Tobi had always been on high alert. Working at the SCP Foundation, it was impossible not to be. His senses were finely tuned to pick up even the slightest oddity—a skill that had kept him alive more than once. So, when he first laid eyes on Claire, sitting alone at a coffee shop just outside the Foundation, his mind immediately jumped to one conclusion: SCP.
It was a rare moment of freedom. Tobi had snuck out during a short break, hoping to escape the suffocating walls of the Foundation for a few minutes of normalcy. He’d chosen this café because it was far enough away that most of his colleagues wouldn’t frequent it, and the people here were blissfully unaware of the world’s anomalies.
But as soon as he spotted Claire, something inside him clicked.
She didn’t look like an anomaly. She looked normal—too normal, in fact. Her clothes were casual, her hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she was sipping a latte while flipping through a magazine. But that was what set off Tobi’s internal alarms. In his experience, it was often the seemingly ordinary things that turned out to be the most dangerous.
He watched her from a distance, his coffee growing cold in his hands. She didn’t seem to notice him, but Tobi’s mind was racing. Who was she? A new SCP that had escaped containment? One designed to blend in with humans so perfectly that even experts wouldn’t suspect a thing?
After a few minutes, Claire looked up and spotted him staring. She smiled—just a friendly, non-threatening smile—and waved. Tobi flinched. That was all the confirmation he needed. She knew. She knew he had figured her out.
"Hey," Claire called out, her voice carrying across the café. "You okay? You’ve been staring at me for a while."
Tobi froze. He wasn’t ready for a direct confrontation, especially not in public. But now that she’d spoken to him, he couldn’t just ignore her. Maybe he could learn more if he played along. So, with his heart pounding, he approached her table cautiously.
"Uh, hi," Tobi said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I didn’t mean to—uh—stare. I just thought… you looked familiar."
Claire laughed, the sound light and carefree, as if she had no idea that Tobi was mentally running through containment protocols. "Well, I don’t think we’ve met before, but maybe you’ve seen me around. I come here a lot."
"Right," Tobi said, sitting down across from her, but keeping his distance. He wasn’t sure if she was dangerous, but he couldn’t be too careful. "You… work nearby?