rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

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Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

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.

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!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

This will either go terribly well or terribly wrong XD Thank you for the fill!

(funny how befriending the goose doesn't cross any of the NPCs' mind in the game, tsk tsk)

The goose has ZERO fear :D Thank you for the super cute fill!

Unfortunately I don't know Arcane so I can't fill this prompt, but I think the link for "I MEAN" might be a wrong one? It links back to this page.

(takes place after S4, E1 "Mayhem")

Aaron woke up just as they were passing through Wilmington, Delaware. He straightened in his seat, blinking to adjust to the midday sun pouring into the windows.

"How are you feeling?"

Derek's soft inquiry pulled at Aaron, their earlier conflict slowly fading into memory. "Okay. Better, I mean," he clarified. "The nap helped."

"Good."

They worked hard to keep work stress from spilling into the time they spent together off hours. But sometimes, it couldn't be avoided.

"Back in New York, you said that my opinion mattered to you."

Aaron saw Derek's forearm's flex as his grip tightened on the wheel but he kept staring straight ahead.

"Well, it does," Derek replied tightly. "And?"

"What I feel for you goes beyond the job, Derek," Aaron said. "You want my opinion? Fine, here it is: you are an amazing profiler and with a little more time, you could run the New York office." He shifted just enough so that he could give his full attention. "And I'm not ready to lose you."

Derek spared him a pained glance before turning his attention back to the road. "We need to really talk don't we?"

"I'd say so."

But as with anything indulged beyond necessity, Kate can't say she minds too much.

Hah, YES.

omg I'm dying. There's something hilarious about "when shall we three meet again" being followed by let's whip out Google calendar!!

Oh I really like this!

hee!

lol AMAZING

Once, Rhajat's parents had folded one thousand paper cranes, one thousand wishes for safe passage for the ragtag company they called an army. Left to her own devices in her little corner of the Deeprealms, Rhajat is quick to pick up the hobby, folding talisman paper into wishes; it's only one thousand, she thinks, only that, and then they'll come home.

But one thousand soon becomes two, then three, then four: wishes become curses as home becomes a cage.

Arrow, Nyssa/Sara, linens and silks

Sakura jerked back, putting out one hand as Naruto nearly crashed into her.

"Sakura-chan! Oh no!" Naruto's hands were gentle but frantic as he caught hold of her, and he either ignored or - more likely, Sakura admitted, with a sigh - didn't hear her assurances that she was fine in his panic.

"Naruto," Sasuke said dryly, clasping the nape of Naruto's neck and pulling him back, "Sakura is fine; I suspect," he said, glancing at her hands and then meeting her eyes with a smirk, "the worst injuries she has are to her knuckles, from that last okasho."

"Fuck! Sasuke!" Naruto cringed as he aborted his restless and unguided sweep of his hands over Sasuke's body and caught hold of his arm; he frowned and his boyfriend as he called for Sakura.

"Naruto, what the hell-" Sasuke broke off as Naruto folded his arm up - gently - to show him the broad gash torn down his own forearm, dripping blood off his elbow; he vaguely remembered deflecting a kunai during the battle, now he thought about it, but he hadn't felt this. . .

"What is- Oh." Sakura shook her head, rubbing Naruto's shoulder and then taking Sasuke's arm from him, moving around them. "I'll see to that, honey;" she huffed quietly, "take my eyes off you for five minutes and look what you get into. . ." she added under her breath, green chakra rising around her hands.

If this were one of those movies, one of those airport novels, the glove would get in the way - block the signal, hide the signified, pave the way for weeks, months of fruitless yearning, of needless roadblocks, all to pay off in that big oh moment that anyone who's even heard of romance saw coming a mile away; probably in an airport, because what doesn't scream romance like a building designed to ship people as efficiently as possible (Abby might have some rather stringent standards for romantic tropes - and her daughter delighted in subjecting her to the worst of them).

It doesn't of course - you have to get specially made fabric if you want to forestall something so integral to modern society; no one wants to miss meeting their most perfect compliment, not even surgeons - especially not surgeons.

Still, Abby has to admit that, all situation induced adrenaline aside, seeing the shape of her fingertips blooming rainbow bright across shattered femur is rather out there, as placement goes.

"Fuck, Naruto, why did you- What were you thinking?" Sasuke muttered as he pulled Naruto's jacket off; he'd resisted at first, but Sasuke only got more insistent and fretful, so he stood quietly for his boyfriend.

"I'm fine." Naruto interrupted once Sasuke had begun to repeat himself; it was true and he'd known it when he jumped in to deflect the jutsu - a powerful enough fuuton had cancelled out most of it, and Kurama had already put to rights the little damage he'd suffered from the remaining impact.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called, and Naruto smiled as she hopped over the deep ditch a careless attack had carved nearby, approaching them. "Check Naruto over properly, he swears he's not hurt!" Sasuke barked, and Naruto sighed, rolling his eyes.

The battle had already been named, though it had scarcely ended: Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame, so named for the rivers of flame that had poured out, until the land was consumed in fire and sulfur, and even now, as the snow fell softy upon the blackened earth, tongues of flame licked through the light dusting of snow, eating away at the bodies of Man, Elf, and Orc alike.

Andreth wrapped her cloak tighter around her against the growing chill—winter gnawed at her bones more deeply with each passing year, now—and carefully stepped through the bodies, looking, looking for the fair face that she had known she would not behold again in life.

It might have been minutes, or it might have been an eternity by the time she found him—he had been pierced by many arrows, and a mound of Orcs lay around him—but his face was as fair as it had been in life, and she knelt next to him and kissed his cold brow; and as she kept her vigil through the growing night, the falling snow fell upon his wounds, and with the warmth left in her hands, she melted the snow and cleaned his body until the stains of his wounds were no more.

"Fucking hell," Sasuke breathed, and Naruto's stomach sank like he'd swallowed lead, "Sakura!" he shouted, and Naruto bolted after him - a moment later he saw what Sasuke had seen, and bit back a cry.

Sakura was sprawled over a swathe of broken rock, limbs akimbo, and she wasn't moving - Naruto dropped down at her side opposite Sasuke, and it took barely a heartbeat of searching to find the first wound . . . and then the second, the third; a litter of torn skin and broken bones, and Sakura was so still, bright eyes closed and body lax and-

Naruto's breath caught as green chakra slowly, slowly began to seep from Sakura's skin, flowing like water to gather around the worst injuries she bore; he lifted his gaze to meet Sasuke's cool, uncertain eyes, then they both looked down at the woman they loved . . . hoping she could, once more, produce a miracle and bring herself back to them.

Oh nooo, that hurts; poor Sinope and poor Susan! (How very beautifully done!)

"In a battle, what would you save first, me or one of the horses?" Hektor asks.

Their horses trot along the banks of the Scamander; she rides pale, fickle Lampos, who has always been her special favorite, and Hektor is seated on Aethon, who is usually so much less well-behaved. Perhaps Aethon longs for the sight of the sea as she does; more likely, she thinks with a private smile, it is her husband's skill with horses.

Then she considers her husband's question. "Which one is closer, you or the horse?"

"We're equally distant."

"Do I have an equal chance of saving both, too?'

At his nod, she smiles. "I'd save the horse, of course."

"You could have pretended to think about it," he says, his hand over his heart as if he has been stabbed with a spear.

"Surely my husband can save himself?"

He laughs, and the brightness of the sound pleases her. He's been so serious lately; the delegation from the Lycians has been occupying him. She's glad to lighten his spirits. Besides, she's missed teasing him; Ilium is not Thebe, and here she cannot be so light and free with him unless they are alone--and he has been so very busy.

"If you cannot defend yourself, I'd still go for the horse," she says, flashing him an impish smile. "I'd reach you faster on the back of Aethon or Lampos, and we'd ride down whoever it is that threatens you."

Amusement flashes in his eyes, and then he bows his head. "My wife is ever the tactician, even with my life."

Laughing, she urges Lampos into a run, and his hooves thunder; as always, he loves to run. Hektor brings Aethon to a gallop as well, and they exchange looks. Then they race their way along the banks of the Scamander, following the flowing river to the wine-dark sea.

In the years of grief and glory to come, she will remember this: her heart beating fast and her breathless laughter as she rides into the wind with Hektor behind her, his hand in hers at the end of their race, the horses on the shore, the sunset blazing when they turn their horses toward home. She will remember peace, and she will remember the roar of the sea.

Edited 2022-01-17 08:43 (UTC)

There is much to do to build an empire and much to do to take one down, but murder, at least, is one thing that has always come easy for them.

Murder is the act of falling to their knees, the particular red of their bled Kyber crystal, the sensation of recycled ship air on their scarred face.

Murder is, for better and worse, their legacy — worse for the destruction it has wreaked upon the galaxy, and better for the chance at redemption it grants.

“You and your sister are limbs of the same body, equals and opposites,” Mama said, and it isn’t until years later that Shangqi begins to understand what that means.

She was born to be the bringer of life and joy, like the warmth of the summer she is named after, but he left her freezing on that mountain top, and for ten years, he burns with the rage of guilt he directs at himself.

After, she teases that it is only fitting that he joins the most elite, noble group of warriors on the planet while she still operates in the shadows; the only difference for her from before is that the shadows work for her now.

He is up and she is down. She upholds the past while he fights the forces of the future. He is breath and she is death. Light and dark, they both shape the world.

up 上 = shang; down下 = xia
shang 尚 can mean ‘even, yet, still’, but can also be formed into gaoshang高尚 noble, lofty
qi 气 is associated with air, breath, lifeforce, but also manner, spirit, anger
xia 夏 means summer; also name of an ancient dynasty
ling 灵 can mean agile, intelligent, quick, or spirits, spiritual, (departed) soul
lingqi灵气 can refer to having a spiritual quality/atmosphere (in a place)

Edited 2022-01-17 10:25 (UTC)

*Giggles* I still haven't gotten to this part of the show, but somehow, I can picture this perfectly in my head. Lovely, yes.

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

Re: The Groundskeeper From Another World Befriends the Goose!

Re: Evildoers Beware (and also everyone else beware too)

no subject

Criminal Minds, Aaron Hotchner/Derek Morgan, The Road Ahead

no subject

no subject

Re: lizard brain memory maybe, idk XD

Re: Star Trek: The Original Series - Spock & Bones

no subject

Fire Emblem Fates, Rhajat (+implied Hayato/Hinoka)

no subject

Battle Wounds (Naruto; Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura)

Out of Sight (Naruto; Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura)

The 100, Abby/Raven

Resistant (Naruto; Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura)

Silmarillion, Andreth (with light Andreth/Aegnor)

Helpless (Naruto; Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura)

Re: Narnia, Susan+OC

no subject

Star Wars, Vaderkin

Shangqi (尚气) & Xialing (夏灵)

no subject

no subject

no subject

Magnum PI (2018) Gordon Katsumoto/Noelani Cunha