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!.
her head jerked up from the mattress as she heard the cough cut through the quiet of the room. was she dreaming? that was a very real possibility right now. the exhaustion she felt was deep and her mind was so wrung out with worry that she knew it was one hundred percent possible that she was imagining signs of him being awake because it was what she needed. "ben.." she said softly when she saw his eyes were open and she stood up from her chair so she could be closer to him. she winced in sympathy when she heard the noise of pain he made and she squeezed his hand gently. she couldn't make it better, she couldn't take his pain away no matter how much she wished she could. if god himself came down and gave her the option to switch places with ben she'd say yes in a heartbeat but until that unlikely miracle occurred, she was powerless to help his pain.
as she looked at his face, she felt tears that she didn't realize she had left in her spring into the corner of her eyes. she'd come so close to losing him, one move that had been different, one slip of the blade in any other direction and she'd have lost him forever. it had almost broken her heart when they'd been at odds through the past months but it had almost shattered her soul when she'd thought she could lose him today. she hadn't known how she'd go on, having to deal with those thoughts while he'd been in surgery, his fate unknown to everyone who loved him and all she could think was that she didn't know how she could go on without him. she blinked those tears away as she took one hand from his and she reached to lay it on his cheek gently.
she needed that extra connection in that moment. every part of her wanted to wrap her arms around him, and to never let him go. to lay there with him for eternity and know that he was there with her but it wasn't an option. this was as close as she could get to him without hurting him and it would have to be enough for now. "thank god you're awake..." she whispered, her voice hoarse from the tears she had shed in the hours since he'd been hurt.
there was not a tear left within her, she'd cried more than she'd cried in years when she'd heard that ben had been hurt in the hold up at the coffee shop. she'd been on duty when the call had come through, her and her partner one of the units tasks to attend and assist the injured once the scene was secured. she hadn't even thought of ben as they'd been driving there. her work brain was able to focus on what she was doing and what she needed to do before they arrived. they'd gone over the checks, how they'd have each other's back and their exit plan for if things went south. that had all been thrown out the window when they'd pulled up and ben's car was the first one she'd seen in the parking lot. she had never experienced that snap in her mind before, forgetting everything she'd been taught, what she'd planned and that she needed to keep an eye on her partner as she'd legged it into the cafe past the officers, other people and other injured people. she needed to lay her eyes on him, to make sure that he was okay. there was reports of a stabbing. she needed to know that it wasn't him.
then she'd seen the officers working on ben and there wasn't much she remembered after that moment. she'd screamed his name as she'd run over to him, dropping to her knees beside him as hands tried to grab at her to pull her away. they were right, she'd been a mess. she hadn't been able to help the situation and she would have been making it worse but she'd fought them, reaching out to grip ben's hand tightly and refusing to leave him. she hadn't left him since. she'd gone with him to the hospital when they'd gotten him out of there, she'd gone with him into the er, she'd stayed right outside the doors of the surgery room he'd been in and she'd been sitting in his room while they waited for him to wake up. no one had been able to convince her to leave, not ben's parents, his siblings or any of the people who knew her at the hospital.
she was still in the clothes that had his blood smeared over them. she'd cleaned her hands but that was it, leaving to change wasn't an option. she needed to be there when he woke up. they hadn't been solid for a while. the distance between them had been something they hadn't been able to fix yet and now she was terrified that she'd never get the chance. she needed to see him open his eyes, to be able to tell him that she loved him and that she needed him more than anything. if this last few hours had taught her that, it was that her love for him wasn't going anywhere. she had his hand clasped in both of hers, listening to the steady beep of the machines he was hooked up to. she lowered her head down onto the mattress next to their hands, exhausted from the events of today but far to wired to even think about closing her eyes. every time she did she was taken back to the moment she'd seen him on the floor of the cafe and she didn't want to go there right now.
blair closed her eyes as she felt the wind blow softly past her face and she sighed into it. the trail was quiet and polly was calm although blair wasn't sure if those were good things. it meant she didn't have to think to hard about what she was doing and when she didn't have anything to focus on, she was at a loss. the last few weeks had been hard. there had been joy first, though that joy had been mixed with sheere panic and terror but she'd been excited. then it had been ripped from her and they'd been told it had never been real and then .. that it never would be. from there things had gone from bad to worse and words had been said, people who thought they knew best had gotten involved and worse had become terrible. the things she'd said to ben, she knew she would always regret them. that heat of the moment passion where she'd let her emotions and feelings get the better of her and she'd just let lose, unleashing her grief and pain onto him when she should have known better.
since then she'd been throwing herself into her work, taking every shift she could, covering as much as she could ans doing her best to avoid going home because she had to travel past his floor, walk into her empty apartment and know he wasn't there and he wouldn't be coming. so she'd been sleeping at the station as much as her boss would let her. though enough had finally been enough and he'd told her not to come in today. to get out and do something other than work and it had been then she'd decided to come to the barn. she'd been avoiding it, knew she'd been neglecting her three other loves but she'd known they were well taken care of. they'd probably even enjoyed the downtime but she had missed them. the moment that she'd seen them it had hit her like a ton of bricks and she'd almost cried there and then.
but they'd forgive her, she knew that. they were amazing after all. she leaned down to rub her hands over polly's neck as they walked back into the yard and she pulled her up gently before she hopped off her, her feet stinging a little as she landed on the stone floor. "let's get you sorted." she said softly as she gathered the reins in her hand and started walking her into the barn, walking through the doors and almost coming face to face with ben as she did. "uh .." she came to a sudden stop as she made the noise and polly snorted in disapproval and bumped her head into blair's shoulder to show it.
that's usually when my favourite barista makes me amazing coffees. she can be, but she usually thinks first. jake, bless him, doesn't. i guess the sentiment was there.
i promise i will and i'm not that bad! am i? i know, it was sort of like an ambush and it scared me a little. i have the feeling it was jake's idea and poor carly was just pulled into it and he didn't let her say no.
i wish i couldn't, but it's been helpful the last few weeks. it'd be nice to talk, i know we didn't do that so well at the bowling alley and i'm sorry.
