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

[(Anonymous)]

ST:DS9, any, ice cream

[archersangel]

Jake had recently introduced Nog to ice cream & he found that he really liked it. All of the flavors, the toppings, Sundaes, Milkshakes were fun.

His father Rom liked it, but said it was way too cold and was perplexed by some of the more odd flavors.

His Uncle Quark considered it another example of the insidious pervasiveness of the Federation and wanted nothing to do with it.

[(Anonymous)]

Star Trek (any), any, mirrors

TOS: Spock, Seeing Oneself In Others

[silveradept]

From his formative years, Vulcans have taught and strive to follow logic over the dictates of their emotional states. And yet, when confronted with one of his selves who went on a different path, there was not wild emotional display, but cold logic, emotional control, and all of the aspects associated with an adult Vulcan in full control of all his faculties.

There must be a deficiency in logic somewhere, then, that would allow a person such as his other self to come into existence in any universe, some element that could not be explained away by mixed heritage, as he knew other Vulcans would suggest as the simplest solution to the problem.

[elementalraven]

any, any, collection

Modao Zushi/The Untamed: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

[wearing_tearing]

Wei Wuxian doesn't know if Lan Wangji is aware of it, but Wei Wuxian knows about his collection: the alcohol beneath the floorboards, the old drawings back from their school days, a flower pressed between the pages of a book.

Knowing Lan Wangji has kept him close all these years, in the ways he could, makes Wei Wuxian's chest feel tight with love and with grief.

They are together now and that is what matters; that is what Wei Wuxian holds on to.

[paxilam]

any, any, #min workout routine at home

[caramelsilver]

The Hunger Games, Katniss, there can only be one victor

The Fateful Shot

[silveradept]

Snow has already lost, the precautions as bad as the poisons they guard against, and Coin, she can tell, has spent too long fighting in the arena herself to know how to stop when the opportunity presents itself.

She's tried to keep the people closest to her alive, but the rules of the Games are unforgiving: If your opponent presents a weakness, you must exploit it, for there can be only one victor in the end.

She draws the bow, takes sight of where her target is, and, before anyone can suspect her conclusion, aims and fires.

[caramelsilver]

The Hunger Games, Katniss, nightmares

The Thirteenth Arena

[silveradept]

Her entire life has been nightmares, but only after she was a Victor did they follow her into her dreams: the burning places, the cannon shots, Rue breathing her last and the fox-faced one who would have killed her and Peeta both had he not taken the poisonous berries by mistake.

She watches Peeta struggle with the tracker jacker venom, losing contact with reality, coming back to it, unsure which part is the nightmare and which is the waking world. She understands now that it's not about optics and propaganda, but the cold reality that ever since the first trip up the elevator, she's never left the Games, only changed the arena.

[caramelsilver]

The Hunger Games, Haymitch, finally a potential victor

[sincereously]

Haymitch doesn't pay much attention to new tributes, hasn't done in who knows how long. They're too easily lost, here one minute and gone the next, like a candle's light in a poisonous mine shaft.

This girl, though...with the deadly way she handles a bow and the anger sparking behind her cool eyes, here he might have a fire that won't go out.

[little_lady_d]

umineko no naku koro ni, kyrie/rudolf, bonnie and clyde

[little_lady_d]

umineko no naku koro ni, dlanor/erika, elementary

[ernest]

“What’s all this about a single element, anyway?” Erika grumbles, putting the finishing touches on a signature. “Were they not paying attention last game when I climbed into the study to perform a thorough chemical analysis, what do they think molecules are made of, sand and dreams?”

Dlanor stands at an appropriate remove and allows the corner of her mouth to twitch up, quickly enough that the detective she enjoys spending time with will not catch her.

[little_lady_d]

umineko no naku koro ni, any pairing, valentine’s day chocolate

[ernest]

Rudolf’s still such a little kid sometimes, Kyrie thinks as he shakes the box to guess what’s inside.

His eyes light up as he asks, “Extra bullets for the Winchester,” and she thinks: but he’s her little kid, Asumu never knew what she had in him.

“Go on and see,” she dares, and she doesn’t miss the flicker of disappointment when it turns out to be only chocolates, but they’re his favorite kind so he gets over it and kisses her cheek, and she resolves to get him more firearms at the next chance he gets.

[little_lady_d]

love’s labour’s lost, any, too long for a play

[ernest]

The year that Berowne spends in hospital does not exactly have a three act structure, though he supposes he’s following one of two arcs – either his humor shall prove useful in the face of death and he’ll get the girl, or it shall be exposed as foolish vanity and he’ll leave it behind.

But he doesn’t think about this most of the time when it’s all about the day to day, a plodding but fulfilling sort of work. He’s managed to make patients laugh, and shed bitter tears at their parting, and gotten reasonably good at rolling lint when a nurse asks him to, and it’s not a bad life at all, really.

[little_lady_d]

hamlet, claudius/laertes, full of dear guiltiness

[smallhobbit]

"We keep this from your father," Claudius murmured, "the old chap would be furious."

Laertes nodded, "Yes, he really hasn't grasped what's acceptable these days. Mind you, I've noticed it hasn't affected his relationship with your new wife!"

[atamascolily]

Star Trek TNG, Picard, "Damn it, Q!"

[ravenlilyrose]

"Damn it, Q!"

His crew don't even look around to try and discover the errant nuisance of a godling anymore; they are quite used to both the minor inconveniences Q likes to leave in Picard's path and Picard's new habit of blaming even those inconveniences not a result of Q's games on Q.

Picard himself just glares at the figure sitting in midair in the corner of the briefing room, invisible to anyone but Picard and decked out in a strange garment made of feathers and flowers (likely for the sole purpose of distracting and annoying Picard).

[elementalraven]

any, any, outsider perspective

Dark Heavens x Crazy Rich Asians

[ruthchinn]

Eddie can't help his spit-take at the headline in the morning paper: "Businessman John Chen found beheaded, 5-year-old daughter his heir". The man was an old fixture of the upper-class community in Hong Kong, at least fourth or fifth generation. And who's to be the poor little girl's guardian? Oh, what a shame: it's to be some nanny there were rumours swirling about a few months back about her and her employer. Too bad, Chen Enterprises had some good properties that he could have snatched up.

[ultra_fic]

Labyrinth, Jareth/adult!Sarah, how you turn my world you precious thing

[last_haven]

Somehow, despite the years, she still carries the stars in her eyes; she even has the haughty tilt to her chin, but where it betrayed her immaturity before, now it just reminds their subject who is queen here. Damn him, it takes all he has to not fall to his knees and worship the swoop of her collarbone.

Instead, he grimaces at the cracker crumbs she leaves in their bed to keep from gawking at the sight of her between the sheets. "If I didn't love you so much, I'd throttle you."

"Charming," she quips and then pinches his hip. "I guess I'll be sleeping in the guest room tonight."

Quickly, he nearly tosses himself across her lap to keep her in place. "I," he announces loudly, "have decided to forgive you."

She can't even stop her giggle as she pats his cheek. "How generous of you."

"You have no idea," he murmurs, pressing kisses from her wrist on up, silently thanking whatever kindly fate brought her back to him.

[ultra_fic]

any, any, somebody save me

Umineko, Beatrice

[ernest]

Beatrice knows what an unsustainable situation looks like, knows how easy it is to pretend that things aren’t so bad, really, right up to the moment that something’s got to give. Not a single member of this horrible family deserves anything the family has done to them, not even the worst of them, not even the patriarch who time and again ends up burning in a furnace where he belongs, but Beatrice knows just how to make it end for good.

She needs someone to save her from this island where every outcome is a bad one, and she knows just the person to figure her out in time, so she screams the one thing she truly wants: Please Stop Me.

[ultra_fic]

any, any, ice-cream sundaes

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Bingyuan, teen

[ilthit]

Luo Binghe has no business eating a sundae in public. He's a protagonist in a sex romp of a fantasy action novel, dripping with sexual charisma for everyone to see, and now he's licking things?!

Shen Yuan glances around nervously, expecting the other people on the beach to notice, any moment now.

[ultra_fic]

any, any, sunshine on a rainy day

You Are My Glory

[ruanchunxian]

It is a certifiably miserable day in Shanghai, the sky grey with smog and the rain can’t seem to make up its mind whether to fall or to stop. Jing Jing’s phone buzzes with a message from Zhai Liang:

Zhai Liang: Sorry to break it to you, girl, but I think your boyfriend might have found a new love

Her mood, which prior to this has been mirroring the Shanghai sky, suddenly brightens as she gazes at the photos with a silly smile on her face for a long moment.

Jing Jing: Your dog?

Zhai Liang: Might be his dog after this, to be honest, if he can figure out how to get it from Shenzhen to Shanghai. Does either of your buildings allow pets?

Jing Jing: You think we have time for a dog?

Zhai Liang: Oh right, with how you both work, getting either of you a pet probably counts as animal abuse

Jing Jing: 😞

Jing Jing: Cute though.

Zhai Liang: The dog?

Jing Jing: The engineer 😊

[ultra_fic]

Alice, Alice/Hatter, dance with me

[ernest]

are you looking for SyFy Alice, or something different? just want to make sure i write the right thing for this <3

[ultra_fic]

Hart of Dixie, any, that's how we do it in the south

[ultra_fic]

Gilmore Girls, any, the perks of a small town

Lorelai and Rory, Weaponizing Gossip

[silveradept]

"The thing I hate the most about living here is that if you ever do anything, the whole town knows about it," Rory said, flopping on her bed.

"That's the very best thing about living here," Lorelai countered, "because it means every single thing that I do wrong, improperly, or not to Mom's impossible standards goes straight to her ears, no need to explain myself or defend myself."

"This is sarcasm, right, delivered with a completely straight face and no indication at all that you're being sarcastic, which you are extremely good at, by the way, but I am asking just to be sure, you're being sarcastic, right?"

[ultra_fic]

MCU, any, lovers in a dangerous time

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, misunderstandings

Only a Joke (Catherine Morland/Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey)

[woodmr]

“Oh, but you are teasing me again!” Miss Morland laughed after a moment’s indecision.

Henry smiled in chagrin at his predicament since, having taught the lady to presume he was not serious, it was no surprise she should continue past the point when his praise of her was meant in all sincerity.

[paxilam]

any, any, vitamins

Stick To Your Ribs [Layton Brothers: Mystery Room; Al/Fendi & Lucy]

[fallen_stage]

"Cor blimey, Prof, you look like a bleedin' zombie."

"What an extremely original idea," Fendi sneered, not looking up from his computer screen. "What was it that tipped you off? The skulking? The dim atmosphere? The nocturnal habits? The blood fetish? Don't leave me in suspense, detective."

Lucy rolled her eyes. The pottymouthed Fendi was always like this, and she wasn't any more impressed with it than when he raved about murder and shite.

"Nocturnal my arse, you leave on the stroke of five bong and not a second later."

"Because I can't imagine why I didn't want to stick around..." Fendi groused. Lucy ignored him.

"I mean, you look Hank Marvin and I've never seen you eat but what Kat forces down your gob."

"Because I'm a zombie."

"Because you're a beanpole is what! I could knock you down with a breath!"

The clicking at the computer stopped. He turned toward Lucy, and she saw it was the placid Al. It was all in the face and the way he carried himself. And the way he talked of course. Fendi must be fed up if he left this conversation to his 'better half'.

"Lucy, you really don't have to trouble yourself."

"That's a crock of shite and we both know it, Prof."

"I take vitamins. I'm doing fine."

"You got nauseous when I had that sarnie on the train."

"That was..." Al's eyes grazed the room, before snapping back onto her, a habit. "I get motion sick. That's all."

"Uh huh. And when your skin and blister came over with a surprise takeaway pizza and you just happened to head over to the john?"

Al sighed. Drummed his fingers. Gaze darting about the room. Lucy had more evidence in wait but she wanted to see if she could wait him out first.

"Fine, I don't like the sound people make when chewing. Happy?"

"Yes! God, what a production." Chalk up another mystery solved by Lucy Baker!

"Mm. Quite." Oh, Al was grumpy now.

"You know you can just tell me things instead of giving me the vague smile treatment, right?" She fiddled with her cuff, breaking eye contact to give Al a break. "We're good enough pals, right?"

His face softened, as much as it ever did anyway. "Of course," Al looked like he was about to change the subject, but then Fendi took over instead. "So if I tell you to knock off that infernal racket before I silence you permanently..?"

Lucy laughed. "Bloody hell, Prof, I can take my lunch elsewhere! Don't get your knickers in a twist."

"Good, it's disgusting. Completely puts me off my appetite. Makes me want to bash your head against the table."

Ahh, there was the Prof she knew! "As if your little twig arms could do it."

"I could use a weapon. Lots of murderers were physically weaker than their victims."

"Why not poison me instead? It'd be loads easier."

"And lose out on the splatter? I wouldn't miss it for the world."

The Prof was a piece of work sometimes, but Lucy was glad he was about. And he'd stay that way if she had anything to say about it!

[(Anonymous)]

Gravity Falls, any, haunted house

Good Practice

[word_devourer]

Dipper has gone to a lot of haunted houses in his time, most of them for the sole purpose of breaking his jumpscare reflex, which he discovered to be kind of overactive in his time at the Mystery Shack.
This one's a bit different, though; the scares are pretty tame, of course, but as he makes it to the exit, he can't help the question.
"So, I've gotta ask," he says, as conversationally as if he was asking about one of the spring-loaded fake-spider launchers, "why are a bunch of actual, legitimate ghosts running a hokey, fake-looking haunted house?"