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!.
well that he couldn't disagree with. he knew he wasn't unpleasant to look at, denying it would just make him seem like an asshole but he was nothing compared to the woman he was going to call his wife one day. she was beautiful on the outside sure, she put almost every other woman in the world to shame. but it was her inner beauty that made him think he paled in comparison. she was everything people wanted to be, she was kind and she was willing to give everything to people she didn't know and she had done over and over again. she'd given herself to him when he'd been this nothing grump who was sulking in a wheelchair and she'd refused to let him give up, even before they'd fallen for each other. his brother might have pushed him into physical therapy but it was holly who had kept him there and it had nothing to do with how attracted to her he was. he still had to pinch himself sometimes when he woke up and she was sleeping beside him. had to reach out and touch her, pull her into his arms while they were together just so he could hold onto her. he knew it might have been considered weird for him to think these things of her but he couldn't help it. she was everything right and good in his life and the one constant he knew he'd always have. "you know it." he said as he pressed a kiss into her shoulder as they leaned side by side against the side of their son's crib.
"well there was sun .. sand .. no tan lines." he said with a quick smirk as he reached his hand down to rub it gently over her back and then just a little lower. "you walked out of the ocean .. all salty and wind swept and ... then you ruined it." he said with a smile as he looked over at her, raising his eyebrow at her as her voice dropped a little and she heard the roll of her tongue. "well i think we just decided on where to go for our honeymoon." he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. he could picture them laying on a beach in wedded bliss, their hands entwined while they had fruity cocktails with umbrella's in the other hand. her pressed up against his back while they rode jetski's to explore islands with nothing but palm tree's and coconuts. he almost shuddered at the thought and had to focus on the here and now so he didn't wrap his arms around her waist and drag her back into bed so show them just how they'd start off their honeymoon, when they did finally settle on their wedding date.
he grounded himself by leaning in to pick up the child that had stirred enough to wake up. it was a more than welcome distraction and he ran his hand across rocke's head softly as he rocked him, feeling his little head come to rest on his shoulder and feeling everything in him just melt with love for his son. he'd never get over how well levi and rocke had fitted into their lives. he couldn't imagine their days now without both boys filling them with laughter, love and tears. he leaned his head against rocke's gently as he glanced to the door with a grin. "i'll bet we have less than a minute." he didn't mind betting breakfast duties now because the odds were that someone downstairs had already made enough for levi and it was just a matter of helping him figure out how to focus on eating. "or should we cut our losses and go in and get him and share breakfast duties." he offered as he shifted away from the crib.
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
avery couldn't help but sigh as he listened to his brother talk about how he'd go back there in a second. that hadn't been the point he'd been trying to make but he didn't think he was all that good at talking to joe. dustin had the much better touch when he came to connecting with people. he worked with kids, there was a reason he didn't work with adults because kids were easy, straight shooting was the best way to talk to them. but adults sometimes needed a different approach and he was lacking in that department. he knew what joe meant though, about home feeling alien but what he didn't get to tell him before was that when he'd gone back after being hurt, it had felt just as alien as home.
"you haven't been home long joe. you need to give it a chance." he said as he shifted on the step, turning so he was sitting and facing his brother now, rather than the backyard. "why do you think you can just slot right back in where you were when you left? we're all different. you're different." he didn't mean there wasn't a place for him here anymore, far from it. they'd been missing something while joe had been gone, he just needed to find the spot on his own, they couldn't help him with that. "you just need to give yourself time to find your spot, to start to feel like you're not on an alien planet and to stop being so hard on yourself when you can't just fit back in right away. because i guarantee you there is always, always going to be a space for you in this family when you're ready for it."
he wanted to reach out to his brother, put his hand on his shoulder or something but he didn't know if it would be well received and the last thing he wanted was to make joe feel like he was coming after him, physically as well as mentally. "something that might help is you could actually put some effort into learning about what's changed while you've been gone." he offered to his brother, something he knew joe had been avoiding doing since he'd come home. "let yourself care about us again, invest in our lives and then let us invest in yours."
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
he nodded against the pillow if she asked him if it had been a good dream. it had been one of the best he'd had in a while and he could see himself replaying the image in his head more than a few times until he forgot he'd dreamed it. he really didn't want to get up and there was a very strong desire to wrap his arms around holly and pull her into his arms and show her just what he'd been dreaming about but the noises coming from the rest of the house told him that now really wasn't the time. he yawned as he worked his way out of the bed, taking a little longer than he probably normally would have because he was dragging his feet more than a little. he stretched slightly as he did, feeling different parts of his back and shoulders click and crack as he did and he felt the tension from sleeping in the one spot for too long slowly melt away with them. it was just a reminder of how buggered his back really was but he didn't want to dwell on that for too long. what he wanted to dwell on was the image of his wife glistening in the sunshine.
although as he walked across to the cot their son was sleeping in all images in his head fled and it was just his boys that filled his head. their smiles, the sound of the laughter they both had and the fact that they'd both grown so much and it scared him. he heard holly rummage through their wardrobe behind him and part of him knew that this would be the perfect time to turn around and stare at her but he couldn't pull his eyes away from rocke just yet. he felt her come stand beside him and he reached his arm to hook it gently around her waist and he hugged her against his side softly. "he's going to take after the beauty of the family." he said with a soft smile as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head before looking back down at their son. "speaking of beauty, you owe me a wet naked holly later on tonight." he said as he tickled her side lightly, smiling as he heard rocke stir in the crib below. he reached his hand down to rest it on his rocke's chest as he saw the boys eyes flutter open and he smiled. "morning you." he said as he let go of holly's waist and he reached in to pick rocke up and he hugged him against his chest as the boy yawned as wide as his mouth could. "how much do you want to bet that levi is through the doors within five minutes?" he said as he settled rocke against his hip, his sons little head resting on his bare shoulder sleepily.
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
he was stretched out on the beach, the sun beating down on him as he heard the caw of a seagull as it flew above him, bright white against the deep blue of the cloudless sky. the smell of salt filled the air and he couldn't help but take in a deep breath as he relaxed in the calm. "avery." he heard the voice float on the soft breeze that blew up from the water and he lifted his head from the sand and his smile grew at the image that greeted him. holly was emerging from the water, wearing nothing as she ran her hands through her wet hair before she started walking up the sand towards him. he couldn't help thinking she looked like a movie star as she walked, the water dripping down her body and glistening in sun as she moved and he sat up more. when she reached him, she slowly, seductively straddled his lap and he reached to rest his hands on her waist gently, running them up her sides slowly but before he could reach her torso the beach behind them was gone and it was just a black background. confused he looked around before he looked back to holly and she smiled at him before she leaned in to press her lips to his head and as he tried to lean up to kiss her properly she vanished on him...
"not fair." he grumbled into the pillows as he opened his eyes to the morning. he watched holly as she left the side of his bed and he realized she must have woken him up with a kiss and he vowed then that he'd get her back for it tonight. one way or an other at least. now he was awake he couldn't help but roll into the middle of the bed, stretching his tense muscles and cracking just about every joint he had. "mmmm" he groaned in content as he opened his eyes fully and he looked at the ceiling for a second. the sound of a door slamming outside of their room made him sit up slowly and he looked at holly longingly from the bed. "morning babe." he said sleepily as he kicked the blankets off so he didn't give into the temptation to lay back down and snuggle back up to go to sleep. but he knew within the next few minutes levi would come into the room, probably helped by heather or dean and then rocke would be up and awake.
it was well and truly a full house around here at the moment. dean and levi were sharing a room now, rocke was tucked into a corner in his and holly's room, kara and jasper were sharing their room with their daughter and now joe was home there wasn't anywhere else to put one. he loved his family but there was this ever growing feeling of not being able to move without walking into someone and not having enough breathing space of their own. he scratched lightly at an itch on his bare chest as he slid off the bed, a little dramatically and he walked over to the cot where rocke still slept soundly. "i'm thinking he takes after me .. loves his sleep." he said as he leaned his arms down on the edge of the cot, just watching his son sleep. they were the biggest time wasters he'd ever met, he could just stare at his children all day if he was able.
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
he wasn't sure how to take the grunt from his younger brother but he didn't press the issue either. it wasn't easy to come home and see things had changed while you were gone. that the world kept spinning without you, people lived their lives while it had felt like you were stuck in time. he'd experienced that every time he'd come home from service. he tucked his phone back into his pocket after he'd showed joe the photo and he shrugged a little, grabbing one of the cans of soft drink and cracking it open gently. "i really wasn't but i got him so heather had something to focus on while dustin and i were gone. and then he helped me when i came home in a wheelchair." he said as he took a sip of the drink. he'd also been filling a childhood wish of having a horse of his own but that he was taking to his grave with him.
he listened to his brother without saying a word, letting him get everything he might have needed to out in that moment and glad that it seemed he was willing to talk about some things. it was a start, it might have been a slow start but it felt like one to avery. it had been hard watching his brother come home and struggle on his own, seeing him hide himself away from the people who loved him and his nephews and niece who were just chomping at the bit to let them love joe, to get to know him outside of the photos they'd been shown of him. "joe i know exactly how you feel." he said gently, trying to work out how to tell his brother that he and dustin would understand almost anything he could share with him. "when i first came home i was watching over my shoulder constantly, ready at a moments notice and i did react to things that scared me just like you are." he added that last bit because he felt he needed to.
"i still get jittery and nervous when i hear planes go overhead .. especially at night." he admitted to his brother. he hadn't really told anyone that before, not holly and not dustin. he'd told levi and rocke when he'd been up with them late at night so holly could sleep but they were easy to talk to because they didn't really talk back when they were sleeping. "wanting to go back, yeah i know that too." he said as he set the can of drink down and he wrung his hands together lightly. "i missed my men, my crew, my job and hell i even missed the heat." he said as he looked at his hands, smiling a little when gadget pushed his nose into them. "and when i was finally out of the chair, proving the military doctors wrong thanks to holly, i got the chance to." he said with something of a sigh. "holly and i were newly engaged, i got this opportunity and i couldn't say no. i went back to what i knew, what i missed and where i thought i belonged."
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
he chuckled a little as joe offered to buy the one way ticket for their youngest sister. he shook his head a little as he glanced over at joe, wondering if he'd forgiven himself for what he'd done to heather yet. he didn't think he would be, there were still nights that he himself still dreamed about what he'd done to holly the first night he'd ever spent at her house. he didn't think he'd ever get over the feel of it. "well at least spring for a return ticket, she might be a pain sometimes but we would like her to come back home." he said with a slight grin as he bit into the sandwich again. he made a mean sandwich he couldn't help but think as they sat their in the garden together.
he saw the flinch and almost regretted his words but he knew it would only be a matter of time before joe worked out that he wouldn't be able to ignore them forever. they would always be there and they would always be a reminder but he knew that it would take joe a long time to realize that, it had taken him years to be able to look at himself in the mirror and not be taken back to the night he'd been injured. he couldn't say anything back though, because he'd been the same. dustin had tried to tell him the same thing he'd just told joe those years ago when he'd been sitting in the chair staring out the window hating the world that continued to move on by while he was stuck in the one spot.
"my horse." he said with a grin as he reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone. "you'll have to come down to the barn and meet him one day." he said casually as he flicked through his photos until he could find one of the chestnut beast. once he found one he held it up for his brother to see before he set the phone down next to the plate of food. "he was good to talk to when i needed it." he said thinking back to the many conversations he'd had with karma from his chair. he did credit the horse with being one of the things that had gotten him through. he'd originally got him for heather to work with, under the guise of looking after his horse, so she'd keep out of trouble while she was growing up and it would give her something to do while they were deployed but he was avery's horse.
"it wasn't meant to be comforting, it was meant to be honest." he said as gadget finally got bored of rolling around in the grass and he came over and sat himself down between avery's knees and stared longingly at the plate that was sitting between him and joe. avery smiled softly and he rubbed his hand over the dogs ears lightly, it was if he'd known this part of the conversation might be difficult for his owner. "no, you won't always think that. it'll get start feeling different and you'll find yourself going longer and longer between feeling like you need to. and if assessing us makes you feel better right now, don't worry about the fact you are assessing us. you do whatever you need to do to feel safe in this house. because we can sit here and tell you you're safe till the cows come home but unless you feel safe you won't believe us."
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
he couldn't help but see the look that joe was giving his dog. the problem was they didn't know anything about what joe had been through, what he'd lost and what he'd seen. had there been a dog involved? kids? they didn't know. he just wished he could convince his brother to open up about it but he doubted that he would. plus that would be the pot calling the kettle black because he hadn't been all that forthcoming when he'd first come home to the family. he ignored the look for now though, certain that joe wouldn't hurt the animals that lived in the house because while they had their free run they were usually with their owners or sleeping spread around the kids rooms. gidgit had taken to sleeping under levi's bed from the day they'd brought his oldest home from the hospital.
"you'll make heather jealous. she'll run out and buy all the tanning shit she can to keep up." he joked with him as he took a bite out of it, crunching through the lettuce in the quiet of the back yard. it was strange that it was so quiet but he knew it wouldn't be too long before it went back to a new normal. they couldn't ask the kids to stay quiet for much longer, as well as dean and levi were doing they were children and they needed to behave like it. he couldn't help but grin a little as his doofus of a dog started rolling around in the grass, making himself sneeze as the dirt moved.
he watched his brother tug at his sleeves and he couldn't help but frown a little. come to think of it he hadn't seen joe in anything except long sleeves since he'd come home and while it wasn't crazy it was a little bit unusual. it made avery think there was something on his arms he wanted to hide and he doubted it was tattoos. although there had been one guy in his unit stupid enough to bring a tattoo gun onto the base and there were a few guys who had ended up with different anatomy drawn on their skin. avery had been smart, he'd just got his callsign on the back of his neck. "we all have scars." he said softly as he said the only logical reason he could into the quiet of the backyard, not to his brother in particular but he hoped joe heard it. that he and dustin were scarred too, on the outside and on the inside.
"i got one of those rare things called a day off." he said as he finished the sandwich and he took a sip of his soda. "so i took advantage of it and took karma out for the first time in weeks." heather normally rode the horse for him when he couldn't get there every day to work the horse, though he paid a little extra to have the horse turned out and worked, plus he knew that his horse expended a lot of energy trying to get through every fence to the love of his life, charade, so he wasn't worried about not getting there all the time. "i can't promise it'll ever stop feeling strange joe." he said honestly. there were still mornings that he woke up and it took him more than a few moments to remember that he was a civilian now.
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
it didn't take him long to see joe sitting out in the garden. his heart went out for his brother as he saw him. he knew what it was like, to come back to civilization after what could only be referred to as hell. he knew the feeling of missing home so much it hurt, to fall asleep to your loved ones faces night after night and to wake up to the disappointment every day that they weren't there. then to come home and find yourself still there. the faces changed to the people you'd left behind, the people you could no longer help and the faces of the brothers you'd gained. leaving was hard, coming home was hard. there was no in between and there was no making it easier. all they could do was really be there for him when he needed them and to make sure he knew he wasn't alone, even if he felt he was the only one on earth. he went about making two sandwiches, just ham and cheese so nothing special and he opened a bag of chips to add to the plate.
it was the crinkling of the bag that brought his daggy dog gidget down the stairs. "were you sleeping on dustin's bed again?" he asked the bernese mountain dog as his tongue lolled out of his mouth and he waited for the chip that avery eventually threw to him. "spoiled mutt." he said with a smile as he grabbed the plate with the food and another soda out of the fridge and he somehow managed to open the back door. he watched the dog pad out of the house in front of him, watching carefully as he trotted past joe to walk circles in the grass in front of them. he walked over to where his brother was sitting, making his footsteps as loud as he could. "you trying to get a tan?" he said with a smile as he sat down beside him, setting the plate on the ground between them and he picked up one of the sandwiches, not offering the other to joe because he knew it would be rebuffed, but leaving it there in case he took up the option on his own.
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
it was a rare day when he got to spend it all at home. it was his day off, holly had taken the boys out for the day and he had nothing else to do. he'd gone to work karma that morning, taking him for a quick jaunt around the cross country course and surviving. he wasn't planning on telling holly that he was jumping karma again, at least not yet. he wanted to settle into it and see how it went before he crossed that very dangerous bridge. it had been an up and down few years for him, the wheelchair had been the enemy he'd had to face twice. both times he'd beaten the odds everyone including himself had stacked against him and he'd come through the other side. it hadn't been easy though, nothing in life that made it worth it was.
he opened the fridge and pulled out a soda, deciding to stick to the soft stuff until what he thought was a more acceptable hour. but it was oddly quiet in the house and it unsettled him just a little. their house was chaos. it was loud moments, it was fights, it was arguments and it was children running around making their presence known. dean and levi were often in and out of every room, rocke usually let his opinion be known even though he wasn't old enough to have one but since joe had come home, they'd been doing their best to help him feel comfortable in civilian life and he knew screaming children weren't the best for that. neither sometimes were the people you loved.
he'd heard what had happened with joe and heather the day his brother had come home and while he'd been angry heather had been hurt he couldn't hold it against joe. none of them could but avery especially. he'd done something similar to holly when they'd first started dating. it had almost broken him but he'd made it out the other side and he knew joe would too, if he let himself. he hadn't brought it up to him or mentioned it, because the last thing people wanted was to have advice and help thrust upon them, especially men with the last name of mccarran. but he'd be there for his brother when he needed him, whenever that would be.
TWENTY SIX | YOUTH WORKER | HOLLY MILEY EVANS LEVI MACCARRAN | 3 ROCKE MACCARRAN | 1
