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schrijverr · 2 years

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The Cracks

A look into Walter and his relations with emotions, especially regarding Megan and her death. Because I felt like Walter was very valid in his breakdown in 2x12 ‘Dam Breakthrough’ and deserved to cry more.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: grief, isolating oneself and crying (don’t worry, it’s h/c)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walter has emotions. Of course he has, just because he has always struggled with understanding them in himself and others, doesn’t mean they’re not there. Thinking otherwise is foolish.

However, Walter could follow the reason that lead people to the assumption that he does not have any emotions, seeing as he actively encourages that notion in an attempt to keep people away from trying to pry into his business, while simultaneously creating an excuse for his social slip ups and misunderstandings.

So, yeah, he has emotions. Sadly.

It’s not that he would like to not have emotions, since it is a natural process and it is a central part of a functioning brain. And he must admit the positives are nice. It is just that the negatives happen more frequently in his life.

Looking back at his childhood, his parents tried, but never connected. His classmates and teachers hated him and didn’t understand, bullying him where possible. Only Megan liked him and got what was happening in his brain, but she couldn’t always be there for him and got sick.

There was also Cabe, of course, but the positives he brought were helped into the ground by Baghdad, a negative that often makes him wish he doesn’t have emotions.

All in all, emotions are confusing and complicated. It’s a hypothesis that has been proven over and over in Walter’s life. They only bring conflict, which in turn gives more negative emotions and that makes every ineffective. Logic dictates that no emotions is more productive.

Thus, Walter swears off emotions, in a sense. He knows he has them, he just chooses not to engage in them. It makes life easier for everyone. Well, except him maybe, but not often enough to cause problems that need rectifying.

He deliberately stunts his own emotional growth, until he can believe in the robot-like personality he presents. He grows into himself, into the person he needs to be if he wants to cope with all the negative that comes his way. All the taunts. All the looks. All the times he is ignored.

So, Walter moves to the US, goes to college and tries to built a career wherein his social skills aren’t an issue.

At first, he tries a few normal careers like forensic analyst, but that doesn’t work out exactly. It does, however, lead him to the people that will someday form his family. He finds Happy, Sylvester and Toby. They’re like him. He gets them and they get him.

It doesn’t matter that he is terrible socially, because the people that matter are also terrible socially and together they figure it out.

And for a long time, life is good like that.

He tries for his friends and it works. He is able to see to it that they are happy, content, in a place that is effective to their health and well being. His sister is in decline, but they can still hike together and laugh. She still gets him and that is enough.

They build Scorpion, their cyclone. It might not be the most successful business out there, but they make it work.

Enter Paige.

Paige is everything Scorpion is not. Everything Walter is not. Everything to Ralph that they didn’t get from their parents. And Paige is also a giant mirror reflecting all the skills they lack.

While Walter knows he is the one that brought her on for that exact reason, the continuous confrontation with his own inabilities is concerning and uncomfortable. Walter doesn’t like feeling like he’s incapable, which is ironic, because the whole thing is about him not feeling.

He just hadn’t taken into account the emotional distress that would come with encountering years of burying anything that came close to being a feeling.

It’s upsetting. It’s upsetting and his defense mechanism to feelings is ignoring said feeling, which is unproductive to Paige’s purpose; making them more comfortable with emotions and human interactions.

So, yeah, it has been a struggle.

It is a struggle.

Walter is struggling.

He isn’t used to struggling and that is also not helping. Because he can see how everyone around him is improving and how he is lagging behind. Lagging behind is also not something he is used to, but every attempt to catch up, blows up in his face.

The fact that he has trained himself into being a robot is proving difficult to unlearn. He is pretty sure Toby would have a field day with that. Also pretty sure the Doc already figured it out and is letting him be out of nicety (it doesn’t escape his attention that a few years ago, Toby wouldn’t have had that foresight, nor the fact that none of the team would have considered his feelings back then, since they only got to know him after he had built up his defenses successfully).

It is odd, but not unpleasant to be considered like that, though it is also terrifying. When he tells Megan about it, she laughs at him, before saying: “This is good, Walter. Being considered it good, it’s what friends do.”

“No, it is not good,” he says. “It means my systems are failing and I cannot keep the distance I desire.”

“You don’t want distance, you idiot,” she smiles, pulling him into a hug that he subconsciously melts into, unable to stop it. “This Paige girl is good for all of you, trust me.”

“How can you know?” he asks, still doubting his own decision despite the visual improvements in Scorpion since she has been hired.

“Want the facts?”

“Always.”

“You telling everyone you don’t feel makes you vulnerable to being a doormat, since they walk all over you without regard for your emotions, since they think you don’t have them, which makes work more difficult and less effective,” she answers bluntly. “The fact that they are all becoming aware that you do have them, is positive. It’s a strength, not a weakness. And you feeling in return makes them feel more safe, trust breeds productivity.”

Walter regards her for a second, then says: “I hate it when you use logic against me,” making her laugh again. He likes that she is happy.

Despite the fact that he meant that comment, her words do push him to try harder. He tells himself that it is because logic dictates that she is right and he follows logic. However, a small part of him knows that he just wants to make her proud.

He doesn’t claim it is a 100% successful, but he is finally making progress and that counts for something. Doing something right socially feels more like a victory than all the awards he has won ever had.

They save the world – well, not the world-world, but enough people that the hyperbole is warranted – and grow closer. They have always been a cyclone, but now they’re a family.

Walter has Cabe back, the father figure he never had. They have Paige, who guides, who is patient, who doesn’t mock, but holds their hand instead. They have Ralph, someone like them, who will never have to go through what they did.

It’s good. Almost too good. On a logical level Walter knows that statistically the level of goodness life is, doesn’t effect things that happen to them. But with their life, he can’t help but think that maybe it will all come crashing down, like it has to at some point. Nothing keeps rising, some things get stuck, but most things fall.

Maybe that’s why he introduces Megan to the team. Lets her close to the family he built separately from her, because he was afraid the open child he used to be would slip through with her around to prod and push him in that direction.

Though he has become quite good in keeping up his front and combining that with the progress the team made, he feels more at ease with showing his more caring side.

He even makes another friend, Ray. He might be a bit odd, but Walter is used to odd. Odd is safer than normal, odd usually understands, odd is less likely to judge.

Scorpion is expanding, becoming home. A place of safety where emotions have a bigger place than before. It takes him a while to warm up to it, but Sylvester and Megan make a good couple and it does Walter good to see both so happy.

Naturally it has to fall apart. The ‘naturally’ might not be a logical assumption, but it still feels like it to Walter, because nothing good has ever lasted for him.

Megan is declining. Fast.

He has always known that at some point her health would take a turn for the worse, but he had always hoped that he would be able to stop it, or at least slow it down. Instead, he has to stand there helplessly as she fades, throwing himself into research that is only failing.

Maybe that’s the best description for him, a runner who fails. He has been making progress with Paige and he knows how proud Megan is, but when faced with the emotional monster that is the impending loss of his sister, he shuts down and revers to old habits, none of which are working like he wants them to.

Sylvester is spending more time with Megan than he is. And while he can’t stand to be cooped up not doing anything, a small part hates himself for leaving her behind like that.

He tries to tell himself that he just needs to focus on his research, because then this avoidance won’t matter, because he’ll still have time. Yet, he knows that he just isn’t at a point where he is emotionally equipped to handle this sort of thing. That he hasn’t learned enough. That he isn’t good enough. That he’ll regret what he’s doing now, even if he can’t make himself stop.

What’s worse, is that everyone at Scorpion notices, they all know. He gets looks and talks and he can’t ignore it all, though he is trying.

Walter hates it.

He just hates it.

He hates how Sylvester can accept the empathy and he can’t, how the others dance around him, how the science isn’t good enough, how he can’t hide now that the feelings have been shaken loose, how his parents will react when they get here. How they all look at him.

And it only goes downhill from there. His parents are coming, because they all know Megan is nearing the end.

His research is nowhere near finished and there is nothing he can do to speed it up. To help her. He tries, by all that is logical in this world, he tries. It’s his way of dealing with the waiting, even if he knows it should be him by her side, not just Sylvester.

Their parents serve as yet another reminder that he isn’t there yet, that he doesn’t know how to interact with people, who don’t get it. They rightfully call him out on the fact that he is not there, but all his brain can do is lead his feet away from that hospital, as if working until he drops will change the outcome.

As if he isn’t trying hard enough and if he just did, then it would all be okay, even though it is never going to be okay.

Scorpion might get why he is running, but they don’t understand and he can’t explain. He can only listen as they try to reason him out of an emotional response, thinking that it is his logical brain that is keeping him away from the room where his sister is slowly dying. Where her life, her beautiful lively life, that she has always lived to the fullest, is draining out of her.

Walter will deny this under threat of death, however, he is too emotional to listen to their arguments and sound logic.

And he knows it is going to haunt him for the rest of his life that he wasn’t there for her until the very end. That she didn’t get to finish that sentence, because he was too late. That she knew he wouldn’t be there for her in that moment and had recorded it.

That she still gets him, even from beyond the grave.

That he is alone now.

He watches his parents leave with Sylvester and for a second Megan’s words are strong enough that he reaches out.

The memory is still fresh and his emotions are a tangled mess that he is still unraveling. It leaves him vulnerable enough to override his fear of showing emotion. And he is pretty sure Megan knew that when she left him that video.

So, he has comfort. From his parents and the team.

His family.

Even if it is just for that night.

That first night in a world without Megan.

That first night alone.

It’s the worst night of his life. The comfort is nice, but people leave and soon Walter is alone again and it hits him all again. He is glad everyone is gone and he is alone, however. He doesn’t want anyone to see him cry, doesn’t want others to hear as he sobs to himself on the bed, doesn’t want them to know that he is hugging one of her pillows that he had stolen a bit earlier. One that still smells like her.

And in that night he lets out what he can, before he starts to work through it. Though he has never learned how to do that, meaning he reverts to the toolbox he does have. The one that is full of things he has yet to unlearn.

Walter digs up his oldest safe space. His favorite mask. The face that has served him well through all the years. The one thing he has perfected.

That first night, alone on his bed, cheeks wet from tears he will deny having shed, he sits there and painstakingly puts all his grief, all his hurt, all his sadness and all his guilt, into a little box in his brain, next to the switch he flips as the emotions that bog him down leave.

There is nothing safer to Walter (except Megan) than his metal shield of robotics behind which he has hidden for most of his life. He knows it isn’t healthy, yet it is all he has known, the thing he is certain that works.

It hasn’t failed him before.

Walter is aware that the team is worried by that decision, though they don’t realize he has less control over it than he would have liked. He finds himself mumbling, cradling Ferret Bueller, like the little guy can give him the comfort of a sister.

He just can’t stop it, his brain has subconsciously replaced protecting and saving Megan with keeping Ferret Bueller safe. As if he can make up for failing Megan if he can make sure Ferret Bueller is alright.

But the robot mask that was supposed to be his friend isn’t working like it used to. He starts to mutter to himself. He keeps Megan’s ashes in his car, because he couldn’t stand that dark, cold urn that kept staring at him, though not seeing it constantly also makes him upset.

The whole thing is a confusing mess that throws him off his game – not literally of course, though he isn’t above admitting he is not functioning at a 100% – he wouldn’t put his team in danger over his own emotional turmoil.

Though, he might be more reckless. But why wouldn’t he be? It’s not like anyone depends on him, he has nothing left. Scorpion got better, they can handle themselves. They evolved, while he is getting sucked into a black hole.

Still, it’s concerning how close to the edge he has been walking without noticing, until he falls in face first with nothing to hold the tide.

They have just returned from the dam and he listens to the voice mail. He has won the money. The money that should have saved Megan’s life and is too late instead. He never has enough money for his research and this is life changing as Cabe is saying. But he can’t bring himself to be happy about it, not when she isn’t there with him.

And at that moment he sees the open cage with Ferret Bueller missing. It is just a ferret. For a long time it had just been a ferret to Walter, but not anymore. Not now.

So, he panics and breaks down.

He tears the garage apart looking for the little guy as the team helps with apprehension and concern obvious in their faces. Which he ignores.

When he finds the ferret, he is relieved. He holds the little guy close to him, gently bringing him to the cage until his relief turns to anger. With Ferret Bueller safe, he realizes how he could have failed again. Lost again.

So, he snaps at his teammates. His family. He accuses them, unable to hear it might have been him, who failed to lock the cage. He can’t bear to hear Paige’s placating: “Okay. It’s okay, now, Walt, because the ferret is safe.”

In that moment he hates her. He hates her for telling him that, like it’s that easy after she has dismantled his last hiding place. His comforting unfeelingness. How she doesn’t get it, doesn’t get him. Not like Megan used to.

“Well, I could have lost her,” he hears himself saying, finally piecing together what he had projected onto Ferret Bueller. “Don’t any of you comprehend that? I don’t want that!”

It’s silent after his outburst, everyone just looking at him again with that pity. He can feel his hackles rising, the unease at the emotional display that he had tried so hard to hide from.

“I don’t want to loose her,” he repeats, the tears welling up, despite himself. The tidal wave is too strong to stop now and all he can do is ride it out.

He can only stand there. In his mind all he can hear is Megan’s voice, her message to him. And in that moment he wants to reach out to that comfort he had felt on that first night. He just doesn’t know how.

The tears are in his eyes and throat, choking him, his finger twitch uncertainly and all he can bring himself to do, is stand there, trying not to break completely.

His team obviously doesn’t know what to do either. They just stare back, though he can only see them from far away, like he’s not fully there. He knows that this was stupid, weakness is not good in a leadership position.

However, Scorpion is not just a business, but a family and Walter is proven right in taking Paige on to help them.

Where the others stand helplessly, she takes action. She strides towards him and while he doesn’t dare to reach out, she does as he hoped and embraces him.

“I don’t want to loose her,” he repeats. He buries his head in her shoulder and says: “I didn’t want to loose my sister.”

Paige doesn’t hug like Megan does, but she holds him and that’s enough. Still, he tries to justify his need for the hug, what Megan means to him. “She was…” he begins, trailing of without finding the words. “I miss her so much.”

The he realizes the other are still looking without reacting. He untangles himself from Paige’s embrace, missing the contact the moment it is gone.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “This is unprofessional,” but he can’t keep it all at bay. Like the dam, there is now a crack and the pressure can’t keep building up without release, so it is zeroing in on the weak spot.

Before he can try and figure out how to stem the flow, Sylvester hugs him. For a second, he tenses, then the physical effect of the hug hits him and his body reacts instead of his brain. He slumps down in his arms and the tears truly start to fall.

Loud and ugly sobs rake through his body as his cyclone, his little home, hugs him tight. He clutches to the arms that surround him, feeling love in the exception to physical contact his friends make, because he needs it.

Walter cries for the first time in years.

He cries for Megan, for the only person who has ever fully gotten him. For the haven he has lost with her. For all the guilt that has been pushing down on him. For the little bit of childhood, the good bit, he still had and now lost. He cries for himself, for all the times he let emotions pass him by and bottled them up.

In the end, he isn’t sure how long he cries for, but it must be a long while. When he finds himself again, he’s on the floor, leaning against Sylvester’s side, Toby’s arm slung around him, sandwiching him. His eyes are sore and his throat hoarse.

However, for the first time since Megan’s death, he feels mildly okay. The darkness is a shade lighter and he doesn’t feel so alone anymore.

Happy is at his back, while Cabe a hand on his knee and Paige is squatted in front of him, hand in his as she studies his face and therefore the first to notice him coming back. She gives him a gentle smile and asks: “How are you doing, Walter?”

He takes a moment to think about it, before answering honestly: “Better.”

“That’s good,” Paige’s smile widens. “Anything we can do? Glass of water?”

“Glass of water would be nice,” Walter replies, his voice hoarse. “But-” he hesitates for a moment, before deciding it is what will bring him closure, what Megan would have wanted, “but there is another thing.”

Scorpion listens closely as he tells them what he wants to do. He is still a bit uncertain about his idea, however, the whole team is aboard once he has explained.

They work together smoothly as they set up the rocket, everyone staying close to Walter, ensuring he isn’t alone for a moment. He remembers Megan telling him it was good they considered his feelings and again realizes how right she had been in that observation.

Paige may be their translator for the world, but before her there was Megan and Walter knows that it won’t be the same. That isn’t a bad thing, it will just take time to get used to.

So, they stand on Megan’s favourite beach and watch the rocket launch. His insides swirl with emotion, but for once they aren’t all negative. Reaching out has been good for him and the scientific part of his brain notes down the positive experience and a reminder to do a repeat experiment. Still, for the moment he just lets it be.

Walter has emotions and that might not be as bad of a thing as he thought.

A/N:

I have written the words ‘Ferret Bueller’ too many times for the emotional piece that this is, but I feel justified bc I cry so hard every time that scene comes. Like that episode is my jam.

Me *shaking Walter*: come on little man, show me your inner workings. Cry!

#RR writing #tw: grief #tw: isolation #tw: crying #walter o'brien #scorpion #cbs scorpion #</scorpion>#megan o'brien #ferret bueller #paige dineen #the rest of the gang is also there #but im not gonna tag them #bc i hate it when a tag is cluttered with shit that shouldnt be there #2x12 Dam Breakthrough #2x10 Arrivals and Departures #scorpion season 2 #scorpion season 2 spoilers

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vamprisms · 9 months

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minos was such a pussy. if my wife gave birth to an epic minotaur baby i wouldn't have locked him in a labyrinth. i would have taken him to the mcdonalds play place (athens) every day and let him eat as many stray mcnuggets (athenians) off the floor as he wanted. i love you hungry son

#rip to minos but i would have loved him.#what nutting scorpions does 2 ur attitude i guess

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cicadaghost · 2 months

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did you know? the deathstalker scorpion is also known as the Palestine yellow scorpion, and is widespread throughout occupied Palestine!

want me to model a creature of your choice in 3D, or see how i make things like this? i'll be streaming requests in exchange for donations as part of Drawings for Gaza! we'll be live at the following times:

Monday, Feb 19th at 10PM EST

Friday, Feb 23rd at 2PM EST

Sunday, Feb 25th at 6PM EST

the genocide in Gaza is getting worse every day, and no resistance is too small. educate yourself; call your local representatives; buy eSIMs so people can stay connected; donate to Operation Olive Branch, UNRWA, or PCRF; don't look away, and don't stay silent!

#free palestine #palestine #scorpion #deathstalker #3d art #lures you in with cool bug facts. go help people #gif #bugs #scorpions

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raeazure · 10 months

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who is this and why did he hurt me

#bugs tw #scorpion tw

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jahboni · 15 days

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#lipe scorpion #felipe ferreira

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bedupolker · 5 months

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Half Life

lyrics source

#comic #traditional art #the symposium #scorpion #crayfish #crustacean #arachnid #my art #long #long post

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maniculum · 7 months

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Medieval Scorpions Effortpost

So yesterday I reblogged this post featuring an 11th-century depiction of the Apocalypse Locusts from Revelations, noting the following incongruity as another medieval scorpion issue:

The artist, as you can see, has interpreted "tails like scorpions" as meaning "glue cheerful-looking snakes to their butts".

Anyway, it occurred to me that the medieval scorpion thing might not be as widely known as I think it is, and that Tumblr would probably enjoy knowing about it if it isn't known already. So, finding myself unable to focus on the research I'm supposed to be doing, I decided to write about this instead. I'll just go ahead and put a cut here.

As we can see in the image above, at least one artist out there thought a "scorpion" was a type of snake. Which makes it difficult to draw "tails like scorpions", because a snake's tail is not that distinctive or menacing (maybe rattlesnakes, but they don't have those outside the Americas). So they interpreted "tails like scorpions" as "the tail looks like a whole snake complete with head".

Let me tell you. This is not a problem unique to this illustration.

See, people throughout medieval Europe were aware of scorpions. As just alluded to, they are mentioned in the Bible, and if the people producing manuscripts in medieval Europe knew one thing, it was Stuff In Bible. They're also in the Zodiac, which medieval Europe had inherited through classical sources. However, let's take a look at this map:

That's Wikipedia's map of the native range of the Scorpiones order, i.e., all scorpion species. You may notice something -- the range just stops at a certain northern latitude. Pretty much all of northern Europe is scorpion-free. If you lived in the north half of Europe, odds were good you had never seen a scorpion in your life. But if you were literate or educated at all, or you knew they were a thing, because you'd almost certainly run across them being mentioned in texts from farther south. And those texts wouldn't bother to explain what a scorpion was, of course -- everyone knows scorpions, right? When was the last time you stopped to explain What Is Spiders?

So medieval writers and artists in northern Europe were kind of stuck. There was all this scorpion imagery and metaphor in the texts they liked to work from, but they didn't really know what a scorpion was. Writers could kind of work around it (there's a lot of "oh, it's a venomous creature, moving on"), but sometimes they felt the need to break it down better. For this, of course, they'd have to refer to a bestiary -- but due to Bestiary Telephone and the persistent need of bestiary authors to turn animals into allegories, one of the only visual details you got on scorpions was that they... had a beautiful face, which they used to distract people in order to sting them.

And look. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but I would say that a scorpion's face has significant aesthetic appeal only for a fairly small segment of the population. I'm sure you could get an entomologist to rhapsodize about it a bit, but your average person on the street will not be entranced by the face of a scorpion. So this did not help the medieval Europeans in figuring out how to depict scorpions. There was also some semantic confusion -- see, in some languages (such as Old and Middle English), "worm" could be a general term for very small animals of any kind. But it also could mean "serpent".* So there were some, like our artist at the top of the post, who were pretty sure a scorpion was a snake. This was probably helped along by the fact that "venomous" was one of the only things everyone knew about them, and hey, snakes are venomous. Also, Pliny the Elder had floated the idea that there were scorpions in Africa that could fly, and at least one author (13th-century monk Bartholomaeus Anglicus) therefore suggested that they had feathers. I don't see that last one coming up much, I just share it because it's funny to me.

*English eventually resolved this by borrowing the Latin vermin for very small animals, using the specialized spelling wyrm for big impressive mythical-type serpents, and sticking with the more specific snake for normal serpents.

Some authors, like the anonymous author of the Ancrene Wisse, therefore suggested that a scorpion was a snake with a woman's face and a stinging tail. (Everyone seemed to be on the same page with regards to the fact that the sting was in the tail, which is in fact probably the most recognizable aspect of scorpions, so good job there.) However, while authors could avoid this problem, visual artists could not. And if you were illustrating a bestiary or a calendar, including a scorpion was not optional. So they had to take a shot at what this thing looked like.

And so, after this way-too-long explanation, the thing you're probably here for: inaccurate medieval drawings of scorpions. (There are of course accurate medieval drawings of scorpions, from artists who lived in the southern part of Europe and/or visited places where scorpions lived; I'm just not showing you those.) And if you find yourself wondering, "how sure are you that that's meant to be a scorpion?" -- all of these are either from bestiaries or from calendars that include zodiac illustrations.

11th-century England, MS Arundel 60. (Be honest, without the rest of this post, if I had asked you to guess what animal this was supposed to be, would you have ever guessed “scorpion”?)

12th-century Germany, "Psalter of Henry the Lion". (Looks a bit undercooked. Kind of fetal.)

12th-century France, Peter Lombard's Sententiae. (Very colorful, itsy bitsy claws, what is happening with that tail?)

12th-century England, "The Shaftesbury Psalter". (So a scorpion is some sort of wyvern with a face like a duck, correct?)

13th-century France, Thomas de Cantimpré's Liber de natura rerum. (I’d give them credit for the silhouette not being that far off, but there’s a certain bestiary style where all the animals kind of look like that. Also note how few of these have claws.)

13th-century England, "The Bodley Bestiary". (Mischievous flying squirrel impales local man’s hand, local man fails to notice.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (A scorpion is definitely either a mouse or a fish. Either way it has six legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Wait, no, it’s a baby theropod, and it has two legs. (Yes, this is the same manuscript, that’s not an error, this artist did four scorpions and no two are the same.))

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Actually it’s a lizard with tiny ears and it has four legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Now that we’re at the big fancy illustration, I think I’ve got it — it’s like that last one, but two legs, longer ears, and a less goofy face. Also I’ve decided it’s not pink anymore, I think that was the main problem.)

13th-century England, MS Kk.4.25. (A scorpion is a flat crocodile with a bear’s head.)

13th-century England, "The Huth Psalter". (Wyvern but baby! Does not seem to be enjoying biting its own tail.)

13th-century England, MS Royal 1 D X. (This triangular-headed gentlecreature gets the award for “closest guess at correct limb configuration”. If two of those were claws, I might actually believe this artist had seen a scorpion before, or at least a picture of one.)

13th-century England, "The Westminster Psalter". (A scorpion is the offspring of a wyvern and a fawn.)

13th-century England, "The Rutland Psalter". (Too many legs! Pull back! Pull back!)

13th or 14th-century France, Bestiaire d'amour rimé. (This is very similar to the fawn-wyvern, but putting it in an actual Scene makes it even more obvious that you’re just guessing.)

14th-century Netherlands, Jacob van Maerlant's Der Naturen Bloeme. (More top-down six-legged guys that look too furry to be arthropods.)

14th-century Germany, MS Additional 22413. (That is clearly a turtle.)

14th-century France, Matfres Eymengau de Beziers's Breviari d'amor. (Who came up with that head shape and what was their deal?)

15th-century England, "Bestiary of Ann Walsh". (Screw it, a scorpion is a big lizard that glares at you for trying to make me draw things I don’t know about.)

I've spent way too much time on this now. End of post, thank you to anyone who got all the way down here.

#medieval #medieval creatures #medieval art #scorpions #medieval scorpions #manuscript #medieval manuscripts #illuminated manuscript

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theancientwayoflife · 4 months

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~ Eccentric Flint in the Form of a Scorpion.

Place of origin: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico (Mesoamerica)

Culture: Maya

Date: A.D. 600–900

Medium: Stone, Chert

#7th century #10th century #flint #eccentric flint #scorpion #mesoamerica #maya #mexico #belize #guatemala #honduras #stone #chert #a.d. 600 #a.d. 900 #history #museum #archeology #archaeology

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trunswicked · 4 days

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Bunch of arthropod guys - refs created for OC purposes! ;)

#furry art #furry #insects #insect #bugs #arthropods #anthro #wasp #beetle #moth #locust #scorpion #animaliaverse #original characters #original character #kassart

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visionsofmagic · 7 months

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◜ mk1 men breaking the bed/headboard while fucking you ◞

▸ characters: bi-han, syzoth, liu kang, raiden, kuai liang, johnny cage, tomas◂ ▸wc: 4k+ [wow]

▸ tags¬es: REQUESTED by @luvv4lurd. drabble but long (like very long), fluff, nsfw, breaking, licking, ropes, inappropriate usage of power/abilities, humiliation, rudeness, rough, biting, power, begging, fingering, swearing, monster fucking (kind of), power play, pet names, calling god/goddess, possessiveness, protectiveness & more in the work, enjoy! [didn’t want to write this long & I am not sure whether @luvv4lurd wanted it to be this long but couldn’t hold myself, they’re so cute! hope all of you like it, have fun!]◂ ▸ m.

BI-HAN doesn’t care about hurting you that much, yet, he gives you a safe word to make him stop when it is needed. clearly, he wants to fuck you well enough so that he can show you only he can fuck you like this. this goal of his brings him to an edge that he put your body down on the bed, ass up, cock thrusting deep inside your walls as your body jolts forward and backward in sync with his cock’s rhythm going in and out of your pussy full of cum - since you have cum like two times already.

he’s a bit rougher than he is usually because he heard a few other lin kuei’s members talking about you - how they are mesmerized by your presence whenever you come into view, however, they complained about how they can’t talk to you because you’re always with the grandmaster, sub-zero.

that moment, he decided to fuck you hard enough to make you have difficulties with walking, making everyone realize who fucked you - their grandmaster - they will know who you belong to and that was why he is rough right now.

you don’t complain though, well, until he makes you scream his title - “my - ohh - my grandmaster!” he loses his mind, releasing his power; hands get colder as ice appears on them from fingertips to the arm, and since his hands on the headboard, to hold it tight and fucking you with a great strength, it covers with ice, making the surface so easy to break into pieces and this is exactly what happens.

the headboard breaks into countless pieces, the room’s temperature going down in an instant, your eyes widen but bi han gains his mind’s control, hands turning to normal as they touch your waist, sending a chill down your spine with their coldness - bi han begins to fuck you harder as if it’s even possible, blaming you.

“see what you made me do whore? it’s only because of you! have to get a new one now, but you should pay for what you have caused pretty slut and you will pay by giving this beautiful wet pussy to me - to the rightful owner of it. will fuck you until you can’t walk for the next week, my dumb whore.”

SYZOTH tries his best not to use any of his strengths during the make-up sessions you share - getting intimate yet shy while doing it. he wants you to stay healthy even after the sex, only maybe some of the marks on your body that he likes to leave. however, sometimes you become a brat, acting naughty, trying to play with his nerves of pleasure and instincts enough to make him go rougher, and since he doesn’t want to hurt you, his hands find the sides of the bed while he’s fucking you with the position of missionary, green innocent eyes focusing on your face that full of cries, parted lips, half-closed eyes watching him with such delight he wants to prove himself further – wants to fuck you so good that your body cannot forget about it in the following days until the day he fucks you again.

and he loses himself when a hand grips him by the hair, pulling his face down at your level, ear to ear, you say in a whisper which is followed by a little moan afterward, “cmon pretty boy, I know you can do better than – ohhh – this!”

who is to decline your offer? who he is to hold himself still instead of fucking you harder – better?

syzoth whimpers at your words, he lets your legs hug his bare back, hands wrapping his neck as his hands begin to hold the surface of the bedsides tighter to find a balance after shoving his dick into your wider pussy rapidly than before, roughness and lust dripping from heart to body within actions.

“oohhh –“ he moans in sync with you, “tell me how good it is my love, please, please –“ he stops himself from crying by biting down your shoulder a few times, listening to your cries mixed with both pain and pleasure with full attention, and when you praise him, his edge comes, making him lose himself, and letting his nature form in some parts of his body; a tail appears on his back, it wags on its own – eyes turn darker green – and hands are covered with the skin of his true form, all green until it reaches to the arms.

all feelings double when his strength rises, weight becomes hard to endure, dick bigger – definitely rougher, going in and out of your aching yet wet pussy, and you reach climax at the same time – the exact time when a few crack sounds are heard, causing you to look into each other’s face – looking both excited and peaceful because of reaching the climax and shocked when the bed break into two, its middle swallows your bodies as syzoth hold you from the back from an instant, turn you around so that his back meets with the rigid surface of the floor under the bed.

hands on your back, hugging, turning into human form, and tail disappears as he looks at you with innocent and shy eyes as if you’re not lying down on the ground, inside a broken bed, cums still dripping.

“I’m so sorry y/n – but it – it was too much for me to handle. my love, how can I make you forgive me? I will do anything for you – just say it and I will show how sorry I am but please don’t judge me. I can’t hold my thoughts together when I have your pretty pussy.”

LIU KANG can be the steadiest person – or a god but you don’t know any other god aside from him, but not in bed, no, never. he is that steady, straightforward, gentle, cute, and all these kinds of things under the lights of daylight, however, when it turns into a dark sky when you visit him in his room – or you in yours, exchanging a few words, questions only to begin to fuck after the formality.

it’s not that he uses you as his fucktoy – yes, it feels like it because it turns you on, but no, he’s in love with you – so deeply that he loses his mind whenever he sees you, and when it comes to getting intimate, oh, he forgets about the timeline he has created entirely, focusing on you – your pretty face he likes to watch, your magnificent body he finds as the most beautiful thing on all realms, your voice that comes into his ears as prays while you moan his name and even his title whenever you feel like it, and oh, your delicious pussy that neither his fingers, his tongue nor his dick will ever get bored of – it will be such disrespectful thing to be bored when you open your legs wider to him, showing your pink pussy that begs for his caring and affection – that he gives you what you want right away.

he’s a god, yes, but he can kneel in front of you if it is needed – to eat you out, or even to beg you.

on a night, when he lets you do whatever you wanna do with him, you chose to ride him in order to show him how you love his dick so much as he watched you from below, making you feel so powerful because of having the god of fire, liu kang, under you – moaning your name, eyes blurry, a bit of fire travels on his shoulder since he hasn’t logical side in the brain, no longer when you ride him so good – it feels as if you’re his goddess and you can’t deny that it doesn’t turn you on just by thinking about it.

smiling widely, you let yourself get the pleasure at the highest level, so, you throw your head back, and hands travel on your body from hair to shoulders, from breasts to abdomen, from there to your ass – literally exhibiting your own body to liu kang while bouncing on his lap – pussy clench around his length whenever you sit down only to rise up and repeat the action rapidly, riding him, fucking him.

and liu kang’s last logical side screams him not to hold you – because if he does it, he is sure he will break you into pieces. he doesn’t want to hurt you, especially when he witnesses the sight in front of him – breathtaking, making him lose the balance of his strength. instead of holding you, he grips the headboard behind him as he sits there, having you on his lap – watching you riding him beautifully.

then, you look down, and chuckle, “let your goddess take you to the stars, pretty boy.”

he never had this kind of situation with any other person, so, when you reflect his own words with yours – ‘let your god take you to the stars, pretty girl’ – he really sees stars, hands get tighter, and he breaks the bed with his power of strength and fire, moaning your name loudly, “aggh – y/n!” as he cums hard into your warm walls.

the moment he opens his eyes once again, he sees your smirking face first, one of your soft fingers travels on his cheek as you kneel down closer, “oh, couldn’t pretty boy resist it and cum in an instant?” you chuckle, mocking him, “where is the god of fire, huh? maybe, you should be the one who calls me goddess instead.”

he doesn’t waste a moment, holding you from the waist, he closes the gap between your bodies – nose to nose, white eyes devour yours only by looking at them intensely, and he smirks – darker than yours, radiating fire.

“darlin’, you are already my goddess but you need to learn who you belong to. don’t worry, the lesson you will have now will be enough to make you remember it to no longer forget about it. I will teach you personally while fucking you on this broken bed.”

RAIDEN is a stranger to his own power that has been given by liu kang to fight with it to protect the earthrealm, however, now it sticks with raiden every second of the day and night, and he can’t leave it even while fucking you.

he says he should get used to it in every situation. he’s shy about it while saying it but you know that there are other reasons behind the desire to bring his lightning power into the bed ‘cause, that way, he can send a tickling jolt to your body – even to your pussy, making your pleasure rise up, wanting him to continue what he’s doing.

he knows you like it too – how he can’t anyway? you love seeing his eyes turning to light blue from time to time, love to let it flow through your skin, sending chills down your spine, getting you closer to the edge.

raiden discovers your kink contains electricity accidentally, and in a weird situation when he forgets to leave his amulet bonded to his hand while getting intimate with you.

he doesn’t realize holding it even when he goes hotter as he lowers down on your body, kissing every inch of you, reaching your exposed pussy soaking wet to the ground because of his gentle, slow yet effective approaches. he’s so gentle with you that he literally begs to taste your cum in his mouth.

letting him, you lean onto the headboard, wide open legs meeting with his soft-looking eyes, making him whimper at the sight.

you look so pretty that even after having your cum in his mouth, he can’t stop - he says he wants to thank you for letting him eat you out passionately by hovering over you, hands find the headboard behind you as he thrusts into your wet and fleshy pussy again and again with a pace driving you mad.

you scream how good he’s making you - to make it double, he uses some electricity that flows through your body without even noticing it, and the sudden sensation makes you clench around his length, swallowing it entirely, giving raiden a heart attack because of the pleasure he has never felt before, and it ends up with him using his strong muscles to hold himself in balance by gripping the headboard harder, making it crumble and break into pieces in a second.

to protect you from the falling pieces of it, he lowers down, covering your body within his but it makes all things go worse – or better as you say afterward; his cock reaches the end of your pussy, and it even becomes visible on your abdomen – and the scream, moans you made causing raiden to lose his mind – he begins to thrust into you, balls hitting your ass, forehead touches yours, eyes turn into light blue when you look at them.

“you have no idea how beautiful you look right now, my love. so – so beautiful. I am so sorry to break the bed but I can’t stop now. how can I? your pussy begs for me to continue fucking you. ohhh – it feels so good. I am offering myself to you as a forgiveness gift.”

KUAI LIANG is a man who lives to give you, his beloved lover, what you deserve – the whole world, as he believes. loving doing the things you want, he’s no longer a gentleman in bed as the bond you share grows more powerful as well as the intimate sessions you have an increase in passion and trust.

he becomes rougher when you need him to be. being such a needy lover for him, you choose to trust him enough to let him have you in ways you can never imagine on your own because he looks fragile from the outside – he still is but not when you get into the bed after a long and exhausted day, ready to find your peaceful hours, inside each other’s arms which turns into a hot moment since you can never resist the urge of getting closer – he turns into a beast, you can see the sparkes he has inside his eyes – reflection of the fire he has within his soul and body.

on one of the nights you become lustful for each other, kuai has you on your knees, ass up in the air, and your second cum’s juice flows through his thick warm cock onto your inner thighs and ass, however, he can’t focus on the mess you’re making because all his attention is on your wrists which are roped with his kusarigama – it has no kama yet the coldness of metal chains around your wrists are enough to send you chills since kuai’s entire body radiates warmness.

holding your wrist, he increases the pleasure you are getting from the way he fucks you into the mattress, moans coming from you mixing with the swears and praises he says between his rapid breaths, dripping sweats and moans – only you can make him so weak, so fragile yet powerful at the same time – it causes him to try to prove himself to you in a greater way that you can never forget about it, that your body screams his markings.

the sound that is created by the lewd sounds of his thrusts hitting your soaked clit build twist feelings inside your stomach that is pushed down onto the bed as his left hand holds the wrists that have chained while the free one is put on the headboard’s edge, holding it tightly because he needs to find a source of stability to stay still but it doesn’t work – not when he finds this new angle amusing, begins to shove his dick into your warm walls faster, then, when his climax hit, the solid tool cracks – collapsing.

when he comes to his senses, getting off his high, he realizes what he has made.

he looks a bit guilty, eyes finding yours, his face has an expression of a man who seeks forgiveness yet he seems to enjoy it, and he smiles when you chuckle, joking about how he can easily turn into a madman only because of having you like this.

as he agrees, he caresses your hair, hands playing with the chain to open it. he turns your body over, hugging you from the shoulder, he still doesn’t take his dick off of you.

“’m so sorry honey, didn’t mean to break the bed but weren’t it the head of the bed, I would break you – was so good – you feel so good. fixing it will be the first duty for me after I get more of you – can I? please say that I can because I need you – one more baby, please, give me one more. promise I will be more cautious with our surroundings. don’t want to get you hurt. you will only get pleasure until we’re done, my love.”

JOHNNY CAGE can be the most reckless fucker in the whole timeline. interested in you only, he loses the last logical side of his brain – if he has any when he has you in different situations yet each one of them is as effective as the others.

being energetic, having almost superhuman strength, and going wild in sex, he is sure unreliable while fucking. creating a sense of fear with excitement in your abdomen, ideas rush into your mind as you think about what he will do differently this time in every intimate moment. his uniqueness can be pointed out even while fucking you or letting you fuck him.

he’s also loud, talkative, preferring to let you know that you feel wonderful, perfectly taking his dick – or him, entirely, destroying his mind because of the beauty you have as lust cages him like a chain.

he seems like a madman too with his mind full of thoughts about how he can turn the sex you have into something more bustling, catchy, and entertaining for the two of you, maybe a little more for you ‘cause he prefers to be an unforgettable lover. he addresses you as his queen, and he is determined to prove himself right by treating you as one.

to do this, he tries to get his ideas turn into realities while fucking you.

not caring about your surroundings, not thinking consequences of being unconcerned, not realizing what he has done until his highness’ effects of being pussy drunk decrease. the reality hit his face when he saw the world around him, you still under him, mind dizzy, mouth dry because of moaning non-stop, eyes half-closed as you looked up at his face, cries cleaning your heated face.

the bed, worth a million dollars he chose to fuck you onto, now has a broken headboard – the pieces falling onto the floor and the bed’s soft white fabric. the memories of the moment before rushes into his mind as he looks at the broken material inside his fisted hands; he understands that he is the one that caused this. he fucked your wide-open pussy so mindlessly that when he gripped the head to find something to hold on to, he broke it without realizing it.

as you still soak wet with your cum, and his own getting out of you, he jokes about the situation; chuckling while pointing out the power he has enough to break the bed’s head in one movement, showing it to you with such proudness you roll your eyes – this time not because of his dick, but because of his silliness.

he puts his hands on your sides, smirking down at you, winking, and having no shyness about breaking the bed.

“oh princess, it was worth a million dollars but doesn’t matter. you are worth more than anything in entire timelines. to have your pussy, I can break all of ‘em pretty. but can we appreciate how strong I am? ‘is all because of how good you’re makin’ me feel – ohh, pretty lady, making my mind go crazy like that – ‘is because of you that I broke it, but, what about we break the couch too? wanna do it – wanna break it too while eating you out. c'mon princess, gotta fuck you in every piece of furniture in this house.”

TOMAS is not like his brothers – he is not like the rest of the men at all. he’s a lover who puts your well-being before anyone else, including his desires, and passionate when it comes to that decision in times he has you inside his arms, standing naked from head to toe, giving yourself completely to the man you trust the most, you love the most.

his fragile manner doesn’t let him go hard on you even if you want him to do so. afraid of hurting you even a little bit prevents him from becoming rougher and harsh to you. he listens to all your pleases, begging him to fuck you harder, wanting him to believe he can never harm you, yet, he chooses to stay still even when you act so bratty, trying to get into his nerves, making him let it go.

tomas, being a cute shy boyfriend, delicate when the matter is you, stays determined for a long time ‘'til the day you plan everything out and make him lose his gentle manner, causing the loss’s emptiness to be completed with the new one – greed.

the greed he has for you builds up from his deep soul to show itself through his actions after he sees you sitting on the bed, on your knees, the dress you wear is thin and represents the color of tomas’ armor, the delightful body underneath it is visible to his widened eyes, looking innocently yet devilishly to his eyes, smiling widely as you rise your hand for him to hold and get into the bed with you.

who he is to resist? his determination is not that great – and both of you realize it when tomas gets into the bed, a moment later, when his cock meets with your already soaked and prepared pussy after he fingers you, he feels warmness, fire building within his body, making him want to devour you, unlike the times you had before, he’s a bit dizzy now.

he moans your name over and over again, lips curl only to moan, whimper, and beg for more. you let him though, saying he can get what he needs – you say he can use your body for his pleasure, and when he finally admits it feels euphoric to go rough on you, moans coming out of your pretty pink lips like a melody to his ears, encouraging him further.

he grips you from the waist while fucking you; he uses your body as he pleases, moving your body front to back, his thrusts meet with your walls in mid-air, earning rhythmic moans from both of you.

throwing his head back, he decides to hold the bed under your body because he realizes the red marks on your waist due to the grip he has on there. when his hands reach for the mattress, he grips the white covers strongly, hands turn into fists, and those fists hit the bed’s rigid surface – the bed breaks into two the moment he cum carelessly into you after you praise him, call him your good boy.

he swears for the first time, eyes closed shut, his cum meets with yours, forehead connects with your chest as you hug him from the shoulders.

breathing deeply into your breasts, warmness flows from his breaths to your exposed skin, smoke appearing on the curves of his body slowly, and you feel his tears because of both pleasure he has felt and quilt coming from breaking the bed, making your bodies go lower a little bit.

“oh, I’m so sorry, so so sorry, didn’t mean to – I – I just want to prove myself and get lost when you moan my name like that, calling me your good – ohh – boy. ‘m so sorry my goddess, please, forgive me. wanna say it will not repeated but I can’t – it felt so good that I wanna do it again – right now. my love, would you let me do it again? say yes, and I will be a very very good boy for you – only for my goddess.”

what a journey of rut! here's a cake for you because you deserve it after reading this, bearing it with me! 🍰

❤️ tagging: @lookingforgoodthings , @snowprincesa1 [taglist]

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