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Info
Title: SCP-1873-JP - Yoke of Flesh
Author:
home-watch (SCP-JP Author Page)
Translator:C-Dives (Author Page)
Source: SCP-JP Original / SCP-INT Mirror
Original Posting Date: 2020/10/01
Item #: SCP-1873-JP
Object Class: Keter Safe Neutralized
Special Containment Procedures: N/A
Description: SCP-1873-JP is a roughly humanoid-shaped bronze statue, approximately 1.7 meters in height, created by GOI-012 "Marshall, Carter and Dark Ltd." and GOI-565 "La Roue de Fortune"1. Its head, torso, and legs are carved with a (presumably intentional) roughness that barely captures human contours, rendering it impossible to discern any physical traits such as age, gender, or ethnicity. In contrast, its arms are sculpted with extreme precision, which Foundation art critics have evaluated as representing a pure tribute to the technical skills and achievements of the person served as its model.
SCP-1873-4. When an individual carrying this painting walks down an alleyway, they experience an accumulative spatial extension that maintains a consistent landscape.
SCP-1873-JP activates at unpredictable intervals and begins autonomous activity despite lacking the machinery or power source necessary to do so. While its behavior is typically limited to the repetition of monotonous gestures or seemingly aimless wandering, it initiates creative activities using available art supplies only when such materials are present in its vicinity. The four oil-on-canvas paintings (SCP-1873-JP-4 through -7) obtained during initial post-containment experiments all exhibit anomalous properties, and their painting techniques are consistent with those of PoI-4636 "Carolina Cáceres". Attempts to communicate with SCP-1873-JP have not yet been successful, and it is unclear whether it has any significant intelligence.
Discovery: SCP-1873-JP was recovered along with several anart works (SCP-1873-JP-1 to 3) in 2000, when Mobile Task Force μ-3 raided a facility affiliated with MC&D. Based on ritualistic markings composed of numerous unknown patterns found at the site, it is believed that SCP-1873-JP either had PoI-4636’s painting techniques implanted through anomalous means or serves as a highly accurate reproduction of them.
Recovered Documents:
The following are transcripts of correspondence between La Roue de Fortune member "Albert Hoover" and MC&D employee "Louis Burton", presumably referring to the origins of SCP-1873-JP.
To Louis
I'm sincerely grateful to you for all the favors you did to make this trip possible, and I'd like to apologize for the delay in reporting on it. Please forgive me, as I was utterly depressed for quite some time upon returning home and couldn't bring myself to pick up even a chisel, let alone a pen.
To make a long story short, my original goal of saying a final goodbye to Cara was not fulfilled. What I saw in that small chapel at the church you specified… I simply couldn't recognize it as Cara. There was only a faint resemblance to the Virgin Mary, and nothing else that could be called Cara remained. It was nothing more than a mass of flesh in the same form, and I, who had kept my eyes averted and distanced myself from her as she was consumed by illness, failed to realize this obvious truth until I actually saw it with my own eyes.
It is no longer possible for us to share our thoughts with her, and her fingers will never again paint a vibrant vision of the world. For us, it is an unbearable pain. The world is devoid of this one color and has lost its former liveliness. The vision of the future and part of the passion we held in our youth are gone with her, and they will never return.
Where should we go in a world without Cara?
My dear Albert
I apologize for causing you so much grief because of my unnecessary consideration. We, too, are deeply saddened by the loss of such a great artist. Although it is only a small token of our sympathy, I have enclosed a check as a gesture of condolence. I hope it will help heal your heart, even if just a little.
I can still vividly recall the day I first met Cara. It was the spring of 1963, on a pasture in Kars — I saw a ball of wool as enormous as a small hill. Her canvas was almost finished when it transformed the entire surrounding hillside into wool rooted in the ground. Young men were called in to rescue our female painter buried within it, and that became my very first assignment after joining the business. Just as the sun touched the ridgeline, a century's worth of wool had been sheared, and I was seriously beginning to plot my escape from this drudgery, we finally managed to dig out what we were looking for.
Can you believe what she was doing then? She was putting the finishing touches on her work right there in the woolen mass, a space so uncomfortable you'd rather not even breathe, let alone move. When I witnessed this, I felt deeply ashamed of myself for having been so crassly interested in her rumored beauty. I think that was the moment I, too, became one of those captivated not by her outward appearance, but by her inner radiance. That sight made me sense that she would never set down her brush for the rest of her life, and she indeed remained a great painter until the very end of her career.
That's precisely why I think it would be much too unfortunate to let this be the end for her.
The vessel that once held Cara is still there, as you know. True, it's now nothing more than an empty shell, but we might be able to extract fragments of her former glory from it. We have the means and the experience to make it possible. If you give your collective consent, we'd like to ask you to undertake a commission — that is, the crafting of a receptacle capable of holding the soul of one great artist.
Her spirit will be freed from the yoke of flesh, and the roue will begin to spin once more. Carolina Cáceres will have the opportunity to reveal her true worth to all, without distortion.
Louis Burton
In order to evade MC&D's request for the return of SCP-1873-JP under the SUSEOCT7, the External Affairs Department consistently denied involvement in the raid and ownership of SCP-1873-JP. Accordingly, the information relating to SCP-1873-JP was classified; however, MC&D soon launched a series of attacks to retake the SCP-1873-JP. This started with spying and infiltration at the containment site, intensified into more direct means such as intimidation and bribery of personnel, and eventually resulted in an armed assault by a group of mercenaries.
Citing growing tensions and concerns about the continuation of SUSEOCT, the O5 Council voted to hand over SCP-1873-JP to MC&D, with several conditions. In an arranged meeting, MC&D agreed to the terms of the transaction, under which MC&D would provide their assets and connections for several hard-to-containment cases in return for the Foundation's "commitment to the search and discovery of SCP-1873-JP". An agreement was reached under which the Foundation would allow MC&D to retain possession of SCP-1873-JP and to trade in its byproducts for as long as this collaboration was maintained.
After 87 days from the handover of SCP-1873-JP, MC&D unilaterally notified the Foundation that they were terminating the agreement. MC&D declined to state the reason, but subsequent information suggested that MC&D had had some kind of trouble with La Roue de Fortune members over SCP-1873-JP. It is believed that this caused SCP-1873-JP to no longer be considered a valuable asset to MC&D. SCP-1873-JP was returned to the Foundation's custody and remained in a state of long-term inactivity thereafter.
Recovered Document:
PoI-5222
The following document is a transcript of a correspondence sent to multiple La Roue de Fortune members by PoI-5222 "Thaddeus Abakanowicz," one of the group's oldest members who had effectively retired from creative activities8. PoI-5222 was found dead, alone in his home, a few days after the correspondence was mailed; he was given a private burial by individuals who claimed to be his friends (presumably La Roue de Fortune members). These events roughly coincide with the period when MC&D abandoned ownership of SCP-1873-JP and are believed to be related to the underlying trouble that led to that decision. Notably, the property manager and cleanup crew who entered PoI-5222's residence after his death mentioned multiple occult sigils found within the room.
The reason this old bastard has tied a pen to his hand just to write this down is not to offer an apology or an excuse, much less to express remorse for the actions I am about to take. It is solely because I felt it would be a shame for anything unnecessary to lie between our friendship if you were to distance yourselves from the thoughts I hold.
We were once equally outraged by the acts of those fools who were blinded by Cara's superficial beauty and committed the folly of disregarding her art. Despite being artists who devote our lives to the pursuit of beauty through color and form… no, precisely because of that, we recognized her true value in what cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Her personality, her intelligence and nobility, and her cultivated skills and capabilities… We believed that the intangible radiance transcending even the chemical reactions arising from electrical signals and neurotransmitters in the brain was the truth and entirety of Carolina Cáceres, and that everything else was a deception that clouded the eyes of the beholder —
Is that really true? If everything formless were to fade and vanish, is there nothing precious in what remains? I don't think so. Being human, and the act of living, must be about more than just that. Her hands are still warm, her heart still beats, and her eyes still gaze back at us as they always have. That alone should be reason enough for us to stay by her side.
Everything tangible decays, and even the soul does not remain in one place forever. She and I will both eventually go where we belong. So until then — I beg of you. Please, don't take anything away from her.
Subsequent investigations revealed a medical care facility that PoI-5222 had frequently visited, as well as the presence of an elderly woman identified as ████ ███████ (PoI-1873-JP), who had recovered from an unexplained coma around the time of PoI-5222's death. Although PoI-1873-JP’s background revealed no connection to any anomalies or notable irregularities, her unnatural isolation meant there were no third parties to verify her actual existence. It was impossible to question her directly regarding the validity of her identity, as she was suffering from severely advanced Alzheimer's disease upon her admission to the facility in 1998.
PoI-1873-JP produced over a thousand paintings during her subsequent life in the facility, though none of them exhibited any anomalous properties, and attempts to discern significant technical characteristics failed due to their poor quality. With the authenticity of her identity still unconfirmed, she died of aspiration pneumonia in 2005, four years after her discovery.
Shortly after the death of PoI-1873-JP, SCP-1873-JP was confirmed to have become active for the first time since its re-containment, and the supply of art materials was authorized for observation purposes. Although SCP-1873-JP exhibited frequent discordance with the optimized art supplies provided, it spent approximately 220 hours completing a portrait (SCP-1873-JP-8) that appears to be modeled after a slightly younger PoI-1873-JP. The painting technique identified in SCP-1873-JP-8 differed from that of PoI-4636, with similarities noted to that of PoI-5222 instead. Following this event, SCP-1873-JP ceased exhibiting any signs of activity, and was reclassified as Neutralized after the standard observation period.
SCP-1873-JP-8. Individuals who continue to look directly at this portrait in the vicinity will experience hallucinations spanning multiple senses, such as breathing, pulsing, and a faint sense of warmth.
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