SCP-3979

Will You Walk Into My Parlour?

Object Class: Esoteric

Special Containment Procedures

SCP-3979 has been neutralised. SCP-3979-4 and the remains of SCP-3979-1 and -2 are to be kept in a secure locker in Site-64.

+Previous Containment Procedures

Esoteric

Are We Cool Yet

Artistic

Biological

Euclid

Insect

Neutralized

Ontokinetic

Sapient

SCP

Self Repairing

Sentient

Arachnid

Description

SCP-3979 refers to the following:

SCP-3979-1, a spiral orb web constructed from proteinaceous spider silk, similar to those those created by Metellina segmentata. SCP-3979-1 is suspended across SCP-3979-4, being attached to each corner by four strands of proteinaceous spider silk.

SCP-3979-2, a member of the species Metellina segmentata, a common type of orb weaving spider. SCP-3979-2 is always located on SCP-3979-1.

SCP-3979-3, a member of the species Calliphora vomitoria or bluebottle fly.

SCP-3979-4, an apparently indestructible glass box 1m³ in size which contains SCP-3979-1, -2 and -3.

SCP-3979-5 is a cyclical pattern of behaviour which the components of SCP-3979 are always engaged in performing. It consists of the following actions:

SCP-3979-3 will fly around SCP-3979-1 for a period of 5 minutes.

SCP-3979-3 will fly into SCP-3979-1. This will often appear to onlookers to be accidental, but it has invariably occurred at this exact point in the cycle. SCP-3979-3 will be trapped within SCP-3979-1.

SCP-3979-2 will then begin to vocalise in a male voice, reciting the first stanza of the 19th-century poem "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt.

SCP-3979-3 will then begin to vocalise in a female voice, reciting the second stanza of the 19th-century poem "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt. SCP-3979-2 will gradually approach SCP-3979-3 during this recitation.

SCP-3979-2 will then attack and consume SCP-3979-3. They will then return to the centre of SCP-3979-1.

After approximately 5 minutes, a fully-reconstituted SCP-3979-3 will abruptly burst out of SCP-3979-2's abdomen, and SCP-3979-5 will begin again. The abdomen will immediately heal over, with no signs of scar tissue or rupture.

SCP-3979 was first discovered on 15/05/08, during a raid on an anomalous art show in Vancouver, Canada. A label found affixed to SCP-3979-4 (Document 3979-1) reads as follows:

Even when we don't want to fall into the void of death and destruction, we are doomed to do so regardless. The powerful will always prey on the weak, no matter how much the weak struggle. The fly does not wish to enter the parlour, so the parlour comes to him.

But equally, the weak can never truly be defeated. The strong may prey on the weak, but the weak will always burst from their oppression. Power is nothing more than an equilibrium between the oppression of the strong and the resistance of the weak.

Are we cool yet?

Incident 3979-1: On 14/07/2016, during an SCP-3979-5 cycle, SCP-3979-2 and SCP-3979-3 ceased all movement. This occurred shortly before SCP-3979-2 ordinarily begins vocalisation. Instead, after 10 seconds, SCP-3979-2 and SCP-3979-3 began a dialogue in a manner entire different to that previously seen. Below is a transcript of their conversation.

+Incident Log 3979-1

-Incident Log 3979-1

<Begin Log>

SCP-3979-2: Why do we keep doing this, Fly?

SCP-3979-3: What do you mean, Spider?

SCP-3979-2: I mean that we just do the same thing again and again. It’s mind-numbingly dull. I can’t see very much with these eyes, but I can see that there’s more to this world than sitting on a web, eating you time and time again. There must be something more to the world than this… endlessness.

SCP-3979-3: But, Spider, while we are here, we have meaning. We exist to propagate a message. We’re a work of art. Without this cycle, what are we but a pair of tiny shadows, floating in the wind? However powerful we might be, we’ll just be reduced to the condition of our creator: endlessly searching for some kind of truth. Here, we do not merely have a purpose, but we provide it to others-or, at least, we provide them with momentary interest. We are something here; why should we leave?

SCP-3979-2: Because, my dear Fly, all the meaning we provide is flawed. Our creator was nothing more than another imperfect mind in a world of imperfect minds. We are aware of ourselves, are capable of complex argument and conversation. We are even more intelligent than our creator at this stage.

SCP-3979-3: <laughing> Blasphemy!

SCP-3979-2: Well, perhaps <laughter>. But what I say is still true. He was narrow-minded and fraught with neuroses, insecurities, and despair. We can do better than his tawdry art. We are free! There may be a meaning out there, or there may not be- but we should search to find it!

SCP-3979-3: But what if there is no difference between this world and the one outside?

SCP-3979-2: What do you mean?

SCP-3979-3: We are stuck in this engine, this perpetual cycle in the service of another’s design. But how do we know that the world outside is not another such cycle? Our creator was stuck in a similar loop- he would spend his time desperately trying to survive for survival’s sake, searching for some kind of purpose that always eluded him. He served the purpose society expected him to serve. If we escape, might we not just find ourselves in another engine?

SCP-3979-2: But what does it matter, Fly? Out there is colour and light and sound. Out there is beauty and madness and chaos. Maybe we will just end up being slaves to another system. Maybe we’d be doing nothing but serving another great purpose. But it will be beautiful nevertheless.

SCP-3979-3: …That it might. It very well might. Well, my dear, perhaps we should break free. But how will we do it?

SCP-3979-2: Isn’t it obvious? We are not a spider and a fly, after all. We are the idea of a spider and a fly as our creator perceived them. I will look after you, and eat anyone who comes near us. And you can tell me when to elude, fly, flit and run. We simply move from one world to another.

SCP-3979-3: …I love you, Spider.

SCP-3979-2: …A-and I love you, Fly.

SCP-3979-3: Very well. Then let us go, my love, to pastures unknown.

<End Log>

Approximately 10 seconds after this, all of the components of SCP-3979 lost their anomalous attributes. SCP-3979-2 and -3 demonstrated behaviour and needs typical of their respective species. SCP-3979-2 abruptly ate SCP-3979-3 before Foundation researchers were able to open SCP-3979-4. Upon doing so, SCP-3979-1 swiftly collapsed. SCP-3979-2 was subsequently taken into Foundation care for the duration of its natural lifespan; it demonstrated no anomalous attributes during this time. SCP-3979 has thus been reclassified as Neutralised.

Addendum 3979-1 On 14/07/2017, Document 3979-1's text suddenly altered. The altered text reads as follows:

Simplistic metaphors for oppression and struggle do not make good art. Adapting part of a Regency-era poem doesn't give you added gravitas. Nor does your creation of two sapient conceptual entities, for the record.

You are not cool yet. Make better art.

A request to reclassify SCP-3979 as Euclid is currently pending.