Three Sentence Ficathon 2021

[rthstewart]

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>

Comments

[conuly]

Any, any, this poem

When I Say I Forgive You, Know This

I did not bury the hatchet.
I have the hatchet in my hands.
I am building myself a new house.

A Gap In History (Fire Emblem: Awakening, Henry)

[fallen_stage]

Henry was not one to hold grudges, not really. In some ways, this would make Henry a poor dark mage if they didn't already have enough negative emotions swirling through their body. In more important ways, it keeps Henry from being tied down to any one hurt, like so much blood off a duck's back. Wrongs were dealt with in the moment, if ever, and then Henry moved on.

Henry had to move on a lot.

Joining the Shepherds marked the fourth great transition in their life, after losing Mama to arrows, graduating from wizard school (to immediately join the army), and losing the only man like a father Henry had. They didn't want to leave, at first, but what choice? Mustafa was dead, for many who didn't deserve his sacrifice, and Henry lashed out. Even in wartime humans despised those who turned on their own side.

So Henry didn't have plans after that, aside from the only thing they'd been good at. A killer was only needed in a war, and the war would end if Ylisse didn't get aid and fast.

(Henry never liked having plans for the future, not after Mama died. Not after they were locked in a prison for the unwanted and unmissed, taught and tormented in turn to spit out what remained as dark mages)

Now the war was ended, with most of the army paired up neatly like birds in a nest to go make eggs. There were plans made, promises to visit, to celebrate, invitations. There weren't many extended to Henry, who laughed too often at others' misfortune to make the sort of friends who wanted you to see a new baby.

There was no reason for them to stay. There was no reason not to move on.

Grudges Henry may not hold, but few emotions brewed into dark magic as beautifully as bitterness. Henry held it in their heart like a mouthful of ale, tasting the astringent flavor until the buzz was needed. They wandered, for a while, earning traveling money by casting some useful hexes, or putting on shows with "tame" animals. The bitterness Henry spat into cursing cows with twin heifers, killing colds, and many hexes for restful sleep for a hospital.

Still, eventually.... Henry didn't really have a reason to stay in human company. Wasn't five attempts enough? They gave it the old college try, so enough was enough. Henry put on one last performance before gathering supplies and heading into some nice sparse mountains, lush with growth and teeming with friends.

Every forest could use a cabin in the woods, and every mountain could use a witch.

Re: A Gap In History (Fire Emblem: Awakening, Henry)

[conuly]

Thanks. Not familiar with the canon, but I like the story.

[fallen_stage]

Thank you! I consider it a high compliment indeed when someone unaware of the canon/fandom still enjoys my writing. I really liked the prompt poem and I couldn't help but think of like, turning loneliness into a new part of one's life.

In short, Henry defects to join the player's army from the other side of a war. So there's a number of obstacles to getting close to other characters. Like if Henry is unmarried at the end of the game, the epilogue blurb reads "After [endboss]'s demise, Henry made a cold, clean break with history, never to stain its pages again." So a lot of ppl interpreted this as implying suicide, which makes sense but im bias and like. hasnt this guy suffered enough. so i like to think henry just became a hermit to disney princess it up in the woods.

Restoration [Miraculous Ladybug]

[silveradept]

"Well, I suppose you'll be killing me, then, for all the destruction I've caused," Gabriel said as his transformation fell.

"As much as I would enjoy burying the hatchet in your skull, my Lady said no and that we should forgive our enemies," Chat Noir said icily, before touching him on the shoulder.

"Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto," Gabriel heard, realizing the mistake of his arrogance too late, the rush of Butterfly energy filling him, "you're going to spend a very long time making amends with everyone you harmed as Hawkmoth, aand you're going to enjoy every minute of it."