Per 
“So, where’d they find this thing again?” Dr. Eicher held the sleek, thin black calligraphy pen between his thumb and index finger with both hands.
“Some high school in Illinois.” Dr. Marigold answers in her usual monotone voice. She nonchalantly leans over Dr. Eicher’s desk, her frizzy hair now amongst his desk items.
Dr. Eicher groans. “Juniper, get your hair off my desk.” He says as calmly as he can manage. “Didn’t you say you were needed in assisting with the next SCP-038 test?” Dr. Eicher sets the pen down, resting his elbow on his desk, his cheek on his hand, looking at Dr. Marigold with tired eyes.
Dr. Marigold shrugs. “Yes, but that’s not today, silly.” She says, standing up completely. “I want to see you use that pen.”
“So it just, brings the image I draw to life?” Dr. Eicher questions with mild interest. He picks up the pen again, positioning his hand to where the tip of the pen was just above the notepad paper in front of him.
Dr. Marigold nods, now standing on the balls of her feet, gripping her hands on the edge of Dr. Eicher’s desk.
“Yes.” Dr. Marigold confirms. “Now get drawing. I brought you the pen because you’re good at drawing. I can only draw stick figures.”
“Okay.” Dr. Eicher answers. It took him a moment to think about what to draw. He had a few ideas in mind, but for now needed to keep it simple. Dr. Eicher presses the pen against the paper, beginning to draw. When he was finished, the drawing of a cartoon SCP-999 came to life.
2D-999 smiles, giggling, attempting to reach out to the two doctors, unable to through the barrier of the paper. 2D-999 moves from the notepad paper it was drawn on, and across the desk, and over to Dr. Marigold. 2D-999 traveled over from the wooden desk, to Dr. Marigold’s skin, appearing as an animate tattoo.
Dr. Marigold immediately picks up her right arm in reflex, shaking it. “What the hell?” She says, perplexed.
“Put your hand back on the desk.” Dr. Eicher advises.
Dr. Marigold nods. As she stretches to put her hand back, the two watched 2D-999 transfer back to the desk from her left hand.
“I feel slightly weirded out.” Dr. Marigold says, scrunching her her nose.
2D-999 whines, frowning, then immediately smiling again.
“This thing is exactly like SCP-999. It’s incredible.” Dr. Eicher utters, a smile forcing its way onto his face. This was every artist’s dream.
“So. What do we do with this thing? I’m guessing since it’s sentient it probably needs to be contained. But how?”
“Hm.” Dr. Eicher looks down at 2D-999, which jumps and coos in response. “Water, possibly. Let’s get some assistance.”
Dr. Eicher frowns, looking down at the notepad where 2D-999 was live and active a few hours ago. When Marigold and himself showed a containment specialist, 2D-999 was lead onto a sheet of paper, which was contained in a small metal cube. It felt somewhat sad, locking away what was essentially a miniature copy of 999. It didn’t really matter what it was, the creature was still sapient. Dr. Eicher shrugged off the thought. They locked off sapient beings all the time at the foundation. Dr. Eicher picks up the pen, which was sitting next to a framed photograph.
The contents of picture were Dr. Eicher, his colleague Dr. Hart, and Dr. Spud. Jeremy “Spud” Rogers. Everyone called him Dr. Spud due to his height of 154.94cm, combined with the bruises he acquired from working on the field. Dr. Eicher and Dr. Spud had been good friends, making Dr. Spud’s fatal field mission a six months ago extra devastating to Dr. Eicher.
Dr. Eicher blinks, becoming aware of the fact that he was staring dead-faced at the photograph, the pen slipping from his hand. He sighs, the devastating lost of his colleague and good friend was not a place he was planing to return to at the moment. Dr. Eicher grabs the notepad from earlier, placing it in front of him, once again positioning his hand to be ready to draw. Dr. Eicher wasn’t planning on returning to any place related to the loss of Dr. Spud. But, the placement of the pen next to the photograph had to be fate. It was just telling him to do it. Dr. Eicher began to draw.
It had been a while since Dr. Eicher sat down and drew something looking closer to life. Working at the Foundation had pretty much wiped his schedule for it, so he’d stuck mostly to cartoony images. Normally he’d be more picky with details at the moment if it was in pencil, but the drawing had to be done by this specific pen, so no going back now. Dr. Eicher smiles nervously as he adds the finishing details to the face.
As soon as Dr. Eicher sets the pen down, the drawing of Dr. Spud comes to life.
Dr. Spud blinks a few times and stretches out his arms. “This is wack. How the hell am I here? I died.” He wonders.
“This. What’s drawn with it comes to life.” Dr. Eicher points to the pen. He excepted more of an emotional reaction.
Dr. Spud looks up at Dr. Eicher, his eyes widening with a gasp, as he moves his hands over his mouth. “Todd? Oh my god!” Dr. Spud expands his image size to that measuring a normal human, migrating to a wall. “This is amazing! I was dead, but now I’m not dead!” He exclaims, stretching again.
Dr. Eicher took in the events that were unfolding: so the images drawn can change their size, all good and well. The drawings also seem to retain memory of its 3D counterpart, good to note. The most important thing he noted was that this drawing of Dr. Spud wasn’t aware that he was not the original Dr. Spud that died six months ago. That was going to be a problem. “Yes, it is. I’m.. I’m really glad you’re back, Jeremy.” Dr. Eicher answers, a soft smile resting on his face.
“Me too. I missed you, I missed the job, our friends.” Dr. Spud sighs softly, smiling. “I’m glad to be around again, even if it’s within the 2D plane of existence. At least I can talk.” Dr. Spud shrugs with a laugh. He travels slowly about the walls of Dr. Eicher’s office.
“This feels so strange, yet kinda normal. Hey, maybe we should tell the Foundation about this.” Dr. Spud Suggests.
Dr. Eicher’s thoughts were pulled to the fate of 2D-999. Dr. Spud would likely have the same fate if the Foundation were to learn of him. He may even be even be taken in for questioning. The fact that this wasn’t the Dr. Spud Dr. Eicher has spent the last eight years working with was something he acknowledged. But, this was the closest he had to reuniting with his fallen friend. He shakes his head.
“Um, that’s not a good idea.” Dr. Eicher replies, pushing his chair away from his desk. He explains to Dr. Spud from Dr. Marigold and his original testing of the pen, and what happened when then 2D-999 was shown to a containment specialist.
Dr. Spud sighs. “Man, you’re totally right! The Foundation would just classify me as another anomaly. But this is no anomaly.” He crosses his arms. “This is a miracle. Sometimes I wonder about the moral code we’ve got here.”
Dr. Eicher looks down at the notepad, then at the pen. Life came from the tip of this pen, only to be contained by the Foundation. “Me too.”
“What else have you drawn with this since yesterday?” Dr. Marigold was on her knees on the floor of her office, spreading interview logs across the floor.
Dr. Eicher pushes his foot against the ground, giving the desk chair he was sitting in a push to spin.
“Eh. Nothing much. I drew a cat resembling a tabby, it didn’t have much of a personality. It just acted like a normal cat.” Dr. Eicher grabs the desk, stabling the chair. “Let’s see. I drew SCP-529. Kinda just,” He shrugs, flicking his wrist. “Acted like 529. I also drew the pen itself.”
Dr. Marigold looks up at Dr. Eicher. “How’d you test to see if it did the same thing? It’s an inanimate object. It can’t move.”
Dr. Eicher purses his lips, thinking to how Dr. Spud had tested the pen, drawing a cat claw knife with it. The dent in his wall was currently covered by an awkward replacing of his file cabinet.
“I had 529 pick it up and draw and a ball. It’s more of a semi-spherical ball. She is a cat.”
Dr. Marigold nods, turning her attention back to notes. “Ah. Makes sense. It’s pretty cool that we pretty much have two pens now. What did Agent Wringer do with them? Same thing as 2D-999?”
Dr. Eicher takes a moment to reply. Out of the corner of his eye, he swore something was on the ceiling. But after looking, nothing was there.
“Well, she had 2D-529, the cat, and the ball all locked up the same way as 2D-999. But, I didn’t show her the 2D pen.”
Dr. Marigold turns her head again to look at Dr. Eicher.
“Why not? You can’t really do much with it.” Dr. Marigold tilts her head to the side.
Dr. Eicher taps his fingers against the thin arms of the chair. “Well, I thought it would be neat to keep around for other things I draw with the pen to test out.” Dr. Eicher shrugs. “Oh, and Agent Wringer says for now I can keep the pen, as long as everything drawn with it is reported.”
“Well.” Dr. Marigold turns her whole body to face Dr. Eicher. “You haven’t followed those guidelines.” She monotones.
Dr. Eicher glances to the side, opening his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Dr. Marigold.
“You’re lucky I’m the person you have involved. I’m not gonna tell Wringer or any other containment specialist about the 2D pen.” Dr. Marigold tilts her head to both sides. “Besides. I’d like to see a 2D crab draw with it.”
Dr. Eicher laughs. “That certainly will happen.”
Dr. Eicher was making his way back to his office. He was wondering if Dr. Spud had drawn anything with the 2D-pen while he was away. They both agreed that he would remain in Dr. Eicher’s office. Dr. Eicher could deal with random test drawings being stored away; he was used to dealing with things of that nature. But this caricature of Dr. Spud… it was the only thing he had left. Resurrection SCPs were all too risky. Dr. Eicher was willing to take what he could get.
Dr. Eicher reaches his office, showing the digital lock his ID card. He then walks into his office, taken aback by the sight. Dr. Spud had definitely been drawing with the 2D-pen.
Across the walls, floor, and ceiling, were various different drawings of living creatures, including a 2D-682, although only about the size of a horse, 2D-529, 2D-2295, 2D-795, 2D-548, And a few normal animals such as a dog and a bat. The replicas of living things were moving around, interacting with each other. Oddly, 2D-682 was peacefully asleep on the floor. Dr. Spud was no where to be seen.
“Jeremy, are you in here?” Dr. Eicher asks with caution, walking towards his desk.
“Yep!” Dr. Spud calls.
As Dr. Eicher reaches his desk, he notices Dr. Spud at a small size again, his image on top of a stack of papers left on Dr. Eicher’s desk.
“What are you doing?” Dr. Eicher questions with curiosity, raising his eyebrow. He sits down in his desk chair.
“Oh, I’m just reading through these.” Dr. Spud answers, slipping away from the stack of papers, and back to the wall, returning to human size. “Well, I was.”
“Oh, okay. Those.. are just some incident reports.” Dr. Eicher glances around at the drawings around the room. “I see you’ve created some things with the 2D pen.” He comments.
Dr. Spud nods, transferring over to the wall near 2D-682, who woke and and joined Dr. Spud on the wall. Dr. Spud sits on top of 2D-682. “My drawings aren’t as fancy as yours, but they do the job. I just wanted some buddies to make it feel like the real job again.”
“That.. makes sense. I’m sorry I can’t tell the foundation. You know you’ll end up like the other sapient drawings.” Dr. Eicher apologizes, the thought hurting his heart. Each time his brain reminded him that this wasn’t the true Dr. Spud, the happiness seeing this identical in every way copy of his old friend pushed the thought back deeper. This.. was just another anomaly. But it didn’t feel like it. Dr. Eicher didn’t want it to be.
Dr. Spud waves his hand. “Nah, it’s not you, man.” He sighs, looking up at the ceiling. “How’s Kenny doing?”
“Hart’s doing fine. He’s still the weirdest psychologist, with that monotone voice and blank stare. But his advice helps a lot.” Dr. Eicher answers.
“Could.. we tell him about me?”
“It’s too risky. I can’t tell anyone. Not about any of these I don’t turn over to a containment specialist.”
“That sucks. I miss him.”
“I know.”
There was a few minutes of silence before either one spoke again.
“This is probably a bad time,” Dr. Spud jumps off of 2D-682. “But Josie and the dog I drew are missing.”
“What?!” Dr. Eicher springs out of his chair, causing it to spin. “This can’t happen! They can’t be loose! I’m supposed to have everything drawn contained! And if they show resistance- I don’t know but it’s bad.”
“How do you know they’ll be resistant to being contained?” Dr. Spud asks.
“I don’t, and that’s why it’s a bad thing! The first 2D-529 took ten minutes to contain. Just- let me go take care of this.” Dr. Eicher dashes out of the room, but was careful to close and lock the door.
Dr. Spud sits back on 2D-682, sighing. “What’s so wrong with the foundation knowing that not everything sapient being is willing to submit and give up their freedom?”
Dr. Eicher opened a new file on his computer, titling it, “Life Pen Log”. He noted all learned information about the pen, and everything drawn with it; excluding Dr. Spud and the 2D pen. His search to find the dog and 2D-529 was unsuccessful, which dropped a weight on Dr. Eicher’s back. Telling Dr. Wringer about the missing entities was humiliating; especially when she told him if any more entities drawn from the pen, especially dangerous entities escaped before containment, the pen would be confiscated and put in storage, and he’d have to have level three clearance approval to use it. It was releasing for Dr. Eicher to know that 2D-682 had no interest in escaping; Dr. Spud informed him the reason 2D-682 was so docile, was because he wrote an excerpt from 682’s file, modifying it to say he was docile and friendly to humans who deserved it. It seemed the changes only applied to 2D-682, as there were no reports of interest about SCP-682 made. Dr. Eicher looks over at Dr. Spud, who was asleep on the floor. The other 2D beings were in various places about the room.
There was a knock on the door. The knock prompted the attention of all 2D beings in the room, including Dr. Spud, who all dashed under Dr. Eicher’s desk.
Dr. Eicher’s head spun at how fast the entities dashed under his desk, and how well concealed they were; morphing sizes was a handy skill. He walks over to the door, opening it.
Standing at the door was Dr. Marigold.
“Hi, Todd. I wanna play with the pen some more.” She monotones, staring him in the eyes. Her blank state was creepy at times.
“Don’t phrase it that way.” Dr. Eicher groans. “I’m busy taking notes on the pen.”
“You drew 682?”
This question sets of an alarm in Dr. Eicher’s head as he turns to see 2D-682 on the back wall across from the door.
“Uh, yes. I even edited his 2D files to make him nice to people.” Dr. Eicher explains, glancing at his desk.
“Why’d you draw him cartoony? A realistic one would be cooler.” Dr. Marigold walks into the room, shutting the door behind her.
Dr. Eicher walks back to his desk, sitting down in the desk chair. “I wanted to branch out my art style, see if 682 acted differently drawn cartoony. He didn’t till I edited his file.” Dr. Eicher glances down under his desk, the rest of the drawings still underneath. He looks back up at Dr. Marigold.
“Oh.” Dr. Marigold says, sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.
“No need to take credit for my work, I’m quite proud of it.” Dr. Spud and the remaining drawings manifest on the the wall behind Dr. Eicher.
Dr. Eicher’s heart skipped a beat. What was Spud thinking?
Dr. Marigold’s usually calm, tired expression transfigures into one of surprise. “Dr. Spud?” Her facial expression then transforms to one of amusement. “How didn’t I know you were gonna do that, Todd?” She crosses her arms.
Dr. Eicher sighs, rubbing his hands over his face. “Look. I missed him.”
“And now I’m back!” Dr. Spud beams, placing both hands on his hips.
Dr. Marigold bites her lip. “You’re.. not the Jeremy Rogers that died half a year ago. You’re just a drawing copy of him.” She explains.
As Dr. Marigold spoke, Dr. Spud’s friendly expression disappears. “No, that pen brought me back to life!” He counters.
Dr. Eicher watches the exchange, unable to contribute due to the conflict in his heart.
“No, it didn’t. Jeremy Rogers is still dead. You’re merely a drawing.” Dr. Marigold states.
Dr. Spud’s face contorts in anger. Despite his eyes only being black and white, the fire in them was clear. He pulls the 2D pen from his pocket, swiftly drawing a simple image of a hand gun. Before reaction could be made, Dr. Spud aims the 2D gun at Dr. Marigold, the threat of the 2D image all too real when a bullet strikes her shoulder. “Could just a copy do that?” He snaps.
Dr. Marigold grunts, clutching her wounded shoulder.
Dr. Eicher watched the scene unfold in horror. Dr. Spud only got aggressive with other staff members when passionate. This was another level. The shock of the situation kept him frozen for a few seconds, before reaching for the walking talkie on his desk, pressing a button. “Containment team and medical staff to my office is requested immediately!”
Dr. Spud glances at Dr. Eicher with hurt in his eyes, then hopping onto 2D-682, slipping out of the room.
Dr. Eicher’s actions did not help settle the conflict in his head. How could something be so familiar, but so different? Was containment the only solution?
