rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon

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Three Sentence Ficathon

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.

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Fire Emblem, any characters, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it

(i hope you don't mind, this is going to be my favorite prompt, i'm definitely writing other takes on it)

Blue-haired lord, pale-haired girl with dreamy eyes, the shadow of a dragon clawing at her dress; a paladin, more experienced, whose weapon will protect them until they’ve grown stronger; a lone swordsman you have to defeat to recruit, a haughty, outspoken, fearless girl who gives lashes with her tongue and heals with her staff; a fey-looking man, the prettiest that all have seen, blond-haired and delicate and his soul like a song strong as steel; a shapeshifter or two; the sisterhood of pegasus knights, and later, defecting from decadence, a wyvern knight wounded to their soul but recovering; the prickly thief jealously guarding that girl they’re close to (or looking after their boys); the bow-user who’s kind of a jerk, the paired cavaliers you can rely on; the mage who uses wind magic (is it an anima game ?) and the monk who uses light magic and there’s gotta be a dark magic user somewhere, and hang on, do you need promotion items in this game, how are you going to promote them all???

A continent at peace, neighbours cordial, until – until suddenly…

You’ve done this song and dance before, though; so you sigh under your breath, smile a bit, and push on START.

Oh, this is just fantastic! You've really captured the charm of FE in that first paragraph. As I was reading through, I was internally going "oh man, that has to be Binding Blade. Oh wait, is that Radiant Dawn? Sacred Stones? Oh, oh, that could be Awakening! Shadow Dragon! AAAAH"

It really hit me with a rush of nostalgia, haha. I loved this, and I'm definitely interested in seeing your other takes on this prompt!

Thank you~~~ I do love Fire Emblem archetypes, so yeah, since you said any, I figured I could play with it. ^^

It will be different this time. Marth’s memories are fuzzy, like Sheeda’s, as though what they see in dreams happened to other people, so they’re not sure what decisions they’d made, what path they took; they do remember Kris wasn’t there, though.

So they follow Kris, in the hope that it can avoid the turning and death of one they call friend, and a second war upon Archanea only two years after the first.

This is so lovely! I haven't played FE3/12 but I do vaguely know about what happens to some of the characters from the prequel. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but this is pretty chilling to think about, oh wow. You're really able to see Marth's personality shine through in how much he puts his trust in his friends, Kris especially. I love this! <3

Edited 2018-12-12 11:07 (UTC)

Saber is about to step forward when Celica’s shout stops him. "Saber, don’t !"

And Saber will readily profess that he’s kind of an asshole, but ignoring the girl you swore to protect is not a great look, so he glances back – over his shoulder, really, trying to convey that this a skirmish and yeah, he’s good, but an explanation better be forthcoming, as Celica hired him to sword down would-be attackers, and these, as it happens, attacked.

"I just –" her hand jerks to point a place maybe a meter away, "- you should go there, it’s a better angle to defend."

He arches an eyebrow. "It’s your long experience in these matters that lets you know, huh." He still goes to stand at the place she said – it’s a bit farther from the third guy than what he’d picked first, but nothing he can’t cross in a minute, if need be. The kids can hold their own against that one guy, and, though he’d rather not dwell, she looks badly frazzled.

"Thank you," she breathes, and she puts away her strange clock thingy.

Weird, Saber acknowledges, but again, that’s just one more thing the priestess isn’t telling, so he files her look of relief away. (He already knows someday he’ll confront her with it, but he’s not willing to admit to himself just yet that he’s in deeper than just a contractor.)

okay i could probably do another entire series about FE4. i probably won’t but picking just one thing was hard.

also, for this one i’m going with the headcanon that Lachesis was her father’s legitimate daughter, and Eldigan a bastard adopted late in life because Holy Blood.

brought to you by the fact that all three of Nanna’s pre-destined are kings, and none of Lachesis’ predestined are acceptable princess fare, and what’s up with that ?

History drips into Nanna’s ear all throughout her mother’s bedtime stories like a beloved poison, mixing the familiarity of the figures Lachesis recalls easily with the aura of the mythical; huddled under thin covers, her eyes wide, Nanna drinks in the tales of the princess of Nordion, growing up, her golden childhood, the brother she found almost as an adult; and the rest seeps through, like humidity in winter, Lachesis’ disregard for society’s rules, her forbidden love, up to falling for a mercenary she never married.

It trickles, a cold constant, all the way to Nanna’s core, the truth that Lachesis lost all that, out of impulse and a refusal to plan her dreams; it trickles and freezes, into ice, into diamond: Nanna will never go for the poor outlaw; she will never reject society’s rules.

Family history’s shaped her the way erosion, sometimes, carves cliffs into statues; she fantasizes over Eldigan’s son and stands by the prince who called her sister (she never called him brother), and doesn’t melt upon meeting her brother; she gets golden promises and pearls, instead of thief swords and louche flirtations, and always – always, she marries for a crown.

Raised by Finn, who breathed into him the image of a golden, perfect Quan, and around Lachesis – complete with the interest for mastering as many weapons as have been invented, the lack of Major holy blood, and the chip on his shoulder – Leif grows in hiding, shadow prince of Thracia, a spark amidst ash.

He carries his mother’s sword, his father’s dream, his sister’s death, and a vow of revenge.

The history Leif carries bears little resemblance to the past, filtered through Finn’s perspective and a decade and a half of trauma, and the future it’s hurtling him toward promises blood spilled, yet again, between the sibling nations of Northern and Southern Thracia.

Lilina is a mage; she’ll never have to worry about picking up Armads, and the curse that goes with it.

…Okay, Hector doesn’t have to worry about it, and let him tell you, that more than makes up for the fact he might not live to terrify whoever his daughter chooses as a spouse (Roy. Hector means Roy, he’s always meant Roy even when he humors Eliwood and pretends otherwise) – just a bit, though, wouldn’t want to send him running, one runaway spouse’s more than enough for any noble family and Hector’s got the quota filled.

Lilina wouldn’t worry at all: she’d just take the damn thing, save Eliwood’s boy with it, and she wouldn’t even wish she hadn’t.

i was going to do something fun, probably around Serra, but the previous Elibe ill is already fun and i got the idea for this instead

"Why am I always—always losing family," her voice is rough, her words weighted with unshed tears, and at another time she might feel guilty for it, "first my p-parents, then Lloyd and Linus, and now Uncle Legault – and even S-So—" a sob wracks through her, cutting her off, "why does no-one want me, is it—what’s wrong with me, am I – she said – I’m trash, isn't it – isn't that why everyone leaves ?"

"I’ll stay," Jaffar murmurs. His arm is warm around her, and Nino lets her head fall against him, and lets herself cry.

Oh no, poor Nino T.T
Gosh, I just love all of these, they are so lovely and awesome.

It's like this: Eirika sits next to you, and Ephraim wants the lessons to be over, and you can't follow suit, too frail to shine like they; Eirika's look is full of concern, and Ephraim pauses a moment, and if this is pity you'd drink it to the last and ask for more, friendship as sweet as wine.

It's like this: they grow and you don't grow out of it, out of them, out of the corner of Eirika's lips tugging at your heartstrings, or the muscles playing in Ephraim's back when he trains without a glance back at you - and still Eirika looks at you with concern and her concern stops Ephraim a moment, and some part of you whispers it's pity and it will never change; you will never be more.

It's like this: you want to join them like you crave spring air in your lungs and their sun on your skin; you listen.

Oh wow, that's totally fine, just keep breaking my heart about Lyon, I don't mind.

In all seriousness, this is stunning!

"I am sorry," Sanaki tells Tibarn later, in the most regally sincere tone, "that it took me so long to extend apologies to the people of Serenes ; it… shames me to admit that as a child I was quite ignorant."

Tibarn raises an eyebrow; he finds himself liking her, for all that she’s the empress of Begnion and too formal to boot, and if he didn’t he wouldn’t bother replying, more mildly than the tension between their countries warrants, "oh ? aren’t you still a child ?"

"I am a ruler," the Apostle replies.

But what about those who do? Micaiah dreams of mistakes she never made, treasons her king never committed, and Sothe’s sun-bright scorn for their choices – the only clear vision her instincts still give her; and then she wakes up, and goes to pay for Daein’s continued freedom by fighting a war she doesn’t believe in, knowing that if she didn’t – if she refused, or if she left – Pelleas’ crown would fall and Daein would be crushed; so then, what about the sacrifices, what about building the future over the remnants of the past ?

What about her - trying to lead the way, at dawn with bloody hands?

Before she came back Lucina studied, everything she could about that other country called "the past" - the way her father loved her mother, the starting signs of the apocalypse, the people her father had called soldiers and her friends had called parents, the politics weaving through the continent – and in the end, they triumphed.

Decades laters, she wonders if she’d studied wrong; like the leader of a guerilla, for all that she called upon herself the memory of the Hero King, and not as one who would rule a country.

She remembers, in the midst of Plegian discontent and veiled distrust from Regna Ferox, her father’s words about his father – the tyrant, the conqueror; and she looks at her continent’s maps, and the way Ylisse’s frontiers expanded under her mother’s skillful advice, sweeping in what used to be Plegia with the justification of her mother’s heritage, and she thinks of a time-traveller’s dilemma – perfect hindsight, lacking foresight.

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Three Sentence Ficathon

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Fire Emblem, any

Re: Fire Emblem, any

Re: Fire Emblem, any

Fire Emblem, FE1/3/11/12

Re: Fire Emblem, FE1/3/11/12

Fire Emblem, FE2/15

Fire Emblem, FE4

Fire Emblem, FE5

Fire Emblem, FE6

Fire Emblem, FE7

Re: Fire Emblem, FE7

Fill: Fire Emblem, FE8

Re: Fill: Fire Emblem, FE8

Fire Emblem, FE9

Fire Emblem, FE10

Fill: Fire Emblem, FE13