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

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Narnia, Susan, she was used to never saying goodbye

I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[last_haven]

1. There is only their mother to see them off from the train station, but Susan is not surprised; most of their school friends have already been evacuated and have already said their goodbyes. There is an emptiness, however, where Laura should have been--Laura who ran faster than any of the boys, Laura who laughed at even the silliest jokes, Laura who pressed a kiss to Susan's cheek after Janice poured paint on Susan's dress and sneered. Kind, lovely Laura, whose house disappeared into a crater after the bombing one night.

Let Peter and Edmund grumble about being sent away; Susan is glad to be leaving London and only hopes the hole in her heart remains here as she travels to the countryside.

2. Lucy's cordial can't save everyone after the battle is done; the dying are spread too far for even the most lionhearted girl to reach them all. That's what Susan reminds herself as she cups the handful of petals left behind as Sinoe disappears from her grasp, the spear in her belly falling with a dull thump against the grass. She'd only just got the epimeliad's head onto her lap when she breathed her last without a single word passed between them. She remembers Laura, bright and smiling, and remembers whispering, soothing Sinoe, and wonders that if maybe she could have just gotten to either of them sooner, then maybe this emptiness wouldn't be chewing away at her insides.

3. They all come tumbling out of the wardrobe, like falling ninepins; Susan needs a moment to collect herself. She turns and looks back at the wardrobe and thinks about how Mister Tumnus is going to be sitting down to the tea party she'd invited him to and wonder where they were. She thinks about Owain, who was the best dancer in the court, who had kissed her so sweetly, who she whispered to Lucy about in a fit of girlish glee because if there was any man she would take as husband, then it had to be him. She thinks about all the people who are going to be wondering just where they are right about now and she feels the emptiness yawning open inside her again.

4. In spite of the fact that she did wave and wish them well, Susan still feels cheated and empty when she gets the phone call of the derailing, the most horrific train crash in recent memory they say. She got to kiss Edmund and Lucy's cheeks, give Peter's hand a passing squeeze, and hugged her parents before they left, but as she sits at the funeral, she wants to wrench the coffins open and demand something more. But there's only this--five coffins, one of which only really contains pieces, and that sticks in her craw too--and the emptiness.

One would think she would be used to this, but that's a foolish thought, because it can never be enough.

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[alexseanchai]

It's more what you'd call guidelines. (Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner.)

You are making me have a lot of emotions and I don't wanna

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[last_haven]

In my defense, this prompt just begs for some good feels to come out of it. Thanks for commenting.

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[rthstewart]

My kingdom for a Like Button

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[last_haven]

It occurs to me that I completely reversed what the prompt actually asked for I AM SO SORRY, OP. MY BAD.

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[rthstewart]

Not to be presumptuous but I suspect OP Syrena will have no problem at all with all the Susan feels. (Of course this means that you must turn your considerable skill to a happy Susan story now, am I right?)
This is lovely and most of all so grounded. Susan is an expert in good byes, she would have to be. The Blitz was terrible and of course she's been down this road before. I also love the easy way she moves among her friends and loves, girl, dryad, man, family. It's just so Susan. Thank you for sharing this.

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[last_haven]

Well, hopefully the part two I posted will make up for some of it. Oof, what a faux pas.

But, oooooh, a happy!Susan story sounds just about right. I shall have to digging around the prompts and see if I can find a fun one to do. And as for poor Susan here, I'm sure she lived a life of sorrows AND joys; we must imagine her happy. I'm not sure how or when she became bi in these ficlets, but here we are, and it felt right.

Thank you for commenting!

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Are you kidding? This is perfectly perfect! It’s exactly what I meant and didn’t say, because no matter how accustomed one becomes to grief settling in the soul, you can never, ever get used to saying goodbye — and no goodbye is ever, ever enough. Maybe it’s the flip side of the same coin, because whether Susan gets the chance to say the words or bot, she still feels cheated, still faces that same emptiness. Ruth is right, I love all the Susan feels, and I’m still teary-eyed. thank you again.

PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[last_haven]

5. The emptiness aches, but Susan grows and grows around it, like a wound finally scabbing over. She picks up a brush and her lipstick, goes into business with a friend of hers who has a camera, and gets on with her life. Sometimes she thinks about her brushes, her tools, thinks about how Jill and Polly once sneered at them, and that pain is still there; but she has grown, if only in a crooked way, and she can put the hurt behind her.

It's not enough, but it will do.

6. It's funny, the things that are helpful. It's not the goodbyes she does get, it's not the promises to stay and stay safe, it's not even the hellos. It's this: the quiet of the morning in the bedroom while London shakes itself awake, the warmth on the other side of the bed as she reaches over and grabs onto Grace's nightgown, even the foul taste of Grace's morning breath.

The emptiness is always there, but it feels a little smaller in those moments.

7. With Grace's hand in her own, the emptiness is bearable. She has a tether as she walks in this world while the decades roll on; she feels safe and anchored, even when she's alone.

Complacent, the emptiness ambushes her on the morning she rolled over and found Grace's hand cold.

8. Grace is in the ground, near the plot of Susan's family because Susan knows they would have welcomed her in life, so she knows they will do so in death. Susan is old now, has been for a long time, so she knows this hole inside her as near as a friend, like it is just another mourner here at the funeral. It's funny, but maybe it's tolerable now because this is just one more funeral, one more missed goodbye.

9. But maybe this is the truth: Susan's own goodbye is not long in waiting. One day, she falls in the garden; she's dead not long after hitting the ground, and she knows no pain. More than that, though, she knows no fear--this time, she didn't miss the goodbye.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[alexseanchai]

"salvage", they say

sorry, honey, I still don't want any of these emotions

were Susan and Grace at least happy queers in between these bits?

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[last_haven]

Sorry, no refunds.

THEY WERE THE HAPPIEST, I PROMISE. They just grew old and died of old age; they had normal, fulfilling lives, and Grace helped reconcile her feelings with the memories of Narnia so they totally both got to visit Narnia, show up everybody but Lucy (who always knew Susan would come back to them; Lucy is faithful, always), and then cruise into heaven looking like the fabulous queens they were.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[alexseanchai]

Oh sweet write that yes good

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[last_haven]

If I can find a prompt for it, I'll do it.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[alexseanchai]

also, just to be entirely sure I'm clear, you did a really spectacular job with this prompt. most evocative. :)

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[last_haven]

Thank you! I deeply appreciate it.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[autumnia]

You made me want to weep for Susan in both parts, but at least she did experience something other than emptiness if only for a little while.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[last_haven]

I promise, she did get to live a mostly normal, happy life until she and Grace died of old age. It wasn't all sadness and gloom; most of her days, especially after she met Grace, were happy ones. They did get to live to be old ladies and even got legally married, so there's decades there.

It's just, the theme wanted me to keep mostly on point. I think I owe these guys at least a happy sequel at this point.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[rthstewart]

And you completely succeeded. And in answer to Alex's question above, obviously Susan and Grace were Queens of their own realms and lived happily ever after to the end of their days and beyond. it's just a lovely, lovely finish. Thank you for revisiting it. I love both your takes and fills.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[alice_pike]

YES THESE ARE BOTH SO GOOD and lmao i also misinterpreted the prompt and didn't realize until you said something, but it just goes to show how much this works, and how many different and still genuine ways we can imagine her life and the lessons she's learned along the way. And the first part is great on its own, but having the second part really brings it full circle, and shows the greater purpose of her earlier heartaches, infuses the suffering with at least some measure of meaning, so it's not all just senseless tragedy between the happiness she can glean from two lifetimes full of war and loss.

But also just the idea that it's not the goodbyes that matter as much as the time spent, and how a shift of focus can shrink the holes inside of her, that make this work so well.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[last_haven]

I think the second part was necessary, because not just because I wanted to actually fulfill the request, but also because I find full circle narratives to be some of the most satisfying to read. I needed Susan to grow, not get beaten down permanently by the sorrow.

Anyway, thanks for commenting! Always appreciated.

Re: PART TWO; Because I can salvage this, I swear.

[syrena_of_the_lake]

I love this. To be clear: no salvaging was necessary, but I and SO glad you wrote MORE! Full disclosure: I’ve been mostly missing from 3SF for a week or so because a dear old friend passed away. And I’m only just seeing your lovely fills now, and I’m sorry for that! Because it feels like, with both of these, you’ve reached into my heart and written all the things I can’t find the words for. So I’ll be back later to rave over the lovely language and perfect character notes and achingly real details later. Because I definitely need to revisit both of these — thank you again.

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[last_haven]

I promised a sequel when I could find a good prompt, which I did. I thought I'd post the link here, to make it easier for anyone looking for more: https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/142463.html?thread=6070143#cmt6070143

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[syrena_of_the_lake]

This is gorgeous and heart-rending, especially the little details in each ficlet — Laura, the petals, the tea party — and oh most especially Susan wanting to wrench open the coffins and demand something more than that last brief, ordinary goodbye. There are tears in my eyes, this is so well done. Thank you.

Re: I have trouble following rules, so you get a lot of four sentence pieces

[last_haven]

Oh, I'm glad you liked it. Sometimes I think it's the little details that really bring a story to life, so it's good to hear you liked the ones I put here.