rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon 2021

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Three Sentence Ficathon 2021

We have now opened a new post, for new prompts! Please leave all new prompts there. You may continue to fill existing prompts here. If you didn't get a prompt filled here, feel free to post it on the new post!

Welcome to the Three Sentence Ficathon!
2 Feb. 2021 See important edit below regarding where to find unfilled prompts.

What is the 3 Sentence Ficathon?
This is an open exchange where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and fill as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want.

What do I do first?
You can start 3SF by posting 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."

Open ended and anthropomorphic fills are popular too, such as:

Any, Any, "I don't like sand."

or

Earth geography, sand, "I don't like humans very much, either."

What happens after that?
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

I'm really overwhelmed by all the prompts and how much there is and how fast it goes. I can't read 1,000 prompts and fills. It's too much.
I hear this a lot and it keeps a lot of people from participating. The 3SF is big and it moves fast, especially at first. I get overwhelmed, too, and I'm hosting the thing. With 2020 and 2021 sucking so badly you don't want something that's supposed to be fun cause you anxiety. I have a couple of suggestions for managing the 3SF volume.

First, really, you don't have to read every prompt and fill on every page. You can start at the last page of this and just go forward, or back a page or two. It's fine.
You can come and go as time and energy allow, you don't have to participate the whole time, and it drops off quite a bit by mid-February.
Even after the 3SF and new prompting end, people fill prompts all year long.
You can fill an already filled prompt and you can can leave a prompt that's already been prompted before. People do it all the time.

Always make sure you're looking at top-level comments only, not threaded. That helps a lot. Your screen should look like this.

But shouldn't I read everything to see if someone already prompted the same prompt I want to leave if someone already filled it?
No. Prompt as many times as you want, as much as you want. It doesn't matter if someone prompted the exact same prompt. Go ahead and prompt again!

I left a prompt and no one filled it. Can I prompt it again?
Absolutely!

Can I spread the word?
Yes, please. I generally fail at creating banners and embed codes but if you create one and make it really idiot-proof, I might be able to post and share it. Feel free to cross-post this entry. If you create your own banners or icons, let me know and I'll share!
Please share the 3SF with your followers, friends, and any channels and comms you are active on. I'll post on fandom calendar, Tumblr, and Twitter, but I don't have many connections in other spaces such as Discord.

How long will it go?
The 3SF closes to new prompts on February 28, 2021. The entry stays open permanently and people post fills all year long.

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 and archive warnings, triggers, pairings, ratings, tags, and squick?

I thought a lot about this. It boils down to reader beware. In my experience, this typically gets too big, moves too fast, and the stories are too short for content warnings and ratings to even apply. It is too big for me to moderate in this way. You should assume spoilers are fair game and that the initial poster and the responder have opted to use no content warnings or tags. This means AO3 content warnings for dubcon, violence, canon character death, underage, etc. COULD be present. I've found personally that I can skim and scroll 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. In this format, the obligation is on you, the reader, to protect yourself from triggering content.
Some posters do include warnings and spoiler tags in subject lines or include spoiler space, but they don't have to do so.

Why is 3SF split among several posts? That seems confusing.
It is confusing and we always lose momentum once we have to move to a second post. The reason is because at 5,000 comments to a single post, DW installs a human test CAPTCHA, which is a pain for users. So, once this entry gets to the upper 4,000 comments, I open a new post. If you've been waiting until things slow down to participate, when we open a second post is often a good place to join.

If I have questions, what do I do?
I'm rthstewart everywhere, here, Twitter, Tumblr, gmail and AO3.

A special thank you to

conuly .
Last year, Conuly started logging all unfilled prompts.
This year's (2021) unfilled prompts are here.
Last year's (2020) unfilled prompts are here.

Conuly asks that you not reply, as they want to be able to edit and add more prompts to the list.
Conuly does this just because they are an awesome person but should you want to write them fic in thanks, you can find a birthday wish list here.

Here is the 3SF 2021 Friending Meme to show of your new DW account.

Here, have some icons and banners and let me know if you've created your own!

text box you can try to cut and paste

<a href="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" target="_blank"><img src=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX.png?2" _fcksavedurl=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX.png?2" _fcksavedurl=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX?2" _fcksavedurl=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX.png?2" alt="" /></a>

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Jon Snow fascinates Susan from the moment he steps onto the dock in the harbor at Cair Paravel, come to Narnia at his brother's request, to seek an ally in a war across the sea, and she takes him to her bed, because she's never wanted — never needed — someone in this way before, so instantly, so desperately, so all-consuming.

On the night before his planned departure, while they lay twined together, Jon holding her as if he never intends to let go, Susan whispers to him, "You know, you don't have to go back — "

The shock is plain on his face as he tries to interrupt her, but she shushes him and continues, " — alone. You don't have to go back alone."

(I'm sorry, it had to be the title :D)

Hey, I love Peter too! Just not as well as Susan or Edmund...or maybe Lucy...BUT STILL.

And yes, they totally have a different connection due to being the oldest, the most responsible, the first exiles.

Oh yes, they're only as mad as the other, for sure! I love the idea that he'll sing for her forever, and that he'll coax her to join in - it's both reality and a good metaphor!

Basically for every NFE I just want to request "more of that Lassiter Su/Ed in Tashbaan fic, please" so yes, that works for me! :D It's such a good place for all sorts of magic and dreamy shenanigans that wouldn't happen back home to happen.

SOB. Yes, with him until the end (and past it, too). I love this (and them, and you).

It is the perfect line!

And this is the perfect fill, so gorgeous and hot, with so much love between them - and I love that Jon is SHOCKED at the slightest implication that he would ever abandon his duty for anything. Silly boy.

(OKAY I AM SORRY BECAUSE THIS IS WAY LONGER THAN THREE SENTENCES, I COULDN'T HELP IT, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR BEING CARRIED AWAY! BUT THIS IS SOME HIGH DRAMA AND I JUST COULDN'T STOP! ALSO I HAD TO GO WHERE THE SONG TOOK ME!)

"Jon, I don't want this to change your decision."

"Of course it does!" His tone was shocked, and she thought she'd see the hurt in his eyes, if she was strong enough to meet them. "Susan, you're having our baby."

His voice was filled with wonder with those last two words, and she couldn't help but look up at him, feeling her heart tear at the expression on his face. "I know, but your vows. You're Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon. I know how much it means to you, and I know you want to go back."

"I do. I did." And Susan could read the conflict plain on his face, could hear it in his voice, feel it in his body as his hand shook, holding hers. "But how can this not change things?"

She shook her head, and she was no longer just squeezing his hand, but clinging to it tightly. She was ashamed of that, holding on to him like that when she should be pulling away, but she couldn't help it. "Jon. I was very selfish in coming here." She held up her other hand as he looked about to interrupt. "No, let me say this. I was selfish. Coming here like this -- I've interrupted your life. I've put you in a terrible position. You can't be with me, and be who you want -- who you need to be. You can't do your duty with me in your life. I know, you've tried the best you could. And I think... I think I've helped you a little, with what you needed to do. But now…" She took a deep breath. "You have your duty, and there are so many things you must do. And you can't do that with me tied to you. I don't want to make you choose me and regret it. Even with this baby… I can't ask you to choose me."

"— You came here and you saved my life. Seven hells, Susan! How do you think I would have survived, without you?" He shook his head angrily, although his voice went low. "That isn't the only way you saved me. I was… dead inside. You… He trailed off, and scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm not saying this right. It's just… I can't live without you, don't you know that?" And he gripped her hand so hard, she was afraid she'd hear bones crack, as he stared at her, grey eyes smoke dark and imploring.

She carried his child, and she was still delighted over it, no matter how hard this was, but her hand curled over her belly protectively. "But, Jon… the Wall… the Night's Watch… you're the Lord Commander. The Wall is yours."

"It doesn't matter." He must have seen that fear in her face, for he squeezed her hand tight again. "I won't go back to the Wall. It's not worth giving you up." And his other hand came to rest on her belly, covering hers. "Giving up my family."

She slid her hand out from under his, lifting it to cup his cheek, gently stroking her fingers over his scars. "But you were just speaking of your duty to the Night's Watch yesterday, my darling."

He tilted his head, leaning into her touch. "I know, but I assumed you'd be by my side, no matter my vows." His mouth twisted in a bitter grin. "I guess I wasn't thinking that through very well, was I?"

"I don't want you to dishonor yourself for me, Jon," she whispered, throat tight and eyes stinging. "You can go back to the Wall and do your duty, and I won't hold you to me." His hand flexed on her belly, and she swallowed hard. "To us."

He blinked, and she could see his eyes were as wet as her own. "But if I did that… what would you do?"

She took a deep breath. "I'd go back to Narnia. There's no place for me here, if not with you. And with this child, I can't be by your side all the time. I can't fight with you when I'll have a child to care for."

"You would leave me alone?" His voice was so small and his face so sad and she could see the boy that still lived inside the man, just as she always could, from the very first time she met him. She remembered the few times before she'd heard that voice from him, and Susan cursed herself for what she was doing.

That look on his face broke her, and she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Susan sobbed. "I couldn't stay here, could I?"

"Susan, please…" And his voice wasn't just small, but broken, as he said those two words. She could feel the tears on his cheek, as her fingers traced over his scars.

She couldn't stop her own tears, and oh, she was the most selfish woman that ever lived, because she knew she couldn't leave, she would stay right here with him, and change his life. There would be regrets, she was sure, regrets and repercussions over her decision. "I'm afraid, if I stay, you might… grow to resent me, for what you give up."

He shook his head, and his eyes went dark as smoke. "Stop talking fucking nonsense, Susan! What I give up? What about what I get? I get the woman I've loved more than anything, more than anyone I've ever known, who I thought was lost to me forever. And I get a family. I'll give up anything for that."

OMG THEY ARE SO SAD. AND THEN THEY'RE NOT.

So silly of Jon to think "oh yes, i'll just go back to the wall and keep having my illicit relationship forever" and so silly of Susan to think "yeah i'll just go back to narnia, nbd" like GIRL that would be A VERY BIG DEAL.

It breaks my heart to think of Jon so sad because he thought that she would leave him all alone again. And then so happy that he's going to have his own new family, WITH her, and literally WHO CARES if he isn't Lord Commander anymore in exchange?? They're both so dumb and not thinking straight at all and I love that all they can think clearly about is how much they love and need each other. DUMMIES.

(I also love that you chose that line for the title because I also wanted to use it for prompting because I do not like baby/kidfic, but I DO very much like how you get there and the resulting bonding. And it fits this fic so so well.)

Yessssss there was a quick turnaround there, haha!

And they’re both being kind of dumb with how they’re thinking things would work but they get on the same page quick enough THANKFULLY. The whole thing kind of flowed from the other fill, which was like, the beginning of this story, and then this is somewhere near the end, I think? I guess I will just have to write the whole thing and find out, lol.

And yes, I know what you mean! I didn’t want it to be babyfic really, but the idea worked here for the both of them. I’m so glad it worked for you!

Thank you! :)

Once again, thank you for filling my request! <3

I never thought Buck with someone other than Eddie would work for me but it does and I'm glad!

This is so so lovely! After I finally caught up with TMA and I'm just not okay with anything that happened, I so needed this!

Thank you!

I'm getting all emotional over Rogue One all over again.

Thank you for this fill! <3

This is perfection! Thank you so much! <3

His last point!

there's something so dangerously idealistic about the way george and shannon love each other, the way they're a world and eternity to each other so it doesn't matter if they live or die because they'll always belong to each other ... and there's something about that, and 'the promise somehow meaning more when the person to whom he first made it no longer walks by his side,' that's so beautiful but also painful, because wouldn't it be better if they could live and share that larger world together? (and somewhere you can hear 'worldend' playing.)

thank you for including beatrice's wild laughter and name-stretching and multiple exclamation points, maybe it's not in accordance with style guides but it's a very important stylistic choice. her voice is perfect, and so is the exchange.

oh battler, listen when the women in your life are trying to tell you something. i like how you paralleled jessica's response on the board with beatrice's off it, and the final metaphor about battler finding his sea legs before he can steer the ship. which is what happens, in a way.

i love this both as a straightforward account of eva beatrice's ascent and her embracing her freedom as a witch to summon what furniture she pleases, furniture suiting for her, and also the layer behind it, where the inescapable chiester sisters are the winchester rifles that 'do not need to brag about how good they are when they and everyone here already knows it' -- you need the power of myth and magic circles to make people afraid of the seven stakes of purgatory, but everyone knows to fear a gun. 'the door with eleven or six or thirteen characters inscribed in red has already been opened' is also .

aaah i loved this moment in marble nest, the chill of recognizing your own wake, and you portray it so well in all its eeriness and unreality. and 'strange to know that outside this nutshell no one would bother to pay their respects' gets me right in the heart. poor daniil, he struggled so far to end up here, at the beginning again -- 'how many Last Days must he go through before he gets it through his head that he’s the one late for his own funeral and stops grieving for what could never have been?'

ooh love the layers of metaphor here, wolf and sheep and wool, the rules of magic and anti-magic, the blind leading the blind to the distant shore. and beatrice, getting her ends mixed up with her means, at the heart of her metaphors tangled up like sheepskein.

grace! ah, she's so good, i love reading about her and how she cares for the dead, and how the dead mourn the living and she soothes them like you would any mourner, by reassuring them they did all the could and it's time to let go. i also love the sing-song poetry of 'oh, their foolish bodies of flesh and sinews, holding onto things that are gone for good,' and the dead's songs growing more graceful, filled with grace.

the image of the blue truth being hooks to catch and knit up the red truth is wonderful, and beautifully written -- i love how the metaphors build on each as the truth does, ending in a golden net cast out across the sea of fragments.

ooh this is good, i love genji's perspective on this, how he understands and untangles his master's ramblings and tells one beatrice from another, and how he knows all those beatrices are only illusions, conjured by the golden summoner.

claudius. laertes. there's so much trauma and tragedy between them, claudius with his careful self-denying distance and laertes with his heart like a child screaming for attention -- and they'd never be together without a tragedy. and they don't want to hurt each other, but please! talk to each other! it can't hurt any more than this.

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Page 205 of 222

Three Sentence Ficathon 2021

my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand

Re: i know they said the end is near

Re: Narnia/Silmarillion, Susan/Maglor, women with madness / their men and bad habits

Re: Narnia, Susan/Edmund, back when I was living for the hope of it all

Re: I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs

Re: my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand

Narnia/GoT Susan Pevensie/Jon Snow, give you my wild, give you a child

Re: Narnia/GoT Susan Pevensie/Jon Snow, give you my wild, give you a child

Re: Narnia/GoT Susan Pevensie/Jon Snow, give you my wild, give you a child

Re: The secret garden - Colin/Dickon - he is an animal charmer and i am sort of an boy animal

Re: 911, Evan Buckley/Josh Russo

Re: This Feels Like a Metaphor for Something (The Magnus Archives)

Re: Heroes

Re: Baby Number ?

no subject

Re: Umineko, George/Shannon

Re: Umineko, Beatrice & Battler

Re: Umineko, Ushiromiya Battler

Re: Umineko, EVA Beatrice and the Chiester Sisters

Re: Pathologic/Marble Nest, Daniil Dankovsky

Re: Fill: Umineko

Re: Fill: Pathologic

Re: Umineko, Ushiromiya Battler

Re: Umineko, Genji and Kinzo and Beatrice

Re: Hamlet, Claudius/Laertes