Black line drawing of a scorpion with a rose and leaves on its curled tail, shown as a tattoo flash design on a pale pink background.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Scorpion with a rose on its tail

Traditional · Black and grey · Flash

A black line drawing of a scorpion with its claws open and its tail curled upwards, ending in a rose with leaves and a thorny stem. The linework is bold and outlined, with stippled shading on the scorpion's body and claws. The design sits centred on a plain pale pink background.

Traditional Scorpion Rose Leaves Thorn Stem

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Pull that chair in, love, and mind the drip stand. Leave the light off, the corridor's quiet enough now for an old tale to carry. You'll have heard about the scorpion on the top floor, the one who came up through the laundry chute with a pocketful of grit and a grudge against the whole of St Aldred's.

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She was a sharp little thing, all claws and clicking temper, and the nurses said she'd never once let anyone near her without a warning. Then one wet March she found the matron's window box on the east side, and in it a single red rose with more thorns than sense. She climbed the stem all night. By morning she'd wrapped her tail round it three times, and every time she lifted her sting to strike, a thorn pricked her and she thought better of it.

So she learned to hold her claws open instead, wide and patient, like a pair of hands waiting for a cup. The strange thing is, the ward started leaving her crumbs of digestive on the sill, the porters took to calling her Nan Scorpion, and she never once used that sting again.

Come morning the sister found the two of them asleep on the sill, the rose bent over her like a reading lamp, and a new bud opening where the thorns had been. Now off you go, that's the kettle. And don't you dare tell matron about the biscuits.