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

[topaz_eyes]

Any, any, that’s when the hornet stung me

FFVII, Sephiroth

[(Anonymous)]

He tells the truth when asked - I got stung when all the insects got out - and suffers through an irritable inspection of the places he'd been stung or bitten, and the following decree that as he was already mostly healed, he didn't need any aftercare for them. He didn't mind. It was worth it to see the Professor shriek and jump and run around the labs, especially since he never figured out that it was Sephiroth who opened the glass containment units and shook them until the hives erupted.

[ultra_fic]

any, any, what's in a name?

Rogue One, Jyn/Cassian

[kaminagi]

Jyn feels only a bit guilty asking him when he's high on painkillers in Yavin's medbay, but this is important.

"You keep saying my name," she tells Cassian, "you like saying it or something?"

"It's a good name, Jyn," he says, with a smile like the sun after the longest night, and she thinks that she might just get used to being called her old familiar name again.

[ultra_fic]

any, any, chocolate cake

Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[presumenothing]

The benefit of cooking for Zhao Yunlan is that he never leaves Shen Wei alone in their kitchen to do it.

The problem with cooking for Zhao Yunlan is also that he never leaves Shen Wei alone in their kitchen to do it.

("Do not accidentally finish this bar of chocolate too," Shen Wei says as sternly as he knows how to, never mind his earlier foresight in keeping the spare chocolate under a dark energy lock, "I won't have enough for the cake otherwise and we are not going to portal across the city just to buy more.")

[ultra_fic]

any, any, butterfly kisses

Affection (Naruto; Naruto & Sakura)

[kalira]

Naruto tilted his head, watching Sakura bend over Hanae, doing . . . something that made the baby giggle, hands curled steadyingly around her sides.

"What- What are you doing?" he asked tentatively, and Sakura looked up at him with surprise, straightening.

"Butterfly kisses!" Sakura said, and when Naruto frowned, confused, she shook her head with a little laugh and beckoned him. "Come here, I'll teach you."

[ultra_fic]

any, any, what does it mean to wake out of a dream and be wearing someone else's shorts?
(Same Thing - Barenaked Ladies)

[silveradept]

"You know," Steve says, poking his head out of the door, "if you wanted to get into my pants, there are easier ways."

Bucky looks down, and in a rush of coming fully awake, realizes he's not only put on Steve's community softball uniform in his haze, but his underwear and undershirt as well.

"And now," Bucky says, giving Steve the Winter Soldier Glare, "I'm going to come in there and kill you."

[ultra_fic]

MCU, any, to the moon and back

MCU, Eternals - Phastos/Ben & Jack

[hogwartstoalexandria]

His front porch might be his favorite place, in the house, in the world, anywhere he's ever been—the Egyptian pyramids, the grand city of Babylon, name a place, he was there—it's a magical place. He sits there, in the morning with a cup of tea; in the afternoons when he's waiting for Jack to come back with the school bus; at night, when even Ben has given up on staying awake. He looks at the stars, and sometimes, he makes a wish.

He watches the moon, and he prays for Arishem, the skies, and all the other Gods worshipped by the people of this world to please let him have this for just a moment longer. Just another minute in the grand scheme of things, the lifetime of his husband and son.

[ultra_fic]

MCU, Nat/Bucky, finally

[svgurl]

"It's about time," Natasha murmured against Bucky's lips, after they shared a long kiss at the end of the night, which Bucky finally realized was a date when she took his hand on the way home. "I have been waiting for you to do that."

"Couldn't have just said it?" Bucky teased. "Serum didn't give me mind reading powers." Natasha had never come off as the type to be afraid to make the first move, so he was surprised at her hesitation.

She shrugged, her tone nonchalant. "Wanted to make sure you wanted it too."

Instead of replying, understanding the meaning behind her words, he just kissed her again, more than ready to show her exactly how much he wanted it.

And as she kissed him back, he realized that she was perfectly fine with his approach.

He may have been slow, but it was definitely worth the wait.

[ultra_fic]

Star Wars (movies), any, still flying

Star Wars: Still Flying (Omega, post-TROS)

[cofax7]

She brings the ship into a soft landing in the assigned bay; it's finicky and worn, but the old Omicron-class shuttle has served her well for all this time, and she can't imagine trading it in for something newer, even if it's getting harder and harder to find parts.

"Long time, O," says the portmaster, when she signs her bay agreement and pays for three days' utilities, "Where you been?"

Omega looks back at the Marauder and considers the carbon scoring on the port side, souvenir of Exegol and half a dozen other firefights along the way. "Nowhere special," she says, and slings her bag over her shoulder; "Nowhere special at all."

[schoolsasaint]

Dishonored, Emily Kaldwin & Alexi Mayhew, vikings come a-raiding

[ultra_fic]

Leverage, Eliot/Parker, first kiss

[liethe]

"I'm still not explaining sexting to you, Parker! Ask Sophie."
"But I don't want to sext Sophie."
"That's why... Wait. What?"
"I don't know what sexting is, but it sounds like something I want to do with you not Sophie. Just like I want to kiss you, and I don't want to kiss Sophie. So would you explain it please?"
Eliot didn't reply, just stared intently into Parker's face, and usually she didn't like for people to look at her that way, but when Eliot's eyes met hers, it wasn't her habitual discomfort which made her drop her gaze from his, but a slight movement, a slight parting of his lips which drew her attention.
He still didn't speak; those parted lips did not presage speech. No, it was something else, something Parker recognised intimately. Those parted lips were the click of a tumbler, the turning of a lock, an invitation into a private space heretofore unexplored.
Parker never could resist that particular flavour of seduction. She pressed her lips to Eliot's, slid her tongue into his mouth as smoothly as a lockpick. The sound he made she trapped in her own throat; secret, and stolen, and hers.

[ultra_fic]

Timeless, Flynn/Lucy, last chance

[schoolsasaint]

Encanto, Isabella, here comes the shoehorned romance plot

[whynot]

"Really?" the grandchildren gasped, for they couldn't imagine their abuela as a young and delicate thing. To them, she was always a literal force of nature, happily switching between artist and iconoclast at the drop of a hat.

"And that is why you shouldn't let them rush love," Isabella said, wrinkles crinkling at the corners of her eyes, "for that is a decision you should only make yourself."

[(Anonymous)]

The Green Knight, Gawain and the fox, caution

The Green Knight, no warnings needed

[senmut]

The road ahead was fraught, burning bright with adventure and danger alike, as Gawain noted the fox's small yips at him. He did not need to see that the ruddy creature was a-bristle with fear or warning, when Gawain's own bones could tell him such. The only path, though, was through, and Gawain did not mean to fail this soon.

[wingedflight]

Narnia, any,
One eye open and one eye closed
'Cause I'll hang myself if you give me rope
I lost all my faith and lost all hope
That everything means anything at all

Just to Remind You (Narnia, Ed & Susan, Ed Lives AU)

[vialethe]

“Didn’t want either of us back in the end though, did he?” Ed asks, the scrape of his cane ugly in the gravel, the break in his thigh still aching, every step a jolt like the train car coming off the tracks, even now, months on.

Beside him, Susan walks slowly, though he knows it’s only in deference to him; she’s still sure-footed as a faun, even in gravel, even in heels, even in this world, in this place where it had all gone so horribly sideways.

“Traitors, darling,” he thinks he hears her murmur under her breath, the voice of a vanished queen in a dream just out of hearing; but then, the thought’s gone as soon as it came, and her hand grasps his tight, her voice her own again, bright and only a bit brittle as she says, “But look, the flowers are blooming - you can hardly even see where it happened any longer,” and she’s right - the gouge riven in the earth is filled now, spilling over with white and gold and red, blurring to one before his eyes.

[(Anonymous)]

Raya and the Last Dragon, Raya and her father, "tell me our lost years"

Six Years

[mad_madam_m]

Six years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Benja sees that his daughter has grown from a girl into a young woman—a leader in her own right—in what, for him, was the span of time between one breath and the next.

He is not far from her side as they navigate the reunion of the tribes, but it is not until much later that night that they are alone, and he takes her hands to ask her, "What has happened these past six years?"

A dozen emotions seem to pass over Raya's face, and then she collapses against him, sobbing, and all Benja can do is hold her and mourn the years they've lost.

[(Anonymous)]

Transformers: G1 cartoon, Jazz, You are a magpie for shiny objects. Like weapons, and trouble, for example...

[raisedbymoogles]

They had the advantage in numbers, and weaponry, and height; Jazz sauntered into the middle of the courtyard like an actor taking the stage, hid his nerves with a challenging grin and a cocked hip. "Twice in a rotation, boys? I'm flattered," he called.

"Maybe you're not as good as everyone says," Brawl jeered from a doorway four stories up. "Fell for the old weapons-cache trick like an amateur."

"Oh, did I? Huh." Jazz tracked the movements of the other Combaticons out of the sides of his visor, pretending to keep his focus on Brawl. He knew damn well Megatron had put a kill-on-sight order on his head, but the Combaticons were loose cannons enough that they might try their luck with live capture. They were gonna land their afts in spark-lockup if they weren't careful. "Welp, guess I'm outta luck." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, wait-"

Vortex was right behind him - he turned, slapped a handheld EMP mine right over the heliform's spark chamber, and a flash of blue and a numbing shock later he had an armload of paralyzed Vortex. He pivoted, dragging the deadweight with him - lucky you, Vortex, I'm such a good dancer I can make anyone look good - and Brawl's impulsive laserfire hit Vortex's shoulder instead of Jazz's head. Brawl swore and Jazz laughed, backstepping and turning again to dump Vortex on an unprepared Swindle.

Now the fun really began.

[(Anonymous)]

Transformers: G1 cartoon, Autobot officers, D&D night!

[raisedbymoogles]

8 AM, and Sparkplug entered the common room and placed his fists on his hips in mock disapproval. "Still at it?"

"Death before surrender," Optimus rumbled, though the way he needed Ironhide's shoulder to hold his head up rather gave the lie to his stated determination.

"We've almost got the slag-ass," Jazz announced, much perkier than his leader despite Sparkplug knowing for a fact he'd been awake nearly twice as long.

"It's called a tarrasque," Ratchet grumbled from behind his DM screen.

Next to him, Prowl rattled his fist and cast the impressively upsized d20 upon the table. "Hah!" he crowed. "That's a crit!"

Ratchet's mouth thinned in repressed amusement. "...how do you want to do this?" he asked, and the table erupted in cheers.

Prowl waited until the celebration quieted down before answering. "I'm thinking," the tactician stated calmly, "that I hit the big monster with my sword until it's good and dead."

Cheers and groans in equal measure met his statement. Sparkplug shook his head - at least the big lugs were having fun, but he was still making a mental note to prod Sideswipe into making a double batch of his hyperfuel brew later.

[(Anonymous)]

Transformers: G1 cartoon, Seekers (+ Praxians?), You are the most godsawful broody bird I have ever met!

[wingedflight]

Narnia, Susan,
So take what you want, take what you can
Take what you please, don't give a damn
or like, the whole song Tradition by Halsey

[harmony_lover]

After they returned to England, Susan didn’t know how to convey to her siblings that nothing felt like it mattered anymore.

She went to parties, went out with boys, did as well as she needed to at school in order to avoid being noticed, never at the top or the bottom of the class. After all, what would being top of the class get her here? Certainly not a crown - not even a university education.

She could go to Bletchley - she certainly had the skills. But where would that lead her, except to another life of secrets, another double life? And it would all be for a country that no longer felt like her own, instead of the one she had loved with her whole being.

So she let everyone around her take - take her smiles, take her laughter, take her pretty face as an invitation, take the Susan she became at face value because they didn’t know the difference. After enough time, she even had her siblings fooled. And somewhere deep down, that hurt, but making them believe the charade had been her choice.

Aslan had already taken everything from her; it didn’t matter who took the pieces of her that were left.

[(Anonymous)]

Transformers: G1 cartoon/FFVII, Mirage and the Turks, Anyone else feelin' like a harem anime, yo?

[(Anonymous)]

FFVII, Sephiroth, vulnerability

[raisedbymoogles]

Pressing bare knees together, Sephiroth tried not to tug his skirt down against the increasingly cheeky breeze tugging at the hem of his borrowed sundress. At least the barely-there shoulder straps meant his arms didn't strain against any sleeves too small for him, but still, he rather missed his leather trousers.

Arm fearlessly hooked through his elbow, Aerith beamed up at him. "I know I said it before, but you look adorable," she informed him, and Sephiroth mentally deep-sixed his desire for the protective restriction of leather.

[alexseanchai]

any, any, birthday

MCU, The Avengers, 'Wardrobe Malfunctions'

[silveradept]

"Why are there so many people posting about 'The Incredible Hulk', claiming they've got the real images of the green guy running around?" Steve asks as he pulls up the news feed.

"Because most people, when they see the green guy au natural, Steve," Nat says from the corner, "they're going to think it's their birthday, not his."

"Whoa, whoa, what parts of the Internet have you been looking in, Cap, that you're seeing tabloids gossiping about Banner's wardrobe malfunction?" Tony asks in alarm, trying to close all the tabs as quickly as Steve can open them.

[violsva]

any, any, and you're not even here / on the coldest night of the year

Narnia, Susan

[last_haven]

There is a candle lit in the front window--Susan knows she's being ridiculous, but it reminds her of a story she only vaguely remembers someone telling her. Leave a candle burning in a window facing a path most likely to be tread and it'll lead the ones you most wish to come home back to you.

It's a silly story--and a waste of a good candle--and it must have come from a dream because for some reason she can only picture the story teller being a beaver. But still, the candle is lit and Susan sits next to it, wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of tea, watching the street.

It's silly and she knows it--no one came back from the train accident, not even back five years ago when it happened--and yet.

The candle still burns in the window, waiting.

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, "Better a pig than a fascist."

(h/t Porco Rosso)

Disco Elysium (because that quote is too, too perfect for this game)

[astrogirl]

Fascism Quest: Uncompleted

In the end, he can't make himself look in the mirror. He knows he won't see the savior of Revacholian Nationhood there, any more than he'll see the man who inspired that apricot-scented letter. He can only be what he has made himself now: a damaged man, a decent cop, someone who has been granted a single, precious chance to leave the past behind for good.

[wingedflight]

The Expanse, Roci crew, new frontiers

[rthstewart]

Auberon reeks of complex biologics and the gases they emit but, as colony worlds go, Holden thinks it's doing pretty well and they all go out to dinner at a restaurant that serves real, locally grown food and not just yeast derivatives.

Amos and Clarissa's "friend" meets them there and the Ganymede tequila goes a long way to thawing the slight chill, though the man keeps looking so hard at Naomi, she finally calls him on it with a sharp, "What, you think I'm your long lost relative?"

"Not mine, no," and with a flick of his fingers, Erich sends a file to Naomi's reader and shrugs his skinny shoulders, "A guy joined my organization last year -- looks a lot like you, same last name, Filip Nagata - and if you know him, maybe you can pay off the money he still owes me for the new ID."