Three Sentence Ficathon

[rthstewart]

UPDATE! EDIT!
 We're running into the Dreamwidth comment limits so all new prompts should be posted here Keep responding to and filling already posted prompts here, but all new ones should go to the new thread!

Someone did this banner for me a couple of years ago.  It's great, isn't it?  If it was you, please step up and take a bow!
It was st_aurafina!   Thank you again!


caramelsilver ran one last year on Livejournal and I did two over here a few years ago. We'll keep it open until January 31, 2019 which should give everyone time to play a little. This is a delightful part of the online fandom community.


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.  So, for example,

Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I don't like sand."

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 are allowed and even encouraged!  (We get really fun stories going this way).

Can I still post if I need more than 3 sentences?  Or should I just abuse grammar in ways the English language never contemplated?
Yes.  Yes.


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!
The more people who come and play, the better!

Can I spread the word? 
Yes, please.  I'd love to create a nifty banner with an embed code but I fail at it.  So if you create one, I'll post it and everyone can use it.

How long will it go?
Tentatively, we'll close it on January 31, 2019. 

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 and could be helpful for Yuletide bears, too.

What about spoilers, content warnings, triggers, pairings, ratings, tags, and squick?
I thought about this.  It wasn't an issue the last 2 times I ran this but times change.  In my experience, this typically gets too big, moves too fast, and the stories are too short for content warnings and ratings. You should assume spoilers are fair game and that the initial poster and responder have opted to use no content warnings or tags. I've found personally that I can skim by stuff that, from the prompt, I can tell isn't my favorite flavor of delicious cake. Use your best judgment and be prepared to skip over things that aren't your thing.


And here, have some icons!










I'll start things off...

Edit to add on 12/18/2018 Please check out this update here. And this friending meme if you're so inclined here.

Comments

[kalira]

Valdemar series, Lavan & Kalira (or Lavan/Kalira), we never had forever

Re: Non, je ne regrette rien (Darkangel Trilogy)

[dragonofeternal]

Oh holy shit, I haven't read the Darkangel trilogy in YEARS, but this cuts deep and beautiful. I love this. Thanks for the blast from the past and the beautiful ficlet.

[ernest]

biblical, Judas Iscariot, silvertongued

[ironyoxide]

Upper Tadfield's been closed for years; the runway's being used as a giant car park. Crowley and Aziraphale are sitting in in ugly little pub that used to be the base's auto hobby shop, when "Who Wants to Live Forever" comes on the jukebox.

They both look at each other, look at the bartender, and, smiling, slowly raise their hands.

[litlover12]

Thank you!

[litlover12]

Hee! :-)

I can fix that

[sawthefaeriequeen]

(liberal use of prompt but shhh, it's for justice)

"Keith," Shiro protests, "You were the one who said you didn't want to be in some 'stupid-ass soap opera'. You were the one who said I should just get James or Curtis or…or Kosmo to play 'Keith' instead. You said you didn’t care if-"

Keith makes a hissing noise as Shiro run a soothing arm down his back. He rolls over to face his husband's side of the bed. "I'm not the one who thought it would be 'cool' to play myself in a stupid. ass. soap. opera in the first place," he says witheringly, and Shiro takes in the full wounded kitten look on his face and sighs.

Keith isn't done. "Besides, you were the one who made out with him!"

"For the camera, love. Only for the camera." Shiro pulls him closer and presses tender kisses to Keith's forehead, his nose, his scar, whispering apologies, and Keith finds himself deflating all over. God. How does he do that?

"Listen," Shiro's prosthetic moves over Keith's thighs in a way that makes Keith's own voice go completely unreliable. "I'm more sorry than I can say about agreeing to that, ah, stupid ass cameo. I will do any…thing," — Keith moans, slinking into his touch— "you want. In here. And anything you want," –Shiro's voice goes low—"even out there. Bridge, corridors, meeting room. Anywhere. Deal?"

"Shiro I…ah…h-hell—deal."

[tehsharkie]

AMAZING. This put the biggest smile on my face.

Re: Silmarillion - Celebrimbor & Annatar

[edenfalling]

Ooh, ominous...

[kiraly]

Aww! I love this! Luke has so much patience for Elliot - I'm sure at some point he has to learn to redirect the conversation though, because one can only handle so much mermaid talk. XD

Thank you for writing this! It's always exciting to encounter someone else who has read this book.

Re: Silmarillion - Celebrimbor & Annatar

[zdenka]

If you don't know the fandom, Annatar is an evil overlord who's planning to betray them, so it's definitely a situation of lurking ominousness. Thanks for commenting!

[dragonofeternal]

oh NO

This hurts in the best way, haha. Roxas' doubt and suspicions are perfect, as is the bittersweet need for companionship that keeps him from leaving. Thanks so much!

Re: Silmarillion - Glaurung

[zdenka]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it (and that it works without knowing the fandom).

Re: Silmarillion - Glaurung

[zdenka]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it.

[ironyoxide]

Thank you for the prompt. Everything just sort of fell into place.

[alice_pike]

She's not quite old enough to live on her own, but she is a queen, and she will make what she wants. Their mother asks Susan only once if she was sure that she wanted Edmund to live with her, and wouldn't he be more suited with his brother? The look on Susan's face must have been enough.

If they couldn't have Narnia, they could at least have this, and no one in either world could stop them.

[mad_madam_m]

Thank you so much! :-D

Re: Original, Finding Home

[mad_madam_m]

Ah, thank you! I'm glad you liked it. :-)

[alice_pike]

my god i loved this prompt so much and thought maybe i'd give it a whirl but you've done everything i wanted from it and more, this is beautiful and perfect and such a great look at aravis as her own person with her own cultural history and beliefs and ugh yes i love this so much

[alice_pike]

I love the way this ficathon loves Susan.

She isn't going back, He told her Himself.

This world stripped her of her crown and broke her bow across its knee, and she found it in herself to find something beautiful about it, anyway.

Her family doesn't reach out, so she finds new people to love, and who love her in return, and that is what matters, isn't it?

I like to think it goes like this

[runespoor]

Seizhi whimpers. “Please tell me you didn’t turn into a giant snake,” he begs.

“Oh, of course not ! It never helps,” Chuubo nods sagely, as though he hadn’t just shaved off two years of Seizhi’s life expectancy. Although… how does that work ? Seizhi’s not exactly, well, real. Is his lifespan linked to Chuubo’s ? Is he – Chuubo wished him into being, right, so is he immortal ? The only thing he knows for sure is that he can’t be wished into non-existence. That fight he and Chuubo had last month was at least good for proving that. Boy, that wasn’t a fun time.

And if something happened to Chuubo…

Seizhi’s not sure if it’s selfishness or being Chuubo’s Best Friend that drives a spike of icy dread down his spine at the thought. God, Chuubo needs to be more careful.

Still, it’s fine.

(Seizhi forces a breath through clenched lungs, and physically makes himself look Chuubo up and down. Chuubo looks basically okay, aside from the grass stains on his jeans, and those are a lost cause.)

Chuubo’s fine.

Chuubo doesn’t notice Seizhi hyperventilating himself into near catatonia, or is kind enough to pretend not to, bless him. Which makes sense; most of Seizhi’s existence since he realised he’s a Fake Person has been spent high-key worrying, about stuff like homework and being late and pretending really hard to have a lifetime supply of totally normal real-person life experiences and also pretending really hard he’s not worried about Chuubo learning his best friend is a fake! The former stuff he also does on Chuubo’s behalf, as part of his job as Chuubo’s best friend, and Chuubo takes it in stride. It’s a system. Chuubo provides the fun and Seizhi provides the freak-outs.

“So what happened ?” Seizhi asks, in an attempt to stall his racing heart, and also because Chuubo’s shenanigans are good for a laugh, looking back. Seizhi’s privately betting on Leonardo showing up to drive the point home of how much he can’t stand Chuubo, and solving the problem to show Chuubo up, but he’s keeping his suspicions to himself for now.

“I wished I could talk to snakes,” Chuubo says, candidly.

Oh, Seizhi thinks. Like me. He’s suddenly feeling very small and very alone, more alone than he’s ever felt. The summer breeze still ruffles warmly through his hair, but he only feels cold – like in his nightmares about non-existence, small and unable to scream, frozen in a realm of nightmares in Outer Space.

“Like you!” Chuubo beams. “And turned out they were trying to hypnotize me into reverting, so, you know, I left.”

“Right,” Seizhi acquiesces. These things happen to Chuubo. Then the part of his brain that’s not stuck on worrying about being replaced catches up. “Wait, so the snakes are still in Miramie’s basement ? You didn’t, like, talk them down, or, or wish they didn’t try to hypnotize people ?”

Chuubo does a little shrug-and-shaking-of-his-head when Seizhi says the W-word. “It didn’t feel like it would work right?...”

Seizhi nods.

“I thought I’d better ask you,” Chuubo continues. “You’re better at making friends.”





Chuubo’s is a TTRPG, and I’ve sort of fallen in love with the pregens. Chuubo probably comes across as worse than the goofy ordinary boy whose wishes do occasionally turn interesting, because I think when you don’t know the setting, Seizhi’s kind of an uncomfortable PoV, but they’re earnest kids.

[runespoor]

Homestuck, any, I pity anyone has never been in cahoots.

A Discovery of Witches (TV) spoilers throughout season one

[meridian_rose]

When her magic coursed through her, exhilarating and terrifying as the Witch Wind rose up to protect her, Diana knew her life would never be the same. When she discovered she'd been spell-bound by her parents, she knew they'd done it out of love, trying to keep her safe. Yet Knox was still pursuing her, the Council sought her, vampires still sensed her magic, leaving her to wonder; how long had she been unknowingly stalked by her enemies; how much better prepared for the battle ahead would she be, if she'd been training with magic all those lost years; how different would her life be if she'd always known the truth?

[litlover12]

Thanks, glad you liked it! I've always been fascinated by the way the truth shifts and slides around among those characters. This was a fun chance to try to capture a bit of that dynamic.

Re: Tiger & Bunny, Kotetsu/Barnaby, Mistake

[mad_madam_m]

Thank you so much! :-D