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little-alternate-academia · 4 years ago

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everything is fine (until it isn't anymore)

Summary:

After relentlessly working for hours now, Dr. Cavendish isn't sure of what's worse: Breaking her own rules or the foundation's. Much to her surprise, the latter helps her with the former.

Alternatively: the one in which Diana works as a scientist under the SCP Foundation and Akko is their latest discovery.

The first time Dr. Cavendish meets SCP-6981 is under curious circumstances. Not to say that any of the other encounters the researcher had until that point were anything but. This specific one, though, had been something else entirely.

Diana wasn't new to severe amounts of workload. From the simplest file reviews to almost unmanageable hours visiting every SCP under her active care, she had somehow found comfort in it. However, that didn't make it any less exhausting to keep up. That was clear enough, although she had only realized it when pointed out by a sudden visit of her very own assistant. Until then, she didn't think there was any need for one, since she was truly capable of completing her work. Thoughts always change, of course.

("Dr. Cavendish?" She heard, coming from what should be the passageway of her office. Soft and unsure, as everything her assistant ever said until that point.

"Yes, Miss Yanson?" Diana said, not bothering to look up from her computer screen.

"Where are SCP-529's files? I can't seem to find it."

Turning her chair around after a brief moment of pondering, the doctor seemed to have realized something, as she kept her head low. "... I'm not exactly sure, Miss Yanson.")

Her office - usually so pristine that it had earned Diana many compliments from the remaining site staff - had found itself in the most imaginable mess. Files from different SCP's, old and new, had all been thrown on the floor, each accompanied by her scribbled reviews. Her desk, which had never even had a single pencil lying diagonally, was now full of different notebooks, pens thrown around carelessly almost at the edge of it. Still in character, at least, she had been sane enough to not leave any actual trash resting inside her workspace.

Yet, the worst part was that she hadn't cared about that mess for several hours now. For some reason she had been assigned to a new arrival, with a still unreviewed file that lacked too much info. She had been appointed as a Class B recently, she had no business with an SCP that had yet to be quarantined and studied. It made no sense for her to have a new arrival to work on, and looking down at the - barely considered a - file, she had been able to quickly recognize the word Euclid, next to a very poor description of the subject. That meant that the object was at the very least conscious which, in the foundation's book, usually translated to danger.

Strangely, she was still fascinated by what the sloppy handwriting in front of her said, for it quickly proved her hypothesis. The subject was apparently conscious and able to talk about seemingly any current subject, although it seemed a bit confused at times when doing so. It wasn't that uncommon for the foundation to contain responsive SCP's, but for them to be as cooperative as this one, it was somewhat rare, at least for Dr. Cavendish's current facility. Especially because, if the additional info was proved to be true, this specific arrival was one of great power.

Diana was starting her reading on the supposedly mechanical arm that the SCP had, her curiosity gaining her complete focus, when a notification popped up on her monitor. She could hear the faint sound of the facility's alarm sounding in the distance, and the sudden warning on her screen explained exactly why. Containment breaches weren't that rare, but depending on the SCP, they varied a lot in importance. She thought, for a second, about going out of her office. But in the end, if it had been a Keter escaping containment, or even a very threatening Euclid, the alarm would've sounded here too, so she figured that she didn't have much to worry about.

That was one of the good things about being appointed as a Class B, she realized, it meant that she was enough of a priority to be left far away from the containment cells.

Assuming she had no plausible reason to stop her work, she continued. It was such an astounding find, really, that the researcher in her was utterly thrilled about it. The supposedly mechanical arm was described as being made of an unknown white metallic-like material, only interrupted by what looked like seven almost identical crystals, and the occurring presence of– wait, that couldn't be right. Plants? Well the file might have been disorganized, but it was still a very clear description. Diana couldn't wait to get her eyes on her.

Her. The notes described the object as being a young woman, with asian features and a lean figure. It didn't say much more than that, and the doctor knew that was the standard description, but a part of her only grew more curious to see this person. Was she entirely human, besides the arm? Maybe there was more to her, something purposefully left out that the doctor would hopefully be able to see later. She was so fascinated about the new SCP that she barely acknowledged the rustling of papers behind her.

When heard again, the steps were soft enough for the blonde to assume it was her assistant, probably searching for another file or notebook. She had been in Diana's office three times in the past few hours, so the doctor didn't bother facing up again, at this point they both knew that it was better to look for whatever was needed than to ask. She kept her attention on the file, now slowly looking up at her monitor. Right, she had to type all of that in for now.

As she did that, she also checked the notes a fair amount of times. Although very brief, she had noticed some very specific things written, a lot of mentions of the word 'magic', and Diana could only wonder if they had found something else or if the SCP had told them herself. Still, she kept going, her fast typing filling the four walls of her office along with the occasional rustling of papers behind her. When she had finally arrived at the final seemingly hurried writing, she heard a quick hum at her side, almost as if directly over her shoulder.

"That isn't right."

Dr. Cavendish was about to question her assistant on what she had meant when she noticed something. That wasn't the soft voice she had grown accustomed with. Miss Yanson's voice wasn't as high as this one, nor did it share the same accent, although this particular one was still very subtle. But who could this–

As she turned to the side, she was sure that it actually wasn't her assistant. Nor anyone she had ever interacted with.

The first thing she noticed was the long brown hair, highlighted but what seemed to be a white full body gown. But that feature was quickly overshadowed by another one. From her current side view, she could still see it, a red eye. Those weren't natural.

When she finally realized the situation, Diana jumped to the side, almost sending herself and her chair to the floor. The strange figure, however, didn't move a single muscle. She - the doctor assumed it was a woman - seemed calm, and too focused on the papers currently spread in front of her. The researcher could barely hear the slightly annoyed tone in which the woman spoke to herself, because when she finally moved, grabbing a loose pen from Diana's desk, the doctor saw what she had been so curious about.

All the notes didn't even get close to describing how marvelous this supposedly mechanical member was. The lower half of this woman's left arm was completely bone white - a lot different from the white that her current gown was - and full of sharp curves that forced the metallic look forward, with hollow spaces that the researcher wasn't able to see fully, but could faintly distinguish a few green spots in it. But still, she had an almost complete view of the few crystals she had read about, and they had a peculiar shine of their own, enough to make them completely mesmerizing.

The blonde almost felt like reaching out to see it from a closer perspective, to know if it was as cold as it seemed, but not only would that be unsafe, she also registered at this point that the SCP held a bunch of papers in that arm. Why did those look like files?

"Okay, now it's fixed." Diana heard, although it seemed to be too soft to be directed to her. Then, the woman slowly turned to her, and suddenly the doctor found herself under the watch of two very bright scarlet eyes. "Oh, hey. These are yours, right?"

"What?"

"I didn't know how to sort these out, but I didn't wanna step on them accidentally so…" Not bothering to answer her question, the subject nonchalantly offered the papers she had been holding to the blonde. "The other ones were easier, so I hope you don't mind. Also, I fixed a typo on that paper of yours. I told them it was 'Claiomh Solais', but they forgot to add the 'o', I guess, and that is a totally different thing. Plus, I saw you were typing it out so I wanted to fix it before that and–"

"Please, stop." Diana said, her voice low after finally calming down enough to coherently form words. Glancing at her door, she could see the key to the office still turned to the side, signalling that the door was still locked, and that was at least plausible since she never heard it opening. She felt like asking about that. Still, while looking back to what she now assumed was SCP-6981, surprised that she actually had stopped talking, she goes on to ask something else.

"Why did you breach the containment?"

In response, SCP-6891 cocked her head to the side, brows furrowed in confusion for a second. "Breach the… what?"

Just then, Dr. Cavendish was reminded of the slight accent that surrounded the SCP's words, as it was barely present, only recognizable if you payed close attention to it. She could only wonder if the woman hadn't understood what she said, either way, she tried again.

"Why did you leave your room? You weren't supposed to get out."

A pause.

"I wasn't?"

Diana barely resists the urge to bring her palm up to her face. That was the most ridiculous answer she could've gotten. Instead, with a brief sigh, she kept going.

"So you're not trying to get away?" Somehow, she finds comfort in how the SCP moves her head to the sides. "Then why?"

"I saw a kitty walking in front of my room, but it was only half of it. So I figured that if it could wander around, then so could I."

Quickly glancing at her door one more time, the doctor seemed to remember something else. "But how did you even got here? We're several floors away from your assigned room."

"Oh, right! I also have no idea." SCP-6981 seemed genuine about that, but still, for a second, Diana doubted that was the whole truth. Luckily, she kept going. "I was actually walking through the halls, seeing if I could find that cat from earlier and pet it. But then this really loud noise started, and it hurt my ears a bit so I closed my eyes and ended up here. Usually teleportation works better when I know where I'm going so maybe that's why."

"Teleportation as in… Actually moving from one place to another?"

"Yes, but I don't think it's that easy." That wasn't at all surprising. "I know it's like magic, but also I heard somewhere that it's related to physics. I'm not sure where I heard it from, though."

With another sigh, the doctor slowly got up from her chair. She was still on high alert, after all having a new subject that close to her was still something extremely dangerous, especially one that still hadn't had clearance. For now, Dr. Cavendish still had so many unanswered questions, but this would have to wait for the right protocols. "Look, SCP-6981, I need y–"

"Oh, my name 's Akko. Actually, it's Atsuko but you know, nicknames are easier." Diana squinted her eyes, and the woman said nothing else.

"Well then, Akko, I need you to get back to your room."

She half expected the SCP, or Akko, to say no. To at the very least look offended or be uncooperative, even if slightly. But what she did instead was a little bit more surprising.

"That's fine, but can you at least tell me when I'll get something to eat?"

#little witch academia #lwa au #scp!akko #foundation!diana #diakko #dianakko #alternate universe #little alternate academia #scp foundation au #akko kagari #diana cavendish

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