SCP-1701
In Tents and Purposes
SCP-1701 upon recovery.
Special Containment Procedures
SCP-1701 is contained within a Standard Containment Cell equipped with a bulletproof, frosted skylight. Personnel are not to enter SCP-1701's cell without vision-obscuring eyewear.
Any new SCP-1701 instances are to be incinerated.
Description
SCP-1701 is an "E-Z UP" brand pop-up canopy capable of autonomous motion and predatory behavior.
SCP-1701 in its rest state is visually indistinguishable from similar, nonanomalous canopies. In this state, SCP-1701 uses photosynthetic cells in its "fabric" to sustain itself.
Occasionally, SCP-1701 will become active, marked by the fabric changing color and displaying iridescent green and blue fractal patterns. It will begin to rock back and forth slightly, gradually increasing in intensity until it tips over.
If SCP-1701 detects any movement within 5m of itself during an active state, SCP-1701's legs will quickly elongate to over 10m in length and manifest several joints. These legs will spasm and flail violently until they make contact with the triggering object, at which point the legs will wrap around it and pull it towards the center. Remaining legs will retract, allowing SCP-1701 to fold up and once again resemble a nonanomalous canopy. The captured object vanishes completely during this process, though SCP-1701 will occasionally twitch or emit a low sloshing sound for several hours after.
Following this event, any person having witnessed SCP-1701 "consume" an object will eventually suffer headaches, irritated eyes, and sinus pain for up to 8 hours. The timeframe for these symptoms to manifest following viewing of SCP-1701's active state is highly variable and known to range between 18 minutes and 9 years, 11 months.
After initial symptoms begin, upper and lower eyelashes will lengthen and transmute into aluminum before falling out. The eyeballs will disengage from the optic nerve and eye socket and transmute into cloth and aluminum upon coming in contact with the transformed eyelashes, before combining to form two miniature SCP-1701 instances. These instances will then attempt to scuttle away from the afflicted subject, and will grow to full size in about 2 hours.
The affected person will then grow new eyeballs within 10 minutes of the loss of the original eyeballs, and usually experiences no changes in vision except for occasional visual blackouts when viewing nonanomalous canopies, tents, and gazebos.