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

[elementalraven]

Leverage, Sophie Devereaux, the grift is the soul of all their cons

[scytale]

the queen's thief, relius/telius, poetry

[canon_is_relative]

Relius finds the book of poems waiting for him on his desk, beautifully bound and copied in a hand he knows as well as his own and has never seen turned to such soft sweetness as the verses within.

Footsteps pause at his threshold before advancing, throwing a shadow across his desk and Relius marks his place with a finger, slow to look up, quick to see the look of intertwined hope and fear on his visitor’s face.

“You have excellent taste in poetry my friend,” Relius says, and stands, and watches the way Teleus’s eyes flick between his face and his gift before he offers his hand and says, “Come, shall we write our own verses between my sheets?”

[scytale]

dragaera, vlad/morrolan, new information

[wingedflight]

Alex Rider, Alex, searching for ghosts

books, post scorpia rising, i wasn't done yet dw!!

[be_themoon]

California is bright and sunny, the sun as scorching as - but there are flowers here, and green, and there had been no green there, or if there had been it had faded in his memory under the weight of salt and sand.

Sabina's mom smiles at him with the same warmth and care that - but no, there's none of the understanding in her eyes, none of the knowledge of all that's truly gone wrong. She cares anyways, and that's what matters. He shouldn't try to imprint someone else on top of her.

One day, after weeks of clear sun, the rain begins out of nowhere, torrential, and Alex is caught in it halfway back to the house. Sabina finds him an hour later, still just sitting there in the rain, arms locked around his knees as he shakes, and she holds him even if she doesn't understand why, and it isn't until later he even realizes that not all of the water on his face was rain.

[elementalraven]

The Witcher, Jaskier/Yennefer (or Jaskier & Yennefer if you prefer), that's my wife

[wingedflight]

She's about to melt right through the bars of the cell, cover-story be damned, when a familiar voice cuts through the jail.

"If I don't see my wife right this minute, then I will be reporting each and every one of you to the--the--jail review board, who are incredibly ruthless, by the way, so you don't want them on your asses, if you know what I mean--"

What a fool, she thinks, but he's her fool, and so she isn't even entirely surprised when he somehow actually succeeds in getting her released.

[elementalraven]

Narnia/Sleeping Beauty, any, a hundred years

[last_haven]

They found her, still locked tight in the tallest tower of Jadis's castle. "It used to be our castle," the once sleeping princess murmured around a spoonful of Mrs. Beaver's warm soup. "My father, King Frank, sent me here for my protection when she first invaded--poor father. He must have been so worried when he heard the news that she took this place. How does he fare now? How is the war effort going?"

The four Pevensies looked between themselves and began the awkward explanation that the White Witch's conquest of Narnia took place a lot longer ago than she feared.

[elementalraven]

Narnia/Journey to the center of the earth, any, Bism runs deeper and deeper still

Ouroboros

[edenfalling]

In another life, Rilian travels down: down from the Sunless Lands that were his prison for unknown changeless years, down through the fiery dance and pulsing joy of Bism, down through the deepest crevices where heat and light gush up through stone like blood, down past where anyone has ever traveled and returned.

In the deepest bend of the deepest tunnel, chasing the faintest glint of light, he swings his borrowed axe until he breaks through a shell of diamond to a sky of velvet black, bestrewn with its own living jewels who welcome him in echoes of his mother's voice.

The roots of the earth are nourished by stars.

[elementalraven]

The Queen's Thief, Irene and Helen, roleswap

[wingedflight]

The Foundation, Cleon/Azura, new lives

[schoolsasaint]

Happy Feet, any, they were singing this song

[ilthit]

"I don't think that was a heart song, I think they were having some kind of a fit."

"No, really, they were going like dang dang dang dang dangdadang dang... dangdang dangdadang."

"...You can do better."

[schoolsasaint]

Far Cry 6, Clara/Dani, what is luck, really?

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, children's hospitals and colour theory

Transformers: G1 cartoon

[(Anonymous)]

(Firstly, HOW DARE XD)

"I think it's nice," First Aid says cheerfully. The younglings clustered behind him, all spattered in different shades of paint, try not to giggle after a cycle spent doing little else; the Prime, just as covered and just as keyed-up, shifted his pedes slightly and was instantly pinned under First Aid's gaze. "Still - I was expecting most of the surfaces to be all the same colour."

"Yeah, I guess we got a little carried away," Rodimus admitted with a sheepish sort of grin. "We can clean it off and start again..."

"Noooo!" one of the younglings protests instantly, and the others all chime in. First Aid can't help it; he laughs, and - well, who said hospitals all had to be one boring colour anyway.

[elementalraven]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Katy, Katy aims and takes the shot

[ruanchunxian]

Katy’s hands shake – of course her hands are freaking shaking, her mentor has just received a Dementor’s Kiss right in front of her very freaking eyes! – as the ghosts of all her lost potentials seem to be closing in on her at once, clawing at her, mocking her – you can’t do it, you can’t, you can’t, you’d just fail and then you’d feel worse because you’d the be reason the Great Protector dies.

As she forces herself to look away from the unicorn glow of the Great Protector’s soul, she sees Shaun – Shangqi, names have meaning and he is Shangqi, here – and Xialing barely hanging on to the mane of the Great Protector. She closes her eyes, thinks not of all the voices that tells her how she should be, what she never could be, but of that boy she once already saved from a school ground bully ten years ago instead; the twang of the bow string echoes against the chaos, and Katy only opens her eyes when she hears the bat-Dementor-thing scream with pain.

[elementalraven]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Xu Xialing, Xialing builds her empire

[ruanchunxian]

After the Dweller-in-Darkness and Great Protector have disappeared beneath the depths of the dark lake both, one in pieces and one in rest, after they have brought Ba back from the other side, Xialing pretends that she does not want to scream at the realisation that the last memory she has of Ba saying anything meaningful to her instead of simply talking at her occurred before Mama died, a memory she is sure she’s only holding on to until now out of pure spite. After all of that, her exhausted heart wilts even more when she sees Razor Fist – no, Mattias, because Razor Fist is such a ridiculous name – turn to Ge for instructions.

Of course, Ge was the heir, and Xialing – she doesn’t know what she is, to Ba, anymore.

“If you want someone to tell you what to do, don’t look at me, I’ve never so much as successfully run a bake sale,” Ge said, making Xialing stare at him in hopes of disbelief. Jerking his head to Xialing, Ge continued, “She’s the one with a fight club. Army, fight club, same thing, right?”

(Starting off strong with 6 sentences for my first fill lol. Ge 哥 = Older Brother.)

[elementalraven]

Encanto, Luisa Madrigal, In another life Luisa would have been a Hero

crossover-ish with Buffy

[raisedbymoogles]

Villagers had been falling ill one by one, victim of some kind of fainting disease that left them pale and weak and sometimes dead where they lay; Mirabel had been sure this was her time, her moment to shine like the rest of her family, and had set out to solve this mystery plaguing their Encanto.

This time found her in an alley, her dress torn and her palms bleeding, being advanced upon by the twisted, grinning corpse of the former kindly carpenter Señor Lopez, and oh, she was about to become another one of those pale drained corpses and an even greater weight dragging her family down, I'm sorry Abuela-

A shadow, a blur of motion, and Señor Lopez burst into a cloud of ash that settled slowly, revealing-

"Luisa!" Mirabel squeaked.

"Hey." Luisa let Mirabel be the one to approach her, shared a hug before settling Mirabel's glasses back on her face. "Dropped these."

[elementalraven]

Encanto, Isabela Madrigal, Isabela envies Mirabel sometimes

[demigodscum]

Isabela lets a flower die every time she finds a split end in her hair. She does it in her room, alone and out of sight, quietly, observing the imperfections (her own and the flower's, which are one and the same) with a morbid sense of satisfaction.

She always trims the hair and revives the flower.

Sometimes Isabela thinks of Mirabel as she does it, of her bouncing curls and the way she never seems to brush her hair, and she wonders if Mirabel ever notices her own split ends or if she notices Isabela's, and she wonders whether Mirabel cares, at all, about all the dead flowers Isabela keeps alive.

[kalira]

any, any, I hope when I die, you barely survive

Rot Next to You (Morticia and Gomez Addams Love Song) - The Hound + The Fox

Marie Christine, Marie/Dante

[ernest]

(Marie Christine is a retelling of Medea by way of Marie Laveau, and travels from New Orleans to New York to Chicago, and about a decade)

“You will be very old when you die,” she hisses, the red of her lips as good an oracle as bones or snakeskin, “No one will witness your death.”

Dante takes a step back, hands up, before he remembers who holds the power here, and then he laughs to himself as he figures out the rest. “It’s killing you, isn’t it – that I love someone else now?”

[wingedflight]

Spider-Man, Peter, one is the loneliest number

[ruanchunxian]

(it is like 6am so forgive me if this mess of run on sentences doesn't make sense...)

(NO WAY HOME SPOILERS)

Peters 2 and 3 were older that him, that much was clear, and once the dust settled (what a morbid expression that was now…), Peter would be grateful for Peter 2 for saving him from his own rage and Peter 3 for saving MJ from gravity. It was also only after the dust settled that Peter considered what their lives must be like, to have gone through the fates that they saved him from, apparently alone, with no team of Avengers, no Doctor Strange, no Happy, no Mr Stark, even no Ned and no May, perhaps at times no MJ, to guide their way and catch their own falls.

Now that they were gone (all gone), and Peter found himself just as alone – Peter 1, Peter One, Peter one and only now – he wondered if it would be worth the collapse of all universes just to have them by his side again, so that he could be not just a Peter in a sea of Peters in this huge city, to be called Peter 1 as a distinguiser again. Heck, he’d settle for being called Peter 3 now, if only it meant he was no longer just the only one.

[raisedbymoogles]

My Neighbor Totoro, Mei & Totoro, the day they realize Mei can't see spirits anymore

[nasimwrites]

Satsuki notices it when Mei comes home from boarding school for the New Year celebrations.

She has never reacted like the others -- with much shock and fanfare -- at the fact that Mei is now a few centimeters taller than her, or that she's started doing her hair more fashionably, or that their conversations have turned more to society and politics and plans to renovate the house. That's just growing up. And just because her sister wasn't the cuddly little bundle of energy she once was, didn't mean that anything was fundamentally different.

And yet, Satsuki can't help but feel shaken when, upon returning from her usual welcome-back walk to Totoro's house, Mei stops to sit on the porch and is silent for a very long time. Satsuki doesn't have to ask; it had happened to her, too, many years ago. Yet oddly enough, this hurts more than it had hurt then.

[raisedbymoogles]

Porco Rosso, Porco & Gina, Porco finally reveals how he got cursed

[kingstoken]

Any, Any, "But demons can't feel love, can they?"

Good Omens

[astrogirl]

God is love, that's what Heaven says, and Heaven claims the power to define everything. But Crowley has seen how Heaven loves: with flood, and threat, and sneering condescension. He will not label what he feels with such a tainted word.

[ruanchunxian]

Shang Chi, Shaun + Xialing (bonus +Katy), Shaun used to model for stock photos, Xialing finds out

[ruanchunxian]

Shang Chi, Shangqi (+any), what’s in a romanization of a name? (because it’s sure as heck not Shang Chi)

Feel free to go as meta as you want with this, considering we never actually see “Shangqi” or “Shangchi” written down in-universe

[kiestan]

The Avenger repeated after him, for the third time, until Shangqi nodded with a small shrug and a grin. "Close enough, man."

When the guy, satisfied, wandered away from their table, Xialing dragged the napkin Shangqi had scrawled his name on over to her with an index finger. "Might as well change your name," she said, "Shang Chi."

She said it like you would say lateness. Or pond. One of Shangqi's eyes twitched on instinct, but he answered, pretty reasonably, if he had to add, "Don't say it like that. And come on, it's just easier."

"Easier. And that's just inspiring." Xialing turned to Katy for support, except Katy had been watching their exchange back and forth and looked stunned to be addressed. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah." Katy nodded vigorously. "I mean" -- her hands started gesticulating, when Shangqi shot her the stink eye -- "maybe you can think of it like, a step-up from what he went by previously, right, Shaun?"

"Shaun?" Xialing asked.

Shangqi let out a long sigh.

[ruanchunxian]

Shang Chi, Shangqi & Xialing, up & down (shang 上 & xia 下)

[ruanchunxian]

Good Omens/Shang Chi, Aziraphale & Crowley & Wenwu run into each other over the centuries