#distracting myself by writing a personal post

[minecraft-axolotyl]

"Go To Hell" - WIP (Gale x Tav)

I have this curse of "I can't write anything in order" (It's ADHD) so I haven't posted a lot of my writing on here yet, despite the 50+ pages of lore I have for my Tav and Gale's story XD

So instead I wanted to share a piece of this scene I'm working on! (based on Gale's First Night in Camp dialogue)

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With little else to do aside from pacing across the grove all night, SJ decided to check on him.

Gale let out a deep sigh, warming his hands over the campfire as she approached.

“Go to hell.” He said, slowly, never taking his eyes off the flames.

She hadn't expected Gale to be optimistic about their decidedly terrifying situation, but a more polite greeting to the person who saved his life would have been nice.

Blinking at the sudden attitude, SJ replied with, “Been there, done that. Wouldn't recommend it.”

“Ha-” he turned his head to look at her with a half smile. “You're a good sport.”

“I do try. Mind if I join you?”

“By all means.” Gale gestured to the space at his side, moving away to make room as she sat down beside him.

The smoky aroma in the air, combined with the heat radiating off the fire seemed to calm the tadpole's insistent writhing.

“Anything in particular I did to deserve that lovely greeting?" SJ asked, attempting to distract herself from the sudden itching sensation behind her right eye.

“Nothing, I assure you. I'm just… poorly making a point. A rather trivial statement in other circumstances. But we've seen hell, and it isn't trivial.” he replied, staring miserably at the fire.

“So your point was best made by telling a tiefling to go to hell?” she chuckled, hoping to make light of something whatever was bothering him.

Gale opened his mouth to explain, but quickly abandoned the thought in favor of another.

“Perhaps one day I'll be able to speak to you without making an ass of myself, but it appears that day will not be today.”

“Well there’s always tomorrow.” she shrugged, already wondering what might come of their mission to rescue the archdruid. “That is, assuming we survive the night.”

“Hmm. True enough. What a difference a day makes.” he added, wistfully.

“Tell me about it. Why do you think I'm out here? I can't sleep with this... thing, in my head.”

As she spoke, SJ could already feel her eyelids grow heavier. A weariness began to seep into her body as the warmth of the flames caressed her skin. Despite the many unknowns of their unwelcome passengers, it seemed odd that the tadpole would respond to a change in temperature outside the body.

“What are you still doing up?” she asked, through a yawn.

“The fire was starting to dim. After the debacle with those goblins, I thought it best to keep as much light around us as possible.”

“I can keep an eye on it,” she offered. “if you wanted to get some sleep.”

Gale considered the statement, before shaking his head. “A ballet of flames invites reflection. I’d rather stay, if it’s all the same to you.”

It didn’t take the connection of a mind flayer tadpole to know what was really bothering him. Their shared affliction had been on (and in) everyone’s minds since escaping the Nautiloid.

“Afraid I’ll turn while you’re sleeping and eat your brain?” she smirked.

Gale wasn’t quite as amused. His eyes locked onto hers, nervously studying her face as if she was about to transform right in front of him.

“I’m just joking... I’m fine.” she said, firmly.

“Oh I’m sure you are.” Gale replied, his expression relaxing as he turned towards the fire once again. “Illithids aren’t exactly known for their wit. Famously humorless creatures.”

“Then I’ll be sure to crack a joke or two every once and a while, just so you know you’re safe around me.” SJ said, nudging his arm with her elbow. 

Hidden in the firelight reflecting off his face, she could have sworn she caught him smile.

#galeposting #gale of waterdeep #bg3 gale #bg3 tav #gale x tav #bg3 spoilers #gale dekarios #bg3 oc #bg3 writing #gale x f!tav #gale x female tav

[baronessblixen]

First I couldn't focus on work because of a migraine. Now that I've taken something for it, I can't focus cause I feel sick. And the migraine is still there, too.

#personal #distracting myself by writing a personal post #not feeling good AT ALL #but i refuse to call in sick #i will be better once the painkiller hits #i mean i hope so #thinking about the pepto my friend bought me #that i won't get until the end of the week #and that i would really really love now #kinda wondering if that migraine was caused by my almost bike accident yesterday #either way i'm dizzy and sick and i hate migraines #wouldn't wish them on my worst enemies

[mywaywardcupcake]

I have one almost complete jou/yugi/ryou fic and working on a second. I most likely won't be able to post them this week with school starting back up. They'll be posted this next weekend though.

#personal rambling #using this post more as a motivation to actually post them #honestly proud of myself for being on a roll with writing them #usually I lose steam pretty quickly and either get in my head or get horribly distracted

[wizardysseus]

it's worth remembering that stories are stories, not perfectly calibrated point-exporting machines. a story doesn't have to be efficient. it needs elements that add to atmosphere and texture and depth.

#this is one thing i tell myself when i worry about being self-indulgent #there's nothing wrong with spending time in fiction on something that interests me but may not be strictly 'necessary' #at least not inherently - personally i do love stories where every detail matters and ties into something else #but not everything 'unnecessary' will inhibit or distract from the story #also this post was originally brought to you by a conversation with izzie about trauma 'porn' and how do you define what's 'gratuitous' #in fiction. because it can be hard to say #thoughts #writing

[thebraxiatelcollection]

+

#begins typing posts then deletes them after #hngh #new year always makes me sad #idk how to explain it #im proud of everyone's accomplishments this year #but me personally? #i feel....still lonely. still just *there* #still questioning myself about everything #so im writing benny/brax fanfic to distract myself #because what else lol #and even though i have my friend group im still somehow always feeling the outsider #i just dont know how to be less...reserved? #so happy new year everyone i guess #and welcome to the existential crisis #and still never been on a date or anything like that...

[teruthecreator]

okay regarding the last post i made, i’m not going to really be replying to anyone’s tags regarding it. i’m not trying to do replyguy discourse with this post—it’s more of an opportunity to open up conversation abt this fic in relation to the content stated. i’ve said all i need to say and i hope y’all understand

#ignorance cloud on #like if u send asks i Might respond but even then i’m like. idk #this kinda shit is important to discuss but it’s also nerve wracking for the person opening the discussion! #so please understand if u reply to the post or write tags or send sn ask and i don’t respond #that that is why #i’m probably not gonna be posting much this weekend. or i might overpost to distract myself #pls be nice to each other and to me <3

[icewindandboringhorror]

Daily Log 2

Trying out (probably just temporarily) making short daily-ish notes about things, in an attempt to see if it helps me be more reflective or productive lol.

Activities: Much less than yesterday, felt sick and sleepy so barely got anything done. It was also warmer inside today.. Very much dreading summer. I still feel like the people who ~~ love warm weather sooo much~~ must also have central heating and air and are able to escape the warmth, or at least have cool airy houses where they can get cross breezes or something.. I just fail to see how ANYONE could enjoy sweating all day because it's like 75F indoors, etc. grrbb,,, the headaches, sleepless sweaty nights, constant physical discomfort, etc. The next few days look cloudy and rainy though so.. yEs.. haha HA

Got a new charger for my old 2004 nokia phone so it actually turns on now, and recorded myself going through the ringtones and games. I might add the footage to a currently not fully edited video of me also looking through other electronics (old phones, turbo twist math, etc.). I love old ringtones actually and if I were rich, I would love to collect old phones specifically just to have a catalogue of what they're like and all of the sounds they contain.

Managed to have a tiny burst of energy and take photos of 3 outfits before my arms and shoulder started hurting and I got too warm.

Sent email to one doctor.

Translated like 3 words for the Avirrekava poem thing I mentioned yesterday. My language document is not organized very well at all so I've kind of lost my flow of working on it. I've heard about people making searchable dictionary type things for their conlangs, so I'd like to look more into that maybe. As well as making a custom font, though I don't know if that's more difficult for syllabaries (so wouldn't be directly linkable to a plain english alphabet keyboard?? eh?). Anyway, I need to finish the tapestry/painting thing/etc. soon though since I have no good place to put it. The canvas is warping a little just laying haphazardly on my closet floor lol.

Made one quick mspaint background image for the next batch of song snippet things for my jokey music youtube.

Edited like 10 minutes of the Giant Worldbuilding Slideshow Project.. couldn't focus on that either since being at the computer today irritated my shoulders and arms.

Notable sights: Saw 6 baby ducks and their parents swimming in a nearby pond!! It's interesting how their colors seem to change so much, and the young ones have the little spots on their back. Not much else, I was not very active lol..

Goals moving forward: Still working on consistent sleep schedule. Focus on social activities, finding new friends in the places I want to move, communicating with ones I have. Physical therapy exercises. Plant nasturtiums. Finish and upload videos, edit pictures, post the poll adventure thing that has been sitting in a draft for weeks (I thought I would get it done today, but alas.. I don't even have to do much, just proofread and post it, I just keep having no energy/being preoccupied with other things/hurts to be on computer.. grrr.. I want to continue the story lol >:T).

Notable foods: HAD ASPARAGUS YEaaaaaghhhHHHH!!!!!!!!! Asparagus SQUAD!!!!!!!!!! ... Also a few pieces of smoked gouda with lunch, one of my favorite cheeses.

#just posting these publicly since it feels more like I'm doing something or easier to hold yourself accountable if you make public #declarations of goals and progress or etc. .. perhaps.. for now.. #I'm just curious to see if it helps. I know some poeple do diary style stuff or etc. on social media to help with productivity so #worth trying for like a week at least lol #tired and sleepy of being tired and sleepy though. Every day that stuff like chronic health problems or weather or etc. #interfere with me getting stuff done and it's all stuff that I've also had on my todo list for like.. weeks at this point it's like.. oughh #insurmountable tasks ever looming piling upon my shoulderes... #I've been 'supposed to call a lab to shedule blood work' for like a week and a half now and everyday I get the number #out and look at it and just go 'hmm.... sooon...' and then suddenly it's 10pm and I didn't #You Know How It Is Folks. I'm going to write myself a script of exactly what to say and also tape it to my computer screen #Sometimes that helps. lol #I dont' feel like I need a full on caretaker or something at this point but someitmes I do think like.. in a few years with my various #physical and mental issues it would be nice to have a Person Who Functions Normally Socially come visit me like once #every two weeks to help me plan things and make phone calls. Same with creative stuff too though. I bet I'd be doing something creative as #a career by now if I had like. an Assigned Neurotypical Extrovert to network for me and help me navigate things like that bjhbhj #hashtag hermit problems. etc. etc. (not just like 'a little weird and asocial' but like.. 'near complete inability to function in society' #type hermit problems lol.. #ANYWAY.. .. #Also fighting the urge to have another personality typing phase. I can feel it creeping up. My 'once every 3 months when I get very #interested in the enneagram and other stuff again' type of thing. distracting myself with worldbuilding paintings instead ghgj #why don't you do a phone call for your blood work first maybe then you can spend 3 hours reading about tritypes or whatever #I have so many interests and hobbies but a handful of Main Ones and they never go away I just seem to take turns with them #Except worldbuilding I think that's always there. Genuinely again.. wish I could find some way to work that into a career. that is the only #thing I could to 1000 hours straight at any time of day under any circumstance. Kidnap me and lock me in a basement and I will be passing #my time thinking about what type of cheese elves make and all the things I'm going to write once I escape captivity ghjhj #EVEYRHTING else though lol.. kind of comes and goes. but can be annoying when it's suddenly the only thing my mind #wants to focus on. BUT yeagh.. ANYWAY... rambling again #daily log

[noxtivagus]

PLAYED A LOT OF FFXIV TODAY ✨

#🌙.rambles #helped ppl out in pf c: #WAH EVEN IF IT'S UNSYNCED N FOR OLDER EXPACS #i missed raiding sm uwahhh it comes naturally to me >< #& listening to mostly kpop while playing is just like the old days ! #I HAVE SOMEONE NEW ON MY FRIENDS LIST 🥺 #one cool person that helped out w o4s advertized their fc so i decided to reach out ! #>///< i really did just send a /tell to them.... i'm proud of myself omg #me a year ago wld have sm second thoughts about reaching out like that #wah sometimes i wish that i was less anxious n more social back when my main was still on twintania #maybe. maybe we could have talked more #NO WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT.... grr no i don't care about them anymore #they were just nice to talk to. back then. especially special bcs that was around my bday but it's been months since we last talked #i guess i miss them a bit. they were nice to talk to after all #i think it's been months since they last logged in too huh. i wonder how they're doing #wait i got distracted ;;; #playing ffxiv w apollo while listening to this music while not really having a lot to do in school rn #it feels. so reminiscent of last year #uwah i'm thinking a lot again >.> i'll start writing my thoughts less on here though ! #quick rant cont from eric post #past experiences where i reached out with good intentions but was left unheard #n so while it's hard for me to open up directly with others. i can write in places like these #when i creative write it's either reality or solely built from inspo so it's unreliable in analyzing deeper my emotions from the outside #regardless of how i come across i'll continue to be myself. as long ss it doesn't hurt anyone #i think that's what i'm afraid of. of destroying anything further. so i'm always keeping my distance #i can't tear myself away from that. i can't on my own break down these barriers formed by my pain #it hurts so much to be self-aware n to have improved but still be so lost somehow. alone? i don't know #i'm constantly confused in an even more confusing world. the more i learn the less i understand #n i just feel so so lost. i'm not sure what to do but i'll trust in myself. it hurts but. ah i don't know i'm so fucking tired #i'll just. continue going on. ill learn more. i keep on losing myself yes but i find more n more each time. it hurts. im tired but im strong

[novadreii]

this is a such first-class whine from a lower-middle-class citizen, but hear me out. the covid era has been dogshit (precursor, not the point lol). it killed, (further) divided and frightened us. the final kick in the nuts is that we really don’t benefit from any of the Panaceas for Shit Life anymore. the puppet masters have tightened the purse strings and made everything unaffordable. and what IS left that is affordable is just...crap. shite, even. have y’all noticed how mediocre stuff like cheap junk food/takeout is now? most forms of media? the stuff meant to distract and soothe us average jobhavers from going bonkers in the hamster wheel.

6+ years ago, we all at least all knew a few cheap, bomb and reliable places to eat out once in a while. a treat. you could eat takeout on a friday night while picking a reasonably well produced and thought-provoking movie from the one major, well organized streaming service (that cut your tv bill to $7/month, wahoo!). you might even partake in some say, drugs/alcohol to get a little silly with it. maybe you were more of a dine-out person, and made a night of it with friends. you had a good time and didn’t have to forgo groceries that week to make up for it.

now, the food and tv is boldly served, expensive ass. you can’t afford drugs, a book is $50. hobbies take up precious time and energy. ANY service you need is slow and unresponsive. people are tired. like, this is not the depression talking! things are worse, more expensive sure, but why couldn’t they have at least remained the same QUALITEA? why skimp on materials and production?

and then it occurred to me. is it our fault? are the price skyrockets and decrease in the quality of goods separate issues, in fact? one a consequence of opportunistic greed, and the other simply that market forces have determined that we are willing to pay those increased prices for less? the corporation is always experimenting to see what it can get away with. cheaper materials, less concern for our safety, well being, entertainment and enrichment. if we buy them at a certain prices in certain numbers that fit their optimized projections, they sell it. simple as that. are we just accepting the capitalism we think we deserve? or did they just financially ream us so badly that we had no choice to settle for worse product?

#this post is brought to you by the revelation the thought of watching bridgerton gave me #this is the schlock being served nowadays #everything is soulless and laden with social justice in an insincere way #like here have your fucking diversity and representation slayyyyy and shut the fuck up audience!!!!! #but it's bad. #bad writing bad production #there's a lot less critique of The System but again when they have it it's superficial af #like i can't even distract myself by binging tv anymore that is sad #all that's left to do is pirate old stuff #comb the archives #sometimes i wonder if i'm just becoming an old coot but i'm not imagining things #things were significantly better a pretty short chunk of time ago #and the abrupt negative change in just the ability to have small everyday pleasures is giving me whiplash #if feels like a whine because they really make us feel like we barely deserve basic food health and shelter #but we fucking deserve to thrive and feel good too #we deserve a couple of controlled vices if we have to go to work and give up a huge chunk of our lives for them #i have a business degree but i am no economist market forces are so fucked to me #because i am a i would just give you the sandwich type person at heart #i have a lot of internalized capitalism probably but damn even if i was rich i wouldn't want people to struggle so hard #they can be rich and we can be content in our simpler lives they can both happen at the same time #why does it have to be this way???? #should i watch bridgerton btw?

[girlbossdean]

the hits keep coming they just keep fucking coming

#sorry for being mostly offline and only coming on here to make vague posts whining about current events in my life #but lemme tell you I'm having a time rn #also i'm rereading dta so that's where i get my daily dose of destiel without being on tumblr #so i'm staying healthy don't worry agdgdggd #anyways i just found something out that made me feel very hurt and betrayed and upset so naturally i'm gonna be dramatic about it #and then continue reading dta and writing my jocassie poem to distract myself #what a fucking week #personal #girlblogging

[lexasdagger]

This whole creating content for yourself thing is like the best advice ever because I was watching some of my old fanvids (OB) this morning and i just...i still love these videos so much!!

Like if nobody else watched them, I’m still enjoying them and i love that for me

#i was supposed to spend today finishing my YT playlist aka Siren then Batwoman #but i got distracted #maybe i'll still watch them before i go to bed #the only thing i've yet to go back to is old fanfic #like i love some of my old personal writings #but my old fanfic iiiidddkkk feels like imma get secondhand embarrassment for myself #i should probably read it #man...my OB fanfic that'll be an interesting read #this post was ALSO supposed to be made this morning but i forgot #ignore me #personal post

[anotherobsessedfangirl]

Is this anxiety? Is this a panic attack? Am I just going crazy? Who knows ✌️

#lol #oh this is funny #am I going to cry? am I going to do stupid things? am I just ignoring it? am i just going to sleep? well I don’t know 🤷‍♀️ #am I going to talk to someone? probably not hahaha #am I writing pathetic posts on tumblr to distract myself? oh yeah of course I am just screaming in the void #don’t worry I’ll be fine I just find this feeling hilarious #my post #personal #shit post #ignore me

[munch-mumbles]

kj post five hundred thousand lamenting the loss of my passion for drawing because its starting to feel like its never coming back

#it shouldnt feel like a chore! i miss when it was fun!!!! #as much as i try not to care about my art posts flopping because i know attention shouldnt be my motivator for drawing #it does still make me a little sad so now my brain struggles to want to create anything #like i WANT to create desperately desperately but i sit down to draw and just want to go to bed #the tiredness has been permeating my life ive become extremely socially isolated #which loops around to making me even more bored because im just in my own head all day and theres not even anything in here #my attention span has degraded to the point that i literally have to force myself to try and think about my own ocs most of the time #which doesnt even work because within two seconds i get distracted by being frustrated i have to force it #gruhhhhh . grouhhhh #i miss when mlad was fresh and it was so fun and exciting and fulfilling to work on it #now even though i still love it and want to work on it it just keeps slipping between my fingers #GRUHHH. i want to draw i want to write i want to talk to people but i Cant #i need to join another server or something because after my last Really bad mental period i isolated myself a lot lot lot. and ive been too #scared to go back to my old spot and now i very rarely talk to more than one person a day (excluding work) #im lonely and im too exhausted to be interesting enough to fix it! #im pretty sure 80% of my problems could be fixed with like. adhd medication #but im too tired and lazy and tired to start the road to getting it #sorry i keep coming back to append on more tags but last thought i prommy. i just miss when things could actually hold my attention #i miss having the motivation to do minicomics for lore drops i miss being so excited about aus with friends i would do multiple sketches a #day i miss being so gripped by individual scenes between characters i would take the time to write a multi page minific about it #why cant my brain HOLD ANYTHING ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #JUST PAY ATTENTION :( #i need a new hyperfixation or im going to do something drastic.

[jazzband22]

.

#personal #the self loathing is a constant background hum but on days lile today it comes in full force #i dont think ive earned the right to hate myself this much #but i find my own company unbearable #and i certainly dont understand how anyone else tolerates it #especially considering how shitty of a friend i am because i hate myself so much and so often that there is little room for much else #its a kind of loathing or perhaps uncaringness that makes it particularly difficult to seek help #although i dont know how a therapist could teach me how to consider myself a worthwhile cause #or how a medication can dull the part of my brain that gets pointed inward without dulling other more essential functions #so i am left to fill my sleepless nights with empty distraction or the raw unfiltered content of my own mind #and write annoying tumblr posts about it because i cant express myself like a normal human being #so

[zealouselement]

Been feeling like shit lately. Been trying to keep my highs up, but the flow of time and inevitably doesn't stop for anyone.

#Haven't been able to write and I feel like shit for it but I've been really bummed out #Just got hit with two double deckers of personal shit last week and it just suuuucks #Vent post #I keep trying to distract myself but all im doing is freezing people out here and there #Shout-out to bad coping mechanisms ✌️

[maniculum]

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