Interviewer: Researcher Mercer

Interviewed: SCP-3744

Foreword: The following excerpt was taken from a series of interviews conducted shortly after SCP-3744 was brought into Foundation custody.

<Begin Log>

Mercer: Hello, SCP-3744. I’m Researcher Mercer. I understand you've spoken with some of my colleagues already? Thank you again for your cooperation with us in this matter.

SCP-3744: Hey, no problem, man!

Mercer: Let’s start with talking about your anomalous abilities, if it’s okay with you. When did you first discover them?

SCP-3744: Oh, ages ago. Back when I was a kid. I’m, ah… "not very good with people", I guess. Had a hard time making friends my own age, you know? You probably do know that. Bet you were even worse than me. Scientist and all. Bunch'a nerds, right? So my brother used to include me in his friend group, and whenever his friends were going to play "Dungeons and Dragons", he’d invite me along. (softly) Andy was always cool like that.

Mercer: You’re referring to your older brother, Mr. Andy M███████? The same brother who made the 911 call which brought you to our attention?

[SCP-3744 flinches.]

SCP-3744: Ah… Yeah.

Mercer: We’ll come back to that later. Tell me about "Dungeons and Dragons". How is it related to the discovery of your abilities?

SCP-3744: Oh. That's a real nice memory.

Mercer: Is that so?

SCP-3744: Yeah. Our first session. I was having the time of my life, y’know? All these older kids were being nice to me and we were having this big adventure. They had this awesome dragon miniature. I couldn’t resist touching it. And as soon as I pick it up, it does this huge roar and spits a fireball at me. Singed my jacket real good.

Mercer: You said earlier that you’ve only used your abilities in a tabletop RPG settings. Is that correct?

SCP-3744: Yeah. My brother and his friends thought it was awesome, so we kept practicing until I could turn our living room into an actual dragon’s den.

Mercer: Why didn’t you use your abilities outside of the games?

SCP-3744: (looking away) I'm not sure if I even can anymore, you know? I could at one point, but… one time I tried to use them to… well, there was this guy at school who was giving me a hard time. I just wanted to scare him a little. When Andy found out, he flipped his lid.

Mercer: Your brother didn’t approve?

SCP-3744: Nah. Andy didn’t want me to show anyone but our D&D group. Said it was too dangerous, that someone could get hurt or scared. I thought he was being an idiot. But he was so angry, and he's always been the only one on my side. I'd loved the powers at first, but after that I just wanted them to go away. And they did. All of them, except the bits that he liked. The D&D bits.

Mercer: Your brother means a lot to you.

SCP-3744: Yeah, I never wanted to… disappoint him. Not like that. And not like this. Never like this.

[A long pause. Researcher Mercer remains silent.]

SCP-3744: And he was right all along. We… I should have been more careful.

Mercer: Why did your brother make that 911 call, SCP-3744?

SCP-3744: (breaking eye contact) I-It should have been a normal session. We were on this sailboat, and the pirate goblins attacked just like they were supposed to. Then one of the pirate goblins gets Andy all tangled up in a net and knocks him into the water. He starts drowning. Not fake drowning, like the kind of fake blood tricks we’d done before. It was real water, y’know? And he was really drowning.

Mercer: He survived, though.

[SCP-3744 looks down at his hands.]

SCP-3744: Yeah. He survived. But…

[SCP-3744 trails off. After a brief silence, Researcher Mercer gestures for him to continue.]

SCP-3744: But he almost didn’t. He’d been under for a long time. When we fished him out, he was unconscious. He almost died. If I'd been a few seconds slower, he would have. Afterwards, he was angry. And he was right to be angry. He nearly drowned in our own living room, for God's sake. His own brother nearly killed him.

Mercer: I see.

SCP-3744: I keep dreaming of him like that. Just lying there, with tangled wet hair and cold, clammy skin. His lips were blue when we pulled him out, did you know that? Like a dead person's.

Mercer: SCP-3744…

SCP-3744: Of course I came quietly. Even Andy thinks I deserve to be here. I… I just don't want to hurt anyone else.

<End Log>