Item #: SCP-421
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: When not in use, SCP-421 can be stored virtually anywhere, provided it is placed seat down upon a flat surface. When active, SCP-421 should ideally be kept within a room whose dimensions are a multiple of 3 and whilst not mandatory, disagreeable results can occur otherwise.
Description: SCP-421 for all intents and purposes resembles a chair. When in sight of more than one person, it appears as a wooden dining chair, tall back, light wood. When viewed by a single person however, it becomes whatever form of chair they would find most comfortable, and does not seem to be limited to humanoid species. Electronic surveillance equipment does not seem to be affected, and as such anyone viewing the chair from such a device sees it as the immediate user would see it.
To date, all short-term users have described it as 'a damn comfy chair'.
Should a subject remain seated, silent and considered at rest for longer than ten minutes however, they will enter a contemplative if not meditative state lasting anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours, depending on the emotional state of the subject.
After the first use, subjects appeared particularly joyous and in one case, almost euphoric. According to statements they had each taken 'a long hard look at themselves' and had made a definite decision to change their lives for the better. This state lasts for approximately 48 hours at which point the effect subsides and the subject returns to normality.
Upon their 'awakening', the subject will usually have one major goal fixed firmly in mind that they feel they must fulfil. So far this goal has never proven to be malicious, though the subject's execution of it may not be particularly subtle and may cause emotional trauma to anybody who feels negatively towards the subject's course of action.
Additionally, if the subject is not allowed to complete the aforementioned goal, they will often become emotionally depressed, feeling that their failure is a reinforcement of their own negative self-image. At this point they may request the use of the chair once more. This request must be denied, unless the subject is to be used for research purposes.
Any repeated use produces a lesser 'uplifting' effect for a shorter period, and the ensuing return to an average mindset is always perceived to be an affliction of an ever-increasing depression. With further repeated use, this depression can become any number of negative emotions and the 'goals' become far darker.
At present there are a number of cases of prolonged exposure, most notably those of Dr. ███████ Kara, former Head of Research, and of ████ Kulzn, current acting Head of Research at Site 33, though the cases are markedly different to each other.
Case File 421-A
Subject: Dr. ███████ Kara
Extracts taken from Dr. Kara's personal logs, subject unaware of exposure to SCP-421
Date: ██-██-████
What is it about life, that one day can leave you in awe and majesty at the most complex machinations of the universe, or the simple wonder of dawnbreak, and the next day make you yearn for chaos and destruction to ease the pain of existence.
You'll notice that's not a question. I already know the answer.And the answer to that is the answer to everything, and it's the one answer I won't let myself believe. To believe it makes it real, robs it of its wonder. How often have we seen the impossible rent to lines of facts and figures? I just can't have it happen to this one. This answer is special, unknowable, unreachable. It shouldn't be but it seems destiny puts so many barriers in my way to hamper my progress… A man can only take so many falls before his resolve to rise again fails, and where once was enthusiasm now lies regret. Where once raced desire, hatred now resides.
Gone are the days when I would rise, filled with exuberance for the coming days, and the restful sleep of the fulfilled would settle me.
Arrived have the days of wrenching myself from a pit of despair for another turgid sprawl of hours, slouching towards my own personal Damnation in the face of this unobtainable thing, this that I desire so much, for so long. THIS, that I have come to hate for its mocking condemnation of my failure!
THIS, that will walk unwittingly into the dragon's maw, and that I will defile! If I can't have it unsullied and pure, then it shall be ruined forevermore.
Case File 421-B
Subject: Agent ████ Kulzn
Agent Weaver: HAH! The recorder's on now, I'll have proof!
Agent Kulzn: And you think that would stop me? Honestly? I know why they sent you with this proposal, they're hoping I feel guilty about your arm. They're just using you as leverage.
Weaver: That's right, they are. And it'll work, won't it? Because deep down you're not such a cold-hearted bastard that you'd maim a cripple. Right?
Kulzn: Wrong.
Weaver: … oh. Well, just do it anyway would you? I'll make sure the chair's returned once we're done with it, so just tell us about your experiences with it and we can get this unpleasantness over with.
Kulzn: (sighs) Fine. But only because you're the only one the dog listens to. So, what do I say?
Weaver: Well, just tell us how you feel once the chair does its thing.
Kulzn: Normal. It's a chair, I don't know what to tell you. It's comfy, I'll give you that.
Weaver: Yeah, but what about all that… 'inter-spection' stuff it does?
Kulzn: … introspection? I don't need a chair for that, I do that all the time, have done since I can remember. I don't need a psychic chair telling me why my life's gone shit and how I should go about fixing it.
Weaver: …but that's what it does!
Kulzn: Well then, I must be immune. I can't say as how it's changed my thoughts in the slightest.
Weaver: … well, I'll go back and tell them then. And you'll let them borrow the chair? Yes? Thanks, sir. Now, if you could just put the knife down…