Arcibi, also known previously as Arc and “Captain Cactus and the Water Preservation Squad”, is an early SCP author, mainly active on /x/ and EditThis. They wrote SCP-294 (“The Coffee Machine”), SCP-127 (“The Living Gun”), and a non-viable SCP-627 (“The Companion Cube”).^[1]http://web.archive.org/web/20080521072851/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/User:Arc^[2]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/arcibi-s-file^[3]https://archive.ph/QNbYp#selection-9872.1-9925.282^[4]https://archive.ph/nLPU3^[5]http://web.archive.org/web/20080611234057/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/?title=SCP-627&action=history

SCPs

SCP-294 – “The Coffee Machine”

SCP-294 is an early and influential SCP about an anomalous office-grade coffee vending machine that dispenses any liquid when requested via its keyboard.

History

SCP-294 was written on January 23, 2008.^[6]https://archive.ph/6HuM6#selection-398.1-461.7 It first appears briefly alluded to in archives of 4chan’s /x/, though it is unclear if this is a reference to an already-existing SCP-294, or is merely the germinal idea of it first expressed, as this mention is the same day of its creation, per the author.^[7]https://archive.vn/1jSvG#selection-10167.0-10167.269 The full text first appears shortly after in thread #454823, there referred to as “[a] “New-ish one from the [EditThis] wiki.”^[8]https://archive.ph/6HuM6#selection-249.9-249.62

Show Original Text

“Item#: SCP-294

Special Containment Procedures: There are no standard special containment procedures on file for Item SCP-294. However, only personnel of security clearance level 2 or higher are allowed to interact with it (see document SCP-294a). SCP-294 is currently being stored in the 2nd floor personnel break room and is monitored by two guards of security clearance level 3 at all times.

Description: Item SCP-294 appears to be a standard coffee vending machine, the only noticeable difference being an entry touchpad with buttons corresponding to every alphanumeric character of the English language. Upon depositing fifty cents US currency into the coin slot, the user is prompted to enter the name of any liquid using the touchpad. Upon doing so, a standard 12-ounce paper drinking cup is placed and the liquid indicated is poured. Ninety-seven test runs were performed (including requests for water, coffee, beer, soda, and non-consumable liquids such as sulfuric acid, wiper fluid, and motor oil) and each one returned a success.

It is of note that after approximately fifty uses, the machine would not respond to further requests. After a period of approximately 90 minutes, the machine seemed to have “restocked” itself. It is also interesting to note that many caustic liquids that would have eaten through a normal paper cup seemed to have no effect on the cups dispensed by the machine.

Further testing is scheduled, especially for liquids of extreme temperatures such as molten metals and liquid nitrogen. As suggested, SCP-294 was moved to the 2nd floor personnel break room as a money-saving venture. Following incident 294-01, guards were stationed at the item and a security clearance became necessary to interact with it.

Document SCP-294a (regarding incident 294-01): On August 21, 2005, Agent Joseph Warden attempted to utilize Item SCP-294 to obtain coffee during his alloted break time at 9:30 AM. At the request of Agent Terry Reinhardt “to see what it would do”, Warden requested “a cup of Joe” from the item. Moments after confirming the selection, Warden began to sweat profusely and complained of dizziness before collapsing. After being moved to the infirmary, the medical team recovered the contents of the cup dispensed by Item SCP-294; a foul-smelling combination of blood, bits of flesh, and other various bodily fluids. Most disturbingly, testing revealed the DNA sequence of the biological material dispensed by Item SCP-294 matched that of Agent Warden.

Agent Warden made a complete recovery in the infirmary after four weeks of rest and intravenous hydration. X-rays and CAT scans showed no further signs of injury, and Warden was released. Both agents were reprimanded. Recommend additional security placed in the area of Item SCP-294.”

Arcibi, here anonymous, appears in the repost of SCP-294 on the /x/ thread, and comments:

“Hey, it’s the one I wrote last night. It was two in the morning and while it sounded good at the time, I think the “cup of Joe” thing is pretty much concentrated fail. Anyone else who thinks so is free to strike it from the record”^[9]https://archive.vn/6HuM6#selection-451.0-451.264

SCP-294 is present on the first archive date of the EditThis Wiki SCP Series list, featuring two more addenda, one being a cross-test with SCP-075.^[10]http://web.archive.org/web/20080412092151/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP-294^[11]http://web.archive.org/web/20080414202857/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP-075^[12]http://web.archive.org/web/20080409210737/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP_Series Neither the discussion page, nor the specific edit history page for SCP-294 on EditThis were meaningfully preserved.^[13]http://web.archive.org/web/20121223063505/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/Talk:SCP-294^[14]http://web.archive.org/web/20121223063622/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/?title=SCP-294&action=history Another addendum test was added during its observable time on EditThis, further specifying the possible “Show, Don’t Tell” mechanism the anomaly operated by.

Its given image (2012) was replaced in 2020 to comply with the site’s CC license.^[15]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-4595895

It was added to the SCP Wiki on WikiDot on January 26, 2008 by far2. By that time, its testing log had grown (from 3 entries) to 15 entries.^[16]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-294, rev.0 Numerous other testing addenda were added in the following years, in the style of a collaborative log.^[17]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-1268027^[18]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-1871235 The first major cull of the addenda wasn’t until 2012, with Administrator approval, when the number of addenda was reduced from 33 to 18.^[19]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-294, rev.79^[20]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-1628737 In May 2015, a statement was made to explicitly disallow collaboration, as this was not technically regarded as a collaborative work, and that the author would need to give permission to allow that.^[21]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-294, rev.97^[22]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-2303496^[23]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-2362528 Requests for a dedicated testing log date back to 2010.^[24]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-880792^[25]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-1268002^[26]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-1502651^[27]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-2303479^[28]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-2362485 The author gave permission for a collaborative testing log in 2015, however this has not been created.^[29]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-2368911^[30]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/system:page-tags/tag/collaboration^[31]https://www.reddit.com/r/SCP/comments/9b945m/shouldnt_294_have_a_full_test_log/^[32]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-4111802

In 2017, a staff member stated that a dedicated testing log is unlikely to happen due to the amount of curation/work it would likely involve.^[33]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-3396914

SCP-294 was historically significant, in that it was the first black-box-like SCP that lent itself well to reader-generated trial-and-error inputs, and that the test logs of which told the reader something more about the suggested personality of the anomaly. Subsequent SCPs that would mimic this formula would be SCP-914 (“The Clockworks”) and SCP-261 (“Pan-Dimensional Vending”).

SCP-127 – “The Living Gun”

SCP-127 as it was posted to EditThis. The image’s watermark, later cropped out, can barely be seen below the image.

SCP-127 is a submachine gun that fires biological matter and features organic responses and behaviors. It was first posted to thread #582988, on April 13, 2008, with Arcibi going by “Captain Cactus and the Water Preservation Squad” on the /x/ thread. It was transferred to the EditThis Wiki by the author on the same day, with an image that showed human biological tissue in a cross-section of a Heckler & Koch MP5K.^[34]https://archive.ph/WXELA#selection-10917.0-10965.1493^[35]http://web.archive.org/web/20080420083722/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP-127^[36]http://web.archive.org/web/20080715201015/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/?title=SCP-127&action=history It was reclassified from Euclid to Safe while on WikiDot.^[37]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-579410

SCP-127 was ported to the WikiDot on July 26, 2008 by user far2, who retains the attribution credits as of writing (January 7, 2023).^[38]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-127, rev.0

SCP-627-J – “The Companion Cube” (Non-viable)

SCP-627-J, initially just SCP-627, was first posted to the EditThis Wiki, on January 21, 2008.^[39]http://web.archive.org/web/20080611234057/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/?title=SCP-627&action=history^[40]http://web.archive.org/web/20080714124551/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP-627 It was the Companion Cube from the video game Portal. The discussion section on EditThis recommends it be added to the Joke category, which it was.^[41]http://web.archive.org/web/20080617062345/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/Talk:SCP-627^[42]http://web.archive.org/web/20080409210737/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP_Series

Trivia

Arcibi’s author page is one of the few to be allowed, despite not technically meeting the 3-article requirement.^[43]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/arcibi-s-file^[44]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-224412/arcibi-s-file#post-715421^[45]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/authors-pages, “+ Adding your author page to this list”

Arcibi joined the WikiDot on July 28, 2008.^[46]http://www.wikidot.com/user:info/arcibi Their first comment was in response to Moto42 (S.S. Walrus) first writing on the WikiDot in July 2008.^[47]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-77831/wow-i-never-expected-this#post-231168

Aricibi had an early proposal to incorporate Joke articles into canon-lore by assigning incoming personnel to the joke items “as a training exercise for the real ones. Those who perform to the Foundation’s satisfaction become eligible to work on real SCPs; those who fail are released from the Foundation’s service”.^[48]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-96891/joke-scps

In September 2015, 7 years and 8 months after first writing SCP-294, Arcibi re-visited the WikiDot to comment on the article’s discussion section. During, they granted permission to start a collaborative SCP-294 Experiment Log.^[49]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-2368909

Arcibi is still around the SCP Wiki. They returned in 2019 and after to comment on a Series V, VII, and VIII articles, participate in forum discussions, and even submitted a draft idea for greenlights in 2020.^[50]http://www.wikidot.com/user:info/arcibi^[51]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13641009/the-hivemind-neutralized#post-4747010 (They didn’t need the greenlights.) It exists as a work-in-progress on their sandbox.^[52]http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/arcibi

A comment in SCP-127’s discussion section notes that the document bears a resemblance to an entry in a “List of recorded anomalies in T-9000 operation (partial)”, which was posted on Everything2.net on May 1, 2008.^[53]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-532053^[54]https://web.archive.org/web/20090929003545/https://www.everything2.net/title/List+of+recorded+anomalies+in+T-9000+operation+(partial) The comment asks who inspired who. Archives of /x/ confirm that SCP-127 existed almost a month prior to this work, first posted in April 2008. The simplest explanation is also the least interesting; both authors likely independently saw the image — which likely predated both — and wrote very similar texts based on it.

Much of the discussion for SCP-127 is about the image. The original image was thought to be immersion-breaking, as it had the website of the creator on it initially.^[55]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-616250 The image was cropped to remove the website and author credit in 2009.^[56]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-616754 The image was removed in 2017 for this reason, and replaced with a CC compliant variation (no cross-section).^[57]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-3501235^[58]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-3501254 However, numerous comments would dispute the accuracy of the image, noting that it displayed an alternate variant of the Heckler & Koch MP5K.^[59]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127 The image would be changed in late 2021 to the proper firearm.^[60]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-114461/scp-127#post-5155996

Arcibi, then posting anonymously on /x/, can be seen taking credit for SCP-627-J (“The Companion Cube”) the same day it was posted to the EditThis.^[61]https://archive.ph/QNbYp#selection-9872.1-9925.282

Initially, SCP-924 did not have an image.^[62]https://web.archive.org/web/20080811042436/https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-294 One was added in April 2012.^[63]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-294, rev.74 The image was recommended by long-time SCP-RU Admin Gene R.^[64]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76804/scp-294#post-1431220 This was replaced to be CC-compliant in 2020.

In a later /x/ thread unrelated to SCP, an anonymous user recognizes Arcibi, then going by “Captain Cactus and the Water Preservation Squad”; “Yay, it’s the great SCP writer! I could never forget that name.”^[65]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/592890.html Arcibi can be seen participating in other SCP-related threads on /x/.^[66]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/594209.html