Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

[rthstewart]

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.

<br /><a href="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/172142.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/172142.html"><img src="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/file/71907.jpg" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/file/71907.jpg" alt="" title="3 Sentence Ficathon 2022 Banner" /></a>




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!



      

Comments

[hogwartstoalexandria]

Ally McBeal, Ally/Larry, the letter was not a goodbye.

[hogwartstoalexandria]

Lost in Space, Don/John/Maureen, love a Robinson, love all Robinsons

[whynot]

It's like Maureen has this down to a science too, because that's not a sound that Don expected John to make. Don keeps up a steady rhythm, but it's Maureen that takes John apart piece by piece.

She meets Don's eyes, and says, "You're next."

[hogwartstoalexandria]

The Good Wife, Diane/Any, too good for you

[ruanchunxian]

any, any ship, take my hand/wreck my plans/that's my man

Dragonball Z, Vegeta/Bulma

[raisedbymoogles]

He would have been the strongest warrior in the cosmos. He would have rebuilt his people's supremacy, forged an empire his father never could have dreamed of. And he would have had his pick of bedmates, male and female, Saiyan and alien, a different lover every night.

Instead, he lay in Bulma's bed, listening to her snore softly in his ear and idly contemplating making an offer to her about this whole Earth 'monogamy' business, and he still wasn't sure how he'd come to be here.

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, "What I can protect, I can also destroy!"

Trust and Love (Leverage, Eliot/Parker)

[ultra_fic]

"Don't you understand, I'm not built for this, for a relationship, it's not going to work, Parker!"

When he tries to walk away she gets in his path, hands on his shoulders, gaze meeting his own, as determined as he could ever hope to be himself.

"I trust you, Eliot," she promises him, glad to see most of the anger, fear, and doubt dissolve from his eyes in the seconds that follow, "and I love you."

[(Anonymous)]

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, any, If Rhoam wasn't such a shitty father-!

[raisedbymoogles]

The Princess came up from the Spring of Courage with an impressive collection of mosquito bites and a mild case of what the locals called Octorok fever. It had been Link who carried her back, giving Urbosa a helpless, apologetic look as he passed to put her to bed in the stable.

"She's going to kill herself before Ganon even gets to her," Revali complained, restlessly fidgeting with an arrow.

"Well, if she does, I'll know who to blame," Urbosa muttered. Mipha frowned at her knees and Daruk rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, but nobody argued. They'd all been thinking it, but Urbosa was the only one with the rank to get away with saying it.

[(Anonymous)]

FFVII, pre-game Sephiroth, cherry blossoms and lotus petals

[(Anonymous)]

FFVII, Sephiroth and Cloud, silk skirts and satin pillows

A Vision In Silk (Set before Cloud is Mako-infused and gets Zack's memories)

[silveradept]

The soldiers all talk about which house they're going to as they go off duty, with the names of the women and the outfits they're going to pay for, whether leather, linen, silk, or something else.

"Sometimes I think it would be nicer to lay down these burdens and live a life more like the ones they seek comfort with," Sephiroth said after he had believed the room empty.

Cloud, the single sentry assigned to make sure Sephiroth was taken care of properly, silently agreed with him, carefully nurturing the hope they could both wear silk instead of steel before there had to be more killing.

[(Anonymous)]

Transformers G1 cartoon, Prowl/Jazz, Just for once will you please stay down and let me spoil you?

[(Anonymous)]

FFVII:R, Aeris Gainsborough, AU where OG!Lifestream-goddess Aeris side-slipped into the remake instead of Sephiroth.

[kalira]

any, any, highlight reel of my mistakes

One More Second Chance (MCU, Bucky)

[ultra_fic]

When he's lying there, the end coming up fast, he finds that it's true what they say about life flashing before your eyes.

He sees it all, every high, every low, a whole barrage of terrible tragedies and awful mistakes he can never take back... and just a few that he stands a chance of at least making amends for.

In that moment, Bucky forces himself to stand up and keep on fighting, because the world might think it's done with him, but he's not done with it yet!

[last_haven]

Beetlejuice and Addams Family crossover, Lydia+Wednesday, bonding over something they have in common (what that thing happens to be is up to you, the writer)

Introductions (Beetlejuice x Addams Family; Lydia & Wednesday)

[kalira]

"Idiots. Why should that be scary?"

Lydia turns to the new girl from school - she'd seen her walk in and already been able to hear the taunts from the bullies, many of the same ones Lydia hears herself, even before anyone else saw her - and frowns just a little before glancing aside to find that, yes, Barbara and Adam - who have just scared away a boy who followed her home - are still there.

"My family talk to our ghosts all the time," Wednesday says simply, then extends a hand; Lydia isn't sure if it's to her or Barbara, close at her side, "I'm Wednesday Addams. Dead people have the best stories."

[elementalraven]

Narnia/Sleeping Beauty, Susan/Aurora, the princess in the tower

[last_haven]

They found her in the White Witch's castle, locked away in the highest tower, when Aslan first started awakening the statues. "Interesting," Alsan had said before breathing her awake and leaving her with Susan, one firm look telling her to watch over the trembling girl.

Susan pulled her--Aurora, the princess whispered with chattering teeth as the tower was always cold--close and rubbed warmth into her hands. She was barely older than Susan herself, and even more alone than she. She clung to Susan, for warmth, for comfort.

"I've got you," Susan murmured, lifting Aurora's fingers to her mouth to breathe on them; when that failed, she pressed kisses to her knuckles to apply the warmth directly. "I won't leave you."

"Promise?" Aurora's voice was so small, but her eyes were so wide and dark as the sea and oh, when the bards would sing of her beauty, Susan would understand them entirely.

"I do."

Finally, the other girl smiled and Susan knew she was willing to spend the rest of her life doing whatever she would need to protect that smile.

[ultra_fic]

Labyrinth, Jareth/adult!Sarah, fairytale wedding

[last_haven]

Toby grins and grabs something that's probably supposed to be an hor d'oeuvre but honestly looks more like a woodchip with gunky pebbles on top and feeds it to the baby goblin he's bouncing in his lap. "Oh, come on, mom," he laughs as she yelps away from the fiery shoving a platter of champagne in her face. "At least Sarah only meant this kind of fairytale when she talked about her wedding."

His mother blanched. "I honestly would have preferred it if she'd been a bridezilla."

[last_haven]

Labyrinth, Sarah (or Sarah/Any), she's a changeling or half fae

[senmut]

In some ways, Sarah feels like she's always known, but it took facing the Goblin King in his own seat of power to know for certain. She watches the way her father acts, and understands he's known this might come to pass, making her wonder more about her mother, and what happened there.

Before her father can undo what she knows she is, Sarah slips away, giving her hand to Ludo to let him be her guide into the realm of Faerie.

[sixbeforelunch]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake/Amy, baby booties.

[ruanchunxian]

If there was a silver lining to the pandemic, it was that Amy had an unexpectedly longer maternity leave, which gave her more precious hours with Mac, but there were also enough unoccupied hours that eventually drove her to cave to her mother’s nagging and took up crocheting to past the time.

Her first completed project – a pair of booties for Mac – was far from a masterpiece, but she couldn’t resist showing them off to Jake when he got home from work.

He laughed and cradled the booties in his palm, leaning in to kiss her before commenting affectionately, “I think Dobby would be proud of how delightfully wonky these turned out, babe.”

[be_themoon]

Middlegame (Seanan McGuire), Rodger/Dodger, what if the whole world is ours

[sixbeforelunch]

Star Trek:TNG, Data & Spot, catnap

Best Seat in the House

[word_devourer]

"I apologize for the inconvenience," he says, "but I'm afraid there has been an unexpected adjustment that leaves me incapable of joining you at this time."

Data's is satisfied that, if nothing else, the request he has been forced to deny is at least minor; he is of course required to take the path that will result in the least harm, and if his understanding of human culture is appropriate, to leave his current position would be to break a significant taboo.

Spot purrs gently, asleep on his lap, and Data observes him, wondering whether the steady positive feedback of his brain at the gentle weight is appropriate considering the fact that he was not designed to enjoy proprioceptive feedback.

[sixbeforelunch]

Stargate SG1, Teal'c&/Vala, strength

fill: observational frailties

[(Anonymous)]

She's getting very lax at studying those around and should have caught it from the beginning. But it takes Vala far too long to realize that Teal'c is there, always at her back to keep her steady.

Having someone to catch her when she falls gives her the impetus to move forwards, not worried that either of them will fall now.

[be_themoon]

Locked Tomb Series, Camilla/Palamedes, those late nights in Canaan House

[intrikate88]

Cam knows, she knows, that Palamedes wouldn't have confronted Cytherea without having anchored his soul firmly to his own bones; they had worked for years to make sure that neither of their deaths would be the end even before they came to Canaan House, and the revelations that they learned during the Lyctor trials just added confirmation.

But god, does it feel like he's gone, and she lives for the moments of morning when she wakes up and hasn't remembered yet. When it could have just been another morning after a late night of research at Canaan House when they fell asleep in the big necromancer bed before either of them could make a halfhearted move towards the propriety of the cavalier cot. When they had identified the traditional path to Lyctorhood, and the need to forge a better one.

[ultra_fic]

MCU, Bucky, once I was real, once I was somebody's friend

Once - Brad Caleb Kane

[peaked]

The Soldat feels nothing; he stares at his metal arm and admires the congealing blood coating the bullet silver. Within the peripherals of his vision, a body lays discarded and broken like a doll at his feet. He cares little for it; he stares at the tight fist of Hydra as blood pools and drips from his unbroken lifelines. Another mission, completed.

When the Soldat disappears, tucking himself back into his cage, Bucky steps forward, his metal arm shaking like a feather being battered back and forth by the storm’s fiercest winds, and he drops to his bruised knees and sobs. He stares down at his left hand, the glittering, shiny metal covered and dripping in dark red blood. Another counter mission failed.

[sixbeforelunch]

Star Trek: Rihannsu novels, Spock/Ael, "I could make you my emperor consort."

[ernest]

A Midsummer Night's Dream/Romeo and Juliet/Hamlet, Hermia & Rosaline & Ophelia, 'chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon'

[betony]

There is a sisterhood that calls to some: those barred from love, like the diminutive Athenian maiden who keeps the account books; those disappointed in love, like the elfin-faced woman who tends to the gardens; and those who've defeated all attempts to have love thrust upon them like the broad-shouldered woman who greets you at the door. Spinsters will be superstitous, sneer the unworthy, and perhaps you remember whispers of arcane rites, but at night, when they lead you to the rooftop, all they do is tilt your head up towards the unbound stars.
"All this," they say, "is ours."

[ernest]

Hamlet/Romeo and Juliet, Ophelia/Juliet, palm to palm

[smallhobbit]

They stood together on one side of the ballroom, and slowly their hands crept towards each other until they were standing palm to palm. Then they began to sway together in time to the music and both knew at that moment where their destinies lay. Hamlet and Romeo were forgotten, discarded along with the family feuds, and Ophelia and Juliet took off into a world of their own making.

[ernest]

Othello, Desdemona/Emilia, something their husbands can't ruin

[little_lady_d]

What faults women have, they learn from their husbands — from their abuse, their neglect, their infidelity — yet Emilia cannot call what she feels for her mistress a fault. Without their husbands, they might never have met, but what comes next must be of their own choosing. “Come away with me,” she says to Desdemona — if this is infidelity, let her be an infidel, break her troth, and begin anew.