Item #: SCP-C300
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: Several copies (both physical and digital) of SCP-C300 are available in Site-84's Media Archives for testing with the permission of SCP-C300's HMCL supervisor. The Facilities Department may be asked to provide and/or remove detritus if necessary. Personnel are reminded to follow relevant sanitary protocols when dealing with this waste.
No copies of SCP-C300 are believed to exist outside of containment; as such, the risk of a containment breach is minimal.
Description: SCP-C300 is Tasukete! Gomi o taberu no ga yame rarenai! ("Help! I Can't Stop Eating Garbage!"), a six-episode animated miniseries created by Dulcet Tone Productions.1 The show is centered on a trio of high school students who share a compulsion to eat trash.
SCP-C300 can only be played in order, starting with the first episode; if the device being used has not shown the entire series up to the current scene, SCP-C300 will only contain static until this is rectified. Likewise, changing SCP-C300's speed or skipping to a different point in time will render it unwatchable until it is returned to the appropriate point.
SCP-C300's contents vary between viewings depending on the conditions within 13.3 meters of the device playing it. Specifically, the items eaten by the three main characters, as well as objects they attempt to eat, will be identical to the real-world equivalents within this radius. This comprises discarded items, dirt, and other forms of detritus. When an object is swallowed by a character in SCP-C300, its real-world counterpart will abruptly disappear. In a typical residential space, SCP-C300 can effectively clean its entire area of effect over the course of the series.
Characters within SCP-C300 will interact realistically with their surroundings, adapting their behavior to the exact nature of the materials that are copied from the real world. SCP-C300's plot, setting, and tone are highly variable, though the show will consistently remain in the "romantic comedy" genre. The only exception is when no trash is available for SCP-C300's protagonists to consume; under these circumstances, the characters will deliver lengthy, out-of-character monologues on manners such as household maintenance, fair treatment of servants, and appropriate expressions of gratitude.
SCP-C300's three main characters retain their appearance between iterations, as well as some pieces of characterization:
- The protagonist, 'Brownie', is a dour, average-seeming male student. He is a skilled craftsman of some sort, and enjoys creating useful objects to give as gifts. He attempts to hide his condition from others, and has become reclusive as a result.
- The deuteragonist, 'Hobbes', is a high-achieving female student in Brownie's grade; the two were childhood friends. She makes little effort to hide her condition, instead becoming a well-known advocate for those suffering from compulsion disorders.
- The tritagonist, 'Silk', is a boy from a wealthy family who is one year older than the other two. While often surrounded by fawning classmates, he only displays interest in Brownie and/or Hobbes.
- All three will occasionally speak with a Scottish accent, abruptly stop, then repeat their lines with the appropriate accent. This is never remarked upon by other characters.
SCP-C300 is commonly criticized by viewers for the off-putting nature of the garbage-eating scenes, lack of overarching plot, and low production value. However, the love triangle between the protagonists is consistently praised, and the show is generally perceived to be a sincere and sympathetic (if atypical) portrayal of mental illness.
While most people in SCP-C300's credits have been identified as current or former Japanese animation industry professionals, Brownie, Hobbes, and Silk are listed as playing themselves. Due to the circumstances of Dulcet Tone's dissolution, their actual voice actors remain unknown.
Addendum: Incident C300-04d
On December 18th, 2020, a test was conducted to examine SCP-C300's behavior in a genuine residence, as previous experiments had used deliberately planted garbage in on-site testing chambers. To this end, Junior Researcher Alice Grimes was provided with a copy of SCP-C300 and instructed to watch it in their home, documenting the plot and which materials were consumed.
JR Grimes reports beginning their watch-through of SCP-C300 at 10:15 AM and finishing at 7:34 PM; no significant deviations from SCP-C300's previous behavior were found. At 11:50 PM, Grimes decided to restart SCP-C300 and leave it on overnight, as some amount of waste remained in their house after the first viewing. They went to bed at 12:15 AM, and fell asleep sometime thereafter. At 2:06 AM, Grimes's television crashed onto the floor, rendering the device inoperable and waking them up.
When Grimes investigated this incident, they found that all of the trash consumed during the first viewing had reappeared in a single pile on the kitchen table, covered in saliva and bite marks. The television itself was about 2.3 meters away from where it had been mounted, which is inconsistent with a simple fall. Additionally, all food in the house had been consumed, as evidenced by crumbs and spills in the kitchen. Further investigation failed to retrieve any relevant forensic evidence from the scene.
Grimes also discovered a piece of paper at the scene that they could not account for. A ten-digit phone number was written on it in charcoal; this number was found to belong to a local cleaning services business.
This incident marks the only time SCP-C300 has affected its environment in a manner other than the removal of garbage. Further testing is recommended.