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

[chanter1944]

any, any, unexpectedly meeting a friendly Labrador retriever (no animal death or harm, please)

Close Encounters of the Labrador Kind (Doctor Who BFA, Charley & Eight)

[ceruleantactician]

It took Charley the better part of the day to figure out where the Doctor had wandered off too, which turned out to be a public park, where he was lying in the grass petting a big yellow dog, who seemed quite happy for the attention.

“I used to have a robot dog, you know,” the Doctor was saying in a confidential tone, apparently to the dog. “You’re much softer… and less sarcastic.”

[eagleoftheninth]

Narnia, any, this video

[paxilam]

any, any, excuse me, you dropped this

[kaminagi]

"I can explain," she blurts out, despairing as the last midnight chime rings and the magic dissolves away, save the glass slippers - one in the hand of an awed fleet-footed guard and the other still sparkling on her foot.

"I can also explain, with an apology and perhaps a proper introduction," the guard says with an embarassed smile, and all she thinks is they had danced together all night, shared canapés and jokes, and now he knows she's a fraud, some shabby maid, and not a fine lady, or even a gentlewoman.

They stare at each other until they both start laughing, and who knew that one year later, they'd find a happily ever after together, all because she couldn't run as fast she could while wearing only one shoe?

[paxilam]

any, any, proof

Obsidian & Blood, Acatl/Teomitl & Quenami

[notapaladin]

The worst part, Quenami thinks, is that he doesn’t have proof. Oh, he has plenty of evidence—Acatl and Teomitl are in each other’s presence constantly, Acatl is the only one who can rein in the brat’s temper, there are bruises and marks on both their bare skins that he knows Acatl can’t have gotten in a fight and he highly doubts Mihmatini would put on her husband (though he could be wrong; she seems like the sort to be domineering), he has seen Acatl seethe in fury when Teomitl is threatened—but none of that constitutes actual proof. Even Tizoc-tzin isn’t paranoid enough to think two brothers-in-law enjoying each other’s company means something untoward is going on.

But there is. Acatl has shown up to meetings with ornaments in his hair and a telling hitch in his step. His spies in the Duality House say that Teomitl rarely spends the entire night on his wife’s mat, and can often be seen making his way through the Sacred Precinct in the predawn hours with a distinctly smug expression. Someone in the markets has been buying a great deal of avocado oil.

If he can only catch them at it, he can take them both down. Tizoc-tzin’s reign and his own power will be assured. But Tizoc-tzin is weakening, and he is running out of time.

And then one day, he runs out entirely.

It is a bright spring day when Tizoc-tzin dies and he must entrust the Emperor’s body to Acatl, and no sooner does he perform that unfortunate duty when Teomitl locks eyes with him over his brother’s corpse. “Finally,” he says with a note of triumph.

Quenami is prepared for death. Teomitl’s always hated him, after all.

He is not prepared for the man to step over to Acatl, lift his mask out of the way, and kiss him full on the mouth in front of half the palace and the gods themselves.

(Judging by the way he squawks and hisses “Teomitl!” under his breath, absolutely scarlet, neither is Acatl. It’s a small balm.)

[paxilam]

any, any, fluffy hair

Scum Villain's Self Saving System, Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky

[marquisguyun]

"Huh," Airplane said, unfolding himself from the pretzel he'd twisted himself into on his desk chair and leaning forward to take a closer look at the Luo Binghe fanart on his screen.

With as infamous as Proud Immortal Demon Way had gotten, it wasn't really surprising that international fans were taking notice, even if the fan translators couldn't hope to keep up with his own publication speed. And with fans came fanartists and fic writers of course, all with their own ideas about his characters and the world they inhabited.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky wasn't quite certain where these international fans had gotten the idea that his son was a brick shithouse with a head of fluffy (curly?) hair, but he wasn't about to complain either!

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, Persona AU

FF7, Cloud, Sephiroth & Zack

[raisedbymoogles]

(okay i 100% did post this so i could fill it myself)

The PHS was Shinra-issue, so Cloud didn't even notice the new app at first, just filtered it out as Shinra tech he didn't need to worry about. Then that thing with Sephiroth happened, and things got - weird, and Cloud got to meet Sephiroth's shadow and his own for the first time.

Sephiroth didn't seem to remember what happened afterwards, which was probably for the best - all that mattered was that he was okay now, as okay as someone could be when they found out they'd been a science experiment. Cloud hid the Heart he'd stolen from his General well, and tried to forget the powerful, alien, lonely being he'd seen inside Sephiroth's heart.

(Later, the app manifested on Zack's PHS too, and that was the point Cloud's life veered back onto Interstate Weird and stayed there.)

[ravenlilyrose]

any, any, Single Parent AU

[paxilam]

the witcher, any, ice ice baby

[vindoletta]

PMMM, any, looking back

[vindoletta]

Evangelion, any, ephemeral

Shinji and Asuka, Instrumentality

[silveradept]

It's not actually that difficult— all he has to do is pull just so and everything will be just as ephemeral as all the people have been in his life: the father who couldn't bother to be there, the mother whose soul was placed in a living machine, the drunk who couldn't take care of him, the secret agents, the wispy girl, endlessly cloned, a shadow of a shadow of a shadow.

And in the middle of all of it, radiating fire, fury, and pain (she just slapped him, how did he not notice), the one thing in the universe that steadfastly refused to abandon him, that demands he do more than slide into nonexistence and take everything with him.

"Shinji," she says, remembering the name he'd forgotten (and forgotten that he had forgotten), "destroy the world all you like, but not like this, not like the wimps and cowards who want you to give up, instead of going out in a blaze."

[vindoletta]

Any, any, holy water can't help you now


(Lyrics from Florence and the Machine)

Transformers G1, Optimus Prime

[raisedbymoogles]

(follows from this fic, wherein Optimus Prime is secretly a vampire. ....typing that out made me both extremely embarrassed and extremely pleased at how ridiculous that phrase is. Fic has melted my brain and I love it.)

He'd had to make a detour to avoid a Decepticon patrol, and another due to a collapsed bridge. So he was already a bit lower on fuel than he would have liked for the amount of road between himself and Iacon.

Main tank empty. Reserve tank 17%. Primus, let it be enough.

His prayer echoed in his spark, unheeded. He was on his own.

---

Reserve tanks at 3%, and Optimus had all but forgotten his destination, mindlessly rolling forward without regard for stealth or cover until a barrage of laserfire stitched the road before him and a rough voice yelled for him to surrender.

Surrender. Sluggishly, he turned the thought over in his mind before deciding, not today.

He transformed. His weapon stayed stowed - he didn't need it. Mechs were emerging from the alleys around him, emboldened by his seeming acquiescence and the fact that they were armed and he was not. With a hunter's patience, he let them get close.

Megatron's got a slag of a price on your head, Prime. We'll never run out of fuel again-

-get on your knees, I said get on-

-what the scrap, what's wrong with his MOUTH-?

Optimus lunged. The first one broke apart in his hands, spraying sparks; the second got bowled over by one half of the first. The thing-that-was-Optimus showed no mercy nor hesitation, until at last exhaustion made him have to let the survivors run -

Reserve tank, .5%.

- all but one.

"Primus," the unfortunate whimpered as his helm was grabbed and cranked back.

At that, Optimus finally found his language module. "Primus can't hear you." And he bent to feed.

[vindoletta]

Any, any, insomnia

[ravenlilyrose]

Will Riker would spend hours walking the halls of the Enterprise-D late at night when the lights were dim and there were no children running around. The only people around were the officers who were on the night shift that day and the occasional other like Will himself, who suffered from insomnia. They would always nod in Will's direction, but no one approached him, not until Deanna inevitably found him, summoned by the disquiet and unsettledness she'd felt from his mind, and took his hand, leading him gently back to one of their quarters and sitting him down with a mug of something warm.

[arveldis]

S&B/SOC, Inej/Kaz, the neck kiss actually happens

Not Gonna Carry it All (SoC/CK, Kaz/Inej)

[vialethe]

“Kaz,” she breathes, soft as the touch of his mouth on her skin, and it pulls him back from the brink, yanks him free of the harbor, of the bloated horror that waits there, floating on the surface.

Because it sounds just like he’d imagined it might and at the same time, so different, a new twist in their story; there’s a burning need in the smoldering ashes of Inej’s voice that he’s never heard before - never let himself hear, he corrects, clinging to the last of his ruthlessness even as the whisper of her voice strips it away.

“Don’t stop,” she says, her head tilting back, the column of her throat bare and alive, an arc of trust inviting him in, and he accepts.

[arveldis]

S&B/SOC, Inej/Kaz, Kaz joins Inej on the Wraith/joins the crew of the Wraith

[peaked]

SOC-Kanej.

"For Saints’ sake, you’re a guest, Kaz," Inej sighs exasperatedly, crossing her arms against her chest. The corners of his lips curve upward at that; she sighs again, wishing Kaz didn’t see everything as a gauntlet tossed at his feet.

Despite his face appearing a little green at the rocking of the ship docked by the pier, Kaz stands tall, his gloved hands tucked behind his back. Fear of the water overcoming him may come, but Inej won’t let him drown.

"Put me to work."

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Any, the chicken at the Pentagon

[smallhobbit]

It had seemed such a great idea at the time - be transformed into a chicken and find out the relevant details. However, no-one had considered the aftermath and the fact that chickens aren't known for being long distance flyers. The agent couldn't even distract themself with Wordle, unless the word was CLUCK.

[(Anonymous)]

Guy Noir, Guy, non euclidean cul de sac.

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Any, any/any, snowed in together trope

The Weather That I’m Under (Narnia/GoT, Susan/Jon Snow)

[vialethe]

“I’m afraid you may be stuck here with me for some time, your highness,” Jon says, raking a hand through his curls, scattering melting snow, though he’s careful to keep it far from Susan, huddled in a pile of furs before the tower’s fireplace.

“The blizzard is that bad, then?” she asks, listening to his answer of, “The snow’s piled higher than my head on the south side of the tower already, and it shows little sign of stopping,” with absolute calm, even the shade of a smile.

“Well,” she says, giving him a long, slow look that sweeps him from head to foot, “I was hoping for something more like, let us say…eight inches of snow - but perhaps you can aid me with that?” and it’s only when she lifts the furs to invite him in, revealing she’s as bare as the day she was born, that Jon understands - and hopes for a very long winter, indeed.

[raisedbymoogles]

any, any, 'Africa' by Toto is about a werewolf trying to find a cure

Grandmother’s Big Ears (Original Character, Dracula)

[woodmr]

It was incredibly stupid to base any major life decision on trending Twitter, let alone a Tumblr thread.

Probably as dumb to read Bram Stoker like some kind of analog WebMD for diagnosing a hereditary disorder.

Still, after Ancestry.com confirmed her relationship to Attila the Hun, Szira purchased a one way ticket from Munich to Nairobi before her imperious dédimama could forbid it.

---

Largely based on the short story "Dracula's Ghost."

[ultra_fic]

Star Wars Sequels, Ben/Rey, mundane AU

[ultra_fic]

original, OMC/OFC, kissing in the rain

[ultra_fic]

any, any, we're not here to change the world/we're here to laugh at others/maybe get a nap along the way
Critically Disdained - Bowling for Soup

[little_lady_d]

any, any, 'the miracle is not some magic that you've got / the miracle is you'

Claudius/Gertrude/Laertes

[ernest]

For a week after his nephew is dispatched at almost too dear a cost, Claudius sits vigil at two different bedsides. There is no antidote under the moon, but he pulls both of his loves back from the brink more times than he can count and has to be reminded to rest to replenish the life force he keeps offering them.

He comes as close as he ever has to praying: he would give up all his magic if he had to, as long as the last of it could keep them alive, and safe, and whole.

[little_lady_d]

any, any, 'i'm pretty sure i'm worthless / if i can't be of service'

til our bodies break down every door (RWBY, Ozma/Salem)

[ernest]

ozma: a hero who knows nothing but the next obstacle to be aimed at for the sake of the rest of the world wants nothing more than a cause worth giving up his life. he rescues a girl whose father thinks he owns her, not for the glory and not for the sacrifice, but because it’s the right thing to do, and looking in her eyes he feels for the first time that he need not prove himself to be valued. it is a fever that takes him down in the end, and he doesn’t know for the longest time the lengths to which his love would go to undo his end.

oz: a soul pulled from the ether is handed a divine mandate to unite humanity into something deserving of continued existence, and he continually refuses this horrible burden until he learns that the woman he loves is alive, and then he jumps at the chance to find her. uneasy with the happiness they find together, he finally talks around the conviction that he hasn’t been doing enough and never will do enough to save those he serves from their own flaws. really, he is begging for permission to lay down his load, but she wants to make him happy so she says they can make that better world together and he can’t stand to disappoint her.

ozpin: an infinite man has spent several lives trying to forget, many lives hoping to die as quickly as possible, and the rest struggling against the odds to do as he has been told, until he has dragged himself into the present. he trusts as few people as possible and lets the cultural memory celebrate the ideal of the solitary warrior. whatever else happens, it has to be him because if he tells the wrong people the truth they will betray him, or he will turn out to have failed in his task and it will all be for naught.

[little_lady_d]

any, any, the sound of falling sand

Greek Myth, Cassandra

[ernest]

The future does not come to Cassandra in visions, but in sound: the sands of time trickle through a narrow opening and she glimpses how few will survive the conflict that none believe is coming. As time goes on, it hisses steadily with the mounting pressure of slight piled on regret piled on misunderstanding, dragging it out, but she learns how to let it fade to the background so she can live her life.

When she wakes screaming with a tongue scorched by the grains steaming in the midday sun, she knows for certain that before the decade is out, Troy will burn and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

[little_lady_d]

any, any, 'i'm so sick of pretty / i want something true, don't you?'

Revolutionary Girl Utena, Anthy Himemiya

[ernest]

Utena’s new roommate stirs far too much sugar into her tea. Spin, spin, spin, goes the spoon: not fast, but steady and gaining speed while never lacking the control to keep from hitting the edges of the cup.

“Something true?” she says sharply, and lets go of the handle, which, caught up in its own whirlpool, keeps moving while threatening to escape its set boundaries: violent, chaotic, noisy, “True like that, Utena-sama?”