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

[mad_madam_m]

any, any, anniversaries

Marking Bloody Dates (Naruto; Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto)

[kalira]

Sakura put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, shaking her head. "I know where he'll be." she said softly, and left him behind, watching her with a small frown that wasn't quite puzzlement and owed more to concern.

Sakura bit her lip on a sympathetic sigh as she approached the Memorial Stone . . . and the lone figure there marking yet another of the days that had ripped something - someone - away from him.

[mad_madam_m]

any, any, holidays

Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[presumenothing]

"Dixing doesn't have holidays?!" Zhao Yunlan exclaims, words slipping out aghast before his brain catches up with the (unhelpfully late) reminder that up until relatively recent history Dixing hadn't even had an agreed-upon calendar.

Shen Wei doesn't point out the obvious, only says, "There isn't much to celebrate, as a rule," – but he's wrong in that, at least.

Zhao Yunlan would know; he's looking right at the proof of it.

[mad_madam_m]

any, any, snow day

Littlewood, Hero & Dark

[raisedbymoogles]

I was already so cold from my inadvertent nap in the Dust Caverns and subsequent early-morning air balloon ride that I didn't even notice the snow until I stepped out onto the platform and it went softly crunch underfoot.

Huh. Winter already?

I must've been giving the crisp white vista a befuddled look longer than I realized: I blinked back to reality with Dark at my shoulder, shoving a mug of something spiced and steaming into my freezing hands and nudging me homewards, and if there were any lingering doubts about him not being the Dark Wizard anymore they would have been quelled if anyone saw how he fussed over the Hero's well-being.

[kalira]

any, any, somebody make me feel alive/and shatter me
Shatter Me - Lindsey Stirling, Lzzy Hale

Amalie, Twelve Houses series by Sharon Shinn

[raisedbymoogles]

Books had been her first love since she was small, but the older she got, the closer the palace walls pressed in around her, and Amalie retreated into tomes of myth and history more and more. She loved the stories of far-off places, of heroes and monsters and of pig-keepers becoming kings, of good triumphing over wickedness and of happiness coming to the pure of heart.

Meanwhile, rumors of war hissed through the halls and Amalie couldn't even walk in the castle town for her father's fears; she would never hurt her father or Valri for the world, but sometimes Amalie wished for a dragon or a dashing rogue to drop into her lonely tower and upend the silver snowglobe of her world.

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, “in the slide of a bolt there’s a tiny revolt”

Naughty - Matilda the Musical Official Cast Recording

FFVII, no the timelines likely don't match up and no I do not care :D

[(Anonymous)]

The Professor had been angry today. Project Sephiroth had been timed and measured on the machines and the weights and the treadmills for hours, far longer than he ever had been before, and the Professor had snapped at him every time his muscles trembled more than was acceptable. Project Sephiroth had kept his head down and done the exercises again, and again, and again, as commanded.

Held close and tight in his heart where he kept all of his secrets was the tiny click of a bolt being pushed back, of a gasp and the patter of running feet, of two pairs of luminous green eyes meeting his at a distance and a little girl mouthing, thank you.

Professor Hojo could keep being angry. Project Sephiroth wasn't the one who left the specimens' door unlocked, held closed only by a single bolt.

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, a genderbend that has a significant effect on the plot

Pathologic, trans woman Rubin

[ernest]

(this fits in with a longer fic I wrote about Rubin's whole journey, Sewing Together Guts And Soul but should also make sense on its own)

For the longest time Rubin possessed a life that didn’t matter and would have laid it down without question if that’s what the Town needed, but now, after being handed a slip of paper and taken below the earth, she – not Stakh, but Ksenia – can see for the first time that if *her* life has value, then perhaps no one’s blood has to be spilled.

“We’ll need a couple dozen IV drips so the Humbles can replenish their fuels, an alembic or two which Cub should be happy to donate, and a suitable nutrient broth to sustain the Living Blood as you draw it out of them. Oh, and while you’re at it, Devotress, I’d like to have my hormones sorted out for good.”

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, “I’m pretty sure I’m worthless if I can’t be of service”

Surface Pressure - Jessica Darrow (from "Encanto")

Transformers G1 cartoon, S3

[(Anonymous)]

"Hey, no problem. What's a Prime for, huh?"

"Woah, let me get that. Pretty sure it's in my weight class."

"Wait there; I'll go check it out. We aren't putting civilians in harm's way if we can help it."

After the one time that throwing himself directly at the danger hadn't saved anyone, had instead destroyed so many lives including his own including that of the most important person in his world, what right did Rodimus Prime of all mechs have not to throw himself between danger and his people instead?

[(Anonymous)]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Juliet/Dawsey, their favourite book is Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, “try and catch a glimpse of them, bickering like mortal men”

Ravens in the Library - SJ Tucker

Original D&D

[(Anonymous)]

The forest was deep, fey and filled with marvels. Jie had not yet been outside its bounds, had seen the sky through clearings in the trees and peeking through leaves dappled in layers of sunlight, but spirits came and went as they will.

She crouched half under and half tangled inside a bush thick with young spring leaves, hardly daring to breathe, as a tiny translucent-blue dragonet coiled about their pile of berries and scolded a thieving magpie in a voice like distant, clattering windchimes.

[kalira]

any, any, merfolk

[ruthchinn]

"I'm pretty sure this isn't from my side of the family," Bo says.
Brian's eyes are wide. "...you know, Nari's scales might be my fault."
Neumia keeps splashing happily through the waves.

[kalira]

any, any, bloody fluff

Kingdom Hearts, Aerith & moogles

[raisedbymoogles]

There was a moment where hope guttered, where Leon's voice directing the battle fell silent and Cloud's sword drifted downward, where Yuffie started crying in sheer frustration and even Aerith, who had never been given to pessimism, began to falter. There's just too many Heartless, where's a Keyblade wielder when you need one- ...but they had forgotten, after so long being Radiant Garden's first-last-only line of defense, that they weren't the only ones fighting anymore.

"Show no mercy, kupo!" a high piping voice cried.

The Heartless were suddenly swarmed with flying pastel puffballs, each armed with weapons more outlandish than any Keyblade could hope for. Even when a moogle or several were injured and thrown back, they barely held still long enough for Aerith to heal them before charging back into the fray to inflict yet more cute, fluffy destruction on the enemy.

[kalira]

any, any, tempest in a teacup

Inception, Ariadne/Arthur

[kaminagi]

Arthur surveys the lavishly filled table, laden with sandwiches, shortcakes, and many mismatched teapots.

"Have some tea," Ariadne offers from the head of the table, holding out a teacup with rain falling from a cumulus cloud and a schooner knocked around by waves of pu-erh tea.

"Through the Looking Glass seems more your style," he comments, but takes a seat next to her, and watches her grin when he gently clinks a less stormy cup of Dragon Well tea against hers.

[kalira]

any, any, borrowing a sweater

Princess Tutu, Duck+Fakir

[last_haven]

This is all Duck knows of her changing back into a girl--one moment, she is floating on the calm waters of the pond, watching a trio of young girls, still thick with baby fat, as they twirl like the ballerinas they see sometimes at the academy. Somewhere on the dock behind her, she knows that Fakir is writing something although he is particularly protective of his work today, but still she is glad he is there, even as her heart aches, watching the girls.

And then the next moment, she sinks nearly two feet down into the muddy water with a squawk of shock, only having time to hear a half garbled "it worked!" coming from Fakir before icy water gushes into her ears. She jumps up, meaning to take flight from the cold, but there is something wrong with her wings--where are her feathers?--and then she is half tackled by something surprisingly warm. Reaching up with--fingers?!--with human hands, she finds herself half trapped, but courteously covered by a thick sweater.

"Whatever you do," Fakir manages through gritted teeth, giving the hem another tug down to try and cover more of her legs, "do not take that off until we get you something to actually wear."

Duck promptly forgets the cold water and returns the tackle with a hug of her own. The two of them must make quite the sight to the three little ballerinas on the other side of the pond, but right now, all Duck can do is burrow against Fakir and laugh and cry in joy.

[ruthchinn]

Star Wars, any, "it's not supposed to be that colour"

Retrofitting the Errant Venture

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Wedge Antilles rubbed his chin in a futile attempt to hide his growing smirk and commented, "I'm sure Karrde would sell you some undiluted paint if you paid the growing rate," but Booster Terrik had started steaming the moment Karrde's name left Wedge's lips.

"Rat bastard – reparations – lies," he sputtered before gaining momentum, "refraction index, my ass! That bastard sold me PINK PAINT!"

[kalira]

any, any, magic mirror

Pathologic, Daniil Dankovsky

[ernest]

The Specular Tower, they call it, the Crystal Rose, an incredible structure covered with mirrors and said to reflect the desires or true nature back to the person perceiving it; so why, thinks Daniil, does he see a building folded out of its own blueprints? His working theories are that his studious nature allows him to see past the illusion to the reality of the Polyhedron, or that as an incomplete creation himself he is doomed to see beginnings with no end in sight.

As it turns out, the real magic of these mirrors is the way the stairs within swallow themselves down and down until he is once more on the exterior of that Klein bottle of a town, playing in the sand with children who won’t hear him.

[cofax7]

LOTR/Silmarillion/etc, if orcs are descended from elves, does that mean they get to go to the Halls of Mandos when they die?

Orcs In the Halls

[(Anonymous)]

Orcs do go to Mandos, but no one except the Doomsman is happy to see them there:

the elves of Beleriand loathe them as ancient enemies, excepting for those who fear them as ancient enemies;

the rare Aman elves in the Halls have less personal experience with orcs and are usually correspondingly less overtly hostile, but still tend to assume orcs are stupid, ugly brutes with no redeeming features and so condescend accordingly;

and orcs themselves are seldom happy to see each other, due to a long history of leadership deliberately fostering a culture of backstabbing, selfishness, sadism, occasional cannibalism, and an extreme take on Might Makes Right, since the strongest person was always Morgoth or his eventual heir Sauron.

For most orcs, the Halls of Mandos are the first taste they’ve ever had of peace and they have no idea what to make of it.

No matter; Namo has eternity to teach them.

[cofax7]

LOTR/Silmarillion/The Hobbit, how is it that the goblins in The Hobbit could identify two swords that had not been seen for more than four thousand years? What kind of oral history do orcs have, anyway?

lizard brain memory maybe, idk XD

[cephy]

Some memories are written deep into the unconscious, unspoken but known nonetheless. Some wounds cut deep enough that the legend of the scars never entirely faces. Some sights - a flash of silver, a glint of steel - stir up those dark, forgotten corners of the mind and say "here, here is the fang that bites, here is that which would cut the heart from you; here is your doom".

[cofax7]

Star Wars/TCW/TBB/Book of Boba Fett, Boba runs into some little brothers

[demigodscum]

They never take their helmets off, but Boba can feel the way they stare at him, almost as if waiting for him to malfunction any second.

He's not sure whether they envy or pity the fact that he's the only one who isn't genetically modified, that he's the only son — but ultimately, it doesn't matter.

The clone guards treat Boba as much like an inmate as they do anyone else in here, and that's fine, really; Boba is a single child as far as he's concerned, and anyway, he'll be out of here and making his way through the galaxy soon enough.

[cofax7]

Crossover, Finisterre/Star Wars: nighthorses and Jedi?

(Finisterre is an SF universe created by CJ Cherryh in which human colonists become reliant on carnivorous telepathic horses to protect themselves from the dangerous ecosystem of their new planet.)

Fill: A Planet, Overflowing

[sideways]

The fragmented comlink at his feet is a problem; the angry woman still sighting down a crude kinetic rifle is another, her fear and fury so present in the Force he can feel the very shape of it: [radio] and [careless] and [dark stranger].

The beast is something else: the hint of fangs under lips do not hold Luke's attention as much as the overwhelming Force-pressure pushing onto him, into him, pricked ears and [curious, wary wanting] threatening to drown senses already battling for space on this strange, shouting planet.

Without thinking, he pushes back, desperately tries to gentle the creature's reaching like he might an overeager youngling with no grasp of their own strength; the beast snorts and throws its head up, [offended], and the woman jerks more alarmingly still, a note strung in unintentional harmony, barks ["Flicker!"]; and in that moment Luke, fledging Jedi Master, grasps just what has grown here on this stranded colony, forgotten by the agendas of Republic and Empire alike; and can only say, faintly, "Ah."

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, carnation, lily, lily, rose

Batwoman, Luke & Ryan

[swirlsngirls]

Luke wavered between four bouquets in the shop, unsure of what to bring his girlfriend—- bright orange carnations, elegant white Easter lilies, pink stargazer lilies, or the classic red roses.

“Oh, come on,” Ryan said, rolling her eyes at his indecision. “Mary will love whatever you give her.” Her smile turned cheeky. “Unless it’s poison ivy.”

Luke glared at her and picked up the stargazer lilies.

[(Anonymous)]

Star Wars, any, The Great Coruscant Baking Show

[archersangel]

Han settled down in a large. comfortable chair to watch his new favorite show as R2-D2 trundled up with a tray of snacks.

"Today half of our contestants will be making Jogan fruitcake, the rest will make Sic-Six-layer cake." The host/judge, a 6th generation bakery owner, was explaining. She reminded Han of a younger Mon Mothma, with an overly-elaborate hairdo.

R2 made warbling oooo! sound. Han nodded, chewing on some dried Bofa fruit.

[ernest]

Umineko, Beatrice(/Battler), I’m looking out for you but I don’t think you want to be found out

[ernest]

Umineko, Kanon, Sometimes you try to freeze time / 'Til the slots are a blur of spinning wheels

[little_lady_d]

For Kanon, the promise of the golden land was never something so abstract as the promise of rest after a hard day’s work, or the promise of eternity held in the gleaming curve of a ring — he wanted a new body, fashioned from some new and bright technology, and he wanted the right to live and be loved. Genji and Shannon could console themselves no matter which way the roulette spun, but Kanon had one chance to beat the house, to be a human.

“Kanon-kun is human,” Jessica insisted in her last breath, and his heart cried not enough of one, but for her sake he’d strike at the moon’s reflection until time stood still.

[ernest]

Pathologic, Haruspex, That is the path to Paradise / Likewise, the road to ruin

[ernest]

Pathologic, Bad Grief, "Never took blood, but I dressed for a red harvest. How it bloomed..."