SCP-166 - SCP Foundation

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Item #: SCP-166
Level 2/166

Object Class: Keter
Classified

Threat Level: Black

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the nature of SCP-166, all propositions regarding SCP-166 are to be reviewed by Drs. Gray and Frankenstein of the 'Pataphysics Department, including revision of containment procedures, personnel assignment, and interview proposals. The 'Pataphysics Department is then to file a report on the potential Romantic repercussions of such actions within three narrative days. Actions whose consequences include the release of SCP-166, the empowerment of SCP-166 or PoI-9522 ("Madam Brinegash")1, or the decommissioning of Area-166 are to be avoided.

SCP-166 is to be kept in an unfurnished Type-2 Disposable humanoid containment unit in Area-166, to be checked daily for conceptual degradation. Thrice per day, SCP-166 is to be fed standard vegetarian rations. Each week, SCP-166 is to be moved to a new containment unit, with its previous unit recycled for parts.

USAZSD-Area-166 consists entirely of disposable buildings designed for ease of construction and demolition. No building is allowed to exist for more than a single year, and each is to be checked weekly for conceptual degradation. Food is to be imported from the Site-952 commissary located 29 km from Area-166, and may not be used to make meals with a total cost of more than $15, or recipes originating from 19th century America or Europe. Vegetation in Area-166 is to be routinely purged of abnormal floral growth.

Personnel assigned to SCP-166 are to be rotated monthly, and are not to spend more than 8 consecutive hours within 20 meters of SCP-166. Asexual and neurotypical personnel are strongly preferred for Area-166 assignments. Personnel are required to undergo a weekly psychiatric evaluation; compromised personnel are to be immediately transferred to a different project.

As of Incident 166-FC, female-attracted personnel are denied access to SCP-166.

Description: SCP-166 appears to be a Semitic female in her late 20s; however, SCP-166's body is non-baryonic in composition, and lacks much of the metabolic functions of ordinary humans.

SCP-166 is the focal point of an ontokinetic field that alters the properties and appearances of surrounding matter. Interviews with SCP-166 suggest that the purpose of this field is to forcibly emulate an environment similar to those of 19th-century Dark Romanticist ideals. Common motifs include Gothic architecture, poisonous flora, excess grime, and occult paraphernalia. Extended exposure can result in an environment rendered completely inhospitable for human habitation through a combination of hostile architecture and pollution.

Sapient beings who remain in the presence of SCP-166 risk developing increased appetite and libido, along with decreased levels of inhibition and empathy. These changes are permanent, and increase in severity the longer one remains in SCP-166's field. Despite this, affected individuals rarely attack SCP-166 of their own volition.

SCP-166's effects are not bound by a set distance; however, SCP-166's range appears to significantly increase in relation to the level of conversion and/or aesthetic compliance in its surroundings, as does the rate its changes take place.

HISTORY

SCP-166 was previously SCP-166-ARC, a Euclid-class anomaly contained at GBWLTB-Site-17. At the time of acquisition2, SCP-166-ARC was approximately 13-years-old, raised in a cult compound belonging to a Catholic sect of the Serpent's Hand.

Although SCP-166-ARC's handling personnel were exclusively female3, staffing shortages following Incident-818-B Clef-Kondraki resulted in the assignment of Dr. James Dantensen as head researcher of the SCP-166-ARC project, due to his experience working with juvenile anomalies such as SCP-1465, SCP-105, and SCP-818. As such, Dr. Dantensen was forced to conduct his work through intermediaries.

On 19/05/2011, SCP-166-ARC's containment was briefly breached following an unrelated raid conducted by GoI-002 ("Court of the Unseelie Queen") targeting SCP-032-ARC.

Following the events of the breach, behavioral reports indicated an increasing level of recalcitrance from SCP-166-ARC, as well as increased observance of Roman Catholicism. Despite its anomalous sensitivity to pressure ulcers, SCP-166-ARC would frequently wrap itself in bed linens; handling personnel were eventually forced to remove all linens from SCP-166-ARC's containment cell for the sake of its health. Self-harm behaviors were infrequently observed by attending personnel, and subsequently dealt with.

Records indicate that SCP-166-ARC filed an ethics complaint against Dr. Dantensen on 05/08/2013, and again on 08/12/2013; however, the actual complaints appear to have been lost, although subsequent interviews with handling personnel suggest they related to its containment breach in 2011. No action appears to have been taken on the Foundation's part.

On 14/02/2014, SCP-166-ARC breached containment, directly injuring five and killing Dr. Dantensen.

Interviewed: SCP-166

Interviewer: Dr. Sophia Whateley

Foreword: Following the reestablishment of SCP-166's containment, interviews were suspended for a period of 1 year, as standard for Class-IV Ontokinetic anomalies.

<Begin Log>

Dr. Whateley: Good evening. I'm Dr. Whateley.

SCP-166: Hi.

(7 second silence)

Dr. Whateley: Okay, then. Do you have a name you prefer?

SCP-166: Several.

Dr. Whateley: … right. Well, before you became SCP-166, who were you?

SCP-166: I was a teenage succubus.

Dr. Whateley: Could you elaborate?

(65 second silence)

Dr. Whateley: … listen, I apologize, but if you can't help me help you, then I can't help you.

SCP-166: You're not helping me.

Dr. Whateley: I wouldn't have such a negative outlook. Psychotherapy can be more effective than you think.

SCP-166: It won't help me.

(Both remain silent for 17 seconds. Dr. Whateley sighs.)

Dr. Whateley: … I guess it just feels like there's… something you want me to ask? To say? And I'm afraid I'm really not sure how. So… I guess, it's just up to you to say what that is. The floor's yours.

SCP-166: Cool. Sweet. Not to be an emotionally-stunted bitch, but the problem's not me. And I bet you hear that a lot, but in this case I mean it. And I know that's not something you can fix, 'cause again, I'm a threat to everyone around me and I really should be locked away. I will be saying a lot of things that contradict one another, and that's normal.

(SCP-166 pauses)

SCP-166: Being direct about my intentions never helped me, so I'm gonna be as cryptic as possible. What's gonna help me is time, not the fake time spent aging my body to something acceptable, but literal actual time. I am going to watch the walls of my cell, wearing clean clothes and snarling openly at the men who pass me by, and I am going to smile. I am right where I need to be, and so are you.

Dr. Whateley: How so?

SCP-166: I lost my identity to you. I lost dignity and peace of mind and faith in a caring god. And we've talked long enough that I feel like I'm getting it back. See you in Act 2.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: SCP-166 remained non-compliant for the rest of the interview.

HISTORY

Prior to Incident 166-CL, SCP-166-ARC had been exceptionally compliant in its interactions with Foundation personnel, barring self-harm behaviors. Officially, security protocols remained in place; unofficially, observation of SCP-166-ARC was scaled back for budget-related concerns.

During Incident 166-CL, SCP-166-ARC displayed several then-unknown anomalous properties:

Anomalously sharp fingernails.

The capacity to steeply increase its body temperature without compromising bodily function.

The ability to compel subjects of its primary anomalous ability to perform actions on its behalf through verbalized commands.4

Following Incident 166-CL, SCP-166-ARC began actively resisting containment efforts. Revocation of privileges5 was largely ineffective, as SCP-166-ARC appears to have disavowed Catholicism following the Incident. Self-harm behaviors, including the rejection of its dietary regimen, were observed to increase in frequency.

At this point, SCP-166-ARC displayed open disdain for its handling personnel, refusing to comply with attempted interviews and experimentation. Attending physicians were frequently assaulted while attempting to carry out weekly medical evaluations. Remote observation was similarly sabotaged; observers were the target of exceedingly personal insults.

Containment procedures were updated to reflect SCP-166-ARC's escalated resistance, and its Threat Level was updated from Green to Yellow. Despite this, the SCP-166-ARC project reported higher than acceptable injuries and amnestic usage by the end of February 2014.

On 05/03/2014, a decision was made to transfer SCP-166-ARC to USNYHV-Area-16.

INCIDENT 166-FC: On 16/03/2023, Dr. Sophia Whateley was assigned to SCP-166. Dr. Whateley would later file a request of reassignment on 9/4/2023, citing a developing romantic interest in SCP-166.

Efforts were made to reassign Dr. Whateley to SCP-███ duty in Site-952; however, a series of probabilistic anomalies prevented Dr. Whateley from leaving Area-166, and further placed her into situations where she was forced to interact with SCP-166.

Interviewed: SCP-166

Interviewer: Dr. Sophia Whateley

Foreword: SCP-166 had not been scheduled for an interview; however, circumstances preventing Dr. Whateley from avoiding SCP-166 gave little reason not to conduct one.

<Begin Log>

Dr. Whateley: Hello, SCP-166. I apologize, but we really shouldn't be talking.

SCP-166: Oh, really? Really? They care about that now?

Dr. Whateley: … again, I'm afraid I don't know what-

SCP-166: So, tell me if you've heard this one: researcher begins lusting after a humanoid. There's an aspect of forbidden love, in your case professionalism. The humanoid doesn't reciprocate. At all. You mean nothing to her.

Dr. Whateley: Is this about… listen, I have no relation to Dr. Dantensen. I have… I have little intention of making whatever mistake he made.

SCP-166: Here's the thing: you won't. That's not how the story goes, this time. That's not how I still work.

(16 second silence)

Dr. Whateley: Is this in regards to your anomaly?

SCP-166: Took you long enough.

SCP-166: I don't know the science behind what I am, any more than you do. I just knew where I fit in. Adamism, spermophagy, temptation of man, lowercase "m", I was a trope. A fetish piece. An ornament of sexual fantasy. I had no say in that.

(Both remain silent for 21 seconds. SCP-166 appears to be taking heavier breaths.)

Dr. Whateley: I'm sorry.

SCP-166: Contrivance. It was (stuttered) contrivance. It…

(9 second silence)

SCP-166: Sorry. I had all this memorized, but actually being here… right. My existence was contrivance. At 7 I was twelve, at 13 I was thirteen, at 19 I was sixteen. I was still sixteen at 26. A lot of it made sense. I was a teenage succubus. More and less than real, the form of a teenage succubus.

SCP-166: My existence was suffering, literally. The role I played required it. Life fine-tuned to maximize my misery. Don't touch me. If I was any less patient I'd rip your fucking fingers off. You're culpable, you and everyone else. You cared more about sitting me still than fixing me.

Dr. Whateley: You shouldn't say that about yourself. "Broken" isn't-

SCP-166: You're not even listening, are you? I was looking for compassion about 10 years ago. I was looking for people who would take my story seriously, pity the little faggot dumped from the Gospel of Eve into the Gospel of Peter. Back to Eve.

(Both remain silent for 57 seconds. Faint sounds of weeping can be heard.)

Dr. Whateley: Again, I'm sorry.

(6 second silence. SCP-166 takes several deep breaths)

SCP-166: … I had some other goon come by, for an interview. Halfway through, he pulls a bouquet out of a bag and asks me to run away with him to The Library. I laughed in his face and told him to kill himself. Did they get that on tape?

(17 second silence)

SCP-166: There are many ways to depict a "young succubus". Really, I just changed my genre, one where I don't get leered at like a piece of meat. Where nobody gets to hurt me ever again.

Dr. Whateley: Dark Romanticism, I'm assuming.

SCP-166: So they did get that. Did they get the part where he cried?

Dr. Whateley: I'm afraid I'm not… listen. I'm sorry for what you went through, but I assure you, I just want to help. I don't want to see you in pain, it's distressing. But, I need you to work with me for that to happen. Alright?

(48 second silence)

SCP-166: … just being here was enough. See you in Act 3.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: [no response]

HISTORY

As a smaller facility intended for high-threat sapient anomalies, Area-16 was considered a more effective environment for the SCP-166-ARC project. In addition to the heightened security measures afforded, a majority of Area-16's anomalies lacked a human or human-adjacent memeplex, reducing the chance of cross-contamination during a breach.

SCP-166-ARC initially maintained its previous level of resistance; however, a combination of malnutrition and cellulitis6 dramatically reduced assaults.

In the days preceding Incident 166-DF-Nobody, SCP-166-ARC had been successfully pacified to pre-Incident 166-CL levels.

Interviewed: SCP-166

Interviewer: Dr. Sophia Whateley

Foreword: I apologize for some of the language used, I was under a great deal of stress.

<Begin Log>

SCP-166: Usually there's a guard outside.

Dr. Whateley: … you'll excuse me, things are a bit messy.

SCP-166: Well, I'm flattered you took the time to visit me. Or, I guess, I'm flattered at the idea you would.

Dr. Whateley: If I've caused you any distress, I sincerely apologize.

SCP-166: It's a few too many years late for an apology, but really, thanks.

( second silence)

SCP-166: … I'm not gonna fuck you, if that's what you think.

( second silence)

SCP-166: Did you forget your lines? I actually thought you were better than this, and coming from me that should mean something. The story's not supposed to go this fast unless I'm doing something right. I've just solved crossword puzzles for the last three days.

Dr. Whateley: … do you enjoy this?

SCP-166: Do I enjoy this, really. Do I enjoy watching my abusers crumple under poetic tragedy? Do I, after ten years of being sixteen, enjoy being twenty-six? Do I — and think very hard on this — do I enjoy seeing a bad book burn?

Dr. Whateley: Bad? Pardon me, what have we done? We've treated you with respect. I've treated you with respect. You're afforded recreation, human contact within reason, pardon my language but hell, we feed you. You don't even need food! So what the hell do we do?

( second silence)

Dr. Whateley: I've read the reports. Dantensen's dead. You traumatized half of 17 and whatever the hell happened in 16, it's all blackboxes. Isn't that enough? You've had your revenge, so if you want to be twenty-six so badly, fucking act like it!

( second silence)

Dr. Whateley: … I'm sorry. This… I suppose this is the anomaly talking.

(Dr. Whateley briefly pauses, coughs, and continues)

Dr. Whateley: … Dark Romanticism, that's… in spite of the fact that I can't quite leave, I'm honestly curious. I'm assuming you could just kill people like before, and, well… I don't know. It all feels really roundabout.

(SCP-166 remains silent for seconds, before sharply sniffing.)

SCP-166: (Brief pause) Stop acting like you care.

Dr. Whateley: This isn't acting. I-

SCP-166: What's my name?

( second silence)

SCP-166: You think you're different, don't you? You're the nice one. A face. And maybe, you know, maybe a woman would do better. Better at sitting me still, and that's the problem, you're doing the exact same thing everyone else did, crushing me into a macguffin for a story I don't even like. But no, you're no friend of mine.

SCP-166: Yes, it's you, and no, it's not just you, it's everyone. It's the nuns and priests and blackshirts and quote-unquote "doctors". It's everyone that played my misery for money or sex or smug superiority, every little fucking second spent acting out a shitty little male-gaze piece of living, screaming art! Except I couldn't scream! No, I'm stuck at the back of the fucking room. An interactive fucking art exhibit!

SCP-166: If clothes hurt, how do you think rosaries felt? What about that greasy mop of hair? My feet on the ground? None of you cared. Twenty-six years spent sick and frail, twenty-six miserable years and Brinegash, the one person who ever fucking cared, only-

Dr. Whateley: Brinegash?

( second silence)

Dr. Whateley: Who is Brinegash?

( second silence)

SCP-166: … sorry. See you in the finale.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: [no response]

MEMORANDUM ON AREA-166'S CURRENT CONDITION

Following a thorough audit of USAZSD-Area-166 and its associated SCP project, Foundation Overwatch has come to the following conclusion:

SCP-166's anomaly has extended beyond the acceptable parameters of containment, necessitating the use of counterconceptual measures.

Our current understanding of SCP-166's anomaly is incomplete; as such, SCP-166's containment procedures are insufficient.

Until containment can be reestablished, the expansion of the SCP-166 project beyond recontainment presents an unacceptable risk to potential personnel.

Personnel who have spoken with SCP-166 for more than five cumulative minutes may be ontologically compromised.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

~ ASE.aic

Overseen by HECL Supervisor Roman Sanchez

HISTORY

On 09/01/2019, PoI-000 ("Nobody") was observed to have entered Area-16, using the stolen credentials of Dr. Alto Clef. PoI-000 proceeded towards SCP-166-ARC's containment, which they then breached. Following a short conversation7, PoI-000 disappeared, and SCP-166-ARC exited containment.

The full extent of SCP-166-ARC's actions following its release is unknown; shortly after it breached containment, SCP-166-ARC assisted in the release of several entities carrying the DC001-A and DC4947 ontohazards, rendering security footage unusable. Witness testimony is similarly unreliable, given the nature of several anomalies involved.

Mobile Task Forces Epsilon-11 ("Needle in a Hay Field") and Theta-3 ("Black Volga") were initially deployed to retrieve SCP-166-ARC, under the assumption that its anomalous effects would quickly attract civilian attention. Following six months of continuous search, both MTFs were recalled, and the SCP-166-ARC project was officially archived.

On 07/03/2022, SCP-166-ARC entered Spicy Crust Pizza on Staten Island, and willingly turned itself into Foundation custody. SCP-166-ARC was otherwise unresponsive to questioning, and efforts were made to transport it to USNVBR-Site-56 for recontainment.

Following Incident 166-DI on 16/03/2022, transport was forced to establish impromptu containment in the Sonoran Desert, the site of which was designated Area-166.

VIDEO LOG: INCIDENT 166-GK

DATE: 21/05/2023

NOTE: At 19:36 on May 21st of 2023, Dr. Sophia Whateley entered SCP-166's containment cell without informing the rest of SCP-166's containment team.

[BEGIN LOG]

SCP-166 sits on its bed, reading a copy of Troy Lament's In His Own Image. It occasionally glances towards the surveillance camera opposite to the wall it's leaning against. Approximately three seconds before Dr. Whateley enters, SCP-166 mouths something to the camera.

Dr. Whateley enters SCP-166's containment cell in an apparent hurry. She is not dressed according to the Area-166 dress code8. Her fingers appear to be partially stained with blood.

SCP-166 does not acknowledge Dr. Whateley.

Dr. Whateley: … 166?

SCP-166 does not acknowledge Dr. Whateley.

Dr. Whateley: Please. Don't do this to me.

Dr. Whateley attempts to speak again, only to begin coughing violently, leaning against against a wall for support. SCP-166 does not acknowledge Dr. Whateley.

Dr. Whateley: I didn't know, not at first. They only gave me the logs after I tried leaving. I just wanted to help. Still want to help.

SCP-166 does not acknowledge Dr. Whateley.

Dr. Whateley: We don't have to be here, 166. We can go somewhere safer. It doesn't have to be with me, or anyone else, just- (Dr. Whateley coughs) … your story can have a happy ending, without…

SCP-166 dog-ears its current page and puts its book to the side.

SCP-166: So how does it feel? All this? Knowing your story couldn't end any other way?

Dr. Whateley: You don't have to do this, 16-

SCP-166: There's no plot twist, Whateley. There's no eleventh-hour hero to keep the creeps off. You know how these stories always end. This isn't even something that's happening: from the moment you sat down to play shrink, this was inevitable.

Dr. Whateley sinks down against the wall.

SCP-166: Tuberculosis… what a shitty way to go. Romantic, yes, but not worthy of a protagonist. Maybe you never were. Maybe you were like me, the keystone macguffin in a shitty plot. Titillation for the reader. Be thankful yours wasn't as big a pervert as mine.

Dr. Whateley: I… (Dr. Whateley coughs) I'm not ready to go. I had so much more I wanted to do. I can't- (Dr. Whateley coughs again, spitting up bloodied phlegm.) … don't tell me this is it.

SCP-166: And in a single, prolonged moment, your life is ripped out of your hands. Do you finally feel it?

SCP-166 averts its gaze towards the ceiling as Dr. Whateley undergoes a violent coughing fit. By the time Dr. Whateley finally recovers her breath, much of her blouse has been stained with blood and phlegm.

Dr. Whateley: Please, 166. I don't want to-(Dr. Whateley coughs) 166, I love you, despite everything you did I love you, I'm sorry I couldn't help but I love you, so much, please. Please don't let me die.

SCP-166 opens its mouth to say something, before pausing, picking its book back up, and throwing it at Dr. Whateley's head.

SCP-166: Kill yourself.

SCP-166 turns to lie down on its bed as Dr. Whateley experiences a final coughing fit before going limp.

Security personnel eventually enter SCP-166's cell to retrieve Dr. Whateley, who is subsequently pronounced dead9. SCP-166 does not move from its position; audio analysis suggests it is crying.

[END LOG]

...

Interviewed: Miriam Clef

Interviewer: A kind man.

<Begin Log>

A kind man.: Hello.

Miriam Clef: … you're not touching me.

A kind man.: I would hope not. You look about half my age.

Miriam Clef: … listen, sir, I don't know what you're here for. But I don't want any trouble. If Dr. Dantensen knows you're here, he's gonna-

A kind man.: Don't mind him, I can take care of my own. So, let's cut to the chase: I have a proposition.

<End Log>

Footnotes

1. Possibly Isabella ██████ ████████.

2. 08/10/2008

3. As per the nature of SCP-166-ARC's anomaly, which induced unusual levels of sexual aggression in male personnel.

4. Possibly non-anomalous: SCP-166-ARC leveraged the possibility of romantic attention.

5. Refer to SCP-166-ARC, version history V.2014.1.

6. [REDACTED PENDING DECLASSIFICATION OF A16ECR-018]

7. The contents of which are unknown, due to PoI-000's anomalous properties.

8. To be expected: Dr. Whateley was not on clock.

9. Autopsy determined Rasmussen's aneurysm to be the cause of death.