rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

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Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

UPDATE 14 FEBRUARY 2022 -- 3SF 2022 IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS! Do continue to fill prompts already posted but the 3SF 2022 is now closed. We'll be back next year in a new comm (If I can get my act together). Thank you again!

THIS IS THE NEW POST FOR PART 2 OF THE 3 SENTENCE FICATHON -- ALL NEW PROMPTS SHOULD BE POSTED HERE
You may continue to fill prompts (but not leave new ones) at the original Post 1 here but please post new prompts here, not there. And if you're asking, hey is just me, or did this get enormous really fast? Why yes, yes it did. Last year, it took us ten days before I opened a new post. This year, it took us about 5.5 days to get there. So, by all means, go back and fill in Post 1 and post new prompts here!

Also woops, in an indication of how busy I've been with other things, I neglected to post that for a third year in a row the awesome

conuly started a master list of unclaimed prompts and has been updating it as time permits. Obviously a huge task! Thank you!

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

you're so right about agatha christie and the tsf, and those tumbling trains of thought really are what make it so easy to get caught up in her writing. i'm so flattered that i got that writing style, as well as the voices of her past, and of her true thoughts.

thank you very much! i love anakin and i'm sad about him

eee, 'something kaleidoscopic about the layers of meaning in each phrase' yep that's exactly what i was going for. thank you so much!

it is the thesis of the whole story, isn't it!? and ahhh yess, 'the witches who have seen the board know what that means, why shannon needs that assurance of destruction', you're so right! thank you very much, the last phrase took a couple tries to get to its final form and i'm really pleased how it turned out, and pleased you liked it too!

this is such a beautiful continuation of the fairytale. i love that you can see the basic shape of where their lives have taken them, while the details are their own. the contrast between her fear as a child and her courage when she's no longer alone; and the contrast between who everyone else is saying goodbye to and who gretel herself is letting go of. i love this so much, thank you for writing it!

thank you so much! you know how much i love weaving in references, and i'm glad it worked for you here!

When someone pounded on their front door, Hidan, Deidara, and Itachi froze, then did their best to hide except for Deidara who stood frozen in place in the kitchen. Each of them were sure it was the cops finally come to serve them with warrants for their arrests. The charges they knew of: a slew of unpaid parking violations, overdue rent, and, (what Itachi considered to be the worst offense of all) late library books he hadn’t paid the fees on for years.

For weeks the blinds had been drawn, newspaper taped to the slim window along the side of the front door and they had avoided opening the door to anyone they didn’t already know was coming over.

“I know you idiots are in there!” Kakuzu bellowed as he pounded on the door once more. “You owe me last month's rent and now this month's rent!”

“What do we do?” Itachi whispered frantically from where he was crouched down in front of the couch that Hidan was lying prone on, their faces inches away from each other.

“He can’t do shit, just be quiet and he’ll think we’re not home and go away,” Hidan whispered back.

“He owns this place,” Deidara whispered from the kitchen where he still stood frozen, cigarette burning between his fingers and ash falling to the floor. “He can just come in here if he really wanted!”

“Shhh!” HIdan and Itachi shushed him at the same time.

“We’re way too pretty for prison!” Deidara shouted in a panic. “We’ll have to become someone’s bitches!”

“Deidara! Keep it down!” Hidan loudly whispered as he rolled onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow. “And fuck that, I’ll have bitches, I won’t be one!”

“You’re about to become my bitch if you don’t let me into my own property!” Kakuzu shouted as he banged on the door once more. The sudden noise made Deidara jump, and his cigarette fell to the floor where it landed on his bare foot. He jumped, shouting in pain, and knocked into the stove with a clatter.

“Aww fuck!” Hidan groaned. “He knows we’re in here for sure now!”

“Like he didn’t hear us already? He literally responded to you, Hidan. Apparently he wants you as his bitch.” Itachi sighed as he got up on the couch, shoving Hidan’s legs away but Hidan just moved them back and put his feet in Itachi’s lap.

Through the door they heard Kakuzu. “You three have until noon to pay up, I’ll be back with the cops and they can get you delinquents on whatever other charges you surely have. It’ll save me time and money from having to go through the eviction process.”

Itachi leaned forward, burying his face in his hands, muttering about how he should have returned those books sooner and paid off the debt.

“Don’t worry, man,” Hidan said, “I don’t think you go to jail for that.”

“My cousin told me you can.”

“Well your cousin is totally full of shit.”

Itachi simply rolled his eyes, thinking that Hidan was the one full of shit. “My cousin is a cop. I think he would know.”

Deidara came and plopped himself down in the middle of the couch, with a newly lit cigarette in hand. He leaned back on Hidan’s stomach, squishing him against the couch. “I never paid my library fees from high school… that’ll just be one more charge against me!”

Itachi stared at him. “I can’t decide what surprises me more. That you checked out books from the library or that you actually returned them.”

“Don’t worry guys,” Hidan said while trying to wriggle free but gave up when it was clear he was stuck there and stole the cigarette from Deidara. He took a drag before it was snatched back. “I know where where we can make a lot of money real fucking fast.”

“Oh?” Deidara and Itachi both perked up at that and waited for him to tell them.

“You think we’re pretty, Dei?” Hidan waited for Deidara to nod, a grin forming on his face. “Well, tonight’s amateur night at the strip club.”

“But we need the rent money before noon today, yeah?” Deidara asked as he flicked ashes onto the floor.

“That old fuck can wait a few more hours. We’ll pool what we have and give it to him now. He can’t start the eviction until we’ve missed several months, and especially not if we’re 'making an attempt' to pay. Trust me on this. I know! And tonight we’ll get the rest to pay what’s left and maybe enough to pay our other debts and shit.”

“This is a terrible idea…” Itachi sighed but couldn’t offer a better solution. “We all owe so much…”

“So... maybe we do this a few times.” Deidara shrugged. “How often do they hold amateur night?”

Hidan didn't even hesitate. “First and third Friday of every month.”

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Itachi asked.

“It's been the most steadiest job I've ever had,” Hidan said as he wiggled his eyebrows at his friends before finally shoving them both off the couch so he could get up and they could all start scrounging around for every last piece of cash and loose change they could find.

Thanks for the awesome comment: I struggled with the prompt but something about the phrase "cap in hand" made me think of Hansel and Gretel, and then what the eventual of their story would be. Tough to say in only 3 sentences but glad the emotions/ideas came across despite the brevity.

“Someone’s ruining my good name, building these shoddy houses that fall apart at the first wind and claiming my firm’s responsible,” Mr. McClinney explained to the private detective, barely able to stay calm enough to finish.

“I admit growing up abroad means I’m often behind the times,” Gary said to Linda after their new client left, but she shook her head with as much puzzlement.

“It’s the first I’ve ever heard of companies playing at Halloween too.”

To most people, Gary Preston was as American as apple pie, which itself was revealing since neither were fully native to the country. But he kept enough of his Tibetan rearing to adapt in ways the average Joe around town might think odd.

It felt very right sitting next to Linda on this bench, quietly eating sandwiches and contemplating the future, all in view of her family’s tombstones.

Oh wow, this is nail biting. I love it.

Thanks! "The Flame" is really obscure for comics so I wasn't sure about posting these entries or not, but then decided they read fine even if you weren't familiar with the characters/setup. I was really intrigued by the "corporate identity theft" idea and think it could drive a lot of great stories.

Remember that we are English, that we are Christians!

Henry Tilney did not regret his words, spoken as they were out of concern for Miss Morland’s character more than his own family’s reputation.

But in the months that waxed waiting for his father to relent, he was less sanguine about pitting her honest doubts against the full authority of the church, especially in defense of one whose acts proved he did not keep the Lord's commandments in his heart.

Of all the Thorpe progeny, Isabella believed herself the cleverest. She certainly understood the game better than John, for all his boasted skills, and did not have the smallest intention of trusting to his kind offices for her future security.

It was the work of a moment to turn from his friend Morland’s humble devotion when besieged by the more attractive Captain Tilney.

Qionglin knows his sister worries for him, but he can't just sit back and do nothing - trying exactly that was how he fell into the Metaverse in the first place! - and fighting back this way leaves no traces leading to his family.

He thinks there's nothing that can be done to stop him, until he's stared at by a blank mask and his own mask is seized and -

The Yiling Laozu finds him, afterwards, and introduces him to the Ghost General who lay hidden inside his Shadow-self, and the boy who will never be Qionglin again silently swears eternal loyalty to the one person who helped him when he needed it most.

Dal Timgar knew residing on Earth for the duration of medical school would require he accept and even participate in the customs of the planet, no matter how alien they appeared to him.

His first attempt at a Christmas present, based on a careful reading of his friend Tiger Martin's favorite holiday book, showed he had more to learn than just microsurgery.

"It's usually just an expression," Tiger explained with a friendly grin, admiring the actual door nail fitted into a miniature coffin with the name "Jacob Marley" etched into the wood.

Also inspired by syrena_of_the_lake (2022-01-21 12:17 am)

Also inspired by topaz_eyes (2022-01-21 03:57 am)

Dal Timgar knew residing on Earth for the duration of medical school would require he accept and even participate in the customs of the planet, no matter how alien they appeared to him.

His first attempt at a Christmas present, based on a careful reading of his friend Tiger Martin's favorite holiday book, showed he had more to learn than just microsurgery.

"It's usually just an expression," Tiger explained with a friendly grin, admiring the actual door nail fitted into a miniature coffin with the name "Jacob Marley" etched into the wood.

Also inspired by syrena_of_the_lake (2022-01-21 12:17 am)

Also inspired by kalira (2022-01-21 10:49 am)

“I thought you told me there were no pirates on this planet anymore,” Dal Timgar said to his friend and fellow medical student Tiger Martin. Neither the Garvian and Earthman were prepared for their holiday fishing trip to be interrupted by a ship of old pulling alongside and a strange fellow in black dropping into their midst.

The stranger was equally surprised when his explanation—that the star of the interactive drama they were filming and their portable communications grid had suffered harm simultaneously, requiring help from the nearest Hospital their emergency beacon could reach—was met with nervous laughter.

"True Names are rubbish," the Doctor said, "because nobody uses the same name all throughout their life."

"And yet, everywhere we go, you introduce yourself as 'The Doctor,' and everyone just says, 'Right, that's your name,' and continues on like it's not weird for someone to have their name be a title."

The Doctor looked at Bill, winked, and went back to fiddling with the console.

When it came down to it, though, none of them really were like him. They were all people with spider abilities, but each of their stories were just different enough from each other that while they could relate, none of them were exactly the same. It made many of the things they said to each other both truthful enough and false enough that Miles never really knew what to say and what to believe about any of them, even himself.

Edited 2022-06-12 01:18 (UTC)

Earthbending was splintering into so many specializations: metal, lava, wood, gems, sand, and many more things. She'd thought that water and fire would have stayed more static, but it looked like the tribes and the Fire Nation were both innovating as many new ways of working with their element as they could. Even though she'd brought peace, it felt like everyone was only waiting for another excuse to start fighting each other again.

The Doctor stared, mouth agape, as Amy stalked back toward the TARDIS, knuckles still red from the punch she'd thrown to defuse the situation.

"You were taking too long figuring out he wasn't going to do it," she said by way of explanation.

"No, no, no, that's not, that's not, that's not my style," the Doctor said quietly to Amy's retreating form, having a small "I'm supposed to be clever and strange and talk my way out of this."

The fastest way to get on Penny's bad side is to refer to her as a thing, a weapon, a puppet, as if the Aura animating her doesn't set her apart from all of the soulless machines of Atlas. General Ironwood always calls her everything except what she most desperately wants to be.

For that brief and fleeting time when she is free from the appearance of metal and silicon, everyone gets to see her as she has always seen herself, a real girl capable of all the things others girls can do.

Three man that Gwen had assumed wax a civilian fried his gun once, and the thanks meaning them dropped to the pavement as the tentacle's owner screamed in pain.

"You're not a civilian," Gwen shouted at him, "nobody just knows where to hit a creature like that with a single bullet."

"It's a pretty common weak point for Class III entities," Eliot told her, and at Gwen's continued look of disbelief, he continued, "look, it's a very distinctive tentacle, okay?"

I love this! Certainly an original Christmas present.

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Page 180 of 187

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

Re: And Then There Were None

no subject

Re: Umineko, Beatrice, Spoilers up to Episode Seven

Re: Umineko, Shannon

Re: The Family Near the Woods (Hansel and Gretel)

Re: King Lear

Naruto, Hidan, Itachi, Deidara, Kakuzu

Re: The Family Near the Woods (Hansel and Gretel)

Holding the Bag (Linda Dale and Gary Preston aka The Flame, Fox Features comics)

Sunday Afternoon (Linda Dale/Gary Preston aka The Flame, Fox Features comics)

Re: Holding the Bag (Linda Dale and Gary Preston aka The Flame, Fox Features comics)

Re: Holding the Bag (Linda Dale and Gary Preston aka The Flame, Fox Features comics)

Admonition (Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey)

The Exchange (Isabella Thorpe, Northanger Abbey)

Re: MDZS, Wen Ning

Idiomatic (Dal Timgar & Tiger Martin, Star Surgeon)

Idiomatic (Dal Timgar & Tiger Martin, Star Surgeon)

False Alarm (Dal Timgar & Tiger Martin, Star Surgeon)

Doctor Who, Twelfth Doctor and Bill, Names

Spider-Verse, the Spider-Cast, "Friendly Neighborhood"

Avatar: the Legend of Korra, Korra, the Expanding Power of the Avatar

Eleven and Amy, "...is sometimes violence."

RWBY, Penny Polendina, No Strings Attached

Eliot and Gwen, Class iII

Re: Idiomatic (Dal Timgar & Tiger Martin, Star Surgeon)