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

any, any, left behind

[spoiler: character death]

"Those who leave their comrades behind are worse than scum", their sensei had said, before disappearing completely from her life once the boys had left the team.

Tsunade had barely taken a look at her, barely heard her plea disguised as a willfull vow, before laughing her out of the Hokage's office.

In another world, Sakura Haruno would put in years of sweat, sleepless nights spent reading and grueling dawns training, all culminating on the second coming of a legend - in this one, she was the first one of her promotion to die.

CW: unexplained missing persons

Rory sits on the floor with his back to Kit’s bed, his guitar across his lap, right hand idly pressing chords into the fretboard without actually strumming to make sound. Kit sits on his left, their knees pressed together; Rory can feel the build of energy between them as Kit focuses on the pad of paper in his lap. Carolyn’s image is blooming in charcoal beneath Kit’s hands; Rory doesn’t want to interrupt that with noise.

That’s all his music feels like right now: noise.

Kit tucks his pencil between his teeth, biting down to hold it while he smooths his thumb over dark lines, smudging and smoothing them into shadows. He slows, takes the pencil from his mouth and sets it down as he twists to look at Rory. “You’re not playing.”

Rory shrugs. “Can’t, really. Thorne’s been burying himself in activity—either people or music. I just can’t. It feels like there’s nothing there, or every time I reach for it, I think about how Alaric’s just gone.”

Kit swallows.

“Alaric,” Rory says softly, his best friend’s name sour in his mouth. He’s not the only one who’s lost someone. Kit’s twin is among the missing. “Carolyn. Heather and Nikita. Mattie. Mac. Pawel.”

Kit’s gaze falls to the image of Carolyn. He closes the pad of paper and sets it aside. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not the one who can use the picture to reach her. She has to reach me. I know she will. She has all the pictures I drew for her, and she’ll reach out to me. Or to Serina. Or she’ll just Travel home. She’ll bring them all with her. They’re just gone, Rory. They’ll be back.”

Rory lets go of the guitar, places his hand palm up on Kit’s knee. Kit tangles their fingers together, and Rory sets aside the guitar completely so he can hold Kit instead.

It’s been a week already, since they all just disappeared. Since they had a meeting at Pawel’s house, and the only one left was Del, unconscious, and she has no memory of what happened. “They’ll be back,” Rory whispers, because he has to believe it. Alaric’s like a brother to him, and Kit can’t lose his twin. “And if they aren’t, we’ll make Del remember so we can go find them.”

Ezra's mother left the next day, talking quickly and brightly about other places, other chances, other schemes, other scams. She didn't ask him to come with her, and he'd long ago learned - as a boy grown jaded and lonesome far too young - not to ask her to let him come. Being abandoned was what his boyhood was, after all.

But this time, watching Maude's delicate hand wave a dismissive farewell out of the stagecoach window, and listening to the rumble of wheels fading down the dirty main street of his ramshackle home, he didn't feel that old lonely sting: there were people still here, six of them, and somehow he knew they weren't about to leave him behind.

This time, and in a way that she would never understand, Maude had been the one left behind.

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

no subject

Naruto, Sakura Haruno

Missing :: Welcome to PHU, missing scene from Into the Split (Rory/Kit)

The Magnificent 7 (TV), Ezra