Stuff I'm Working On
Item #: SCP-XXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: All EMS parcels in boxes with “Fragile” and “Made in Corea” printed on them being shipped through Seoul, South Korea are to be checked for instances of SCP-XXX. Any instances found are to be replaced and the parcels allowed to continue to their destination. Discovered instances are to be disassembled and then destroyed via melting down the polyurethane resin used in their construction.
All known affected are to be kept under surveillance by Foundation personnel to observe any changes in behavior. Any indication that event XXX-01 will occur soon must be reported to the on call supervising agent.
Attempts to find the creator(s) of the instances of SCP-XXX are ongoing.
Description: Instances of SCP-XXX are polyurethane resin ball-jointed dolls in a style similar to those produced by many manufacturers in Japan, South Korea, China, and the United States. They are manufactured by a company calling themselves ██████, based somewhere in the Sudogwon area of South Korea. Attempts to track down the manufacturing address have so far proven fruitless.
The effects of an instance only manifests after someone has been in possession of the object between 2-4 months, and only become stronger as time passes. It is difficult to determine the precise time, as many of the initial manifestations superficially resemble the actions of the greater community of collectors of similar objects. Initial manifestations include talking obsessively to the object, referring it by a given name, and telling others about the object's preferences.
Attendance at event XXX-01 is generally the first indication that the instance has fully infected the individual. After initial attendance, manifestations begin to include the appearance of scar-like markings resembling the joints on the object, extreme withdrawal from social situations, and general hostility towards any individuals who try to remind the affected that the object is a doll.
Event XXX-01 appears to be a spontaneously occurring gathering of individuals affected by SCP-XXX and their instances. Much like the initial manifestations, event XXX-01 superficially resembles the activities of the greater community of collectors. The differences between the event and normal gatherings of collectors are mostly due to absences. There is a distinct lack of non SCP-XXX objects, individuals who are not in possession of an instance, any trail of planning, and regular social interaction. The affected individuals mostly talk to the various instances instead of one another.
Note to those reading the draft here: My use of the name Dr. Tara Unknown in this story is a temporary placeholder until I can think of a name that would be better to use; unless, of course, you guys all approve of a story where my author avatar spirals into suicidal depression.
Sickos.
The year was not going well for Dr. Unknown. The Foundation either had her working nearly twelve hours a day helping with research on one Safe-class SCP or another, or they had her waiting for weeks for the next project. Her cat had gone missing. Her mother wrote letters about her father, and how the illness he had was progressing, and why couldn't she come for a visit during her time between projects?
-
The assignment was a fairly simple one. An anomalous species of tree frog had supposedly been discovered, and she had been assigned to the project of determining whether or not they truly were anomalous. The spindly little translucent things supposedly could defy gravity. The task was to test them under various circumstances, followed by dissection, to discover whether or not the supposed effect even existed, let alone how it was done. The worry was that they had only discovered a tree frog species that had managed to evolve its own use of Van der Waals force in order to climb.
Dr. Unknown went to fetch her subject for the day out of the terrarium. It would be good to work, but she couldn't stop thinking about her father's death. She felt guilty about not being able to visit him in the hospital, or even make it to his funeral. She kept replaying the potential conversation with her mother.
She didn't realize how much trouble she was having with the latch on the terrarium until she was already feeling frustrated. Every time she tried to open it, it just seemed stuck. She just couldn't get it open. It was a simple latch, and her inability to get it open so she could collect her subject just made her more and more frustrated.
The loud crashing from where the terrarium was kept had the project lead rush into the room with two members of the security staff. The site she saw wasn't the most disturbing thing she had ever seen by a long shot, but it still filled her with concern about her current assistant.
Dr. Unknown was sitting on the floor while small, glass-like frogs hopped around her, the remains of the terrarium, and the rest of the room, jumping on the walls and ceiling as though every direction was down. The doctor's hands were bleeding from the cuts that covered them. She was tracing her finger in the blood on the floor in front of her, repeatedly mumbling, “I couldn't do it, I just couldn't. How? Why? It's so simple. I couldn't do it.”
-
Compulsions don't feel the way people think they do. There is a way that the arm feels when you know you're going to cut. It's a strange tingling feeling, and you can almost feel the blood welling up, even though there is no wound yet. It's almost like a memory, but a memory of what is yet to come. Not anticipation, but similar.
Dr. Unknown couldn't stop caressing her arm. She tried to push the thoughts out of her head, but the guilt, the pain, everything she was keeping inside cried out for release. The desire for release was pushing its way out through her skin. She chewed her lower lip and absentmindedly walked into the kitchen, staring at and caressing the inside of her arm.
She didn't even realize it when she picked up a carving knife and began cutting cross-hatch marks into her arm.
The sense of relief she felt as the blood dripped down her arm was the closest thing she had felt to euphoria in months.
-
“What security clearance level does Dr. Unknown have again?”
“Level 2, I think. Why?”
“She's been making a lot of information requests on a number of objects.”
“Which ones?”
He looked at the list. “210, 242, 434, 510, 606, and 667.”
"Is she being assigned any of them?"
"No."
"If she's only got Level 2 clearance, and she isn't being assigned to any of them, she can learn a little about the first two, but no access to the others. And she can't actually see the first two."
-
Dr. Glass looked at the woman in front of him. She was in a very different state from the last time she was in his office. This time she was sitting perched in the chair with her hair obscuring her face. Her feet sat on the edge of the seat in front of her. She wouldn't even look him in the eyes.
“Dr. Unknown, do you know why you're here?” asked Dr. Glass.
She nodded her head.
Dr. Glass continued. “I need to go over the concerns of your superiors with you anyway. Your work has suffered greatly over the past few months. About three days ago during lunch in the staff cafeteria, you screamed about how you didn't want anyone to touch you. You were brandishing a butter knife. You have regular fits of crying. You carved the Foundation's logo into your right thigh with a box cutter.”
“I'm feeling much better now,” she whispered.
“I get the sense that you only mean that in regards to it having healed and scarred over.” Dr. Glass sighed. “Really need you to be willing to talk to me about what's wrong. It's obvious that you're suffering, but I can't help you until I have an idea of what you're going through.”
Tara finally looked him in the eyes. Her lip quivered for a second before she broke down crying.
Diagnosis:
Axis I: Major Depressive Disorder, recurrent, severe
Axis II: Deferred
Axis III: None
Axis IV: Social isolation, death in family, work stress, history of being bullied
Axis V: 35
As evidenced by: Depressed & anxious mood, psychomotor agitation, poor decision making, decreased appetite, low energy, poor ADLs, increased alcohol consumption
Recommended Treatment:
Temporary placement in Mood Disorder ward with a combination of therapeutic treatments (CBT/DBT, art therapy, movement therapy, etc,) and antidepressant medication. She is not to return to/ work at the Foundation until her mood has stabilized, and she has shown that she will consistently take her prescribed medication. Once she has returned to work, she must have weekly psychological/ evaluations to ensure relapse prevention.
Unlike many members of the senior staff, Dr. Unknown directed the violent impulses that are common among the Foundation staff inwardly. - Dr. Glass
Otherwise Done for Now
Item #: SCP-232
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-232 is to be kept in the center of an empty 20 x 20 meter room. The floor and walls must be made of white shadow-reducing substances, and the lighting should be multiple redundant recessed lamps set into the ceiling. Shadows are to be prevented from forming within 8 meters of SCP-232. Lights should be replaced as soon as possible when required, using the crawlspace above the room to replace the bulbs from above. Should a full power outage, including backup generator failure, occur, the entry will seal automatically.
In the event of activity, those directly involved should be monitored as per protocol 11B in the Security clearance database. SCP-232 is suspected to use some of its victims to survey the surrounding area. Class 2 hazardous containment procedures should be maintained in the event of activity.
In the event of the crawl space being inaccessible, a set of free standing lamps outside the range of the object must be activated before attempting replacement of lights. Otherwise, the free standing lamps are for testing purposes.
Description: SCP-232 is an approximately 100cm x 75cm x 20cm basalt relief statue depicting the goddess Ereshkigal being offered a liver by what is assumed to be an utukku, a Sumerian demon known to retrieve the offerings sacrificed to Ereshkigal.
Shadows that fall within an 8-meter radius exhibit unusual properties. Regardless of the temperature of the room, the temperature within a shadowed section will be at 10°C. Personnel stepping inside a shadow within range of SCP-232 have reported feelings of fear, melancholy, hopelessness, and numbness. There have also been reports of the feeling of being watched in the shadows, the sensation of claws or nails digging into the skin, and the sound of whispered voices in an unknown language. Injuries have been sustained in particularly large or dark shadows.
SCP-232 was retrieved from the Sumerian █████ ruins near Tell Ibrahim, Iraq. Reports had come in of [REDACTED] rumors of communication with the dead. The [REDACTED] found mauled in a manner inconsistent with the abilities of the local fauna. [REDACTED] more common with the lunar cycle, with more instances of the effects of the object on nights of the new moon, and fewer with the full moon.
Upon entering the structure, the team found [REDACTED] including lacerations on ██████████. Forensic evidence of the area showed no traces of blood or tissue within the range of the shadows that crossed the object. Object was transported to Storage Unit-██. Moved to Site-19 5/7/19██.
Addendum: In light of the incident on ██/21/19██, all personnel who interact directly with the shadows around SCP-232 must be given weekly psychological evaluations. (See Incident Report 232-1 for details.)
Level 4 authorization is required to unlock the fine lighting controls. The fine lighting controls are to be unlocked for testing purposes only.
Incident Report 232-1:
SCP involved: 232
Date: ██/21/19██
Location: SCP-232 containment at Site-19
Description:
D-801 engineered an escape from his cell. He was found outside the airlock for SCP-232 holding a bat while trying to force the door open. He had apparently also broken into the kitchens and made off with several beef organs which had been in storage and was carrying them in a paper bag, also from the kitchen. When security attempted to stop him, he became violent, swinging the bat around erratically.
Once subdued, he claimed that he needed to get to the statue and that the bag of organs were an offering “to secure my place in Irkalla.”
Investigation showed that D-801 had been exposed to 232 more times than any other test subject and was among the first to hear voices.
Things Dealing With the River of Orchids
A place I'm working on that will be added to as I see fit.
Item #: SCP-XXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: Instances of SCP-XXX are to be kept in a large free-flight aviary. When needed, the feeders are to be filled with seed and berries. Once a week, the insect, earthworm, and snail population of the aviary should be checked, with more being introduced as needed. Care is to be taken to ensure that all specimens remain fairly calm, and any flora species or variety not accounted for in the building of the aviary is to be removed and incinerated, as per Addendum 01.
Wild instances should be caught or killed. Standard traps used for the capture of similarly sized birds are suggested. Live captured specimens are to be transported individually and released into the aviary. Killed instances should be preserved and brought to the lab at Site-██ for dissection by staff researchers.
Description: SCP-XXX is a previously unknown species of Passerine (songbirds), with some aspects of physiology, size, and genetics pointing towards an inclusion in Family Sturnidae (Starlings). All discovered instances have had brilliant iridescent plumage. There is no uniformity to the color of the individual instances, leading some to suspect that SCP-XXX is actually several subspecies, each with a different dominating color. No sexual dimorphism has been observed in the species. Instances of SCP-XXX produce the usual compliment of songs, calls, and vocalizations usual to their order. Most calls produced by specimens have no effect on other animals, and many humans find them pleasant to hear.
The unusual properties of SCP-XXX appear strongest when a large flock are observed flying. When a flock of 25 or more instances are flying together, the flock appears to scintillate, creating a dazzling effect on observers. This dazzling effect is not limited to human observers, as dogs, cats, foxes, and other predators have been observed to act in a stunned manner when passed by a large enough flock.
The sharp, high pitched mobbing call produced by instances has a similar effect to the flocking. It not only calls more instances to the area, but also induces a dazed effect in predatory species. Affected individuals claim to have observed flashes of light punctuating each call.
Those affected by either form of dazing enter a state of altered perception, lasting for a length of time proportional to the time spent viewing or hearing instances.
The existence of SCP-XXX was brought to the attention of the Foundation when a large traffic accident occurred in ████████, ██ which resulted in ██ casualties, and ██ hospitalizations. None of the witnesses saw the accident, but all reported seeing a multicolored flock of birds. An interview with one of the witnesses is reproduced below.
Interview Log XXX-03
Interviewed: Eyewitness to flock of SCP-XXX
Interviewer: Dr. ███████
Foreword: One of the surviving eyewitnesses to the flock that brought SCP-XXX to the Foundation's attention.
<Begin Log>
Dr. ███████: Can you tell me what happened the afternoon we found you in ████?
Subject: I was walking down the street, you know? And suddenly this big flock of birds was flying overhead. They were brilliant! I swear, they were every color imaginable. They seemed to shimmer and sparkle in the light. They got so bright, I had a hard time looking at them after a while. But I couldn't stop staring.
Dr. ███████: What happened then?
Subject: (Nervous laughter) You wouldn't believe me if I told you.
Dr. ███████: I'm very open minded. I really would like to hear what happened next.
Subject: There was a sudden flash of light, and when I looked around me, everyone was gone.
Dr. ███████: Gone? Please explain.
Subject: The buildings were still there, and the parked cars, but there was nobody driving in the street. Nobody around at all. And the buildings and parked cars? They had plants growing on them. Like, you know how kudzu or ivy covers everything? Well, this was like that, but the plants were weird.
Dr. ███████: In what sense?
Subject: The colors were, um, wrong.
Dr. ███████: If at all possible, please go into more detail.
Subject: (Nervous laughter) The leaves weren't green. They were blue, or purple. There were these flower-like things. No, they were like dandelion puffs, but more cage-like. I know, it sounds crazy, or like I had an acid flashback or something. But, really, for a while I was wandering around in the same neighborhood, but completely alone, and with these weird plants growing on everything. But after a while, people and things started to fade back in. And suddenly, I saw that there was this massive traffic accident. Cars had crashed, people had been hit, chaos everywhere.
Dr. ███████: And what did you think of that experience?
Subject: That I was lucky I didn't wander into the street.
<End Log>
Closing Statement: The subject was given a class-B amnesiac to help him forget about the birds and would be convinced that the vision was a dream he had the night after the traffic accident he had witnessed.
Addendum 01: It appears that when instances of SCP-XXX are in distress for a prolonged period of time, an emergence of one or more sprouts of unusually-colored flora in the vicinity of the distressed animal. Regardless of what species an emergent sprout resembles, all grow at a rate similar to that of Pueraria lobata (kudzu). Individuals who have been exposed to both the effect of specimens and have seen the outgrowths claim a resemblance between the new plants and what they saw while affected. In light of this, new procedures have been added to containment.
Things I know for certain about the "River of Orchids" world:
1) Regardless of what it gets tied to, it is primarily hallucinatory. Those affected only see it all around them. Nobody gets transported.
2) The hallucination prevents the affected from seeing anything but the RoO world while it is in effect. This increases the chances of anyone affected of getting into some sort of accident.
3) The time spent seeing the River of Orchids is directly proportional to the time spent exposed to the anchor.
4) The world is an exact replica of all stationary inorganic objects at the time of being affected, only everything is in ruins and overgrown with flora that is slightly off in terms of color or flowers. No truly recognizable plants exist there.
5) Due to it being a hallucination, River of Orchids can't be truly interacted with. Eg: If an affected individual tries to pick a flower while seeing the River of Orchids, there will be no flower in hand when the effect wears off.
6) River of Orchids is just what I'm calling it while I work it out.