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

Re: Fill, The Hobbit

[jjhunter]

Aw - a mirror gently tinted, where Thorin has another current to hold him steady against the undertow of gold-sickness.

I quite like having Dis in the background, but I do wonder where Kili and Fili are - did they survive? Does Frodo have any agemates or at least younger folk in the family to play with? How did Frodo still make his way to Bilbo in this 'verse?

Thank you for the gift of this; it leaves me wanting more. <3

Luke and Mara not Luke/Mara

[rthstewart]

Mara usually liked their post-mission debrief because the liquor was good and the Farm Boy had usually lost a bet so he had to pay for the drinks; the only problem was that after about 2 Corellians (and why didn't a pilot and backwater rube handle his booze better?) Skywalker would get maudlin and want to talk about feelings and Mara didn't do feelings and especially not with a Jedi.

But the question had been hanging over them the last year so she wasn't really surprised when Skywalker stirred his drink with a metal finger and asked, "Mara, what changed your mind back on Wayland, why did you decide not to kill me?"

"Keep asking questions like that and I'll reconsider my restraint," got her an eyeroll but she did have the real answer and he was entitled to hear it, "Because if I was going to kill you, it was going to be for my own reasons, not Palpatine's, and those reasons didn't seem compelling enough -- you still annoy hell out of me, Skywalker, but that's a reason to kill a mosquito, not you."

[jjhunter]

It's a wonderful ficlet! And 'Team Hot Chocolate for Cosette' is a delight - all the hot chocolate and fluffy beds and security of care and home and a future not alone, indeed.

Your reply here is making me want to reread Les Misérables again since it's been so long - do you have any favorite English translation that you'd particularly recommend?

Re: that mad game (Star Wars, BB-8 gen)

[rthstewart]

This is adorable.

Re: reboot #218 (The Good Place, Eleanor/Tahani)

[rthstewart]

Awww, Eleanor... the Eleanor who wants to be liked and who admires Tahani. This is just so lovely and right. Thank you!

Re: Fill: Fairy Tale - Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

[kalira]

Ooo, I love this so much. It's beautiful and very immersive and curious.

[ernest]

My personal favorite is the Signet Classics edition translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee, which gets pretty close to the feel of the original without feeling too old-timey to be accessible. But really anything but the Norman Denny translation is good (he cuts out a lot of parts while claiming to be ~unabridged~ and basically seems to think he knows Les Mis better than Hugo does)

Re: Fill: Magical Diary, Mary Sue/Damien [SPOILERS]

[jjhunter]

I don't even know this canon, but oh, this is the cruel edge of the undertow, a sea change bitter and biting and crusted with salt.

I like the twist you've taken here: it's not her own feelings which are terrifying her, but rather her feelings as a portal through which she fell to become terrifying to everyone else, her 'demon lover' not exempted.

(That final line! I almost want dashes instead of semi-colons there - as is, there's a dreadful, inhuman precision in the parsing out of each separate segment of sentiment. So creepy and so great.)

Thank you for the gift of this: wow.

Safe Passage (Amelia Peabody Mysteries)

[kalira]

"Shhh, Brother of Demons. . . Shh. . ."

Ramses raised an eyebrow, but remained quiet as requested, looking around the room in the flickering torchlight.

"This is the realm of the old gods; they are sleeping," his guide murmured, barely a breath, "we do not wish to wake them as we pass through. Follow me, Brother of Demons."

[jjhunter]

Thank you! I'm currently working my way through the superb new Emily Wilson translation of the Odyssey, but it looks like my library has another translation besides the Norman Denny one available for Les Mis through their ebook loan program, so I've put in a hold request to get it in the new year - will look forward to it!

Re: Last Battle AU, possibly Rthverse (forget 3 sentences...)

[rthstewart]

OH Autumnia. THANK YOU. This is delightful. Edmund still sneaking up on people unawares even in 1965 and Peter still terrifically adverse to boats and water. And Eustace, oh Eustace, Aslan isn't going to comport with growth rate charts of any known sub-species of lion but that's not going to stop him from trying. This is wonderful.

Re: Fill: Yuri on Ice

[rthstewart]

AWWWW. Thank you!

[rthstewart]

Tries to imagine the Lion of Narnia sitting in a box... fails..
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. and thank you for going to my current old favorite. I've spent a lot of time in Narnia the last 8 years and this is really delightful.

Re: Stormy Night (Captain Harlock)

[sholio]

LOL, Tochiro, ya dork. XD This is hilarious and adorable. (Also, wow, total blast-from-the-past fandom for me here ...)

Re: work and play (Spiderman ISV, May and Miles gen)

[jjhunter]

Oh Miles, I think Peter B. Parker may have you beat by a mile when it comes to truly awkward (though he's had double your lifespan and then some to file it down to a magnificent pretense at complete nonchalance). That five o'clock shadow-!

I like how much underlying motion there is here - I just saw the movie over the weekend, and each of your lines here conjures up a distinct visual, a mental gif of them each acting in turn. Miles' eyes jitter while his fingers pop up to 'scare quotes' and down again where May's fingers continue to play (with purpose) even as she stares blankly - it's such a vivid contrast.

And such implied history! I suppose it would be out of the character May shows during the film for her to spill a Tragic Backstory of Lovers Best Friends Co-Workers Turned Nemeses at the barest awkward question, but oh, I really do yearn for her to elaborate more at some point.

This is delightful; thank you for the gift of it!

Re: [Miraculous Ladybug] what more can I say (trans!Adrien, CN: misgendering)

[soc_puppet]

These are lovely ♥

Re: Last Battle AU, possibly Rthverse (forget 3 sentences...)

[autumnia]

You're so very welcome!! :-) This follows the AU I wrote some years back about Berlin. And since you like historical footnotes, there really was an exhibition about lions at the British Museum in 1965 (I did research for this prompt!).

And continued in 3 sentences...


Edmund thought that it'd be impossible to research growth rates of a Not Tame Lion that was so completely different from the lions of Spare Oom but he knew it'd be futile to mention it to his cousin.

At least there was no discussion about whether Aslan actually qualified as a Feline, deity or not. He thought it would likely end up in a much longer conversation resembling something similar to the Narnian Census Edmund had absolutely no wish to repeat in this world.

[rthstewart]

To Susan, the Raven proposes an extraordinary ploy -- that they insert Talking Mice, Rats, and Birds into foreign courts where their gossip might be overhead to sow uncertainty, foment dissent, and spread lies of Narnia's invincibility and magical protections; spies could spread gossip to be overheard that attacking Narnia is a dark and dangerous enterprise for she is protected by a mighty god who cast out an enchantress so powerful she commanded the weather.

"Why did you come to me with this, Sallowpad, and not the High King, or King Edmund, or my sister?" Susan asks.

The Raven ruffles his feathers and answers with a harsh croak, "Because, Queen Susan, I believe that you," and Sallowpad pauses so that Susan can fill in the word 'you alone' "would approve of these measures for the protection of Narnia."

[syrena_of_the_lake]

JAG or NCIS, any character, General Pain or Pain in the Rear Admiral

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Hamlet, any character, Ophelia, you’ve been on my mind girl like a flood

[lady_katana4544]

You're welcome! Glad you like it! <3

Re: Fill, The Hobbit

[lady_katana4544]

They're alive, just not in the present scene of the fic when I wrote so I'd imagine that they're somewhere in the Mountain doing something they aren't supposed to be doing.

As for Frodo, a little undecided how that all happened currently.

You're quite welcome, I'm glad that you enjoyed this little tidbit though. <3

Re: [Miraculous Ladybug] what more can I say (trans!Adrien, CN: misgendering)

[alexseanchai]

eeeee!

Re: Last Battle AU, possibly Rthverse (forget 3 sentences...)

[rthstewart]

Oh Ed. You are right. The Narnia census on Great Cats is not relevant, especially in 1965. And that's RIGHT. You did have comment fic with Eustace in Berlin in the divided city didn't you?!!
A whole exhibit on lions! no wonder Eustace is there.

Fill: Narnia

[syrena_of_the_lake]

“Didn’t Schrodinger have something to say on the subject?” asked Edmund, seemingly distracted by the task of extricating the flat-faced tabby from his latest conquest of cardboard, wrapping paper and ribbons.

This perked Eustace up, just as he had intended. “Schrodinger’s theory had nothing to do with the feline predilection for playing in boxes,” Eustace said with a laugh. Then he frowned. “Actually it had to do with a dead cat, which I now find rather barbaric.”

Lucy nudged him. “So make your own theory.”

Eustace scrambled for a notebook, dislodging both a shower of tinsel and the sleek Siamese hiding in the Christmas tree. Edmund tossed his cousin a pencil; the tabby followed the arc with its eyes but refused to budge from his newly claimed territory.

“A cat in possession of a box must be in want of more boxes?” suggested Lucy.

“I think that one’s taken,” said Edmund.

“Imagine a box under the Christmas tree,” began Eustace.

Twenty minutes later, he was still expounding on his thought experiment, and even Edmund was starting to fidget. Lucy was tickling the Siamese in the tree. There were pine needles and strands of tinsel in her hair.

“Without opening the package, there is no way for an observer to tell whether the cat is inside,” Eustace finally finished. He threw down his pencil in triumph, and the tabby’s paw emerged from her box to bat at it.

“I have a theory,” Edmund intervened. “Egg nog doesn’t drink itself.”

Lucy emerged from the clutches of the Christmas tree, Eustace abandoned his notebook, and the two cats abandoned their own pursuits and trotted behind them single-file, their tails waving in the air in anticipation of sweet cream.