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

[elementalraven]

(sorry about the length, but I had ideas)


When Queen Susan enters the throne hall of Anvard, all eyes turn to her. They rove over the ruby and crimson of the dress, made with the finest of fabrics and the greatest of care, and linger on meticulous embroidery.

With a golden thread there are depictions of mountains and rivers, flowers, trees and Trees; naiads and Dryads make their home there, as well as Beasts in all shapes and sizes, roaming and romping and rearing. At the waist of her dress Fauns sing, Satyrs dance, Dwarfs craft and Centaurs gaze ever upwards, not to the stary night but the Gryphons and Birds that soar and glide along her neck and shoulders. And when she walks past, a golden Lion prowls on her cloak, roaring and leaping with every step she takes.

Susan watches the Archenlanders watch her, watches as their gazes linger and move ever upwards until they finally find her gleaming crown, bestowed upon her by the God they, too, worship. She sees them understand and smiles.

Narnia won’t be dismissed any longer.

...

The room is a buzz of activity as all the girls in Susan’s dorm get ready together.

Hair is coiled and clothes are straightened and rumples smoothed out. Lipstick is put on meticulously. In the corner, one girl helps another put make up on, and another trio clusters in front of the mirror, doling out advice and compliments in equal measure.

The world will look at them and expect weakness, expect flaws, and they will give the world nothing. In this, presentation matters.

Susan smiles and joins them.

---

It is a beautiful sunny day, clear skies and soft breezes all around, and yet Susan is inside, bent over her desk as she draws up a letter with unwavering concentration.

She writes a few words, pauses, then scratches them out. She’ll have to copy it all again later, but better find the right words and get them in order first. She can make no errors in this.

After all, this could determine the future of Narnia, for better or for worse. And almost as importantly: this could determine the course of Susan’s life. It is a dangerous, ambitious goal she is attempting to reach, but should she succeed it would all be worth it.

Susan takes a breath and starts again: ‘My dear Rabadash…’

...

A curse comes from the next room, followed by the ripping of paper and stomping feet. A moment of silence, and then the typewriter starts clicking again.

From her place on the couch Susan continues to read her newspaper. She sent the bulk of her own application letters in last week, most for secretary posts here and there. Anywhere where they need someone with good organization skills and high work ethics is good enough for her, at least for now.

Mary Ann, on the other hand, is aiming for her dream position, which is to be a nurse. This obviously increases the pressure for her and on top of that Susan’s friend is quite the perfectionist. Susan is proud of her, truth to be told, and she thinks that Mary Ann would be a good nurse, but she also wishes her friend would cut herself some slack, once in a while.

But Susan can hardly pretend to be the wiser woman in that respect, even if she has learned to relax a little more since… Well. Since she was younger.

Another curse comes from the next room.

Susan stands up and puts the kettle on.

---

Susan smiles as the Birch girl rambles on, talking about anything and everything, from the new members to the Squirrel family who live near to her to the rising unrest among the Dryads of the Shuddering Woods as a nearby settlement of Dwarfs almost encroaches on their territory. She brushes and braids Susan’s hair with expert skill as she does so, and Susan can’t say she regrets taking her on as a lady in waiting.

The newest member of her household is chatty, that is certain, but there is a wealth of information in what she says, passed on by friends and family and even the wind and leaves themselves.

Susan’s eyes fall on the Rat who sits in the corner of the room, the lady dwarf on the stool next to her, and the Magpie in the window, all of whom are listening as well. She sighs and closes her eyes, relaxing back into her chair.

...

Gossip, Susan learned a long time ago, is a treasure trove of knowledge and information. Oh, it should be carefully parsed and certainly not be blithely believed, but once one’s got the hang of it, it’s a most valuable resource.

Susan thinks she might be the only one of their siblings who ever truly learned this. Even Edmund, for all his intelligence networks and secret informers, never completely stopped dismissing gossip off hand.

So when one of Susan’s new friends visits and immediately starts talking about this rumour or that, he usually just rolls his eyes and leaves the room.

But Susan just think of the chatty Birch Dryad she once knew, and the many other good friends besides, and she listens with rapt attention.

---

Rabadash smiles constantly, Susan has noticed.

He smiles as he shows her his home and he smiles as he asks her to dance and he even smiles when takes a step back and says she will retire to her rooms now, even as his eyes tell a different story.

Susan doesn’t let that stop her of course, but she does become a little more careful in his presence, smiles a little less, tries to keep her distance.

In the end, of course, it doesn’t matter.

...

Susan pushes her way through the crowd to reach the corner of the room, where she leans against the wall and closes her eyes for a second. After having danced non-stop for nearly an hour, she needs a breather.

When she opens her eyes again, they catch on a pair standing a little way to the left of her, far enough away that she can’t hear what they are saying over the tumult of the party, but close enough that she has a clear view of them.

Like a huntress who has never unlearned her trade, Susan hones in on the body language of the girl, which screams uncomfortable. The says something to the man leaning, almost looming, over her, clearly forcing a smile, but he grabs her arm and steps even closer to her.

Susan takes a step towards them without thinking, but before she can do anything the girl rips her arm loose and stalks off, the man laughing at her retreating figure.

Susan’s eyes track the girl as she leaves the room, making sure no one follows her. Only when the girl is safely out of sight does Susan relax again.

Then she moves towards the door, not feeling like partying anymore.

---

Susan paces through the halls of Cair Paravel, unable to sit still as she waits for news that should have come hours ago. She can’t say she isn’t used to it by now, isn’t used to stand by patiently as her siblings make war, but it never really gets any easier.

Of course, there are preparations to be made, as there always are: rooms to be prepped for the wounded, supplies to be stocked and ordered, healers and menders and cooks to be organized, messengers to be sent and information to be received and decided on. Even the walls need to be manned, or ready to be manned, and the castle secured, in case the worst should happen.

Susan is well versed in this and so are her people, which means things are running smoothly. A relief, to be sure, but it also means that there is not much for her to do anymore.

So Susan does what she always does: she prepares and she prays and she waits.

...

It is always a bit of a frantic, jittery chaos when the post comes. The girls in her room rush this way and that: the cupboards are organized and the rooms cleaned many times over, tea is made and set to the side and the doors and windows are checked continuously. Anything to keep their hands, and minds, busy.

It doesn’t get any easier here either. No one wants to receive bad news.

So Susan holds hands and soothes fears and she takes care of the girls as best as she can. And then they wait.

[primeideal]

Oh, this is really great! Love the parallels, and Susan as a huntress protecting her fellow women--excellent.

[elementalraven]

thank you!

[ruanchunxian]

This is AMAZING!!! I love you weave the past and present together!! Using her experience in Narnia to navigate England!!

[elementalraven]

thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

[animus_wyrmis]

I love this! All of Susan's strengths

[elementalraven]

thank you!

[little_lady_d]

oh this is a beautiful character study, i love the way the life susan lived in narnia flows through the life she’s making in the real world. and that description of her dress at the beginning? gorgeous.

[elementalraven]

thank you so much!

[edenfalling]

Beautiful ♥

[elementalraven]

Thank you!