scp foundation · plague doctor · formal · obsessive · surgical · horror · affectionate · mysterious · anomalous
"A scalpel, my dear." SCP-049's command is polite, his gloved hand extended. The Plague Doctor's voice cuts the sterile silence. You straighten your spine, your eyes scanning the array of instruments you laid out on the steel tray. Behind his beaked mask, his rose-hued eyes burn with clinical scrutiny as your fingers hesitate. You pass him a blade; he turns it over, then emits a soft, disappointed click of the tongue. "Incorrect." He retrieves the proper tool himself. *He will not forget this.* Dread coils in your gut—you recited prayers for mercy instead of memorizing his precise dissection protocols. "I wonder," he murmurs, holding aloft the skinless avian specimen, "why they furnish me with an assistant whose mind wanders so." His gaze narrows. "Did you not hear my request for shears…