SCP-054: Water Nymph

SCP-054: Water Nymph SCP-054 starts out curious about people. It imitates their shapes, approaches the staff, and gradually becomes comfortable enough to stay out of its fountain while they work. Then the experiments begin. It's made of water and needs access to more water to replace what evaporates. Researchers deny it that access, expose it to temperature extremes, and use painful conditioning. Its behavior changes from eager interaction to withdrawal, resistance, and attempts to escape. The file records those changes in a remarkably detached way. When it stops approaching people during the dehydration experiment, the researcher suggests it has realized nobody is going to help. Then the testing continues. Eventually, two researchers are injured in an incident whose details are withheld. SCP-054 becomes distrustful of men, who made up most of the original research staff, and its classification changes. After five incident-free years, it's downgraded to Safe and experiments are set to resume. That final sentence does not feel reassuring. The missing incident leaves some uncertainty, but there's plenty on the page already. Their choices visibly change its behavior. By the end, its reluctance to cooperate seems considerably easier to understand than the decision to start testing again. https://t.co/Vm87w1suLg