SCP-2817

The Carpet King Prosecutes Itself

Special Containment Procedures

SCP-2817-1 is to be treated as, for all intents and purposes, a standard Foundation D-Class and may be used in testing with Safe objects that do not display harmful properties, as a way to occupy its time, between performances of Procedure-453-Palmyra. At the end of every month, SCP-2817-1 is to be escorted with an armed guard to the eastern grounds of Wing-3 to complete Procedure-453-Palmyra. During this time, SCP-2817-1 is to be handled, referred to, and treated as an SCP object according to protocol. SCP-2817-1 is to be granted mandatory psychological counseling every week related to Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, particularly the form commonly known as “Stockholm syndrome.”

SCP-2817-2 is to be contained using Procedure-453-Palmyra, a Foundation approved version of SCP-2817, by SCP-2817-1. No guards or other personnel are to interfere with Procedure-453-Palmyra. Following the conclusion of Procedure-453-Palmyra, SCP-2817-1 is to be debriefed, given a psychological counseling session, and escorted back to the D-Class barracks.

Efforts to locate and capture SCP-2817-2 between performances of Procedure-453-Palmyra are ongoing. Intelligence provided by SCP-2817 indicates that SCP-2817-2 may regularly reside as an interstellar entity, and is thus uncontainable.

Description

SCP-2817 is a complex ritual created and regularly performed by SCP-2817-1 and SCP-2817-2.

SCP-2817-1 is William Simon Higly, a male human of mixed-race descent. Previously known as D-77810, SCP-2817-1 was previously serving a life sentence for involvement in a double homicide with his brother, Thomas Michael Higly, and both were recruited by the Foundation as D-Class in ████. SCP-2817-1's brother was assigned the number D-113, but is now deceased. According to information provided by SCP-2817-1, it is presumed that D-113 was also a participant in SCP-2817 for ██ years before both were recruited by the Foundation. Before D-113's death, SCP-2817-1 alternated monthly participation in SCP-2817 with him. SCP-2817-1 has an extremely close relationship with SCP-2817-2, to the point where both seem to be able to understand each other's complete psychological profile through non-verbal communication.

SCP-2817-2 is a 3-meter tall, hairless humanoid with a deep mauve complexion, which constantly emits a low level of mauve light. It appears dressed in a crown and ornate robe, carries a crude approximation of a scepter seemingly constructed of bone and a wooden judge's gavel, and has the ability to appear and disappear at will, manifesting of its own accord to participate in SCP-2817. SCP-2817-2 is referred to as "The Carpet King" by SCP-2817-1, who claims that it comes to perform SCP-2817 to "confess its sins and seek a verdict". SCP-2817-2’s personality has been described as extremely skittish, introverted, and “high-maintenance” by SCP-2817-1, and it has shown consistent hostility towards the guards observing SCP-2817. Due to this, known empirical data concerning SCP-2817-2 is low, and most information is provided by SCP-2817-1.

According to SCP-2817-1, SCP-2817 is a method of crude containment for SCP-2817-2. During SCP-2817, SCP-2817-1 will don a set of monk's robes, and carry a hatchet¹ to a meeting place SCP-2817-2 has designated beforehand through unknown means. SCP-2817-2 will appear, and kneel at SCP-2817-1's feet. It will then recite a brief speech in an unknown language, to which SCP-2817-1 will respond while gently placing its hands on SCP-2817-2's shoulders in a ritualistic fashion. Following this, SCP-2817-2 will bow its head, and SCP-2817-1 will decapitate it. The corpse will vanish afterwards, and the ritual will repeat the next month with SCP-2817-2 apparently unharmed. Following the ritual, SCP-2817-1 will inform Foundation personnel of the sins that SCP-2817-2 requested be absolved, which are usually genocidal or militaristic in nature and on a cosmic scale.
SCP-2817 acts as self-devised punishment for SCP-2817-2, keeping it from continuing its actions. The effectiveness of this is unknown.

+ Addendum-2817-A

- Access Granted

Interviewed: SCP-2817-1

Interviewer: Dr. Tamar Geffen

<Begin Log █/██/█>

Dr. Geffen: Tell me about the first time SCP-2817-2 approached you.

SCP-2817-1: We were very small children. Maybe five or six? Tom and I were inseparable at that age, we always had a very close relationship. At that age we shared a bedroom, I remember this vividly, a bedroom. And we slept in this very tall bunkbed our parents had set up. I always got the top and he always was on the bottom and I remember hearing Tom shout about "tall legs" besides the bed in the middle of the night a few times.

Dr. Geffen: Tall legs?

SCP-2817-1: (nods) He was the first one to see him. I probably had my first encounter with our monster about a month later. I mean before, I had only seen Tom's drawings of him.

Dr. Geffen: Did your brother feel a stronger connection with it?

SCP-2817-1: Not really. He was there for us both. We called him The Carpet King because he carried that boney scepter around and we had a rug in our bedroom that was the same color as his skin. We weren't scared of him after a while because he never seemed evil or threatening, just sort of sad and lonely. He was our friendly monster.

Dr. Geffen: How did you know what it wanted?

SCP-2817-1: He never talked ever, but we just sort of understood what he wanted and why. I can't really explain. I remember he gave us the axe and robes and was very insistent that we take them and we like them. I think in all the years I've known him, it's the only time he smiled.

Dr. Geffen: So you never felt like SCP-2817-2 wanted to harm you?

SCP-2817-1: Never. He was just the monster in the closet who showed up every month and wanted to die. He taught us how to perform the ritual and explained why but we didn't really understand then, but it seemed to make him feel better. I think he trusted us for some reason.

Dr. Geffen: How did you react to its personality as a young child?

SCP-2817-1: It's…um. Well. It's odd, I really sort of took to it. You know? Not like that of course, but I felt sorry for him. I really can't say anything bad for the guy, I mean. Sure, he has this tendency to decimate populations, but we all have our vices, right? At least he says he won't do anything to Earth, maybe. I don't know. It's important for me that people around me are happy, that's the thing. And, for me and my brother, we were taught that the best way to make people happy is to do what they ask. I mean, the guy is punishing himself. Surely that's proof he wants to change?

Dr. Geffen: But it seems it hasn't changed. It still comes to you. Why is that?

SCP-2817-1: When someone's making a life change, you gotta support them. You gotta love them and encourage them. And the love a caretaker receives back is something special, let me tell you.

Dr. Geffen: Would you consider yourself a caretaker to SCP-2817-2? Or a judge?

SCP-2817-1: (SCP-2817-1 shrugs) Honestly, there's no difference to me anymore. Punishment is care. Whether you receive it or dish it out. It's how you know you're being looked out for. It's how you know you need to try harder to receive love. That you're not ready for it yet.

Dr. Geffen: Do you consider SCP-2817-2 to be a good person?

SCP-2817-1: (SCP-2817-1 shrugs again) I would never betray him. Just the way he is, that's justification for what he does. I just can't feel anything less than love for him. (SCP-2817-1 laughs.) Maybe it's just me, I dunno. Maybe I'm a pushover for monsters. (SCP-2817-1 smiles.)
<End Log>

+ Addendum-2817-B

- Access Granted

Interviewed: SCP-2817-1

Interviewer: Dr. Tamar Geffen

<Begin Log █/██/█>

Dr. Geffen: Why did you and your brother commit the double homicide?

SCP-2817-1: That was the final event in a long string of requests he made. When Tom and I were a little older, almost twelve, he started to want "evidence". He would request that we perform simple tasks to prove him guilty. It was around this time that his behavior was growing pretty, um, I don't know what the word is but anxious comes close. We would do small things at first: find a pinecone, steal a piece of gum, read a long book on Roman history cover to cover. Pretty random stuff. But it seemed to help him face his monthly execution more calmly.

Dr. Geffen: So, I presume, these directives became more and more complicated as time went on?

SCP-2817-1: I guess when you put it like that, yeah. By the time he requested we kill two guys together in a brutal way and go to jail, he would be almost trashing our apartments in self-loathing.

Dr. Geffen: Did the nature of the crime affect you afterwards? Did you have doubts?

SCP-2817-1: As I said, as I keep saying, punishment is care.

Dr. Geffen: What led you to that mindset?

SCP-2817-1: You see, when he was getting tough, we would complain. I mean, think about us, complaining. (SCP-2817-1 scoffs.) Complaining about his tasks and things, how unreasonable it seems now. Anyway, he would beat us. We would show up for visits and see each other's bruises. Tom, this one time, Tom came over and he had just gotten out of the hospital. His whole face was black and purple. Nurses thought he was fighting, or something? I mean, who knows what people think.

Dr. Geffen: And did this violent behavior make you stop complaining, or did it increase your dissatisfaction?

SCP-2817-1: Well, I didn't ever want to complain anymore. You see, when he beat you, it was with such great force that he smacked something around in your head. You felt so ungrateful. So ungrateful and guilty it hurt your soul. During the next two months, before he appeared again, I had these dreams where he arrived ahead of schedule and dragged me into the hall and did unspeakable things to me. Unimaginable things to my body and mind. But the funny thing is, the more terrible the dream, the worse the things he did to me, the more relaxed I felt. I was sort of at peace with it. I didn't feel a need to scream anymore, because why scream? It felt right, y'know? All natural like. It was right. I felt cared for and corrected. It was good. That's where I get my philosophy, and that's why we were willing to jump on those people, Tom and I. He told me he dreamed those things too.

Dr. Geffen: Did the effect on your life and family when you went to jail bother you at all?

SCP-2817-1: (Pause of several seconds) No. It never did. All that mattered was he was happy when he died every month. When he confessed and atoned for his sins. That's the thing, I'm responsible for him. For all of us. He has to atone for what he does, and he needs someone who won't or can't judge. A friendly shoulder. We all desire a friendly shoulder more than anything.

Dr. Geffen: How did you perform the ritual in jail? Or here before the procedure was made official?

SCP-2817-1: He got real quiet after Tom died. Stopped being anxious. Stopped coming as often. But I think he's happier now, I think.

Dr. Geffen: SCP-2817-1?

SCP-2817-1: When The Carpet King is happy, I'm happy. I'm happy now, so he must be happy.

Dr. Geffen: SCP-2817-1, answer my question please.

SCP-2817-1: (long pause) We were nothing without his love. Are nothing. Less than nothing. Every day. (SCP-2817-1 ceases communication.)

<End Log>