SCP-5657 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-5657.

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T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 18:02

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“Call it empathy. That means putting yourself in the place of the other person and seeing their point of view. I suppose it's because in the very olden days, when humans had to fight for themselves every day, they needed to find people who would fight with them too, and together we lived—yes, and prospered. Humans need other humans—it's as simple as that.”

― Terry Pratchett, The Shepherd's Crown

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It's been a while, SCP Foundation.

Don't know how to feel about this? Here's some spoilers.

Nicki Ludo is an empath. She used her abilities to get her own popular therapy-style talk show. During that time, she accidentally ran into something masquerading as human, but lacking emotions. They tried to kill her for what she knew, but after reviewing the Foundation's data on her, they decided she had more to teach them. To grow? To better blend in? Simply to know? That's for you to decide. In the end though, it turns out this had all been a trap for the Smiling Men to finally capture a live instance.

Image can be found -here-, under 3.0. Edited by me.

Thanks to Jaykillbam, Cyvstvi13 and Limeyy for their crit.

Special thanks to Jaykillbam for their insight - causing me to change the subject of interview 09 to Shannen Doherty, who was infamously horrible in the 90's, from Paris Hilton, who apparently is a very nice person. The more you know!

Double special thanks to Athenodora for their in-depth SPaG, advice, and idea for a better ending. Seriously, invaluable, and extremely appreciated. Amazing editing skills!

I'm very glad to be back. I hope you'll enjoy this article, as I hope to bring you many more.

As always, thank you for reading.

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► More T Rutherford Articles and Tales ◄

Last edited on 26 Apr 2021 02:19 by T Rutherford Show more

+1

Cyvstvi13 08 Apr 2021 18:30

A triumphant return if anything. This is a really solid character-driven narrative that meshes some form of existential dread with a developed and deep character.

Solid +1.

Re: +1

T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 18:34

Thanks so much Cyvstvi, and thanks again for the crit. You really helped!

Lord_of_Laugh 08 Apr 2021 18:39

I don't know what else to say other than I'm glad you're back Rutherford; that was damn good always loved your character centric stuff. Strong +1

T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 19:11

Cheers LordofLaugh. Glad to be back, and glad you enjoyed it :)

MuseofScience 08 Apr 2021 18:49

Wow, what an evil ending. Yes, they spared her life but now she's basically their slave, being forced to teach them to pretend to be better humans so they can trick humans more easy. Poor ms Ludo, I feel bad for her. I expected for the doctor to be a traitor but I thought that he was one of them, not that he was blackmailed.

Good, good, kind of remind me of the SF comedy movie They Live. +1

Last edited on 08 Apr 2021 20:20 by MuseofScience Show more

T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 19:12

Thanks MuseofScience (but just for safety, you should probably put your comment in spoiler brackets!). That's a good interpretation, though Adelard's motivations must be different than you think :) Still, glad you enjoyed it!

MuseofScience 08 Apr 2021 19:34

But I don't know how to put my comment in spoiler brackets here :( . Can you help me, please?

T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 19:40

Like this!

[ [span class="dblock"] ] Your text here. [ [/span] ]

Remove the spaces in the brackets, so it's [[ ]]

MuseofScience 08 Apr 2021 20:20

It works. Thanks :).

pastarasta1 08 Apr 2021 20:33

Really happy to see you back, you're one of my favorite authors! I'll let you know when I read this if I do.

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pastarasta1 is quick-talking and often scheming

Last edited on 08 Apr 2021 20:33 by pastarasta1 Show more

T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 20:36

Thanks Pasta! I hope you enjoy it :)

Good Article.

TLemon9k 08 Apr 2021 21:22

Sorry that I havent read it yet. But it looks cool, as soon as I saw the length of the page I came down here after giving it a +1. After all, most long articles are my favorite. Ty for making this and I suggest that you make more.

+1

AnActualCrow 08 Apr 2021 21:32

Saying that a new T Rutherford article is a pleasant surprise would be an understatement. Excellent article as always.

Re: +1

T Rutherford 08 Apr 2021 22:44

Glad you liked it AnActualCrow :)

GremlinGroup 09 Apr 2021 00:23

This was so wonderfully sinister, throughout!

Maybe I grabbed the wrong end of the stick, here… Am I right in taking solace in the fact that Ludo, while kept alive for by the Smiling Men, won't be spending much of her life in their hands? I might've been misinterpreting the "break through" aspect.

T Rutherford 09 Apr 2021 00:34

Glad you liked it GremlinGroup!

It's entirely down to your interpretation, really. It could be said that once the Smiling Men have what they need from Nicki, they won't need her anymore. Or, perhaps, once she's taught them "how to feel", they'll actually understand empathy. Or, they'll know fear, and strike out against Humanity for dominance. It's left open ended.

GremlinGroup 09 Apr 2021 14:02

Based on your response, I definitely mis-interpreted a small part of this, hahaha.

Hexick 09 Apr 2021 00:34

Excellent as expected. It's nice to see that you've managed to take a relatively simple idea such as just giving an individual a strange ability and turn it into a grand, incredibly well-thought-out, and cohesive narrative. Moreover, the interview logs remained compelling even in their large numbers — which can typically be a pacing issue in most cases, but you were able to avoid them becoming repetitious; the dialogue always stayed fresh and engaging.

Additionally, I was worried that the ending and reasoning for the GoI attempting to continually go after Nicki would simply be a cliché 'world domination being hindered by one person' with her ending up dead, but the ending and fate of SCP-5657 really surprised and satisfied me. All in all, very well written.
+1

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Hexick, SCP Wiki Operational Staff, Community Outreach/MAST/Licensing
Personal site: http://hexhouse.wikidot.com/
Feel free to forward any concerns or inquiries to my Wikidot inbox.

T Rutherford 09 Apr 2021 00:46

Deeply appreciated, Hexick! I'm always wary of writing longer articles, but after taking an embarrassing number of revisions on this one I just couldn't trim any more without gutting something about the story I loved. If you can believe it, the ending was a pretty last minute revision, like most of my cliche checks. It was almost the mustache twirling nonsense you described - tying Nicki off as a loose end. Glad I changed it, and glad you enjoyed it!

+1

fairydoctor 09 Apr 2021 05:23

About halfway through reading my jaw fell and I immediately had to scroll up to +1.

Fuckin' rad article!!

Re: +1

T Rutherford 09 Apr 2021 12:52

Thanks :) I know the length can be daunting, so I appreciate you reading it through! My next article will be on the shorter side.

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