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

[kalira]

any, any, soothing nightmares

Transformers (G1), Rodimus Prime

[raisedbymoogles]

"Rodimus Prime, you have disgraced the office of Prime. I hereby relieve you of the Matrix."

Rodimus awoke with his entire body shaking in stress and Optimus Prime's voice ringing in his audioprocessor, but when his command commline clicked with a handful of messages from the officers who reported to him, he turned his face to the berth and tried to hold on to the dream a bit longer.

Teen Wolf: Derek/Stiles

[wearing_tearing]

Stiles still wakes up, screaming and shaking, from nightmares of his time as the Nogitsune. During those nights, Derek holds him close and tight until his breathing is back to normal and his heart doesn't sound like it's going to explode.

"I'm here, you're safe," Derek whispers and helps Stiles counts their fingers.


[also, kalira, i feel like all i'm doing is replying to your prompts XD]

Re: Teen Wolf: Derek/Stiles

[kalira]

Aww, poor Stiles. ;; Good Derek is there for him, at least. . . ♡

(*laughs* Well I'm glad if you're finding them inspiring then! I've uhhh left a few. X'D)

[ruthchinn]

Andi wakes up in the dead of night. She can hear waves wash against the sides of the boat, but that isn't what roused her. Something - oh, that would be it - shifts restlessly in her arms. She brushes Khodi's hair back, sending a pulse of warmth towards his mind. In this close quarters, Andi can reach for him without letting down any shields, just from the sheer proximity, physical and emotional. He relaxes, back into a more restful slumber. She does, too.

[ernest]

Laertes learned early on not to wake him up, not to touch him at all until he asks for it, and Claudius in turn learned to recognize that golden cat’s-eye glow as safety – his brother’s eyes never did that.

But there’s really only so much that can be done in the dark and the heat, for the real work begins the next morning. That’s when Laertes sets the tone for the rest of the day, chatters about ordinary worries to keep the overwhelming ones at bay, and lets his husband squeeze his hand in thanks.

[little_lady_d]

aaah claudius recognizing that cat's-eye glow as safety. laertes is a good husband! you can tell how much history they have together and how much they've had to learn each other, and it's worthwhile learning.

[ernest]

thank you! they love each other enough to learn and then keep on learning

Naruto, KakuHida

[zombie_honeymoon]

Kakuzu doesn’t know what Hidan’s nightmares are made of, and frankly, he doesn’t ever want to know; considering Hidan and the things he does and believes in… for something to actually scare him, that tells Kakuzu more than enough to figure it out on his own.

Rather than wake Hidan—when he starts tossing and turning in his sleep, chakra flaring, mumbling incoherent words—Kakuzu instead reaches over and with a heavy hand on his shoulder tries to calm him that way.

Sometimes it works (it works better than giving him a hard shove which Kakuzu used to do at first; but that was before they got to know each other, before they got close and it only ever startled Hidan into throwing punches), and when it doesn’t work, as it seems is the case tonight, he tries running his hand through silvery locks before resorting to wrapping him tightly in his arms until whatever terror that has hold over Hidan releases him.

Re: Naruto, KakuHida

[kalira]

Aww, this is quite sweet (perhaps especially for them).

Classic Doctor Who, Ace & Seven

[ceruleantactician]

By the time Ace makes it to the TARDIS kitchen, her heart rate is mostly back to normal; visions of long-gone enemies, from her travels with the Doctor and otherwise, fading from her mind. She finds a still-warm cup of tea waiting for her on the table.

There was a time when Ace would have found that weird, but now it just makes her smile.

Re: Classic Doctor Who, Ace & Seven

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Aww, this is lovely!

Grieving Serpent (Naruto; Madara & Orochimaru)

[kalira]

Orochimaru had barely woken up enough to be sure where he was - quiet, calm, smelltaste of ink and paper and steel; a study but not his mother's - when warm hands brushed over his arm and shoulder.

"Oh, come here, snakelet," Madara soothed, and Orochimaru curled up tight, sniffling, as Madara lifted Orochimaru into his lap and rocked him, "I'm sorry."

Orochimaru soaked up the offered warmth and comfort, but- "I miss my Mama." he confided into Madara's chest, turning his face into Madara's shirt and trying not to remember being handed his mother's hitai-ate, thick with the smelltaste of blood and fear and venom.

Disco Elysium, Harry/Kim

[laughingpineapple]

whoops I think I misread the prompt but here it is anyway:

Mind you, they’re still unbearable, still get him the full “thrashing plus cold sweat plus transcendent contact with the absolute void underneath existence” combo. The abridged version (for naps and night shifts) is Kim limp and breathless after a gunshot they could not see, his blood covering Harry’s hands and mouth (somehow) like it’s the only living, warm touch they’ll ever share, and Harry cups his hands to hold these last remains and cries until this last kindness, too, trembles and fades into a distant roar, then nothingness.
But these days, Harry’s nightmares are scenes from a life that did not happen; the waking hours that await him will be fuller and warmer than those lonely shadows, and there’s comfort to be found in this.

Castlevania (Netflix), Trevor/Alucard, Nightmares

[mad_madam_m]

An arm slung around his chest, and Alucard stiffened and covered his mouth—he hadn't thought he was making much noise, but apparently he was if he'd woken Trevor.

Behind him, Trevor made a vaguely inquiring grunt, probably because he wasn't entirely awake, and gently rubbed his thumb back and forth over Alucard's skin. He said nothing else.

Alucard slowly relaxed into the touch, and the nightmares still flickering at the edges of his consciousness gradually receded, driven away by the reminder that he wasn't alone.

Re: Castlevania (Netflix), Trevor/Alucard, Nightmares

[kalira]

Aww, sweet~ Poor Alucard; good Trevor is there for him. ♡

Obsidian & Blood, Acatl/Teomitl

[notapaladin]

The sob woke him like a knife in his heart, snapping him out of a deep sleep and into full consciousness before he was even aware of what was going on. It took him a moment to adjust from the landscapes of his dreams, which were even now fading into wisps, to his much more prosaic sleeping chambers.

And, more importantly, to Teomitl on the mat next to him, curled around his arm like a child and letting out another of those heartwrenching little noises. Oh, no.

It took some awkward twisting—his lover was plainly not letting go, and his back was soundly protesting their earlier activities in a way that made him wonder whether he should get a new sleeping mat—but eventually Acatl was able to get his free hand on Teomitl’s shoulder and murmur, “Love, wake up.”

The reaction was instantaneous; Teomitl jerked backwards away from his touch, kicking Acatl in the shins on the way, and stared wide-eyed and unseeing at him for an uncomfortably long moment until some awareness filtered into his gaze. “Oh,” he croaked out. There was a horrible hitching sound in his voice.

Acatl pulled him into his arms, finding him stiff and trembling. Oh, my heart. He started rubbing Teomitl’s back and sure enough, that helped; his lover started to relax by degrees, his breathing going from shallow pants to something approaching normalcy. When he judged Teomitl might be able to answer him, he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” Teomitl muttered into his neck. His eyes were wet where the lashes brushed against his skin.

He sighed and slid one hand up into Teomitl’s hair, scratching his scalp lightly, while the other continued its gentle mapping of smooth skin and hard muscles. So strong. So stubborn. “Alright,” he murmured. “Get some sleep. I won’t go anywhere.” He paused. “Unless you’d like some water?”

Teomitl huffed out a breath and pressed himself tighter against him, a leg over his hip preventing him from moving. “Don’t leave,” he muttered in a voice so small it yanked at Acatl’s heartstrings.

As if there was a chance of Acatl leaving his lover alone when his brave, beautiful warrior sounded like that. He hummed softly, kissing Teomitl’s forehead. “I’ll be right here.”

Hopefully, Teomitl would feel better in the morning.