3 Sentence Ficathon

[rthstewart]

EDIT!  THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS,  PLEASE POST NEW PROMPTS HERE!

CaramelSilver isn’t running the awesome 3 sentence ficathon this year, but she said I could do it in her place!!  (Banner courtesy of CaramelSilver and thanks so much!)

What is the 3 Sentence Ficathon?
This is a challenge where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and answer as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want.

What do I do?
You post prompts!  When posting a prompt please format it this way:

fandom, character/pairing, prompt word/sentence.

Only one prompt per comment please.

What else?
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 allowed. 

I'm not a member of Dreamwidth
No problem.  You can comment anonymously or through open ID

Can anyone play?
Yes!  Please pimp this to your flist, I'd like as many as possible to come and participate!

I'm cross-posting to LJ but we will keep all prompts and fills here, so they are in one awesome place (and with less spam). 

Here's a link for spreading the word to all your friends and comms (thanks snacky !)


<a href="http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/87903.html" _fcksavedurl="http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/87903.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/rthstewart/20604999/33037/33037_300.jpg" border="0"></a>

How long can it go? 
CaramelSilver kept the 2011 3 Sentence Ficathon up for a month.  I'd suggest closing it on Sunday, April 7, 2013.  How does that sound? (edit:  If we reach 5,000 comments sooner, I'll start a new one).

Are there any rules about cross-posting?
Nope, you can post wherever you want, whenever you want.  Last year, a lot of folks collected their responses together and posted them on AO3 under the 3 sentence fiction tag.

Gosh who are all these people writing such great prompts and fills?
Good question!  Come to the friending meme and introduce yourself if you like.

As  lady_songsmith explains, for the 2011 3 Sentence Ficathon, grim_lupine created a delicious account to archive the 3 Sentence Ficathon.   lady_songsmith has reactivated the archive on delicious for this challenge, so, here is the account (nothing current added yet, though): https://previous.delicious.com/3sentence She asks that if anyone would be willing to help knock down the backlog of the prolific-ness thus far, let her know!!  (She adds:  I know folks are kinda down on delicious with the changes, but, hey, it's an archive already set up with useful tags!)

On the subject of archiving, I really encourage people to collect and post their fills elsewhere.  That way, we can find your work more easily again, redundancy is always good and it's really useful for future remixes and other challenges and gift exchanges you might participate in. I'll start a linking post so that if you do collect all your fills and post them on your own blog or an archive like AO3, you can give give us the link in comments. 


edited March 12, 2013
edited March 13, 2013 to fix box coding problem (thanks to those who helped!) and to add link to friending meme
edited March 15, 2013 to add information on archiving.
edited March 24, 2013 to close post to new prompts. 

Comments

[vialethe]

Greek mythology, Apollo/Daphne, flee and I will follow

[regndoft]

Apollo’s pursuit is as swift and unrelenting as his arrows.

Over blades of grass, sun-warmed stone and sharp pebbles she runs, and he follows her through grove as well as creek; his heart burns clear and devastating as he shouts his love for her, begging her to stop, warning her that there is no place she can go where he will not follow.

When the canopy falls across her once fair face he finds that he was wrong.

[vialethe]

Greek mythology, Cassandra, the end of the world

[metonomia]

Cassandra stares out from the walls, her watch lonely even amidst the crowd, as the chariot stirs dust toward Troy. Her vision sharpens until she can see the blood gasping from her brother's wounds, can see all the way to his spirit sinking into the dust of the land he loved, can see the cold fields of Hades that are her future. The city in flames creeps across her eyes, but this is not the first time she has watched the world end, and as she begins to wail she prays for it to finally happen.

[buttonloops]

Beowulf, the wailing woman, heroes have the whole earth as their tomb.

[metonomia]

The voice is hers, but the grief she lends it to is of the entire earth. The sea he swam, the rocks he climbed, the lowliest grasses he ran across - all these and more mourn the passing of a hero. There is a comfort in this universal sharing, even as her own insignificant heart breaks over and over again.

[vialethe]

Greek/Roman mythology, Aeneas/Cassandra, survivor and savior are so similar

(Crack pairing ahoy!)

[betony]

By the fifth time he sees her before him, he's guessed the truth; the vision of Cassandra, loveliest of the princesses of Troy, is as beautiful as he remembers, but its eyes are sad and far more lucid than they ever were in life.

He means to say, first my Creusa, and now you?, but instead: "I wish I could have saved you."

The phantom laughs (and that, oh that, is exactly as he remembers) as it--as she whispers in the shell of his ear: "Then survive, my Aeneas; tell my story to the rest of the world, and let me live through you."

[vialethe]

Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack/Elizabeth, is it just madness keeping us afloat?

[pristineungift]

"This is mad," Elizabeth says, even as she pulls Jack closer.

His beard is rough, but his lips are soft.

"If you only knew how often I hear that," he whispers as he presses her down into the surf.

[metonomia]

Dream of the Rood, narrator, he is the cross

[buttonloops]

I always wanted to be a spear or a cudgel—a flaming steel battle-brand was too high an aspiration for a piece of lowly wood—to slaughter the wicked and laugh as their blood drained away. But here I am, with an innocent man stretched and nailed to me like an oxhide for tanning, and I dare not quiver for He commanded me to hold. He screams, a long terrible cry that rends the heavens in two and shudders through the underworld, but I cannot move—cannot do anything but hold, feeling the blood and water trickle down my side from his limp and cooling body.

---

I don't even know how/why I wrote that...

[metonomia]

anthropomorfic, paganism/christianity, marriage

[vialethe]

At first she loves how he adopts what is hers - her traditions, her decorations, her holy places - and makes them his own, thinking it proof of his love, his devotion to her and her people.

By the time she realizes she has become an afterthought, lost in the depths of his shadow, it is too late, for he rules the world, his and hers combined.

In the shadows, she retreats, and surrenders herself to nature, and waits for him to stumble, for her time in the light to come again.

[metonomia]

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairy Land in a Ship of Her Own Making, September/Halloween, each the other's shadow

[degrees]

Chihayafuru, Chihaya/Arata, absence makes the heart grow fonder

[hostilecrayon]

With each and every e-mail, Arata's heart breaks a little more. It would be easier to forget, but he can't bring himself to, so instead he never answers so that maybe she can.

After he drives her out of Fukui, he can't help but realize just how foolish he's been.

[metonomia]

Narnia/The Ruin, Eustace and Jill, city of the giants

[buttonloops]

From the high window they see the hilltop spread out before them. It is plainly the ruins of an enormous city—the cunning work of giants, now in shambles—and the "cliff" is a half-fallen time-slumped wall still five hundred feet high. Across it all, the intersecting sunken lanes shape letters that prod their brains, a third clue in dark and fiery runes, pointing them down, down, to where the giant king sleeps gripped in the ground.

[lady_songsmith]

Narnia/Merlin, Morgana, Andrew's godmother Mrs. LeFay

[betony]

assuming Morgana's fate in 5.13 never happened....

Every few decades, she finds someone who reminds her of Merlin--sometimes it's as simple as noticing something about the ears, sometimes as devastating as finding poison behind a puppyish facade--and when she does, she always, always helps them.

"Promise me," she urges this latest version, a tall thin lad named Andrew, "you'll burn it once I'm dead"; as he swears an oath he clearly has no intention to keep, it's all she can do not to smile through her glamour.

(The easiest way to have your revenge on someone is to give them the tools of their own destruction and then do nothing--Merlin taught her that all too well.)

[cloudbusting]

Greek Mythology, Achilles/Iphigenia, the price to pay for glory

[metonomia]

They meet in Hades, and he shines brighter every day with the way his name is already carrying forward into the future. She is a little wisp of a shade, flickering a little every now and then into clearer notice.
But she looks at him, and will not look away, and he feels his glory diminished.

[cloudbusting]

Spring Awakening, Wendla, there once was a maiden

[lizzardgirl]

She is not that girl anymore, Wendla thinks as she comes across her old doll one day and realises she had not even noticed it was missing. It is not the doll's fault, she loved that doll, loves it still, but there is so much in her head now, so many other things, that she just plain forgot about it. And then another wave of nausea hits her and afterwards, she feels so horrible and weak and she hugs the doll to herself because there is no one else and she promises she will never forget it again.


Sorry, it's a bit weak, it's been ages since I read (and saw) Spring Awakening, but I do love it, so I thought I'd give it a try!

[cloudbusting]

Greek Mythology, Helen, my graceless heart

[betony]

A princess of Achaea must have certain expectations for her heart: it is to be spacious, so as to accommodate her husband and his hall and every last one of his flaws; it is to be hard as stone, so as to let no distractions enter; and it is to be steady and immutable through all the years, so as to never change in a way her family dislikes.

Under no circumstances, Helen knows without having to ask, is it to value gossiping in the gardens with her cousins and sisters over sitting in silence beside her husband; nor is it to see the potential that lies within her daughter and seek to make Hermione more than just yet another trophy to be exchanged for land, wealth, or power; nor is it to yearn for things unknown and untold.

Her flight with Paris is due far less to fickleness and far more to despair than anyone ever suspects.

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, if I loved you less, I could talk about it more

Assassin's Creed, Desmond Miles/Shaun Hastings

[hostilecrayon]

Desmond is always watching Shaun. He's well aware of his feelings for him, overwhelming and powerful as they are, but he knows it is not a risk he can take.

When there is a chance that he will die, it's better not to have anyone to leave behind.

[plalligator.livejournal.com]

Code Name Verity, Julie/Maddie, oh maker did you ever know / this love would burn so yelllow / becoming orange and in it's time / explode from grey to black then bloody wine

[renquise]

Yesssss, Archandroid lyrics!
--

Julie has replaced her skin so many times that she honestly cannot remember its factory-new appearance. She likes it that way, likes the way that she can put on a new person like most people put on a new coat.

But there is something essential at her core, something stubborn down in her circuitry that does not change, and it rings clear and true when Maddie takes her hand and pulls her into her lightflyer.

[lauraandrews.livejournal.com]

Prompt: Narnia; Eustace Scrubb; Eustace with one or more of his cousins after the Silver Chair adventure.

[buttonloops]

Over the Christmas hols, Lucy finds Eustace cross-legged on the floor of the spare room, staring at the dusty painting.

"Caspian's gone to Aslan's country," he says, and by the bewilderment in his voice she hears that he now knows the pain of beloved friends, lost to the ravages of Narnian time. It is a pain she knows too well, but she has nothing to say, and so she shuts the door behind herself and sits cross-legged beside him.

[buttonloops]

Narnia, Jill and Susan, woodcraft

[lauraandrews.livejournal.com]

Jill throws the bow down in disgust and walks away, wondering for the hundredth time why she can't get it right, and watches as Susan in a fluid motion nocks the arrow and sends it flying straight into the bull's eye. There is no condescension in Susan's bearing as she gives the bow back to Jill, showing her exactly how to hold the bow steady and aim truly. On her next try, inspired by Susan's confidence in her, she hits the outer edge of the center, and while she never achieves Susan's precision, Scrubb brags her skills up and her average is three out of five shots in the center from then on.

3 sentence ficathon friending meme!

[rthstewart]

If you like, come and introduce yourself and meet the other awesome participants in the 3SF. The post is here

[hostilecrayon]

Assassin's Creed, Ezio, alone

[(Anonymous)]

All the rooms in the house are empty.

His mother and sister are--safe, he hopes, he prays, but his brothers and father are counting on him and him alone, and Ezio knows he cannot fail, cannot.

Anger shudders through him with a sick sense foreboding that he hates and is not used to, and with a steadying breath he kneels beside the hidden chest in his father's office to take up the white robes and broken blade.

[hostilecrayon]

Hikaru no Go, Ko Yeong-ha/Waya Yoshitaka, brevity

[degrees]

Yoshitaka had grown weary of motormouth Shindou filling the silence with his idle chatter over the years. So when he had been assigned to show Ko Yeong-ha around the institute, it was a relief that he hadn't seemed too inclined to fill the silence between him pointing out the different rooms. Then again, talking too much wasn't usually an issue when you didn't share a common language.

[hostilecrayon]

Gundam Wing, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy, disappear

[redsixwing]

"Nobody gets to see us and live." It's a desperate incantation whispered against the pounding bombardment, the whole earth shaking under the fury of a hundred angry mobile suits. He's careful to not grip hard - never grip hard - as the Deathscythe melts away into the night, the tiny, frail body of a fallen pilot in its mighty hand.

((yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay my original fandom <3))

[wingedflight]

reality AU, Google, this is religion

[buttonloops]

In a world without a universal truth, in a time when any blogger can write a bible for herself, Google is the closest thing there is to an ultimate authority. Decades from now, historians will talk pedantically of the Nacireman daily Google rituals, their religious calender in which each feastday was celebrated with a piece of religious art, their constant homage to an indistinct deity obliquely called The Cloud; decades from now there will be none left to remember remember what was writ in water from the beginning—the cheap and always-fading thrills experienced by information and feelings junkies seeking constant gratification. It was never a religion, merely a way of life.

----
er yeah I have feelings on this topic.

[bring_me_sugar]

Army of Darkness, Ash/Sheila, a brief example of Ash's pillow talk.

Breaking In

[vialethe]

"That was some damn good sugar, baby," he says, panting.

He's snoring before her own breathing slows enough to respond, but she supposes that's alright.

She's just grateful he doesn't wear the chainsaw to bed.



(I haven't seen that in years, but the prompt was too much to resist, since no one else filled it!)

[freudiancascade]

Homestuck, Davesprite, getting metaphysical

[gloss]

There comes a time in a young cyberconstruct's hellaciously weird existence when he must face the facts and tackle the difficult questions of existence, identity, knowledge, and fate. If you cut him, does he not gush machine language, agitated electrons, and Tang-flavoured goo? What is a cloaca, how does it work, what's it good for, and, when you get right down to it, which came first, the game or the loser?