Three Sentence Ficathon 2021

[rthstewart]

We have now opened a new post, for new prompts! Please leave all new prompts there. You may continue to fill existing prompts here. If you didn't get a prompt filled here, feel free to post it on the new post!

Welcome to the Three Sentence Ficathon!
2 Feb. 2021 See important edit below regarding where to find unfilled prompts.

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 a bit by mid-February.
• 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.

How long will it go?
The 3SF closes to new prompts on February 28, 2021. The entry stays open permanently and people post fills all year long.

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. 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 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 in subject lines 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.
Conuly does this just because they are an awesome person but should you want to write them fic in thanks, you can find a birthday wish list here.

Here is the 3SF 2021 Friending Meme to show of your new DW account.

Here, have some icons and banners and let me know if you've created your own!

 

text box you can try to cut and paste

<a href="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html" target="_blank"><img src=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX.png?2" _fcksavedurl=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX.png?2" _fcksavedurl=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX?2" _fcksavedurl=" https://imgur.com/f3B21LX.png?2" alt="" /></a>

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Any, Any, weaponized mint jelly

Star Trek Voyager

[syrena_of_the_lake]

Seven raised one eyebrow, her ocular implant reflecting the eerie green light from the suddenly silent Borg cube.
“How—?” spluttered Harry.
“I was inspired by Captain Janeway; if she could defeat the Borg with an organic suspension of coffee, surely Neelix’s mint jelly would have an even more lethal effect.”

Re: Star Trek Voyager

[conuly]

LMAO!

Re: Star Trek Voyager

[(Anonymous)]

Ahahaha perfect!

Fill: The Mint Jelly Incident of 1959 (Dead Poets Society)

[topaz_eyes]

It was the start of the second full week of classes at Welton Academy, and the menu was set for the semester.

“Not mutton again,” Charlie moaned under his breath when his server set a heaping plate in front of him. “Didn’t we have this for dinner last week?”

“Must be Monday,” Neil replied as he sat down beside him at the table. He pulled a face at the well-done chop on his plate, half covered by two scoops of mashed potatoes and a generous pile of buttered green peas and carrots. “Monday mutton, Tuesday meat loaf, Wednesday chicken, Thursday ham, Friday fish, Saturday chef’s special, and Sunday roast beef.”

Knox, who sat across from Charlie, looked up at Neil. “At least there’s mint jelly to go with it today,” Knox said brightly, while tugging a small bowl of wiggly green condiment towards him. “Can’t eat anything lamb or mutton without mint jelly.”

“I could eat a mint jelly sandwich right now,” Pitts said from Charlie’s other side, and he reached for a basket of rolls in front of him. “I could eat ten, I’m starving.”

“That’s even worse,” Todd muttered, opposite from Neil. “I hate mint jelly.”

“Oh come on, guys, it’s just mutton,” Cameron said, sitting beside Knox and opposite Pitts, and he chewed on a bite. “It’s good. I like it.”

“Yeah, you would, but where else serves mutton anymore?” Charlie said, sawing his butter knife through the meat. “You can’t even cut this stuff, it’s like shoe leather.”

“You’re supposed to use the serrated meat knife, genius.” Meeks, beside Todd, pointed at the silverware laid at the top of Charlie’s plate. “Did your mother never teach you table manners?”

“I bet shoe leather tastes better,” Neil agreed, pushing his piece of meat around with a fork.

“We never had mutton at my old school,” Todd said. “Balincrest served spaghetti and meatballs for dinner on Thursdays and French toast brunches on weekends.”

“Yeah, spaghetti and meatballs, that’s what I’m talking about,” Charlie said.

“Or pizza, or doughnuts,” Pitts said, slathering a generous spoonful of jelly on his roll. He took a bite and rolled his eyes in pleasure. Todd made a face and ate some potatoes.

“Our parents pay good money for us to attend the best prep school in this country,” Charlie pouted. “The least Hellton can do is provide some decent food.”

“Stop complaining, Dalton, Nolan will have you on latrine duty for the next month if he hears you,” Cameron warned, glancing warily at the head table where the teachers were conversing and eating.

“Headmaster’s not here today,” Meeks said, scanning the room. “Mr. McAllister’s in charge.”

“It’d be worth it if it meant we could have something tasty for a change,” Charlie said, and scowled at his chop.

Mr. McAllister looked up from the head table on hearing the increasingly heated whispers coming from the boys at Charlie’s table. “Eat hearty, gentlemen,” he intoned placidly, “we have plenty.” He then focused his attention back on his own plate.

“Sounds like there’s some rumbling in the ranks,” Mr. Keating said, also glumly pushing his portion around his plate, plowing right into the peas and carrots.

“They grumble and complain, yet they always clean their plates and ask for seconds,” McAllister noted. “Just as we used to do.”

Mr. Keating huffed a short laugh. “They’re not wrong about the mutton, you know. ‘Shoe leather’ is being kind.”

“I must agree,” Mr. McAllister conceded. “But part of their education is to learn to eat whatever is put in front of them, gladly and well.”

“To be fair, Welton’s menu hasn’t changed since we were lads, either.”

Mr. McAllister only shrugged and took a bite of mutton with a large dollop of jelly smeared on it.

Back at the boys’ table, Charlie grew more vexed at the food situation. He cut a chunk of mutton off the bone and popped the piece into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed with great effort. “Worse than shoe leather,” he proclaimed.

“Don’t think about it and just eat,” Neil advised, having already dug halfway through his chop. “It’s not like we can change it right now.”

“I bet we could for next week if we tried,” Pitts said. “You know, carpe diem like Mr. Keating said.”

“By how, a food riot?” Charlie looked hopeful. Neil rolled his eyes.

“We could draw up a petition,” Meeks said, “get everyone to sign it. Strength in numbers.”

“I bet some of the teachers might sign it too,” Knox added. “I bet Mr. Keating would.”

“The headmaster will still say no,” Cameron pointed out, “so why even bother?”

Todd shook his head. “It could work. We did that at Balincrest. A petition to change the menu. It worked there.”

Neil grinned, delighted, across the table at Todd. “That’s great, Todd! See, Cameron, it can work here too if we try.”

“So who’s gonna go round to all the classes and gather signatures? Everyone’s gonna have to sign it for the Headmaster to even consider it.”

“Don’t be a Gloomy Gus, Cameron,” Knox retorted.

“Yeah, Cameron, stop bringing us all down.” Charlie scooped up a spoonful of mint jelly and playfully aimed it at him. Cameron glared and shook his head.

“Don’t even think it, Dalton,” Cameron said.

“Charlie,” Neil began, “put it down before--”

A waiter rushing by with a carafe of water bumped his elbow into Charlie’s back. “Hey!” Charlie said.

“My apologies, sir,” the waiter replied.

But the waiter’s elbow had jostled him, and startled, Charlie released his finger on the top of the spoon to fling the jelly forward.

The jelly landed with a dull glop on Cameron’s glasses.

The entire table fell silent for a suspended moment, all eyes drawn to Charlie and Cameron. Slowly, deliberately, Cameron raised his napkin to his face and pulled off his glasses, catching the jelly in the fabric.

“Oh, now you’ve done it, Slick,” Neil murmured.

“Man, I’m sorry, Cameron, I didn’t mean--” Charlie began.

“Sure, Dalton,” Cameron said, sickly sweet – then flung back his own volley before anyone realized. It landed square on Charlie’s white shirt.

The boys snickered quietly, until Cameron launched a second blob of jelly that caught Neil’s cheek. Knox leaned over and shot back at Cameron, and within seconds, the entire table was gleefully launching mint jelly missiles at each other. Except for Todd, who hunched as small as possible over his plate. Even then, he suffered a direct hit to the middle of his forehead, smearing over his bangs.

The ruckus almost immediately drew the attention of the surrounding tables, and Mr. McAllister leapt to his feet. “Gentlemen! GENTLEMEN!” he roared from the head table. “Stop! You will cease and desist this instant!”

“Oh crap,” Cameron said, and chastened, they all set their spoons down at once.

“Way to get us all in trouble, Cameron,” Charlie muttered.

“Me? You started it, Dalton--”

Mr. McAllister and Mr. Keating strode over to their table. Mr. McAllister was almost apoplectic, while Mr. Keating appeared to thoroughly enjoy the spectacle and struggled not to laugh.

“Enough! You will all remain seated and quiet until the rest of the dining hall has been dismissed,” Mr. McAllister said. “Then you can attempt to explain this unbecoming display of ill manners to Mr. Keating and myself.”

“Yes, sir,” the whole table chimed, none of them willing to look at either teacher or each other. They did as they were told, silently eating their now-cold dinners while the rest of the hall looked on and finished. They sat rigidly at attention as the students filed out, laughing and pointing at them, though some gave them sympathetic looks as they passed.

Once the hall was otherwise empty, the two teachers approached the table.

“We’re in for it now,” Meeks mouthed at Neil. Todd simply looked miserable, Cameron furious, and Charlie unconcerned on the surface.

“Be grateful that Headmaster Nolan was not here to witness your outburst this evening,” Mr. McAllister chided. “He would have tanned all your hides in front of the entire dining hall as a lesson.”

“Believe me, we are,” Pitts said under his breath. Mr. Keating shot him a look, and he fell silent again.

“How on earth did this start?” Mr. McAllister said, eyeing Charlie and Cameron closely.

“Charlie aimed a spoon of mint jelly at me,” Cameron said.

“I wasn’t gonna throw it at you--”

“Yeah, but you did and hit me in the glasses.”

“It wasn’t my fault, something or someone hit me in the back and it made me let it go. Besides, you fired back.”

“Sir, that was true, a waiter passed behind us serving the next table, and he bumped into Charlie,” Neil interjected quickly.

“Can someone else corroborate Mr. Perry’s observation?”

The others looked away, but Todd nodded. “I saw – I saw it happen,” he stammered, not quite meeting Mr. Keating’s gaze at first. Cameron shot daggers at him with his look, but Todd stood his ground and met Mr. Keating head on. “The waiter stepped back and accidentally elbowed Charlie. I swear that’s what happened.”

“So the waiter had nothing to do with it.”

“No, sir. It was an accident.”

Mr. McAllister regarded the boys for a long moment, weighing the information, before drawing a deep breath. “All right then,” he said, “misadventure it is.” Most of the boys sighed in relief; Cameron opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut at a glare from Neil.

“Why were you aiming mint jelly at Mr. Cameron?” Mr. Keating asked Charlie.

“We wanted to start a petition to change our dinner menus and Cameron—Mr. Cameron said it wasn’t going to work. We wanted him to cheer up a bit.”

“And was that a good decision, Mr. Dalton?”

“No sir, it was childish and I never should have allowed it to happen,” Charlie said. “I’m sorry, Cameron,” he offered, and extended his hand in apology.

Cameron took it, albeit grudgingly. “Sorry I retaliated,” he said tightly.

“Well done, lads,” Mr. McAllister said. “Now that’s settled, there is a mess to clean up, and as you all were involved in the incident, you will all stay until every trace of errant mint jelly is removed from this hall.” He waved his hand around the hall, where dollops of jelly had missed their marks and landed on the floor, walls, and even on other chairs. “Go get some buckets and soapy water from the cleaning staff. I want this spotless before you leave.”

“We will also assist with your petition to update the dinner menus,” Mr. Keating assured them. “It’s beyond time it happened anyway. Sometimes I think the mutton tastes as old as the school.”

Mr. McAllister shook his head at him, but with clear fondness. “I will discuss this with the headmaster tomorrow and see what can be done,” he added. “I can’t guarantee anything but I will try.” The boys brightened at that, even Cameron, surprisingly enough.

“Looks like you want something new at mealtime too,” Knox said to Cameron.

“Shut it, Overstreet,” Cameron retorted, then added wistfully, “it’d be nice to have lasagna maybe sometimes. I love lasagna. With lots of ricotta and mozzarella.”

“We’ll put that first on the list,” Charlie said, by way of peace offering.

While the rest of the boys worked on the tables and floors, Neil and Todd studied the closest wall for any signs of green goo, scrubbing each spot clean as they saw one.

“I don’t see anything left on this wall,” Neil said after about a half-hour of cleaning. “But--” and here he reached out to swipe Todd’s forehead slowly with his thumb, “you’re gonna have to wash your hair tonight before that gets too sticky.” He showed him the green slick of mint from Todd’s bangs.

“Yeah, I guess,” Todd replied shyly. He brushed Neil’s shirt collar where there was a quarter-sized bright green mark. “You too. That’s gonna stain.”

“Laundry will take care of that,” Neil said, and grinned.

“Do you think any got on the window or the drapes?” Todd asked.

“Don’t think so, but we should probably check.” They shared a grin, then took their time going over every square inch to confirm that all traces of the mint jelly skirmish were removed.

True to his word, Mr. McAllister sponsored their petition the next day. Starting the very next week, future menus included more modern fare, including lasagna and spaghetti with meatballs, for as long as the school continued teaching.

Harry Potter, Hermione & Harry

[dawen]

"Here," Hermione cried, "put this in and stir counter-clockwise!"

Harry fumbled with the lid and asked, "What exactly is mint jelly supposed to do, Hermione?" even as he scooped it into the cauldron.

She was already busy dumping another jar into the second cauldron and didn't answer, but Harry got his answer well enough when they tipped the potion over the castle wall and the damn thing exploded over the green, eating through every Death Eater's wand.