You've always worked well when typing up your articles, writing so it displays the information concise enough for others to read. This was a new story, though. Something about SCP-5851 was different. You could only write about him once you saw him. It was written in the second person, a lot like the stuff you'd read when you were younger.
You'd see it him every day, sitting carelessly in his standard humanoid cell, and you could tell with the way he subconsciously ran his hand through his hair that he was thinking about you. When you locked eyes, he smiled and winked. Kya! Your heart almost skipped a beat. He knew that once you acknowledged him, it was fate. It was meant to be. You'd meet each other again someday. A slow, burning fire lit in your heart at the thought. Something ignited inside you; A desire to know more. So you went on.
He was the entity of your dreams; Charming, flirtatious but timid, with deep, deep eyes, a passionate hazel boring through your core. There was no doubt about it– You were infatuated. You loved watching him, even if you were strictly advised not to, even to go as far as to put no way of seeing him in his room, but you felt the connection. You first noticed him through a crack in the doorway, curiosity grabbing ahold of you, and saw him fidgeting with his hands. He looked so alone. So cold.
"Ah, what are you reading, darling?" A voice called from behind you. You turned away from your notes to see SCP-5851 leaning on the doorway. He flashed a mischievous grin.
"Are you surprised, y/n? Some people think of you as average, but I just can't seem to take my eyes off of you."
"SCP-5851, You're not supposed to be here!" You gasped, "What if you get caught?"
He smirked, "That doesn't happen easily, babe."
"Wh- SCP-58?-"
"Some people call me a Keter, but that doesn't change anything between us. Your beauty has contained my heart."
He was so daring, talking about the way he couldn't be completely contained…you knew he was a big fat liar too, because he thrives off your attention and willingness to pick apart all his mannerisms, little by little, word by word…
"…Don't look at me like that. You look ill. Did something happen while I was away?” SCP-5851 asked, grazing a large hand over your cheek. It He always made an effort to gaze at you. His other hand gently took yours, your fingers interlocking.
“You need to take care of yourself, overworking isn't healthy.”
“I'm fine, just a little cold,” you assure him. You felt cold, but you were blazing with affection on the inside. SCP-5851 had lit a spark you didn't even know you had, making you more fiery than usual.
Still, something tugged at the back of your mind. This felt wrong. It's already too late. I'm doomed. You didn't need to worry about that anymore. It was just fear; fear that someone might find out, or look at SCP-5851, or figure out you're writing fanfiction for an article. They were thoughts to let go of, you wrote.
“You're a good writer.” SCP-5851 said, “Did you think of this yourself?”
“Well…no. It's about you. We haven't finished it yet, because we can only write about you when we see you, and by then, it's over.”
“Y/n, are you thinking of breaking up with me?!” He laughed, throwing his head back before relaxing again and wrapping his arms around you as you frantically scribbled.
“Do you mind if I edit it a bit?” He asked, leisurely guiding your hand and striking out a few sentences. You loved his assertive nature. You leaned back on your chair, giving looking up to see SCP-5851's gorgeous hazel eyes looming over you. Your heartbeat thundered in your ears. He looked so beautiful…You pulled his head closer.
“Y/n, from the moment I saw you…”
You chuckled, “You tell everyone that. That's how we found you, remember? By the river, feeding off a girl's heat and lifeforce…”
You knew this was what he was doing to you, too. He loved you too much, and just wanted you to be happy with him. But how could you, when he was literally burning your organs from the inside? You're dead meat now, anyway. You want this to end quickly.
“It was so long ago, I don't recall."
He paused.
"Hold on. I missed something," he glanced back up at the document, quickly drawing a line through your mistakes.
"Every minute without someone like you, I feel so weak, and so cold… It hurts so much, y/n. Nobody seems to be as passionate as I am. Everyone I fall for, I'm so attached…I give so much, and they just, y/n, are you even listening? They just burn out…”
He reluctantly pulled away from you, his eyes watering. What was he talking about? In your last moments, you quickly threw this into your notes, hopeful whoever read it would take it into consideration when studying SCP-5851. The entity absorbs energy from internal organs after making direct eye contact.
“Wh- Y/n, do you feel empty already? This isn't fair…I thought you were the one this time. You understood me, and that takes rotten work.”
He cupped your face in his palms, and you felt your insides melting with love and the overwhelming flame in your heart.
“Why does it feel different this time, darling? Why do I feel bad this time?”
You sigh, cracking a smile. He noticed your writing hand on the desk, struggling to document your last moments with SCP-5851.
“Hah…So I guess everyone will know about me now. I'll be cold for a long time.”
His eyes bore into you, and you stare back. You barely notice yourself losing consciousness.
“But you know, y/n, I'll remember this moment forever.”

« SCP-5850 | SCP-5851 | SCP-5852 »


Item#: 5854

Level2

Containment Class:
safe

Secondary Class:
none

Disruption Class:
vlam

Risk Class:
critical

link to memo

Special Containment Procedures: All recovered SCP-5854 instances are to be kept in storage locker 17 in the Site-63 Safe anomaly wing. Foundation web crawlers have been deployed to monitor for any online sales of SCP-5854.
Description: Instances of SCP-5854 are pills of varying size, shape and colour, all manufactured by PoI "dado". These pills have been found in bottles just as variable as the pills, with the only consistencies being a label that reads "pills 2 take you 2 better place (very safe no worry)" and a standard best before label with a date sometime in the mid twentieth-century.
Upon consumption of an SCP-5854 instance, the subject will immediately expire, and show signs consistent with cyanide poisoning, despite SCP-5854 instances containing only sugar. No further anomalous affects have been observed.
Update 24/03/21: On 17/03/21, shortly after initial recovery of the first bottle of SCP-5854 instances, a test was conducted on D-38874. Following an autopsy, the body was disposed of and testing on SCP-5854 was concluded.
On 24/05/21, a cassette tape was anonymously delivered to Site-63, labeled as "safety land advertisement number 38", containing a video partially matching the video recorded by D-38874 shortly before consuming SCP-5854. A transcript of the video is available below.1

[BEGIN LOG]
Doctor Watts: Alright D-38874, looks like the camera is rolling. You ready to see where this thing takes you?
D-38874: Ready as I'll ever be.
D-38874 consumes an instance of SCP-5854.
D-38874: Oh shit. I- I don't think that-
D-38874 collapses on the floor. A bright light not visible to Foundation staff in the room is seen coming from the ceiling. It slowly brightens until D-38874 expires.
The bright light fades away revealing that D-38874 has been transported to what appears to be the edge of a rainforest. D-38874 turns around, revealing that he is standing at the front gate of what appears to be a large amusement park, with multiple roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and other common amusement park rides. Standing outside the gate is a humanoid entity wearing a guinea pig costume. Loud stock music begins to play, and the guinea pig starts yelling over it.
Guinea Pig: hello friends! welcome to the one and only safety park where things do not go wrong! there is no need to worry about anything bad happening to you or your family, because we here at safety world have guaranteed there will be no evidence of us causing hurt!!1!!
The scene changes to the Guinea Pig standing in front of a waterslide. D-38874 is nowhere to be seen.
Guinea Pig: are you to tired of all those theme parks being two dangerous to send your kids too? are you tired of fearing for your life when the rollercoaster goes off the tracks? are you tired of having to sue us poor theme parks just because the ferris wheel broke and turned into a giant human meat grinder?
Screams are heard from offscreen, right before a log and three human riders crash to the ground next to the Guinea Pig. The subtitles label the screaming as "screams of excitement at how safe everything is". Notably, all of the riders exit the log unscathed, even though two of them had their necks bent at such an angle during the crash that they should have been killed.
Guinea Pig: we here at the very safe and amusing park have heard your calls for help, and we have answered by offering the safest possible park on this planet!! we have 100 percent certainty that you will not suffer any long term injuries after arriving in our park.
Guinea Pig: but don't take it from me! just trust one of our happy customers!
The scene cuts to the front end of a roller coaster. The Guinea Pig is sitting on the left, and an unidentified human is sitting in the right seat. The Guinea Pig has its hand up the back of the human's shirt.
Human: this place is the best park i've ever been to! it's so safe, i can even do this!!!
As the roller coaster enters a loop, the Guinea Pig passes the human a revolver, and the human presses it against their forehead and pulls the trigger. The bullet passes through their head leaving no mark, and hits the other end of the track. The roller coaster then reaches the part of the track damaged by the gunshot and derails, as the camera falls off the front of the car. The camera lands on the ground below, and the roller coaster can be seen falling off the track and slamming into the support beams, causing the entire track to collapse. One of the beams falls on the camera and the screen goes black.
The scene changes again to inside what appears to be a run down shack. The only light is coming from behind the camera. The Guinea Pig is facing the camera, repeatedly stabbing a carving knife into a human corpse. It continues this action while talking.
Guinea Pig: wow!!!! wasn't that a nice endorsement! i hope all of you people want to check out the safest park in the world right now! well, if you want to come, just call 1-(800)-426-3236 right now to get 100% offffff!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!! that's right, just call now and get your tickets absolutely free!
The same human from the roller coaster scene enters the frame carrying a large plastic ghost decoration. They give a thumbs up to the camera, before the Guinea Pig cuts off the head of the corpse and reveals that it looks identical to the living human next to it.
The scene fades to black and the video ends, although the stock music continues playing to a black screen for another hour.

After reviewing the video repeatedly, it was determined that forty-three unique individuals were seen in the background of the video. Of those, thirty-eight were recognized as individuals who had been found dead of cyanide poisoning in the past year. It is unknown where the park featured in the video is located.

Footnotes
1. The video contains subtitles with many misspellings that were copied in the transcript.

« SCP-5853 | SCP-5854 | SCP-5855 »


by AnActualCrow & Henzoid

Item#: 5855

Level3

Containment Class:
keter

Secondary Class:
{$secondary-class}

Disruption Class:
vlam

Risk Class:
notice

link to memo

"The Scarlet Muse" by notable post-impressionist Hugo Demóre, c. 1879

Special Containment Procedures: Not enough is currently known about SCP-5855 manifestations to effectively contain SCP-5855 upon manifestation. For this reason, short-term containment efforts should focus on administering Class G amnestics to individuals who have seen SCP-5855 but were unaffected by SCP-5855's non-anomalous antimemetic property.
Permanent containment efforts have been directed towards the finalization of Operation: TV DINNER. Upon completion of Operation: TV DINNER and observation of its effectiveness, special containment procedures are to be revised.
Description: SCP-5855 is the collective designation for a variety of anomalous fruit bearing one or more human organs/appendages. SCP-5855 instances are sentient and ambulatory, re-positioning themselves by rolling, hopping, or using their human limbs. SCP-5855 instances manifest in close proximity to individuals (hereafter referred to as SCP-5855-A) who have artistic or creative backgrounds1 and are affected by one or more of the following:

Severe sleep deprivation.
High fever.
Hallucinogenic drugs.
Psychosis.

SCP-5855-A instances often deny that their perceptions of SCP-5855 are accurate, instead believing that they had misidentified non-anomalous fruit or were dreaming. This effect has been deemed non-anomalous.
SCP-5855-A instances frequently create art depicting SCP-5855, which de-manifest soon after SCP-5855-A's "spark of inspiration".
Addendum 01 - Artistic Depictions of SCP-5855:

An image taken from tumblr user st4rvingshartist. The caption reads: "Inspired by a dream I had were a banana with arms told me to keep making art. Thanks manana :)"

"Fever Dream" by @ZaylArt🔞 on Twitter, 2019

"The Ugly Pineapple" by Ralph Jacobs, runner up in the 2012 Scholastic Art Awards

"Speech Without Substance" by Emanuel Canterfellow Rosenstein, currently in the AAAG (American Abstract Art Gallery), 2016

Addendum 02 - Proposition by Head Researcher Turner:
Head Researcher Turner's analysis of SCP-5855 manifestations discovered the following patterns:

There is a minimum of 6 months between every SCP-5855 manifestation.
The length of time between manifestations (not including the initial 6 months) appears related to the style in which SCP-5855 was depicted.
The length of the demanifestation period is positively correlated with how realistic the depiction of SCP-5855 is and how central said depiction is to the piece's overall composition.

Considering this information, along with SCP-5855's previously-documented sentience and tendency to manifest in the presence of artistic/creative individuals, the following explanation for SCP-5855's behavior have been hypothesized:

SCP-5855 instances manifest with the intent of being artistically depicted.
SCP-5855 has a preference for realistic artstyles and depictions that focus on SCP-5855.
The length of SCP-5855 demanifestations correlate with how "satisfied" SCP-5855 is with its depiction.
By depicting SCP-5855 during a demanifestation period, one could extend the length of time that SCP-5855 is "satisfied", delaying future manifestations.

To test this hypothesis and more effectively contain SCP-5855, Operation: TV DINNER was proposed.

OPERATION: TV DINNER

Primary Objective: Prevent SCP-5855 manifestations.
Secondary Objectives: Create an additional source of Foundation funding. If Operation: TV DINNER fails to prevent all SCP-5855 manifestations, inoculate the public to images of fruit with human organs. This will reduce the likelihood of the veil being broken by SCP-5855 manifestations.
Course of Action: A Foundation shell company is to produce and frequently publish new depictions of SCP-5855 to the public. These are to take the form of an episodic television show, allowing new content (and subsequently new depictions of SCP-5855) to be created indefinitely. The main characters of this series (who are to be on-screen as often as possible) will be fruit bearing multiple external human organs. These organs are to be digitally transposed onto their surfaces (skin, peel, rind, etc.) by a team of editors. If necessary for plot coherence, Head Researcher Turner may appear as an in-universe character.
A prototype image demonstrating the realistic artstyle of the finished product has been attached at the end of this document.

STATUS: APPROVED

▶ Show Prototype Image ◀

▷ Hide Prototype Image ◁

Footnotes
1. Similar to the way SCP-3711 targets individuals.

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« SCP-5854 | SCP-5855 | SCP-5856 »


Scanning for brain-state. Please view the following image:

Please input the phrase you feel is suggested by the above image.
~$: Black? Blackest? Howl, ye, and the moon.
Hypnotic suggestibility confirmed. Randomising social norms…
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒ 90.90%
Social norms randomised. False normalcy generated. Consistency confirmed above threshold.
Welcome to Containment Team CT-5856. Your name is Fabien K. K. Lengthways. This has always been your name.
You will now read the following document in its entirety. Press any key to continue.
~$: a
Loading file…

Item №: SCP-5856
Anomaly Class: Robertson-Jackal
Threat Level: Saddlebrown ●
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5856 is currently contained by the combined efforts of Containment Team CT-5856 ("Unfettered Mares"), of which you are the newest member. You find this normal. It is contained within Containment Complex 5856, which consists of the following main components:

R5856/1: The boardroom. This is the room within which SCP-5856 is contained. It is outfitted with decor and furniture in a style which is considered by some to be socially normal. You find the style to be a tad gaudy. For religious reasons, it is located at the centre of the complex, with barred windows to all other rooms and a balcony overlooking washroom #4.
R5856/2: The scullery. The purpose of this room is known to every person except yourself.
R5856/3: Desmond's bedroom. This is the room within which Desmond sleeps. You must never enter this room unless Desmond contacts you via telegram. The room houses a variety of Oriental mannequins and scented candles. The former of these is considered normal to you. You have never witnessed the latter before, and find the concept scary and bewildering. The possession of one or more of the latter objects is punishable by death in your homeland. You will never meet the occupant of this room, as they are currently on an expedition to Peru — an event to which you were initially invited, but rejected from at the last moment.
R5856/4: Bulwark Street Station. This is a shared common area, where you may mingle with the other members of CT-5856. It is outfitted with a coal scuttle and tanning salon. There are complimentary supplies of powdered milk, your favourite food. You dislike others eating your favourite food, and often make this known.
R5856/5: The parlour. This is your private residence, and decorated in a way you find entirely normal and appealing. One of the other members of CT-5856 find(s) your decor to be in poor taste, while two others feel it is mildly blasphemous. You care about the opinions of at least two of these people.

R5856/6 through 12 are the private residences of the other members of CT-5856, whom you are eager to meet. There are also numerous supplementary rooms and installations throughout the complex, the functions of which will likely become clear. The exception to this is the menagerie, which has been locked. You wish very much to gain entry, and know that another member of the containment team has the key.
At the end of your week-long stay in the parlour, you will be amnesticised. This is morally and ethically acceptable to you. You may then be administered another course of hypnotic suggestives, re-educated regarding social norms, and reintroduced to an altered version of the complex, alongside multiple people who you may or may not have met before. This is also morally and ethically acceptable to you.
Currently, the only members of CT-5856 who you have pre-formed opinions of are:

Langley deBaucher, whom you despise due to your differences in opinion regarding dogs.
Viscount Charles, whom you regard ambivalently due to unspoken sexual tension.
Zachary F. Callahan, whom you wish to marry due to her fabulous antique eggs.

Of those you haven't yet formed opinions of, exactly three have already formed opinions of you.
In order to contain SCP-5856, you must attempt to befriend Dr. Leopold Franc-Polio and set Langley deBaucher up with a romantic partner. Do not let Li Richter reveal that you are secretly racist. Avoid all contact with the complex's several-hundred gargoyles and deduce the blood type of every person more popular than yourself.
Description: SCP-5856 is a sociokinetic and tele-empathic humanoid entity, kept in a state of permanent disorientation within the boardroom. It is capable of manipulating any and all coherent social bonds with entities who know of its existence in any form, which renders it incredibly dangerous and nigh-uncontainable in normal situations. In casual conversation, SCP-5856 may be referred to by you as the secret George. You find this normal. It will remain a non-threat so long as the Special Containment Procedures above are upheld.
The SCP Foundation thanks you for your part in these procedures. Please now return to your quarters. The remainder of CT-5856 will join you for dinner at 1800 hours. Your ceremonial sceptre and Auckland 2004 Yellow Pages telephone directory will arrive shortly. They are familiar items to you, and your first instinct regarding their use is entirely correct.

End of file.

« SCP-5855 | SCP-5856 | SCP-5857 »


SCP-5858

Item #: SCP-5858
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5858 is physically self-contained, but requires active censorship. All outbound communication from the town of Ambler will be screened, and revised by Site-24 AI DONA. Individuals made aware of SCP-5858 will be given Class-A amnesics.
Personnel must strictly adhere to their role when entering this Locked Scenario1. When asked to leave SCP-5858, personnel should do so as quickly and courteously as possible. Under no circumstance may anyone enter SCP-5858 posing as theater staff.
Description: SCP-5858 is the Ambler Theater, located in the borough of Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In 2018, this playhouse spontaneously entered a IO-Locked Scenario, and has since continued presenting "A Streetcar Named Desire" for 17,520 consecutive hours.

Excerpt-LS | Locked Scenarios

Excerpt-LS | Locked Scenarios

A Locked Scenario (LS) occurs when an event, incident, or sequence of actions is anomalously extended past its logical expiration. These phenomena should not be confused with Temporal Loops (TL), which create brackets of repeating time - Locked Scenarios merely repeat the event itself as time progresses. To achieve this effect, an LS will often alter human perception, along with any number of core scientific principles. Often mischaracterized as "hauntings" or "curses", some examples of Locked Scenarios in the Foundation database include SCP-112, SCP-4382, and SCP-1337. As each of these documents demonstrate, Locked Scenarios can be incredibly dangerous, and require proper understanding for their safe containment and/or resolution.
An LS will operate under two set variables: Protracted vs. Indefinite, and Static vs. Organic.

A Protracted LS (P-LS) will eventually self-terminate.
An Indefinite LS (I-LS) will be self-sustaining.

High-sensitivity Kant Counters can be used to tell these phenomena apart. The more common P-LS will show a gradual decline in Hume levels, culminating in a total field collapse or "burnout". An I-LS will show steady, or bare fluctuations in Hume levels, and will always require some form of external resolution.

A Static LS (S-LS) will only repeat a sequence of events.
An Organic LS (O-LS) will "progress" within its own set confines.

Consider this separation in terms of a baseball game. In an S-LS, the game will repeat its nine innings over and over. In an O-LS, the game will continue into a 10th inning and beyond, with the score progressively increasing. Combining these factors, a Locked Scenario can be interchangeably characterized as PO-LS, or IS-LS, etc.
- Foundation Research Archives | Common Anomalous Zones and How they Operate, Volume 12.

There are 87 individuals affected by SCP-5858 directly, including the actors, stage hands, and audience members. All other residents of Ambler have been passively affected by this anomaly, believing the unnatural duration of the performance is completely unremarkable2.
SCP-5858-1 through 13 14 are the staff of the Ambler Theater, uniquely affected by the Locked Scenario. These individuals are easily identified by their red shirts, black vests, and perpetual full-body vibrations - visually resembling hummingbird wings in motion. All staff members have expressed enhanced speed, strength, and spacial awareness, operating at roughly 5 times that of baseline human capacity. While staff members will continue to perform their routine duties, albeit at a faster pace, their primary purpose is to act as Locked Scenario "maintenance", aggressively preventing all outside interference.

SCP-5858-TL Excerpts:

==============CONDITIONS==============
===========RESULT===========

D-8743 is asked to enter SCP-5858, using a valid ticket, and posing as a patron.
Subject allowed entry, and safely watches the play for 23 minutes. Subject is then asked to leave for coughing too loudly3.

D-8911 is told to enter SCP-5858 without a valid ticket, and to remain despite staff protests.
After 4 minutes of trespassing, SCP-5858-1 (87-year-old Donald Miller) lifted D-8911 over his head, sprinted down three flights of stairs, and threw him outside. D-8911 suffered six broken ribs.

D-9013 is asked to enter SCP-5858 posing as a member of staff.
[DATA EXPUNGED] D-9013 is now classified as SCP-5858-14. Testing has been suspended at this time.

To date, no test subject has managed to remain inside the theater for more than 3 hours before being ejected for some form of infraction.4 On February 15th, 2020, Mobile Task Force Xi-5 "Newtons Bullies" were dispatched to contain/neutralize this anomaly.

Exploration Log 1 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 1 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 1 - SCP-5858
Date: 15/02/2020 | 11:14
Location: Ambler Theater / SCP-5858
MTF: Xi-5 "Newtons Bullies"

Site-24: Xi-5, this is Command. Report in.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: 5-1, coms online.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: 5-2, coms online.
Xi-5-3|Volkov: 5-3, coms online.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: 5-4, coms online.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Xi-5 is green, Command. We're in full compliance with the scenario. Besides the earpieces, we're at zero equipment. I'm feeling a bit naked here.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: I told you to go with the high-neck, not the halter-strap.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: I meant the lack of tech, Sam. Though, yeah, it's going to be strange running this mission in heels.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: Exactly why I chose the tux. I feel like I'm in a James Bond movie.
Xi-5-3|Volkov: You look just like the supervillain's butler, Samantha.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: So I look like your butler, eh "Volkov"?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Enough, you two. We may be dressed as civilians, but we're still on the clock.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: He's right. Let's cut the chatter. On the flipside, Higs, we are pretending to be civvies. I'm gonna' need you to act like a person.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Yes, Captain.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Keep working on that. Command, we're ready for approach.
Site-24: Copy, 5-1. Your objective is to locate the source of the anomaly. Neutralize, if possible, but use extreme caution.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: We've read the dossier, command - none of us want an ass-whooping from an octogenarian.
Site-24: Good. Present your tickets at the gate, and maintain your cover as theater patrons. Keep radio chatter to a minimum. Good luck.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Alright Bullies, let's get weird.

MTF-Xi-5 head to the main entrance to the theater. The ticket booth is manned by SCP-5858-6, 15 year old Edwin McAlister, who has been seated there for the past two years. Like all staff members, SCP-5858-6's head rapidly swivels in all directions, creating a featureless blur. McAlister focuses on 5-1 as she approaches, speaking rapidly, but clearly.
McAlister: (Spoken rapidly) Goodevening. Doyouhaveyourtickets?
5-1 presents four tickets, recovered from absentees within Ambler.
McAlister: Thankyou. You'reabitlateyouknow. You'vealreadymissedthethirteenthousandth onehundredandfiftythirdact.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Oh, yes, sorry, we were- uh, held up in traffic.
McAlister: Noproblem. Justheadinduringintermission. Enjoytheshow!
Xi-5 enter the theater.

Exploration Log 2 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 2 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 2 - SCP-5858
Date: Date: 15/02/2020 | 14:35
Location: Ambler Theater / SCP-5858
MTF: Xi-5 "Newtons Bullies"

Xi-5-4|Fletcher: (whispering) Command, do you copy?
Site-24: Received, 5-4. Is everything alright? We're picking up some feedback on your transmission. Has the anomaly-
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: That's just echo. I'm uh-… I'm hiding out in the bathroom.
Site-24: Oh, yes- of course. Report.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: It's about what we expected, Command - no time dilation or visual distortions, just an ongoing event; classic Locked Scenario. It's difficult to say anything else without my equipment. Saksa and Higs took-
Site-24: Please use your call-signs, agent.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: Right right, sorry. 5-1 and 5-2 took their seats near the front of the auditorium. The audience is fully embedded in the Scenario - no malnutrition, physical degradation or signs of distress. They don't even seem bored!
The play itself seems to be continuing way, way off the events of "Streetcar". Blanche escaped from the hospital several thousand acts ago, and is now on the run in Morocco. Stanley is still chasing her, but now it's because he was hired by Shep Huntleigh to hunt her down, since she stole this diamond that gives her supernatural-
Site-24: Thank you, 5-4, but we already knew this was an O-LS.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: Right, yeah. Sorry, It's just… surprisingly engaging! I don't know if I could sit through two whole years of it but- wait, hold on.
A muffled groan is heard, followed by a sharp, quick 'thud'.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: Sorry about that. This guy just won't stay down.
Site-24: Guy? What guy? 5-4, what's happening?
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: About that. We think we've found the source of the anomaly. Remember when I said no one looked bored? Well, Higs- sorry, 5-2, he noticed someone who was.
Site-24: And did you- accost this person!?
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: What? Oh, no, no this guy was just sitting next to the subject. Sa- 5-1 signaled me to take him out, so I followed him into the bathroom. I tried to play nice, really, but this guy really, really wants to get back to his seat!
Site-24: You were told not to break cover, 5-4. This absolutely constitutes breaking cover.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: Sorry Command, but like you said, we needed to work quickly. They know we're not supposed to be here. I can't even wipe my nose without one of those buzzing black-vested freaks shining a flashlight in my face! I feel like a germ in this theater's body, and the white blood cells are circling.
Site-24: Still, this seems needlessly dangerous-
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: I know what it seems like, Command. I also know this is exactly why you transferred me to Xi-5. This is a team for problem solvers, yeah? We've got a plan. We're getting it done.
Site-24: (…) Copy, 5-4. Keep us apprised.
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: Copy that. Now I better get back out there. I don't want the ushers catching me-
The bathroom door is heard crashing open. 3 milliseconds of extremely rapid footsteps are heard before someone knocks violently on the stall door, cracking the linoleum.
SCP-5858-3: (Spoken rapidly) Helloexcuseme. We'vereceivedsomecomplaintswouldyoupleasecomeout?
Xi-5-4|Fletcher: (…) Fuck.

Exploration Log 3 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 3 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 3 - SCP-5858
Date: 15/02/2020 | 14:38
Location: Ambler Theater / SCP-5858
MTF: Xi-5 "Newtons Bullies"

Claire Wilde|Blanche: You shouldn't have followed me Mitch - or should I say, Stanley?
Phillip O'Connel|Stanley: What!? How did you know? My disguise was perfect!
Claire Wilde|Blanche: The Diamond lets me see through your lies, Stanley. How could it not, when it holds Stella's very soul!
5-2 re-enters the auditorium after visiting the concession stand, slipping into a seat in the back row. As he sits, faint electronic beeping is heard over 5-2's earpiece.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: (whispering) Hey.
Young boy(?): (whispering) Um… hey?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Cool Gameboy. Is that Pokemon? I used to play Red and Blue with my little brother.
Young boy(?): Yeah, uh, t-thanks… it- yeah, it's Pokemon…
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Cool. Hey, this play's pretty boring, huh?
Young boy(?): It's… it's alright. My parents like to bring me to this kinda' stuff…
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Is that them over there? They seem… pretty focused.
Young boy(?): They really like the theater.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Not you though?
More electronic noises, and tapping buttons are heard.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Yeah, same here. My- uh, fiance drags me to these things. She's down in the first row. I just wish I could get out of here, right?
Young boy(?): N-… I mean- it's fine. It's- … it's better than-…
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Than what? Hey… are you okay?
Young boy(?): I'm fine.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: You sure? I can-
Four sets of rapid footsteps are heard, converging on 5-2. Both 5-2 and the subject go quiet until the ushers move off.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: (lower whispering) What's your name?
Young boy(?): (…) Tim.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Hey Tim, I'm Yasuo.
Young boy(?): (…) That's a cool name.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Thanks. Hey, you can keep playing Pokemon by the way. I won't tell.
No further electronic sounds are heard. Over the next twenty minutes, all actors begin to stutter and pause their lines mid-speech, similar to a skipping record. The music played between scenes goes off-tune.
Abruptly, two characters enter the stage acting outside the current narrative. Their voices are unusually muffled when speaking, as if heard from behind a wall or door.
Man(?): So what, I'm not allowed to have friends now!?
Woman(?): Oh right, "friends". Like Doug was just a friend, right?
Man(?): Yes! God, you're so paranoid! I can't even go to the bar anymore, or spend time with my co-workers because you assume I'm going to-
Woman(?): You did though! We both know you like-
Man(?): That was back in college! We're married now! We have a son! What else do I need to do to convince you I love you!?
Woman(?): You could touch me, for once.
Man(?): Oh of course. Of course! I bust my ass twelve hours a day, come home exhausted, and you use that as an excuse to call me a-
Woman(?): Enough. We can't-… the neighbors are going to call the cops again. Let's just-… let's just get dressed. We promised we'd see Shelly's play tonight. We can talk about this when we get home.
Man(?): (…) Fine. We're talking about this though. Tonight, when we get home, we're settling this once and for all.
The two actors walk off stage. The audience claps. A sniffling sound is heard near 5-2.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Hey… Tim? Is everything-
A loud humming noise overpowers the microphone. The audience rises from their seats. A voice comes from the stage.
Actor (?): That's intermission, folks! Please, grab yourself a soda or popcorn up front. We'll be back for act thirteen-thousand one-hundred and fifty-seven in just ten minutes!

Exploration Log 4 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 4 - 15/02/2020

Exploration Log 4 - SCP-5858
Date: 15/02/2020 | 14:55
Location: Ambler Theater / SCP-5858
MTF: Xi-5 "Newtons Bullies"

5-1 and 5-2 are heard surrounded by audience members in the main lobby. Two elderly patrons are standing nearby.
Audience A(?): That last scene was breathtaking, don't you think? What do you suppose it represents?
Audience B(?): I suspect it's another of Blanche's dream sequences, like in act five hundred and fifteen. Why must these local directors insist on their art-house nonsense?
Audience A(?): Oh hush, darling. You've been grumbling and fidgeting for the past two months! I swear, you're like a child! I can't take you anywhere (laughing).
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Yasuo! Sweetheart! Where have you been?

Xi-5-2|Higashi: (…) Oh! Yes, hello… pumpkin. It was- uh- too loud, so close to the stage you know, so I took a seat further back. Say, what happened to our friend Samantha?
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Had to run, I'm afraid. Poor thing has a terrible stomach bug. No less than five ushers had to help them outside!
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Are they alright?
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Oh yes, they made it to the curb before- before anything bad happened.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: I'm glad. Actually, speaking of friends, I met the most interesting young man just before intermission. I think he might be-
The ambient volume begins to increase. Multiple couples begin shouting at each other.
Audience A(?): Always fidgeting! I can't take you anywhere! You're such a fucking useless child!
Audience B(?): To hell with you! I don't even want to be here!
Audience C(?): Nag nag nag, constantly! You wonder why I spend so much time at work!
Audience D(?): Oh you know why I spend so much time at work, you harpy! Why would I ever want to be at home with such a shit family!?
Audience E(?): You don't love me anymore! You never loved me!
Audience F(?): I don't even know you anymore!
Xi-5-3|Volkov: (Static) Capta- d- you re- me?
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Volkov? Damn it, we're supposed to be-
Xi-5-3|Volkov: (Static) Ushers-! Audit- the crowd is- eachother and- actors started-
The sound of shouting is overpowering in 5-4's earpiece
Xi-5-3|Volkov:(Static) ound me- buzzing- shlights- they're trying t- ah! sto- get o-!
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Volkov? Volkov! God damn it. Higs, we're breaking cover. We need to get back into-
Audience B(?): Bitch!
Audience E(?): Liar!
Audience C(?): I can't take this anymore!
Audience D(?): Just talk to me, damn it!
Audience A(?): (Screaming) Get the fuck away from me!
All 87 individuals inside SCP-5858 suddenly go silent, followed by a single, audible 'slap'. The sound of 86 bodies hitting the floor is heard, then nothing.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: (…) What the actual fuck. Do you have any idea wha-… Higs? Higs, what are you doing?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Acting like a person.
5-2 walks forward, the sound of popcorn crunching under his feet. As he approaches, the microphone gradually picks up the sound of a young boy crying.
Transmission cut-off.

Addendum - 15/02/2020 | 15:13: All anomalous activity in Ambler abruptly ceases. Friends and family of those within SCP-5858 begin panicking. At the same time, the doors to SCP-5858 open, and people begin to exit. Many collapse into the street, openly weep, or stumble around catatonic. All members of Xi-5 report in safe.
Addendum - 15/02/2020 | 15:17: The last three audience members exit the theater. A young boy is seen standing between a man and a woman, holding both their hands. The trio walk down the town's main street until reaching the first intersection. They embrace, then walk a short distance in separate directions before vanishing.
Addendum - Site-24 | Director Morgan: Reclassification to Neutralized pending.

After Action Report - 16/02/2020

After Action Report - 16/02/2020

After Action Report - Captain Lyydia Saksa - SCP-5858
Date: 16/02/2020 | 13:01
Location: Site-24 Briefing Room.

Director Morgan: What exactly happened in there, Captain?
Xi-5-1|Saksa: I've given you my report.
Director Morgan: You have, yes, but there are still-
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Ma'am, with all due respect, the ink is already dry on this. You asked me what happened, and I gave you the full, clinical details.
Director Morgan: (…) So that's all you have to report? You didn't, at all, hear what 5-2 said to the boy?
Xi-5-1|Saksa: My ears were still ringing, ma'am - from all the shouting, you know. I just saw him approach the subject. I didn't hear anything.
Director Morgan: I see. Thank you Captain, that will be all.
Xi-5-1|Saksa: He's a good agent.
Director Morgan: Pardon me?
Xi-5-1|Saksa: Higashi. He's a damn good agent - a bit uptight sometimes, maybe, but- okay, look, I know you're raking him over the coals right now. I may not know what he said to that kid, but ma'am, I know he said it for the right reasons.

After Action Report - Agent Yasuo Higashi - SCP-5858
Date: 16/02/2020 | 17:16
Location: Site-24 Directors Office.

Director Morgan: Take a seat, Agent.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: I'll stand, if you don't mind.
Director Morgan: (…) Very well. I think you know why you're here.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Yes ma'am.
Director Morgan: During the broadcast cut-out, your earpiece automatically switched to hard backup. Everything was still recorded. We know exactly what you said to the anomaly.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: The kid, you mean.
Director Morgan: The anomaly, Agent. Do you have any idea what you've done?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Yes ma'am. I sat down with a kid who's parents were fighting. I told him that I'd gone through the same thing. I saw a young man in need of help, and I helped him.
Director Morgan: That "young man" is a reality bender, Agent. He created a Locked Scenario that kept 86 people trapped in a theater for two full years.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: And now they're not trapped anymore. Mission successful.
Director Morgan: You can't possibly be this obtuse. You solved a problem by creating a catastrophe! We now have a sentient reality-warper out in the world with a twelve-year-old's sense of morality and consequences! Does that still sound like a "success" to you, Agent Higashi?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: (…) No ma'am.
Director Morgan: Do you realize how inconceivably dangerous it is to give an adult reality bender even partial awareness of their own abilities? Let alone a child?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Yes ma'am.
Director Morgan: Do you have literally any justification for your actions, beyond being emotionally compromised and astoundingly irresponsible? Anything to say at all?
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Just that I'm disappointed, ma'am. I thought I'd left this inhuman bullshit behind when I renounced the GOC.
Director Morgan pauses, then sighs.
Director Morgan: You're demoted, Agent. I am officially removing you from Mobile Task Force Xi-5 until a formal inquiry is held. Turn over your uniform and equipment to the Quartermaster. You're dismissed.
Agent Higashi moves to leave the office. He pauses in the archway.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: Director?
Director Morgan: We're done, agent. Save your defense for the crucible.
Xi-5-2|Higashi: No ma'am, no defense. This might end up hurting me, actually, but I don't care. I want you to know I don't regret it. A young man in that kind of situation… he needs someone to reach out. He needs to know it's going to be alright. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do it any differently.
Agent Higashi leaves, closing the office door behind him.

Footnotes
1. For more information on Locked Scenarios, see Excerpt-LS below.
2. "Oh yes, of course I miss my husband. He's had to skip our daughter's birthday twice now! Still, that play must be spectacular." -Marsha Kieth, 2020.
3. Subject insists he cleared his throat quietly.
4. Including: Untied shoelaces, popcorn hogging, talking too loudly, breathing too loudly, blinking too often, and not truly appreciating the play's thematic elements.

« SCP-5857 | SCP-5858 | SCP-5859 »


{$caption}

Anorrack

SCP-7890
Author Page
Cover photo created by me
Sherman's signature taken from Wikipedia, ineligible for copyright
Progress Research Institute logo taken and modified from SCP-1340-RU
Articles you might enjoy:
SCP-3946-Amphitrite's Curse, Scylla's Wrath
SCP-4724-Making a New Life

Foundation and Pentagram collaborations were not uncommon in the early 20th century

______
5859
Recon
Disc.
Confront
Update

ITEM #: SCP-5859
OBJECT CLASS: Uncontained
SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES: SCP-5859 is to be analyzed and a course of action is to be declared. Full cooperation with the PENTAGRAM1 is deemed necessary.
DESCRIPTION: SCP-5859 is a suspected behavioral-affective agent that was first discovered in Fort Richards, Kentucky2. SCP-5859 was discovered when Fort Richards went radio-silent for five days. Further investigation by the Army led to the downing of a cargo aircraft by the fort's artillery. Suspected paratechnology found within the base after a spec-ops raid, along with the altered behaviors of soldiers stationed at the fort, led to the involvement of the PENTAGRAM which subsequently notified the FOUNDATION. Investigation is ongoing.

1. The occult branch of the Department of Defense.
2. Now designated UE-104312.

FOUNDATION-PENTAGRAM EMERGENCY MEETING
CLASSIFIED RENDEZVOUS LOCALE, ALPHA ROMEO DELTA
17:30 August 19th 1955

David HEINLEIN: FOUNDATION Representative
Jacob RADDAGHER: PENTAGRAM Representative

<BEGIN TRANSCRIPT>
[Metal scrapes on concrete as both men sit down. The only sounds are the undoing of briefcase clasps and the shuffling of papers.]
RADDAGHER: Dave.
HEINLEIN: Jake.
…
RADDAGHER: [sighs] I guess you know why you're here.
HEINLEIN: The PENTAGRAM wants us to get them out of a jam. Again. It's been, what, four years since the organization was created?
RADDAGHER: Six.
HEINLEIN: Yeah, like that's much of a difference.
RADDAGHER: Listen, Sherman is up our asses with this one. He wants something to report to the top brass. And I mean the top top brass. We can't have people talking about G-men poking around a military base in Bumfuck, Kentucky. He wants this done quickly. Quietly. I mean Christ, it's been a bitch just trying to frame the optics of the crash-
HEINLEIN: Alright, alright. So, spill it. What actually happened?
RADDAGHER: Basically what you probably know from your briefing. Fort goes completely radio-silent, dead as a grave. Military does a few fly-bys, radio checks, nothing. They try to land. [RADDAGHER mimics an explosion.] Bye-bye Skytrain.
HEINLEIN: What next?
RADDAGHER: Usual gig, Sherman acts like a man possessed, which I guess he is anyways, swearing up and down the garden path that this must be abnormal and ergo, [RADDAGHER clicks his tongue and points at himself.] our department.
HEINLEIN: The PENTAGRAM wouldn't be ringing the phones off of the hooks if this was just another goose chase. What did you find in that fort?
[RADDAGHER's chair creaks]
RADDAGHER: Paratech. Massive stockpile. Millions of dollars worth. Must've been planned for months, years even, for them to shuttle all that junk into the base and hide it. Thing was wired to every speaker, microphone, and ventilation shaft on the damn base.
HEINLEIN: [Sucks in air through teeth] Please tell me you or your men didn't mess with it.
RADDAGHER: Don't get your knickers in a twist, we didn't mess with it. We just went poking around in their hideout, built into the fucking walls of the base.
HEINLEIN: What about the soldiers, why did they down the plane?
RADDAGHER: You know I'm not privy to that information. Who knows what happened to them, radium in their C-rations, aerosol in the vents… All the soldiers were bundled away by spec-ops before I even got to the base. But I think I got the better end of the stick anyways, the tech that they hid in our own fort, on our own soil [RADDAGHER whistles] it's a marvel.
HEINLEIN: "They"? Who is "they"? The Snakes? Insurgency?
RADDAGHER: Wrong and wrong. Ruskies.
…
HEINLEIN: Are you sure?
RADDAGHER: You should've seen the tech. Covered in Russian, even had a hammer and sickle bumper sticker on its side. If it were any more Soviet it would've been drinking vodka and calling for the downfall of Truman himself.
[The sound of paper sliding against metal is heard as RADDAGHER shows HEINLEIN photographs.]
HEINLEIN: Jesus Christ.
…
HEINLEIN: And you want the FOUNDATION to, what, pick a fight with the Soviet Union? Act like a bored nanny separating two fighting toddlers?
RADDAGHER: We aren't asking you to do that-
HEINLEIN: You know what I think? You just want plausible deniability if this all goes south. And I swear to god, if this is just a crapshoot and you cause a major diplomatic incident-
RADDAGHER: Hey, stop crying, you're acting like a baby with chapped asscheeks. No. What I want is irrelevant. We want the people who did this brought to justice. You just so happen to be the most well equipped for the job. Just please, investigate the fort. If not for Sherman, how about for me, eh? If it's nothing, it's nothing, you don't need to worry about a thing, this entire incident was just Will off his ecto-meds again and I'll buy you a drink to make up for it. If it's something… Well we best hope the Cold War doesn't get hot.
EXTRANEOUS CONVERSATION OMITTED
<END TRANSCRIPT>

[…]
In conclusion, as per PENTAGRAM-FOUNDATION agreement, The FOUNDATION is permitted to survey the site of UE-104312, extract any paratechnology located on the premises, and reverse-engineer the aforementioned paratechnology if in fact it exists. In the event that paratechnology is located within UE-104312 and has been determined to have been placed at UE-104312 maliciously, The FOUNDATION pledges to collaborate with the PENTAGRAM and swiftly and succinctly retaliate against this unprovoked attack on the sovereign nation of the United States of America.

O5-4

O5-4
External Affairs, FOUNDATION

William Tecumseh Sherman
J9- Director, PENTAGRAM

Two weeks after the initial report of SCP-5859, STF-Yankee was deployed to investigate UE-104312. Within a locked and disused supply closet there was a false wall that led to a series of corridors, initially used for maintenance access. Within the corridors personnel discovered an unidentified machine containing numerous oscilloscopes and read-outs visible on the exterior. A keypad labeled with Cyrillic characters opened a panel on the device; this revealing a pane of thick, leaded glass, through which a dark, ovoid object could be seen floating within a large tank.
Thick cables extended from the machine and down the corridors. Analysis showed that the device was drawing heavily from the fort's electrical grid, and was responsible for numerous brownouts within the base in the preceding weeks.
Found near the machine was a small cot, chair; additionally there was a drain leading to the sewers and numerous U.S. Army-issue rations, both eaten and uneaten. On the desk were several texts, including a Russian-English dictionary, documents typed in Russian, and English erotic novels.
Translated documentation is attached below.

To: «Progress» Research Institute director
Kovalev V.G.
From: Bureau №5-2 Director
«Society and Supermen», «Language and Communication»
Goncharov G.A.

№: C-4/13/A-4/914/17
05.04.1947

Internal report

After the successful launch of the «Domovoi» Project, the №5 Soviet has found it fit to inform you of a suggestion to utilize and integrate newly declassified advancements in the «Psychotronics» Division into the «Domovoi» Project as to imprint certain urges and impulses onto key-phrases.

The «Domovoi» Project, as you know, has been extremely successful on several fronts with compulsion due to stimuli, and has broken multiple concepts that were once thought immutable about consciousness. The project as a whole has grown from an idle philosophical exercise into a concrete method of reaching into the hearts and minds of the masses. The Institute, while still small in the field compared to other organizations, has made leaps and bounds in a direction few follow.

Quoting the General Secretary's Order № 592-C «All paratechnological governmental institutions are to redistribute technology, designs of technology, and theories of technology to further equalize and advance the industriousness and virility of our Soviet Union.» Accordingly, we have obtained materiel to further the «Domovoi» Project, and advance it to beyond simple suggestion, but full sets of self-reinforcing thoughts and actions.

The process to render this idea a reality will take time to develop, and may be temporarily deadly. However, in certain controlled environments, we could develop artificial words that are then imprinted with an idea, if not a platonic ideal. These words will then be exposed to patients of all demographics and in multiple different media. They will then undergo rigorous testing and extended observation periods, with unsatisfactory individuals dealt with on a case-by-case basis. All researchers on the project will be wearing proper safety equipment and taking mem-ristant medication, so they are not rendered impaired by our experiments.

Of course, dangers are involved. Third parties may have the opportunity to copy the technology and implementation of the «Domovoi» Project, with completely unforeseen consequences that I dare not write. Which is why everyone involved on the team shall be hand-picked and sworn to secrecy. It is worth the risk, however, for implementation of the project may allow us to, irrevocably and globally, imprint the infosphere with ideas that can be used to usher in world peace. Arms could cease to fire by one word whispered over broadband, and capitalism dismantled by one shout from the rooftops. This expansion of the «Domovoi» Project is worth your consideration.

Bureau №5-2 Director
«Society and Supermen», «Language and Communication»
Goncharov G.A.

«Domovoi» Project

Goncharov G.A.

Test № 001
Specially engineered word is emblazoned onto the wall. Semantic Alteration, Assimilation Generator (ГACи) activated, keyed to word. Engine induced to think of peace. Subject, aggressive political dissident, placed into chamber and ordered to gaze at the word.

Result: Belligerence ceased after two minutes, became personable with guards. ГACи deactivated. Belligerence resumes. Effects promising.

Test № 002
Engineered word is emblazoned onto the wall. ГACи activated, keyed to word. Engine induced to think of the intricacies of Marxism-Leninism. Subject, uneducated, placed into chamber and ordered to gaze at the word.

Result: Subject remains calm for several minutes, but suffers sudden brain aneurysm. Simple words cannot convey complex ideas.

Test № 003
Complex syntax is emblazoned onto the wall. ГACи activated, keyed to syntax. Engine induced to think of the intricacies of Marxism and Leninsim. Subject, uneducated, placed into chamber and ordered to gaze at sentence.

Result: Subject remains calm for several minutes, but suffers fit and rendered comatose. Complex ideas cannot be conveyed artificially.

Test № 004
Engineered word is emblazoned onto the wall. ГACи activated, keyed to word. Engine induced to think of peace. Subject, aggressive political dissident, placed into chamber and ordered to gaze at word. ГACи left activated for three weeks.

Result: Subject exhibits significantly decreased aggression, becomes personable with staff. ГACи deactivated, Subject still amicable. Promising.

Test № 005
Engineered word is emblazoned onto the wall. ГACи activated, keyed to word. Engine induced to think of aggression. Subject, formerly aggressive political dissident, placed into chamber and ordered to gaze at word. ГACи left activated for five minutes.

Result: Subject exhibits no change. Guards displayed lower levels of aggression aftering interacting with Subject. Further tests show word semantically polluted from Test 004. Word discarded and effected individuals terminated, but effect noted.

RAISA NOTE: FURTHER TEST LOGS OMITTED

INTERNAL STATUS UPDATE
CLASSIFIED
03:23 August 25th 1955

BACH: STF-YANKEE Lead
O5-4: External Affairs

<BEGIN TRANSCRIPT>
[Metal on metal sounds as BACH sits.]
BACH: Hello ma'am.
[Feedback is heard as O5-4 adjusts the microphone.]
O5-4: Hello, Harold. The weather is quite delightful today, isn't it?
BACH: Ah yes, quite. About the project-
O5-4: Bup-bup-bup, courtesy, you are forgetting that. You haven't visited in so long, how come?
BACH: Busy, moving up the ladder. Haven't had much time for much else.
O5-4: Aw, Daniel must hate that.
BACH: He does.
[BACH sighs.]
O5-4: So what did you bring today?
BACH: These.
[Papers ruffling and being passed through the slat in the one-way mirror is heard.]
O5-4: Oh gosh, you've really been doing your homework, Harold.
BACH: You see, something was just itching in the back of my mind when we were snooping around You-Eee-who-cares. Everything was neat, everything was tidy, not a single thing out of place… Remember Prague? Not the European one, the town in Nebraska. That "investigation" they conducted out there was so goddamn sloppy, we barely got any usable evidence when we came in.
O5-4: Maybe the PENTAGRAM has been schooling the new recruits better?
BACH: I don't think so. I had CHOPIN run some background checks on the people mentioned in the recovered documents, and we got a hit. Was hell finding it in the archive.
O5-4: Oh?
BACH: Yeah the, ah, Goncharov guy, we had some records on him. Two years back, roundabouts, after Stalin died there was a flood of expatriates out of the Union, a bunch of government goons got stiffed when Malenkov reorganized, some projects got axed as well. A few came to us with as much of their research they could stuff in a suitcase. One of them, fella named Artaka, brought a list of all the employees that got caught up in the downsizing. We found Goncharov on that list. That, uh, "Domovoi" Project was scrapped as well.
O5-4: So if Goncharov is the one who orchestrated Fort Richards—
BACH: Then he's doing it alone with years-old research, or with the help of some other group who's out for blood.
O5-4: Or he could be the perfect Soviet plant.
BACH: We are willing to take that risk. CHOPIN also found where he's bunkering down now, a safe house in a town a couple miles outside of Omaha. FOUNDATION surveillance on possible Pee-Oh-Eyes.
O5-4: Get him and bring him in for interrogation. He is too valuable for us not to get there before someone else.
<END TRANSCRIPT>

STF-Yankee was deployed to seize Goncharov at midnight, on December 31st, 1955, while he was at his residence. The operation went smoothly, with Yankee entering the domicile and capturing the target without issue. However, during extraction the target suddenly awoke due to a miscalculation of tranquilizer dosage. Before they were able to properly restrain him, Goncharov broke a false tooth containing a capsule of botulinum toxin, which he used to attempt suicide. the STF was unable to prevent him from consuming the toxin, and he was pronounced dead minutes later.
The STF proceeded to their secondary objective and surveyed the rest of the residence, obtaining several documents and bank statements of note. The documents and the body were brought to the nearest Site for filing and incineration, respectively. The operation is considered a success.

FOUNDATION Conceptual Department

Memo to the O5 Council

In Regards to Novel Cognition-Altering Linguistic Virus CALV-NA-S15

[…]
Conclusion
In brief, the limited study conducted on exposed individuals obtained from the PENTAGRAM has shown definitively that the risk of NA-S15 becoming a global hazard or a threat to the stability of the American nation is next-to-negligible. The collectivist ideology formed by infectees is extremely limited and rigid due to the small carrying capacity of the chosen vector syntax, and the cognitive dissonance exhibited by infectees shows an extreme lack of self-awareness in their own actions. As such infectees cannot take steps to expound upon their beliefs outside of small, insignificant ways that do not change their overall behavior.
Communes begat by NA-S15 are extremely isolationist and xenophobic, treating all approaching outsiders as hostile and engaging with lethal intent. These communes have a projected lifespan of 5-8 months7 and often implode, whether by infected individuals' lack of necessary skills to become self-sufficient or by infighting within the commune, thus leading towards ostracization and banishment. This may be intentional by the manufacturer of the virus, as this action becomes another vector to facilitate infection. However, the transmission rate observed thus far has been relatively low, occurring only in ~3% of financial transactions, and almost never metastasizing. The low transmission rate among infectees, along with the lack of contact with non-infected individuals, means that outside of psychological damage by the reveal of vector syntax to the public, speculated damage caused by this virus is low.

FOUNDATION-PENTAGRAM CONFIDENTIAL MEETING
PENTAGRAM SH-89, WASHINGTON D.C.
01:00 January 5th 1956
* O5-4: External Affairs, FOUNDATION
* William T. SHERMAN: Director, PENTAGRAM

<BEGIN AUDIO TRANSCRIPT>
[The door slams open as O5-4 enters the lounge.]
SHERMAN: Goodness me, Four, you nearly made me spill my whiskey. Would you like a snifter of tea? This specifically was brought back from Iwo Jima, wonderful stuff, helps calm the nerves-
O5-4: Oh stop your prattling, you haven't been able to drink anything for over fifty years, I doubt you know what tea tastes like.
[SHERMAN's glass clinks as he sets it down.]
SHERMAN: Skipping the niceties and going directly to insult, are we. How high-class.
O5-4: We are well past niceties, William. You dare send us on a wild goose chase for over half a year just to get us involved in your petty little politics? That's low, even for you.
SHERMAN: What are you talking about-
O5-4: Don't you dare pull that on me.
[SHERMAN sighs.]
SHERMAN: You can't really frame it as "petty politics" when the fate of the world is at stake, now can you?
O5-4: Yes I can, and yes I will. We are done, and we are out.
SHERMAN: "Done?" What do you mean?
O5-4: With you. Done with you, Done with the government, and done with the interference. We swore to keep it that way, and we need to go back to the way things were before this entire snafu.
SHERMAN: You saw what the Russians are doing, fiddling around with things they don't understand in that barren wasteland they call a country. We are just doing this to protect—
O5-4: "Protect the American way of life." Yes, yes, I've heard the spiel, I've seen the newsreels. But this is beyond retaliation, this is instigation and provocation at best, manipulation at worst. We saw what you did with Goncharov. What did you think you could do? Pay him fifty thousand dollars in cash a year before Fort Richards, using one of your shell companies that we knew about beforehand to buy his research and silence, and? Just so he could go and live quietly someplace just two states away from Richards? That is ballsy and bullshit.
[The audio crackles for a moment.]
SHERMAN: What are you saying?
O5-4: You made us your scapegoat. You made the entirety of the FOUNDATION your damn fall guy, and we will not stand for it. You constructed an entire fantasy for us to follow, conclusions you funneled us to making, and thank God that Goncharov kept around those bank statements. For once I'm happy that you're sloppy.
SHERMAN: Do you know why we did it?
O5-4: Oh we know why you did it. We just don't care.
SHERMAN: You can't say that.
O5-4: I can, and I am. Jesus, rising from the dead must've inflated your ego. Johnny Reb is small potatoes next to the Ruskies, eh?
SHERMAN: You cannot cut us out. You need us. You can't protect the American people if you don't cooperate with our government.
O5-4: You are in no position to make idle threats and demands of us, William, are you kidding me? Despite all your military tact, you are still nothing but a ghost, a wayward memory of the real William Sherman. You can't change, and you cannot come close to comprehending the world now.
SHERMAN: I know more than you ever-
O5-4: The FOUNDATION has outgrown you. We have gone global, so cutting us out of America wouldn't do a damn thing. You would be harming yourselves and your interests out of pettiness? Tough shit, we are out. We will help clean up this mess you made, but nothing more. Have fun scrubbing the national motto from the floors of all of your courthouses.
[O5-4's heels click against the floor as she walks towards the door. The door slams shut before she reaches it, and the wind picks up within the bunker.]
O5-4: Sherman.
…
…
[The door opens.]
O5-4: Thank you.
…
O5-4: They should've learned from MacArthur, why you and not Lincoln?
<END TRANSCRIPT>

ITEM #: SCP-5859
OBJECT CLASS: Keter
SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES (UPDATED 10/23/1957): Thanks to the efforts of Joint Operation BLACKFOOT FERRET, the influence of SCP-5859 has been reduced to almost negligible levels, aside from a few, isolated pockets that have been resistant to enacted policy.
Operation BLACKFOOT FERRET is to continue to be funded by a joint black budget contributed in equal parts by the FOUNDATION and PENTAGRAM, up until the influence of SCP-5859 has been reduced >99.9% its former range or neutralized.
All FOUNDATION support for nonessential joint initiatives with the PENTAGRAM is to cease and is to withdraw all assets from PENTAGRAM-controlled locations before 12/31/1957.
DESCRIPTION: SCP-5859 is a cognito-plex conceptually melded to the former federal motto of the United States of America, "E Pluribus Unum." The primary vector of SCP-5859 infection is the physical transferal of legal tender with the carrier phrase emblazoned onto the exchanged currency from SCP-5859-1 to a non-infected subject.
Those infected with SCP-5859, henceforth known as SCP-5859-1, become easily swayed by collectivist or Marxist schools of thought. These people naturally gravitate towards others infected with SCP-5859, often forming small communes or collectives, though these communes are prone to quick collapse.

« SCP-5858 | SCP-5859 | SCP-5860 »


"And don't piss yourself in public, again. They charged me $200 for that Uber."

Billith

Foxing (aka Foxing)(aka Foxing)(aka Foxing)(aka Foxing)(aka Foxing)(aka Foxing)
Written by Billith.
If you liked this article, you'll probably like:

SCP-3311
SCP-2921
SCP-3533
SCP-3959

Item #: SCP-5861
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5861 is kept housed in Provisional Site-5861, which is a hermetically-sealed 9 m3 pop-up Class-A containment module under purview of the Pilcrow-Minkowski Center for Advanced Studies' High Risk Housing Sector. This module should be retrofitted with temperature/humidity control settings and proprietary low lux fixtures spaced evenly throughout and maintained at exactly 13 lx.
At no time are any foreign objects to be brought into SCP-5861 or its container. No contents of SCP-5861 are allowed to be removed once inside.
Discussion and testing of impacted structures are to be enacted via the English language, using an approved argot provided by the Department of Miscommunications' Hybrid Anomalies Division for Conceptual Studies.
Assigned personnel must be monolingual.
Description: SCP-5861 is the designation for a ~5 m3 orthotope of space located in the Site-19 Anomalous Items warehouses which is subject to severe linguistic decohesion. The space does not appear to grow in size, though the exact bounds are unclear.
SCP-5861's origin is unknown. It is theorized that the orthotope manifested via an effect of a previously-considered inert or low-risk anomalous item. An audit of Site-19's warehouses is currently underway and scheduled to complete by 2025.
Unlike semantic dissociation zones, conceptual linguistic structures possessing complex or multifaceted denotation introduced into the boundaries of SCP-5861 have a chance to exhibit anomalous behavior in approximately .1% of cases where that conceptual structure is verbally invoked. Not all concepts introduced this way are affected; it is unknown how this is determined, however, terms with greater quantity of possible alternate meanings appear more susceptible to the effect.
Objects and persons that use or are defined by decohesive identifiers/descriptors can spontaneously exhibit behavior considered atypical given the intended usage, while remaining logically sound for one or more alternate denotations. This effect appears to be causally-linked in some fashion, although the extent and mechanics of this connection remain unknown to Foundation research staff. Recovered materials and anecdotal evidence suggest impacted invocations become conceptually vague, leading to undesirable changes in semantic outcome when triggered.1
In addition to the aforementioned conceptual effects, subjects sent into SCP-5861 eventually exhibit signs of anomalous hyperpolyglotism,2 resulting in the endogenous development of linguistic fluency in any number of languages, including several unknown lexicons, regardless of prior skill level, knowledge or aptitude. At present time, ☼ is the only object allowed within SCP-5861; humanoid testing has been suspended indefinitely and any further interactions pose significant conceptual/lexical risk.
☼3 is a single piece of parchment paper located inside the bounds of SCP-5861. ☼ is crumpled and appears blank. ☼ is not believed to be anomalous and thus deteriorates as expected.
Due to ☼'s presence within SCP-5861 and the containment requirements involved in maintaining its integrity, several concepts must be verbally invoked every six hours by assigned D-Class personnel. These concepts include but are not limited to "paper", "trash", "light", "air", and "humidity". A full list can be requested from the Department of Miscommunications by assigned personnel. Any linguistic deviations observed in these invocations should be immediately reported to project head.
ᚖ is the linguistic trigger defined as the word "foxing". ᚖ has five seven possible states when invoked, determined at each impacted usage and defined as ᚖ-* through ᚖ-⁂** ᚖ-⁂⁂*.
More information can be found below:

 》ACCESS ADDITIONAL ᚖ DATA

《 RETURN

DENOTATIONS LOG 5861-ᚖ

STATE
TYPE
DEFINITION

ᚖ-*
Verb
The process by which paper products yellow over time as a result of environmental factors

ᚖ-**
Verb
To deceive or outwit

ᚖ-⁂
Noun
The sidewall material of certain footwear, found between the sole and upper portion of the shoe, secures components

ᚖ-⁂*
Verb
Repair or implementation of ᚖ-⁂ in existing footwear

ᚖ-⁂**
Verb
Recreational hunting of Vulpes vulpes

ᚖ-⁂⁂
Verb
To become or produce Vulpes vulpes4

ᚖ-⁂⁂*
Noun (Proper)
St. Louis, Missouri-based rock band of the same name

INCIDENT LOG 5861-ᚖ
PREFACE: On 03/20/21, at approximately 21:30, Foundation field agents stationed in ███████, WA were notified of a disturbance taking place at ██████, a popular music venue in the uptown area. Agents arrived on the scene to find the venue empty aside from a few civilians possessing injuries consistent with crowd trampling. The individuals attending were traced using ticketing information and GPS location data, interrogated and amnesticized before release. The following transcript describes footage that was recovered from a smartphone belonging to one of the attendees.

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

Camera feed is live, the audio channel clipping from raucous cheers and applause. The back of an unknown figure comes into view, which obscures the view of the stage. Unknown individual is significantly taller than the camera's operator, who attempts to maneuver around in search of a better viewpoint. The cheers die down just as a feminine voice is heard, projected via amplifier.
BAND MEMBER: Thank you, wow, you've been great. We will see you again real soon, ███████!
Camera operator, now referred to as POI-5861A, arrives at a decent vantage point as attendees are seen loitering and the crowd thins. Another voice is heard, from context they are presumed to be POI-5861A's friend, labelled POI-5861B for ease of following. Camera view falls to waist height as operator seems to forget about the recording.
POI-5861B: That was sick! I fucking love the Illuminati Hotties now, yo.5 Want to hit the bathroom before the main act?
POI-5861A: Is this your first time at ██████? Or, like, any concert at all? That's how you get stuck in line for an hour. Never use the bathroom between acts. Clench it, don't be a pussy.
POI-5861B: I drank like a gallon of beer. Well, three drinks.
POI-5861A: That's not even close to a gallon, my guy.
POI-5861B: Gallon or not, clenching isn't an option right now. Honestly I was just trying to be nice with the offer, ya know.
POI-5861A: The offer to have me join you in the bathroom? How generous—
The sound of distorted guitar overtakes the conversation, but dies out a moment later. The process repeats with the other instruments presumably on stage.
UNKNOWN: Ay, soundcheck guy! [chanting] Soundcheck guy! Soundcheck guy!
Unknown attendee out of view stops chanting after a few seconds.
POI-5861A: Better be quick, they're due to be on any moment now.
POI-5861B: Huh. I must've reabsorbed or something. I think I can hold it, at least 'til a shitty song plays.
POI-5861A: [ᚖ-⁂⁂*] has no shitty songs, don't be a square.
No anomalous effects are recorded.
POI-5861A: And don't piss yourself in public, again. They charged me $200 for that Uber.
POI-5861B: You're never gonna let me live that down, huh?
POI-5861A: For $200, maybe.
Cheers erupt from all sides. POI-5861A lifts the phone and realizes it is still recording.
POI-5861A: Whoops. That'll be a fun conversation to listen to tomorrow.
POI-5861B: [loud] What?
POI-5861A does not respond and instead trains the camera on the stage, where multiple individuals are seen emerging without a word. Cheers increase in volume until nothing else can be heard. One band member sits at the drums, two grab guitars and settle in front of their respective microphones. Violinist Emma Tiemann has already begun to play a soft melody, with sounds of light, echoing guitar plucks slowly swelling in volume. Frontman Conor Murphy flicks on a keyboard sampler beside him and brings his face to the microphone, trumpet in one hand and another now gripping onto the microphone stand.
Murphy: Thank you. [chuckle] Thank you, we love you. And—

Music volume continues to rise as remaining members of the ensemble join in.
Murphy: [screaming]—We are [ᚖ-⁂⁂*]!
A large explosion is seen rocking the crowd backwards as the music is replaced by frantic screams and large bangs. Smoke obscures part of the camera's view, the dim lighting and blur of sudden commotion reducing visibility further. Attendees begin panicking as the stage floods with dozens of red foxes, the band nowhere to be found. The animals see the crowd of frightened humans and begin to panic as well, forming an agitated mob of bright-colored fur. Animals scatter in all directions while concert-goers stumble over themselves and further piles of disoriented foxes in an attempt to evacuate. POI-5861A has barely moved except to hug the back wall of the venue, camera view shaking and voice trembling.
POI-5861A: [panicked] W-What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. Andy! Where are you, you drunk piece of—
POI-5861B: Here! I'm right here. And I definitely don't have to pee anymore.
POI-5861A: Fuck it, I don't care, I'll call a ride. Door, now, let's go, there's an opening.
POI-5861A holds the phone at their side again but brings it up a minute later to point the view at a few stragglers, both human and otherwise. The two make their way to the front entrance where a small crowd is attempting to access the coat check, the booth having been abandoned. A young kit is seen tugging on one woman's pant leg and whipping its tiny orange head in a playful manner, though the advances do not seem well received. A moment later and the two are outside on the sidewalk.
POI-5861B: You didn't tell me Fleet Foxes would be playing. You get it? Like, a fleet of foxes—
POI-5861A: [groans] Shut up.
Silence, aside from wind and distant sirens.
POI-5861A: You owe me $400.
[END TRANSCRIPT]

NOTES: Foundation coverup efforts took place throughout the next few days, establishing a counternarrative involving an amplifier explosion. Remaining foxes were collected and dispersed into the wild after rehabilitation. Look-alike actors were selected and successfully integrated into the band, which is to go on indefinite hiatus.
Original members of the band were not found, presumed foxed.

They said 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me'.
They were wrong.
I've checked the files provided by Extradimensional, all signs point to this place as Ground Zero.
I hear they are installing graphene-reinforced skylight windows over at the warehouses to help with visibility. Probably shave a few bucks off the electricity bill. Gonna let all that natural sunshine through. Sounds nice.
They won't listen to me, but maybe you can get an audience with higher ups than I.
Tell them to stop. Make them stop. If they put a window above that spot, it's only a matter of time.
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words?

Words will break the day.

Footnotes
1. For ease of understanding, semantic dissociation can be loosely summarized as the separation of conceptual meaning from an object, while linguistic decohesion would be the broadening of a conceptual meaning to include additional definitions and/or objects.
2. An abnormal proficiency in learning languages.
3. Although the identifier "SCP-5861" is immune to the anomalous properties of the space it defines, identifiers that reference other affected identifiers are not. Thus, glyphs are to be used in lieu of alphanumeric subdesignations.
4. Novel denotation, believed to have resulted from extended exposure to SCP-5861's conceptual/semantic obfuscation. See Incident Log 5861-ᚖ for further details.
5. Indie rock band from Los Angeles, CA, later confirmed as the opening act that evening.

« SCP-5860 | SCP-5861 | SCP-5862 »


Item #: SCP-5865
Object Class: Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: As per the Meeting Point Agreement, containment of SCP-5865-A is limited to standard Multi-Universal Department diplomacy. Only designated inter-universal diplomatic personnel are permitted to enter SCP-5865 for reasons other than acquisition of D-Class personnel. Under no circumstances are Foundation personnel to attempt to effect any change in the organizational structure of 5865-Earth. Any possession of Foundation personnel by SCP-5865-A is considered a violation of the Meeting Point Agreement that results in its automatic termination.
Details of the Acquisition Protocol are available to assigned personnel in Supplementary Document 5865-A.
Description: SCP-5865 is the designation for Universe D-4594A, the source of almost all D-Class personnel used in standard Foundation testing. First discovered in 1943, SCP-5865's current purpose was implemented by an order of the O5 Council in 1945. Prior to that date, the Foundation had primarily used condemned prisoners for testing purposes; this practice was discontinued due to repeated security breaches and the perceived impracticality of secret inmate-based testing in an industrialized society. An extra-universal solution was devised by the Multi-Universal Department following contact with SCP-5865.
SCP-5865 contains an alternate Earth that was identical to baseline reality before October 1934, when SCP-5865-A arrived and subsequently occupied the human race. SCP-5865-A are incorporeal anomalous entities that have the apparent ability to invade and control the minds of any sapient host.1 SCP-5865-A can then choose the level of direction it wishes to have over its victims, up to and including “rewriting” their personalities and memories at will. This ability has been used to supply the baseline Foundation with a steady stream of D-Class personnel for over 70 years; at present, 95% of D-Class personnel originate from SCP-5865.
For unknown reasons, SCP-5865-A claim to be incapable of inter-universal travel and will thus release control over any victims prior to their transfer to the Foundation. Any cognitive changes made by SCP-5865-A are irreversible by all known amnestic regimens.
SCP-5865-Earth Administrative Regions:
Shortly after their arrival on and takeover of 5865-Earth, which was completed in less than 12 hours, SCP-5865-A dissolved the previously existing countries and divided the planet into three administrative regions. These regions have been given their names by the Foundation in accordance with their function; their true designation in the original SCP-5865-A language is unknown, as is the language itself.
Experimental Region (Americas, Iceland and Greenland): Used by SCP-5865-A to perform experiments and simulations on humans. These have ranged from simple (societies based entirely on matriarchal families) to extremely harmful (groups of humans being fed non-standard food over long-term periods to study their physiological reactions). Despite their mistreatment, inhabitants of this Region have a far higher quality of life than inhabitants of other Regions. Nearly all D-Class obtained through the Acquisition Protocol are from the Experimental Region.
Labor Region (Europe and Africa): Used by SCP-5865-A to exploit the natural resources of the Earth. Humans in this region are given minimal accommodations and allowed little rest. Foundation estimates place Labor Region mortality rates at over 70%.
Harvesting Region (Remainder of Earth): Information on this region is restricted to O5 Command and the current SCP-5865 project lead.
Addendum: Ethics Committee Review: In 1973, the Foundation Ethics Committee reviewed the containment procedures for SCP-5865 and the Meeting Point Agreement made with SCP-5865-A. The Committee agreed that the acquisition of D-Class via SCP-5865 was acceptable and should continue indefinitely, for the following reasons:

The Foundation has neither the technology nor resources to launch a successful invasion and liberation of 5865-Earth, and any attempt would only damage the Foundation while doing nothing to help the victims of SCP-5865-A.

It is possible SCP-5865-A are lying about their inability to engage in inter-universal travel, and attempting to remove them from 5865-Earth would likely provoke them into invading baseline reality if this were the case.

D-Class test subjects have significantly better living conditions than Experimental Region residents.

There is no practical way to acquire the necessary volume of D-Class test subjects that is more ethical than the current method.

A second Ethics Committee Review was conducted following a 1987 revision of the Meeting Point Agreement that required all surviving D-Class personnel to be terminated monthly due to the large volume of Experimental Region residents being imported from 5865-Earth. This review reached the same conclusion as the first, with the Ethics Committee voting to endorse the continued use of the Acquisition Protocol.

Footnotes
1. SCP-5865-A claims to have subjugated numerous non-human civilizations in the SCP-5865 universe. These claims are unverified.

« SCP-5864 | SCP-5865 | SCP-5866 »


Item #: SCP-5867
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Area-5867 has been established at SCP-5867's location, operating under the guise of a natural research institution observing local tree growth. Guards dressed in stereotypical lumberjack attire are posted at regular intervals around Area-5867's perimeter for two purposes: deterring civilians from entrance and, more commonly, luring SCP-5867 instances at least 50 meters back from the perimeter via holding up an axe and pretending to be selecting an instance to fell. If a particular instance does not retreat within one minute, destructive force is permitted.
To prevent behavioral changes and population growth, one instance of SCP-5867 is to be felled by D-Class personnel in stereotypical lumberjack attire monthly. These personnel are encouraged to choose which instance is terminated based on whichever is the most noteworthy in appearance and behavior.
New pictograms within Area-5867 are to be catalogued upon discovery, and care should be taken not to damage an image until all necessary research has been conducted.
Description: SCP-5867 is a collection of ~400 mobile pine trees that reside in an area of roughly 43 square kilometers in the Miramichi River Valley in New Brunswick, Canada. Each instance has limited intelligence and is capable of controlled movement. This movement occurs every 0.96 seconds simultaneously for each instance, each one instantaneously being in a different location between 1 and 120 centimeters from its original location, the result visually resembling stop-motion animation. This significantly disturbs nearby dirt and often damages bark upon the lower trunk, allowing easy identification of SCP-5867 instances. Branches can also assume new orientations and positions during movement, and are used for holding and manipulating objects such as exchanged logging materials.
Each SCP-5867 instance is capable of reproduction like non-anomalous trees, though at a slowed rate, leading to ~10-14 total new instances each year.
Despite a lack of complex light-receptive organs, SCP-5867 are capable of responding to a large variety of visual stimuli, usually consisting of a cessation of movement when near unobscured humans. However, upon seeing logging paraphernalia and other associated persons or items, SCP-5867 instances will attempt to make themselves more noticeable and enticing. This is typically achieved by holding large collections of fallen sticks/branches, or by quickly approaching lumberjacks while they are looking in another direction. Furthermore, SCP-5867 have a limited ability to understand written English, showing marked interest and curiosity towards anything bearing words such as "axe", "chop", "splinter", "tree", or "wood".
After an instance is felled by standard logging methods, all other instances will exchange large quantities of hoarded logging paraphernalia and wood scraps from destroyed instances. It is currently unknown where these items are obtained or stored as they spontaneously appear/disappear from the branches of certain instances, but the oldest items date from at least 150 years prior.
Addendum-5867_Pictograms: Since SCP-5867's containment, several hundred pictograms have been found with increasing intensity inscribed upon the ground within Area-5867 using asymmetrical wooden implements. SCP-5867 instances have been found to deliberately avoid disturbing pictograms visible from higher than 30 centimeters, even if the alternate route taken results in damage to the instance or the prevention of termination by felling. Out of the total 142 catalogued pictograms:

81 show a two-dimensional view of a tree surrounded by disturbed soil
35 show multiple instances of logging paraphernalia
20 show 12-140 trees in radially symmetrical patterns
6 show dozens of shattered logs and pieces of wood, some being used to build housing and furniture

Addendum-5867_Water: Due to recent local droughts severely drying soil and plant life, SCP-5867 have been much slower in movement, with the entire population observed sporadically stopping to rest for three to four hours every 12-60 hours. Subsequently, attempts to gain the attention of guards have increased by 310% within the last month, and several offerings of wooden and metal axes were left near D-Class personnel.
While these actions are suspected to be a request for additional water, this belief cannot currently be confirmed. Due to limited funding for Area-5867, artificial hydration will not be conducted unless significant declines in health appear in the SCP-5867 population.
Addendum-5867_Incident_Log:

[BEGIN LOG]
[03:05] One of Area-5867's cameras is monitoring roughly 50 resting instances of SCP-5867. One instance's branches are repeatedly moving in a pattern resembling vibration.
[03:08] Moving instance [hereby abbreviated as MI] rotates 90º four times in succession, breaking apart nearby soil.
[03:09] MI begins moving east rapidly at 3.2 kilometers per hour. Other instances stop resting and begin quickly moving about in a chaotic manner, though movement is greatly restricted by dry soil.
[03:10-03:12] MI continues moving east at a slowly increasing speed, reaching within 100 meters of Area-5867's perimeter. Additional instances of SCP-5867 continue to appear from various directions and begin chasing MI.
[03:13] MI is moving east at 4.3 km/h, and is within 30 meters of Area-5867's perimeter with its branches positioned upwards. Guards attempt to respond, but the instance's roots become stuck within a small grouping of rocks. Other instances continue to move towards it.
[03:14] MI is surrounded by 20 other instances and obscured from view. Significant struggling between the branches of various instances can be seen.
[03:15-03:52] Between 60 and 100 more SCP-5867 instances gather with the already present instances. Loud wooden collision noises are consistently produced during this time, reaching progressively higher volumes. More guards are gathered to prevent a mass containment breach.
[03:53-03:58] Gathered instances leave en masse.
[03:59] MI is now visible. The roots and lowest meter of its trunk are surrounded with a thick layer of mud and rocks to prevent movement, and its larger branches have been heavily damaged and splintered by blunt force. An "X" has been drawn in darker mud at eye-level upon the trunk. Lastly, a heavily rusted axe is embedded in MI's tree fork.
[END LOG]
Closing Notes: Due to sustained injuries and a potential containment hazard, MI was terminated after this event. During the subsequent autopsy, it was found to have grown over several aged scraps of paper from an undetermined reference book, detailing the average lifespan of pine trees and the most common causes of death for them. More intense ring growth was discovered above a picture of "Methuselah", a 4800-year-old bristlecone pine tree in California.
Within the days following the instance's removal and termination, the remainder of SCP-5867 held an unusually-long exchanging of items, mostly focused upon wood scraps from Foundation-terminated instances. Since the incident, younger instances have engaged in markedly more attempts to be selected for termination. In addition, there have been zero subsequent cases of instances going within 50 meters of the perimeter. Containment procedures will be revised if this behavior continues.

« SCP-5866 | SCP-5867 | SCP-5868 »