#durotoswrites

I am so proud to be a contributor to this zine for a good cause! @heartlandzine is a digital multi fandom charity zine and collection of digital merch that focuses on themes like hope, pereserverence, and home to raise funds for Palestine. Over 100 pages of talented artists and writers have contributed to this zine, and it is truly a labor of love.

Please look forward to some Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons goodness from me - art and fic featuring my OTP, Cliff and Claire as they find home and comfort in one another. 🥰

The zine sales are from August 5th - September 15th!

All proceeds from the zine will go to ANERA's emergency relief efforts in the West Bank.

Thank you for the tag, @durotoswrites. 💕

I've got a bit of an eclectic taste in music, tbh. I like songs that elicit an emotional response in me, so I don't tend to follow just one genre.

Strangers by Scratch21 ft. ElieMonty

This song is honestly just so beautiful and heartfelt. If you've ever watched MLP AMVs, you might recognise it, but this is the original. The heartbreak and longing comes through so strongly, not just in the lyrics, but also in the incredible vocals by Blake Swift and Eile Monty.

Without Words by the Spectra 2014 Singers

Major content warning: this is a song about mourning a beloved pet. If you're not in a good place to listen to this kind of song, skip this one!

Anytime I feel like I need a good cry, I'll put this song on. I love the fact that there are people out there who miss the animals that touched their lives so much that they wanted to write a song for them. If you want to purchase the song, it's still available on bandcamp.

Alan Walker's Faded cover by Madilyn Bailey

Yeah, I actually prefer this version to the original. While the OG song is very much a club mix, this version takes those beautiful lyrics and melody and turns them into a heartbreaking ballad. Bailey's voice is just so powerful and emotive.

Megan Trainor ft. John Legend's Like I'm Gonna Lose You cover by Jasmine Thompson

Another cover. While the original feels more romantic, this version is more mournful and melancholy, like it's the minor key version that would play after an especially sad scene in a film.

I couldn't choose between these last two, so you're getting both of them 😅

Linkin Park's In The End (Mellen Gi remix) cover by Tommee Profitt, Mellen Gi & Fleurie

The original song is unparalleled, and nothing will ever replace Chester Bennington's incredible vocals or the band's instruments. But this version is intentionally more cinematic, and there's something so haunting about Fleurie's voice singing just Chester's supplementary lines.

Linkin Park's Numb cover by Violet Orlandi

Yep, another Linkin Park cover. I am an old school LP fan, and proud of it.

This is a similarly haunting rendition of the original hard rock version. I actually stumbled across this while watching an episode of 60 Minutes Australia on YT, and it left such an impression that I went into the comments and found the artist so I could listen to the full version. Orlandi's vocals are gorgeous, and it reminded me why I love the original so much.

Phew. That is nowhere near all the songs I could recommend, but I've already stretched the prompt 😅

☘ - Which game was the most fun in your opinion?

For me personally, I think the gameplay I enjoy most is Harvest Moon DS / DS Cute. I can play that game for hours upon hours!

I think all the games are fun, of course, but I really like the way DS uses its main quest - I like collecting the sprites by doing various tasks. My only complaint is that for 100% completion, some of the requirements are a bit TOO out there! Still, I have very fond memories of this one.

Magical Melody has a similar gameplay feature, collecting notes, which I also enjoy. I think that level of collection is more manageable, but I still think DS is 'the most fun'. This is actually different to my all-time favourite, Animal Parade, because while I prefer the game's features overall I think the 'funness' of the quests could be streamlined a bit.

💍 - First bachelor/ette you married?

MARIAAAAA, I GOTTA SEE HER

OK but now that SNES has come to Nintendo Online I'm definitely going to be marrying her again. I've married Eve and Nina on other playthroughs, and I'd like to marry Ellen and Ann sometime, but I keep going back to Maria because she's my favourite. She's a bit different in Magical Melody though, I've not married her in that...

SNES must have been an early time for videogames, because never again has a character bold facedly asked me if I believed in God as a Yes/No prompt.

Ooo these are fun words!

Unfortunately I don't think I've ever used Gobsmacked or Blunder in my writing, they're not in my normal vocabulary. But I might have to rectify that, because they're good words.

Peak: I had this one in the next chapter of Our Dear Empress, and I can share it without too much worry about spoilers.

They breached the mountain peaks by lunch, broke long enough to feed and water the horses, and have their own hasty, cold lunch.

Weary: OKAY I know I use weary. I know it's in my writing vocabulary, but apparently I don't have it coming up anywhere in my WIPs. But I did manage to find it in a little Our Dear Empress offshoot piece I may or may not ever finish. I guess all my characters are at the points of the story when they are getting the rest they deserve (lies). Anyways, it's not much, but here it is.

After *checks calendar* WAY TOO LONG, I'm finally getting around to this! I apologize for taking hundreds of years to get around to this. I'll start of with Rick x Karen.

Who said “I love you” first – Rick did, I think. I think that even though Karen is the more confident and self-assured one, when it comes to her feelings for Rick, she might not be as much. Whereas Rick tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. He probably just blurted it out time, in a "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, OKAY???" manner, and it all just went from there.

Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background – Rick would. Karen wouldn't, under the claim that it's too cheesy, but secretly she keeps all the notes and trinkets he ever gave her in her room, all the way back from when they were kids.

Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror – Karen does it for Rick every once in a while.

Who buys the other cheesy gifts – I don't really see either of them as being major gift-givers in their relationship. I see Rick as kind of an "acts of service" type of lover, and Karen as a "words of affirmation/physical touch" lover. That being said, I think if one of them is more the gift-giver than the other, it's Rick. They wouldn't be cheesy, necessarily, but would be practical gifts that make her day-to-day life a little easier, or buying her an extra bottle of wine from the Aja Winery, on those days when neither really feels like going out to the inn.

Who initiated the first kiss – I know I said Karen is probably less confident when it comes to her feelings over Rick, but I can simultaneously see her thinking "A kiss isn't a big deal -- besides, if he doesn't react in the way I want, I can just pretend I was joking or something". So she would definitely initiate it and act all seductive while doing it, whereas Rick would be stammering, so excited that the thing he's dreamt about all this time is finally happening to him.

Who kisses the other awake in the morning – Rick definitely kisses Karen awake. Karen likes to take the opportunity to sleep in, whereas Rick is always up and at 'em bright and early in the morning. When he does it, though, Karen never misses an opportunity to groan and express her displeasure at waking up at that hour, which causes Rick to rip the covers off entirely and makes her go, "Alright, you asshole, I'm getting up!" 😜

Who asks who if they can join the other in the shower – Karen asks, "Room for one more?" while snuggling up to him.

Who surprises the other in the middle of the day at work with lunch – Karen surprises Rick! Rick is so busy working at PoPoultry sometimes that he forgets to eat, which concerns Karen. So whenever she gets a break, she rushes some of her lunch over to him so he has some fuel to get though the day.

Who was nervous and shy on the first date – Rick was a complete mess, inside and out. Karen was cool on the outside, but overthinking every little thing on the inside. Of course, after about ten minutes, both of them thought "wait a minute, what am I doing? This is my best friend" and chilled out and had a great time.

Who kills/takes out the spiders – "Rick takes out the spiders for Karen! Although he’s more terrified of them than he lets on. Still, he does it for her because he loves her." <-- this is basically the answer I used for Rick/Claire, but I think it applies here too! Karen is TERRIFIED of them, lmao.

Heck yeah!!! More asks!!! Thank you!! :D

We gots:

🏅 What is something you recently felt proud of in regard to your writing (finished a fic, actually planned for once, etc).

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic?

⏰ Do you spend more time reading fic, writing fic, or do you do both equally?

👀 Do you have any WIPs that you would never let see the light of day? If yes, what are they about

Answering under the cut because I'm unfamiliar with brevity, and the last question inevitably is going to get a little nsfw lmao.