The Flower in the Field

Summary:

A mysterious hypnotic flower appears to propagate its own pocket dimension.

The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

(account deleted) 16 Sep 2020 21:33

Revision 1.2

I've decided to abandon this concept after reviewing many instances of flower-based SCPs and an inability to filter out certain plot holes in the core narrative of this idea.

Shout out to Pedagon for helping me to understand certain pitfalls with SCP writing. Thank you.

Seeking Greenlights: Yes No

Page Type: SCP Article

Genre: Horror / Mystery

Elevator Pitch: SCP-XXXX is a beautiful pocket dimension consisting of an endless field populated by hills of grass, scattered trees, wildflowers, and butterflies. To have a chance at accessing it, subjects must enter through the backdoor of a specific flower shop in rural Missouri. Upon entering SCP-XXXX and breaking sight of the door, the door will close and vanish. SCP-XXXX contains one instance of SCP-XXXX-1 atop a hill somewhere within ~500K kilometers of where subjects enter the field. SCP-XXXX-1 is a large flower structurally resembling the dahlia pinnata.

+ show block

SCP-XXXX-1 induces a strong memetic hypnosis that compels animals to admire and "need" it upon viewing. The compulsion is strong, but does not warrant subjects fighting over SCP-XXXX-1, as the hypnosis also provides a feeling of relaxation and tranquility. Upon obtaining SCP-XXXX-1, the previously vanished door will materialize in sight of the subject, allowing them to leave.

Central Narrative: Having seen SCP-XXXX-1 through MTF exploration camera footage, Foundation personnel are affected by the memetic property and duped into believing they "need" it for themselves. Thus, an order is approved to extract/transfer SCP-XXXX-1 to a flower pot and lock it in its own cell within Site-XX for further study. However, opening the cell door leads back into SCP-XXXX, where SCP-XXXX-1 has returned to its spot atop a hill. While exploring SCP-XXXX after this, subjects make contact with an MTF unit accusing them of a containment breach. The MTF unit is not recognized by Foundation personnel. It turns out that a parallel universe Foundation contained SCP-XXXX-1 in their own cell, and when we removed it, their cell reverted back to normal, but without SCP-XXXX-1 inside it. Using SCP-XXXX as a negotiable meeting place, our personnel agreed to convert the flower shop into a Site and our universe would be in charge of returning SCP-XXXX-1 to the flower shop. When our personnel went to retrieve SCP-XXXX-1 in order to do this, they found that its cell was empty.

Hook/Attention-Grabber: The mysterious flower, hopefully.

Additional Notes:

• SCP-XXXX-1 is a localized point across multiple universes that happen to possess the anomaly. When SCP-XXXX-1 is moved out of SCP-XXXX and into another enclosed space in one universe, gateways across each universe will relocate to a door relatively nearby the enclosed space.
• Each time SCP-XXXX-1 exits SCP-XXXX, SCP-XXXX will near-instantly "consume"/"digest" all foreign nonanomalous matter within, the by-product of which happens to be butterflies.

Last edited on 20 Sep 2020 16:52 by (account deleted) Show more

Re: The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

Pedagon 16 Sep 2020 23:08

Hey Doctor Lombardi!

Pedagon here from the Team of the Oinks!

+ Roses

SCP-XXXX is a beautiful pocket dimension consisting of an endless field populated by hills of grass, scattered trees, wildflowers, and butterflies.

This is a really interesting idea! I am intrigued!

To have a chance at accessing it, subjects must enter through the backdoor of a specific flower shop in rural Missouri.

I really like that you are drawing specificity in your idea pitch. It gives me confidence in your idea and that you won't go waaay too big.

SCP-XXXX contains one instance of SCP-XXXX-1 atop a hill in sight of the area where subjects enter the field. SCP-XXXX-1 is a large carnivorous flower structurally resembling the dahlia pinnata.

Same as above! A specific and direct pitch is appreciated and inspires confidence!

However, opening the cell door leads back into SCP-XXXX, where SCP-XXXX-1 has returned to its spot atop a hill.

I really like this surprise. This would make for a really cool twist halfway through the article!

While exploring SCP-XXXX after this, subjects make contact with an MTF unit accusing them of a containment breach. The MTF unit is not recognized by Foundation personnel. It turns out that a parallel universe Foundation contained SCP-XXXX-1 in their own cell, and when we removed it, their cell reverted back to normal, but without SCP-XXXX-1 inside it. Using SCP-XXXX as a meeting place, both sets of personnel agreed to convert the flower shop into a Site in both universes, and our universe would be in charge of returning SCP-XXXX-1 to that flower shop. When our personnel went to retrieve SCP-XXXX-1 in order to do this, they found that its cell was empty.

This is what makes your article really interesting to me. The flower itself could be anything. But this idea of it being a local point between universes is super cool and your twist at the end would give any spine a shiver! However, I want to know how you plan on telling this story. Are you going to have interviews between personnel? Does our foundation send anyone into their universe? How do you plan on making these negotiations a part of your article rather than a footnote?

+ Thorns 

Upon entering SCP-XXXX and breaking sight of the door, the door will close and vanish.

Combined with

Foundation personnel are able to enter and exit SCP-XXXX by using a team system. One person keeps their eyes on the door from the inside, one from the outside, and the rest are free to explore.

How do they know this? If they send someone in without this security protocol and the door vanishes behind them do they just sit and wait for the next person to enter?

At the center of SCP-XXXX-1's petals is a fanged mouth, which it uses to snatch butterflies for consumption. Additionally, SCP-XXXX-1 possesses a memetic effect that compels animals to admire it up close upon noticing it from a distance. Subjects too large to be consumed by SCP-XXXX-1 will be bitten and injected with venom. This venom induces a coma, during which a chrysalis will form from a viscous fluid leaking out of the subject's orifices. Once fully encased, the chrysalis will begin shrinking to about the size of an apple. As the process completes, a butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis and exhibit signs of panic.

Here is where you really lose me. I'm not going to say these are bad aspects or that you shouldn't include them! But I will ask you why you are including them. It is really easy to get lost in making the object really strange and anomalous because then article gets super long and when you switch the anomalous part being discussed it can make the reader feel a sort of narrative whiplash. My advice to you is to think about why these aspects speak to you for this article and what they are contributing to your narrative. In my experience, every added anomalous part of the object requires at least a paragraph on its own to explain. And then for anomalous actions and effects I would want to see payoff or experiment logs for them that are interesting. So, if you choose to include this, it could cost you "fanged mouth, which it uses to snatch butterflies for consumption" = 1 paragraph, "possesses a memetic effect that compels animals to admire it up close upon noticing it from a distance." = 1 paragraph for description of this; 1 paragraph of description of how the animal experiences the memetic effect; and an experiment log, "Subjects too large to be consumed by SCP-XXXX-1 will be bitten and injected with venom" = 1 paragraph description of this and a test/observation log of when they realized this difference between size of prey and effect, "This venom induces a coma, during which a chrysalis will form from a viscous fluid leaking out of the subject's orifices." this could be another 2 or more paragraphs explaining the process; 2 paragraphs describing the infected subject and the chrysalis, and maybe a timeline of the process, and "Once fully encased, the chrysalis will begin shrinking to about the size of an apple. As the process completes, a butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis and exhibit signs of panic." = 1 paragraph testing this for such accuracy of knowing the process; 1 paragraph describing butterfly; and 1 paragraph describing the "signs of panic". Again, don't take this as me saying no, because many anomalous things are probably anomalous in more than one way, but if these aspects are important to the pitch and would take up so much room in the article then I want to see how they would get a pay off in the narrative you are presenting.

Eventually understanding what SCP-XXXX-1 can do, the Foundation transfers it to a flower pot and locks it in its own cell within Site-XX for further study.

You don't really need to justify why they contain it. That is kinda what the Foundation just does anyway. But in this case, the Foundation probably wouldn't take it anyway because it is already isolated from the public in this flower shop. Unless they already knew that the dimension would move with the flower, why wouldn't they have initially set the shop as a containment site?

Really dig deep into your narrative and how to tell your story!

Looking forward to hearing back from you! And welcome to the site! :)

Last edited on 16 Sep 2020 23:08 by Pedagon Show more

Re: The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

(account deleted) 17 Sep 2020 16:19

Hello, Pedagon!

Thanks so much for the quick feedback!

+ Rose Responses

In general, thank you for these notes.

Regarding your questions here:

… I want to know how you plan on telling this story. Are you going to have interviews between personnel? Does our foundation send anyone into their universe? How do you plan on making these negotiations a part of your article rather than a footnote?

In general, I was thinking the story would mostly include exploration logs, since the SCP itself is a pocket dimension. The parallel MTF unit and our D-class subjects interacting would be part of a brief exploration log, and then I'd couple that with brief personnel interviews. They're brief because… my thinking here revolves around the theme of recursion and the bootstrap paradox.

You were right about the object being a local point between universes, but it's actually a local point between all universes that happen to have the anomaly, of which there are a potentially infinite number. The reason why the flower is missing from its cell at the end of my central narrative summary is because… let's call our universe Y, and the parallel Foundation universe X (since they seemed to have procured the flower before us). Well, personnel from a universe Z removed the flower from their version of the flower shop, which left our cell empty. I couldn't break the 400 word limit, but here's the next step: our Foundation initiates containment breach protocol and dispatches an MTF unit to the flower shop. They come across D-class subjects from universe Z, and the encounter repeats itself again. Our universe Y directs universe Z to return the flower to the shop. After this point, nothing has changed for us or universe X; the flower is NOT in our respective containment cells, but it IS in our respective flower shops, so we can both ignore the continuing recursion and build a Site around the shop. The interactions are brief because the Foundation from universe X already had this happen to them with a universe W. They have a better idea of what's going on, but don't tell us because (1) they don't quite trust us, and (2) breaking the recursion may have unknown space-time consequences; at some point by the "end" of the chain, the flower does end up in the flower shop, and we know this because we can still access the dimension through the flower shop. Universe X rejects the proposal to allow cross-universe exploration because that's what universe W did to them; probably to ensure the recursion continues. It's just interesting — or it is to me — to consider a recursive ripple spanning universes, caused by the Foundation's choice to remove the flower. One of your "thorns" was about the removal itself, so I'll talk about that below.

+ Thorn Responses

In general, thank you for the constructive criticism. I really enjoy the professional/courteous tone of the forums on this site. Most platforms seem to have trouble keeping out trolls and shouting matches.

Upon entering SCP-XXXX and breaking sight of the door, the door will close and vanish … Foundation personnel are able to enter and exit SCP-XXXX by using a team system. One person keeps their eyes on the door from the inside, one from the outside, and the rest are free to explore.

How do they know this? If they send someone in without this security protocol and the door vanishes behind them do they just sit and wait for the next person to enter?

Good question. Perhaps I could weave a missing researcher into the story, which allows the Foundation to discover the flower shop by tracing his steps. At which point, they'd dispatch an MTF unit (or is there a better team type for this?) to retrieve the researcher. The MTF unit sends 3 members in and leaves 2 outside to guard the door (standing in front of it, not looking at it). After a while, they attempt to contact the inside members, but cannot. This prompts one of the outside members to open the door, and an inside member happens to witness the door opening out of thin air, leading to the discovery of how the door works, more or less. This could prompt the aforementioned security protocol. Note: the closing of the door isn't what makes it vanish. It's purely the breaking of sight. If the door happens to be open when nobody's looking, it'll close before vanishing.

[monstrous flower description]

Here is where you really lose me. I'm not going to say these are bad aspects or that you shouldn't include them! But I will ask you why you are including them. It is really easy to get lost in making the object really strange and anomalous because then article gets super long and when you switch the anomalous part being discussed it can make the reader feel a sort of narrative whiplash. My advice to you is to think about why these aspects speak to you for this article and what they are contributing to your narrative.

Thank you for this. It may be obvious, but I didn't initially include the bootstrap recursion or connected universe concepts. I started writing this with the intent of having the monstrous flower be an interesting entity on its own, and then had a stroke of creativity diving into the narrative. However, it is true that the central narrative really has nothing to do with the flower being a monster.

One key property I'd like to keep is that, somehow — it doesn't have to be via the means outlined in the SCP-XXXX-1 description — the flower can turn animals (including humans) into butterflies. All the butterflies inside the dimension are actually animals that wandered into it accidentally and interacted with the flower. That revelation seemed like a neat idea, although irrelevant to the connected universe narrative. I'm not sure how to include this in the larger story, but I was leaning towards the missing researcher never being found. After seeing someone transformed into a butterfly, they realize he probably met the same fate. Or, should I scrap this altogether?

Edit: I do want to include this aspect, but maybe the flower isn't a "monster" or even carnivorous. Maybe it's just a crazy looking flower with rotating petals and constantly fluctuating pigmentation. Or something like that. When you look at it, it puts you in a hypnotic state and suggests that you "need" to have it. Upon touching it, somehow you turn into a butterfly. That could be a Harry Potter style transmutation effect, it could be following a bright flash of light, or something else. I can think about it.

Eventually understanding what SCP-XXXX-1 can do, the Foundation transfers it to a flower pot and locks it in its own cell within Site-XX for further study.

You don't really need to justify why they contain it. That is kinda what the Foundation just does anyway. But in this case, the Foundation probably wouldn't take it anyway because it is already isolated from the public in this flower shop. Unless they already knew that the dimension would move with the flower, why wouldn't they have initially set the shop as a containment site?

True. This could be seen as a plot hole if left unexplained. My thought revolved around the memetic effect I described. The strong compulsory effect leaves people obsessed with it, kind of similar to the effect The One Ring in Lord of the Rings has on weak-willed individuals. It's such a beautiful flower that people are compelled to interact with it. The Foundation's decision to remove and contain it separately stems from their compulsory need to admire it; Foundation personnel were duped into believing they needed it, but actually had the means to secure and contain it whereas no other victims could do so. Able to view the flower from MTF camera footage, personnel fell victim to the compulsion and ordered the extraction of it for themselves under the guise of needing to contain it. To be honest, I think I need some guidance on how to explain this in the article. There's a line where… it seems like articles are "supposed" to be written by Foundation personnel, but if that's the case, I'm not sure how to work in that lie.

Again, thanks for the feedback!

Note: I have edited the original post as Revision 1.1 based on your feedback.

Last edited on 17 Sep 2020 22:21 by (account deleted) Show more

Re: The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

Pedagon 17 Sep 2020 22:06

Hey again Doctor Lombardi!

Thank you for replying to my feedback and addressing my concerns! I have some more critique for you if you would like it :)

More Crit! 

I couldn't break the 400 word limit, but here's the next step:

I'm just going to mass critique the rest of the paragraph after this point because my crit is of the total all together. I honestly really liked where you had the idea end! The adventure of figuring out the anomaly and making sense of the property and everything just for them to return to the cell and it is gone is a fantastic end to the article in my opinion! What is listed after that point doesn't seem to hit a second apex or critical idea so the idea feels like it blows past the satisfying ending and the rest just drags. I would recommend thinking about this second half and what it is adding to the narrative and what new things it is giving to the reader to keep them interested.

Thank you for this. It may be obvious, but I didn't initially include the bootstrap recursion or connected universe concepts. I started writing this with the intent of having the monstrous flower be an interesting entity on its own, and then had a stroke of creativity diving into the narrative.

I have totally been there lol. Part of the process :)

One key property I'd like to keep is that, somehow — it doesn't have to be via the means outlined in the SCP-XXXX-1 description — the flower can turn animals (including humans) into butterflies. All the butterflies inside the dimension are actually animals that wandered into it accidentally and interacted with the flower. That revelation seemed like a neat idea, although irrelevant to the connected universe narrative. I'm not sure how to include this in the larger story, but I was leaning towards the missing researcher never being found. After seeing someone transformed into a butterfly, they realize he probably met the same fate. Or, should I scrap this altogether?

If I may, and please take this as brainstorming and not as me overruling your idea or trying to interfere with your process, but what if the butterflies come from people and other creatures being in the room when the flower is move? If a person from universe X is in the pocket dimension with the flower and someone from Universe Y takes the flower out of the pocket dimension then all doors slam shut after the flower crosses the threshold (even with observation) and they become one or more butterflies in the next location's pocket dimension. Something like this could tie up your loose connections between the flower wanting to be moved, butterflies coming from animals and people, and the butterfly creation effect with the localized pocket dimension effect.

To be honest, I think I need some guidance on how to explain this in the article. There's a line where… it seems like articles are "supposed" to be written by Foundation personnel, but if that's the case, I'm not sure how to work in that lie.

And that is what critters are for! Feel free to respond with questions or pm me directly on wikidot and I can try to help workshop where this line might be :)

Last edited on 17 Sep 2020 22:07 by Pedagon Show more

Re: The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

(account deleted) 18 Sep 2020 00:42

Thanks for the extra crit.

+ Responses

I honestly really liked where you had the idea end! The adventure of figuring out the anomaly and making sense of the property and everything just for them to return to the cell and it is gone is a fantastic end to the article in my opinion!

Hmm. I agree that it's a good ending for the sake of a story, but then with regard to the SCP article, what do I say about it's existence? Is it completely gone from our dimension now? If so, no containment protocol is required, negating the need for an article… right? Or am I misunderstanding something? I had intended universe Z as the reason for the flower to go missing from our containment cell, just as we "stole" it from universe X's containment cell. The slightly off-synch (by minutes, probably) time difference between the universes was the cause of the issue more so than the movement itself. Or, that was what I initially intended.

How did you originally interpret the missing flower at the end of the story? Why do you think it went missing? And, based on what you inferred from the narrative, do you think our version of the flower shop still serves as a gateway to the dimension, even though (scraping the recursive bits) we did not interact with personnel from a universe Z? I'm trying to understand how the story still makes sense without that content. I'm sure we're interpreting it differently, which is perfectly fine. Yours sounds like it may be cleaner, actually.

What is listed after that point doesn't seem to hit a second apex or critical idea so the idea feels like it blows past the satisfying ending and the rest just drags. I would recommend thinking about this second half and what it is adding to the narrative and what new things it is giving to the reader to keep them interested.

My thought was that the last portion would drive home the bootstrap recursion concept. A reader might think, "Wait a minute. So if universe Z stole the flower from universe Y, and universe Y stole the flower from universe X, then where did this cycle start? Is there a start? Is there an end? Universe Y knew how to interact with and instruct universe Z based on being instructed themselves by universe X, who knew how to instruct universe Y through being instructed by universe W." It's meant to be a chain reaction that has no beginning or end. This may be too convoluted, and I don't really have a problem scrapping the bootstrap recursion stuff altogether. But, if I do scrap it, I'm not sure how I would interpret the ending. It seems like there'd need to be a follow-up of our Foundation verifying the dimension's existence and accessibility through the flower shop, and deciding to ignore who stole the flower by simply building a Site around the shop. If the shop is no longer a gateway to the dimension, I don't see the need for a containment protocol.

If I may, and please take this as brainstorming and not as me overruling your idea or trying to interfere with your process, but what if the butterflies come from people and other creatures being in the room when the flower is moved? If a person from universe X is in the pocket dimension with the flower and someone from Universe Y takes the flower out of the pocket dimension then all doors slam shut after the flower crosses the threshold (even with observation) and they become one or more butterflies in the next location's pocket dimension. Something like this could tie up your loose connections between the flower wanting to be moved, butterflies coming from animals and people, and the butterfly creation effect with the localized pocket dimension effect.

Pedagon: *mic drops* (lol)

That's cool. If this is how it works, it almost seems like… when you pick up the flower, the door has to reappear. And maybe the only way to get the door to reappear is by holding the flower. It won't let you leave the dimension without it. In this case… so, it's already established that universe X and Y are accessing the same pocket dimension (not just their version of it), and that's a core piece of the narrative that leads to the ending you like. This implies that in order for anyone to ever turn into a butterfly, groups of individuals have to go into the dimension together, and one ***hole has to leave with the flower, abandoning their peers and condemning them unwillingly or not. You'd think that once someone held the flower and saw the door reappear, they'd let their peers know about it and try to get them to come with. I guess if they did leave, the door would still shut behind whoever was in line behind the person holding the flower. In any case, it seems strange for there to be billions or trillions of butterflies.

One option: it could be that the dimension collects a large number of individuals before the flower's hypnotic properties "activate," or something, and the Foundation happened to come across it at a time when it was very recently moved (because there were no humans inside at that time).

Another option: it could be that the door opens into a random location within the dimension, rather than right next to the flower. This opens up way more narrative possibilities regarding exploration logs. Depending on how long this anomalous flower has existed, you could come across ruins of a civilization being taken over by nature, since that civilization was turned into butterflies long ago. It almost makes more sense that you would encounter wandering humans in this dimension if (1) the door leads to a random location within it, and (2) the only way to leave is to find the flower and leave your people behind. THAT idea seems more reasonable, in that the flower has only been moved a handful of times (i.e. not constantly). Holy cow, you could have… perhaps the owner of the shop was born in this dimension, and growing flowers is all he knows how to do. He finds the flower, leaves the dimension, adjusts to society based on stories from his great grandparents, starts his own flower shop, enters the dimension by accident, attempts to rescue his family, and, well… that's one tragic oopsy-daisy. He exits the dimension, kills himself, the shop is purchased by the bank, the bank sells it to someone, etc., that shop goes on.

Sorry, I just ran with it :). Any thoughts? I'm totally down for brainstorming if you want to PM me.

Last edited on 18 Sep 2020 01:31 by (account deleted) Show more

Re: The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

Pedagon 18 Sep 2020 18:30

It's me again!

+ More!

Hmm. I agree that it's a good ending for the sake of a story, but then with regard to the SCP article, what do I say about it's existence? Is it completely gone from our dimension now? If so, no containment protocol is required, negating the need for an article… right? Or am I misunderstanding something?

I recommend checking out the Uncontained Tag for examples of other articles that are about anomalies that aren't currently contained but the Foundation knows about them. Once the Foundation has learned about this flower they may no longer have containment procedures in effect but they wouldn't scrap the entry completely. They would have a plan in place for when they eventually encounter it again and possibly some procedures of how they will locate it again when it pops back up. This is common on the wiki.

I had intended universe Z as the reason for the flower to go missing from our containment cell, just as we "stole" it from universe X's containment cell. The slightly off-synch (by minutes, probably) time difference between the universes was the cause of the issue more so than the movement itself. Or, that was what I initially intended.

I didn't get the time aspect at all in my read. This would give me concerns of how you would include that aspect or how the Foundation would figure that out. Not even to mention the issues of what if we take it and in the time difference another universe gets it too. Would there be two flowers now? What about if multiple universes have people in the dimension at the same time? Do they do things at different times? Consider how that fits in your story. Time is a messy thing to write about for the best of authors :)

How did you originally interpret the missing flower at the end of the story? Why do you think it went missing? And, based on what you inferred from the narrative, do you think our version of the flower shop still serves as a gateway to the dimension, even though (scraping the recursive bits) we did not interact with personnel from a universe Z? I'm trying to understand how the story still makes sense without that content. I'm sure we're interpreting it differently, which is perfectly fine. Yours sounds like it may be cleaner, actually.

In my reading, it was very clear that the flower went missing because another universe came and took it. I thought it was a really cool ending because I read it like the flower was believed to only connect two universes so they negotiate an agreement between universes to keep it at this new location and everything is perfect. And then the big twist at the end when it goes missing is that it doesn't connect just two universes, it connects at least one more and maybe every universe so this thing is essentially uncontainable (Keter).

My thought was that the last portion would drive home the bootstrap recursion concept. A reader might think, "Wait a minute. So if universe Z stole the flower from universe Y, and universe Y stole the flower from universe X, then where did this cycle start? Is there a start?

This isn't really a bootstrap paradox equivalent though. Bootstrap is more about time than space. This stealing back and forth might inspire the reader to wonder who first found the flower but it isn't rare on the wiki for things to just exist from the foam between universes waiting to be found. So even with your final piece I don't wonder about where it first came from because I assume it just came from its own pocket dimension or has always existed between universes. If you really want the bootstrap idea in there, consider ways to include the Foundation growing the flower on their own or doing something with time as a protocol that sets up the paradox of something existing because it exists later and being caught in a time loop.

This implies that in order for anyone to ever turn into a butterfly, groups of individuals have to go into the dimension together, and one ***hole has to leave with the flower, abandoning their peers and condemning them unwillingly or not.

It could be that the dimension collects a large number of individuals before the flower's hypnotic properties "activate," or something, and the Foundation happened to come across it at a time when it was very recently moved (because there were no humans inside at that time).

Pedagon: *mic drops* (lol)

Lol I really don't want to force my ideas on you.. but that's how I felt lol

That being said, from your ideas I have another. But, again, don't take my ideas just because I am saying them. It's always your story :)
These sound like things that are very possible actions for the Foundation to take. Guards stand inside the dimension while a scientist goes to collect the flower and bring it out with them, leaving the guards inside (expecting them to follow after) but the door disappears as soon as the flower leaves the room. Guards turn into butterflies next time the flower is put into a room, etc. etc. In this way, the flower could be said to have adapted to specifically hunt Foundation personnel, knowing the actions they would take. This opens up to your spacial bootstrap idea because then you leave the reader wondering what universe it originated in for this thing to have evolved (evolution happens through repeated successes) to get this strong of an anomalous property just to prey on Foundation staff. What was universe alpha that this thing fed on?

Another option: it could be that the door opens into a random location within the dimension, rather than right next to the flower. This opens up way more narrative possibilities regarding exploration logs. Depending on how long this anomalous flower has existed, you could come across ruins of a civilization being taken over by nature, since that civilization was turned into butterflies long ago. It almost makes more sense that you would encounter wandering humans in this dimension if (1) the door leads to a random location within it, and (2) the only way to leave is to find the flower and leave your people behind. THAT idea seems more reasonable, in that the flower has only been moved a handful of times (i.e. not constantly). Holy cow, you could have… perhaps the owner of the shop was born in this dimension, and growing flowers is all he knows how to do. He finds the flower, leaves the dimension, adjusts to society based on stories from his great grandparents, starts his own flower shop, enters the dimension by accident, attempts to rescue his family, and, well… that's one tragic oopsy-daisy. He exits the dimension, kills himself, the shop is purchased by the bank, the bank sells it to someone, etc., that shop goes on.

I also really like this direction! Historical stories of civilizations aren't my expertise but I can see how this would work! I'm curious of how you would show this all from the Foundation's perspective?

The idea is really becoming sharp! Don't forget to update the proposal as well to get those greenlights when ready!

-Brian

Re: The Flower in the Field [Seeking Greenlights]

(account deleted) 18 Sep 2020 22:33

Okay, so there's been a lot of discussion on how this flower works, or could potentially work. I'm trying to wrap my brain around this fully in order to make narrative decisions.

Some or all of the following information may or may not be known to the Foundation. It seems acceptable (to me) to keep some aspects a mystery as long as they make sense.

+ How does SCP-XXXX-1 work? - Part 1 - Basics

• SCP-XXXX-1 is a large flower structurally resembling the dahlia pinnata.
• SCP-XXXX-1's petal pigmentation constantly fluctuates at a speed visible to the human eye (i.e. it isn't a sharp/quick transition, but a gradual one). This anomalous property exists to attract the gaze of living creatures caught inside SCP-XXXX.
• SCP-XXXX-1 induces a strong memetic hypnosis that compels animals to admire and "need" it upon viewing or touching it. While the compulsion is strong, it does not warrant subjects fighting over SCP-XXXX-1, as the hypnosis also provides a feeling of relaxation and tranquility.
  • The compulsion to admire and "need" it exists to ensure SCP-XXXX-1 is moved out of SCP-XXXX and into another enclosed space. The reason it wants to be moved is because: when SCP-XXXX-1 leaves SCP-XXXX, all remaining residents are "consumed"/"digested" by SCP-XXXX. This "digestion" is near-instantaneous, unavoidable, and irreversible. The by-product of this "digestion" happens to consist of common butterflies (in place of fecal matter). This could be a 1:1 animal to butterfly transformation, or it could be one animal to groups of butterflies. Addendum: in addition to animals, all matter not originally from SCP-XXXX will also be "consumed," leaving no trace unless groups of humans crafted shelter, clothing, tools, etc., from the raw materials within SCP-XXXX, such as wood or stone.
  • The induced relaxation property exists to prevent animals from fighting over it, as this accomplishes nothing from its point of view.
  • I added the "or touching" bit to negate the question, "what about blind animals?"
• Holding SCP-XXXX-1 causes a door to appear somewhere within sight of the individual holding it. This door is connected to the opening from which they originally entered SCP-XXXX.
• When SCP-XXXX-1 is moved into an enclosed structure outside of SCP-XXXX and all other living entities exit that structure, the door/opening through which SCP-XXXX-1 entered the structure will become a gateway into SCP-XXXX.

+ How does SCP-XXXX-1 work? - Part 2 - Complications

• SCP-XXXX is a pocket dimension with gateways to a potentially infinite number of universes that happen to have the anomaly.
• Fact: there is only one instance of SCP-XXXX-1 residing inside SCP-XXXX.
• Fact: this single instance of SCP-XXXX-1 is a localized point across all parallel universes that happen to have this anomaly.
• Bonus fact: the door that appears upon holding SCP-XXXX-1 will always lead into the universe from which that individual originates. If an individual from a separate universe were to hold SCP-XXXX-1 after a door had appeared, the door would close (if open) and reroute to their respective universe. Individuals not holding SCP-XXXX-1 will be physically unable to open the door (as if the flower is a key), but can cross through if the door is opened by the one holding SCP-XXXX-1, as long as SCP-XXXX-1 doesn't cross through first. Of course, the gateway doors can always be opened from outside SCP-XXXX.

Here's where I get confused…

Let's say gateways to SCP-XXXX come into existence near the same relative location across each universe. For the sake of simplicity, let's just say this is a flower shop in each universe. If an individual from universe A removes the flower, exits the shop, and places it in their apartment… does that remove ALL gateways from ALL parallel versions of that flower shop? And similarly, does this add ALL gateways to ALL parallel versions of this individual's apartment?

I don't think ^this can be the case with the given narrative, since our universe Y somehow stole the flower from universe X's containment cell by entering through a flower shop. The only way this makes sense is if our universe Y personnel got duped into removing the flower, whereas universe X personnel were smart and converted their flower shop into a Site/cell to begin with. However, if this is the case, then:

1. How did universe X even know where to find the new gateway in order to come into contact with our D-class subjects?
2. How was the flower removed from our universe Y by someone in universe Z?

The latter question can be answered if you consider the possibility that universe Z happened to have a house (or some other building) nearby where the universe Y Site is, causing that universe Z house to be accidentally converted into a gateway. Universe Z civilians went to enter their house, but instead wound up within SCP-XXXX. They could have found the flower, exited the house, and moved it somewhere else.

Although this begs the question: how has this anomaly not been discovered by the public? The Foundation can't possibly contain it, unless they discover the localization effect and move it to Antarctica, or some universally uninhabitable area. Even so, there could be an Antarctic expedition tent set up in some universe that gets converted into a gateway, or even a cave that a penguin could wander into. You can't really put the flower in an unenclosed location because that makes it easy for animals to find it and move. It would be even more obvious to have someone guarding it 24/7 while out in the open. You also couldn't move it to an off-world location, because in order to do that you'd need to put it on a rocket, the door to which would become a gateway. If you happened to move it into the rocket and fly to the moon without leaving the rocket, that might work, but then who knows what entity may come across it in space, which is arguably more dangerous. It seems like the only thing any Foundation could do would be:

• Investigate missing person reports, locate the gateway, remove the flower, contain it in the most remote location possible until it vanishes again, rinse and repeat.
• Monitor the internet for public evidence of the anomaly, delete that evidence, and somehow mnesticize everyone that knows of its existence. How in the world could this work if a news station was given video footage of the gateway being opened? Scratch that; the same could be said for literally any other anomaly. The Foundation must have some kind of general protocol for such events, right?

Thank you so much for the replies. They've helped a lot.

Regarding the notes that you made in your previous response:

+ Responses

I recommend checking out the Uncontained Tag for examples of other articles that are about anomalies that aren't currently contained but the Foundation knows about them. Once the Foundation has learned about this flower they may no longer have containment procedures in effect but they wouldn't scrap the entry completely. They would have a plan in place for when they eventually encounter it again and possibly some procedures of how they will locate it again when it pops back up. This is common on the wiki.

Oooh. I don't know if I've ever come across that before, which is weird because I've been lurking off and on for years. Okay, cool, then this is definitely an uncontained anomaly.

I didn't get the time aspect at all in my read.

Consider how that fits in your story. Time is a messy thing to write about for the best of authors :)

True. I'll just scrap that bit. I only included it to support the "bootstrap" recursion aspect of what I intended to be the original narrative. Regarding that…

This isn't really a bootstrap paradox equivalent though. Bootstrap is more about time than space. This stealing back and forth might inspire the reader to wonder who first found the flower but it isn't rare on the wiki for things to just exist from the foam between universes waiting to be found. So even with your final piece I don't wonder about where it first came from because I assume it just came from its own pocket dimension or has always existed between universes.

Reviewing examples of the bootstrap paradox, you're right. I used the wrong word for what I intended. I'm not sure what would've been a better word/phrase to use. Perhaps "recursive time-loop between universes." Regardless, I've decided to scrap the time-loop aspect altogether. It's just too messy, and doesn't add anything to the story, given I can get away with excluding it.

I think I'll just keep up with the localization aspect, and the ability for the flower to be moved by anyone that finds it. I'm also leaning towards having the door open into a random part of the dimension, possibly thousands of kilometers from the flower itself. Perhaps the door opens closer and closer to the flower the more people enter it. This ensures that people are spaced out, making it take longer for them to collaborate or even find the flower, and it ensures that the flower is eventually found. If SCP-XXXX had 1 trillion people inside it, the next door might open a few meters from the flower. There's a 100% chance that someone will eventually find it, even though the dimension is endless.

I'll update my main post as Revision 1.2 sometime this weekend :).