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!.
all he could do was stay crouched there, waiting to see if the kid did what he said and started counting like he'd suggested to him. his thighs were already burning but when he looked down at the teen's face, he knew he was in it for the long haul. panic attacks were terrifying as an adult, he could imagine feeling them as a teenager. he nodded slightly as he heard the numbers as they were counted out loud and it seemed like they were making something of a difference. he could hear the mutterings from people who had decided to watch rather than keep walking, or try and help in some way and he was glad that he'd been blessed with the shoulders of a linebacker, so he could at least block some of the view. "if you feel like you need to, count again." there was nothing more he could offer to do until the kid was calm. in his experience, touching or trying to force an issue were good ways to send someone right back into an attack, so he'd stay crouched until the kid was calm enough to stand on his own.
he chuckled slightly at that and he decided he'd put her out of the misery she was joking about. he knew what her ex was, so he knew that she wasn't totally trusting of men and he couldn't blame her. there were times he was walking down a street and he didn't know if the people walking towards him were friend or foe. "only one arrest in my life." he said as he took a sip of his beer. "but it was more of a show for other kids my age." he would elaborate for her, he wouldn't leave her with that information without at least sharing the rest. "i was mouthing off to one of the local cops at home, who also happened to be one of my dad's best friends. i was sixteen and stupid surrounded by other sixteens and stupids. got the cuffs slapped on me, booked at the station then made to walk home when my parents refused to come pick me up." it had been his first and last brush with the law.
how he'd come to be in hickstead seemed to both puzzle and intrigue her. he hadn't told anyone why he'd picked the town he'd come to call home, there had been no point, at least in his mind it hadn't been much of an interesting story. "it wasn't the first time i'd been to a place without any idea what i was getting myself into." though there had been times when he'd first come that he'd thought his time in the army hadn't prepared him very well for the unknown. "trust me, when i got here i thought it was perfect." quiet, slow, nothing moved to quickly and most of the people were people he didn't have to worry about what they were going to do. the simplicity had been nice. "i don't think so." he had to be honest, he loved his family but he wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to a place he'd felt so unstable, so restless and so out of control. "home wasn't good for me after ..." he cut himself off and shook his head a little. "it just wasn't good for me."
christmas was never the easiest time of the year. there were obvious reasons and then there were the not so obvious reasons. like he hated christmas music, he wasn't the biggest fan of the cold and if he was being honest most of the movies were hideous. then there was the fact he was the opposite side of the world to his family. he knew that they were only one flight away but he couldn't face the journey, not after what had happened the last time he'd been there. it had been too long, there were too many words that had been said and then unsaid between him and his sister. it was just the easy choice to stay away and while it made him feel like a coward at times, it was the better choice. then there was beth and ben, he hadn't meant to fall in love with the place he was working at and the family that ran it but here he was. beth, who had been an angel to him at one point was now someone he wanted to spend almost every waking minute with and ben had just wiggled his way into his heart too and he was solidly stuck there now. there was no walking away from that now.
he wasn't in the thrift store shopping for them, though he had seen a few things that they'd probably like, he was here on a mission for the shelter. all the stuffed toys that looked okay for dogs to have, they were coming home with him. the ones they had were looking a little worse for wear so there was no harm in adding some new stock to the rotation, plus he needed a good stockpile for witless, because the dumb dog chewed through any stuffed toy like butter. he was elbow deep in a pile of toys when he heard someone complain about 'the youth these days' and he watched as she walked away in a huff and he raised a brow before he turned in the direction she'd come from when she'd brushed past him.
it took him all of two seconds to see what the old tart had missed, and he abandoned his mission in a heartbeat and he crossed the floor to where this kid was sitting on the floor. he crouched down in front of him, not close enough to receive a fist to the face for his troubles if the kid lashed out but close enough that he could use his frame to shield him from the view of anyone that might have been watching. "count to ten kid." he said, not unkindly but not softly either. he'd seen his share of panic attacks in the past and on the odd frightening occasion, he'd had them, thankfully not for years now but he knew what they felt like and there was no pandering someone through them with kind words. his method of dealing was to distract, slow down and occasionally slap but hopefully this wouldn't come to it.
he smiled a little at her explanation as to why secrets weren't that good and he shouldn't help but raise a brow slightly and lean forward a little, as if he was going to whisper something to her. "well i can promise you, i've never had a grand theft auto charge." he said as he leaned back. he was fairly confident by now that she was aware he wasn't going to murder her in her sleep, he'd had plenty of chances if he was going to do anything untoward to her, not that he would, but they'd been alone plenty since they'd met and he'd been nothing but stable.
he tapped his bottle against hers with a soft clink and smiled across the table at her cheers back. he'd given a little and that seemed to be enough, at least for now. he knew that he could have been a lot more forth coming but he'd never been one for words. he was more of an action kind of person, which truth be told had probably been why he'd been good as a marine. but she wasn't quite finished with the questions, which if he was being fair, he couldn't blame her for. they were here on a date, she wanted to get to know him. it was more touching than he thought it would be but now he was a little bit stuck. did he tell her the truth?
that she'd kept him alive the same night she'd lost someone? that he'd come here to tell her that, to thank her for being the thing that had been his saving grace. then he'd met her. he'd started to get to know her and he knew that the moment he let that slip he'd lose it. he hated lying, he wasn't a liar but he didn't want to risk everything, not when he wasn't sure she'd stay. "when i got home i needed some space, so i picked a spot on my nephews globe and flew there."
he grinned a little as she said that ben probably wouldn't like the lobster but dessert would be the one that would get him. he did make a little mental note to grab an extra dessert or two so they could take them back for ben. he couldn't help but feel connected to this kid who he hadn't known all that long but he was firmly growing attached to him. and certainly to his mother. he knew she deserved more than he could ever give her but he couldn't help but want to get closer to her and to learn what he could, do what he could to help her out and to just spend time with her. he'd found it hard to open up to her still, to really let her in but he was trying. she'd managed to get more out of him in the months they'd known each other than most people had in their entire lives.
he couldn't fault her logic on that, it made perfect sense but he'd never been a talker, his sister used to joke he'd been born with a filter that had too many settings. he couldn't deny it, he'd just never been one for opening up. "so too much mystery is bad, i'll remember that." he said with a smile as he twisted his napkin in his fingers lightly. he told her his story, the little bits he'd been able to make himself tell her but he knew it wasn't enough, it was just snippets but he'd tried. there was nothing in his childhood that made it hard to talk about, he just figured it was easier to not talk in case he let something slip that had happened while he'd been deployed, there were just some doors he didn't want to open. "i didn't want to lie. i couldn't bend the truth enough to please my professors so they gently steered me towards the door. it wasn't because they thought i couldn't do it, just that it probably wasn't my calling." he said with something of a grin.
he felt his smile widen as hers did, it was like a reflex because when she was happy he felt happier too. like it was a drug to see her smile and relax a little. she took on so much and did so much and she did it so well, he wanted to help take the stress away from her and when she smiled it felt like he was helping her that little more. it didn't hurt that she was darned attractive when she smiled. "well i can see why you wanted to stay. i've only been here a little while and i never want to leave it either." he said as their drinks arrived to the table. he thanked the waiter before he smiled at her over the glass and he held it out to her, "cheers."
you know you can live off the nutrients in just a potato and butter diet? cross my heart and hope not to die of a heart attack! i'll get something with a tangy healthy one!
great! i'll get the steaks on the way to your place tonight. corn and potatos that we can lather in melted butter? and i'll grab some beans and a salad too.
he watched as she leaned forward and his mouth twitched up at the sides though he did try to keep his demeanor as nonchalant as he could. though he shook his head when she suggested that she would get two rather than one. "oh no, no not two." he said as he leaned forward a little himself, resting his arms on the edge of the table and putting on his most serious face he could. "you'll need three. if you go home without a disgustingly wonderful lobster for ben, he'll give you the silent treatment." he said as he broke out into a grin before he sat up again, the back of his seat resting against his back. he'd been spending months working with her son, he'd been helping him whenever he could and logan actually liked finding small jobs the boy could do on his own. it reminded him of what his own dad had done for him, even though he wasn't ben's dad. he was just the guy working for his mother but he felt bad that ben had lucked out in the father department.
it didn't take long for them to place their orders and the waitress smiled and said it'd be out as soon as it was ready. which was a good thing because as nervous as he was about being on his first date with beth, he was pretty hungry now he could smell the food coming from the kitchen and he couldn't deny the smell was delicious. "i always thought mystery was intriguing?" he said as he lowered one hand onto his lap as casually as he could, taking the edge of the table cloth within his fingertips. "i grew up in a small town in colorado." he offered, wondering just how easy it would be to give her the information or if he'd have to fight his own brain to do it. it had been so long since he'd spoken about home and his family to anyone he wasn't sure how he'd go. "i liked the idea of being a lawyer, almost went to law school but changed my mind." that was easy to tell her, it hadn't happened and he didn't like playing with what ifs because they'd just about killed him when his mother had died. "i come from a military family." not that his parents wanted him to follow them into the force, in fact they'd tried to talk him out of it but he'd done it anyway and he'd regretted it since the day he first deployed. "my turn." he said with a slight smile as he ran his fingers along the bottom of the tablecloth. "what did you want to be when you grew up?"
he chuckled a little at her thread to order the most expensive thing on the menu before the cut loose from the date but he didn't believe she would. he could have said something about the most expensive item on the menu being the bread considering she paid his salary but that wouldn't have been a fair comment, even as a joke. she didn't pay him peanuts as it was and he wasn't in his job for the money, he was in it for the love of dogs, the love of quiet and now he was in it because of his attraction and connection to his boss. "that'd be the lobster." he said as he leaned forward with a grin and he pointed it out on the menu for her.
well he reaction was typical of what people usually thought of his choice of condiments for hot chips. he'd freaked his nephew out a few months ago when he'd dared a visit with his sister and his face had been one of the funniest things logan had seen all year. he hadn't quite worked up to eating it in front of ben yet, he wasn't about to do anything that might put beths son off of letting him date his mother. "speak for yourself, mrs ketchup." he teased as the waitress made her way over to the table. he felt the eyes on him the moment she stepped into his field of vision, the feeling was something he'd never be able to forget though he couldn't fault his bodies logic. he didn't really pay much attention to her, even though if asked he could tell someone the name on her badge, her hair and eye colour, what she was wearing, the colour of the stone in her necklace and the colour of the eyeshadow she'd painted a little too heavily on her eyes. those were just identifiers though, he couldn't tell anyone what her voice sounded like or anything else about her. "i'll have the same thanks, but with a side of ketchup and mayonaise please." he said as he winked at beth before he folded his menu and handed it to the waitress.