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: Sufficiently Advanced Hosting Technology

[adaeze]

After twenty years, and training by the finest, Ekaterin likes to think that she's got her party organizing down pat. But some problems, she remembers, no amount of technologically-aided planning can account for. So when the time comes to invite Helen Natalia's in-laws-to-be round for dinner, she stations Armsman Kosti in the dining room with orders to shoot on sight anyone caught attempting to re-arrange the name cards.

Re: Sufficiently Advanced Hosting Technology

[rthstewart]

AWWWW. 20 years ahead and a Kosti is an Armsman and little Helen is getting married. SNIFF

Re: Sufficiently Advanced Hosting Technology

[rthstewart]

Oh yes, Lady Alys would never, ever leave such things to chance. Thank you!

Re: Queen's Watchdog (Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler)

[dragonofeternal]

Oh man, so glad to see a Kuroshitsuji fill with this prompt. That's exactly where my mind went when I first saw it. Other people being horrified by Sebastian and Ciel is always one of the best parts in Kuro haha

[tehsharkie]

Sunless Sea, gods of the Zee, poker night

The Last Unicorn, Schmendrick

[dragonofeternal]

Schmendrick the Magician had traveled far and wide even before he worked for Mommy Fortuna and her circus of false wonders. In those days, he had been just unmemorable enough that he'd make coin in the morning and be forgotten on the morrow, and he could slip from town without question and without having to hear the wondered dismissals as people tried to make sense of having seen a real (if somewhat untalented) magician. Disbelief had never bothered him much; the bittersweet sorrow of living in a shifting age where magic was leaving the earth only stung for his own inability to conjure the True Magic.

When he was shanghaied into working for Mommy Fortuna, his feelings were similarly lukewarm. He loathed the witch and her squat, scowling henchman for their own lack of charm, but the work itself made him feel little. People would see what they wanted to see, then go home and laugh in their crowd about how silly it was that anyone could have thought a lamed and toothless lion to have been a real manticore.

The unicorn was different though, real and shining as the moon. He had to fumble out the lie that he saw only a white mare when Mommy asked, barely able to wrench his eyes from her horn. The next day, after the unicorn had been outfitted with illusions that would make the unbelieving eye see, well...

Schmendrick had seen enough smoke and mirrors and noise to know the cruelty of watching a crowd weep over a unicorn they could only see for a false horn.

Re: Sufficiently Advanced Hosting Technology

[rthstewart]

With Gregor, Laisa, Team Koudelka, Mark, Simon, Lady Alys, and 30 Counts and their Ladies coming to dinner, Miles did wonder at the timing of Ekaterin’s decision to undertaking her spring planting schedule as he watched her shuffle squares about a large oval on her comconsole, moving radish next to chervil and carrots and pushing black walnut far to the end.

“On the contrary, it’s a side effect of Imp Sec and on the advice of Lady Alys to develop my own cipher when making seating charts,” Ekaterin corrected mildly, her brow furrowed in concentration as she moved beans next to radishes and away from onions, “so I don’t put dill next to tomatoes, marigolds very effectively quell pests, it’s best to leave thyme alone, and mint cannot be left unsupervised.”

“Wouldn’t that cause gas?” Miles asked as she liberally sprinkled cabbage throughout the seating chart but Ekaterin shook her head and explained, “Quite the opposite, dear, cabbages get along with almost everything, except beans.”

[candlesinthewell]

Ooh, yes, this is excellent! I love how Caleb is still thinking in terms of risk management and statistics, even as he makes a conscious decision to ignore the numbers and take it on faith — and a deep dive into divorce rates between deathless and non-deathless partners and the reported work/life balance of God Wars veterans, which is a fantastic line, by the way, both in terms of Caleb’s inner narrative and how it reflects the world he lives in. And of course, I love that the relationship is understated but very present, and that he’s quite aware of how Kopil is likely to view belief, but that’s not going to stop him from believing anyway.

[candlesinthewell]

Ooh, thank you for the AO3 link. I’ve been trying to find time to work through everything that’s already been posted, but I’ll have to check those out. :D

Re: Safe Passage (Amelia Peabody Mysteries)

[candlesinthewell]

This is intriguing and very atmospheric, in an unsettling way, and I totally love it. Great sense of danger.

Re: [Miraculous Ladybug] rosy-fingered dawn

[candlesinthewell]

Oh, nice! I don’t know enough about this canon to fully appreciate what’s happening here, but that is some great dialogue, and "This had better be a run to the gourmet cheese shop." totally had me laughing.

Re: Critical Role

[candlesinthewell]

Oh man, this is great, and really lovely. It seems the multiverse needs her after all, and I hope she actually is able to hang on and heal the goliath instead of fading.

Re: That we can feel pain and know sadness (Daredevil, MCU)

[edenfalling]

Thank you!

Re: That we can feel pain and know sadness (Daredevil, MCU)

[edenfalling]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much!

Re: Sufficiently Advanced Hosting Technology

[lannamichaels]

I love this, Ekaterin changing it to suit her expertise and also letting her have a secret code :D

[scarletcorvid]

I'm glad you liked it! I definitely see Luna having a house full of magical creatures and plants. Good thing Dean loves her. ;)

Re: That Still Only Counts as One [LotR: TT, Gimli, Legolas & Haldir]

[shallowness]

Very funny, because true!

Re: [Narnia] that's how the light gets in

[alexseanchai]

♥!

[shallowness]

This works for me, with its bittersweet ache.

Re: [Miraculous Ladybug] rosy-fingered dawn

[alexseanchai]

Plagg is a god of sorts who enables Adrien (our other speaker here) to transform into the destruction-wielding superhero Chat Noir. This works better when Plagg has recently eaten. Plagg is also a cat and acts like it, and given the choice, he will eat only cheese.

(I suspect the specificity of his canonical tastes is largely because Adrien's bank account can take the hit and if that were not the case Plagg would express a preference for some less spendy kind of cheese, but that's sorta not the point.)

Glad you liked!

Re: [Miraculous Ladybug] rosy-fingered dawn

[candlesinthewell]

Thank you for the clarification.

Plagg is also a cat and acts like it, and given the choice, he will eat only cheese.

Hah, I love this!

And This Is Her Valley (Black Jewels)

[edenfalling]

It's easier not to jump at shadows in Kaeleer, Wilhelmina reflects, though the realm itself is far darker and wilder than Tereille. Firstly, when a thing becomes commonplace, the sting of contrast fades and darkness becomes simply a trick of the light rather than a sign of something out of place.

And secondly, as Jaenelle said one evening with a smile like a knife of ice, "The only danger lurking in these shadows is me."

Re: And This Is Her Valley (Black Jewels)

[lady_katana4544]

I enjoyed reading this. :D Thank you for filling my prompt. <3

Re: And This Is Her Valley (Black Jewels)

[edenfalling]

Thank you! :)

Re: Innocence (Hellsing)

[runespoor]

Ooooh, nice! I love how you tie the prompt with the idea of "growth", and the contrast between Seras' opinion on what she should be vs what she, and what Alucard tells her; is it a lie Alucard tells himself to justify why he likes things as they are right now, or is he willing to be patient for the sake of the future, or... So many possibilities!