Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

[rthstewart]

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.

<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

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, pesto

[primeideal]

(Wheel of Time)

Lan raised his eyebrows at the dish; he would never complain, of course, but perhaps this was one of those ways in which customs differed. "What sort of noodles do they eat in the Borderlands?" Nynaeve asked.

"We eat them with meat," he said.

Fool men--couldn't enjoy something as simple as noodles without having to assert their killing prowess. "In the Two Rivers, we grow green things."

Of course, once Aviendha introduces them both to t'mat, they decide that red plants that merely look like blood make very good sauce, too.

[wickedlittletown]

any, any, hair braiding

shadow and bone/six of crows, inej/kaz

[peaked]

With his gloves piled against the bed by his thigh, Kaz threads his fingers gently through her long hair, pulling it free from its messy and unravelling braid. Inej sits cross-legged before him, her back slightly hunched, her guard only partially raised. If his bared fingers brush against the naked nape of her neck or the slope of her nude shoulder as he begins to section her hair, well, he doubts anyone could fault him for that.

[vialethe]

Shadow & Bone, The Darkling/Alina, always pushing you away from me/but you come back with gravity/and when i call, you come home

[vialethe]

Trojan War Cycle, Aeneas/Cassandra, and she’ll love you like a radiant flame/there’s never really any safety in it/please, do it again

[betony]

"It's more difficult than you think, boy," grunts his father, "loving a madwoman. The gods-touched are not so very different from the gods themselves, and who better than I to know?"

And Aeneas knows, knows, knows all this, and yet he cannot help but imagine: her fingers carding through his hair; her lips warm against his skin; her voice whispering of bones and blood and death and yet he wouldn't care so long as she did--not--stop--

"It's more difficult than you think, Father," he replies, voice rough and raw, "being a little mad yourself."

[vialethe]

Shadow & Bone/TGT, The Darkling/Alina, i couldn’t utter my love when it counted/ah, but i’m singing like a bird about it now

[betony]

She hears him.

No longer does his voice make sinister proclamations, impatient insults; but instead, when the wind rushes through the branches above, she hears You look as lovely as ever; and when a bird caws when she scolds an errant child, she hears, As sharp-witted as you are sharp-tongued; and when the sun sets, she hears, In you I have my home, Alina.

And she is free too, at last, free to believe him; she is free to press her fingers to her lips in a silent kiss and whisper back, "I know."

[vialethe]

Shadow & Bone/TGT, The Darkling/Alina, i wish to know/the fatal flaw that makes you long to be/magnificently cursed

[vialethe]

Shadow & Bone/TGT, The Darkling/Alina, if i’m on fire/you’ll be made of ashes too

[vialethe]

Narnia, The Tisroc and the King AU, Aravis/Khalid or Aravis/Ishamiel, the intimacy of no veils and no turbans

Khalid at the Temple

[nasimwrites]

She is not supposed to be there, Aravis knows, but she stubbornly pushes the thought away. She is Tisroc, and if the Tisroc is in need of a subject, not even Tash himself may stop her. Although, the traitorous little voice in her mind reminds her, sneaking into the Temple of Tash on the eve of the fasting season during a Tarkaan's private ablutions is far from regal.

Khalid is standing knee-deep in the pool, unclothed except for the white wrap tied around his waist, bare head bowed in the moonlight reflected off the many mirrors around the Temple's dome. He is no more devout than she is, really -- but when his bright gaze rises to find her watching, alone in the dim light, she feels something powerful rush from the crown of her head to her toes... and understands, at last, the words of the prophecy the bolt of Tash falls, for it falls straight through her.

[ernest]

Hamlet, Gertrude, postpartum

[smallhobbit]

She smiled as she held her infant son and marvelled at the perfection of the small body in her arms. Then the emotion overcame her again and she wept, frightened for her son's future and the baby began to wail. The nurse bustled in and took her tiny Hamlet from her, reminding her once again that she was not important, it was only the heir to the throne who mattered.

[wearing_tearing]

any, any, comfort no hurt

Transformers G1, Hot Rod & Optimus Prime

[raisedbymoogles]

Optimus Prime knelt, his hands gripped around Hot Rod's arms. "It wasn't your fault," he said softly, unshakeably, "and I never blamed you. I'm sorry I didn't say it before it was too late."

Hot Rod had to reboot his vocalizer twice, three times, before he could clear it enough to respond. "It - it's not too late now."

[wearing_tearing]

any, any, hurt no comfort

Sacrifice (Person of Interest, Root/Shaw)

[swirlsngirls]

Fusco had once joked that Root was the queen of the chessboard, the most powerful piece, not knowing about the little god in her ear.

Now he holds her back as she surges forward and Shaw falls, and she sees it—-not even She can help Shaw. It is Shaw that is the queen in this second, because the thing about being the piece the enemy wants to capture most is that it makes you the perfect sacrifice.

(this is not very good but it sure is angsty so you can have that)

[paxilam]

lotr, any, dices

[wearing_tearing]

any, any, hurt/comfort

[wickedlittletown]

any, any, macarons

[(Anonymous)]

Leverage/EGS, Eliot Spencer & Arthur J Arthur, Off the books talk.

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, lapis lazuli and jade

Dragonriders of Pern via SouCon MUSH's Xanadu Weyr

[chanter1944]

"Uh-oh, look out, that lad's got someone in mind--!" Eelie turns at Z'ran's half-chuckled exclamation, gaze fully caught, though it's plain that beside him, Jenessa's still trying to somehow split her attention between the newborn lapis lazuli blue dragonet dashing across the sands and his sister, a small and compact creature of cloudy jade who, despite cracking shell at almost exactly the same moment, is taking her relative time for consideration (and a brief, shard-removing head toss besides). Candidates scatter as that blue arrows for someone on the far side of the crowd, and it's with a swerve and a creaky sort of snort that dragon meets lifemate - a skinny fisherfolk boy from Old Monaco Hold lands, laughing and quite unhurt, on his backside in the sand when his determined blue thwarts his second attempt at dodging with an unmistakable 'yes, you!' muzzle-bump to both shins - and as for that cloudy jade green, she makes a half-minute's quiet inspection of the nearby candidate line before singling out a taciturn southern hall's Healer apprentice lass for her own.

[paxilam]

any, any, inside an elevator

RPF - Corey Taylor and Sid Wilson - Trapped in an elevator (things you shouldn't say)

[wickedlittletown]

Abruptly the elevator stopped working - in the middle of the night, what a time to call the emergency service of the company.

Corey pressed the emergency button, now all they could do was having a quick talk with the operator and waiting that the company would fix the elevator.

"I hope they don't need hours" he remarked, while he leaned against the cabin and catching Sid's look, who shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his phone "At least we have a working connection".

"Is that your only problem?"
"No. If we are lucky we have to wait not more than an hour."
"Did you really searched for the average time of being stuck in an elevator?" Corey asked doubtfully.
"Pray that it will be not between eight or nine hours." Sid replied, before he added "What a coincidence: We went down for a cigarette break. Just what the poor man in Manhatten did a few years ago, just to end up being in an elevator for nearly two days."
"You're really uplifting, Sid" remarked Corey sourly, praying that he wouldn't end up like this.

[Author's note: Why did I wrote a piece about my biggest fear. Reading the article about the poor man I have mentioned gave me a goosebumps.This prompt could also work if you replace their names with Tony and Loki, since Loki would be like Sid.]

[paxilam]

any, any, a collection of rocks

Interesting Rocks (Greenwing & Dart)

[edenfalling]

When someone says they collect rocks, most listeners, Hope has learned, assume the rocks in question are valuable, shiny, or carved into interesting shapes -- often all three. She never saw much point in that sort of collecting, and not merely because it was far beyond her modest finances: gemstones are such a tiny fraction of the world's minerals, playing scarcely any role in the great geological processes that lift and shape the land, and a collection whose component parts are all alike is less a selection and more of a hoard.

Besides, several fist-sized chunks of granite, gneiss, and common silicates serve a far more practical defensive purpose than a palmful of dust-speck diamonds, however bright the latter may shine.

[ultra_fic]

any, any, did I say that out loud?

peacemaker, chris & adrian

[paxilam]

"What?"

"What? What?"

"What did you just-?"

"Did I say it out loud?"

"Oh you did."

Chris grunted loudly. It was too late, no use in denying. "I did. And you heard it."

"Definitely, yes." Adrian patted his ears as to prove to himself and Chris that his hearing was perfectly fine. "See, now's muffled, now is not," keeping covering and uncovering, "but I can still hear everything."

"Yeah, got it, alright! So, will you?"

"Will I what?"

Chris felt the frustration reach the tip of his own ears. "Teach me the butt dance! Asshat!"

[(Anonymous)]

Earthsea, any, sometimes I still hear the poems of dragons

[(Anonymous)]

Arthurian mythology, Guinevak and the False Guinevere, more than pale shadows and substitutes of their sister, the famous Queen Guinevere

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, ship's cat

Ship's cat (The Terror, Fagin--and Collins and Goodsir).

[theseatheseatheopensea]

The two kind men he knew from the ship have taken him along with them to a small, cosy cottage, and Fagin is very pleased with this arrangement, as his excessive purring suggests. Being a ship's cat has been a very interesting adventure, but his current situation (curled up in the bigger man's arms, with the other man sitting close to him) is most satisfactory. He supposes that, deep down, he is actually a sailor's cat--even if said sailor is now on dry land for good, looking as happy and peaceful as Fagin himself.

[elementalraven]

Narnia, any, what if Narnia was written by G.R.R. Martin

[elementalraven]

asoiaf, any, what if asoiaf was written by C.S. Lewis

[syrena_of_the_lake]

The trouble began with the Mad King — not mad as in angry (although he frequently was) nor mad like the Alice’s Hatter (who may have been a few cards short of a deck but never would have offed anyone’s head), but Mad with a starkly capital M like you might find in history books describing Genghis Kahn.

If true madness lies in not knowing good from evil nor friend from foe, then the Mad King had earned his name long before he did such foolish things as killing the messenger, plotting against his allies and trying to plant himself upside-down like a tree in the courtyard. Still, he might have dwindled into whimsical insignificance if not for the Lion, the Wildfire and the War of the Usurper.

[elementalraven]

asoiaf, any, what if asoiaf was written by J.R.R. Tolkien