#pronat i guess

[furrama]

Remind me to have nothing to do with dinosaur/paleo folk on here again. I know they're always fighting misinformation and tired of jerks needling them to death over feathers and such to the point where they'll fight their own shadow, but theirs is a combative energy that I cannot deal with. I don't like the passive aggressive offs over precise language or dealing with the well actuallying. There's no room for humor or light deviation for illustrative purposes.

#I know they mean well but yeah #I used to love drawing dinos but I saw people being ripped to shreds over the tiniest things #So now I don't draw dinos #Unless it's Agumon or a dragon and it's allowed to be wrong on the Internet without having misinformed all future generations #And I'm not bitter about feathers or pronated arms I'm pro science here #There's just no room for humor or accidents #The threat level is too high for that I guess #And even if I apologize and defer over it's never going to be acknowledged #Better to just not interact tbh

[centrally-unplanned]

Something China is going to learn now is the Law of Fertility Stickiness - once fertility rates go down they do not go back up. Supposedly "short term" events like the 2008 recession in the US very often result in longer term new equilibriums. Its not an Iron Law ofc, but I expect absent radical policy changes (which China's current policy responses are not). These changes embed preferences and those preferences trickle out to societal expectations. So even as China repeals its family planning laws, there is not going to be a reversal.

The survey data for China is honestly staggering:

Lyman Stone: Only 38% of Chinese college students want to EVER have children. 34% among women. Guessing at true desires of "uncertain" respondents, average Chinese college women desires just 0.94 kids. College men 1.05. Chinese pronatalism will fail.

And of course wanting to "have kids" is very often only 1 child, a minimal balm (Though of course, grain of salt, college kids change their mind). This won't shift with the paltry policy response the CCP has put on offer so far. Combined with their no-sell immigration policy, while the whole world is experiencing a harsh demographic situation, China seems like its going to have the worst one in history so far for a major nation.

#implications for Taiwan are an exercise left to the reader! #the fertility transition

[chaos-and-ink]

FUCK MY LEGS

I just learned my ankles excessively pronate when I stand, giving me flat feet and making my ankle jut inwards which tips my tibia at an angle. On top of that (pun intended) my knee hyperextends when I walk. Annnnd my hip will literally sublux and pop OUT if I lean the wrong way.

Could anything more be wrong with my legs. Like what else am I missing at this rate. I feel like I’ve got a triples bingo or whatever

Basically..the dotted lines and circles are where my joints are SUPPOSED to be… but uh. I guess my joints don’t like being told what to do.

#I just need to know how NOBODY once looked at my legs and thought they looked a lil odd #Like ive been in pain for 8 years and everybody brushed it off but like.. just LOOK AT ME #heds #hypermobile ehlers danlos #ehlers danlos syndrome #ehlers danlos zebra #joint hypermobility #hypermobility #hsd #chaos #chronically ill #cripple punk #c punk #actually disabled #disabled

[northropi]

do you think velociraptors and/or utahraptors could open doors?

Ok so this is complicated, let's check all the different grasping appendages.

>Mouth: absolutely. A round doorknob *specifically* might be a bit slippery but they could grip with their jaws and make a twisting motion with their neck. So short answer is yes.

>Feet: not sure. The claws actually close in a weird, oblique way- iirc modern birds of prey have a more efficient arrangement in strength/weight terms, but they don't need to use their feet as feet as much so they can get away with wonky shapes I guess. If a grip was achieved, say by just hooking the big claw on a bar-shaped handle, they could probably just yank it down to open it, but I'm not sure they could twist their leg in the way we do our arms when opening a door and pulling it back. So they could open the bolt by essentially swiping at it but the follow-up of pulling it back or pushing it in could be the hard part.

>Hands: also not sure. I've heard theropod thumbs be called "semi-opposable" but the general consensus for how one would hold something is that instead of just wrapping their fingers right around it they'd either clasp it between both hands like tongs or use one hand to hold it to the chest- neither being really applicable to a doorknob. One way they might be able to is to, again, swipe at it- catch it in the crook of the wrist or between two fingers and yank down. Because the hands can't actually pronate into the stereotypical "bunny" position they'd essentially be holding it with the side of one finger instead of the palm and they might mess up the arm/hand pennaceous feathers in the process, but I don't see how this wouldn't at least turn the bolt. The fingers might get in the way of trying to clasp a round doorknob in *both* hands but maybe that could work too. I'm not sure they can, like, make a fist, so no clue about grip strength per hand.

>Brain: they could probably pick up on it if they saw you do it a lot. "Cat walking in to stare at you taking a piss" except with a domesticated dromaeosaur and even if you close the door.

#asks #dromaeosaur #utahraptor #velociraptor

[kaijuthespacemaniraptorian]

Re-Imagined take on the Indoraptor

my indoraptor is a hybrid of Dakotaraptor(50%) Maip(30%) Pegomastax(20%) Deinosuchus(10%) Tyrannosaurus(15%) and Spinosaurus(10%) (i can let you all guess which part of these animals you can see on the design!)

My Indoraptor is the same size as the original one and it is not shrink-wrapped, it has a slightly larger head and it is build more like a tyrannosaur and has excellent binocular vision like the t rex, it also has heterodonty thanks to T rex and pegomastax genes, longer and powerful arms thanks to spinosaurus and Maip and since Maip is a megeraptoran my indoraptor just like the original can pronate its wrists, it is a powerful runner running on all fours at 50 miles per hour to chase down its prey!

heres a better skull anatomy than the OG skull which had no fucking brain casing

thats all i have if im being honest! I was originally making some kind of fun little scenario for the hybrid but im too lazy and im out of ideas due to writting Daikaijuverse! anyways you can leave your thoughts on my take of the indoraptor down here that would be appreciated!

ngl i can just turn this thing into an entirely spec evo dinosaur but oh well-

#jurassic park #jurassic world #indoraptor #art #dinosaur #hybrid #skull #speculative anatomy

[iamthekaijuking]

The thing about synapsid jaw evolution is that we have a pretty good idea of how the bones transformed, but when it comes to life appearance and functioning of all these forms we can only guess - I`ve read a lot and still haven`t found a more or less definitive answer of what the ears of e.g. a gorgonopsid should really look like.

Jaw articulation is hard to see in screenshots, but the hips are a problem indeed. Maybe they`re not even synapsids but some sort of mammal-imitating reptiles, kinda like how some mesozoic crocs were trying to get into mammal niches?

As for Tobi I fail to see why it is less wyvern-like than Magnamalo. Sure it has that snake-like head, but the fart tiger seems far more aberrant to me.

As for pangolin scales and mammalian feathers, the scales look rigid enough even without beta-keratin. And a hypothetical pango-feather most likely wouldnt have the complex structure of a real one - merely a superficially feather-like form, no separate barbs or anything, just good enough for gliding. Though this is all unnecessary if we assume the dino-hipped beasts aren`t real synapsids like a said above...

Finally, I was thinking that maybe pronated hands are important and they indicate common ancestry among most flying/bird/brute wyverns. Maybe they all descend from a single unusual group of maniraptorans that radiated really hard into increasingly aberrant forms after the K-Pg? They`d be burrowers like you suggested, evolving the powerful pronating hands without flight feathers as well as much more flexible bodies and tails than other dinosaurs. Even wyvern pseudofingers could originally appear to help with digging.

Speaking of pseudofingers, what if they and the neighboring fingers eventually had the biochemical pathways for their development so entangled that a simple mutation could replace one with the other? That would explain some wyverns having extra fingers. Or maybe some pseudofingers just became indistinguishable from the real ones, possibly by co-opting some of the genes involved in their formation.

But this is all just idle speculation of course, I`m not trying to prove you wrong or anything.

(I’m actually going to post this one if you don’t mind because there’s some particularly interesting bits to talk about)

Fair enough, soft tissues do have a hard time showing up so yeah maybe the ears were different.

The Crocodylomorphs you might be thinking of are notosuchians. They were notorious for many of their convergently mammal-like features, and one of my UHC friends, Dr. Masiaka (mentioned in the UHC Kushala vid) actually thinks this is where fanged wyverns lie.

As for Tobi, I tend to ignore it not just because of its aberrant nature and you are right in your assertion that it’s just as wyvern-like as magnamalo. I suppose it’s just that I have a hard time fitting it into any particular group on my flying wyvern tree. I guess it could go near the base with the common ancestor of flying wyverns, but even though it lives similarly to my purposed FW ancestor it also looks nothing like it. Maybe future games will give us a new monster that can bridge the gap and make me restructure my tree. I know Somnacanth, and more recently Giasmagorm has done that for my piscine and elder tree, which will come out soon.

I think it’s worth mentioning that the whole beta keratin problem specifically refers to bishanten (and maybe garangolm) and not any other monster.

I’ve been pretty vocal about my displeasure of bishanten as a monster hunter design due to its deranged combination of monkey and bird features. I could make a way better tengu monster than monhun B team.

Pronated hand ancestry theory actually seems pretty interesting.

And the idea of the biochemical pathways for fingers and false-fingers is an interesting one. While I doubt that the pathways for fingers and certain wrist bones would become entangled, pathways for phenotypic expression is also something that I don’t know a whole lot about, so my statement could be wrong. It definitely gave me something to think about for a bit.

#ask #questions #monhun #monsterhunter #monster hunter #monster hunter biology #speculative zoology #speculative evolution #speculative biology #thesumlax

[d3nt4l-d4m4g3]

Natal, animal, and interest for the ask game!!

Natal/🤰: Pronatalism, antinatalism, or natalism neutral? 

I know I'm not pronatalism. I very firmly believe there are already billions too many people, and no, I'm not gonna say which people are too many. it's none of us and all of us. the mass of us is suffocating the planet, that's the facts. there are so many species of animals and plants that have been extinct since before we were born and many more that will go extinct before we die. It's wrong.

as of now it's improbable I will have a biological child. I guess I'm personally antinatalist, then.

that said, I think the scenario of antinatalism being implemented on a world scale is so improbable (and fraught with possible consequences, like the gender-imbalanced outcome of China's one-child policy) that I confess it's just not one of those topics that's at the top of my mind.

Interest/😍: If you weren’t a radblr user, what would your blog be about?

It would probably be about mushrooms. Mycology is sort of my vacation obsession, for when I don't want to think about the state of the world. I forage in my local forest, though the winter freeze is making me glum, because there won't be anything edible till April or May. So in my non-radblr blog, I would take pictures of my mushroom finds and maybe how I cook them. Maybe document other finds, like antique bottles and deer skulls or whatever.

edited, im not edible

[chicago-geniza]

Does cut work now

Stefania's critique of Jude Suss (UK version)--that uncritically accepting antisemitic ideas as truths, but "reversing their polarity" from negative to positive as one might reclaim a slur, only strengthens the force of those antisemitic ideas, which have now perversely been adopted by Jews as a point of national/cultural pride--has, imo, an interesting parallel in the phenomenon I observed growing up, and see now, where many upper middle class American Jews accept eugenic ideas about the heritability of intelligence and its flattering corollary, which emerges from a set of older stereotypes, that Jews are unusually intelligent. (You'll never guess how the closed community/prohibition on intermarriage factors into these discourses, and how seamlessly race science got integrated into them, from the 19th-c. Russian Empire to the present.) Idk need to expand more but this is the tl;dr of the pronatalism thing + speculation about the philosopher polycule + what it reminded me of + why it makes me insane

#assimilation and its discontents #here be eugenics lol #don't @ me im Jewish i am writing a thesis about this shit

[gaia-prime]

Radfem/💇‍♀️: Are you a radfem, just radfem-adjacent, or just gender critical?

radical feminism is the form of feminism to actually aims to improve to material reality of women. choice-y lib-y pomo-y “feminism” is just decorating the cage, radical feminism is getting out of it 🐅

Peak/🌄: What was the first thing that peaked you, and when did you peak (not just specifically “peak trans,” but anything “peak patriarchy”)?

peak trans was the rape rhetoric towards lesbians

Everest/🏔️: What has been your worst subsequent peak?

when nobody who supported the gender movement was pushing back against the rape rhetoric towards lesbians.

one time i did see someone say “don’t say that” not because it was, you know, rape, but because it’s quote: “bad optics”

Separate/🚷: Are you a female separatist or a lesbian separatist, and to what extent?

GNC/🥾: Are you GNC, and to what extent?

no one would describe me as gnc, and i’ve got shiny long hair and pretty privilege (lol) to thank for that. i mostly only leave the house for work (in scrubs) or or the pottery studio (in a tshirt and overalls or sweatpants.) but when i’m wearing something in my style it’s usually pretty feminine, albeit practical. i refuse to wear anything debilitating or uncomfortable. i straight up lose respect for anyone who has those long false nails 🤮

Orientation/🩲: Are you a lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual?

lesbian 🌈 lucky me ☺️

Bi/🔺: If you’re bisexual, are you a febfem?

Hetero/👫: If you’re heterosexual, are you choosing to be celibate?

Picrew/👤: No more identifying information, make a picrew icon of yourself that doesn’t look like you.

what about some of my photomode snaps from horizon zero dawn and forbidden west?

Leg/🦵: Where does your leg hair start getting darker (above the knee, mid thigh, dark from the moment hip ends and thigh begins)?

at my knees

Body/🔍: Do you have more/darker body hair on your left side, right side, or about equal on both sides?

equal i think?

Carnivora/🦊: Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?

I’m bipetsual.also i think hating dogs or hating cats is embarrassing and demonstrates poor character and you shouldn’t admit that in public…

Baby/👶: How do you feel about the baby plane (funny answers only)?

i’m zooted out on benzos seroquel and complimentary drinks when i’m flying so i am OUT snork mimimimimi on planes…

Natal/🤰: Pronatalism, antinatalism, or natalism neutral?

natalism agnostic i guess? natalism skeptic? i cannot relate to wanting to give birth,but i get that not every woman desires the same thing. and i have no interest in denying women the opportunities and resources to be mothers. however, i believe in the importance of empowering women worldwide with access to education autonomy over their reproductive health. when women are empowered, birth rates go down. this is a good thing. woman choosing when to be mothers , or not, is a good thing. i believe in humanity (despite everything) and would like to see us continue to survive as a species. however unending population growth only serves a few very powerful people because capitalism demands endless growth. it’s not a sustainable future and it’s not the future women want.

-Fem/💻: Do you identify as a member of any of the -fem titles (factfem, nicefem, rudefem, etc)?

not really. however the only posts and comments i have made that seem to get any attention are snarky comments and jokes, so i guess i come off as a rudefem more than anything else. which is not how i conceptualize myself and not exactly the energy i want to put out there to lesbians and gnc people who go along with gender nonsense. or especially to ones that are really struggling, feel pressured, or have existing trauma or mental illness exacerbated by gender propaganda. above all else i just want lesbians and gnc people and kids to be safe and healthy. i just don’t know if there’s much i, using a tumblr blog, can do about that.

Animal/🦕: If you had to pick an animal to represent your blog, what would it be (catfems, you don’t have to answer cat)?

a wolf 🐺 because i want my mate . AwoooOooo

Labrys/🪓: If you’re a lesbian, how do you feel about the labrys (both the flag and the icon)?

uhhhhmm..

Interest/😍: If you weren’t a radblr user, what would your blog be about?

i wouldn’t be me if i weren’t a feminist and weren’t true to myself and my interests. if you can’t be a feminist in a low stakes forum like tumblr, where Can you be a feminist?

Gender/💩: Here’s the link to get a random Wikipedia page. You now have a neogender based off of the page that was pulled up–what is it?

Man on the Moon (soundtrack) oh?

Feminist/🦸‍♀️: Are there any particular feminists or feminist groups you look up to?

i look up to every lesbian who is being true to herself and not taking male bullshit

Woman/🧑: For $0, name a woman.

Azealia Banks

Man/🧔: If you could kill one man (excluding politicians, billionaires, and those responsible for world tragedies), who would it be?

kAm

#ask meme #beatifiq asked me to answer all of them

[petite-ursus]

I've been doing these exercise challenges to keep moving. I've come back to these ones a few times since the pandemic began.

It starts super chill. Like, under 2minutes I'd go so far as to say.

By day 28 (hi, we're there) it takes closer to 2hrs when you count the yoga I do for about 15minutes beforehand.

I want. To just. Call it.

On the one hand. Two days left. So. Doable. They don't call it A Challenge because it's Easy.

On the other. It is. So. Long. It's so long. It'll be my whole evening. (it's not. but if I get home at 4pm, then need to run out to get bookmarks for Flamecon... I mean... I'm not finishing until after 8. And I go to sleep at 9:30.)

They've also kind of done what they were meant to do? Keep me moving all month every day. Now, with the con days away... rest... might... be... the move?

I can still do my yoga, and I could do the final two days when I come home?

Most people choose to do one challenge and 6 is maybe an overwhelming number by day 30? (by day 20 honestly.)

And YET. The want. To conquer. It.

But it's actually technically THREE more days for like two of them that have zero rest days. And I just. That IS too many more days. Too close to take off.

This is what today would look like:

) Squats (135)

1x35

4x25

2.) X3:

10 crunches

10 russian twists

10 leg lifts

60 sec plank

3.) 115 second plank

4.)115 reverse flies @8 (HARD. BAD.)

115 @ 15

30x3

25x1

90 renegade rows (HARD. BAD.)

25 @ 5

20 @ 5

15@ 8

10 8

10@ 15 10

2minute superman (2x 1min)

5.) 20 second dead hang (HARD. BAD.)

(It's a rest day for pullups, tomorrow is the final day with 10/5/3 pullups. The set of ten will be ugly. If you see my big toe bouncing me back up into the sky. Mind. Your. Business. If you see me in a neutral grip and not a pronated grip? Mind. Your. Business.)

And it doesn't look as horrific broken down like that. It looks very doable.

But also. Horrific. Idk.

It's the "back" section that gets me. It's a fucking mountain. Just. The sheer. FUCKING. VOLUME.

I'm not really certain what was intended with that challenge. I took the number of reps assigned and did my own thing. Each movement breaks down to about 15minutes with the sets I've broken it out into and the weights. Inserting the individual movements between other challenges helps but it's just so long. I just crouch next to my weights between sets and ponder life choices.

I guess we'll see when I get back from Walgreens.

Here are the blank challenges if my work signal lets it save and go through:

#personal #Shannon talks working out #or rather... the wish to Not

[platinum-iridium]

Radfem/💇‍♀️: Are you a radfem, just radfem-adjacent, or just gender critical?

Peak/🌄: What was the first thing that peaked you, and when did you peak (not just specifically “peak trans,” but anything “peak patriarchy”)?

Everest/🏔️: What has been your worst subsequent peak?

GNC/🥾: Are you GNC, and to what extent?

Carnivora/🦊: Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?

Natal/🤰: Pronatalism, antinatalism, or natalism neutral? 

💇‍♀️: i’ll defer to the quote about feminism as action, not identity

🌄: everyone ragging on terfs —> me asking what even is that —> going on evillfeminist’s blog (may her blog rest in peace) —> damn this makes so much more sense

🏔: idk probably the online trans women arguing that they have period symptoms. gets me every time

🥾: yes gnc but not overly so? definitely gnc in behavior. i can appear androgynous at times. been called sir on the rare occasion. but i’ll put on a dress once a year. gender flexible i suppose. more feminine than not but barely

🦊: cat i guess but i just don’t feel that strongly about animals in general. except when i’m drunk. then they can have all of my love

🤰: i think i’m neutral. i’m much more interested in spreading the idea that people (women) don’t need to have kids though. no one needs more of the other narrative.

#thanks for asking

[oracle-cassandra]

Animal, Natal and GNC for the ask thingy <3

Animal/🦕: If you had to pick an animal to represent your blog, what would it be (catfems, you don’t have to answer cat)?

I don't consider myself a "catfem" but I would like to choose a feline for this answer 👀 because they're gorgeous but deadly. any type of feline would do

Natal/🤰: Pronatalism, antinatalism, or natalism neutral?

I lean more towards antinatalism only because there's thousands of children and teens in the world who want and need homes already, and getting a child is going to cost a lot of money regardless. but at the end of the day I'm not going to hound, spit, or scream at a woman who wants to have her own children; I don't control what women decide to do

GNC/🥾: Are you GNC, and to what extent?

I wouldn't say I am very gnc. I dress moderately feminine enough I guess, without makeup, and frilly or skimpy and etc outfits. if anything I've worn kitten heels. I have been told I'm not very gender conforming with non tangible things though

#ask game

[blossoming-witness]

🌄🤰 🦕

Love radical-bi-babe

Peak/🌄: What was the first thing that peaked you, and when did you peak (not just specifically “peak trans,” but anything “peak patriarchy”)?

My mom was a feminist since her college years, and when I was a kid I was totally done with the patriarchy... but when I was a teen I got really into queer theory and started to see her as antiquated... I think I began to peak in general once I got into college and started facing a lot of sexism on my daly life and slowly came back to her, asking her about feminism. A thing that made me realize how bad we had it was hate reading mens' rights activists posts and realizing how much "normal" men agree with those ideas and hate us, and seeing some radfems make really good arguments critical of that made me start reading more and more radfem theory until I reached my peak trans with trans activists dismissing the trauma of street harassment.

Natal/🤰: Pronatalism, antinatalism, or natalism neutral? 

Neutral I guess? I mean, I want to have children myself, but I wouldn't push that on anyone else. Of course I have arguments in favor of having children, if I didn't it would feel pretty contradictory to doubt there's any good in it but still wanting to get pregnant right? And I guess I could lay out my arguments in an attempt to convince other women to have children, but I don't really think they're wrong for not wanting to do it.

Animal/🦕: If you had to pick an animal to represent your blog, what would it be (catfems, you don’t have to answer cat)?

Of COURSE I'mg going to answer cat. No just joking. I love cats but I feel like my blog has more of a snake vibe with my Medusa Icon, but I dunno. What animal vibe do you think my blog has?

The ask game is here

#blossoming asks #I wrote anime instead of anime and realized a while later lol

[nathanshoup12]

Learn From These Mistakes Before You Learn Find Your Flats.

Taking the leap with your personal style, whether it’s an off-the-shoulder top, a pair of jeans or a funky shoes — all require time to find and master. And that's why we recommend taking our 10-week course: Learn From These Mistakes Before You Learn Find Your Flats

Before you get a pair of flats, learn from these mistakes. We’ve seen that many people fall into the same mistakes. Don’t let it happen to you. Each pair of flats will be different, so take advantage of every minute to find your perfect pair! We want you to look as good as possible while enjoying life with your new shoes.

What are your flats? Do you know what your flats are? To be honest, many women don't because they are in the process of learning how to find them. What is it? Flats can really mean different things to different people. Some people think they're holes or gaps in their style that need to be tended. Other people think it means 'common sense'. Well guess which one I'm going with? I bet if you ask 100 people what a flat is, you'll get 100 different answers! Why does this happen? It's because we don't have a uniform definition for 'flat' across countries and cultures.

Once you find your flats, the rest is history. We're talking about a very important part of you, and it’s not just about how you look in them anymore. It's about how you feel wearing them—and your confidence has never been so good!

While this might sound daunting, it’s not. In fact, if you are on the right path and doing your research, it will be a breeze. So what are these mistakes? The flatter the toe, the more likely you will be to over-pronate or under-pronate. If this sounds too simple to you, it is because pronation is so ingrained in our running gait.

Limited by your current lifestyle and budget, finding your flats is often a daunting task. Hopefully, this guide can help you avoid some of the common mistakes you may be making as well as point you in the right direction to find what flats are right for you.

It’s always harder to stand out in crowded space if you’re wearing a uniform or similar color. Light colors show up better than dark colors, and bright colors will bring more attention than muted tones. This happens because our brains are naturally attracted to brighter, more vibrant colors that are highly contrasting against the background!

If you want to learn from the best, you need to find the biggest mistakes people are making in learning guitar. Find Your Flats is a playground for creators and learners who love making music. Learn how to build your own resources for learning, then use them to test your creativity and improve your workflow.

With this in mind, you want to find just the right flats that are comfortable to you and makes you feel good. Of course, these flats also need to be affordable. The best way for finding your favorite flats is by looking online first. There are lots of websites that provide unbiased reviews of different kinds of shoes and other products from around the world. That way, you can compare the product with other shoppers’ experiences before buying anything.

#Find Your Flats

[matthewstiles]

I have yet to meet a person outside YT comments sections who shares my passion for this obscure yet surprisingly fascinating sport. But trust me. I’m Matthew Stiles, your Future Favorite Author. I wouldn’t lead you wrong. Pro arm wrestling is worth a look. On June 25th, watch “No Limits” Devon Laratt, ex special forces op and glorious meme lord, face off against Levan Saginashvili, far and away the most dominant arm wrestler on the planet. Can Devon possibly win? Get your PPV on https://www.coresports.world or wait for ripped versions to drop on YT a few days later. This match will be the biggest in history. It’s gonna change the sport. You’re gonna see arm wrestling in the Olympics someday, and this is your chance to get in before it’s cool. On the off chance you find sports boring and prefer more intellectual pursuits—arm wrestling is actually one of the nerdiest sports. It’s simple at a glance but super technical under the surface. Can you guess what a hook is? A top roll? A flop wrist press? The king’s move? Outside style? Inside style? Pronation? Supination? Posting? Dragging? Side pressure? Back pressure?   Arm wrestling is a science and an art. It’s combat and a game. It’s a personal journey and a community.

#niche interests #arm wrestling #devon laratt

[wri0thesley]

dfnjvngfb please be nice to me about this because it’s VERY self-indulgent and also very explicitly self-insert and not reader-insert, but . . . i wrote some nat/prosciutto inspired by an ask i saw about being a dance teacher. and i thought; hmm. i’ve always wanted to learn how to swing dance for that 50s repro life, and i bet prosciutto would be up for that-- 

is this a meet cute

[brief a/n: nat is a 23 year old opera student at a fancy italian conservatory. they left a while before studying bc opera singer’s voices mature and also christ the price, they had to save up. imagine this dress. prosciutto swing dances because he likes it and also he picks up older women with rich husbands and money to burn who’ll spoil him a bit, heaven knows la squadra doesn’t pay him enough. he’s amassed quite a bit of wealth just by being older women’s - and sometimes men’s - sugar baby, but he likes the dancing enough to carry on doing it. usignolo means songbird/nightingale]

You linger outside the studio’s building for a minute, trying to gather up the courage to go inside. Sure, this had seemed like a good idea last week when you’d seen a flyer on your conservatoire’s notice board, and considered how your International Studies Coordinator had suggested getting more involved in the local community. You’re pretty sure she’d intended for you to try bars, socialising with other people your age . . . but. Well. You’ve never really been one for loud clubs or thumping music.

So you’d taken a phone number and booked a place in the class and tried to ignore the pounding of anxiety in your throat every time you thought about actually making a social commitment in a country you’ve barely been in for a month. 

You bite your lip, wondering if you’re going to be overdressed. Sure, you’re used to being overdressed - being in a full face of makeup and neat heels and stockings in an eight-in-the-morning Music Theory class when your classmates look like the walking dead after a night enjoying Naples’ nightlife, but those are people who you see every day. Making a good impression on people you hope to be social with . . . that’s a totally different can of worms. 

Some people have hurried past you in full ballet garb; neat chignons, elegant lines, holding their canvas dance bags and shooting you curious glances. You’re not built to be a ballet dancer, you suppose; but then again, that’s not why you’re here. You check the time again. You’re five minutes early. 

Okay. Good impression. You’re not going to walk into the room ten minutes late. Maybe if you get in there early, you can seem like you belong. Ignoring the pounding in your stomach and the fact your nerves are begging you to turn back and forget this whole idea, you push into the building and make your way to the dance studio number you were told to come to. Your heels clack on the wooden floor - you’d done as much research as you could before coming here (always terrified of being out of step, or just doing things wrong), but you can’t shake the nagging anxiety that perhaps you’re going to be the sore thumb.

God, you hope you’re not a sore thumb in all the worst reasons, peeking into one of the windows of the other studios and seeing a line of willowy androgynous ballet dancers, stretching elegant limbs up to the ceiling and pointing toes of well-muscled lithe legs. You tug at your dress, nervous again of your curves and your general being.

You push open the door to Studio Number Seven.

. . . Well.

Perhaps you shouldn’t have worried about being overdressed. The other people in here wearing dresses are wearing nice floral prints and swing skirts and neat cardigans. Your own black dress seems a little somber in comparison (cheered up by one of your collection of 1950s embroidered brooches), but that’s not the thing you notice. 

The thing you notice is the silver hair, the glasses perched on noses, the crow’s feet and the indulgent smiles when they see you. 

You are certainly not going to be befriending peers, that’s for sure. 

The instructor herself only has about a decade on you, and you’re almost relieved to see that she’s wearing a cherry-printed dress with faux Bettie Page bangs. That’s more like your kind of people. She bounces up to you, neat and enthusiastic.

“You’re Nat, right?” She asks, smiling, and you find yourself smiling back. “I know you said you were a student, but I was still expecting someone . . .” She gestures vaguely at the room around her, and you can’t help but let some of the tension drain out of your shoulders. 

“Yeah,” you say, “I’m not sure what I was expecting.”

She laughs. 

“Well,” she says, “it’s a dying art, swing dancing! We should be glad that there are young people wanting to take it up. Do you have any experience at all? You’re certainly dressed the part!” She winks at you. “I love seeing the outfits, honestly - one of my favourite parts of teaching for sure!”

You shake your head. 

“Not in swing dance,” you say. “A little in ballet and tap, but I guess that’s . . . not a transferable skill, huh?” She claps your shoulder.

“It means you’ve got some rhythm in you,” she says. “Now, let me see -- ah! I have the perfect partner for you. He’ll give you a hand whilst you’re finding your feet--”

She turns on her heel and disappears into the crowd of students, and that’s when you see him for the first time. He’s taller than the rest of the elderly bowed students, stoop-shouldered - standing above them with a quantity of slicked back blond hair and cheekbones you could cut diamonds with, sharply tailored suit cut to show off a muscled chest. He sees you looking at him and he turns his gaze on you, blue eyes icy, sweeping across your form in a way that makes you avert your eyes and try not to be swallowed up by the studio floor. You see, from the corner of your eye, the smirk . . . and then you see the instructor come over to him, tug gently on his arm and speak softly under her breath.

You’re flustered as the instructor brings the handsome blond over to you, flush rising to your cheeks - seeing your reaction to him, the man shoots you a charming smile, revealing the slightest overbite and a gap in his teeth, and oh . . . that’s unfair. He inclines his head, a half bow, holding out one hand for you to take as the instructor nods.

“This is Armando,” she says to you. “I think he’ll be a wonderful partner, he’s been coming here for months and he’s such a good teacher, I should be paying him some of my salary!”

“Just because you’re such a good teacher, I’m sure,” the blond man says. He turns to you as the instructor shoots you a wink and moves away to go towards the front of the room. His eyes on you make you burn warm. You resist the urge to chew on your lip, looking up at him through lowered lashes. 

“Did she . . .” You nod towards the instructor, “partner us together because you’re closer in age to me than everyone else?” 

The man hums, a small smile on his handsome face, as you hesitantly take his hand. His fingers are soft and warm but self-assured as he moves closer, other hand landing on the curve of your waist. His aftershave smells woodsy and smoky and it’s all you can do to not breathe it in deeply. 

“Perhaps,” he remarks, voice soft and deep. “I am only sixty five.”

“You must have an amazing skincare routine.” 

He smirks.

“I do.”

The instructor claps her hands together at the front of the class and you both turn, but his hand doesn’t let go of yours and his grip on your waist doesn’t falter. From the corner of your eye, you see looks from the other women in the class that are obviously jealousy. You try to ignore it; it’s unusual, for you to be the one people are jealous of. It’s almost . . . nice.

Still. You’re trying to make friends, so you don’t gloat in it.

The instructor talks, moving across the room, gently correcting some people’s holds, talking animatedly. She pauses by you and Armando, but she nods and smiles instead of touching you. As you and he begin to move, slowly, he leans in closer.

“You know . . . my name,” he says (there’s a lingering impression that something about this statement makes him uncomfortable; it’s strange to hear him sound unsure when every inch of him oozes confidence and surety). “But I don’t know yours. What brings you to our jolly class?”

“Nat,” you say, “just . . . just Nat.” He tips his head, leaving the conversation open, his eyes utterly focused on you in a way that you’ve never really felt. He seems genuinely invested. “I’m an opera singer. A student, I mean. At . . . at the conservatorio?” 

“Ah,” he says, smiling. “A nightingale.”

You blush, and the hand on your waist tightens imperceptibly at the way your eyes flicker away from him in embarrassment at the sweet name.

“And the swing dance?” He asks, one eyebrow raised. “I mean . . . I’m not complaining, but as you can see . . .” He inclines his head at the other students. 

“I just . . . like the fifties. You know . . . elegant dresses, petticoats, the music . . . I’m not romanticising it or anything, but I just like that idealised idea of it, you know? A-anyway! What about you? Y-you don’t look like the type--”

“Touche,” he says, smiling softly, but he doesn’t say anything beyond that. 

You and he spend the rest of the lesson partnered together. He’s elegant, quick, smiling at you when you catch his eye amongst a whirl of petticoats and a breathless swell of the music. You know that you’re a little clumsy on your feet (you can’t help that! Not with a man like this so close to you, leaning down to murmur close to your face, holding onto your waist so firmly as if he doesn’t want to let you go). 

He murmurs things about some of the other students as he whirls you around, that make you laugh and widen your eyes and insist ‘no!’. Every time he gets a rise out of you, a response of flushed cheeks and giggles and demurely turned down eyes, he seems to get a little more intense on how he’s handling you.

You’re in a mess of a beating heart and short breath and pink cheeks by the time that the instructor calls time on the day’s class, and you feel like you’ve had a successful time. Sure, you didn’t mingle with anybody else but . . . Armando, but you’ve had a good time. You feel confident and excited at the prospect of next week’s lesson. Pulling away from him and straightening yourself out a little, you offer him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry if I wasn’t very good,” you say. “I’m . . . I’m not the most graceful.” You gesture down to the curves of your body, that often feel so ungainly and as if they’re taking up more space than you deserve to. “I guess you’ll go back to another partner next week, but thank you for helping--”

He quirks his lips, one eyebrow raised. 

“I don’t have to.” He says. “I’m perfectly content to partner you, you know. You were . . . Well.” He laughs, a little soft noise that you can tell from the look in his eyes isn’t intended to be at all mocking. “You were a pleasure to dance with, if we were off-beat plenty of the time.” He pauses. “And . . . if you want, I’d be more than happy to go over some things with you before next week’s session,” he says, his words easy, and your heart skips a beat. You’d worried that maybe he’d be annoyed by being paired off with someone who’s got no idea what they’re doing, by someone who looks like you when a man like that probably spends most of his time surrounded by people just as beautiful--

“Really?” You ask, blinking up at him. “I don’t want to be an imposition.”

His laugh is light again, his fingers gently dancing up your arm, a touch that’s intended - you’re sure - to be comforting, but that sends a frisson of electricity all through you.

“Oh, you won’t be. As long as you’re willing to indulge me with dinner first, bella.”

You know that your blood rushes to your face even beneath the powder and the makeup, and you know, too, that there’s no way he misses it. A smirk pulls at the corner of his full mouth, and you question whether you actually fell over and hit your head at some point and are now hallucinating. 

“Perhaps afterwards,” you tell him. “I don’t know if I could dance on a full stomach.”

He laughs, the noise low and smooth. You can feel jealous eyes on your back - and can you blame them? Look at him. 

“I didn’t say it would be dancing, did I?”

“I--” Your brain moves lightning fast, trying to get your brain to respond to him in kind, but he doesn’t give you time to think of something witty. The hand on your arm moves, dancing across your collarbone, brushing the vintage brooch, resting briefly on the full warmth of your cheek, tipping your face up to him. 

“Verpazza, Wednesday night, 9PM,” he says to you. You recognise the name of one of the more upscale restaurants you pass on your way to classes from your shitty rented room in the boarding house for international students, and you fight to stop your eyes widening. Your poor student budget certainly wouldn’t allow for such luxuries. “Ask for Prosciutto’s table if you’re there before me. I’ll take care of it.”

There’s something in his smile that suggests to you he loves the idea of taking care of things; that he’s getting a real thrill out of playing the knight in shining armour. Well. You’ve heard plenty of tell about Italian men (and plenty of horror stories from other people in your class) - but he seems . . . indulgent. Like he loves the idea of providing for someone.

“Like the ham?” You ask him, and a flicker of amusement passes over his face. “Is that your surname?”

A flash of something else in his eyes. You can’t quite name it - but you don’t fail to notice his eyes flicker, as if checking nobody else is listening. He tries to keep his voice easy.

“Mm. An unfortunate family name, and a name that’s stuck.” He winks at you. “You’ll never hear anybody outside of this room call me . . . Armando.” The name sounds wrong on his tongue, the slightest grimace following the syllables. Blue eyes turning icy, just for a moment. He pulls himself back, smiling at you again. “You can call me Prosh, if you want.”

“You don’t seem the nickname type.” He laughs.

“Mm. Well. . . I’d prefer to hear the full thing, but if it’s your voice, usignolo--”

You recognise the nickname and flush, warm. The smile he gives you is crooked and makes your toes curl in your heels, your entire body feel warm, your head feel light. Okay, you might not have made friendly connections . . . but you’ve certainly made some kind of connection. 

“Wednesday?” You ask him, again, wanting to really feel sure. You’ve been . . . stood up, plenty of times. Used as a joke. Your shoulders draw in imperceptibly, but Prosciutto - you try and reconcile calling him after the meat - tilts his head to the side.

“Your phone,” he says, holding out a hand. “Let me put my number in, and you can call it for proof. I’m perfectly serious, cara. I’m a man of my word.” He looks at you softly, hand on your waist, and gently helps guide you out of the studio. Most of the other dancers have left by now, and you can see the instructor glancing towards you and clearly waiting for you two to leave too so she can prepare for her next class. Pausing in the corridor, he looks down at you, face perfectly serious. “I don’t know who’s had the nerve to hurt you in the past . . . but I’m not that kind of person.” 

You bite your lip, and he shifts closer to you. He’s not incredibly tall, but you’re small enough that the height difference feels pronounced. The hand is soft when he tips your chin up, blue eyes meeting blue eyes. His own are half-lidded, drifting down to your lips (when you’d applied the dark red lipstick marketed as ‘kissproof’ this morning, you hadn’t thought that it was going to be something that was tested!). He leans into you and you find yourself unconsciously rising onto your tiptoes--

The kiss he gives you is almost chaste, save for the slightest nip at your lower lip (you think about the gap between his front teeth and feel like you’re going to melt). Your breath stutters against his, the taste of mint toothpaste and smoke and honey leaving a tingle upon your mouth. 

“I’m serious,” he breathes against you, pulling back. “Nine in the evening. Wear something pretty,” his eyes flicker down, caressing the curves of your body in a way that makes you warm all over. “. . . though I don’t doubt you will.”

#nat.txt #self ship postin #writing #this is. self indulgence at its finest. #is this canon? who knows but its Cute Concept #pronat i guess #pronat