Special Containment Procedures

SCP-8985 has not yet been contained.

The current research priority is to identify any extant cases, and to develop a method of neutralization.

Description

SCP-8985 is a progressive physical illness observed in certain sapient toys (see Addendum 2).

This disease is correlated with, and may be caused by, an antimemetic effect associated with such toys which prevents all individuals – with the exception of Dr. Sean Hardcastle – from perceiving their anomalous nature. This effect has been designatedSCP-8985-A.

Koala teddies for sale. Note: none of the pictured toys are sapient.

Unlike most sapient objects known to the Foundation, toys subject toSCP-8985-A are perceived to be unremarkable, regardless of any action they are seen to take.

Certain individuals¹ are immune to this effect until approximately 10-12 years of age, after which the effect can be neutralized again by use of mnestic agents.²

Research into the symptoms of, and possible treatments for,SCP-8985 are hindered by the effect ofSCP-8985-A. As such, its prevalence has not yet been determined. The total number of observed cases is, at time of writing, one.

ADDENDUM 2

Case History of Curtis the Koala

Dr. Hardcastle must find a way to conclusively prove the truth of his claims. There will be no progress on a cure forSCP-8985 if his memories continue to be dismissed as a drug-induced fantasy.

To that end, Hardcastle has secured access to theA9–LOXODONTA apparatus for private use, and will objectively document here – in an unbiased and dispassionate manner, without commentary – all relevant memories activated by the mnestic treatment. Additional secondary documents have been sourced which attest to the accuracy of his testimony.

MEMORY #1

At the age of four, Sean Hardcastle received a stuffed teddy bear in the shape of a koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) as a gift from his parents. The occasion of the gift was to celebrate that Sean’s father had been granted an extended vacation from his employer, and would be staying at home for a time. Sean's parents delivered this news with solemnity, but when Sean replied that it sounded "great", they expressed relief.

The teddy bore a cardboard label reading "Curtis the Koala". Curtis wore a red bandana around his neck, had kind grey eyes and a smiling face, and was surprisingly heavy.

MEMORY #2

When Sean was alone with Curtis, the toy sprang to life, greeted Sean happily, and began to dance around the vicinity. Curtis spoke in a soft, deep voice, with a London accent. Sean commented on this, as he’d expected Curtis to match the Australian accents he’d seen on TV.

Curtis told Sean he was pleased to have found a new home, and listed his preferred activities, which included singing, dancing, "talking about whatever", and playing pretend. He then made an offer of friendship, which Sean accepted immediately.

They shared a hug, during which Sean complimented Curtis for being so soft and warm.

Sean suggested they immediately inform his parents of Curtis's abilities. Hearing this, Curtis sat down and appeared thoughtful.

"Of course, you could…" he said, but trailed off as though solving a challenging problem. "But grown-ups have a way of forgetting things, over time. They'll forget about me."

Sean replied, loudly, that he could hardly see how anyone would forget a magical talking bear, at which Curtis laughed.

They played together for the remainder of the afternoon.

MEMORY #3

During a pause in the activities, Sean broached a subject he had been concerned with – specifically, he was afraid of many things, such as balloons, helicopters, and the machines at his father's bedside. He asked whether Curtis ever felt afraid, and was surprised that Curtis answered in the affirmative.

Curtis listed his own fears, which included the noise made by flushing toilets, washing machines which keep spinning faster and faster, and getting stuck in small places. Curtis summarized his view by saying "being scared is just a normal part of life", an idea Sean considered fascinating.

MEMORY #4

A short time later Sean found his mother sitting in the bathroom on the closed toilet seat, wiping her eyes with bathroom tissue. When Sean asked if she was sad, she smiled weakly and said that "Mums don't get sad", insisting she was merely blowing her nose.

Sean then asked if she was sick, but she assured him she was not.

Recognizing that his mother may benefit from a new companion as well, Sean chose to show her Curtis and reveal his sapient qualities, in flagrant disregard for his new friend’s preferences.

Nevertheless, Curtis demonstrated his steadfast support of Sean by immediately revealing his ability to speak, sing, and dance to Sean’s mother, who expressed amazement. She told Sean that it was wonderful news, and that it was good for him.

MEMORY #5

Sean and his mother later introduced Curtis to his father, who threw his arms up in delight and told Sean it was incredible news, and that he thought he might just jump out of his wheelchair in surprise.

Both parents asked Sean multiple questions about Curtis, but Sean chose to allow Curtis to answer the questions directly. Sean’s parents were satisfied by the answers given.

MEMORY #6

Curtis filled a positive role in Sean’s life for a long, indeterminate period of time.

Curtis played with Sean, encouraged him to clean up his room when play time was over, and often led the way when Sean was hesitant to perform important actions, like going to the hospital or going into his father’s room to say goodnight.

"You always have to stick by your family," Curtis said, "even if it's scary."

HOME VIDEO, 1995

The following home video was discovered by Dr. Hardcastle in a collection of VHS tapes recovered from his mother's estate in 2018.

At Hardcastle's request, the video has been transcribed by an unbiased member of the Foundation's Archival Division, such that its objectivity might remain uncontested.

MEMORY #7

Curtis slept in Sean’s bed at night, an arrangement they both found agreeable. One night, however, Curtis woke Sean by pushing on his arm urgently, claiming he had important news he wished to discuss.

Curtis revealed that he had been experiencing severe fatigue for a long time, finding it difficult to move his arms and legs, and that this was why he had, of late, been disinclined to dance.

Sean declared that Curtis was "sick", and Curtis agreed this was likely the case.

Sean took responsibility for this development, believing it was a consequence of having told his mother and father about Curtis. He felt a heavy weight in his stomach when he considered how careless he had been.

Curtis refuted this simplistic explanation, however, asserting that “people sometimes get sick for no reason,” and “it’s nobody’s fault.”

Sean considered this idea. The heaviness in his stomach lifted, but as it faded he realized there had been something comforting about it, in the certainty of knowing he was to blame.

Now instead he just felt small, and in the shadow of something so big and so close he couldn't see the shape of it. It was a familiar feeling.

"They just get sick," Sean said, testing the words, and Curtis nodded in agreement.

This was the first reported instance ofSCP-8985.

MEMORY #8

Sean first attempted to neutralizeSCP-8985 by enlisting help from his mother, reviewing the details of Curtis's symptoms and requesting her input on possible cures. She offered only vague platitudes, assuring him that everything would be fine, and that his father was doing well.

Sean tried to solicit more practical advice by restating his objective, but was unsuccessful. His mother closed the exchange by stating “it’s not your job to worry about these things”.

Sean went immediately to his room and lay face-down on his bed. He felt Curtis climbing up, slowly, to sit next to him, and lay a fuzzy paw gently on the back of his head.

"It's not her fault either," Curtis said. "It's a tricky problem, and Mums don't always have the answer."

Sean raised his head to look at Curtis.

"Maybe she just… doesn't know how to think about it," he suggested, "so it's easier not to?"

Curtis agreed this might be the case.

MEMORY #9

Recognizing that Curtis was clearly a magical bear, Sean determined that the most likely solution would be a magical cure.

He recalled a jungle expedition he'd undertaken years ago with his father when he could still walk, venturing deep into the wilderness which lay beyond the foliage of a laurel bush in their back garden. He and Curtis located this bush and pushed inside, crawling between the branches to find the hidden world within. Nothing they found there had any effect on Curtis's fatigue, however.

Some time later, Sean heard his mother calling his name and responded. She found him in the bush and became highly agitated, demanding to know where he had been, and revealing she had already called the police to report him missing.

Sean began to offer a complete explanation of his activities, summarizing his rationale and his various failed attempts to cure Curtis, but found it progressively more difficult to speak clearly as his face grew hot and his vision swam, and a deep shuddering wave of emotion surged through his body until he could barely push out one last coherent phrase: "I don't want him to be sick anymore."

This explanation was surprisingly effective; his mother's face softened, and her anger disappeared. She took Sean in her arms and slowly rubbed his hair back and forth, saying again and again, "I know, baby… It's not your job. Don't be sad… Don't be sad."

MEMORY #10

The next day, Sean was alarmed to find Curtis missing. A thorough search of the house yielded no result, and his mother offered faint assistance. At length he thought to check the laurel bush, and discovered Curtis still sitting within its branches, idly pushing dead leaves into a pile.

Sean expressed his relief and proposed they return inside, at which point Curtis revealed he was no longer able to move his legs.

Subsequent testing – in which Sean stood Curtis on the grass and let him fall to the ground – confirmed thatSCP-8985 had progressed to full waist-down paralysis. Although Curtis could still feel his legs, and they were still warm to the touch, he was apparently unable to move them. Following this discovery, Curtis provided emotional support to Sean, who had become disconsolate.

From this point on, Curtis was entirely reliant on Sean for transport. His mood remained generally positive, however, and he continued to provide support to Sean, offering suggestions on activities they could still enjoy together, such as using construction blocks, reading books, and drawing pictures.

MEMORY #11

The summer before he started school, Sean embarked on a family holiday in the car. He sat in the back seat with Curtis while his mother drove – his father stayed at home with a visitor from the hospital. They drove four hours to the Isle of Skye and lodged at a bed and breakfast.

Sean followed his mother up a rocky path to the top of a mountain ridge, with Curtis riding on his back. Sean was afraid of the heights and the sheer cliff face below the narrow path, but when they reached the peak he felt a sense of awe which made the climb feel worthwhile. Curtis drew his attention to the horizon, where the sea met the sky, and told Sean that the world was "vast beyond knowing", and "full of wonder, if you know what to look for".

MEMORY #12

On the drive home from Skye, the curved roads presented a challenge for Sean’s motion sickness, causing him to vomit on himself, the car seat, and Curtis, who was surprised but assured Sean he was unhurt.

Upon their return home, Sean’s mother declared an intention to wash Curtis in the washing machine, but Sean objected and successfully retained possession of Curtis.

Curtis tried to explain that he preferred not to be placed in the washing machine, but Sean’s mother could no longer hear him speak, referring to him only as “the teddy”.

"She can't hear you," Sean said to Curtis, while his mother was scrubbing vomit from the car seat. "It's like you said. She's starting to forget."

Curtis observed as Sean's mother paused her cleaning to put one hand on her forehead.

"Maybe she doesn't feel like pretending right now," he said, but Sean refused to engage with this notion, resolving to solve the problem another way.

He fetched the leather bound notepad – often used to facilitate communication – from his father's bedside table, hoping that Curtis might use it to explain his preferences. Sean's mother declined to participate in this experiment, however, pulling the notepad from his hands. She ended the conversation by stating she was exhausted from the long drive, and that she would finish cleaning later.

MEMORY #13

Sean attended his first day of school, but failed to socialize with other children. He felt confused, as though his classmates were reading from a script he lacked access to.

Sean arrived home in the afternoon eager to tell Curtis about the day's events and ask his advice. He found him on the bed, completely clean.

Sean took Curtis in his arms and engaged him in conversation, but found that Curtis's head and arms were flopping unnaturally. At this point Sean realized thatSCP-8985 had progressed to the extent that Curtis was completely paralysed. His clean fur was warm to the touch, but only Curtis’s eyes still moved, and those were wide with fear.

Sean was confused by this development and sought his mother. When he presented her with Curtis's limp form, Sean's mother proudly revealed she had violated Sean's instructions by cleaning Curtis in the washing machine.

Sean expressed vehement disapproval with this course of action for several hours, until he eventually fell asleep on the floor holding Curtis.

MEMORY #14

The next day, Sean attempted to ensure Curtis's safety by taking him to school. He placed Curtis in his backpack, with the zipper fully open so that Curtis would not be uncomfortable. On the grounds of the school, however, a large and belligerent child named Gregory chose to engage Sean in hostilities, leading to an altercation which ended when Gregory pulled Curtis from Sean’s backpack and threatened to pull off his leg.

A teacher intervened and returned Curtis, but Sean’s mother was later informed, and she declared that Curtis must henceforth remain at home.

Sean chose to place him on his bedroom windowsill, so that he could see the world go by. Curtis remained on the windowsill for some time.

MEMORY #15

Sean remained unpopular at school despite a desire for companionship.

One day, a new boy called William wore poorly-fitting trousers. Recognizing that Gregory was about to insult William's clothing in front of the class, Sean saw an opportunity to intervene.

At the top of his voice, Sean announced: "William's a dirty hobo!"

Gregory laughed, and responding to this approval Sean continued, making jokes about William's appearance, speech, and smell which were highly appreciated.

Sean and Gregory became friends, sitting next to each other at lunch and collaborating on construction projects after school. Gregory was loud, often interrupted, and said strange and surprising things. But he also seemed entirely free from fear, which is what Sean liked best about him. In Gregory's company Sean was taller and stronger, and could do anything he wanted. He was not afraid.

MEMORY #16

One day, Gregory paid a social visit to Sean’s house for the first time. Sean suddenly became concerned that Gregory would recognize Curtis as the same teddy Sean had once taken to school, and be reminded of how small and timid Sean once was. He was eager to avoid a repeat of that first altercation with Gregory, which might damage their new friendship.

It was at this juncture that Sean made the decision to hide Curtis in a box under his bed.

MEMORY #17

Months later, Sean’s mother interrogated him regarding his recent activities at school with Gregory.

She referenced an incident earlier that day, relayed to her by the school headmaster, in which the two boys had stolen a hat belonging to William, covered it with mud, and forcibly returned it to William's head. She had also learned of an incident weeks earlier, in which the boys had located William outside his home and thrown a crisp packet filled with urine at his person.

She listed a series of negative changes she’d observed in Sean since he became friends with Gregory. Sean disagreed, though he was unsure why, as it was all true.

Connected with these concerns, his mother remarked sadly that she had not seen Sean speak to Curtis in a long time, and wondered why he was no longer on Sean’s windowsill. She asked if Sean no longer liked Curtis.

Despite a strong desire to end the conversation, Sean found he was unable to answer this question falsely, and so conceded that he did still care about Curtis.

He justified his decisions, however, by lying that he was embarrassed by Curtis’s tattered appearance. Sean went further, knowingly offering inaccurate information about Curtis's physical condition, specifically that one of Curtis’s eyes was coming off.

Sean’s mother was satisfied by these answers and did not broach the subject again.

MEMORY #18

At his father's funeral reception, Sean observed his mother drinking several cans of beer, which he noted as unusual since she typically drank either water or tea.

During this event, she cornered Sean in their kitchen, where several other guests were having an unrelated conversation, and began offering unsolicited assurances that everything would be okay in time, and that big feelings eventually pass. She attempted to engage Sean in a hug which was not reciprocated.

During the entreaties that followed, Sean’s mother began to reference “that teddy you used to talk to”, but stopped when Sean’s discomfort led him to depart.

MEMORY #19
Sean’s 10th birthday party occurred soon after, attended by Gregory and Sean’s mother. After various other gifts, Sean’s mother presented him with a red box wrapped in gold ribbon.

Inside, he found a stuffed koala toy of the same size and shape as Curtis, but with an alien texture to its fur and dead green eyes made of glass.

Sean inquired as to why his mother had gifted him a second koala. She replied that, following Sean’s comments about Curtis’s appearance, she had taken the bear to a toymaker in Inverness to be reupholstered and have his eyes replaced. Curtis was the bear that Sean now held in his hands.

SEGFAULT_0xFF
Realizing at this juncture that the aforementioned Curtis

SEGFAULT_0xFF
Sean now understood that Curtis had been stolen from the box while unable to speak or move, likely expecting at first that his friend had finally remembered him and had chosen to free him from the box, only to discover this was not the case, and to be taken to a strange, dark place, where a man placed him on a table andcut the skin from his face and gouged out his

SEGFAULT_0xFF
Contemporaneously, Sean’s mother

SEGFAULT_0xFF
Sean elected to express

MEMORY #20

In the weeks following the prior documented event, though he kept him very close to his person at all times, and once again slept beside him at night, and spoke to him often, Sean gradually became convinced that his friend Curtis was no longer alive in any form.

MEMORY #21

Sean resolved to hold a funeral for the friend who had left him – rather, the friend he had abandoned, on so many occasions, who was now at least safe from further harm.

Sean’s mother provided a tin box in which Curtis's remains could be placed, and attended the funeral with Sean in their back yard, where Curtis was buried. In a statement during the service, Sean vowed never to forget Curtis.

MEMORY #22

By the time Sean was 12, though he remembered the koala teddy bear he had as a child, he no longer believed it was ever actually alive.

MEMORY #23

Sean left home for university at the age of 17 and returned only once, at the age of 28, to settle affairs related to his mother’s estate.

A9-LOXODONTA

Research Observations

No evidence exists to suggest that Curtis deserved anything that happened to him. He desired solely to be a good friend; to spread joy, to offer love and be loved in return; to sing and dance with his family; and through all of this Dr. Hardcastle let him down again and again, and betrayed his trust, shoved him under the bed, failed to protect him, and did nothing to try and help, and broke his final promise by allowing himself to forget Curtis even existed, and simply left him there underground in a

NOTICE FROM THE
RECORDS AND INFORMATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

As of12–OCT–2024 The Records and Information Security Administration has determined that the above document contains unacceptable violations of expected practice which must be rectified.

1. Due to a flagrant conflict of interest, Dr. Sean Hardcastle has been barred from further research intoSCP-8985, and from editing this file, which will shortly be rewritten to better match the standards expected.

2.SCP-8985 will henceforth refer to the anomalous side effect ofA9–LOXODONTA which Hardcastle experienced.

3. Due to challenges resuming his prior responsibilities, Hardcastle has accepted a transfer to Site-86, on condition that Foundation agents search the grounds of his childhood home to locate a buried tin box he believes will "finally" prove the truth of his claims.

Out of respect for Hardcastle’s tenure and contributions to the Foundation, this request has been granted.

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