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!.
"You two are terrible," Bruce grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He knew he was the biggest kid here, and nothing would change that - such a great role model for the young man at the table. "I think the word you are looking for is incorrigible." He suggested with a chuckle. "I promise," He gave Liam a smile, he could tell that the topic was now over and all he wanted to do was make it all better. "Can I gives it to them?" Bruce pursed his lips and shrugged. "Sure!" He whistled for the dog so that Liam would have an escort out to the birds, and he added the vegetables to the rest of the scraps. "Can you make sure that their water if full too, please?" He asked as he handed the boy the container of scraps.
"Oh absolutely," He laughed, as it was the answer he was expecting. "Ice cweeeaam" He nodded. "I got some bananas today, so how about banana splits?" He had an old recipe for a chocolate sauce that he wanted to make too, and it was a great excuse to use the fruit before it got all spotty and wasn't good for anything other than baking..
"Careful boys, the wind will change and your face will get stuck that way..." Bruce pulled another face and laughed, though he didn't tell Liam it wasn't true. "hey, don't forget your veggies, please," He looked at the boy's plate, as he finished cleaning his own and placed his cutlery down, he needed to find ways to make vegetables fun, though he was careful to stick to ones that most children ate and away from the ones that tasted like gym socks. "Thank you."
"Expect the duvet half the time - that I have to fight for!" He laughed, knowing that was true, as he often woke up with all the duvet. He gave a wicked grin and opened his mouth to say something, though closed it as he looked at Liam. "That's because it's so warm." He said, instead of commenting that she wouldn't lose it if she slept on his side of the bed with him. "Besides that, you know I have always told you never to go off on your own, no matter what you see or hear."
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorrys." Bruce's heart went out to the boy, but the ball was totally in his mother's court with this one. "Alrigt sweetie," He nodded as he stood up to remove the plates from the table, smiling at the veg on the boy's plate. "I'm sure the chickens will love that." At least with the birds, not a lot went to waste. "Do we want dessert?" The question was directed toward Flynn before he carried the plates to the counter and scraped the left over veg into a container to take out to the chickens.
"I never knew such a good fish impression," Bruce laughed and rolled his eyes. "Nah, this is a fish impression." He sucked in his cheeks and then opened and closed his mouth, before relaxing his face and laughing again. He grinned when she caught the kiss, it was something he remembered his own parents doing when he was a child, and his father was heading out to the fields with a kiss stored in his pocket.
"Nooo, no cooties!" He laughed as Liam tried his best to avoid the dreaded 'cooties'. "You can keep your cooties to yourself thanks," He pouted. "But I share everything with you." He said with a grin as he looked pointedly at the shirt she was wearing. "That's why I went in the woods, I thought it was a person, They are weird" Bruce gave the boy a soft smile, proud of his confession. "This is why you need to tell your mum or me when you hear things like that." He said. "If that had been a person, like you thought, they would have needed an adult to help them too." Okay, it was a little reckless on the child's part to have run off after a noise, but he couldn't help but admire that Liam was doing what he thought was right.
"Are you trying to suck up to me?" Bruce opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. "I...I would never!" He protested. "Well, only if I thought I could get away with it." He teased with a grin as he blew her a kiss. Some people may think it strange how he liked to cook dinner and do the dishes. They may wonder if he had been a bachelor for too long and couldn't hand the reins over. However, the reason he liked doing stuff was because he had visited too many school friends when he was growing up, and the mother seemed to have to do everything while the father yelled instructions from his lazy-boy with a beer in one hand and remote in the other, and Bruce had vowed he would never be like that when he was an adult.
"If anyone is giving out cooties, it's the boys!" He arched an eyebrow in question. "You are covered in them," He chuckled as he wiped hand down his arm, as though wiping something off, and then flicked his fingers at her. "I'm caring and sharing with my cooties!" He had known that the video would distract the child from his food, but it wasn't a long clip and dinner was never a rushed affair. "They sound weird? Like people screaming?""Yes, like screaming." He said with a smile, wondering if Liam would remember that he had said it was the sound of screaming that had caught his attention and led to him being lost.
"which is why I leave the skill cooking to you," Bruce grinned, good thing he loved cooking. "Good!" He couldn't help but laugh. "Hey now, who said we could bash on my cooking?" He raised his hands in mock surrender. "There is nothing wrong with your cooking. I thoroughly enjoy the nights off that I get." He said in hopes to appease her. "I hope you don't think that about it now," He raised his brows. "Oh no, some girls still have cooties." He replied with a straight face and a dramatic shudder. "Boys too, when they catch then from the girls!"
"Okay, the puppets are kind of cute, but the song.. not so much." He chuckled as he dished his own meal up, making sure to put a good amount of veg onto his plate. "You know he's going to sing this for weeks now..." He gave her a look of wide-eyed innocence, as if that thought had never crossed his mind, before he leaned closer to Liam. "All those funny sounds you can hear between the singing, are actually the sounds that a fox makes." The variety of sounds a fox made was amazing, and made him wish they were native to his country.
"I really hope so, nobody needs food poisoning to finish off the day," Bruce laughed, as that would be just the way to finish a day like this! "Itty-bitty bits of chicken cook pretty quickly. The trick is not burning the crumbs coating it." And not dropping it out of the pan as he shook that, because if that happened, he'd have to think of something else quickly to go with the chips. He enjoyed the challenge of cooking for more than just himself, while also coming up with meals that Liam wasn't going to screw his nose up and outright refuse just from the look of it.
"Ew," He beamed in response to the kiss and laughed at the boy's reaction. "Don't worry kiddo, I used to think it was pretty ew too." The joys of being the baby of the family, all his older siblings did that kid of stuff first, and while he still thought girls had cooties, his brother was going out on dates and his sisters were bringing boys home.
"It doesn't hurt as much now," Bruce arched an eyebrow. "But it hurts to touch it,""Might be a good idea not to touch it then." He advised as he bit back a laugh, trying to keep his face as straight as possible - it was hard to look sympathetic while laughing at the person. "Uh oh," He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "This is wonderful," He smiled. "Thank you, it's all about the seasoning added to the breadcrumbs." And it was actual chicken, rather than the mystery meat that was found in premade chicken nuggets. "Though I'm not sure about the video," He grinned again. "But the puppets are so cute!"
"I helps!" Bruce grinned, keeping his attention on the chicken and hot pan, being careful not to splash oil around as he shook the pan to move the last batch of chicken around so that it browned on all sides. "Mmm perfect!" He grinned. "And I promise that the chicken is cooked." He laughed at Liam's reaction to the veggies. If he'd thought about it, he should have cut the carrots into chips and cooked them along with the potatoes, but it was too late for that now. "Chicken and chips!""Yeah!" He cheered as he tipped the chicken onto the rack where the rest of it was resting.
"Do you need me to do anything?" He gave her a grin and shook his head. "Just by being in here, you're doing all you need to." He told her as he took the chips out of the oven. "A drink?" He shook his head. "I'll have water with dinner." He said as he plated up the portions and carried the three plates to the table. "Kai time!" He said with a grin as he put a plate on each mat. "Is your arm all better now?" He asked as he went to collect the laptop and set it on the table before he loaded up You Tube and found the video he wanted to show Liam, making sure it wasn't going to be too loud, and pressed play. He sat down with a chuckle and took a sip of the water from his glass.
"Well, that's my smart boy, just don't ever do that to us again, never run off like that it's dangerous." While Bruce wanted to jump to the child's defence, he also didn't want to undermine the boy's mother either, they were a joined front.
"Ah, it's a terrible song," He nodded with a grin, as it was a terrible song, but catchy nonetheless. "I think that's a good deal, Liam. No arguments," He bit back a chuckle, he could see so much of himself in the child. "We won't be long," He bowed his head. "Take all the time you need, I'll just be down here, slaving away in the kitchen." He gave a grin and waved them off.
Left to his own devices, he sliced the potatoes into chips and coated them with oil and lemon pepper spices before putting them into the preheated oven. He then sliced up some carrots and broccoli and popped them into the steamer. Next he set up his crumbing stations, and once the chicken was dices, he went through the process of dipping each piece in the egg and then the breadcrumbs, setting them on a tray as he waited for the oil in the pan to heat up, and then started cooking them in batches, making sure each piece was golden brown.
"Alright, what's for dinner chef Bruce?" He grinned as they walked back into the kitchen, nodding in approval for her choice of tops. "You're just in time to set the table." He said. "We're having popcorn chicken and chips, with steamed veg on the side." He probably could have bypassed the vegetables, but they were an important part of every meal.
"What happened?" Bruce had done his best to distract the child from his pain when he'd found him, so he left Liam to tell his mum what had happened. "Foxy bit me," It made him glad that they didn't really have any wild predators in New Zealand, other than the odd nutcase possum, and the biggest thing he had to worry about was keeping out of the way of rams and not getting between a ewe and her lambs.
He washed and dried his hands before he turned the oven on and took the things out that he'd need to make popcorn chicken. "Okay sweetie, let's take a look," He glanced over, pleased to see that it wasn't worse than it had looked. "Ouch, that must hurt. Let's get this all fixed up, shall we?" He bit back a chuckle as Flynn was well and truly into nurse-mode, which he found very attractive. "Thank you," He bowed his head, pleased that he had been able to find the child so quickly. "Liam was very smart, and knew to stay where he was until help arrived.""Alright, I think it's time to get clean - you are filthy!""I wants to see the fox puppets!" Bruce chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "How about you go and have a bath and get your pyjamas on, and I'll set up the laptop so you can watch it while you eat dinner?" He suggested, giving Flynn a wolfish grin. "He was curious to know what the fox says." There again, he only knew about the song because a couple of his students were talking about Glee when they were supposed to be working with their horses, and they had shown him the part of the music clip part of the show they were talking about.
"How does it go?" Bruce pulled a face and laughed. "Um... there's a lot of mentioning the sounds other animals make and they ask what a fox says... There's a good clip of it with puppets that I'll show you when we get home." He could do a lot of things, but singing wasn't one of them, and he didn't know the lyrics well enough to do the song any justice. He smiled at the confused look. "If you had walked off, trying to find your own way home, Gizmo wouldn't have found you as quickly as he did." He gave the boy's hand a reassuring squeeze, while taking careful note of how he was being careful of his arm.
"Oh thank God!" He stepped away, allowing mother and son to take comfort from each other. "Oh you scared me, sweetie. Never, ever do that again, Thank you. Thank you so much," He bowed his head with a soft smile before heading into the kitchen where he filled a large bowl with warm water and added some antiseptic into it, before finding a new pack of cloths. "You might want to get your ma to look at your sore arm." He suggested softly.
Bruce smiled as he watched the child take comfort from the pup, which made him pleased that they had decided to keep the Collie, rather than finding him a new home - and getting the vet and pet shop to take down the papers was easy enough, even if he had had to tell a couple of families that the pup already had a home. "Foxes don't talk?" His brows shot up in mock surprise. "No? Really?" He asked. "But there's a whole song dedicated to what the fox says." Okay, the song was asking what a fox says, but that was beside the point.
He followed the boy's eyes with his own. "It was stuck in the fence over there," He nodded, even though there was no animal there now, and at least it had been an actual animal, not a ploy to lure a child. "Well, he's gone now, so you must have done something to help. And well done for remaining in one spot when you knew you were lost, as that's half the problem solved." People who were lost had a habit of wandering, which made the job of finding them even harder. "I wants chicken nuggets," He grinned and nodded, chicken nuggets seemed to be the answer to all the world's problems. "Don't know about nuggets, but I'm sure I could throw together some popcorn chicken and chips when we get home." He'd throw some extra veg in there too.
The walk home didn't take too long, and Bruce made sure to let Liam set the pace, so that the child wasn't rushed. "Honey, we're home." He sang as he toed his shoes off at the door.
"Gizzzyyy," Bruce couldn't help but roll his eyes and laugh at the pup's nickname, though he guessed now wasn't the best time to tell the child that a dog likes only having one name.
He removed a packet of tissues from his back pocket and removed one to offer it to the boy. "I don't know the way back," He gave a soft smile. "That's why we're here." He said with a nod toward the pup. He frowned at the pained sound. "I tried to helps the fox and it bit me." His brows. "You saw a fox? What did it say?" A smile curved his lips as he held his hand out for the boy to take. "Let's get home and we'll have a look at where it bit you. How did you get close enough to a fox for it to bite you?" He hadn't thought to have brought a first aid kit with him, and with the wound currently covered, it was safer that way, as much as he wanted to have a look at how serious it was.
He clipped the lead back onto the pup's collar, as the last thing they needed now was for Gizmo to find a trail he wanted to follow and them losing the pup. "What are we going to have for dinner tonight?" He asked as he pulled his phone out and sent a quick message through to the boy's mother; on our way home. He didn't say anymore than that because he knew she was already freaking out and didn't want to add to her stress.
"Okay... be safe." Bruce kissed the top of her head again, knowing that his suggestions were pointless as she would continue pace the place until they got back.
He followed Gizmo through the trees, watching to make sure the merle pup didn't decide to go tearing off after some critter as he excitedly followed different trails with his nose to the ground. "What is it?" Bruce asked as Gizmo came to a sudden halt, his head lifted, ears pricked before he released a happy bark and then took off at full speed. Not knowing whether to yell the dog back, or curse the fact that he had let him off the lead, Bruce broke into a run to keep track of the rapidly vanishing dog who was zig-zagging through the trees, though his excited barks were easy enough to follow.
He almost tripped over the pup as they came to a stop. "Good dog!" He told Gizmo with a pat when he saw Liam and shook his head as the pup all but ignored his praise and rushed over to the boy, making Bruce wonder if the pup had heard the boy right before he took off. "Do you think it might be time to head home?" He asked with a warm smile. "Your mummy is a little worried about you." Okay, a complete understatement there, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story? "Gizmo was missing you too. If you can't tell."
Bruce watched as Flynn took in his words and seemed to understand what he was saying, even if she wanted to fight it. "I feel so useless," He gave her a sympathetic smile and a kiss on the forehead. "I know you do, but if he gets home before I do, he's going to want you." His lips quirked with a smile. "Why don't you write out a list of jobs he's going to need to do, because he left the property without telling anyone? Or make him his favourite meal because you know he'll be hungry when he walks in?" He had no intention of punishing the boy for his error, the fact that he was gone for so long was punishment enough, but it would give her something to do.
"Please do... if you see anything just.. call me." He took her hand and gave it a squeeze before kissing her fingers. "You will know anything as soon as I do, my love." He promised her.
After putting his boots on, he headed out the gate with Gizmo at his side. He looked down at the dog, and wondered if this would be a good time to see how his training was going, as they made their way down to the copse of trees that was down the road, he was hoping that maybe the boy had followed something down that way. The group of trees wasn't too large, but there were enough trees that if someone small got turned around in there, it would be easy to get lost.
Arriving at the trees, he asked Gizmo to sit and removed the leash. "Liam, seek." He said as he pointed into the trees. The pup tipped his head to the side as he studied the human and then took off into the trees, Bruce following closely behind. Now, in the movies, this would be the time that the searchers would start yelling out the name of the person they were looking for, but he knew that sound moved around things, and if Liam was lost in here, the last thing he needed was for the boy to run the opposite direction because that's where he thought the call was coming from.
"thank you," Bruce gave a soft smile. He would literally stop the world for this woman, if the need called for it, but he felt this wasn't the time to tell her that, she was too anxious about their son.
"Can we not?" He kissed the top of her head as he pulled her against him again, his thoughts whirring as he tried to work out where the boy had gone.
"I want to come, I know he might come back but I need to do something proactive." He stepped back slightly and thought about how to word what he wanted to say. "I understand your need to do something, but I need you to stay here. Liam's been gone for a while, and the last thing he is going to want, if he returns while we are out, is to find a note." As this was very unusual for the boy, he'd guess that the child would need a very big hug when he came home.
He whistled and grinned at the sound of scrambling paws before the pup appeared in the doorway. "Walk?" He asked the pup and grinned as the Border Collie vanished again and returned with his lead in his mouth. "Let's see how well your training has been going." He clipped the lead onto the pup's collar and gave Flynn a kiss as he straightened up. "I will phone as soon as we know anything." He promised her.
