#doctors coats and gloves.. especially plague doctor masks or medical masks in general but not much else huh

[puppyeared]

i have an idea for a character design but what animals are usually associated with medicine??? the most common answer i got was snake, but i also thought of lab rats/mice, rabbits etc

[monstercampus]

Plague Doctor - First Meeting

(cws: animal-centric body horror)

word count: 1.5k

Unlike the usual hustle and bustle of the morning in the general studies building, the creak of the door echoes down the empty corridor as you step out into the hall. Not a peep can be heard from anywhere in the vicinity, save for the occasional muffled voices of professors and T.As in their classes as you pass by, and the whirring of a copier chugging away in the office down the very end of the hall.

Midterm week means the tension has risen to a peak, and even if your fellow students did have time to chatter amongst themselves, they all vanish from the main buildings during this time out of fear of being reprimanded by the terrifying revenant who patrols the corridors. Or the Horseman, whom you've only caught a glimpse of at one of the football games earlier this season, but have heard all manner of scary stories about–especially what he does to naughty ne'er-do-wells who wander the campus after curfew.

Fortunately for you, one of the perks of being so different from your fellow students is that you got the option to do your tests early, and do them you did–after all, how could you pass up the chance to have a week off while your classmates all feverishly study, when all the facilities will be empty and quiet for you to use? It seemed like a great idea and the perfect way to spend a little time to relax.

Unfortunately for you, however, this is the week your body decided to betray you. You started feeling sniffly over the weekend and by today you're caught in a full-blown cold, one made worse by the fact that you wanted to enjoy your time off and now have to tend to your vile illness. It certainly doesn't feel fair.

But that's the only reason you're here. The medical office is right near the entrance you just slipped through, and holding in your cough until you get into the door, you're quick to slide it closed and hobble up towards the front counter. It's a much nicer space than you're used to at human schools; not only does it actually have a reception counter, but the uncomfortable chairs have been taken over by lounge sofas and a waiting area that plays soft, gentle instrumental music from a speaker on the side table. The white walls still make it feel sterile, but they're contrasted by the coattails of the figure approaching you from around the corner, having heard your entrance and probably expecting you since your roommate called in an appointment for you earlier this morning.

You have to make an effort not to cringe when his full form comes into view. The doctor is exactly that: a doctor, licensed and practicing for many years with a slew of impressive accomplishments that line the walls of the corridor behind him. But he doesn't wear a white coat, he doesn't own a stethoscope, and he doesn't smile when he sees you to soothe the worries of your ill self. You wouldn't be able to see it if he did, because his face is completely obscured by an authentic plague mask–'authentic' meaning it's so worn and scratched up from age that you can't quite tell if it's keeping diseases out, or just keeping whatever he hides beneath it in. A brimmed hat covers his hair, a cloak and puffy, loose clothing hides his features, and tall boots that have the look of thousands of miles on them all bring together a void-like black of night that makes him appear as though he's a walking shadow.

"Human! Next up! Chopping block!"

While you're still assessing the figure before you, your attention flits up to his black-clad shoulder where a scruffy-looking raven perches, the squeaky voice clearly coming from the bird and not from the doctor. His gloved fingers hold out a bit of fruit that's produced from his pocket, and with a gleeful squawk, the raven chomps on it and swallows it down before his master nods at you and turns back to lead you down the hallway. It takes you a moment to get yourself up off the sofa, but once you get around the corner you're relieved to see the doctor waiting for you before he continues instead of leaving you behind.

Curiously, your attention is directed more towards the thump of his cane rather than the mask or the bird that is his assistant. It looks to be made of ebony rather than solid wood, and although it isn't incredibly dazzling with colour or adornments, you definitely notice the deep engravings of patterns carved into the length of it that seem to shift as he leans on it for support. You still haven't analyzed all the different designs by the time you reach the office, though many more assaults on your senses command your attention when you sit yourself in the plum-coloured chair in the corner, the stench of lavender and musty herbs hitting you full force when he takes his seat barely a foot away from you. The office is darker than the waiting room for sure, plastered with lavender wallpaper that's already peeling and a black rug that's been rolled over thousands of times with the wheels of the chair he's sitting on–and you can see the source of the smell hanging in bundles from the ceiling, crumbling herbs tied together in various arrays that compliment the dead flowers at the desk he's sitting next to.

"Symptoms!" The crow shrieks and startles you, to which the doctor makes some motion with his hands that the corvid nods thoughtfully at. "Symptoms! Symptoms!" He caws, this time at a much gentler volume.

"Er…u-uh, well, I'm really congested, and I have a fever…and my body aches a lot." You stop for a moment to blow your nose with a tissue from the box he offers, clearly noticing the severity of your sinus problem off of how nasally you sound. "...And I've got a headache. A bad one."

The doctor nods, noting down his thoughts with one hand while the other still grips his cane. It wasn't completely silent before, but somehow even with him accompanying you it feels even quieter in here. It's almost like time stopped as soon as you stepped in, and has yet to continue until you step out.

"Swelling? Got swelling?" The crow pipes up again and you shake your head, but with a cawing that almost sounds like laughter, the bird reiterates. "Doctor's got swelling, he does! Don't look down!"

Obviously your eyes move before your brain really processes it, but before you can tear your momentary gaze away from the doctor's crotch area, you hear a squawk and the distinct crack of something snapping and glance up to see the crow being flung across the room to hit the wall opposite to you. Your sharp gasp comes out soundless, shocked and horrified at what you just saw the doctor do, but within a second the bird has hopped up from where it fell and is cawing uproariously as it hops around on its unbroken foot. You see now that the bird must be a monster of its own as its broken bones quickly set back into place, and it flies up on healthy wings to land back in its spot on the doctor's shoulder–who, as well as looking somewhat embarrassed for his instinctual reaction, has his head hung and fist clenched in frustration as he quickly crosses his legs over the other. Now you're both at a loss for words, and he frantically scribbles out the rest of your orders before tearing the page off the pad and handing it to you.

"Doc says 'get better soon'!" The crow chitters in a self-congratulating tone as the monster in question makes more gestures with his hands, which you now realize must be a particular form of sign that you aren't as familiar with. But based on his lack of reaction at his companion's translation, you have a sense that he at least passed on the message as intended–that doesn't make your departure any slower though, you're more than eager to get out of this office and follow the directions he advised you to take. Water, some medicine to pick up at the pharmacy, all general steps you find on the page and fortunately not as outlandish as you worried they might be, considering how different monster medicine can sometimes be from its human counterpart. At the very least you won't have to come back for another appointment unless you get worse, and you won't hear that squawking laughter down the hall like you do now as the two oddballs converse.

Oh, but you will get worse. You'll do everything you were told, and you'll still get worse–by no fault of yours or your doctor, but simply the side effects of a human taking monster-made drugs that few professionals have ever encountered before. You'll get so bad you'll have no choice but to return, and though he may be distracted by a kind of beauty he hasn't seen in centuries, the plague doctor is going to do everything he can to ease your pain….and document such fascinating results that no one ever thought to test.

[itwill-comeback]

More headcanons bb

☆ Someone [Tomas] implanted a huge phobia of hospitals and doctors in Vlad like "If you ever get taken to a hospital they're gonna figure out that you're not human and dissect you like a frog, you'd be a freak science experiment" and 1. Vlad only feels safe in hospitals with Nelly and 2. Thanks for making him feel like even more of a freak you punkass and 3. When he woke up post-staking and was just like "Otis is here?" His mind immediately is torn between Fuck That Where's Nelly? & Otis Wouldn't Let Doctors Dissect Me, Right? & What happened to Joss? Is he here? Am I safe right now?

☆ Nelly knows he gets antsy in hospitals even when she's with him, but doesn't know why. She tries to talk him into coming by while she's working and meeting her coworkers but he just digs his heels in, full stop "Nah, I'm-- I'm okay... thanks tho"

☆ Also once he got into his teens and all his doctor's visits involved the doctor offering to speak with him privately without Nelly in the room just makes him damn near have a panic attack every time and outright refusing to let people draw his blood because NopeNopeNope I'mNotHumanGoAway!

☆ Getting his wisdom teeth removed and demanding he get all four of those teeth back because he doesn't want anyone to have his DNA.

☆ Normal Elysians never have to deal with this issue because vampires actually love the medical field. They can easily convince humans around them to give them a raise or help then with an overnight shift or donate money to the hospital or be more understanding about wait times or agree to a better treatment or forgive medical debt because everyone who has to deal with anything within a stone's throw of the medical field, either as a patient or hospital staff, is just consistently overworked, underpaid or just outright frazzled and exhausted. This leaves their minds open to persuasion and vampires use that to their advantage a lot.

☆ Never understood why vampires in movies can't handle being around humans in hospitals because oh no they might bleed! Like dude come on I could smell the most delicious food on the planet and still the other smells of Hospital just kill any appetite I might have. I'm supposed to believe people with super senses wouldn't get nauseating headaches at the smell of all that disinfectant and bleach and latex and sweat and chemicals and medicine and death and holy hell those bright ass lights? There's nothing appetizing in a hospital for folks with regular senses. Vampires at best just adapt to the senses onslaught that is the inside of a hospital and bear it for the sake of helping people.

☆ Also fuck the idea that vampires inherently just don't give a fuck about people. We see a few instances of people not immediately noticing the difference between humans and vampires and I honestly think vampires would rather help every person that needs their help than be picky about who gets much needed medical attention.

☆ On top of that even if vampires don't necessarily want to help people because it's the right thing to do, they could just as well be in it for the money because they would make fucking phenomenal doctors with their super senses and their extreme precision and attention to detail. Also just imagine the bedside manner of someone who can literally read your mind. They know exactly what you're afraid of and exactly what you want to hear, and what you need to hear.

☆ Otis tells Vlad about cool stuff Elysia made like chess, cities, and Sony, but he doesn't even think to mention all the brilliant accomplishments of Elysian doctors and scientists because there are so many, you could write a book about all the stuff vampires figured out as time went on in the medical field alone.

☆ And all that stuff about "this hasn't changed in the medical field in the past 70/80/100 years" Yeah that's because lots of vampires don't appreciate change if it isn't absolutely necessary. There's a lot of "When I was just a premed fledgling we still used brass doorknobs that disinfected themselves and now everybody wants stainless steel everything ugh"

☆ Add to that that it's usually free for doctors to sit in on lectures and classes about new medical stuff so that their practice methods don't become dated and vampire doctors literally get to watch humanity get better at medicine.

☆ Elysians almost certainly knew about bacteria and infection since before the plague but couldn't explain it to humans without betraying their secret so they had to use the right methods with the wrong science behind it to get stuff done. Ex. Plague doctors wore masks, gloves, long coats and boots, and had canes to keep distance from people but since they couldn't explain the concept of airborne disease to humans they just went "uhhh, the air is dirty? The stench of death spreads the plague so I wear this mask with herbs in it which protects me from the miasma? Gloves and cane so I don't have to touch sick people? Touching is bad, people are dirty?" And humans just went with it. Historians be like "They were wrong, but their methods were right! How observant mankind was!"

☆ Tomas was hailed as a great help with hunting during the plague times but fuck him, if anyone's gonna know who's healthy and who isn't it's the vampire doctors and they no doubt showed active disdain for Tomas going around and killing the few healthy humans left in any given populace. Like if you just take those humans as drudges and make sure they stay healthy you can share them with other vampires and then some people survive the sickness! They have antibodies for the plague! Don't kill them!

☆ So no doubt vampires cover all of the medical field and can easily keep information about Elysian patients out of the hands of human staff and helped shape privacy in the medical field (things like not reading through people's medical records unless it's necessary, laws that keep your medical information protected) but also the definite pursuit of Elysians to figure out what their biology is and isn't capable of, figuring out why they can't catch sicknesses and why they're allergic to garlic and how drinking blood of all things sustains their bodies.

☆ Can you imagine how dope it would've been if Nelly had lived and married Otis and become a vampire and just had so much further knowledge about medicine given to her? At first it's difficult for her to get passed all the sensory overload of the hospital but once she does she's absolutely ten times happier at her job? Night shifts are a blessing and she's happy to take them to let her human coworkers get home to their families? I'm always big heart eyes for Nelly, but fledgling nurse Nelly?? Is so so good?? One downside is that Vlad is even more insistent that they both get out of bed before he leaves the house because trauma.

☆ All her coworkers think she's so perky because she got married and finally has someone at home to help her and she's now got an empty nest and literally they're all just like "ooo girl! Marriage looks so good on you! How's your boy? He doing good at Stokerton University? How's your new hubby?? When is he gonna come by so we can meet him??" And she also gains new friends through meeting all her vampire coworkers I'm 💖💖💖 love one newlywed nurse!

☆ Vlad meeting vampire medical staff who [despite being super intrigued by his biology] are very understanding to his anxieties about hospitals and try to help him overcome his fears. This sweet anxious halfling gets his blood drawn for the first time in his life at age 18 and is super relieved to see that all the stuff they do is noninvasive and really not that bad.

☆ All the DNA analysis stuff they tell him about is sorta lost on him because he doesn't speak doctor lmao, but Nelly is super intrigued and can explain it to him in regular people terms.

☆ Also Elysian psychologists help him recognize that his dad planted that fear in his mind so that he'd avoid hospitals and avoid most things so that he'd probably never meet any Elysians. And probably also to distance himself from his aunt who Tomas likely saw as an obstacle and just in general he wanted Vlad to be distrustful of everyone and avoidant of others, especially people who would try to help him.

☆ Vlad makes fledgling friends at college and admits he has a phobia of hospitals and one of his friends is like "Dude don't be afraid of hospitals, doctors are super nice! I'm gonna be a doctor soon, I wouldn't dissect you 🥰" and another one's all "I'm gonna become a nurse, like your aunt! Medical staff are legit just normal people with good hearts! You have nothing to be afraid of." And it just completely shakes Vlad's view of medical staff as mad scientists who want to cut him open.

☆ Not that Vlad didn't have enough trauma to get therapy for [the staking, the fire, the attempted soul snatching, being bitten by crazies, his friends and family almost being killed, Tomas fucking Tod, almost draining his girlfriend, his abandonment issues, ect.] I just genuinely think being afraid of hospitals is a natural thought process for someone who's the first half-vampire half-human in the world. Also Tomas would do some shit like that to Vlad, never plant any phobia of something that would help him like slayer phobia or garlic phobia, but something he would almost certainly need someday? Like medical treatment? Yeah, let's make him afraid of that, Tomas. That's a great idea.

☆ As a little not medical related thing, I think even though Vlad said he didn't care what Otis did with the house when he was renovating it, I think he definitely was a little bit inclined to have Otis use stuff that was flame resistant and almost certainly put like four fire extinguishers in different spots in the house and was real particular about getting good blinds and drapes for the windows. Also no way in hell does he let Otis get a gas stove.

[phinnsyreads]

Item #: SCP-049

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-049 is contained within a Standard Secure Humanoid Containment Cell in Research Sector-02 at Site-19. SCP-049 must be sedated before any attempts to transport it. During transport, SCP-049 must be secured within a Class III Humanoid Restriction Harness (including a locking collar and extension restraints) and monitored by no fewer than two armed guards.

While SCP-049 is generally cooperative with most Foundation personnel, outbursts or sudden changes in behaviour are to be met with elevated force. Under no circumstances should any personnel come into direct contact with SCP-049 during these outbursts. In the event SCP-049 becomes aggressive, the application of lavender (L. multifida) has been shown to produce a calming effect on the entity. Once calmed, SCP-049 generally becomes compliant, and will return to containment with little resistance.

In order to facilitate the ongoing containment of SCP-049, the entity is to be provided with the corpse of a recently deceased animal (typically a bovine or other large mammal) once every two weeks for study. Corpses that become instances of SCP-049-2 are to be removed from SCP-049's containment cell and incinerated. SCP-049 is no longer permitted to interact with human subjects, and requests for human subjects are to be denied.

Temporary Containment Procedure Update: (See Addendum 049.3) Per Containment Committee Order 049.S19.17.1, SCP-049 is no longer permitted to interact directly with any members of Foundation staff, nor is it to be provided with any additional corpses to be used in its surgeries. This order shall persist indefinitely, until such time a consensus regarding the ongoing containment of SCP-049 can be reached.

Description: SCP-049 is a humanoid entity, roughly 1.9 meters in height, which bears the appearance of a medieval plague doctor. While SCP-049 appears to be wearing the thick robes and the ceramic mask indicative of that profession, the garments instead seem to have grown out of SCP-049's body over time. The robes and gloves are identical to a thick hide built up on the skin, while the mask is composed of a kind of chitin growing out of the bones of the face. They are now nearly indistinguishable from whatever form is beneath them. X-rays indicate that despite this, SCP-049 does have a humanoid skeletal structure beneath its outer layer.

SCP-049 is capable of speech in a variety of languages, though tends to prefer English or medieval French. (The entity claims to have originated in 15th century France, though admits that it is "particularly well-traveled".)  While SCP-049 is generally cordial and cooperative with Foundation staff, it can become especially irritated or at times outright aggressive if it feels that it is in the presence of what it calls the "Pestilence". Although the exact nature of this Pestilence is currently unknown to Foundation researchers, it does seem to be an issue of immense concern to SCP-049.

SCP-049 will become hostile with individuals it sees as being affected by the Pestilence, often having to be restrained should it encounter such. If left unchecked, SCP-049 will generally attempt to kill any such individual; SCP-049 is capable of causing all biological functions of an organism to cease through direct skin contact. How this occurs is currently unknown, and autopsies of SCP-049's victims have invariably been inconclusive. SCP-049 has expressed frustration or remorse after these killings, indicating that they have done little to kill "The Pestilence", though will usually seek to then perform a crude surgery on the corpse using the implements contained within a black doctor's bag it carries on its person at all times. The space within this bag is seemingly anomalously large, as SCP-049 has been observed pulling objects larger than the bag itself from within it in order to operate on deceased subjects. While these surgeries are not always "successful", they often result in the creation of instances of SCP-049-2.

SCP-049-2 instances are reanimated corpses that have been operated on by SCP-049. These instances do not seem to retain any of their prior memories or mental functions, having only basic motor skills and response mechanisms. While these instances are generally inactive, moving very little and in a generally ambulatory fashion, they can become extremely aggressive if provoked, or if directed to by SCP-049. SCP-049-2 instances express active biological functions, though these are vastly different from currently understood human physiology. Despite these alterations, SCP-049 often remarks that the subjects have been "cured".

---

Addendum 049.1: Discovery

SCP-049 was discovered during the investigation of a series of unknown disappearances in the town of Montauban in southern France. During a raid on a local home, investigators found several instances of SCP-049-2, as well as SCP-049. While law enforcement personnel engaged the hostile 049-2 instances, SCP-049 was noted as watching the engagement and taking notes in its journal. After all of the 049-2 instances were dispatched, SCP-049 willingly entered Foundation custody.

The following interview was conducted by Dr. Raymond Hamm during the initial investigation.

Interviewer: Dr. Raymond Hamm, Site-85

Interviewee: SCP-049

------------

[BEGIN LOG]

SCP-049: (In French) So then, how should we begin? An introduction?

Dr. Hamm: (Aside) Is that French? Can we get a translator-

SCP-049: (In English) The King's English! No need for translation, sir, I can speak it well enough.

Dr. Hamm: Good. My name is Dr. Raymond Hamm, and I-

SCP-049: Ah! A doctor! A like-minded individual, no doubt. Wherein is your speciality, sir?

Dr. Hamm: Cryptobiology, why-

SCP-049: (Laughs) A medical man, such as myself. Wonders abound! And here I worried I had been abducted by common street thugs! (Looks around the room) This place, then. This is your laboratory? I had wondered, as clean as it is, and with such little trace of the Pestilence here.

Dr. Hamm: The Pestilence? What do you mean?

SCP-049: The Scourge! The Great Dying. Come now, you know, the, uh… (taps temple furiously) …what is it they call it, the… the… ah, no matter. The Pestilence, yes. It abounds outside these walls, you know. So many have succumbed, and many more will continue to, until such time as a perfect cure can be developed. (Leans back in its chair) Fortunately, I am very close. It is my duty in life to rid the world of it, you see. The Cure To End All Cures!

Dr. Hamm: When you say "The Great Dying", are you talking about the bubonic plague?

SCP-049: (Pauses) I don't know what that is.

Dr. Hamm: I see. Right, well, the entities our agents encountered at that house, they were dead when you encountered them, yes? And you reanimated them?

SCP-049: Hrmm, in a manner of speaking. You see things too simply, doctor! Expand your horizons. Life and death, sickness and health, these are amateur terms for amateur physicians. There is only one ailment that exists in the world of men, and that is the Pestilence. And nothing else! Make no mistake, they were very ill, all of them.

Dr. Hamm: You think you cured those people?

SCP-049: Indeed. My cure is most effective.

Dr. Hamm: The things we recovered were not human.

SCP-049: (Pauses and glares at Dr. Hamm) Yes, well, it is not a perfect cure. But that will come with time. And further experimentation! I have spent a lifetime developing my methods, Dr. Hamm, and will spend a lifetime more, if necessary. Now, we have wasted too much time. There is work to do! I will require a laboratory of my own, one where I can continue my research unimpeded. And assistants, of course, though I can provide those on my own, in time. (Laughs)

Dr. Hamm: I don't think our organization will be willing to-

SCP-049: Nonsense. We are all men of science. Fetch your coat and show me to my quarters, doctor. (Gestures with pointed stick) Our work begins now!

[END LOG]

Interviewer's Note: While SCP-049 is capable of communicating in a very human way, there is a strange sense of unease that one experiences when in its presence. Make no mistake, there is something very uncanny about this entity indeed.

Additionally, we've confiscated that pointed stick that SCP-049 keeps waving around. Part of this was due to standard confiscation protocols for the possessions of anomalies, and part because 049 really is a menace swinging it around like he does. The entity was displeased at first, but after we made some concessions in providing it with "test subjects" (which are, admittedly, more for the benefit of our own research) it warmed up to the idea.

---

Addendum 049.2: Observation Log

While in containment at Site-19, SCP-049 has spent a considerable amount of time studying and performing surgery on the various mammalian corpses it has been provided. SCP-049 will routinely spend several days performing surgery, and then (regardless of whether or not the corpse becomes an instance of SCP-049-2) spend several more days documenting its findings in a thick leather journal stored within its doctor's bag. Notably, SCP-049's journals are not written in any known language, and attempts by linguists and codebreakers to decipher them have been unsuccessful. However, SCP-049 will often seek to verbally share its findings with members of Foundation staff.

The following is a log of several occasions during which SCP-049 was observed operating on a mammalian corpse.

Observational Log 049.OL.1 SUMMARY

Subject: SCP-049

Preface: A test subject (D-85123) was introduced into SCP-049's containment cell. The entity expressed sincere gratitude towards all members of the containment and research staff.

Observation Notes: SCP-049 began by asking D-85123 several standard medical questions, as it began removing tools from its bag. Shortly after finishing its preparations, SCP-049 quickly closed the distance between the two, killing the subject with a touch to its throat. Afterwards, SCP-049 made a number of considerable alterations to the basic structure of the subject's corpse, often introducing fluids from within its bag into the subject by way of a hand powered pump and copper tubing.

The resulting 049-2 instance became animated, flailing and grasping at the walls of the chamber with a number of manufactured limbs while moaning out of an oblong orifice now present in its sternum. During this time, SCP-049 was observed taking notes of the instance in its journal, and remarking to the watching research staff about the efficacy of its cure. Security personnel entered the chamber to move SCP-049 back to containment, and were attacked by the instance. The security team dispatched the 049-2 instance, and SCP-049 returned to containment with no resistance, stating that it was pleased with the results.

Observational Log 049.OL.2 SUMMARY

Subject: SCP-049

Preface: SCP-049 was provided the corpse of a recently deceased goat. SCP-049 expressed gratitude at the provision.

Observation Notes: SCP-049 operated on the goat corpse for several days, eventually resulting in an instance of SCP-049-2. SCP-049 expressed pleasure in this outcome, though admitted "the disease was still in its nascent stage. My veterinarian practice is rudimentary, but the patient responded well to the procedure."

Observational Log 049.OL.3 SUMMARY

Subject: SCP-049

Preface: SCP-049 was provided the corpse of a recently deceased orangutan. SCP-049 expressed noted gratitude at the provision, due to the similarities between the orangutan and common human physiology.

Observation Notes: SCP-049 spent several days operating on the orangutan, reanimating it several times. However, SCP-049 appeared to be discontent with the results it experienced, returning to the creature three times after its initial reanimation for additional work. After it was unable to reanimate the corpse a fifth time, SCP-049 turned the corpse over to Foundation staff for incineration, stating "I have learned so much from this, though I fear my early optimism was misplaced. I hadn’t yet come across such a… a stumbling block on my road to the cure. More subjects like this would do a great deal in advancing my research."

Observational Log 049.OL.7 FULL

Subject: SCP-049

Preface: SCP-049 was provided the corpse of a recently deceased bovine. SCP-049 expressed mild annoyance at the provision, having stated its desire to work on human subjects several times between this occasion and the earlier provision of an orangutan, though accepted it nonetheless.

Observation Notes: SCP-049 spent several days operating on the bovine corpse, breaking only to dine on a requested dinner of thin crackers, salted pork, and hard cheese. It should be noted that SCP-049 has expressed that it does not require sustenance, but enjoys it and feels that the food helps to put it in the right mind to operate. Beginning first by embalming the corpse, SCP-049 was observed producing a number of long syringes from its bag, each containing a different dark, viscous fluid. SCP-049 described these fluids as "essences of the humors", and elaborated by saying "the Pestilence may bring about a systemic imbalance. In such a case, before true healing can begin, one must find the humors in balance or the body will reject the cure. This is, of course, elementary knowledge for the practical physician. I would have thought you would have learned this during your education!"

Over the next few days, SCP-049 spent a considerable amount of time adjusting the organs of the bovine corpse with a number of large metal instruments. After eight days, SCP-049 produced a lightning rod, which Dr. Hamm exchanged for an electric cattle prod attached to an extension cord, and struck the corpse in several locations. This action seemingly had the effect of reanimating the bovine, which once again became ambulatory, despite the inversion of the head and reorientation of its limbs.

Follow Up Interview

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Hamm: We've watched you work for several weeks now, and honestly I'm not sure I understand what you're doing. Can you describe your process in detail?

SCP-049: Oh goodness no, the process is most intensive. As I said to your assistant, the best instruction you will find about my methods are here in my journals, as I have kept exhaustive records of my work there.

Dr. Hamm: I see. My concern, doctor, is that we still don't understand what you're seeking to cure, or how it manifests, or how turning these creatures into quasi-living, mindless drones helps in that effort.

SCP-049: You do not understand the Pestilence? Even after all this time? Doctor, it is an unspeakable horror, one that has shown its true face many times before and will again. I find myself blessed with the wisdom and good senses needed to root it out and destroy it, but many like yourself cannot. It is a cruel judgement, I fear, to be at the mercy of a disease you cannot fully comprehend!

Dr. Hamm: That still doesn't answer my question. How is your cure any kind of cure at all?

SCP-049: (Growing suddenly agitated) It is a cure! You may laugh at my efforts if you please, but do not besmirch the good name of scientific progress that has developed this great mercy. What you so shortsightedly see here is a life better than any this creature could have hoped for, stricken as it was with the Pestilence. This creature is now clean, unable to spread the Pestilence and free from the terror it would have experienced otherwise.

Dr. Hamm: This is hardly a creature at all, doctor, it's not even-

SCP-049: (Very agitated) Do not jape with me, sir! You and your colleagues are like so many others, unable to look past minor setbacks to see the salvation taking place before your very eyes. Do you wait to remove rotten timbers until the hall collapses on top of you? No. You find them and you pull them out and replace them with those untouched by rot! And most of all, you do not simply mock the structure because it now looks different to you. It is strong! It is free of disease.

Dr. Hamm: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to agitate you. I'm just trying to understand.

SCP-049: (Deep breath) Yes, well, do mind your words in the future, doctor. I am a professional, but even professionals may feel the bite of pride in dealing with criticism of their masterpiece. I will forgive this as an act of good faith between colleagues.

Dr. Hamm: Is there anything else I can help you with?

SCP-049: (Pauses, looking away from Dr. Hamm) No, that will be all. Another test subject, on the usual schedule. You know my preference of subjects with more human anatomies.

[END LOG]

Attending Researcher's Note: SCP-049 does seem to genuinely want to help other humans, though it has not yet been able to provide a concrete example of what exactly it is trying to save us all from. I have watched it now over several weeks, and while the outcomes do not seem to ever change, SCP-049 continues to claim that it is growing closer to its perfect cure. I think the entity may be more aware of the reality of these outcomes than it would like us to think.

---

Addendum 049.3: 04/16/2017 Incident

Starting shortly after SCP-049's initial containment, Dr. Hamm conducted a number of interviews with the subject regarding its anomalous properties, and over time began to note its displeasure with its subjects and the SCP-049-2 instances. This continued for a period of several months, during which SCP-049 never exhibited any aggressive behaviours.

On April 16th, 2017, as Dr. Hamm was entering SCP-049's test chamber to conduct another routine interview, the entity began to grow anxious and asked Dr. Hamm if he was feeling well. Following protocol, Dr. Hamm reminded SCP-049 that the interview was required, after which the entity became hostile and attacked Dr. Hamm, killing him. Due to a lapse in security protocol, and because Dr. Hamm did not activate the in-chamber emergency system, Dr. Hamm's corpse was not discovered until three hours later, by which point SCP-049 had converted it into an instance of SCP-049-2.

In the aftermath of this incident, SCP-049 was interviewed by Dr. Theron Sherman.

Interviewer: Dr. Theron Sherman, Site-42

Interviewee: SCP-049

------------

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Sherman: I need you to explain yourself.

(No response)

Dr. Sherman: SCP-049, you are being directed to explain your actions, and I will remind you that failure to cooperate will result in further restrictions during your containment.

SCP-049: (Pauses) My actions do not need to be explained.

Dr. Sherman: You killed Raymond Hamm and then butchered him until he-

SCP-049: (Interrupting, angrily) Not dead! No! Not… not dead. He is… he is cured.

Dr. Sherman: Cured? Cured of what?

SCP-049: The Pestilence, sir! I had thought you, at least, would realize what luck it is I detected it before-

Dr. Sherman: (Interrupting) What pestilence? You keep going on and on about this pestilence but you have not once been able to properly identify this "disease". What could you have possibly seen in him today that you had not seen so many times before? That it would be worth his life?

SCP-049: He… (pauses) The Pestilence presents and progresses in unforeseeable fashions, and has a queer way of- of creeping into the unprepared, and… (breathing becomes heavier) call it what you want, doctor. It was a mercy I did to him. He is cured.

Dr. Sherman: He is a vegetable!

SCP-049: (Pauses) I… I would not expect you to understand. You and your… your ilk have proven time and time again to be not men of science, but men of- of emotion. You cannot appreciate the horrors I have seen, those many millions who have succumbed to the Pestilence and been changed, who-

Dr. Sherman: Your cure cost Ray his life!

SCP-049: No good SIR I have saved it! You would allow this world to slip back into the, the- the despair of disease and death, ignoring that I have created a miracle and-

Dr. Sherman: (Talking over SCP-049) What disease? What pestilence? He was a healthy man! He was a good doctor!

SCP-049: -am offering it freely to the afflicted! You are not worth this argument, sir. You are shortsighted and foolish. Dr. Hamm was sick, and I… (breath catches) I cured him. I am the only one who can do this. My work must continue, there is so much still to learn, so much to-

Dr. Sherman: I've had enough of this. Consider your allowances revoked. Welcome to containment, oh-four-nine. (Away from mic) We're done here.

SCP-049: -do, and others can be saved! Even you, though you do not deserve it, might be saved! I can save them all! I can cast down this plague, once and for all. I can do this! Only me! I… I… (labored breathing) I saved… I saved him… Dr. Hamm, I… I cured him… he was sick, I know he was sick, I know he was, and I… you are all sick, but I… I can save you. I can save all of you, because I… I am the cure.

[END LOG]

---

Addendum 049.4: Post-Incident Report Interview

The following interview is an excerpt from the 4/16/17 049 Incident Report. The interview was conducted by Dr. Elijah Itkin, and took place three weeks after the start of the initial investigation.

Date: 5/7/17

Interviewer: Dr. Elijah Itkin

Interviewee: SCP-049

------------

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Itkin: SCP-049, we are conducting this interview to close out our investigation of your actions taken on April 16th that resulted in the death of a staff member. Do you have any comments to make?

SCP-049: Only that I look forward to the day when you will allow me to resume my work! I have spent the last few weeks compiling my notes and constructing a new theory for how the Pestilence was able to infect someone in such an insidious manner that I nearly couldn't detect it.

Dr. Itkin: Have you experienced any remorse for your actions? For the death of Dr. Hamm?

SCP-049: (Waves his hand) Ah, yes. Well, the death of a colleague is always regrettable, but in the face of the Pestilence we must be swift, doctor, and act without hesitation.

Dr. Itkin: Dr. Sherman noted in his report that you seemed to be mournful during your initial interview.

SCP-049: Mourn- (Pauses) Perhaps. I had not thought that… It is lamentable that a fellow doctor became infected, but the work continues. Regrettable as… as it was, Dr. Hamm's death provided important insight. Living human subjects are the only way to proceed forward, I am decided. My cure is of little use on dead flesh, and I have gleaned all I can from your generous supply of corpses. My desires turn towards tending to those still living who suffer from the disease.

Dr. Itkin: I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.

SCP-049: (Laughs) Oh doctor, I wouldn't be so sure.

[END LOG]

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[The voice of SCP-049 was provided by @phinnsy.] [The voice of Dr. Hamm was provided by Breck Wilhite.] [The voice of Dr. Sherman was provided by @navox-the-weary.] [The voice of Dr. Itkin was provided by @iridethedirt.]

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