual favourites) and get two glasses for the wine in the fridge before the buzz of the door sounded. She didn't even pick up the call, instead she pressed the button to open the doors and let her friend make her way up.
