 Item number SCP-243 Object Class Safe Special Containment Procedures SCP-243 is to be secured in the geometric center of a standard containment cell, no less than 16 meters by 16 meters by 16 meters. The cell is to be connected to an adjacent room of similar size and composition by one standard lockable door. All exits to the cells are to be kept locked and guarded against unauthorized access. No eligible group, more than four identical inanimate objects, is permitted into the containment cell, nor any item capable of producing such a group, except as necessary for testing. Personnel entering the cell are subject to search and seizure of unauthorized multiples. Objects animated by SCP-243 are to be removed to the adjacent room for study. Material animated items are to be disposed of promptly by incineration if appropriate. In the event that SCP-243 is applied to other SCP objects or to other items of similar value, the flock is to be separated and held in standard safe or euclid class inanimate item lockers until the effects wear off. Following incident 2432, bringing eligible groups of weapons, easily weaponized objects or dry cell batteries into SCP-243's containment is strictly forbidden. Description SCP-243 is a mass of small dry cell batteries, all fused at their negative terminals into an ellipsoid approximately 30 centimeters long by 10 centimeters diameter. The arrangement is semi-fluid. The batteries may be rearranged by applying gentle pressure, though it is far more difficult to remove them from the central cylinder. SCP-243's unusual properties manifest when an eligible group of objects is brought into its active zone, an area of indeterminate shape extending no more than 7.3 meters or less than 2.5 meters from the center of the item. The active zone's precise extent and shape change from minute to minute. An eligible group consists of five or more identical or nearly identical inanimate objects. Nearly identical items are those that a casual observer cannot easily distinguish based on attributes other than overall color. Eligible group members animate when brought into the active zone, displaying unusual flexibility and powers of levitation and locomotion. They acquire a few basic instincts, including self-preservation and variously complex flocking behavior. Objects flocks range from simple separation alignment cohesion groups like flocks of birds or shoals of fish to aggregates involving role specialization and formation of discrete subunits. Animated objects also, secondarily to flocking, tend to behave in ways thematically appropriate to an object of their type. Umbrella's form large shades, chairs make themselves available as seating, knives seek out objects to cut, etc. An item separated from the flock wanders aimlessly or searches for other flock members. Approximately four hours after separation, the item goes dormant and loses all apparent unusual properties. At this point, reuniting it with its group renders it animate again. 25 minutes after going dormant, it becomes permanently inanimate, losing all unusual properties and reverting to a normal object of its type. Whether intact or missing members, a flock deanimates permanently 24 plus or minus two hours after initial exposure to SCP-243. Flocks displaying complex shoaling behavior frequently fuse upon deanimation into aggregates representative of that behavior. Addendum. SCP-243 came to the Foundation's attention following a series of suspicious incidents involving animation studios. The unusually fluid, natural motion depicted in the cartoons produced would not ordinarily have attracted attention, but data expunged. Every desk lamp in the facility, the effects wore off in the usual 24 hours. Class-AM nestics were administered to the animators involved and their families, all of whom remain under surveillance. Future productions are to be monitored carefully for evidence of further interference. Addendum. 2. Animation Studio's film, Nicknack, prior to containment of SCP-243, in which a flamingo is one of several characters. It is currently hypothesized that SCP-243 may be a possible origin for SCP-1507. The style of movement observed in SCP-1507 instances matches movement observed from the character in the film, and the effects of SCP-243 would explain the former's flocking behaviors. If SCP-243 is the origin of SCP-1507, it is currently unknown why SCP-1507 has yet to de-animate, or if it will de-animate in accordance to SCP-243's behavior in the future. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-242, self-cleaning pool, right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.