rthstewart | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'm going to play with my invisible friend." Zelda announced in a carrying voice to her nursemaid. A castle always had ears, and a child always drew eyes, but she kept her voice clear just in case. "I'll be away all day."

Impa nodded solemnly, in the way children liked; it always made the little ones feel heard. "I'll pack you a lunch. Your invisible friend always likes cake."

The dialogue done, Zelda set off in the secret ways. Everyone would assume she was playing in a garden or holed up in a quiet room, smiling indulgently that their sweet little princess was still young enough to have an imaginary friend. Once free from prying eyes, Zelda removed her lyre from the basket and played a familiar lively tune, vanishing in green light.

"Hey!" Link exclaimed at the sight of their friend in the muted light of the Sacred Meadow. They hopped up from the stump they were waiting on and ran over, hopping in place impatiently.

"Hello again, Link." Sheik replied, putting down his basket, already unfolding his wimple. "Saria isn't here today?"

Link shook their head. Just them two today.

"I'll save her share then." He laughed at Link's immediate interest. "Honestly, if you had a tail, you'd be wagging it."

That only made Link smile and shake their hips, and panting like a canid, making Sheik laugh harder. They always knew how to cheer him up.

But for now, their picnic. The dias would be more even, more clean, but both of them preferred to use the stump as a table, the moss as cushions. Link sat with only deliberate patience, eying everything Zelda brought out. Sturdy mugs and wooden plates he placed first, the first of the milk poured into the former. A large loaf of white bread laid out with butter and jam was placed only second to the promised cake, thickly iced and bristling with nuts. Sandwiches stuffed with cold roasted beef and pork came next, followed by a whole wheel of new cheese and finished with several small sweet oranges.

"There, enough for you, wolf eyes?"

Link was practically slavering by the time Sheik put everything on their living table, eager for the food like a wolf after sheep. That's why Sheik brought such an ample lunch after all. Fairies delighted in the human foods they couldn't cultivate in their woods: Sheik always brought grain and dairy to please his fairy friends.

Therefore Sheik did not expect any conversation, not when Link was tearing into their friend's offerings. They didn't have the same restrictions as their family, being human, but still had many of their habits. Sheik refilled Link's mug again and again as they put away the milk like it was alcoholic.

This wasn't just a social visit, the way any action a princess took was never 'just' anything. Zelda had to create ties with the various peoples of Hyrule, and the Kokiri were always the trickiest to pin down. They all swore by oaths, not paper agreements, and goodwill mattered far more than any crown. The ample portions would be shared and establish Zelda as a generous human who knew how to trade and stick to her promises.

Sheik was roused from his musings by blocking the blow aimed at his head. Well. Perhaps 'blow' was a strong word when Link only meant to flick him with their fingers, but even when this body no longer had its years of training, Sheik's mind could not let it go.

"What?" he huffed.

Link gave him a stare. Clearly annoyed that Sheik was overthinking again, prone to melancholy as he was.

"I'm fine, I'm not... I'm fine." Sheik sighed.

Link raised their brows, chin on one fist even as they crammed another orange slice into their mouth. It was extremely undignified and extremely sincere. Sheik felt himself relax.

"Yes, it would do me good to talk about it..." he relented. "The crown weighs on me, even as it is merely a princess's diadem and not a queen's burden." He always felt so churlish complaining about this. Was this not far better than almost a decade in hiding, with his people suffering? But Link always listened; they were good at that. "While I find my frustration at being condescended to as a child bearable, still I find myself more watched than ever Ganondorf's agents tried."

Link nodded, biting a piece of cheese alongside the cake. A peasant's combination, but a startlingly delicious one, Sheik had found. They looked off to the side, eyes distant and too old for the face still rounded with childish fat. They had left on a journey in turmoil, and came back more at peace, but the missing years still lay as heavily on Link as Sheik. Not in the same way, but the two had already had their guilty debate on which of their fates were worse.

"Gotta leave soon."

Startled by Link speaking already, Sheik blinked. Usually it took Link about two hours to warm up to verbal speech. Link shrugged.

"The Kokiri are children. Soon I won't be. Can't stay forever, but I can always visit." Link's eyes gleamed in a smile. "Got the best presents."

"...How soon? And where? I'm sure if I made a good word, backed up by Impa - "

Link waved him off, blowing their tongue rudely.

"...Not a page then."

Link groaned, flopping down onto the moss.

"I thought you liked fighting?"

Link rolled their eyes over to him, then, still supine, snapped into a mockery of his Royal Guard.

Sheik snorted. "Fair point." Link always declared the guard couldn't see past their noses, as if any but the fairy-blessed could have walked by undetected. Being stationed at a wall wouldn't suit Link at all, wild as they were. "But what then?"

Blindly reaching for more treats, Sheik nudged their loaded plate toward their questing hand. They mooed in response.

"...A cowherd?"

Link shrugged. "Until I get big. Big and strong. Not stretched and sleepy."

"...You just want all the milk you can drink."

Link grinned at him. Guilty as charged! Then their face sobered, tilting in thought.

"Less eyes."

Which finished the circle of thought. It wasn't just that Link was a human, would be older, but that they were also feeling the weight of others, the disparity between what people expect and what they find. Even Link had never been a hero, the gulf would only widen as they matured and their family stayed the same age.

“I do value the time we spend.” Sheik said, “I am… more glad than words can say that you still call me friend and let me confide in you.”

Link gave him a crooked grin, the intent of which made Sheik snort. “I don’t talk that much.”

“ ‘A thing that doesn’t change with time is a memory of younger days’,” they quoted, one hand on their breast and the other thrown up dramatically, “ ‘The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power’..! ”

“You - !” Sheik leapt up, face hot, ready to throttle Link. “The most words you string in a row and it’s to - to - mock me??”

On the mossy ground Laugh cackled, rolling around. “ ‘Young love will become deep affectionnnnnn’!”

“Shut up thou - thou hound!” Sheik vaulted over the stump to tackle Link, but was immediately thwarted; Link had to defend themself against a village of other children for years, and Zelda wasn’t allowed to roughhouse to her content. What he could do, however, was speak.

“Brigand!” he cried as they tussled, only further provoked by Link’s holding back, “Lout! Knave!” Link only laughed, “Thou lice infested pox infected licentious wastrel whelped by a sheepbuggering horsehumping mongrelfucking bitch of putrescence supreme!”

That got Link to stop, awestruck at the stream of filth emerging from his mouth. Truly, few spoke with such eloquent obscenity as Sheik when roused, a thing of beauty and rancor both.

“…Huh. I feel much better.”

With a last laugh, Link sat up, helping Sheik up too. They tapped their temple, and Sheik laughed.

“I can’t always been thinking of foul language but… Thank you, Link. Imagining their horrified faces would be a relief.”

Smiling broadly, Link patted Sheik’s face in comfort before returning to their lunch. That was truly why Sheik always came here: not just for the diplomatic reasons, not just for Link to listen, but to be truly understood, and comforted. Sheik would give a whole year’s output of cakes for this. No one else knew him like Link, and for that he was infinitely grateful.

Edited 2022-02-11 04:03 (UTC)

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

A Picnic, And Advice (LoZ: OoT, Link and Zelda-Sheik)