art stuff

Of monsters and men

OKAY SO SPPARENTLY I WROTE THIS ON AO3 AND JUST LIKE 

ENTIRELY NEGLECTED TO PUT IT HERE AS WELL?? 

Yeah so we fixing that RIGHT now.

I saw this super cool art on Pinterest for Monster Etho and human Joel a WHILE ago now, and decided to write inspired by the design. I will put out a link to the image first, and I suggest you check out their other work bcs their art is absolutely amazing. 

Artist's name is Feral4Gold, link below:

https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/724516658846172882/

Story time!

Kinda wanna The Last Guardian this thing, ngl

For those who don't know what that is, it's a game where you play as a boy who gets basically kidnapped by a giant, weird, cat-bird-dog-rat thing with horns(it's a lot cuter than it sounds, believe me). It's hurt and chained, so you help it, and from there, you have to work together to solve puzzles and fight baddies. It's a wonderful game, amazing graphics, and it's made by the same people who made Shadow of the Colossus(another banger of a game but I'm not here to hype games that have already come and gone).

^that's what I'm imagining. Basically, Etho runs into Joel, kidnaps him for a reason(plot and ✨friendship✨), and then they have to work together to hide from whoever Etho's running from. They build trust and connection, and Joel figures out this poor thing isn't all that monstrous.

This is also platonic Boat Boys; Joel and Lizzie is the only actual relationship I will do(and that's because they're married irl).

^I mean, if you want to make your own version of this where it's not platonic, go ahead, but that's how I'm writing this :)

*Our boy just mindin' his own business, taking a stroll in a park/forest place I do not know the name of. Totally unaware that he's got main character energy >:)*

Joel inhales deeply, hands in pockets and closing his eyes. He enjoys the autumn air: not freezing, but not too warm, either. This may be one of his last few walks here before he can't come back for the year, though. That notion motivates him to pick up the pace, now going at a quick jog. There's a place to rest up ahead, he'll turn around there.

Of course, then he gets bowled over by something.

It runs into Joel from the left, throwing him to the ground and tumbling down a hill, before painfully slamming into a tree. Ow. Joel cracks his eyes back open, wincing at the heavy, slightly painful weight on him. He's covered with some kind of matted, thick and white fur. Almost like the coat of a dog that's been romping around in the rain. Whatever it is, though, it also has dark, grey-brown skin and is massive. It rumbles slowly, and starts to move, causing Joel's brain to click that this is not human, or a normal Earth animal for that matter, it's alive and much bigger than he is, and he's seen way too many monster movies to take the chance that this thing is friendly. He shoves and kicks, trying to wriggle out from under it, prompting the thing to get up and twist to look down at him. Joel screams, either hoping to get it to go away, or just in general. The beast flinches back and snorts, rearing its head as if surprised or scared of the sound. It has four eyes–three are grey, a concrete grey, and one is red. The red one has a scar going over it, and two are larger than the others. Sort of like it has primary eyes, then smaller, thinner slits for the other ones. It's one of these 'primary' eyes that are red and scarred, but all of them are fixed upon him. Joel's mostly waiting for it to attack him, but after a moment of uncomfortable silence, he starts wondering what's taking it so long.