SCP-6852: Where Best Friends Are Made® by Dr Asteria

Item#: 6852

Containment Class: keter

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: vlam

Risk Class: danger

A Foundation operated Build-A-Bear Workshop located inside the Mall of America.

Special Containment Procedures: Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. has been established for the purpose of carrying out Procedure 6852-BEAR. Foundation fronts operating as Build-A-Bear Workshop retail stores are to be opened as rapidly as possible internationally, with preference in location towards shopping malls. 354 of these stores are currently operating, 305 of which are in the United States and Canada.

These stores can be operated by civilian employees, with Foundation personnel (including non-violent D-Class) operating only when understaffed during the busy holiday season. It is, however, imperative to the success of Procedure 6852-BEAR that the civilian employees and customers are not made aware of the contents of the cotton stuffing and the importance of the "heart ceremony". (See Addendum 6852.1)

Description: SCP-6852 instances are hostile entities of varying appearance that are consistently described as "scary," "terrifying," and "monsters" by young children. These entities usually reside under a child's bed or within their closet, only leaving their spot during the night to presumably harm the child. While no major injury or death caused by an SCP-6852 instance has been reported, they have caused an increase in nocturnal enuresis and paranoia among young children.

It is theorized that these entities possess a form of age-specific antimemetic camoflauge as they are unable to be seen by those over the age of 12 or during the day, making research and containment difficult. It is known that these entities do not have a sense of object permanence as they are unable to sense a child that is hiding under a blanket.

Addendum 6852.1: Procedure 6852-BEAR

The goal of Procedure 6852-BEAR is to unknowingly provide young children with manufactured instances of SCP-6330-1 as protection against an SCP-6852 instance should it succesfully harm them. Procedure 6852-BEAR requires three essential components: an empty "shell" (the unstuffed animal plush), Élan-Vital Energy (EVE)1 infused cotton stuffing, and a thaumaturgic ritual (the "heart ceremony").

The machine and designated area used to perform Procedure 6852-BEAR.

Once the customer has chosen a shell to be used in the procedure, an employee will assist them in stuffing the plush with EVE infused cotton. Customers are then given a fabric heart to use in the "heart ceremony" before it is placed inside the stuffed animal.

During the heart ceremony, customers are instructed by the employee to tap and rub the heart over various places on their body as well as to perform physical activity such as jumping and spinning. For example, an employee could say to rub the heart over one's stomach so the stuffed animal will "never go hungry." Both the employee and customer are unaware that these are incantations for a thaumaturgical ritual intending to "activate" the stuffed animal. Various examples of incantations are provided to the employee during training. The activation of the stuffed animal marks the end of Procedure 6852-BEAR. Dressing and naming the stuffed animal is unnecessary to the procedure and only exist to create further market appeal.

In the presence of an SCP-6852 instance and when unobserved, the stuffed animal will become animate and summon small-scale wooden medieval weapons (such as swords and shields) to combat it. These altercations result in the SCP-6852 instance's neutralization 92% of the time. Upon the instance's neutralization and/or the stuffed animal becoming observed, it will become inanimate.

[LEVEL 4/6852 CREDENTIALS REQUIRED FOR FURTHER READING]

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Additional Special Containment Procedures: In addition to the previously mentioned special containment procedures, Foundation coroners and medical examiners are to intercept and examine the bodies of any SCP-6852 victims. The body is to be examined for any further beneficial information regarding SCP-6852. The family of the victim is to also be detained for the duration of the autopsy, however, no interrogation is necessary. During this time, the location of death is to be cleared of any signs of violence by a biohazard cleanup team.

Upon completion of the autopsy, any wounds the victim sustained are to be closed and the body embalmbed and given to the family. The family is to be given Class A and C amnestics before being released. In most cases, the cause of death should be listed as "Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC)" or "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)", but "brain defect", "seizure", and "cardiac arrhythmia" are also acceptable.

If the victim was in possession of a Build-A-Bear Workshop brand stuffed animal, it is to be taken into Foundation custody and replaced with a non-anomalous look-alike. For the continued efficacy of Procedure 6852-BEAR, the cotton stuffing is to be removed and reintroduced into circulation, with extra non-anomalous cotton added to supplement.

Actual Description: SCP-6852 instances are hostile and violent entities of varying appearance that are consistently described as "scary," "terrifying," and "monsters" by young children. Consistent characteristics include sharp teeth, claws, or other biological structures intended for ripping and tearing flesh. These entities usually reside under a child's bed or within their closet, only leaving their spot during the night to terminate the child.

Instances will "hunt" children as if they were prey, however, they will only do this for entertainment or sport as they will not make use of the victim's body in any way. While these entities do possess object permanence, they choose not to harm hiding children and will instead wait for their victim to expose themself. In addition to age-specific antimemetic camoflauge, these entities are also capable of localized noise cancellation.

Addendum 6852.2: Procedure 6852-BEAR (Additional Information)

Stuffed animals created through Procedure 6852-BEAR have also been given a secondary objective. If neutralization of an SCP-6852 instance is not possible, the stuffed animal will in some way conceal themselves from the instance and allow it to terminate the child. After the instance has left, the stuffed animal will store the child's loose EVE in its own stuffing before deactivating, to be collected by Foundation agents.

This creates a negative feedback loop where an increase in SCP-6852 victims creates more available resources for protection against SCP-6852 entities. Charitable donations of stuffed animals to children's hospitals have also been approved to increase Procedure 6852-BEAR's efficacy.

To preserve the Veil, the terms "SUDC" and "SIDS" have been coined by Foundation medical personnel in the public sector to describe the rise of sudden deaths in young, healthy children. While the public listings of SIDS and SUDC have been low (conservatively estimated at a frequency of 0.01%), occurences have been rising by an exponential factor since the 1990s. Other causes of death have been approved for listing to offset the public frequency of deaths to SCP-6852.

Actual frequency of SCP-6852 victims is estimated to reach 25% by 2030. Procedure 6852-BEAR is estimated to actually result in an SCP-6852 instance's neutralization 7% of the time.

Procedure 6852-BEAR and all special containment procedures have been fully approved by the Ethics Committee.

Footnotes

1. Fundamental particles generated by all living entities, essentially the "soul."