rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon

Crossposts: http://rthstewart.livejournal.com/126575.html

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Three Sentence Ficathon

The 2015 Three Sentence Ficathon is now CLOSED, with over 4,100 prompts, fills, and comments. It's been a great exchange and thank you so much for the whacky crackfic, the moving short fic, and the amazing cross-overs. You all are great. I won't freeze this -- go ahead and continue to fill any prompts that interest you and comment on fills made. I just ask that there not be any more NEW prompts.

We'll be back next year. Check out the friending meme and friend away and if you post your works on AO3, be sure to use the 3 sentence ficathon tags.

Thank you again, so much!

It's been 2 years, so why not?!!

Caramelsilver ran one in December on Live Journal but I was too busy to play. There are lots of outstanding prompts over there, so do go and check it out!! Here's the link! I did one in early spring 2 years ago here on Dreamwidth, and with Yuletide, Fandomstocking, and Festivids over, I thought I'd run a new one!! Thanks so much to

snacky and Saoirse7 for the nudge and to

st_aurafina for making the swell banner and icon!

What is the 3 Sentence Ficathon?
This is a challenge where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and answer as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want.

What do I do first?
You post prompts! When posting a prompt please format it this way:

fandom, character(s), prompt word/sentence.

Only one prompt per comment please.

What else?
You answer other posters' prompts in three sentences (or more if you can't stop yourself) and fill as many prompts as you want, as many times as you wish. If you see that a prompt you loved has already been filled, go ahead and fill it again! Multiple fills of the same prompt allowed and even encouraged!

But I'm not a member of Dreamwidth
No problem. You can comment anonymously or through open ID

Can anyone play?
Yes! Please signal boost this to your flist, followers, and any other places you frequent. Come one, come all!
I'm cross-posting to LJ but we will keep all prompts and fills here, so they are in one awesome place (and with less spam). Please, post this anywhere and everywhere. The more people who come and play, the better!

~~[And I'll try to put an embed code in so you can spread the word. I've tried multiple times and failed so far~~

snacky !

How long will it go?
I'm closing it on Sunday, March 8, 2015. (Last time, we reached 5,000 comments and I had to start a new one before the ficathon concluded. If that happens, I'll start a new post).

Are there any rules about cross-posting?
Nope, you can post wherever you want, whenever you want. A lot of folks collected their responses together and posted them on AO3 under the 3 sentence fiction tag. 3SFs are a terrific prompt for remixes.

Gosh, there are some cool people over here. How do I introduce myself?
Through the friending meme right here.

And here, have some icons!

Edited, updated 4 Feb 2015 11 PM ET
Edited, updated 21 Feb 2015 10:30 ET to add link to friending meme
Edited, updated 9 March 2015 9:06 EDT to close the 3SF for 2015

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Pride & Prejudice, Georgiana Darcy/Colonel Fitzwilliam, even good men and women have secrets.

Interesting pairing, but since Darcy was engaged to his aunt's daughter... is it possible for Georgiana to be engaged to the Colonel? Even Lizzy's cousin proposed though he was her uncle's son, right? I have no clue what was considered incest in 19th century England so I'm going ahead and writing this.

Title: Good Enough

Darcy stood staring into the crackling fire, his arm leaning on the mantlepiece.

"You said it yourself that you didn't know of any man who was good enough to marry your sister," said Elizabeth. "And Colonel Fitzwilliam is a good man."

Darcy gave her a sly look and said, "Yes, I remember you liking him very much once." Elizabeth turned away but not before Darcy caught a smile on her face. Darcy turned back to the flames and sighed; he wouldn't mind it either, if only Georgiana hadn't been so good at keeping secrets from him till she didn't.

Oh, this is lovely. :) In the book, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Geogiana Darcy are first cousins: "My sister, who is more than ten years my junior, was left to the guardianship of my mother's nephew, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and myself." In other words, Colonel Fitwilliam is the son of one of Mrs. Darcy's siblings, and therefore Georgiana's first cousin. After doing some quick looking, it appears that first cousin marriage was legal in England during the 19th century, thanks originally to Henry VIII, and that there were about 5% of the British nobility who married their cousins. Quite often, it was to keep property and money in the family, but not always. Actually, it looks like first cousin marriage isn't technically illegal in the UK even today, though it's discouraged. This is really fascinating, actually! It's banned almost everywhere in the U. S., but not in most of the rest of the world - apparently we now know that the risk factor for genetic disorders is not that much higher than in the normal population - 4% instead of 2%, or 6% instead of 3%, for example.

Ahem. Sorry for that long tangent. :) In any case, this is absolutely lovely and exactly what I wanted. I love how protective Darcy is, and of course Elizabeth is his voice of practicality and comfort. Plus, I love that apparently Georgiana hid her feelings for Colonel Fitzwilliam until she either a) felt comfortable telling her brother or b) got found out and had to tell him! Georgiana is so good at keeping her own counsel. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'm so glad you loved it. Hehe, your first guess is correct. I pictured it as follows after reading your prompt: after the Colonel proposes to Georgiana, he intends to tell Darcy but she says she'll speak to her brother first. Her reason is that he'd worry because of the past and she wanted to assure him not to worry, that the Colonel is her choice and that she's happy. Darcy had no clue about them but Elizabeth had an inkling or two. So when Darcy came to Elizabeth to complain, "did you know?", her teasing response is "sort of". So now Darcy is sulking. ;)

And really, thanks for the explanation. I've shied away from posting any P&P fics before because this is one of the things I wasn't clear about but now I know. :)

Thank you for the fun prompt!

You're so welcome! I really did love it. :) And I'm glad the long tangent clarified that bit of trivia about marriage laws. I knew that cousin marriage was legal in Britain then, but I didn't know about now, or know any of the background. I'd like to read more about it! You should post more P&P fics - there need to be more good ones in the world! :)

Sulking Darcy is so adorable. :) And I think the way you've pictured it is precisely how Georgiana would handle it; I can imagine she would want to tell Darcy herself, after everything that happened with Wickham.

I really like this :) Darcy's confusion that Georgiana had tried to hide it from him is very real. and I like how by now he's relaxed enough to tease Lizzy back.

PS: Georgiana/Col Fitzwilliam is actually a legit, rather popular ship in PP fanfic. I do have a soft spot for it, even it sometimes it seems a little weird because Fitzwilliam I think is even older than Darcy (I think Darcy's like 28, Fitzwilliam 30 - this might just be me projecting fanon - and Georgiana 16 in the book). In this case, the age difference really does matter because he'd have remembered her being born and known her all his life. /tangent.

PPS: (second tangent) sign I'm still obsessed with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries: can't get used to Lizzy again, I typed Gigi and Fitz Williams twice before having to go back and change it.

I enjoyed the teasing, too! I always picture Lizzy and Darcy teasing a lot when they're alone, though I can't imagine them doing it much in public. (A tangent of my own: I thought they captured this very well in Death Comes to Pemberley, in the beginning; the teasing element between them was lovely.)

Re: your PS: I know that Fitzwilliam/Georgiana is a pretty popular 'ship in P&P fandom, and I've always been rather fond of the idea that they would marry each other, even though Austen never tells us. Age difference has never bothered me, and as I understand it, it was actually pretty common at the time to have a 16 or 17-year-old girl marry an older man - if nothing else, it meant that the bride was at ideal childbearing age, and had time to conceive if it didn't happen right away. (Plus, men usually waited until they could support a wife, which could take a while and meant that they were a little older.)

Re: PPS: I still have not seen The Lizzie Bennet Diaries; I desperately need to rectify that!

In Mansfield Park, Fanny and Edmund are first cousins.

And IRL, Charles Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood (and indeed if you look at the Darwin/Wedgwood family trees, you will see lots of first cousin marriages).

They are indeed. :) And honestly, Fanny and Edmund are one of my favorite Austen couples!

I didn't remember that about Darwin, but that's interesting. And I would be curious to know if first cousin marriage was more common in general in the 19th century, or simply more common among the upper classes. It would be fun to do some researching and find out what other historical figures married their cousins. :)

If I had to make a guess, it would be that first cousin marriage was also fairly common in small rural communities (because everybody is related to everybody and mate choice is limited) but not among the urban poor or middle classes.

The only example I can think of right off is Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR, who were second cousins. I'm sure there are lots of other examples!

Oh, that makes a lot of sense, actually. As you say, mate choice would be limited in a small community, but not in a city or in any place where there was a substantial middle class. And Eleanor and Franklin! What a wonderful example.

Oh, I had forgotten about them, thanks for the reminder!

I know of a few artists and writers from that time who married their cousins, but in the biographies it was also stated that the rest of the family disapproved of some of those unions so I wasn't sure. And in cases where the family approved, those cases are never mentioned probably because it's less sensational if everyone approved.

Yes, I'm sure that's true -- nobody would mention it unless they were bothered by it. I know many people find the idea of first cousins marrying really disturbing, but I've never seen anything wrong with it. Possibly this is because my only first cousins grew up thousands of miles away, so we had a somewhat more distant relationship than a lot of people do.

Well, personally I don't care much for matrimony so I don't really have an opinion. My only concern is that the two people getting married should consent without feeling obligated or pressured to consent. And those who want to be married should be allowed to marry.

This is charming. And the best part is that the last one in on it is Darcy himself.

Thank you! And thanks for hosting 3SF, I've always wanted to participate but felt too shy before. This time I really needed this so thank you. :)

You are most welcome! It's delightful to have you come and play!

I've been meaning to say how much I like this. I especially like "Yes, I remember you liking him very much once."

Ahahaha, thank you! I just can't think of Colonel Fitzwilliam without remembering how jealous Darcy was when he saw the Colonel and Elizabeth getting along so well at Lady Catherine's. Or maybe he was envious since the Colonel made her laugh while Darcy only managed to start arguments with her. :D

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