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!.
i can't wait to see it again. cheesy is more than acceptable oh with the little sister ruining her older sisters life because she was jealous? they want you to analyze that?
once the flowers were in her hands she buried her head into them softly and took them in, taking in the smell of them, the softness of the petals and the kindness behind the act of bringing them. she also took the time to collect herself a little. this wasn't a conversation she'd wanted to have, she wanted to spare sam the family drama and any worry he might have about the situation and because if there was one thing heather hated doing, it was admitting weakness. she lifted her head after a second and she let the door open all the way as they both stood there and as much as she wanted to throw herself into his arms and hold onto him for the next month she resisted the urge, at least for now. she felt the side of her mouth lift into a small smile, "i don't supposed you'd believe me if i said that?" she tried to joke but she knew it fell flat. it wasn't something to joke about and she knew that sam was much smarter than that.
who was she protecting? someone very important to her. her brother. things were rocky and difficult but she loved him, there was no way she could deny that. he didn't need anyone finding out what had happened because it hadn't been his fault. it had been hers but she doubted that anyone would believe her if she tried to say that. "sam, i trust you more than anyone." she meant that, with everything she had. he was the one who was healing her heart, her main reason for smiling these days and the one person she always wanted to be around. she just didn't want to cause him any upset. even though she knew that she had over the last few days. the fact he'd been worried about her had been clear by the times one of her siblings had answered the door or the phone to him.
it was enough to tear her up inside but she hadn't known what else to do. "i can try to explain. i just need you to keep an open mind." she said as she reached to take his hand gently, wanting to lead him inside so they could talk on the couch. she couldn't very well send him away now he'd seen her bruises and she owed him the truth, even if she didn't know how to explain it very well.
she was glad to see faye, even soaking wet and struggling to change a tire. a friendly face was always welcome, especially when it was a friend who was behind it. there might have been an age difference and faye might have been her brothers friend but that didn't stop her from liking the woman a lot. age wasn't important to her, it was the friendship itself that was and she knew that she'd always be able to go to faye, or any of her brothers friends, if she needed help. she smiled when faye said all she had was nik and she laughed a little. "well you're not married yet, there's still time to find the body builder." she joked as she put the wrench back around one of the nuts and she stood up from the ground, pushing off with her hands. "if i've got you, i don't need anyone else." she said with a genuine smile as she looked down at the wrench, though it was more of a glare.
"that stupid nut is holding out on me, i can't undo it." she said as she looked back towards faye. "i tried standing on it but i think i heard it laughing at me." she said with something of a smile as she looked back down at the tire. "got any ideas on how to loosen it?" she could always call a car service or one of her brothers but that was admitting defeat to people she didn't like admitting defeat to. besides things with her and dustin weren't all that great at the moment, so she didn't want to bug him. the car service was an option but that would be money she couldn't afford to spend.
the scene in front of her made her blood run cold. all she'd come downstairs for was a drink. a simple drink of cool water to take back upstairs before she fell back into hopefully a blissful slumber before the sun rose over the horizon in a few hours. it was all she'd wanted. but the sound of someone throwing up in the downstairs toilet had stopped her short of the kitchen. she hadn't heard anyone get up and she'd thought the doors upstairs were all closed but in the dark she couldn't really be sure. so it had been a mystery as to who it had been. had she known it was joe would she have stopped? things had been so up in the air between them lately and it seemed that he wanted nothing to do with her and she wasn't that keen on being around him either but she couldn't say without a doubt that she would have left him. he was her brother after all and despite their venom and strikes on each other, that meant something to her. she wasn't sure what it meant to him but she had a feeling if he asked her, it would mean nothing.
still she had investigated, opening the bathroom door just a crack to offer a glass of water to the poor family member hurling their guts up but she hadn't expected what she'd seen. she'd opened the door wider and her gasp, she hoped, would have alerted him to the fact there was someone there and her eyes took in the sight of her brother curled around the toilet, the bottle laying on it's side next to him and the pills, the open pill packet that she couldn't be sure how many he'd taken. had he been trying to kill himself? was he in that much pain he'd thought that the best fix would have been to end it? did he hate being back here that much it was the best way to leave? all those thoughts swirled through her head as she stood there, stunned for a moment before her instincts kicked in and she seemed to wake up.
she stepped over his legs so she was in the bathroom and within a second she'd crouched down to grab some towels from the cupboard under the sink. "joe? etes-vous avec moi?" she spoke to him, not really expecting much of an answer but some sign he was still coherent was what she was after. she saw the way his shirt was drenched but saw the distinct shiver that was making his body vibrate. "how many did you take?" she asked him hurriedly, setting the towels on the sink so she could grab the packet into her hands before she looked at him again, panic and worry etched onto her face. "joe did you take more than you were supposed to!?"
she could do this. she was a strong independent woman who didn't need anyone to come and rescue her. that was what she kept repeating in her head as she sat there soaked through to the bone trying to lift this damn car so she could change her tire like the independent woman she was telling herself she was. she'd pulled her hood up in an attempt to keep the water from her face but in true bad day fashion it hadn't happened. she fumbled with the jack as her hands slipped on the wet metal but eventually she felt it lock into place and she could have yelled in excitement. now she just needed to undo the nuts and she was away and home free. she shifted on her knees and gripped the pipe with both hands.
she just needed this to work. she needed them to come undone easily enough that she could change them and she'd be on her way to a hot shower in minutes. she could just about melt into a hot shower right now, she could picture the hot chocolate that sam would make her if she showed up at starbucks cold, she could just imagine the hot soup she could make when she got home and the thought of all of them was just about enough to keep her from freezing her ass off. "right, come on." she said as she threw all her weight at the but to try and get it to turn but it didn't budge. she could have cried right there and then in that moment but she took a breath and tried again and again and again until her hands were sore. "you bugger." she said as she got to her knees and she started trying to kick the pole into submission. the rain had stopped at some point in the last few moments and she couldn't help but shiver a little as she stood there trying her best to push it with her foot. she heard the footsteps behind her but until she heard the voice she assumed they were hurrying to their cars so they could get warm. she lifted her head at the familiar voice and her hood slid off her wet hair and she smiled at faye. "hi faye." she said as cheerily as she could muster. "you don't happen to have a six foot three, body builder who can work a jack hiding in your car do you?"
these last few days had been just about hell for her. not being able to tell sam why she couldn't see him, why he couldn't come in and see her face. but she'd known it would raise questions and she didn't want them asked. she didn't need people thinking joe was violent or had hurt her on purpose. it was the furthest thing from the truth but people didn't think like that. they saw bruises and they judged. not that she thought sam would judge joe but it's the questions and the answers she'd have to say she didn't want to have to do. she tried to adjust her hair as she walked towards the door, doing her bast to make it sit across her eye so if it was just a parcel she could reach out, grab it and close the door before anyone on the other side could see it. being a small town the delivery man would without a doubt know someone she knew and the gossip would be everywhere by that evening.
but it wasn't a delivery man. it wasn't a wrong house and it wasn't someone who was there for a quick look and then gone. it was sam. she felt the lump rise in her throat as she saw him standing there, her heart started pounding in her chest but it wasn't from fear or worry, it was because it always did when she was around him. her heart raced, her stomach fluttered and she just about lost any ability to form sentences when he smiled at her. but there was no smile today, it was just the look of worry and she felt so bad for putting it there. she was forced to open the door more than a crack when he thrust the flowers at her and she reached for them quickly, grabbing them gently as she looked back up at sam as she heard him cut off. he'd seen it. she swallowed and fumbled with the flowers, trying to take a step back into the shadow of the house but it was too late. "no one sam, it was no one. i promise." she said as she chewed her lip as she tried to think of what to say but she was at a loss. "please trust me." she almost begged as she gripped the flowers tight enough her knuckles started turning white out of almost desperation.
she was glad that he just held her. she couldn't form any sort of words or thoughts as she clung to him and sobbed against him. she knew she should suck it up. she didn't cry in front of her siblings. she didn't cry in front of anyone. she couldn't remember the last time she'd broken down in front of anyone. sometimes it was just too hard though, to know that she'd have to let her brothers go at any moment. they were her rocks, them and kara and she didn't know if she would ever be able to live without them. it had started when their parents had died, it had been those same siblings who had kept her alive, who had made her want to keep going and who had been there for her through everything she'd put them through for the last few years. she'd given them plenty of reason to give up on her but they hadn't and even now they were still just as there for her, no matter how she pushed the boundaries. but the fear of losing them? it was enough to break her heart.
she wasn't quiet sure she believed him. not because she thought he'd lie to her but because it was never that simple with the army. they did things that they said they wouldn't, they didn't care about the soldiers they had and they'd let two of her brothers come home hurt. she had no trust for them and no real love for them. the only attraction she did have to joining the armed services was she could finally relate to her brothers, understand them when they needed it and be there for them when they were sad. "if it's not just a conversation, i'll kill them." she said as she sniffed, using the back of her sleeve to wipe her nose off. it wasn't exactly lady like but it wasn't like she could wipe her nose on anything in the shed.
she stepped back a little as he let her go, though he didn't stop holding her. she felt his hands on her upper arms and she was glad, the contact was comforting still. she nodded slightly as she twisted the sleeve of her shirt in her fingers, still sniffing just a little. "dean i can manage." she said, the watery smile crossing onto her face. "but you know the other three won't listen." but her nephew was enough. she knew that he'd miss his dad just as much as she did and that was more important. with that she shrugged out of his hands softly and she brought her hands up to her face, doing her best to scrub the tears from her cheeks as she tried to compose herself.
heather tugged at her sleeve as she settled down on the couch after getting up to get some water. it had been a few days since her incident with joe but she was still feeling the effects from it. she'd been checked out on the night and the verdict had been a not so mild concussion but nothing that was serious enough to require her to stay in hospital. just painkillers and the advice that they needed to watch for the usual problems and then other than that it was bruising. she still had something of a dull ache at the back of her head but other than that she was feeling pretty much back to normal. it was the bruising that was the problem, her cheek was still an ugly shade of purple, though it was turning yellow around the edges as the days went on and the finger marks on her throat were only just starting to fade, so she'd hidden from the world because of it. questions would be asked and she wasn't about to throw her brother into the deep end with it. there was no way of keeping something secret in this town, people always figured it out in the end so she thought if no one saw it, no one could spread it around. but that had meant lying to sam and that was something that had been eating her up inside.
she'd tried to be as gentle as possible when she'd said she couldn't see him all those times, tried to explain it in a way that worked but she'd been running out of excuses. there was only so many times she could sat dustin had caused a family meeting or something. she'd actually thrown her phone at her siblings a few times when he'd rung because it had taken her voice a few days to come back to a somewhat normal and she hadn't wanted to let anything on. she was about to pick her book up from the table in front of her when the doorbell rang and she frowned a little. she wasn't wearing a high necked shirt so her bruises were visible, because she hadn't been expecting to see anyone who didn't know what had happened but maybe it was important. like a parcel or letter for her siblings that they needed her to take in. she could do that. she could open the door a crack and take a letter or box and stay in the shadows. she chewed her lip as she walked to the door, taking something of a deep breath before she opened the door a crack, expecting to see the postman there. instead, it was "sam?"
it was like she hasn't heard him say her name and she certainly didn't notice that he'd stepped toward her until he wrapped his arms tightly around her and that's when the flood gates that she'd been trying so desperately to keep closed opened on her. she let go of her upper arms and she wrapped her arms around her older brother and she clung to him like she was afraid that he'd vanish right in front of her eyes if she let him go. she clung to him as she sobbed into his chest, her face pressed against it like she had done all those years ago when he'd come back to take her and their siblings away to safety after their parents had been killed in the fighting. she'd been so young and while kara avery had done their best to look after her, it hadn't been until dustin had gotten there that she'd felt safe.
she prided herself on being strong now, in not needing anyone and being in charge of her own destiny and not letting anyone tell her what to do but if there was something she was afraid of it was losing her family. she'd kept it together when he and avery had come home hurt from the army, been there for them, had tried to cheer them up by being the smiling little sister she thought they'd wanted. then as she'd grown up and life had happened, she'd changed. she'd found a love that no one agreed with, but she'd found a sense of stability. her family were back, apart from joe but he was safe working for the army but in helping people, away from the fighting. she'd become a teenager then, grown moody and had been trying to find herself, who she was with people telling her who she should be. she'd fought with her siblings constantly, trying to keep some measure of control in her life. then she'd lost the love she'd been counting on forever, they'd almost lost avery and holly in a car accident but through it all she'd shed as little tears as possible but now, it seemed to all be catching up with her.
her sobs had slowed somewhat when he spoke to her softly again. she was still holding onto him with something of a death grip but she'd calmed down enough that his words reached her ears and she sniffled as she nodded just slightly, her face still buried in his shirt. she didn't trust herself to speak just yet so she just stood there, not willing to let her brother go just yet but she did turn her face slightly, wiping her eyes against her shoulder roughly to try and rid the tears from her cheeks and she took in a few shuddering breaths before she gained the courage to loosen her hold on him and she dropped her hands slowly from around him and she tried to shift back from him a little. "when the fuck will they just leave you guys alone.. " she asked him but she didn't really expect him to have an answer to that. she did plan on following him to france, at least in a few days. if he didn't get this sorted out she didn't want to be left here. their family couldn't just uproot and go with him but she could. he'd told her she knew her brother knew exactly how stubborn she was.
everything in her wanted to bite back at him for that. but as much as she wanted to chew him out for sticking his nose in, for interfering and making choices for her that she hadn't wanted made, she knew she had to pick her battles. if she wanted to get any further into finding out what had happened she'd need to bite her tongue. besides she'd have plenty of chances to do that in the future, she was sure of it. it wasn't that she didn't know he'd been trying to look out for her, it was the fact she'd been robbed of knowing what could have been. and that it hadn't been her or joel's choice. it had been dustins. that's what hurt, the what ifs. where she'd be now and if things would be any different.
whatever she was expecting the situation to be. it hadn't been that. it had never been that. she felt her skin go cold and her heart started thumping in her chest. her mouth went dry and she felt sick but she did her best to hide it. instead she let the anger that was bubbling in her veins become the thing she focused on. it drove her to step forward, to almost square up to her older brother as she shook her head slightly. her eyes angry but not really at him, at the people who were doing this to him. "then we go. we go somewhere they can't find you." in a heartbeat she'd pack up for her siblings. she liked her life here and she was just starting to find herself and who she could be with sam but her siblings, as much as they argued with each other, meant everything to her.
she shook her head again and folded her arms over her chest harshly, pressing them against her torso as she gripped her fingers into her upper arm. "then i'll just follow you. this isn't something you can do alone" she said as she stepped back, noticing hayden kiss dustin's cheek and whisper something to him before she departed the small shed and closed the door behind her. "and if they don't let you out of it .. i'll stay there. they need people to take photos in france." she took another step back from her brother. "or i'll just join the army. at least then you'll know that someone's there." she was vaguely aware that she wasn't making much sense, or doing much to hide the fear that was starting to show on her face.
she couldn't do it again. she couldn't do the waiting. she couldn't do the not knowing whether her brother was alive or dead. she'd done it before, she'd lost her parents to it. that loss had almost broken her. "i won't sit by the phone waiting to hear if you're dead dustin." she shot at him as she dug her fingers into her upper arms a little more, her knuckles going white as she tried to steel herself. "you can't ask me to be okay with losing another parent!" she'd meant to say a brother, that he couldn't ask her to be okay with losing a brother ... but they both knew he was more than that to her.
** [ hayden whispered "go easy on her" to dustin before she left ]
should she have been listening? no. she did know that. she she also know that their family wasn't able to keep their nose out other peoples business. she watched as the two of them pulled apart and if she wasn't so worried about where her brother might need to come back from that she might have felt a little guilty for interrupting them but the second she'd heard their voices she'd had a sinking feeling in her stomach and she knew from past experience that it was a feeling that would lead her to devastation. "you don't get to warn me about boundaries and privacy dustin."
whatever she'd been expecting her brother to tell her, it wasn't that. the army was something of a difficult topic in her family. it had taken her brothers away from her when she'd needed them most, the army they'd served had played a part in the battle that had killed their parents and then it had caused fights amongst them when she'd wanted to join her brothers and play her own part in the service.
"tell them you can't go. you've been out for years. they can't just call you back now." she said as she stepped into the shed, within arms reach of both dustin and hayden. she looked between both of them and shook her head a little. "you don't even live in france anymore. what do they want you to do? just ... drop everything and go." she said as she frowned. "and you want to go alone?" she knew her brother, she was almost certain he did.
