*Author's note- written dialogue is follows: Cassy [Fred] {Dr. Ax}
Dr. Ax walked out of the break room with some coffee and his new assignment. He dreaded it. Of all the days to be given his first assignment, it had to be today. He stumbled as another round of artillery fire rocked the building; SCP-████ was rampaging in the parking lot. 705 had been on the loose since the night before, and as of 8:00 a.m. had claimed an espresso machine, annoying most of the staff. And to top it off he had to go find 423 before he could use it. Someone brought the journal out of containment and left him on a door name plate.
But at least he was working with a safe one. He hoped.
"I need more sleep," he declared.
He entered 085's containment room and sat down. The girl was in a pond setting, sitting on a dock.
{Hello Cassy.}
She looked up out of the paper. Hello.
{If you're ready, we're going to do some tests to gauge how you interact with various external things.}
Does it include fire?
He looked up in surprise. {No, what made you think of that?}
Nothing.
{Well then, moving on…our first test was going to interact with another SCP, number 423 to be exact.}
I've never heard of that one
{He…It…is quite interesting.} Ax wrote, flipping open 423's journal. {Listen, the higher ups are already pissed that you ended up on that sign. No monkey business.}
After a second, the journal came alive with scribbling sounds. [You think I wanted to be up there? And besides, isn't the latter Dr. Bright's job?]
Ax sighed. As if talking to humans was annoying enough. {I'm going to ignore that. Prepare for transfer}
[You sound like this is Star Trek]
The frustrated researcher rolled his eyes, then went back to 85's page. He had spent 2 days thinking of how to convert them-423 can't exist without text, and drawn humans, even if they were affected by Fred, don't come alive to Cassy. Then it hit him. He sketched a notebook and pencil onto the dock, then laid her page on the journal.
Nothing changed.
{…Try picking up the notebook} he wrote in the sky. She did so.
Should I write in it?
{Yes….try Hi.} She picked up the pencil and wrote. The researcher smirked as her inked eyebrows jumped. 423 must have responded. Ax was still unnerved himself by some of these things. He swore those eye pods blinked at him once, despite the documentation on them.
Cassy wrote back, and waited. Then wrote again. This continued, and in the meantime the doc realized he had a problem-he had no idea what was being said.
"Son of a…" he cursed. Then he thought of something. He looked at a security guard. "Hey, you know those text magnifiers?"
"Yea…" The guard jumped, startled. The white coats never spoke to him, unless it involved something trying to kill someone.
"Can you get me the schematics of one? Preferably with a 360o reading screen?" the doctor asked excitedly.
"Um…sure…" came the uneasy response. The guard radioed to the site library-they had 4 of those things, surely there had to be a diagram somewhere in there.
Ax turned back to the pond, nervous. He wanted them to stop until he could monitor, but he didn't want to risk 432 becoming silent. Sweat pooled on his brow. His higher-ups were doubtful that his tests would even work, never mind yield feasible results. But somehow he convinced them. The building shook again, and footsteps ran past the room. Ax looked at a junior researcher next to him. "Even you and I know that thing isn't allowed near the fuel supply, you'd think they would have lured it the other way."
The junior researcher shrugged, then lost her balance and fell as the floor rocked from a massive explosion. Even Cassy looked up, and Fred's journal revealed a question. [ The fuck was that?] he scribbled.
Ax sighed. {I don't think I want to know. And watch your language.}
[Sorry.]
Ax sighed as the guard handed him the paper he desired. "Hey, tha…why the hell is this greasy?"
"Six foot man eating chicken," came the reply, as calm and straight faced as the time of day.
…Maybe this was too weird a place to work.
At any rate, Ax read the blueprint. "Perfect," he whispered. If he drew it right, with some slight modifications….
Bingo. As Cassy sat down to write under a light, she brought the chair, and attached machine to life. Above her, the camera magnified what was being written so Ax could read it. He had guessed correctly-With a journal inside the picture, 423 would be able to reside in it and communicate with the picture.
"Incredible…" the researcher muttered. The specimens were comparing their lives, discussing staff they liked or disliked, describing life in 2 dimensions. It was as if they were members of a support group, having a transparency never described between SCPs before. This continued for 20 minutes, until 423 offered to "show her around," [I know some great novels to explore, and the maps show this place is huge! Lots of hiding spots.]
"Ah no you don't…" Ax quickly grabbed a pen {Ahem, I've just been informed that 423 is needed back for testing, if you please.}
Cassy blushed in surprise, then wrote a farewell. 423 returned to his journal.
[Hey that was great! Thanks for introducing us, I think I could get used to her.]
{Easy there cowboy, I don't know if O5s would let you back if they could read your mind}
[Oh and you can?]
{I can guess well enough…and how did you get access to maps?}
[Some lab tech got lost, guard pulled a map. I hopped on and read it.]
[I think you're trying to get me fired] Ax sighed, ignoring the screeching metal and explosions. Turning to the guard, he held out the journal. "Take 423 back to his unit, will you?"
"Can't," came the reply, "Old big and scary out there smashed a hallway, place is on level 1 lock down until he's contained."
Ax just stared, then flipped the notebook on his desk. "Great, just great."
[Ouch.]
He turned around back to the desk.
{Shut up.}
[Level 1 lock down? What's that?]
Ax groaned. Might as well tell him, from the sound of it he was going to be here awhile. {Means continue what you were doing just don't enter the halls.}
[Sounds good!]
{You're staying there while I work with 85}
[Can't I watch? The library's in bldg. 4 and I got nothing to read. And her name's Cassy.]
Ax threw up a hand in frustration. {FINE. But you're staying on a sign.} He went to 085's sheet and drew a billboard. He then laid the journal on the sign.
[Check out the view!]
Ax ignored him, and with one hand opening a folder, wrote with the other. {Now, Cassy, on with the next test. Do you like dolls?…}