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yuletide_admin2025-12-20 03:02 pm
yuletidemods) wrote in yuletide_admin2025-12-20 03:02 pmEntry tags:
Reveals approaching! Help us get there!
Yuletide works are scheduled to go live a little under five days from now, at 9pm UTC 24 December (if all goes well and there are no further pinch hits needed).
COUNTDOWN TO REVEALS
yuletide, and of course, please consider treats for pinch hitters.
PH #184: Aveyond (Video Games), Quasimorph (Video Game), Geneforge
PH #198: even if TEMPEST 宵闇にかく語りき魔女 (Visual Novel), Flowers Series (Visual Novels), Lkyt. (Visual Novel)
As well as offers from writers, we're keen to hear (yuletideadmin@gmail.com) from anyone with tips on how to consume or review details of these canons!
Please look at our outstanding pinch hit details, and help if you can!
1.2K T-rated Mayor of Kingstown
15k+ E-rated Damien/Gerald Coldfire Trilogy
7k Batman Wayne Family Adventures
Racepicker and sensitivity reader for a 10k fic featuring a young Black English girl
4.7k slang and other dialogue choices right for a Gen Z Black Londoner, Rivers of London
13k Lunar Chronicles
2.8k fic for The Odd Couple (TV 1970)
4k Nicked by M.T. Anderson
We also have some less time-sensitive beta requests in the server's betas-wanted channel:
WH40k
The Witcher III/Chronicles of Narnia
The Stakeout from Inside No. 9
Daria (Cartoon)
(And, having fully prepared for reveals - we hope that you are excited for them! We are!)
Miscellaneous
LINKS
Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Tag Set App | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth | Beta post
Treats
Treats in both the Madness and Main Yuletide collections are enthusiastically welcomed. You can post a treat for someone in the main collection up until 9pm UTC 24 December</>, and in the Madness collection up until 9pm UTC 25 December. There's more information about posting treats here. If you're hunting for inspiration, see also the mini-challenges tag atyuletide, and of course, please consider treats for pinch hitters. Pinch hits
We’re still looking for intrepid writers to take on post-deadline pinch hits. As of this post, we need writers for:PH #184: Aveyond (Video Games), Quasimorph (Video Game), Geneforge
PH #198: even if TEMPEST 宵闇にかく語りき魔女 (Visual Novel), Flowers Series (Visual Novels), Lkyt. (Visual Novel)
As well as offers from writers, we're keen to hear (yuletideadmin@gmail.com) from anyone with tips on how to consume or review details of these canons!
Please look at our outstanding pinch hit details, and help if you can!
Beta requests
Can you help out a fellow writer by beta-reading their work? Please check the hippo-want-ads at the Discord server, or email mods if you can help with one of the following requests and we’ll get you in touch.As of this post, beta readers are needed for the following requests (click/expand to view):
1.2K T-rated Mayor of Kingstown
15k+ E-rated Damien/Gerald Coldfire Trilogy
7k Batman Wayne Family Adventures
Racepicker and sensitivity reader for a 10k fic featuring a young Black English girl
4.7k slang and other dialogue choices right for a Gen Z Black Londoner, Rivers of London
13k Lunar Chronicles
2.8k fic for The Odd Couple (TV 1970)
4k Nicked by M.T. Anderson
We also have some less time-sensitive beta requests in the server's betas-wanted channel:
WH40k
The Witcher III/Chronicles of Narnia
The Stakeout from Inside No. 9
Daria (Cartoon)
Meanwhile, please check your work
- Please check that you uploaded the right draft. Mistakes can happen to anyone, but checking that everything looks right is a crucial part of posting. Make sure your work has a title and that the summary doesn't say "tbd". Please check that all the text is there and you didn't post the version with [name?] and [thing goes here] notes. Any uploaded version must be a complete story that is readable as it is, even if you're still making edits between now and reveals. Please don't risk disappointing your recipient or requiring mods to seek a back-up pinch hit.
- Please check that all required characters feature in the work. This is likely to mean all the characters your recipient tagged, not just the ones they wrote prompts for. Or, if they selected Any, a character from the tag set. They may have selected additional tags that give further guidance about which characters to include - please check that too. If your recipient selected Worldbuilding and you're not sure there's enough of it, get a second opinion - a friend, a beta. If there is any doubt about whether your story contains all the characters it needs to contain, please check with mods. Prompts alone are not automatically permission to leave characters out. The use of additional tags may still leave some grey areas.
- Please review your author's notes. Yuletide stories are anonymous for one week - do not give your name or link to your personal sites or socials in your author's note. Do not promise expanded, future, or replacement gifts - your work needs to stand alone. And do not apologise for your work in your author's note, or talk about what a struggle it was to write. People often feel doubt as well as excitement when giving someone a story, but don't give your recipient your doubts as part of their gift. In your author's note, please follow the principle that if you cannot say something positive, don't say anything at all.
- Please check your recipient's Do-Not-Wants. Yes, again.
- Please check your story in general! You don't have to get it beta read, but please check spelling and grammar. Please make sure that it’s not a wall of text with no spacing between paragraphs - and, conversely, that there aren’t too many blank lines between paragraphs.
(And, having fully prepared for reveals - we hope that you are excited for them! We are!)
Miscellaneous
- If you're unlikely to be able to comment until the end of the anon period or later, consider letting your author know at the AFK post.
- You can find beta volunteers at this post or at the Discord server.
Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Tag Set App | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth | Beta post
the cosmolinguist (cosmolinguist) wrote2025-12-19 11:57 pm
cosmolinguist) wrote2025-12-19 11:57 pmEntry tags:
Pablo
Despite having technically finished work yesterday, I did log on for one meeting today because it looked so incredibly useful, and it was. And it was done at noon so I still had time to help pack and get stuff ready and we got going on time.
We had a pretty smooth journey to Birmingham and a delightful time visiting barakta and Kim and seeing their new house before we got here.
Now we're at D's sister's. Her husband and son arranged to get her a sourdough starter from a from a friend of the kid's.
Of course the first thing they have to do with it is name it.
I joked that it should be called Joe Ryan of course. Or Pablo López. (They are starters for my baseball team, you see.)
So now it's called Pablo.
The kid once called it Pablo Escobar and now its full name is Pablo Escojar.
Case (case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-19 05:34 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-19 05:34 pm[ SECRET POST #6923 ]
⌈ Secret Post #6923 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #988.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
selenak (selenak) wrote2025-12-19 06:21 pm
selenak) wrote2025-12-19 06:21 pm
Entry tags:
Pluribus 1.08
In which someone becomes Sheherazade, but is it Zosia or is it Carol?
( Spoilers go on the charm offensive )
( Spoilers go on the charm offensive )
conuly (conuly) wrote2025-12-19 01:35 pm
conuly) wrote2025-12-19 01:35 pmGosh, don't you just hate it
when your boyfriend, who turned out to be a fabulously wealthy member of the magical nobility, insists on buying you an expensive ring, and not just to get at his awful family who all hate you?
Last time that happened to me, I told him, "The ring is nice, but seriously, get your shit together and stand up to your folks, or the wedding's off." And this is why I'm not married today. Fabulous wealth is all well and good, but there are limits, and realistically speaking, you probably can't murder all your inlaws.
Alas, our protagonist is going to take the next book and a half to put her foot down. I can just tell. Unlike any sensible heroine, she's going to spend all her time trying to placate those assholes instead. Honey, it's a wasted effort! If you insist on standing by your man, stand by him by booking a couples spa date - no parents allowed.
(The ring isn't even magical. It's just expensive. I mean, honestly, I would not put up with those people for a nonmagical ring, and here she is insisting that it's all too much, it's too valuable, is he sure he wants to spend what, to him, amounts to pocket change on little old her? Please.)
*****************
( Read more... )
Last time that happened to me, I told him, "The ring is nice, but seriously, get your shit together and stand up to your folks, or the wedding's off." And this is why I'm not married today. Fabulous wealth is all well and good, but there are limits, and realistically speaking, you probably can't murder all your inlaws.
Alas, our protagonist is going to take the next book and a half to put her foot down. I can just tell. Unlike any sensible heroine, she's going to spend all her time trying to placate those assholes instead. Honey, it's a wasted effort! If you insist on standing by your man, stand by him by booking a couples spa date - no parents allowed.
(The ring isn't even magical. It's just expensive. I mean, honestly, I would not put up with those people for a nonmagical ring, and here she is insisting that it's all too much, it's too valuable, is he sure he wants to spend what, to him, amounts to pocket change on little old her? Please.)
( Read more... )
i did it all for the robins (musesfool) wrote2025-12-18 07:56 pm
musesfool) wrote2025-12-18 07:56 pmEntry tags:
sleeping in the shadow of the empire state
I am officially on vacation - I don't have to go back to work until January 5th! Now the bakepocalypse can begin! I've made more work for myself, but I think it will all work out - I've been planning it in my head, and this is how it goes (please take "run dishwasher" as a given at least once and probably twice each day):
( 6-day plan )
I think adding in the roast pork and the pork buns and the orange cranberry rolls might be kind of nuts? But also having that food on hand will let me eat breakfast/dinner without having to do any real cooking or ordering in. (I will also have some ham and cheese to make sandwiches if it comes to that, and some granola bars for snacks/breakfast if the orange cranberry rolls don't happen.) And I think I do have time before the cupcake baking begins in earnest.
What I'm considering now is whether I should make the frostings and immediately put them in piping bags (with specific tips in) for storing in the fridge instead of trying to do the transfers all at once on Christmas Eve morning the way I usually do. Filling the bags and then keeping them in tupperware might be easier? But I've also found that sometimes my "time-saving" plans end up making things worse, so idk.
Anyway, that's my plan for the next 6 or so days! It's a good thing I enjoy cooking. *g*
*
( 6-day plan )
I think adding in the roast pork and the pork buns and the orange cranberry rolls might be kind of nuts? But also having that food on hand will let me eat breakfast/dinner without having to do any real cooking or ordering in. (I will also have some ham and cheese to make sandwiches if it comes to that, and some granola bars for snacks/breakfast if the orange cranberry rolls don't happen.) And I think I do have time before the cupcake baking begins in earnest.
What I'm considering now is whether I should make the frostings and immediately put them in piping bags (with specific tips in) for storing in the fridge instead of trying to do the transfers all at once on Christmas Eve morning the way I usually do. Filling the bags and then keeping them in tupperware might be easier? But I've also found that sometimes my "time-saving" plans end up making things worse, so idk.
Anyway, that's my plan for the next 6 or so days! It's a good thing I enjoy cooking. *g*
*
anais_pf (anais_pf) wrote in thefridayfive2025-12-18 07:44 pm
anais_pf) wrote in thefridayfive2025-12-18 07:44 pmThe Friday FIve for 19 December 2025
1. What is one thing about you that you hate?
2. What is one thing about you that you love?
3. If you had to change one thing about you what would it be and why?
4. What is one word that you would use to define yourself?
5. Imagine what you would look like in a perfect world...what do you look like?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
2. What is one thing about you that you love?
3. If you had to change one thing about you what would it be and why?
4. What is one word that you would use to define yourself?
5. Imagine what you would look like in a perfect world...what do you look like?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
Case (case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-18 04:19 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-18 04:19 pm[ SECRET POST #6922 ]
⌈ Secret Post #6922 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #988.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
the cosmolinguist (cosmolinguist) wrote2025-12-18 09:00 pm
cosmolinguist) wrote2025-12-18 09:00 pmEntry tags:
Liminal time
This morning I mused that today is in that liminal space where I cannot yet eat the cheese we bought for Christmas but there are mince pies on the countertop and I could have one for breakfast.
I did have one for breakfast. (With a slice of regular cheese because mince pies are too sweet for me on their own and taste really good with strong cheese.)
D and I are off to family Christmas celebrations tomorrow, so I signed off work this afternoon for the last time until 2026!
In the three previous years I've had a white collar job, I've never taken this long off, I've always worked a little between Christmas and new year. I kinda like it for catching up on stuff when work is quiet and people leave me alone, and long stretches of unstructured time isn't good for my mental health.
But this time, I'm so ready for this. This year has been so long.
(I know myself well enough to expect that I'll be horrified on the 27th of December when I have a whole week ahead of me with nothing to do. But I can worry about that when I get to it.)
I'm a little sad to be missing queer club's Christmas party this evening, but my carefully planned after-work itinerary fell apart almost as soon as I made it, when my friend L texted and asked if I could come over because he and his husband (also my friend) were having a bad mental health time thanks to the DWP (they are both disabled).
I almost literally dropped everything and left the house, because L isn't the kind of person who gets in touch spontaneously, has the energy for social stuff, or can ask for help easily, so for him to do all these things felt like a big deal to me.
It felt kinda weird to leave in what felt like an emergency and arrive only able to offer hugs and silly, distracting conversation. But I'm assured that it did help. And I'm glad I could do it, I like them so much. It was a good use of my social spoons for the evening.
Case (case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-17 05:29 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-17 05:29 pm[ SECRET POST #6921 ]
⌈ Secret Post #6921 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #988.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
aj (aj) wrote2025-12-17 03:47 pm
aj) wrote2025-12-17 03:47 pm
Entry tags:
I need to attempt soup.
I really do need to find an at-home soup recipe that I can both tolerate and enjoy.
Soup and I have a complex relationship. Generally speaking, I do not like, enjoy, nor crave wet food. This holds true across all of my food consumption and involves me just, like, not using a lot of liquid-y condiments? There are exceptions, but if I'm making something for myself or bring home takeout, I generally won't use/add the sauces included. I think the only main exception is salsa verde or serrano salsa, and that's only if someone thinks to include them in the bag. Hell, my Italian beef order is: WRING OUT THE MEAT, mozz plus giardiniera. If they offer, I ask for it toasted.
This texture situation didn't help my enjoyment of the soups mom made when I was a kid. One of her (RIGHTLY!!!) go-to meals when I was small was a crockpot full of beef and barley soup. Put everything in, hit the button, food was ready when people got home. LOVE THAT for her! But. I fucking hate celery. Yes, I can taste it in basically everything (except cream soups, which, we'll get to that) and in European soups, carrot/celery/onion is the flavor base for pretty much everything. Plus, my mom (the main cook when I was young) hates cream soups about as much as I hate celery. So when I happily shared that I liked cream soups because they tasted better (the fats in the cream bind to your tastebuds and dull intense flavors which is why they tend to need more salt), it was a non-starter for mom feeding me. Though, we finally fucking worked out that my main hatred was celery (and barley), so she could finally make a chicken soup I'd actually tolerate.
It wasn't until I was in my 20's and had easy-access to soups with garlic/ginger/onion as the flavor base (THANK YOU, ASIA) that I realized how big of an issue celery actually was. So I tried experimenting! And now I do have soups I'll eat regularly (mostly chicken-broth based) and ones I even look forward to/enjoy (anise-forward pho, MY BELOVED). That said, I also realized that I kind of hate cooking meat? And making my own broth has gone spectacularly poorly, all told. I have settled out to the Roasted Chicken Better Than Bullion paste, but keep forgetting to use it because (once again) I generally hate soup?
So, you may wonder, why the fuck do you keep trying to eat soup? Or make it at home? BECAUSE THERE IS SOUP I WILL EAT OUT THERE. I want to regularly make the spinach soup I get at Chengdu Express! Spinach soup is good! I want to find a root-soup that I enjoy! Carrot-ginger, I love your flavor profile and a carrot base is silky enough that I won't think it's gritty like everything else! (See: Potatoes, butternut squash, lentils of any variety made by a white person, etc.) I need to find a yellow tomato soup recipe that doesn't taste like water and regret!
Why? BECAUSE SOUP IS CHEAP AND FILLING.
I mention any of this because my newest soup discovery is that I fucking hate bone broth. I tried some pre-made stuff from Joong Boo and just. Nope. Texture was too weird and the flavor was just not for me. I ended up eating a grilled cheese sandwich and remembered why I don't like eating more than one grilled cheese sandwich. (They end up tasting weird.)
*throws self on the floor*
There is no one on this planet more tired of my weird food issues than me. I am so tired of myself I want to vomit.
Soup and I have a complex relationship. Generally speaking, I do not like, enjoy, nor crave wet food. This holds true across all of my food consumption and involves me just, like, not using a lot of liquid-y condiments? There are exceptions, but if I'm making something for myself or bring home takeout, I generally won't use/add the sauces included. I think the only main exception is salsa verde or serrano salsa, and that's only if someone thinks to include them in the bag. Hell, my Italian beef order is: WRING OUT THE MEAT, mozz plus giardiniera. If they offer, I ask for it toasted.
This texture situation didn't help my enjoyment of the soups mom made when I was a kid. One of her (RIGHTLY!!!) go-to meals when I was small was a crockpot full of beef and barley soup. Put everything in, hit the button, food was ready when people got home. LOVE THAT for her! But. I fucking hate celery. Yes, I can taste it in basically everything (except cream soups, which, we'll get to that) and in European soups, carrot/celery/onion is the flavor base for pretty much everything. Plus, my mom (the main cook when I was young) hates cream soups about as much as I hate celery. So when I happily shared that I liked cream soups because they tasted better (the fats in the cream bind to your tastebuds and dull intense flavors which is why they tend to need more salt), it was a non-starter for mom feeding me. Though, we finally fucking worked out that my main hatred was celery (and barley), so she could finally make a chicken soup I'd actually tolerate.
It wasn't until I was in my 20's and had easy-access to soups with garlic/ginger/onion as the flavor base (THANK YOU, ASIA) that I realized how big of an issue celery actually was. So I tried experimenting! And now I do have soups I'll eat regularly (mostly chicken-broth based) and ones I even look forward to/enjoy (anise-forward pho, MY BELOVED). That said, I also realized that I kind of hate cooking meat? And making my own broth has gone spectacularly poorly, all told. I have settled out to the Roasted Chicken Better Than Bullion paste, but keep forgetting to use it because (once again) I generally hate soup?
So, you may wonder, why the fuck do you keep trying to eat soup? Or make it at home? BECAUSE THERE IS SOUP I WILL EAT OUT THERE. I want to regularly make the spinach soup I get at Chengdu Express! Spinach soup is good! I want to find a root-soup that I enjoy! Carrot-ginger, I love your flavor profile and a carrot base is silky enough that I won't think it's gritty like everything else! (See: Potatoes, butternut squash, lentils of any variety made by a white person, etc.) I need to find a yellow tomato soup recipe that doesn't taste like water and regret!
Why? BECAUSE SOUP IS CHEAP AND FILLING.
I mention any of this because my newest soup discovery is that I fucking hate bone broth. I tried some pre-made stuff from Joong Boo and just. Nope. Texture was too weird and the flavor was just not for me. I ended up eating a grilled cheese sandwich and remembered why I don't like eating more than one grilled cheese sandwich. (They end up tasting weird.)
*throws self on the floor*
There is no one on this planet more tired of my weird food issues than me. I am so tired of myself I want to vomit.
rydra_wong (rydra_wong) wrote2025-12-17 09:29 pm
rydra_wong) wrote2025-12-17 09:29 pmEntry tags:
Okay so more context
(Re: the previous entry.)
Dragonslayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough (also known as Oreo and S'mores, Biggie and Smalls, Pikachu and Snorlax, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and any other name the fandom can come up with) are one of the most iconic boss fights in the entire Dark Souls series.
There are much harder ones in later games (and in the DLC), but they're still legendary and still regarded as a Serious boss fight.
They're also a famous mid-game difficulty spike and cause of rage quitting. Conversely, if you can get through O&S, people often say you should have the skills to beat the rest of the base game.
The major issue is that it's a duo boss fight, with one agile speedster (Ornstein) who can zip most of the way across the room in a single move, and also throws lightning, and one heavyweight bruiser (Smough) who is slower but not that slow -- he has a charge attack to close distance fast that hits like a freight train -- and does huge amounts of damage.
So for the first phase of the fight, you have to try to keep track of where they both are simultaneously (not to mention where you are in relation to the room, so you don't back yourself into a corner and get trapped) and constantly manoeuvre to try to be able to get in a hit on one without being hit by the other.
If you kill one of them, the fight goes into a second phase where the surviving one absorbs some of their powers (so if it's Smough, he gets lightning, while if it's Ornstein he gets sized up and picks up part of Smough's moveset) and also restarts with a full and vastly increased health bar. Though there is a general consensus that the second phase is more manageable than the first phase simply because you're not having to fight two bosses at the same time.
Illustrative example of someone doing the fight:
(You can summon an NPC or other human players to try to help you, but the bosses get extra health to compensate and it's still tough. And also I have been having enormous fun trying to beat all the bosses without summons so far, and am averse to the extra complications and unpredictability of having more people -- human or NPC -- in the mix while I try to figure out a fight. Though I've also had enormous fun being a summons for other people on boss fights, so zero disrespect to people summoning*, it's an excellent game mechanic.)
As I may have mentioned once or twice, my brain has huge difficulty tracking multiple moving objects (which is why I can't drive or cycle on the road) and I have the reaction speed of a slime mould.
So yeah. I knew O&S are the big mid-game stopper and I was very aware that this could potentially be the point where I hit a wall and the game became flatly impossible for me. Or at least where I'd have to summon to get through it.
And that did not happen. I solo-ed O&S.
It took multiple sessions over multiple days before I mastered it, but that's standard for me on DS boss fights. And I had SO MUCH FUN. It's SUCH A COOL FIGHT.
I did a thing that was a real achievement for me and I am very proud, and especially given the shitshow this year has been, I'll take it.
{*Necessary disclaimer only because Dark Souls fandom has historically had a section who are toxic as fuck and would like you to know that you didn't really beat the game if you summoned or used magic or whatthefuckever else they disapprove of.}
Dragonslayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough (also known as Oreo and S'mores, Biggie and Smalls, Pikachu and Snorlax, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and any other name the fandom can come up with) are one of the most iconic boss fights in the entire Dark Souls series.
There are much harder ones in later games (and in the DLC), but they're still legendary and still regarded as a Serious boss fight.
They're also a famous mid-game difficulty spike and cause of rage quitting. Conversely, if you can get through O&S, people often say you should have the skills to beat the rest of the base game.
The major issue is that it's a duo boss fight, with one agile speedster (Ornstein) who can zip most of the way across the room in a single move, and also throws lightning, and one heavyweight bruiser (Smough) who is slower but not that slow -- he has a charge attack to close distance fast that hits like a freight train -- and does huge amounts of damage.
So for the first phase of the fight, you have to try to keep track of where they both are simultaneously (not to mention where you are in relation to the room, so you don't back yourself into a corner and get trapped) and constantly manoeuvre to try to be able to get in a hit on one without being hit by the other.
If you kill one of them, the fight goes into a second phase where the surviving one absorbs some of their powers (so if it's Smough, he gets lightning, while if it's Ornstein he gets sized up and picks up part of Smough's moveset) and also restarts with a full and vastly increased health bar. Though there is a general consensus that the second phase is more manageable than the first phase simply because you're not having to fight two bosses at the same time.
Illustrative example of someone doing the fight:
(You can summon an NPC or other human players to try to help you, but the bosses get extra health to compensate and it's still tough. And also I have been having enormous fun trying to beat all the bosses without summons so far, and am averse to the extra complications and unpredictability of having more people -- human or NPC -- in the mix while I try to figure out a fight. Though I've also had enormous fun being a summons for other people on boss fights, so zero disrespect to people summoning*, it's an excellent game mechanic.)
As I may have mentioned once or twice, my brain has huge difficulty tracking multiple moving objects (which is why I can't drive or cycle on the road) and I have the reaction speed of a slime mould.
So yeah. I knew O&S are the big mid-game stopper and I was very aware that this could potentially be the point where I hit a wall and the game became flatly impossible for me. Or at least where I'd have to summon to get through it.
And that did not happen. I solo-ed O&S.
It took multiple sessions over multiple days before I mastered it, but that's standard for me on DS boss fights. And I had SO MUCH FUN. It's SUCH A COOL FIGHT.
I did a thing that was a real achievement for me and I am very proud, and especially given the shitshow this year has been, I'll take it.
{*Necessary disclaimer only because Dark Souls fandom has historically had a section who are toxic as fuck and would like you to know that you didn't really beat the game if you summoned or used magic or whatthefuckever else they disapprove of.}
conuly (conuly) wrote2025-12-18 04:09 pm
conuly) wrote2025-12-18 04:09 pmAnybody have any explanatory links?
As we all know - or anyway, as most of us know - words are capitalized like names if they're used like names and titles.
This most commonly applies to kinship terms, of course - "I gave a present to my mom" versus "When she opened her present, Mom cried" and "I have an uncle who is a firefighter" versus "You're a firefighter, aren't you, Uncle John?"
But there's a few people in the comments asserting that they've never seen this before, they would've been marked down at school, and so on.
It does boggle my mind somewhat that they, I guess, never read fiction in which people have parents, or else don't pay much attention when they do read, but I suppose not everybody is lucky enough to have been raised by a proofreader. However, what I'm posting about is that it's surprisingly difficult to find an authoritative source on this subject online.
The MW and Cambridge dictionary entries only cover this in the briefest way, without an explanatory note. I can't find a usage note by looking elsewhere at MW. I see people asserting that the AP and Chicago styles require this - but I can't actually access that, and searches on their respective websites go nowhere.
I can find lots of casual blogs and such discussing this in detail, but understandably people who think they already know are reluctant to accept correction from random sources like that. Can't quite blame them, though they're still very wrong. Or, I mean to say, they're out of step with the norms of Standard English orthography.
Does anybody have any source that's likely to be accepted? I don't even care about telling that handful of people at this point, I'm just annoyed at my inability to find a link on my own.
This most commonly applies to kinship terms, of course - "I gave a present to my mom" versus "When she opened her present, Mom cried" and "I have an uncle who is a firefighter" versus "You're a firefighter, aren't you, Uncle John?"
But there's a few people in the comments asserting that they've never seen this before, they would've been marked down at school, and so on.
It does boggle my mind somewhat that they, I guess, never read fiction in which people have parents, or else don't pay much attention when they do read, but I suppose not everybody is lucky enough to have been raised by a proofreader. However, what I'm posting about is that it's surprisingly difficult to find an authoritative source on this subject online.
The MW and Cambridge dictionary entries only cover this in the briefest way, without an explanatory note. I can't find a usage note by looking elsewhere at MW. I see people asserting that the AP and Chicago styles require this - but I can't actually access that, and searches on their respective websites go nowhere.
I can find lots of casual blogs and such discussing this in detail, but understandably people who think they already know are reluctant to accept correction from random sources like that. Can't quite blame them, though they're still very wrong. Or, I mean to say, they're out of step with the norms of Standard English orthography.
Does anybody have any source that's likely to be accepted? I don't even care about telling that handful of people at this point, I'm just annoyed at my inability to find a link on my own.
yuletidemods (yuletidemods) wrote in yuletide_admin2025-12-18 10:17 am
yuletidemods) wrote in yuletide_admin2025-12-18 10:17 amEntry tags:
2025 Deadline Has Passed - What Next
The deadline has passed, and the main collection is temporarily closed. ETA - now open again!
Congratulations to everyone who has posted! Pat yourself on the back, take a breath, and then please check wordcount, formatting, html; check that you've uploaded the correct version, and that all your text is actually there. You can get to what you've submitted from your Statistics page, or from your Works in Collections. Your story should be marked as "complete" rather than one or more of multiple chapters yet to come.
To all who didn't make it this year: it happens, and we hope you enjoy the collection reveals.
To all who are still working on beta jobs, treats, or pinch hits: thank you and good luck!
Pinch hits coming!!
Post-deadline pinch hits will be available soon atyuletide_pinch_hits. This next round will be due at 9 AM UTC, 22 December.
See what time that is in YOUR timezone
See countdown
Beta requests
We have outstanding beta requests on the Yuletide Discord (please see the #hippo-want-ads channel), and more betas are always welcome at the Dreamwidth beta post.
There is also an Away from Keyboard post up on the participant community, for you to (optionally) let your author know if it'll be a while before you can read your gift.
If there seems to be an issue with your posted work, we'll contact you via the email address associated with your AO3 account. Please check you can access that!
Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app
Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.
Congratulations to everyone who has posted! Pat yourself on the back, take a breath, and then please check wordcount, formatting, html; check that you've uploaded the correct version, and that all your text is actually there. You can get to what you've submitted from your Statistics page, or from your Works in Collections. Your story should be marked as "complete" rather than one or more of multiple chapters yet to come.
To all who didn't make it this year: it happens, and we hope you enjoy the collection reveals.
To all who are still working on beta jobs, treats, or pinch hits: thank you and good luck!
Pinch hits coming!!
Post-deadline pinch hits will be available soon at
yuletide_pinch_hits. This next round will be due at 9 AM UTC, 22 December.See what time that is in YOUR timezone
See countdown
Beta requests
We have outstanding beta requests on the Yuletide Discord (please see the #hippo-want-ads channel), and more betas are always welcome at the Dreamwidth beta post.
There is also an Away from Keyboard post up on the participant community, for you to (optionally) let your author know if it'll be a while before you can read your gift.
If there seems to be an issue with your posted work, we'll contact you via the email address associated with your AO3 account. Please check you can access that!
Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.
the cosmolinguist (cosmolinguist) wrote2025-12-17 08:56 pm
cosmolinguist) wrote2025-12-17 08:56 pmEntry tags:
another benediction
I got a birthday card from my aunt today, my dad's sister.
Inside it says
Wishing you joy from your job.
Wishing you joy from your friends.
Wishing you joy from your family.Hope you and your Mom and Dad can be together in 2026.
Aww. Really sweet. She's good and I should be better at keeping in touch.
Punk (runpunkrun) wrote in fancake2025-12-17 11:16 am
runpunkrun) wrote in fancake2025-12-17 11:16 amEntry tags:
Only two days left to suggest themes!
Hello everyone! You have two more days to slip your theme suggestions into the suggestion box for our rounds in 2026. I went ahead and added some more themes to the pool, taking popular suggestions from past years but also filling in a few more gaps in our coverage (vampires! aliens!), so take a look at the list and see if it doesn't shake something loose.
I'll close that post the morning of the 19th and put up the big theme poll on the 20th. If you're going to be out and about around that time, you can track the admin: poll: theme tag. Just click on the little bell icon or "track" link on any post with that tag, select "Someone posts an entry tagged admin: poll: theme," hit save, and you'll get an email when the big poll goes up. You'll also get an email every time I post a theme poll thereafter, which is monthly. If you don't want that, you can cancel the notification later; it's the same process, just uncheck the box and hit save.
I'll close that post the morning of the 19th and put up the big theme poll on the 20th. If you're going to be out and about around that time, you can track the admin: poll: theme tag. Just click on the little bell icon or "track" link on any post with that tag, select "Someone posts an entry tagged admin: poll: theme," hit save, and you'll get an email when the big poll goes up. You'll also get an email every time I post a theme poll thereafter, which is monthly. If you don't want that, you can cancel the notification later; it's the same process, just uncheck the box and hit save.
i did it all for the robins (musesfool) wrote2025-12-16 08:26 pm
musesfool) wrote2025-12-16 08:26 pm
but I really look at the bench of this team
So I packed up my jars of candied pecans and my bag of "prizes" and schlepped into the office today for our big huge holiday party - it was 5 departments' worth of people, so like 90 of us, so instead of everyone sitting in a room and eating together, we mostly stayed in our little departmental groups, but the beer-free beer pong was INCREDIBLY popular, Name That Tune also had a good turnout, and the food was excellent. Assistant J did a bang-up job organizing various game stations for people to play - there was also Jenga and Uno available, and a couple of gaming consoles he brought in so people could play Fortnite. *hands* I commended him and told him everybody loved it. And I did not have to lift a finger, except to bring the bag of prizes, aka, my stash of small gifts I've accumulated across the year but haven't given anyone yet, so there was a couple of packs of playing cards still in their wrapper, a couple of candles, 2 cute notebooks, some mini puzzles, and some holiday soaps. I also had a travel mug and a bigger candle to use as extra gifts for the secret gift exchange in case someone didn't show up, and it turned out my boss had given her secret exchange gift to someone else, so she ended up using the mug, and I gave the candle to a co-worker who tried to sign up for the exchange a week after I'd sent the assignments out. I felt bad about telling her no, but there was no way to make it work, except for me giving her the extra gift in the moment - she seemed really touched by it. And of course, several people asked me why I hadn't gotten a gift and I was like, I know who everyone is giving to, so it doesn't feel right to participate, but they didn't seem to buy that logic. *hands* I stand by it though.
I did get some lovely gifts though - a Calamityware mug from my boss, a couple of candles (one apple-and-cinnamon scented and one Frasier fir scented), a bottle of mango jalapeno hot sauce, and some Korean snacks from the co-worker who recently went to Seoul on vacation. And I got to leave at 3:30, so I was home by 4:45, which is truly a blessing. I also got to see and hug a lot of people I haven't seen in months, so that was also great. I truly do like most of the people that I work with, and I do miss seeing them, but ugh, it is so not worth going into the office more frequently to do so, imo, because so much less work gets done (even on days when there isn't a party). I probably won't go back until March if I can help it. *g*
Oh, and most importantly, my candied pecans were a hit! One of my attorneys basically ate the whole jar while he sat at his desk and the others all seemed genuinely excited about getting into them. So that worked out well.
Two more days and then I am on vacation for the rest of the year! I can't wait!
*
I did get some lovely gifts though - a Calamityware mug from my boss, a couple of candles (one apple-and-cinnamon scented and one Frasier fir scented), a bottle of mango jalapeno hot sauce, and some Korean snacks from the co-worker who recently went to Seoul on vacation. And I got to leave at 3:30, so I was home by 4:45, which is truly a blessing. I also got to see and hug a lot of people I haven't seen in months, so that was also great. I truly do like most of the people that I work with, and I do miss seeing them, but ugh, it is so not worth going into the office more frequently to do so, imo, because so much less work gets done (even on days when there isn't a party). I probably won't go back until March if I can help it. *g*
Oh, and most importantly, my candied pecans were a hit! One of my attorneys basically ate the whole jar while he sat at his desk and the others all seemed genuinely excited about getting into them. So that worked out well.
Two more days and then I am on vacation for the rest of the year! I can't wait!
*
Case (case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-16 05:22 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-12-16 05:22 pm[ SECRET POST #6920 ]
⌈ Secret Post #6920 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #988.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.