Cabinet

Cabinet

Hello! I’m going to try to start writing short Fablehaven stories, using a single word as my prompt from a random word generator- this one’s word was ‘cabinet.’ Hope you like it! (If anyone has any prompts or ideas, I’d be more than happy to write them!)

It was too tall.

She didn’t have a step.

And everyone else was sleeping.

Kendra didn’t quite understand why the brownies had installed a ‘secret’ cabinet sticking out halfway up the wall in the middle of the hallway, but Grandma Sorenson had quickly taken advantage and hidden cookies in it.

The cabinet was one of those heavy, old-fashioned wooden ones, with legs so tiny, they look like they shouldn’t be able to hold that much weight. How the brownies had managed to suspend it so high up without the wall or cabinet falling down was the biggest mystery on the preserve.

And Kendra was too short to reach it.

When she had woken up in the middle of the night after a nightmare craving chocolate chip cookies, the natural answer was to come to the cabinet. The cabinet she couldn’t reach. The cabinet that was too isolated to drag a chair over to. The cabinet that would probably feature in every other dream Kendra would have for the next million years while she tried to open it.

Looking at the stupid thing again, Kendra tipped her head to the side to think, before trying to jump up to open the door. She missed by a good few inches, and landed loudly. She winced, hoping she didn’t wake anyone up. Vanessa’s room was right next to it.

After deciding that everyone was still asleep, Kendra tried again, thumping down slightly quieter this time, although not by much. Abandoning the jumping effort, she tried to go on her tiptoes again, bouncing slightly with each failed attempt to even touch the cabinet.

It took everything Kendra had not to scream at the annoying thing, and the cookies just out of reach- by a long way. Whenever she was tired, Kendra had always acted slightly more childlike, as if her brain just couldn’t handle being mature when she was so tired, so it just shut down.

A pair of arms wrapped around the bouncing girl, and Kendra nearly screamed, cutting it off as she recognized Bracken behind her. He held her close for a few more seconds, before letting go with one arm and effortlessly taking the cookies out of the cabinet, understanding what she wanted without having to talk.

~

When Vanessa got up the next morning for breakfast duty, she couldn’t help but smile at Kendra and Bracken sitting on the floor underneath the open cabinet, cookie jar next to them, curled up fast asleep. Kendra had a peaceful smile of her face, and was resting her head on Bracken’s shoulder, snoring quietly.

Maybe the Unicorn wasn’t so bad after all.

It IS kind of weird...

Why do people hate on Brackendra’s age difference? Gavin/Navarog and Verl all have THE SAME AGE DIFFERNCE! So why is a problem with Bracken, and not anyone else?

50 tips for (fanfic) writing

have fun

write whatever is interesting to you, even if it won’t be interesting to anyone else

appreciate kudos when they come, but don’t expect them

appreciate comments when they come, but don’t expect them

if you wish you could just write that one scene you have in your head, do that. you don’t need to create a 30K backstory for it first.

embrace one shots

embrace drabbles

embrace writing your story out of order

rough drafts are meant to be rough. if you can’t think of a word, put in a placeholder for it and keep going. 

try not to get stuck on the little things

it’s okay if your readers can’t see the picture inside of your head

some people work well when they have a posting schedule. some people work well when they don’t. it’s okay if you don’t know which kind of person you are, and it’s okay if the type of person you are changes over time.

if a rule you created for yourself isn’t working for you, get rid of that rule.

make fandom friends. even if they don’t read your fic, they’ll cheer you on while you write it.

cheer on other writers you know. you’ll be cheering yourself at the same time.

no trope or genre is better or worse than another one. they all just appeal to different audiences.

quality and popularity are not the same thing, although they do sometimes overlap

numbers and statistics will never tell you whether or not you’re a good writer. they will never tell you how valuable you are as a person. 

you belong in fandom if you want to be there

you’re a writer as soon as you start writing things

writing and posting are two different things. your story is still worth writing, even if you never plan to share it

you don’t need to apologize for what you write or what you post. 

don’t worry about taking up too much space. the internet doesn’t have a maximum size. 

keep your readers in mind when you’re tagging your content. how could they search for your fic? if you use a tag, will be a reader who loves that tag be satisfied with how much it appears in your story?

if you have a relationship in your fic that plays a minor role, tag it in the Additional Tags section instead of the Relationship section so that people who love that ship don’t get their hopes up

be cautious when looking at bookmarks on your fic. they aren’t “extra comments.” that’s a space where readers make notes for themselves and each other, not for authors. 

you don’t need to know everything about canon before you start writing fic

you don’t need to read fic in the same fandoms you write for

you don’t need to read fic at all in order to write it

love your work because sometimes you’re the only one who will - and that’s okay

if your hobby starts feeling like a job, you might need to take a break before you get burnt out

if you get stuck on a story, you can always start a new one

if you fall out of love with a story, you can always stop writing it. if you’re worried about your readers, you can always give them a bullet point summary of where you were planning to go with thing. for a lot of people, that’s satisfying and provides closure

if you get hate, report it

use the tools at your disposal to block hate before it can come in (limiting or turning off comments, limiting or turning off asks, blocking users, etc)

try replying to comments sometimes. it can be a lovely way to make fandom friends

don’t be afraid to reblog your own writing posts.

if you get stuck on your summary, just write 1) who the story is about 2) what they are doing and 3) what problem gets in their way

notice when your writing makes you smile. that moment is a gift. enjoy it.

notice when your writing makes you cry. that moment is a gift, too.

even if you’re disappointed in how your story turned out, there’s something in there that’s fantastic. find that thing and focus on it and feel proud.

some ideas are ones you want to write. some are ones you want to read. if you ever have too many ideas to deal with at once, give some of the latter ones away to someone else. 

sometimes the things you write will be really personal. be careful about putting them where other people can comment. they won’t know how personal it is for you, and you need to remember that comments aren’t about you, they’re about the story.

remember that you can write series as well as stories. if the story is done but you still have passion or ideas, start a new one in the same universe.

enjoy the satisfaction of finishing a story. savour it. bask in it a little while.

don’t feel guilty about abandoning a story. not every story gets finished, and that’s okay

you can have separate accounts for different fandoms. you can have one account with a million fandoms in it. do whatever works for you.

sometimes writing is more important than sleep - but only sometimes

it doesn’t matter if that story has been written before by someone else. it doesn’t matter if it was written by you. write it again.

only follow the advice that makes sense to you. the rest isn’t important.

Horses

Okay, so if Fablehaven has horses, why don’t they ever really ride them? This is how I imagine it would go if Warren had to teach Seth and Kendra how to ride... and of course, Bracken tagged along.

“Hey, Kens. You busy right now?” Warren poked his head around the door to the attic, where Kendra was busy reading with Bracken.

“I’m fine, as long as Bracken can come, too.” 

“Great! See you downstairs in five! …Wait did you say Bracken?” Warren’s eyes widened as he finally took in the Unicorn sitting next to his cousin.

“Yes. Bracken. Why would that be a problem?” Kendra asked suspiciously. The Unicorn in question still had his head buried in his book, not noticing that people were talking about him. He had a gift of tuning everyone and everything out when he read- a skill Kendra was often jealous of, given the hectic-ness of the preserve.

“Um, no reason. Just... never mind. He can tag along if he wants.” Warren couldn’t run away fast enough.

Kendra just shook her head and nudged Bracken. When he finally noticed, he looked at Kendra is surprise, as if he’d forgotten she was there.

“Hey, Unicorn. Warren wants us for something. Want to come along?” Kendra asked.

“Sure. I was getting near the end anyway.”

Five minutes later, Kendra and Bracken were waiting in the living room with Seth and Warren, who was explaining the plan.

“Okay, so it came to our attention yesterday that we have stables and horses on the preserve, and yet neither of you knows how to ride.” Warren stated. “So, Stan asked if I could teach you!”

“Wow. Grandpa really trusted you around horses? Do you have any idea how many ways you could hurt yourself, Warr? I mean, even for a regular person there’s risk. But for you?” Seth whistled in appreciation, and Kendra giggled.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Seth?” Warren pouted.

“Only that you seem to have the most unlucky track record possible for injuring yourself.” Bracken interjected. “You managed to trip over a flower and break your toe last month. And just yesterday you cut yourself on a butter knife. And don’t even get me started on that concussion you got from a pillow fight! Face it, Warren. You could hurt yourself with air.” 

Kendra’s laughter proved to be contagious, and soon everyone except Warren was doubled over with tears streaming down their faces.

“Ha, ha, ha. You’re all hilarious. We’ll see how much you’re laughing when I make you ride horses!” Warren retaliated.

“Actually, I’m glad you brought that up... What exactly do you mean by riding horses?” Bracken looked nervous at Warren’s evil grin.

“This is Tango, Admiral, Storm, and General.” Warren said, gesturing at the four horses lined up in turn. He’d spent the last hour lecturing the others the basics of riding.

Tango was a tall buckskin that was shaking his mane regally, Admiral a dark red, Storm a dark grey with small white freckles, and General was a handsome bay.

“Cool! Can I ride General?”

“No.” Warren grinned as he shot Seth down, before continuing. “Kens, you have Tango. He’s tall and a bit of a handful, but you should be able to manage well enough. Seth, you have Admiral. He’s a bit cheeky, so you’ll need to keep him in check so he doesn’t do anything. General is mine, and has been for the last ten years.”

Finally, Warren looked at Bracken with an evil smile, and gestured at the remaining horse, who was prancing around daringly and tossing her head. “This is Storm. She’s our most challenging horse- never met anyone who lasted more than ten minutes on her. Since you’re a Unicorn, great around equines, and obviously ridden before even without even counting the fact you technically ARE a horse, your job will be to ride and tame her.”

Bracken gulped, but straightened and rose to the challenge.

“Good luck. You’ll need it.” Bracken wasn’t sure who had said it, but it didn’t bode well for his afternoon.

Half an hour later, they were trotting down a path with Warren and General in the lead, followed by Kendra, Seth, and finally Bracken, who was seemingly in a constant battle of wills with Storm the entire first half of the ride.

Seth and Admiral had seemed to click almost instantly- Kendra blamed it on the troublemaker genes. The two had already proven to love rushing ahead, going fast, and generally annoying everyone else, even if Seth had been a bit scared and insecure at first.

Kendra on Tango worked, although they didn’t seem to click nearly as well as the troublemakers had. It seemed to be a purely working relationship, and everyone could tell that Kendra would do better on another horse. She seemed to handle riding really well though, and Warren had been impressed.

Thanks to being a Unicorn, Bracken was doing better than anyone had thought he would. Although Storm had run off when Bracken was trying to get on, spooking Tango in the process as Bracken ran on foot behind her. But once Bracken was on, Storm had calmed down immensely, even if every few minutes for the first while she would suddenly act up, and try to run away. Whenever she did, the Unicorn was there to correct her, concentrating hard. A good distance into the ride, Storm had calmed down completely, and she and Bracken suddenly got along perfectly, making a wonderful team.

The group stopped for lunch near Dryad’s Hollow, dismounting with winces and hobbling over to the stream where they left their horses to drink.

Warren spread out a picnic blanket he’d taken with and handed out sandwiches. A bottle of water was passed around, and the four of them talked and laughed together.

“Did you see how Storm reared up?” Seth gushed. “How did you stay on, Bracken?”

“Practise, I guess.” Bracken shrugged.

“Admiral is awesome! We get along so well!” Seth continued. “And trotting was so much fun! When do we get to gallop?”

“Probably never.” Warren grinned. “Horses really don’t gallop all that much with a rider- racehorses being the exception. And it’s really hard, too. Don’t worry- when you have a little more experience and don’t look like you’re about to fall off, I’ll teach you to canter.”

“Cool!”

It happened as they were riding home. One minute, everyone was fine, and the next, Warren didn’t see a branch and was sprawled across the path with a concussion.

Dismounting, Bracken rushed over, making sure Warren was okay. Satisfied that the man wasn’t about to die or anything, Bracken picked him up and slung him over General’s saddle, before taking the reins and mounting Storm again, now leading General from horseback.

The ride home after that was uneventful. Reaching the stables, everyone dismounted and handed the horses off to Dale, who was feeding the animals, before rushing Warren off the main house and Tanu.

The Samoan took one look at Warren, before ordering Bracken to lay him down on his bed and take care of Seth and Kendra, who had been unusually quiet ever since the accident.

Bracken nodded, curling his arm around Kendra and putting his hand on Seth’s shoulder, steering the siblings towards the kitchen. They plopped down on the seats, before Bracken suddenly jumped up again, and made three cups of hot chocolate.

“I told you- Warren was bound to hurt himself.” Seth was the first to break the silence, sipping on his drink. “The poor guy wasn’t even trying.”

Kendra laughed. “I bet he wasn’t even looking for branches!”

“Nah, he probably was, but completely missed the only dangerous one!” Seth grinned.

“True. I told you, he could hurt himself on air!” Bracken added. With that, any lingering sadness disappeared, and Seth began choking on his hot chocolate from laughing too hard.

Ever since their first ride, Kendra and Seth made a point to tease Warren about low hanging branches, and the three of them plus Bracken would more often than not ride together every weekend.

I don’t know why or how, but I found this photo... AND IT REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF SHIARA!

Honestly though, I love her so much... she’s so level headed!

This... this is... is just... I don’t have words- I love this so much! It’s amazing!

Ronodin & Bracken

I tried to make Ronodin look appropriately young. He’s supposed to be 17/18 physically, despite what the trailers would have you believe. As for Bracken, I thought it would be a good challenge to draw someone as glowing as him.