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!.
"That sounds intriguing, what were you going to do to make me forget?" Mik gave a boyish grin and shrugged. "I was thinking about a movie, some pizza, maybe a foot rub?" Yup, he brought his feet into it, again, but only because he knew it got a rise out of her. A massage was definitely on his list of things to do, but she was going to be the recipient of the massage, not him. "But I meant about him and the money. Do you call it in now?" He shrugged and pulled a face. "Part of me thinks we're better off to wait until we're not here before we call the hounds. It's better to let him think he's got away with this before he can feel that someone's scenting his trail." He'd done enough case studies during his studies to know that as many things could go wrong, as the police being able to catch Tristan before the money vanished. "However, from what I know of him, I'll send the message." He pulled out his phone and hit send on a message that was already waiting to be sent; the bird has got the worm, and now it was out of their hands. He took her hand, bringing it to his lips with a warm smile. "Come on, love, let's go home."
Mik knew that he shouldn't be so casual about money, as the amount in this bag was nothing to sneeze at, but it was easier to brush it off than analyze what they were doing, and his parents really did have enough to spare. Which made him really lucky, never having to worry about his next meal, where he was going to sleep... any of the things that he knew many other people struggled with. Even after he ran, he still had enough money to in his personal account to keep him comfortable until he was settled and had a job.
Mik's brows rose at the look he was given, knowing he was being weighed and measured, though he didn't even flinch and kept the thoughts running through his head hidden from his face. "Whatever. You're welcome to her, if that's the best you can really do." He grinned in response, though held back from making any snide comments and making what had been a pretty easy handoff into anything messy. "I'll see you around.""Not any time too soon, I would hope." Mik muttered under his breath, the smile not shifting as he watched the other man vanish. "Okay, what's next?" He gave a wolfish grin as he gave her a quick kiss and then encircled her in his arms. "Hmmm, how about we head home and do something to erase this from our minds?" He suggested with a chuckle, though his eyes didn't stop moving over the park, making sure that the douche didn't circle back.
Mik's life had always been in the spotlight, even when he was homeschooled. His actions were always under the close watch of anyone who wanted to cast a bad light on the Antoniou family, the smallest hint of bad press that he cast upon the family would have had him locked up. Not in the dungeon, but the tower - his quarters - was just as bad. Then there was boarding school, which wasn't as bad as he was away from his parents, and then the Olympics, then the entire world had their eyes on him. Her though, he was as anonymous as everyone else, he could easily melt into the crowds. Mik Thanos was nothing more than a simple stable boy and a waiter that no one would look at twice and then move on with their day.
"It's a serious amount of money you're just handing over." He flashed her a grin, an actual one. "Yes, but it's only money." He replied. "Mom and Pops have enough to spare, and I'm sure that with our jobs, we aren't exactly short on money ourselves." They weren't exactly living on the equivalent of Park Avenue, and his rent was paid well in advance.
"Surprised you didn't dive for it." Mik bit down on his inner lower lip to stop himself from snorting, but he was kind of expecting the man to have done that. "Shut your mouth." His brows dipped and it took everything in his mot to pull the woman behind him, as he knew that Amber wouldn't appreciate that. "There better be no tricks. If this isn't real cash, and the exact amount I asked for, you'll regret it." He did roll his eyes, but held his sarcasm in check as he returned the squeeze. "Take your damn money and leave." He bowed his head toward Tristan, as close to a sign of defeat as he wished to show the other male. "You will find everything in there that we agreed to." He pressed his lips together in a smile, mostly to hold back any rude comments about leaving and not returning, feeling that it would be just like adding gasoline to an already dangerous fire.
Mik shook his head, instantly feeling guilty for his anger as he crossed the aisle and rubbed his horse's forehead, knowing that the dappled buckskin was feeling cooped up, and probably a little annoyed at his owner since Mik still hadn't been given the all-clear to ride again, and it was only the fact at Cara rode him that was keeping the horse ever so slightly sane. "I better go and get your precious." He laughed as the Warmblood bobbed his head up and down, as though he was agreeing with his human, rather than just being excited about the attention.
"Easy boy." He soothed as Glory suddenly shot backwards, his ears flat, eyes and nostrils wide in fear as he looked toward the door at the far end of the barn. "What is it?" Mik laughed, knowing that the horse wasn't going to reply, but before he could move, the sound of a shod horse could be heard on the concrete floors, and the young man watched with wide eyes as a huge dappled grey horse trotted out of the darkness and into the dimly lit barn, heading straight past him, deeper into the barn.
Mik shrugged. "A number of the big name riders, both competitive showing and polo, will leave the arena, and swap from one horse to another with barely giving their ride a pat for a good job. Too many people, with money, look at a horse the same way they would their Ferrari, though sometimes the car gets a little more attention." When people tried to say that horses were nothing more than a machine, Mik would always tell them to picture themselves riding a motorbike at top speed that could think for itself, and often didn't want to go in the same direction as you. That's the kind of machine a horse was.
He shrugged. "Family life wasn't too bad. Sure, I may make it seem bad, but I never had to worry about having clothes on my back, food in my stomach or a roof over my head, so I can't complain. Mother wanted me to remain at home, with tutors, and when I said I wanted to go to an actual school, like my riding buddies, it was boarding school or nothing." He shrugged again as he collected the horses he was going to take out.
He grinned as he thought about the dances he'd done at school, dancing a quick waltz. "Waltz, foxtrot, some ballroom. Everything went, as long as the boys didn't get handsie." He winced as he could remember the teachers walking around with a cane that was used to get hands to move back to where they were supposed to be. "We even did a bit of two-step." Much to the chagrin of their gym teacher.
He laughed at Emma's reaction. "Well, I'm not allowed to drink while I'm working, so declining is easy, and since Amber's at the bar, her shooting daggers at them helps too." And, a bit of flirting kept the girls coming back to the club, so it worked out well. Plus all the locals knew that he wasn't single. His mouth dropped open, hand going to his heart as though her words had cause him a physical injury. "Hey!" He protested with a wicked grin. "I resemble that comment!" Much to the disgust of his mother.
He released the mare's into the pasture, leaving their halters on the grass by the fence. "You could always be sleeping in?" He suggested. "Though we'll never turn away free help."
He knew that it was misogynistic, but there was a big part of Mik that wished he was doing this by himself, leaving Amber at home, and out of harms way. Sure, he didn't intend for anyone to get hurt today, but the psychological hold her ex had on her was painful enough, and he wanted to keep her as far away from him as possible. However, it wasn't going to work like that.
"I wouldn't put it past him." Mik chuckled, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, neither would I. So at least we have witnesses." His eyes never stopped surveying the place, a technique he'd learned when he was barely out of nappies, always knowing how many eyes he had on him had kept his alive once or twice in the past, and other times it had helped him evade bodyguards who were paid to record his every move. "You make this seem like it's just part of a TV police show." He chuckled again, with a little more humour this time. "Nah, there are nearly enough bystanders for this to be a made-for-TV special. In my head, it's a lot more serious than I'm making it out to be." He added with an easy grin.
Arriving at the arranged spot, he moved the bag to their joined hands and stretched out the other, feeling that ever present pull on his ribs when he moved his shoulder back too far, and then took the bag back, squeezing Amber's hand when he felt her fidgeting. He was just about to give her a verbal reassurance when he heard the voice that he will forever equate to nails on a chalkboard. "Hello Amber baby," He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as they turned. "You got something for me, there?" Mik snorted as he hefted the bag he was carrying before he pitched it toward tristan, but intentionally went to the side to that the bag landed on the ground just to the side of the other man. "It's all yours." He wanted to tell the man to bugger off, but felt he should have a little more class.
Mik was releasing a stream of Gaelic slang as he picked up the wheelbarrows he had knocked over, being careful how he stacked them all this time, and wishing that he'd had enough sense to go to the tack room and tape up his ribs before he started, as by the time he had placed the cursed barrow that started the landslide his ribs were screaming in agony, and he knew that he'd get a lecture from Amber when he got home, about not looking after himself.
He stepped back and admired his handy work, holding his hand up in mock surrender as he stepped away from the barrows, as though they were wild beasts that would attack him if he moved too quickly. He jumped and spun around, gasping for breath as his ribs painfully protested the move, as something crashed into a stall door and hit the ground. "Glory, I'm going to kill you!" He seethed as he guessed that it was his horse's stupid jolly ball was the shadow he could see moving down the aisle, toward the tack room.
He'd hated putting Amber in this situation, but she'd had to make the call. It had to be her to set up this meeting, all he had to do was make sure the bag had all the money in it, all tidily stacked notes, with no dye, no tricks... well, nothing that could be see with the naked eye anyway, and he doubted the idiot had the brains to think about data DNA, as it wasn't something that was advertised widely, and you kind of had to be in-the-know, to know about it. See, his forensics degree came in handy for something.
As they walked through the park, he had the bag casually thrown over one shoulder as though they were headed home after a session at the gym, though neither of them looked like they had been working out. "I really don't like this." He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of her hand before giving her a reassuring squeeze, trying to pass some of his calm confidence through to her, though his eyes watched everything. "It feels like a trap." This would normally be the time that he'd crack a joke about having his bow and arrow, or his sword, but he was smart enough to know that his warped sense of humour wouldn't be appreciated right now. "He'd have to be wearing a ski mask and shoot us as point-blank range for him to get away with anything dirty." He said, though on second thought, his words probably gave her more to stress about than calm her frazzled mind. "We've got this in the bag, quite literally, we're just going for a walk in the park." His lips tugged in a playful grin before he gave her hand another squeeze.
Mik laughed and nodded. He'd spent enough years around Cara to know the young woman had a lot of things stored up in her head, and he often wondered if she was able to forget as well as she could remember. He nodded. "Yes, there are the handful of people who turn up to ride and then leave as soon as their feet his the ground again, without so much as a thank you for their horse, but you have people like that everywhere."
He pulled a face at the question. "I'd rather have had parents that cared more about what I was doing, than how focused mother was with her parties." His father just followed whatever his wife said, even if he was the head of the household. "No, no distractions." He pulled a face and shuddered. "Even our female teachers weren't a distraction. Did make for fun dances though with our sister school a few times a year." Sure, they were in single sex schools, but they weren't monks.
He laughed and nodded about horses being easier to work with. At least if one annoyed you, you could turn them out in the pasture to burn off some energy, intoxicated people, not so much. He shook his head, as most of the stories weren't very appropriate to share with a teenager. "People tend to get loud and annoying when they've had too much to drink. I have had a few ladies offer to buy me drinks though." Thankfully, he could use the excuse about not being able to drink on the job. He laughed at stuck his tongue out at her. "I do note that you didn't disagree to me being a fool, though." He laughed again as he went to get the horses he was going to lead out. "Thanks for all your help this morning, kiddo."
Mik laughed. "It's a line from Shakespeare's play Hamlet." He replied with a shrug. And he wasn't at all surprised that Cara would use Shakespearean quotes, as she seemed to be able to quote anything at the drop of a hat. "At this barn? Yeah, most of the clients here work with their horses as much as you do, just they aren't here as often as you are, so we have to do all that work on the day they aren't here." He shrugged, as it was part of his job, and he wouldn't want it any other way.
He pulled a face at her. "I had a nanny who drilled into me how important it was to do all my own work." He said, though the memories of that caused the face to slip a little at the memory that, as she did a little more than drilling, but he wasn't going to let that pull a dark cloud over this great day! "School wasn't that small, not huge either, like public schools, but not small enough that there were only a few of us in each class. We were all legacies... Um... our families had been in the school for years, so even before meeting us, the teachers had an idea of what we were going to be like by who had been at the school before us. For the good or the bad. And no, no cute girls." The main problem of an all-boys school, no girls.
He nodded at her suggestion. "Ky and the twins love going to the park, so that would work in your favour." He grinned. "They love spending time in the barn with their lesson ponies too, in case the weather isn't on your side." He knew that the weather gods loved doing the opposite of what you wanted them to do. If you had plans to go out, it rained.
She shrugged at the question about his jobs. "I like working with horses more than I like working with people, especially after said people have had a few drinks and think they own the world." He shrugged again. The only reason he'd taken the second job was so that he would never have any issues about paying the bills at the end of the day, horses were his world. He grinned as he slowly turned away from the pasture, as turning too quickly was still something that sent his head spinning. "Let's go get the rest of the girls. He flashed her a grin as he walked with her back into the barn, grabbed the last of the mare halters and handed one to Emma. "Yes, you could handle more than one. But Naomi would kill me if anything happened to you on my watch. And I'd never forgive myself. So humour an old fool?" He knew that she could do it, but things could go wrong so quickly when it came to horses, and he didn't want to take any chances.
Mik gave a formal bow. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Naomi is the queen of the barn, which naturally makes you a princess." He gave her a warm smile. "Don't ever stop being who you are. I'd much prefer all the teenaged riders I meet to be as hands on as you are. Don't be afraid to ask for help though."
He grinned and shook his head. "Both are cheating, and I swear I never did either. Attending a prestigious boarding school of the rich and famous, it's not the easiest to get away with anything unless you ask someone outside of the school, and when all of our correspondence is monitored, there is no chance of getting someone to do your homework." Plus, the thought of what would happen if he was caught even trying to cheat, that was enough to make him walk the straight and narrow any day. "Yes, some of the girls at Cambridge were memorable. Not memorable enough to keep in touch with, but good memories."
"Have you meet Cara?" He asked as he thought about her going to a spa. "She'd be happy enough just working with her ponies, knowing that she didn't have any time restraints."
He pulled a face at the thought of taking his medication with a smoothie, he had enough trouble keeping water down first thing in the morning, he couldn't imagine anything like a smoothie. "Thanks." He said with a grin. "I'll keep that in mind for next time." He watched the mares for a moment, making sure they were all moving properly, and that none of them fell on their faces on their way to the food. "Out of my jobs, this one takes the top billing. Sure, I'm still waiting on people here, but I get to play with horses." He shrugged. "Okay, we have some more horses to bring out, before I need to start helping with the mucking out."
Mik placed a hand against his ribs, trying not to breath so deeply, as everything hurt, but that was situation normal for the end of a good work day now. Closing his eyes for a moment, he was able to regain his centre and took the wheelbarrow out to the muck heap before he hosed it out and then left it upside-down to drain while he finished the last of the clean up before he did his final checks and could head home.
He whistled while he swept the aisle, enjoying this time of the day, the place was empty of people, other than the two young woman in the loft, and it was just him and the equids. "Yeah, you're so hard done by." He said to Glory, as the gelding thumped his jolly ball on the outside of his door, before swinging it across the aisle. "Watch it, bud! That almost hit me!" He retrieved the ball, and then threw it over the door before going back to his sweeping.
Once everything was tidied up, and he made sure that Naomi's office was locked, he went back to collect the wheelbarrow and took it to where the others were lined up. Lifting the barrow into place, the handle slipped from his hands and hit the one in front, staring off a domino effect and the sound of falling barrows was very loud in the almost silent barn, Mik cringed as each one hit the ground.
Mik gave a boyish grin as he swept a bow. "We humble stable hands are here to serve you, milady." He teased. "If you're short on time, you just have to call the office and one of us can have the horse you want ready to go as soon as you walk in the door." They were lucky that most people were hands-on here, but there had been the odd person who had walked in, expecting to be handed a tacked up horse, who they could then ride and hand back off as soon as they dismounted, forming no real bond with the poor horse.
He laughed. "It's only cheating if you're copying other people's work. Paying someone else to do the homework is on a whole different level of what you shouldn't do!" Until he'd convinced his parents to let him go to an actual school, he'd done all his own work, so when he was at school that never changed. "There are days that I miss the people I knew at school, more-so uni, because I went to an all-boy's boarding school." And when you lived with someone day in and day out, you didn't miss them that much when you got away from them, and he still emailed a few of his old friends.
"She'd probably spend those hours working with her ponies." He said with a shrug. "Being outside without an actual gameplan can often be relaxing enough." He had the feeling that Cara was a bit like himself, and when he wasn't busy, it gave the mind too much time with the what if questions. "Yes, you." He confirmed with a smile. "Maybe you could do with a trail ride."
He grinned, it was wonderful to be back at work. However, he would normally be taking out more than two horses at a time, sometimes even riding one and ponying the others. "My medication comes in pills, so no taste other than what ever I'm drinking to down them. One of the downsides of growing up, no more bubble-gum tasting medicine in a bottle." He released the mares he was holding and watched as they wandered off to graze before heading back in to return the halters and collect the next lot of horses. "Well, my little Padawan, how was you first day on the job?"
Mik grinned, it did seem that Power Point was becoming the new way of doing things, rather than cutting and pasting on a large bit of card, at least it saved on the glue. He laughed at the comment about grooms. "Anyone here would have one of your horse's groomed and tacked up for you as soon as you come through that door after school so that you can go straight into riding, if that's what you wanted." He knew it wasn't the way Emma did things, but if she was running late for a lesson, all she had to do was call the office one someone here would have her horse ready, and warmed up, for when she arrived.
He grinned. "I had a really good tutor to write my essays, and the money to pay for a passing grade." He laughed and shook his head. "No, I'm just kidding! I did have a really good tutor though, and lots of sleepless nights. If I wasn't riding, I was locked away in my room, doing schoolwork." He shrugged. "I also made sure I worked to my talents. I wasn't the greatest in maths or English, so took the easy courses, while social sciences, I did the advanced courses, to make sure I gained all the points I needed."
He nodded at her idea. "Never seen Cara as the trail riding person, but I like your idea. Give her a few hours to herself." He studied her for a moment. "I get the feeling someone else needs a little mental health time too?" He asked with an arched brow.
He laughed at her tease as he took two halters and went to the stall of the first mare and haltered her, putting the lead onto the halter, he led her from the stall and tied her to the bars before collecting the second mare. "I'm going to take two horses because it's what I do every day, and they all know me." He quipped back with a shrug as he walked with her out to the pastures. "Plus, I know which ones I can lead together, and which one would attack each other, and me. Other than riding, I don't really have any stipulations on my work. As long as I don't push it, and take my meds." Keeping the meds down was another thing, but he didn't mention that part.
Mik grinned and nodded. "They always say, go big or go home! However, in your case, your... uh, Naomi and Nate already know how much work has to be done at the barn, so you could probably bypass the power point presentation" He shrugged at her next words. "The riding and the grooming is the important part though, that's how you know if there's something wrong with the horse." Okay, yeah the manure and if the horse was off their feed was another sign, but it was the hands on stuff that really let you know how a horse was feeling.
He arched his brows, watching as the wheels in her head were turning. "Maybe the guidance counsellor at your school?" He suggested. "You could earn some extra credit, or whatever from doing it through the school. If that doesn't work, I'm sure Naomi could point you in the right direction with who you need to talk to."
He bowed his head with a smile. "Don't ever feel like a burden." He told her. "I've observed her long enough to know that she does what she does for the benefit of the people, or equines, that she gives her time to. You could always offer to look after Kyo?" He suggested.
He shook his head. "Head down to the start of the barn to the mares, and if they have finished, halter them and take them out." He gave her a knowing look. "As competent as you are with horses, it would make me happier if you led them out one at a time." He knew that she could led more than one, but these were horses that she didn't personally know and didn't know her so he'd rather be safe than sorry.
