All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
Item #: SCP-7846
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Containment of SCP-7846 is currently not possible. SCP-7846 events are to be monitored by the Department of Analytics and discredited via Cover Story-4932-FRWQ (“Just an Urban Legend”).
Description: SCP-7846 is an anomalous event which will occur when certain conditions are met. Known conditions are as follows:
- The subject is alone in an empty room;
- The room contains at least one reflective surface;
- The subject is an actor of some sort;
- The subject is struggling financially and creatively;
- The subject is practicing a monologue;
If these conditions are met, the following phenomena will occur. While the exact specifics vary among subjects and the effects of SCP-7846 on human cognition preclude a fully accurate summary of SCP-7846, they will tend to follow a specific pattern.
The performer will be in the room, practicing the monologue. They will be stuttering and have trouble remembering their lines or gaining the emotional intensity required. This will likely cause frustration, leading to shouting or crying. This is the invitation for SCP-7846.
The subject will look into the mirror. It is unclear whether or not this will be of their own free will. However, they will look into the mirror. They will not like what they see. They will see their own imperfection and despise it. They will beg to have the capacity to do their monologue.
It is at this point that they will touch the mirror. They’re lost now. There is no escape. Their room will be a room no longer. It will be a stage, unthinkably vast in size. Although it will be dark initially, a spotlight will illuminate the performer, standing in the center of the stage. It will also reveal the audience.
They will be masked, their expressions blank and unreadable. The audience wears costumes in muted colors, all unable to disguise a great truth. They are empty inside. The audience sits passively. There is a moment of silence. The performer begins their monologue. They cannot prevent it.
It will be wrong somehow, the words twisting and spilling out of them in a manner that does not make sense yet still is true. The monologue will be frenetic, emotional, desperate to make its way out of the heart of the subject. It will touch upon whatever personal difficulties the performer is experiencing. They will likely begin weeping.
The audience will lean forward, intrigued. The colors of their costume will grow brighter and more vivid as they drink in the emotion of the story the subject is performing. They will universally shake their heads. These words are not accepted. Try again and get it right.
Hooks and ropes will descend from the ceiling, digging into the flesh of the performer and adjusting how they move. They will begin bleeding. The substance they are bleeding is not blood. They may attempt to fight against the restraints. This will not be successful.
Entities will walk onto the stage, taking the role of other characters in the story. The hooks control their movements as well. This is the purpose of a performance. To allow the story to control oneself. They may resemble individuals who the performer knows. Coworkers or family. They are not them. They are merely pretending, a double role.
The play begins in earnest. The subject is walked through their lines until the play reaches its conclusion. This will happen again and again, for an unknown amount of times. Until they know the play better than they know their own soul and the performer is standing in a pile of twisted, inky not-blood. Looking into the not-blood, they will see memories, dreams, hopes. Genuinely vivid fantasia that has been reflected so many times it has lost its luster. They may begin to weep and attempt to drink it back in. This will fail. Once you’ve lost it, you cannot get it back. After this realization dawns upon the performer, they will stand up once more, pulled by the ropes.
One last time they will do their monologue. The theater erupts into applause as the subject takes a bow. The SCP-7846 event will end.
Individuals who have triggered SCP-7846 have a 99.99% rate of gaining success in the entertainment industry regardless of any previous difficulty they may have experienced. The significance of this is under review.
Addendum — Testing Results
Testing with SCP-7846 has resulted in it being triggered in controlled conditions by several Foundation personnel. Their names are as follows:
- Jan Novák;
- Max Mustermann;
- Anna Kowalska;
- Jean Dupont;
- Tarō Yamada;
For further information, contact your on-Site RAISA Liaison.