Feb 6
Working hard?
River bringing his husband, Miguel, some coffee as he works to finish a customer's prosthetic.
Little do they know how important this job is, and how much will change.
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Belgium
seen from Germany
seen from Spain
seen from Italy
seen from Italy
seen from Italy
seen from Italy
seen from Türkiye
seen from Kosovo
seen from Italy
seen from Italy
seen from India
seen from Netherlands
seen from Italy
seen from Italy
seen from France
seen from China
Working hard?
River bringing his husband, Miguel, some coffee as he works to finish a customer's prosthetic.
Little do they know how important this job is, and how much will change.
i had been wanting a dragon oc for years (other than my beloved First Fursona, who was a dutch angel dragon) so i finally took the time to make one once i figured out what kind of theme i wanted :3
his name is Doppler bc he loves to watch the weather around the planet Earth and wander around space outside of the laws of gravity in orbit.. do you care him? ☁️ ask him about his plushie hoard !
reblogs appreciated!!
I Married a Dragon (Prime Mating Agency #6) by Regine Abel
This will be a sort of part 1 of 2 post as I read the two most recent Prime Mating Agency books but felt they deserved their own respective posts.
Regine Abel is another top 5 author of the monster fucker genre for me. Her plots are always interesting, her monsters/aliens are loveable, strange, and always come with a wealth of background and culture to them (plus they pack some series heat below the belt), and I find she has easily likeable female leads that range across the board in personality. Her world building is outstanding and probably my favorite out of anyone's so far. Plus, I love the illustrations that you can find at the end of her books to really help build the imagination.
Kaida, an enforcer with the UPO (United Planetary Organization), is a tough, duty-driven cookie with a soft heart and a propensity to struggle with letting go of her human societal norms. To be fair, I'm not exactly one to want to walk around naked in public either, whether it's an alien world or not. Despite her hesitations, after discovering she is the one and only person who can aid the Shadow Lord Cedros, Kaida slowly but surely adapts to a slogan of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" as she signs up for a temporary marriage to the big guy. Her key word is temporary as she wasn't exactly anticipating this derailment of her life in the middle of a mission...
Cedros is a Shadow Lord of his world, practically a god to his people as he protects those who get lost in the veil, defeats the vicious aqrats and whatever else may lie in the darkest shadows, and copes with his isolation from society. As a Shadow Lord he faces great discomfort without his ejaya, the only being who can soothe the toxins he encounters in battle and aids in keeping him balanced around those who cannot control their powers. He is socially awkward, adorably innocent, and fiercely protective. He is one of my favorite monstrous males from the series. His innocent honesty and bluntness create some of the most endearing moments that had me kicking my legs like a schoolgirl.
The smut is a bit slow to show up as this is a slow burn, but once it does... It's worth it. While it's not got the most toe-curling, in-depth description I think it fits perfectly within the rest of the story and there is come creativity used between Cedros and Kaida in order to get things to fit.
Outside of the focal point on Kaida and Cedros' romance lies the secondary plot of the shadow obsidian smuggling. Kaida initially agrees to this temporary marriage in order to help out Cedros but also in order to protect the UPO as she works to discover why shadow obsidian, used to open portals, is somehow ending up in the hands of those outside of Cedros' world.
For such immense plots that could easily be expanded on and brought into even greater detail Regine Abel does an amazing job of keeping everything well rounded and evenly paced in these 267 pages. Out of the entire Prime Mating Agency series I have to say this book is my absolute favorite. An innocent but strong male lead, a protective and hesitant-to-love female lead, a slow burn romantic plot aided by an interesting side plot, truly this is some of her best work. I highly recommend this entire series and will be reviewing the next addition as well. 10/10.
Would I read again? Absolutely! I want all the Cedros content, I love him so much.
Would I recommend! 1000000000% Please check out the whole series!
The Alien Quadrilogy aka The Ellen Ripley Saga
I have just completed a re-watch of the original 4 Alien films in the franchise. I personally consider these films to be the definitive Alien experience, and much of that is due to Sigourney Weaver’s brilliant central performance which grows and evolves throughout the films. These four films are all available in more than one edition, cut or edit. Here’s how I viewed the Ellen Ripley Saga this time around, which I highly recommend for any fan of the series:
Alien: The original 1979 Theatrical Version.
This film is a masterpiece. It’s one of the few films that is perfectly paced, scored, acted, framed and pitched. I wouldn’t change any of it... bar a few frames of one particular scene involving Ash’s animatronic head becoming the actors own head without a cut away shot. The Directors Cut, while offering the famously cut ‘eggmorphing’ cocoon scene during the film’s climax, cuts some nice foreshadowing regarding Ash.
Aliens: The Special Edition/Directors Cut.
This film as originally released in theatres is near perfect, an absolute classic and a fan favourite, no doubt. But this longer cut gives us more of Ripley’s emotional journey, with her discovering she outlived her own daughter. This alone makes it a superior version in my mind but it also has the scenes with the Xenomorphs relentlessly attacking the remaining Colonial Marines’ turret defenses, adding tension to an already tense sequence in a tension-filled film. Admittedly, a few scenes could still have been left out, such as the scenes of Hadley’s Hope pre-infestation and the more explicit foreshadowing of the Queen. Your mileage may vary.
Alien 3: Alien 3 Third Cut
This is a bit of a cheat. Since (understandably) director David Fincher did not return to produce an alternative cut of the third film, the studio released an ‘Assembly Cut’ which cobbles together various cut and alternative versions of scenes. I’m a big fan of the improvements the Assembly Cut brings to this troubled film’s overall feel, such as the added scenes with Ripley and Clemens, the subplot involving the ‘Dragon’s’ capture and Paul McGann’s Golic’s later liberation of the beast. However, it’s not an unpopular opinion to say that the alternative scenes of the xenomorph birthing from an Ox rather than a Dog are a little implausible and even confusing. So, having recently discovered this fan edit which merges the best of both the original Theatrical Cut and the Assembly Cut and throws in a lot of dedication and hard work to make everything work together smoothly, I found a brand new and extremely satisfying appreciation for this film. I highly recommend this version and I sincerely hope a future official release meets this level of quality.
Alien: Resurrection: Special Edition
I’m not gonna lie, I know people generally look down on this film, but I just love it. Is it as good as it’s three predecessors? No. But it’s damn entertaining and I find it has more to offer than many Alien fans give it credit for. There’s the dynamics between Newt and Ripley-8, which I would honestly love to see a fifth film explore, even though I know it’s extremely unlikely. The far more grey morality presented by the cast of characters including a crew of pirates who profit from human trafficking, amoral scientists who seem more interested in the xenomorphs than anything resembling human and the shady United Systems Military who operate outside the law. To say nothing of the hybrid Ripley-8 who seems torn by her dual nature, both xenomorph and human and unsure of which side she favours even by the film’s end. There isn’t many major differences between the two versions of the film, just a few cut scenes and a different opening and ending. That said, watch the Special Edition because it shows more of Ripley’s humanity, such as struggling to recall her past when shown a picture of a young girl and later mentioning that she had tried to save people in the past including a girl who’s name she could no longer remember. I also think the subtle (and sometimes over the top) humour of this film is underappreciated, such as the two soldiers standing guard who are pointing their guns at one another’s heads.
Perhaps in the future I’ll get my dream of an Alien 5 with Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder set 20+ years after the fourth film and I’ll finally feel like Ripley got a complete story, maybe even some semblance of a happy ending with a found family for once. I know Alien 3 provided a close to her original arc, but ending on such a defeated note feels wrong to me and with the already existing Resurrection giving us Ripley back in some form, I think it’s time for closure.