rthstewart | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

any, any, childhood memories

He has a lot of memories from childhood.

Not his own, of course—those were swallowed up in darkness, so very long ago. But there are idyllic summers inside him, youthful mistakes and hopeless first loves, foolish lustful urges, petty rivalries and petty triumphs, a sickening roil of other that filters through his thoughts and seeps between his fingers; black as tar and twice as thick, liable to choke anyone who dares come too close.

This is what Minglan remembers from her childhood: flaunting her skills — pride, her mother’s death — sadness, Lin Qinshuang’s manipulations — anger, but above all else — fear.

Rong-jie’er is older than she was when her mother died, but still Minglan aches to gather her up in her arms and let her mourn her mother; no matter Manniang’s behavior, Rong-jie’er loves — loved — her.

Her son is too young to remember that night, but Minglan prays to every god she knows, please, please, O Merciful Ones, let Rong-jie’er’s memories be not stained with the memories of steel and fire and blood and death — do not let them be stained by fear.

OMFG A MINGLAN FILL!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! MINGLAN AND RONG'ER!!!!!!!

No, seriously, I love this so much!!! It encapsulates so perfectly Minglan's childhood, but despite her fears and negative experiences at home, she only ever wants to spare Rong-jie that!! I love love love this!!!

"This probably shouldn't be bringing back comforting nostalgia." Integra observed, lighting a cigar.

Alucard chuckled from nowhere in particular, tendrils of shadow curling up around her nightstand and the bed, scarlet eyes peeking out of it; Integra stifled a smile.

"What do you want, nuisance?" she asked, settling back in her chair and remembering countless nights in her childhood when she had woken shuddering through nightmares and been comforted by this very . . . nightmare, she thought wryly, filling the dark corners of her bedroom and telling her horribly inappropriate, bloody stories.

Sometimes, he still dreams about his family, his real family, who loved him so much the warmth of it still lingers at the edges of his heart even now.

It distracts him from the mission, from the cause, and so, when he wakes, Kylo Ren works hard to force the memories of his childhood away, of the mother who stroked his hair and called him her precious boy, of the father who assured him there was nothing he couldn't do if he put his mind to it.

The dark side is his place now, Snoke is his master, and the Knights of Ren are the only allies he needs... that's what the pain-filled boy dressed up in the black cloak tells himself, but deep down, he knows better, because he can never completely forget being Ben Solo.

“You hear all the stories of my childhood, but I haven’t heard any of yours. What was it like?”

They’re lazing together in the shaded summer heat of their courtyard, using Teomitl’s cloak as a blanket underneath them, when it occurs to her to ask. Because thanks to her brothers, her husband knows nearly every moment of her childhood—but he’s frustratingly close-mouthed about his own.

Before he can answer, she remembers what she knows about his family and hastens to add, “You don’t have to tell me if you’d rather not.” His commitment to honesty between them is admirable, but the last thing she wants is to bring up bad memories.

He blinks at her, clearly surprised, and then smiles. “Not like yours. It was...well, you can imagine.” She can. She wants to find whoever was responsible for Teomitl (or not responsible, as the case may be) and hunt them down like dogs. Now’s not the time, though, because Teomitl seems to have found a good memory. “But there was the time I escaped my nannies and fell into the ocelot enclosure at the House of Animals.”

Ocelots are not small animals. “How are you alive?!”

He flushes adorably. “I was five! I think the mother ocelot thought I was one of her cubs! I think she still thinks that, honestly, every time I go to visit she starts licking my arm. You climbed an actual cactus, why are you looking at me like that?!”

She shakes her head, fond and exasperated in equal measure. “At least the cactus couldn’t follow me and tear me limb from limb.” She pauses. “At least, not that type of cactus.”

“...I do not want to know.”

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

no subject

Final Fantasy XV, Ardyn Izunia

The Story of Minglan

Re: The Story of Minglan

Nightmarish Nostalgia (Hellsing; Integra & Alucard)

The Glow of the Past (Star Wars, Kylo Ren|Ben Solo)

Obsidian & Blood, Mihmatini & Teomitl