My @runefactorysecretsanta gift for ya_boi_nye is finally done!! Hope I did your favorite characters justice!! :)
Happy holidays!!!! I don’t want to take up too much room so I’m going to throw some rambling and extras under the cut lol
So I don’t think nye has a tumblr, but on their twitter i saw that they were into VTube and youtaite and i wanted to incorporate that in their gift somehow. Unfortunately.... the characters are kind of all already anime??? So drawing-wise, i figured it would be more fun to go with a more general YouTuber AU so I could put in some variety rather than just stills of singing or badly rendered 3D models (by which i am throwing shade on myself alone, VTube rigs are sick but i regrettably have no 3D skills lol)
I’ve actually,,, never played Frontier at all, so I apologize if anyone is wildly out of character!! The wiki is extremely sparse and I didn’t have time to watch too too much of the let’s play i found, so if they’re not right just chalk it up to the YouTuber ~performance~ aspect of this AU lmao.
Even though I’ve never played before and don’t know the characters Super well though, I still had a lot of fun thinking about this AU! If you want to know the specifics of everyone’s content:
Anette does parkour (fun facts, this particular move i drew is called a speed vault!) and a little bit of vlogging, and she’s friends with Erik (as in canon, if I did my research correctly lmao). She sometimes appears on his channel and vice versa, and he helps her film and edit and stuff sometimes. She lives and works with Mist and Rosetta and helps out with their online boutique. Mist is the idea woman who comes up with crazy stuff, Rosetta is the realist and bookkeeper who pulls those ideas together into something feasible and profitable, and Anette handles all the packaging and shipments and stuff! There’s always something weird going on in their apartment and everyone ends up there a lot, so some of Anette’s vlogs get really popular just because of how out there they are lmao. Oh, almost forgot, but her channel is “DeliveryIsFreestyle” bc... get it... free delivery... freestyle parkour / freerunning... Lol actually it was almost going to be “RunTheMail” because i couldn’t think of anything at first so i think this was the right move in the end :P
Erik has a gaming channel where he mostly plays farming and dating sims / otome, and we don’t read too far into whether or not RF exists in this universe for him to play even though I put the posters for frontier on his wall xD. The reason I picked Stardew for this thumbnail specifically is because A) I have it and could easily take screenshots and B) i read that he has a crush on Lara? And she’s like, kind of a nurse? And Maru is kind of a nurse? It’s a silly joke but I thought it would be funny to cockblock him from dating a nurse he has his eyes on even in video gaming with his friends lol. His channel is pretty self-explanatory (I was really hoping his farm would have a fun name when i was looking it up but it’s really just “Erik’s Farm” huh? ...but I probably shouldn’t judge, my dnd character’s wolf is named Wolf xD)
Lute paints!! I think he does a lot of speedpaints and mostly does traditional art, but I think he would have some digital skills hidden up his sleeve as well. And also I don’t know why at all bc I know the least about him out of all 4 of them, but I feel like he has done / does some of those like “how to draw anime” videos because I just think that’s funny. He has a bunch of really popular ones about overly complicated fantasy outfits. No this is not a callout for any series in particular why do you ask? Anyway, I’m not sure exactly how the line goes because I couldn’t find it, but the wiki mentions that he’ll say he’s not doing anything suspicious when he’s painting at the lake, so i thought it would be funny if there’s some kind of running gag with his subscribers where they point out suspicious things he does and he responds in the next video or whatever. The thumbnail I made definitely does just have a screenshot of rff that’s color-corrected and blurred, because I ran out of time but also wanted to differentiate the bg from the canvas ^^; His channel was originally just “lute” in all lowercase but then i got to the part of the let’s play where he was introduced and he calls himself a “fledgling painter” so i thought this was more fun.
And Eunice has a cooking channel!! She specializes in baking, but she also has a whole playlist along the lines of “Nutritious Food Can Still Taste Good!” where she talks about healthy eating habits but doesn’t buy into diet culture bc I personally HATE diet culture lmao. I think when that gets popular, she also maybe does a side thing about easily accessible workouts for all sorts of people who want to get into shape? But with a focus on getting stronger / being active and Not a focus on Losing Weight necessarily. Promoter of healthy and happy living! I know how her events / dialogue can go in the game, i just happen to have Opinions About Things, so, that’s how she is in my version. Also, unrelated, but she’s very cute. Even though her braids were a bitch to draw hahaha. And i did end up drawing her just in her actual outfit even though i gave everyone else different clothes bc idk it just felt like it fit the aesthetic of a cooking vlog well?? And it’s not a super complicated one unlike others i could mention. Her channel is “Charming Sweets” and her cooking series is “My Cooking” because those are the titles of the books she has on her bookshelf at the start of the game :)
But that’s just all of *my* headcanons for the AU! If anyone else who knows them all better has their own ideas, please be my guest and imagine it however you like!!
Oh, also, fun facts, this is partially a screenshot of my actual web browser, lol, so if y’all want to know what all I have saved on my bookmarks bar and what my google profile pic is, now you know. However, i would like to not downplay how long i spent editing this in what was possibly the least efficient way to put it together how i wanted, rip, which is entirely the reason i am posting this so late LOL. Apologies for the delay, but technically it’s still the 27th here, so! Victory!
(speaking of the layout, did anyone catch the url? I’m disproportionately proud of the url. though i won’t lie part of me really wanted to put the rick roll url there just for my own amusement hahaha)
And, yeah! That’s the end of my spiel. Happy end-of-2020 to all, and an extra helping of that sentiment to nye!!!
Disclaimer: Under the readmore is adult content. Please do not read or reblog if you’re under the age of 18. Thank you
Traveling was hard on both the soles of one’s feet as well as one’s soul. Lute knew this well, as he’d gone through his third pair of shoes that year and it was only early fall, and also because when he saw Trampoli on the horizon something in him sagged, like a seam giving way.
Home.
Home to where his most valuable friends were, where he knew everyone by name, where his inspiration struck him most often, and most importantly, where Erik was. Years of pining had only recently revealed themselves to be unneeded as his feelings had been enthusiastically returned. Coming back was coming home to his heart, and despite the hole in his left toe, he picked up pace.
He got into town shortly before sunset. The town was awash in orange light, the runeys dancing sleepily in the air. From the town square he could smell Rita’s cooking and the subtle scent of drying flowers outside of Rosetta’s shop. He was almost home.
Erik was dressing for bed when Lute knocked at the door. He’d been told explicitly that he didn’t need to knock before entering, but their new relationship still in its awkward shaky stage, he didn’t quite feel comfortable with that. The other man answered with one arm stuck in his nightshirt and Lute had to laugh at the way Erik nearly fell in excitement.
“I thought you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow?” he asked, pulling Lute close. Lute chuckled into the chaste kiss he placed on Erik’s lips.
“Took a shortcut home,” he said. and oh, how good it felt to say that. Home.
Before Lute could fully process, Erik was pulling him into hungry kisses. Lute barely had a mind to shut the front door before acquiescing, meeting the heat of the embrace like for like. until they tumbled down the hall into Erik’s room, into Erik’s bed. His blankets smelled of soap and fall air, undoubtedly just washed. Lute fell into them, breathing in the comforting scent, mingled with Erik’s own.
His hat had somehow not made it to the room, along with Erik’s nightshirt that had never quite made it onto his torso in the first place. Lute played kisses across Erik’s exposed collar bone and reveled in the way it made him shiver.
“Miss me?” he asked before nipping at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Erik nodded, taking a deep breath.
“More than you know,” he replied. Lute ran a hand down his thigh, brushing against his hard length.
“Oh, I think I know,” he joked, playing a thumb across the dampness at the tip. Erik sucked a breath in between his teeth.
“Please,” he breathed. His hips rocked forward, but Lute held him steady.
“Easy now,” he mumbled, tracing kisses up Erik’s neck. “We have time.”
Lute flipped their positions, knew Erik preferred it this way, and straddled him, flipping his long hair out of the way as he sucked a nipple between his lips, canting his hips just enough. Erik squirmed, breathing quick. Lute knew he was already gone, and truth be told, he didn’t have as much patience as he pretended he did. It had been so long. His own erection was tight in his pants, and there was way too much cloth between him and Erik. He paused his administrations only long enough to pull off his shirt, stretching over the other man to press their chests together and kiss Erik proper. Erik whined into it, and the sound went straight to Lute’s dick. No waiting tonight, he thought. They could do this again, the right way. And maybe again after that. But right now, he wanted, wanted, wanted, the word kept in time to his hips rocking with Erik’s. Neither were going to last long like this, but that was okay.
Erik was close. Lute could tell by the way his vocabulary had descended into nothing but his name and the words: yes, please, faster. Lute wasn’t one to deny him, chasing their orgasm messily, rutting against each other like they were desperate young lovers, which, in a way, they were.
Erik came first, arching up into him, dampness soiling his sleep pants, and Lute couldn’t feel guily about that when Erik’s face looked like that and god, he was coming hard right along with him, the intensity knocking the breath out of him. He chased the last few moments before he verged on over sensitivity, then slumped on top of his lover, placing his head on Erik’s chest. As soon as they caught their breath Erik chuckled into his ear.
“What happened to ‘we have time?’” he asked. Lute nudged him away bonelessly.
“Yeah, well, it’s been a bit for me too,” he said, unsticking himself from his messed pants. He rose and returned with a damp cloth, cleaning himself and Erik, before redepositing himself in bed. They curled together under the covers, the chill from the impending fall brushing gooseflesh on their shoulders.
Within moments, Erik was asleep, and Lute watched him as his eyelashes fluttered. Warmth flowing through his veins.
Prompt: Erik admits his feelings for Raguna to either Raguna or another villager.
Rune Factory Ficlet
Erik/Raguna Pre-Relationship Pining
SFW
Erik and Lute sat on Erik’s farm in the shade of an old tree. Lute was used to Erik’s rambling when something was on his mind, but there seemed to be an extra amount of nervousness in his chatter. Lute took a long sip of the fruit juice Erik had given him and waited until Erik stopped for a breath.
“So what’s going on?” he asked. Erik laughed nervously.
“What do you mean? Nothing’s going on,” he replied. Lute gave him a look, and Erik’s smile faded.
“Well, maybe something’s going on,” he conceded. Lute put down his glass and turned his attention to his friend. Erik ran his fingers through his hair.
“I may just, quite possibly be, sort of in….love,” Erik said. Lute nodded. Silence passed for a moment as a wayward wind stirred the runeys overhead.
“Yes? With whom?” Lute finally asked. He wondered which girl it was this week. He didn’t mean to be critical, but Erik seemed to have a new infatuation that passed as quickly as the seasons. He rethought that, though, as Erik turned red, and interlocked his fingers as he looked at his hands.
“Uh, that’s the thing. This is all a bit new to me, to be honest with you. At first I thought it was kinship, one farmer to another, but now I’m realizing it’s much more and honestly,” his voice dropped, “I’m really scared he’s not going to feel the same.”
Lute chewed on that for a while. He knew from experience how irritating the “since when do you like men?’ conversation was so he stored it away. Instead he bumped Erik on the shoulder.
“Raguna, huh?” he asked. He could definitely see the attraction. Raguna was a kind, gentle, and frankly good-looking man. If Erik hadn’t seemed so distressed he would have smiled. They’d make a smart pair.
“Yes,” Erik said hanging his head.
“You know,” Lute said. “You’ll never know until you ask.”
“Yes, I know.”
“And I’ll be there for you, to celebrate or to drink away the pain with,” Lute said with a small smile. Erik took a deep breath.
“Okay. Okay, I’m going to do it.”
Erik showed up to Raguna’s doorstep, a plate of cookies in hand. He breathed in once, and knocked on the door. Raguna answered a second later. Erik did his best not to stare, but as usual, found himself enraptured by the other man’s face. A mixture of fear and excitement swirled inside of him.
