rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

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Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

This post is NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS! PLEASE POST YOUR NEW PROMPTS HERE, IN POST 2! Do continue to fill prompts here but please put all new prompts in Post 2.

Welcome to the Three Sentence Ficathon!

Here's a Friending meme!

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 at bit after about 2 weeks and especially once we open a new post because this one is approaching 4,500 comments.
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.

Here's my attempt at a text box that might go horribly awry.

How long will it go?
The 3SF closes to new prompts on February 13, 2022. The entry stays open permanently and people post fills all year long. (There were a bunch of new posts to the 2021 3SF this week!)

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 (and much more). 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, protect yourself, 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 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.

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Star Wars/Narnia, any, the classic Steinbuck novel Of Moles and Mandalorians

Narnia/Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow & Reepicheep, duel of the fates

Jack took the duel against Reepicheep seriously from the start, which meant that he immediately sheathed his sword in favor of scrambling up a nearby pillar to grab a flaming torch to use as a club and/or portable spark for throwing in the event Jack needed to make a quick exit and it might be advantageous to have a large, distracting fire burning behind him.

Unfortunately, Reepicheep interpreted this as Jack being an honorless coward and a buffoon who had no respect for mice.

Everything went downhill from there.

(*Giggles like crazy.*)

"It is not," Reepicheep exclaimed, springing forwards a swift slash of his sword every couple of words, "even remotely appropriate," again, another slash, "to address a Queen of Narnia in such terms!"

"My apologies!" the pirate called out, cheerfully attempting to drop buckets, fruit, and coils of rope on the Mouse, in lieu of an actual weapon. "In my defense, I was not aware the blasted rats could hear me! And," he added, waving accusatory fingers at the Mouse, the ship, and the entire Eastern Sea, "all this might just be the result of particularly good rum on a particularly hot island for a particularly long time. In which case," he dodged a masterful maneuver of Reepicheep's sword, "if you're actually a bonny lass, luv, let's make up and make do, savvy?"

With a cry of rage, the Mouse sprang forward again.

You make me want to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. :)

Anthropomorphic, marmalade season, kitchen gadgets that get used once a year

Oh good, here we go again, half the cupboard being emptied just to get to the super large pan for making the marmalade, which is always right at the back because it hasn't been used for a year. I really don't know why they have to exclaim 'oh, there it is,' when they finally find it, since it will be in exactly the same place as it was last time - pushed behind the tin which is only used for the Christmas cake, and we've already had the rattle of the drawer being searched for 'the special knife, the one we always use'. As for me, I'm just an over-worked, under-appreciated earthenware mixing bowl!

Aw, this is adorable!

Thank you very much!

What a charming voice! :D

I'm sorry, mixing bowl, I'll appreciate you more. <3

Thank you. Mixing bowl appreciates the thought 🙂

Hee! Cute :)

Thank you.

Oh this is spookily true. How did you know I keep my preserving pan behind the big cake tin? Thank you so much!

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. I have a feeling many cupboards look like that 😉

awww, I love this !!

Thank you very much.

Star Trek Voyager, Janeway/Paris, in memory of Threshold Day

Dune (2021 movie), any, uncomfortable lingering gazes

Chani has seen Jamis deal death before: swift and elegant, a contrast to Arrakis' slow, cruel pace. Those who fall at his hand have their water restored to the tribe, but no trace of their memories remains even in the Reverend Mothers' visions. So she waits to see the boy-child defeated, to preserve his last breaths in her recollections--but when he survives, she finds that she cannot look away.

Harry Potter, Ron & Snape, unexpected affinity for chess

It is inconceivable to Severus that a first-year Gryffindor is the one who defeated his living chess puzzle, created to fool even the finest of grand masters.

"Weasley," he says, board in hand, no possible room for mistaking this for anything but a challenge.

To his delight, Gryffindor foolhardiness prevails over any speck of wisdom: "e2-e4."

Narnia, any friend(s) of narnia, recognition

It is in Narnia that Jill first sees Eustace’s cousins. They are depicted in one of the books she picks up before the owls send them out to the mountains. All four of them wear crowns of gold or silver, are depicted riding and bear ancient, medieval weapons. She would not have known who they were if not for the description underneath and Eustace’s later confession about his cousins. The portrait didn’t much look like English children to her, and Eustace’s cousins were younger than him. The portrait certainly hadn’t depicted children. But when they return from Narnia with a much younger Caspian, and they catch a glimpse of the approaching Pevensies, Jill could almost believe the stories. But then Caspian is gone and the Pevensie’s are just children.

It is years later, when she sees Tirian in the room with them, the magic of Narnia seeping through the worlds. And now she is armed with stories and knowledge, and she sees it and believes it for the first time. Peter is firm, commanding and he expects to be acknowledged. Edmund is tense and calculating and he is expecting a trap. Lucy is eager, her fingers twitching and she is longing for an adventure. The magic of Narnia fades but Jill finds herself still able to recognize the people they were in Narnia. She had never realized just how much it had shaped them.

any, any, It's been a long day without you, my friend/And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

Alone, Cloud lets himself collapse into his berth. The Highwind is quiescent under his head and it's weird, not to have its engine vibrating gently and faraway in his ears. They've been in the air for a lifetime, it seems.

It's over. Isn't it? Sephiroth is dead; so is Midgar, and they may have failed there but the Planet as a whole will survive. Reeve told them to stay the hell out of the rescue efforts, that the remnants of Public Safety will take charge of the survivors. I happen to know for a fact none of you have slept in the last 48 hours, he'd told them through Cait. Go and rest, for the gods' sake.

Cloud knows Reeve's right. He can feel exhaustion dragging at him; there's only so much even a Fullcure can do about that. But his dry eyes won't close and his head aches with the effort of trying to relax. He'd faced the monster Sephiroth had become and cut it to ribbons with Zack's sword, avenged Aerith and Zack and Nibelheim and everyone else, it couldn't be more over if Cloud had dumped Sephiroth in Hades' cauldron himself; yet there's a restlessness he can't shake, a certainty that there's something else he could be doing, something he's forgotten.

Well - there's lots of things I've forgotten. Right... Zack?

Even now, with his brain intact as it's ever going to be, even having seen the marks on the inside of those tubes in the mansion basement - he can barely remember Zack. Black hair, a scar, a smile. Overwhelming strength tempered by kindness. Had they been friends? Part of Cloud is convinced they were. The more cynical part of him is sure that's just wishful thinking; Zack was probably just being kind to an obvious failure and Cloud had just read too much into it, as usual. But in the end, Zack had dragged Cloud across two continents to Midgar, had died so that Cloud could live.

Cloud closes his eyes, not to sleep, only to pretend the other man can hear him. One day I'll be able to ask you directly, he tells the empty spaces in his head where Zack had once lived. And I'll tell you everything that happened. Everything that you made possible.

...thanks. For everything.

One day I'll be able to ask you directly, he tells the empty spaces in his head where Zack had once lived.

This piece is such a nice little captured moment—the calm after the storm, except the adrenaline hasn't quite settled yet, you know? But the part I quoted above is just oomf, perfect, such a powerful way of expressing the whole mess that was going on for Cloud. So good!

thank yoooouuu i am writing these in a tired haze currently i'm glad i could still oomf despite that

It's during a battle when his mind turns to his family, wishing for aid that will never come, but Salazar can only wallow in his grief in the quiet moments. He misses his wives, brilliant magicians born all through the centuries. His children and his students, determined and cunning and true in the defence of Hogewáþ and their respective homes, including his own of Castile and Ipuzko. And most of all, Salazar is lacking of his brother, likely the only one of his house left to him, trapped in a magical working that was meant to be but which guarantees no success at its end. One day, though, he will return to his school and have his family beside him once more.

One day, Kakashi thinks, eye tracing the carved names on the Memorial Stone before him, I'll see you again, and I'll tell you. . .

He reaches up, fingers slipping beneath the hitai-ate hiding his friend's eye, mouth twisting beneath his mask.

. . .I'll listen.

He can always tell when she returns to the barracks after a long night, because she's never been subtle about anything since -

Well.

Since that.

She's laughing, bottle to her lips as she turns and sees him watching, and for a moment it dies and then she lifts it almost in defiance and returns to her conversation.

Star Trek: TOS/TNG, any, meeting your heroes

any, any, The Department for the Regulation of Temporal Incidents

(Animorphs)

YOU CREATED A UNIVERSE, the--a?--Ellimist intones, like they're facing an Electorate war-crimes tribunal. THAT IS NOT SOMETHING TO TAKE LIGHTLY.

[I'm sorry,] says Elfangor, lowering his stalk eyes.

"Well, I'm not," Loren says with her mouth-sounds. "You said it yourself; anyone else who had taken possession of the Time Matrix would have done something even worse."

"The risk of becoming untethered in time – anchors as powerful as the Hallows aren't meant for mortal use, Zhao Yunlan, there's a reason the SID's clock portals have such short limits built in," Shen Wei says, and the frustration is all his even if the words are mostly the Black-Cloaked Envoy's.

"That's the first time I've heard you say 'SID', I think, instead of the Department or…" Zhao Yunlan waves a hand to encompass the overly-troublesome full name that only their paperwork (and worse yet, Zhao Xinci) actually uses, because even his approval stamp abbreviates it to Department of Time, but another observation is already crowding to the forefront. "And you're not actually surprised, which means this has probably already happened, to you, and that means – when did you really first meet me, Shen Wei?"

Dear Miss Granger,

Your application for the use of a Time-Turner has been received. If our check of the timeline and any potential paradoxes produces no issues, you can expect an interview yesterday with one of our field compliance agents to ensure you understand all applicable laws and regulations with regard to the use of a Time-Turner.

We look forward and backward to seeing you.

This is amazing and makes the perfect amount of very little sense!

any, any, Karaoke

"Oh! Let's join them!" Kikuchi said, pointing, and Mob looked, only to-

"Oh, uh, no, I. . ." Mob faltered, then winced as his boyfriend almost pouted at him with confusion. "I can never go back there." he whispered, thinking of the humiliating end of the matchmaking outing he'd joined at that karaoke.

Kikuchi eyed him curiously, but when Mob opened his mouth to try to explain, he only shook his head, smiling, and squeezed Mob's hand, pulling him away from their friends instead.

"This karaoke machine is broken," Barnaby said, frowning as he scrolled through the song list. "I can't find Nessun dorma anywhere on it."

Kotetsu smothered a laugh and patted his shoulder. "Sorry, Bunny, I don't think karaoke places usually carry Puccini."

Any, any, accidental use of family words

"Aww, come on, nee-chan, that's-" Naruto broke off suddenly, then cringed, and Sakura folded her arms, eyeing him.

". . .yes, you have to," Sakura repeated, and tapped his nose, "but if you're good for your checkup I'll take you for a treat after." she promised Naruto, with a grin as he peeked up at her warily. "Or what kind of sister would I be?" she added, and Naruto was frozen for a moment before he caught hold of her hard enough to make her ribs creak; Sakura hugged him back just as hard and pretended not to have seen the tears in his eyes.

Aw, I love this!

Thank you! ^.^ I love the sibling feels~

Sorry for responding to this so much later. >.>

Many of the campers have, accidentally or otherwise, called Milla Vodello "mom". He sees how she delights in it, face warming with laughter as she reassures the childrens' embarrassment or gives them permission to be their "camp mom". The young Razputin is no different, snapping down his goggles once the boy realizes his slip. Milla gives him a hug, gratified that he trusts and cares about her so much.

When Sasha hears Razputin call him "dad" in his raspy voice, the careful angles of his mind gently unfold, and he allows the tears to overflow.

(Only to immediately reassure his son that they're happy tears, and no Razputin you didn't "trigger an underlying trauma regarding the unconscious father archetype".)

Sesshoumaru tilted his head as Rin began to whimper in her sleep, barely audible even to his ears; his lips tightened and he moved to her, brushing a hand over her shoulder to quiet her.

Rin came awake suddenly - still quiet, but her face was wet with tears and her scent thick with them - lifting her head and looking at him; Sesshoumaru inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Papa!" Rin sobbed quietly, and Sesshoumaru froze, feeling it like a bolt to the spine even as Rin threw herself at him, clinging to his obi; he thoughtlessly wrapped his arm around her to keep her steady and close.

Harry Potter, Marauders, Classic Rock

It’s been twelve years, but Sirius would still recognize that voice anywhere, even coming out of a tinny phone speaker while the absolute infant in the queue ahead of him - okay so she’s probably sixteen, but still - says “he’s like, so old, but he’s hot.”

The voice would be enough but the lyrics are something no one else could possibly know, a song scratched on the back of a show flier a hundred years ago, never performed let alone published, and now shot through with the anger and road-weariness they had only thought they understood back then, when he and Remus and the others were little more than infants themselves.

“Give me that,” Sirius snarls, then “sorry, please, I used to know him,” a terrible attempt at an apology as he scrawls down the name of the video account, an impossible thing, a disappearing clue in a dream, Remus alive.

This is awesome! I'm not sure if it makes me want to cry or cheer, but I love it either way.

Star Wars, any, Tatooine

Beru Whitesun Lars had never left Tatooine, not even in her dreams.

She'd always been more of a practical soul than a dreamer, anyway. Her ambitions were achievable, if uncertain on as harsh a planet as Tatooine. She wanted to marry a good man, raise a child, and hopefully have more water than they needed to survive. Owen was much the same, a hardworking and dependable moisture farmer like her father.

Luke was different; he had stardust in his blood. She knew he would leave Tatooine someday, but she hoped he'd at least visit her and Owen from time to time. There would always be a home waiting for him under the twin suns if she had anything to say about it.

Lovely. <3

The last breath of a mother, the last breath of a chained being. The Planet knows what has happened immediately – it rains and does it oddly. What falls is not water or ash, what falls is hot and red and thick. It falls for the rest of the night as residents hide within their hardy buildings. The Planet is angry, they whisper, quieter than mice lest the Planet hear and turn its attention to them. The blood-rain only comes once more, while Jabba’s child is taken, and many see it as a sign of the planet’s favour for the Hutts and this is the message passed far and wide. And then the blood rain is gone again, and the people breathe a sigh of relief. But it is not gone forever – it comes back and this time it stays, a regular part of Tatooine’s weather, just as sandstorms were. Nineteen years later it ceases again and this time does not come back.

Edited 2022-10-09 01:18 (UTC)

Star Wars, Luke & Leia (& Han), burdens too heavy for ones so young

After they bug out of Yavin IV and join the Rebel Fleet, Chewbacca wonders if maybe, just maybe, Han, Luke, or Leia would actually talk about their respective horrific ordeals, as a Wookiee would, as any emotionally healthy and adjusted being should. Though he'd pretty much given up on Han over the years, he'd hoped that maybe the other two would exert a good influence and own up to the nightmares they're all having and the screams and crying he overhears when he takes over the Falcon's third watch. But after two hundred and thirty three Kashyyyk years, he's learned that Humans, and especially young Humans, and by the Trees, these three are so young, are terrible at confronting their past trauma, always, always deluded into thinking that, so long as they don't stop, they will never drown.

Edited 2022-01-20 18:37 (UTC)

I love this, Chewie is really the perfect narrator for it!

"always deluded into thinking that, so long as they don't stop, they will never drown" - I thought this was especially powerful"

I love this so much!

Oh, that last line! That is absolutely the way the trio would look at life, no matter how Chewie tries to tell them otherwise.

oh, fucking ouch. DAMN, ruth. I'm always glad to see you coming back home to Star Wars but also this one hurt.

Oh, this is beautiful.

Oh, this is lovely. Chewie's perspective on the OT trio is so interesting and insightful.

So lovely, and so heartbreaking!

Something about traveling with these kids makes Han feel very old, and he’s not even that much older.

Sure, the princess is pampered and the farmboy can be painfully naïve, but they’ve each lost their homes in a pretty horrifying way, so it’s not like they’re strangers to hardship, and they face it with the same dauntless idealism. That’s the thing, though, they’re too young to have lost what they have, but they don’t ever give up, not for long, they just fight to make the star sector a better place, and they shouldn’t have had to make the choices that they have.

I love this so much!

thank you! it's been fun to dip my feet back into the star wars fandom, it's been a few years but i still love these stories a lot

Star Wars is one I always come back to as well. It was one of my first fandoms (if you call a kindergartener swinging around imaginary lightsabers and making up bedtime stories about Jedi for her younger brother a fandom) and will always be close to my heart. And you beautifully captured some of my favorite things about it here.

Awesome! Han seeing the twins' similarities in their idealism and determination is great, as is the reminder that Han isn't all that much older than they are despite feeling a lot older.

thank you! i think the Official Timeline puts him at about eight years older, and they're all just sad kids at the end of the day.

They are children still – nineteen years old and the leaders of a rebellion. Nineteen years old and seen too much death. Nineteen years old and no family left but each other and whomever they find.

Han remembers his own young childhood and the exploits of the Republic’s hero on the news. He wasn’t so young he didn’t remember. He had almost had a heart attack when Luke told him who Vader was. Han couldn’t help the twinge of betrayal that made itself known in his heart. Anakin had been a hero! General Skywalker had been his hero. But, he supposes when he looks up some of the old videos to show the twins of their father and his birthdate is displayed on the screen for just a second before he clicks away, he was young too. Nineteen years old and a General of the Republic Army, kark he was on frontlines when he was nineteen.

They tell him who their mother was and Han vividly remembers her too, he remembers hoping to see her, just once, to know that she cared about Corellia too. And he pulls up her speech to the senate during the Siege of Naboo, he has never seen this one – it occurred before he was born but- and it hits him. The Queen of Naboo is a position most often held by children. His hand shakes as he types out her name, just to click away quickly, the date burned into his mind. She was fourteen. No wonder the twins chased trouble and responsibility and helped everyone they came across. Their parents had both been so young when they started themselves.

Chewie had stuck around Han since he had met him – the kid was so young to be punting himself into danger. He is there when Han comes into the mess hall with shaking hands, listens to the kid’s blabbering about heroes and the twins, about too young burdens and he pats him on the back. He tells Han that he is just like them, escaping circumstances they had no control over or being controlled by those circumstances. Too young to help but determined to nonetheless.

Chewie tells Han it is a valuable trait, but one that requires support. Chewie doesn’t say it but he is that support for the three of them, him and R2. The droid knew more than he let on and for some reason was fiercely protective of the twins. The kids could be their helping selves because their elders were there to help them.

Trojan War Cycle, Aeneas/Cassandra, in my head, i replay our conversations/over and over til they feel like hallucinations/you know me, i love to lose my mind

It's as they leave Carthage that Aeneas discovers he has begun to forget the beginnings and ends of their conversations--a coincidence so frightful he can only imagine it one last punishment from the gods for Dido's grief. With the years, with the annual smoke and sacraments, he sacrifices one trivial detail after another until he wonders if they might ever have been.
It's in old age that he comes to see this as a gift: in this way, at least, he can learn her anew, can tell himself stories of what might have been and believe them, if only this once.
(A bitter gift on Mother's part; but then again, they always are.)

Edited 2022-01-20 18:10 (UTC)

Noooooo oh Aeneas, baby. BITTER GIFTS FROM MOTHER. He can believe whatever he wants of her when he's old!!! THE TRAGEDY OF IT ALL.

I. mean. the whole Dido debacle was Aphrodite helping him out! (Which it did! Only...in a really traumatic and terrible way. Whoops.)

Trojan War Cycle, Aeneas/Cassandra, i did not believe because i could not see/though you came to me in the night

Would he know, she wonders, the scrape of her nail, the shape of her hips as they rested together in the dark? Might he know the hush of her breathing, the hue of her hair under starlight?
No, no, no, comes the answer, and her heart sinks--
But she would.

Poor Cassandra, and her dreams that can never be. I do love her strength in clinging to that one last point though - that she knows, even if he wouldn't. That's always the rub in it for them, isn't it?

Trojan War Cycle, Aeneas/Cassandra, do you still think i’m beautiful/when you light me in flames/my love is so bountiful

"How long will you tarry here among your kinsmen, my prince?" grumbles the Dardanian ambassador; Aeneas imagines he has been instructed to do so by Father, who tires of leading his assemblies alone.
"At least until the marriages of my cousins are concluded," he replies, "only imagine how it would look to slight any of Priam's mighty sons"; but his eyes are fixed on one cousin in particular, the brightest and dearest (and maddest) of them all.
Her hair gleams like dark fire, and Aeneas itches to burn.

Oh my god, that last sentence!! Gorgeous and perfect and not a little hot. And how sad is that little "and maddest" parenthetical? That tiny little flaw that can never be forgotten, that will always come between her and anyone else, even him. BABIES.

(Also lol at the ambassador being instructed to grumble.)

The last sentence was the first thing that came to me after reading that prompt, and then I had to build the rest of the fill around it, lol.
(Minor detail, "maddest". Poor babies :(

any, any, we will find illumination in unnatural light

It is not Attolis' indifferent greeting that warns his Queen that something is wrong, nor the unearthly silence that follows in his wake; but rather the too-bright gleam of his eyes, with all the sharp humor and none of the subtle kindness.
Well, then.
Irene lets her arms fall to her side, and silently begins to beseech the Great Gods yet again for Gen's return.

Fandom is the Queen's Thief

Edited (adding fandom!) 2022-01-20 18:40 (UTC)

OOhhh this is lovely! I love how you describe Gen, and Irene is just like: "here we go again, sigh" lol.

I was astounded at how chill Irene is during that whole thing, so *of course* she would be here, too XD!

I went ahead and reread the scene, and I love what this adds -- the expansion of what's going on in Attolia's mind, and the commentary on what it's like to see the gods, and the too-bright gleam of his eyes, with all the sharp humor and none of the subtle kindness. Oh, I love this note, the differences between Gen and his god. <3

And the "well, then" -- so much work in those two words, from the resignation to the her sharp awareness of what happened and what she ought to be about it, and of course the "...time to pray again". And how that feels to me like equalizes her relationship with the gods, even as she's petitioning, and how pragmatic her response is to the whole divine possession thing. xD

And also, the switch in naming from Attolis and the queen to Irene and Gen and the end -- lovely!

I really wanted to drag in the fallout of the battle just pre-climax too, when Irene is riding in the fog, but I figured that might be one prayer to save Gen too much *laughs* Poor Irene; for such a surprisingly upbeat book (given the bloodbath I feared it was going to be), she really goes through it, doesn't she?

Ha, her life gets more differently complicated with each book! (And presumably in the future, too.) But having a marriage in which the gods invite themselves in all the time does not help. :p

I really need to reread -- increasingly I just remember the feel of the book instead of the actual events!

*laughs* I feel like I always end up rereading the series around Yuletide to treat; this past year was the first in a long time I didn't, and I kind of missed it. (The allurement of seeing if I could someday management Yet Another Angsty-And-Ridiculous Gen/Attolia AU (TM) notwithstanding XD)

Oh, I love the strangeness of possessed-Gen, and how Irene sees it immediately because he lacks kindness! All the other stuff, well, that could just have been Gen plotting something, but not that part.

The light of sun and fire are anathema to this cursed estate, for it has a light of its own, leaving the world outlined in inescapable whispers.

The darkness eats away at them, their torches long dead, yet as long as they draw breath, they stand together, and strike towards the heart of this place, lit only by the illumination of its unnatural light.

The four of them will succumb to this place, in the end, but they will cut a gash through it, and those that follow will tear it wide, and it shall no more escape the light.

Gosh, I love the rhythm of this, and the last line is just wonderful and bittersweet. <3

Any light and any color can be found or made from what already exists and he just needs to teach himself to see – sometimes that means working late into the night in a darkened studio, or changing his distance from the canvas and letting his eyes unfocus, or taking another swallow of beer. Other times, it takes a quietly observant woman who couldn’t always concentrate, to take him apart and put him back together in red dashes and yellow commas, and the only way he can tell her what that means to him is by exploring the light she catches on his blank page.

Even so, George misses a lot, and continually wants to begin something new.

"Otouto, you should come to bed," Hashirama said, slow and cautious, eyeing the stacks of notes and ink splatters covering Tobirama's bench. He'd started a manic phase a few hours ago, and the notes Hashirama could read through the messy scrawl and splotches were - frightening; mind attack jutsus blending the worst of the Sharingan and the Yamanaka clan techniques, diagrams of Uchiha eyeballs, theorizations on pocket space, not to mention the zombies from last time were being... improved.

"Not now, I can't," Tobirama said, reaching for the lamp seal that cast an unnatural blue tinge on the room, "I'm on the edge of a breakthrough!"

I love that list of different things in those notes, and that lamp seal!

haha, thank you! I've noticed that a lot of people, when they talk about mad scientist Tobirama, only talk about the zombie thing... come on! surely he had other weird, horrifying projects?

any, any, you will travel a thousand miles without leaving my sight

I love this song!
The problem with happily ever afters, Belle realizes, is that eventually they grow too close, too confined, too contradictory to what she had longed for in a poor provincial town; but she knows just as well that an ex-enchanted prince and his servants will need years of work yet to put together what's left of their past lives, and must be reluctant to travel after a decade of living as near-recluses, and so she presses her lips together and hopes to find something there that might render her content. She does her best to conceal her restlessness, always neatly returning her atlases to the library, always pretending to pay attention when Cogsworth drones on about crop rotation, always almost forgetting that once she had craved adventure.
But: "Here," rumbles her husband, pressing the magic mirror into her hands and setting her free once more, "take this and know that no matter where you go, I'll be with you."

I love this! :)

thank you! :)

This is lovely! I love your take on Belle always continuing to want adventure, and her husband supporting her in this, it's a very sweet look at their relationship!

The whole point of Belle's "I want" song is "for once it might be grand/to have someone understand/I want so much more than they've got planned" (bad paraphrase mine), and I jumped at the idea of writing an epilogue where Beast gets to prove that--thank you so much :)

Oh, this is lovely, and I love the way the prose just pulled me in. <3 It makes so much sense to me, too that she would be impatient and that the palace wouldn't be enough for her. And oh, the mirror! So romantic, so lovely, that he perceives her restlessness that she doesn't speak about and then figures out a way to work it out. <3

(and the song is great! :D It came on shuffle this morning, and I knew I wanted to see what the 3SF folks could do with it -- so thank you for filling!)

The two things that line puts me in mind of is reading and magic mirrors, and they're both *so* Belle XD!
(Oof, yes; Vienna Teng lyrics are just the perfect 3SF prompts. Or just perfect in general, really.)

Ah! It's funny, because my associations with that are far-seeing mirrors, or philosophical investigation, or two people who go on long journeys together, but their home is each other. Oh, and now I'm thinking about space travel! :D Very different interpretations!

It's why I love her poetry so much--it makes sense in so many different ways :D

Aww, lovely! :)

Thank you:)

Though Inej had left, she had not left Kaz’s sight: He knew the news from every harbor, of course, his and rival gangs’ harbors alike, learning whispers of the news from the sea—and when two men dipped in tar and crow feathers had graced the Stadhall’s entrance, he’d not even needed his informants—but he had gone further than that, too: He’d paid off crew members from merchant ships to bring him the news directly from the sea, so that he could follow all of her exploits.

Inej could handle herself—she’d earned quite the name for herself, actually; the name Captain Ghafa slipped along the docks of the harbor in fearful whispers, and the corner of Kaz’s mouth tipped up each time he heard—but it made him feel safer to know what she was up to; it was like a net, though she’d surely refuse this net, too, if she knew.

He leaned on his cane as he stood on one of the docks and watched the sun emerge from the horizon—and somewhere on that distant horizon, Inej scoured the sea of slavers, as he kept watch from afar.

This is so gorgeous! I love the quiet pining, and Inej being amazing at sea.

Thank you! ❤︎ Inej becoming a captain is hands-down my favorite part of the ending of CK, and I love exploring how it might affect her and Kaz's relationship.

"I miss you. . ." Red sounds forlorn even through the tinny, faraway connection - not that Henri needed that to know, he thinks, both because he knows his boyfriend and because. . .

Henri turns over the Three of Swords and the Five of Cups, both of them crossing the Sun.

"I miss you, too." he admits, because for all his easy knowledge - Red might as well be here beside him - it isn't the same as having Red at his side, warm and sweet.

Henri's tarot cards are: Three of Swords for loneliness, suffering, and potentially heartbreak; Five of Cups for sadness associated with loss, but with a chance to regain what was lost; the Sun because it represents their relationship to Henri (joy and harmonious companionship). And yes they're overdramatic here; so is Red. >.>

Ahhh, I love tarot symbolism, so this is lovely, especially the way you play with what is said and foretold and known!

(and thank you for explaining the symbolism!)

Thank you! Henri carries his tarot deck everywhere in canon so he makes such a wonderful excuse to play with the symbolism in stories~

Any fandom, any characters, Regency AU

When the General asks her to dance, Miss Alina Starkov cannot help but laugh, though she knows her laugh is not at all ladylike, the twist of her mouth too honest and too sour for the taste of the ton. “And what would the King’s right hand - and the most notorious rake in Ravka, I might add - possibly want with an orphan girl from the provinces?” she asks, surprised when he takes her hand in a firm grip despite her protests, the heat of his skin - or, quite possibly, her own - palpable even though her gloves.

“Do you think yourself so unimportant, Miss Starkov?” the General asks, in a voice low enough that she moves closer to hear, into the waiting circle of his arms; close enough for him to murmur his next words against her ear, indecently close: “Rest assured that I believe there is far more to you than meets the eye, and I mean to uncover each and every one of your secrets, sweet girl.”

(Well, this was predictable.)

Predictable but AWESOME! Oh, I so want more ♥

Be careful what you ask for.
*
She awakens the next morning to a loud thump as Genya sets down a bouquet of flowers that is, Alina finds upon opening her eyes, frankly embarrassing in its size and profusion of blooms, all white and gold and black, the color announcing who they’re from as clear as the card with its single bold K.

“Well, my dear,” her friend says, “you’ve certainly made yourself the talk of the ton - the gossips won’t waste any time passing around the fact that the General has had the most expensive flowers in Ravka delivered straight from the Grisha greenhouses to your door; he may as well have declared his intentions to win you before the entire court.”

“Win me,” Alina mutters, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, “what, as though I’m a prize at the county fair,” and even through the baffled surprise of it all, she doesn’t miss the slanting look Genya gives her before she says, “More akin to the spoils of war, I should think, darling - and you’d best get out of that bed, because he’ll be here within the hour.”

Edited 2022-01-23 11:34 (UTC)

"My son, Adrian," the count said, setting his hand on the shoulder of quite literally the most beautiful boy Trevor had ever seen. "I trust he meets your approval, Lord Belmont?"

Trevor's father took a sip from his crystal tumbler and sighed. "It doesn't matter whether he meets my approval. What matters is whether he's willing to marry a Belmont in order to bridge the rift between our families once and for all."

Adrian's golden gaze skipped over to Trevor, sweeping over him with a shocking intensity. "Yes, I am."

Trevor's father set the tumbler down with a clack of finality. "Then it's settled. When they're twenty-one, they shall wed."

And just like that, Trevor's future was set in stone: that beautiful boy would one day be his husband.

Any book-to-movie fandom, Any, book characters react to their depiction in the movie (or vice versa) (or any historical character complain about their depiction in pop culture)

"Well," Howl said, very righteous, "We should stop having wars. And I am handsome and misunderstood." Sophie snorted, and was about to say something to puncture his self-regard when he leaned over and added, "But they didn't draw you nearly pretty enough."

Oh, I'm so charmed! And perfect Howl voice and Sophie snort. :D

Awww, how cute! I love it!

This is such a perfect Howl voice, you have no idea--and I loved Sophie's response.
(Yes! I love the visuals of the movie, but young Sophie has never looked quite right to me; but then again, I'm still in a snit that she doesn't have ging...er, red-gold hair as in the book.)

oh NO it's too cute :D

Things that unexpectedly disappoint - A hototogisu that refuses to sing. The sudden crow of a cock when you are immersed in nighttime conversation. Men who swear they love you but send their poems late.

A translation of your book in which the translator has made insinuations about your honesty and accuracy. You cannot defend yourself against these accusations, because you are dead.

It's also disappointing when everyone insists on mentioning your name together with the name of someone you do not care about, simply because you wrote at the same court. People will also insist there was a bitter rivalry between you two, when you barely used to think of her at all.

Hearing her name with yours is disappointing even after you learn to expect it, and after a while, you begin to dislike her after all.

Edited 2022-01-21 08:49 (UTC)

*laughs* Poor Sei Shonagon, how she would HATE us all pairing her with Murasaki. I can see the screeds against AO3 being composed at once.

She does not know what this thing is that the commoners call shipping, but she is sure it is infuriating and they are doing it wrong.

Thank you! :D

That is so in her voice and she would flay people with words. Amazing!

Thank you! :D

Brilliant!

Thank you! :D

Wade pulls off his mask and brings the comic book closer to his face.

"What the shit on a cracker crap nonsense is this... 'Nessa, you never told me you could shapeshift into even hotter forms... like Bea Arthur!"

He tosses the comic behind him and throws himself back down on Vanessa while screaming "do it" over and over again.

A book bounces off a wall in the library of Wittenberg University and Horatio looks up with a mild, “My lord?”

“Would you believe,” the prince seethes, “that there’s an entire bevy of scholars convinced that I’m in love with my mother and want to – eurgh – sleep with her?” He shudders and adds, “That’s gross, it’s unnatural, and it’s bad enough that I have images of her sleeping with her husband’s brother crawling through my head all the time, and now I have to read this too?”

*laughs* Poor Hamlet! Let's hope he never finds the conjecture about Ophelia's jilting/pregnancy/insert scandalous reason for suicide here....

oh nooo, that would be terrible! it probably wouldn't make him as actively distressed as the oedipal complex theories, but it would be the last straw

"Of course I do not blame you sir, nor require a retraction, I am sure I would not presume to dictate to an author his craft. But for the future, if you could kindly drop a hint to Mr. Paget regarding the illustrations?"

"You have my word Inspector," I promised, regretting once again that I had been every bit as blunt and impolite in my first description of Lestrade as I often accused my friend Holmes of being, even if the resemblance to a rat was unfortunately still accurate.

Robin Hood, Marian(/Robin), daemon AU

The archer making his bow to the Prince and his entourage looks familiar, but Marian can't quite place him until, while John's distracted, Fortigin shoves his nose under her ear and hisses, "That was Perfilia!"

Marian's breath quickens. The archer's daemon had looked to be a pine marten, not the sleek red fox she remembered from their childhood...! "Are you sure?"

"I'll never forget her scent." Fortigin settles back into Marian's lap, every inch the proper lady's daemon to all appearances, and the two of them endeavored to not look like they were watching the the stranger to the exclusion of all others.

Awww! I love the way the daemons end up changing things. :D

The Disney movie references are so cute--and I love how Fortigin immediately figures it out, disguise/settling unexpectedly or not. This is great!

Historical RPF, Anne Neville (/Richard III), When you are young, they assume you know nothing

“Ah, Anne,” Richard says, and grimaces, pulling at one shoulder with the opposite hand, as he does more and more often these days. “You say that now, but you may not always feel so - you should have caution, for who knows what manner of man I’ll grow into, at this rate.”

“A good one,” she insists, and tugs at him until he tips into the solar’s window seat with a groan of defeat, where she can climb up beside him to dig her small fists into the knotted muscles trying their best to straighten his frame, “and I will so marry you, you’ll see.”

Small stubborn Anne is the best Anne, it is true. And how much do I love her care for him, her ability to help him when he most needs it???

I love the thought of like, tiny little eight year old Anne ineffectually pushing her fists into his back, and it's not really doing Richard any good physically, but it lets him know that someone cares about him and how he feels and that's really more important and makes him feel better than anything else could, anyhow. Kid!them are so damn cute.

They are so cute: like it's horrifying, honestly, to think about how young they historically get pushed into adult responsibilities like marriage and warfare. But at least in this way they get a bit of time to just be happy and innocent before their world falls apart....

Oh yes, for sure - Richard being Edward's right hand at such a young age, even if it's basically by default after everyone else dies or proves themselves to be THE WORST (looking at you, George), is terrible to think about from a modern perspective, much less poor Anne.

Queen's Thief, Gen & Irene & Dite, Standing by and waiting at your back door / All this time how could you not know / Baby, you belong with me

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Page 47 of 50

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

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It was predictable, really

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had to take a stab at it

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Severus and Ron, Rematch

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FF7, Cloud(/Zack)

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Promises (Naruto; Kakashi, (Obito))

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Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan (timey-wimey!SID, the AU)

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and the Required Paperwork

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It's a No (A Man Who Defies The World Of BL; Mob/Kikuchi)

Tiger & Bunny, Barnaby/Kotetsu, Puccini

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Sister (Naruto; Sakura & Naruto)

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Gee Raz How Come You Get Two Sets Of Parents (Psychonauts; Razputin & Sasha, Milla)

Soothing and Steady (Inuyasha; Sesshoumaru & Rin)

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so a hundred years ago I wrote in this Marauder Rhombus rock band AU? And now they like me are old.

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Beru Lars

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Shmi Skywalker

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By the Trees, they never learn -- Star Wars OT

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