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Prompt 1: Amnesia

[ You woke up, all your memories having vacated you. Well, that sucks. But hey, no time like the present to go out and figure out things. Maybe someone in your smartphone contacts knows you or what's going on. You open up your smartphone's lock screen and-- hey, that looks relevant. Profile pages! It has your unit name, member names, but no pictures. . .

Well, the rest varies. This one says Likes: Industrial Strength cleaning products, Breakbeat hardcore, Volleyball shorts and Dislikes: Roombas, Electro-industrial, Maid Outfits. The next has a thrilling tale that concludes with the idol mud-wrestling God, though it doesn't mention if they won or not. The third says that the member became an idol because they want to use the television and media attention to get the notice of their long lost sister, and reunite their family. The fourth just has someone's three sizes. The fifth has a detailed astrological profile.

Since no one remembers their names and there's no pictures to match it to, this is actually less helpful than you hoped. And furthermore, the doors aren't opening until you and the rest of the amnesiacs on this unit tell it who is who. Looks like you and the rest of these people have to discuss which of you is more likely to have mud-wrestled god, and who joined because they really want to find their long-lost sister. Or you can just use the tape-measure that was left sitting on the main table of the center room, that might be a quick way to settle at least one of these things. ]

Prompt 2: Memory Regain

[ You saved up your points, performing in Games or Lives or Vids, something or other until you had enough points to put the order in.

You didn't really know how to expect a memory to look like, but as it turns out there's just an alert on your app. Once you click it, a playback starts-- on the screen, and in your mind. You remember something now.

However, in buying the cheap version, that just broadcasted to several other people's phones in the area as well as all screens in the area. Cool. That was definitely what you were trying to do. ]

Prompt 3: Game Time

[ Welcome to the Game Tower. Today's game is a sort of mad fake phantom thief free-for-all. You arrived, were given top hats and cloaks, and the inside floor of the tower had been remodeled to resemble an art museum, with a giant roulette wheel right by the elevator you exited. Below that was a little slot, where today's hologram host explained the wheel would spit out a slip with a goal just for you.

So you have a little slip of paper with a goal on it, and no way of knowing what anyone else's goals are, though you did see the big roulette wheel being spun at the beginning letting you know the some of the possibilities:

♚Steal a heart
♚Steal a life
♚Steal an object
♚Steal a kiss
♚Steal someone's clothes
♚Steal someone's shoes
♚Steal a secret
♚Steal the giant statue from the center of the museum
♚Steal the portrait that depicts your true love

...well, waiting around isn't going to get you any points. Get to it, temporary phantom thief! ]

Prompts 4: Fanmail

[ Today, trying to take the elevators up from the lobby to access the apartments you and the other units live in just isn't working. Upon the doors being pried open, you found out why quickly: the elevator shaft was jammed up with fan mail, so it couldn't properly descend. Letters cascades out from between the open doors: letters from people who watch you play games, do lives, make vids, and probably all sorts of other things on those omnipresent cameras.

Are you really going to read these? Though right at your feet, a few have spilled from their envelopes. Now you can't help but read those. Here's one in purple glitter pen that says, jesus just come into my home and strangle me with your hair and one that is written with newspaper cut out letters (alarmingly reminiscent of a calling card written by a serial killer) that reads incongruently hello my soft best child ur good and valid and I love you forever plz be ok don't listen 2 the haterz u have done nothing wrong. Oh, and here's one asking if you can wear tighter pants for your next live, they want a better shot of your ass for their shrine. This one just says MARRIED?

Well, it's just as well you have no idea who those were for. Most this fanmail isn't for you. Except for the few that you just read, they're all labeled in envelopes for different people from all the units. Time to read other people's fanmail. Or try and find them and deliver the fanmail. Or just start a big fire in the middle of the lobby, you could do that too. ]

Prompts 5: Wildcard

Feel free to make your own prompt. Here is a link to specific unit information, if you would like to use it as inspiration.

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Comments

Lio Fotia | Promare

[pyromaniash]

2: Memory Regain

[Finally. He had participated in enough of the asinine events to earn enough points for a single memory. Maybe now he'll be able to understand who he was, what he's doing here, and what his purpose was.

He decisively clicks the alert, and--

--in his mind, and throughout the screens of everyone nearby, an absolute lightshow of colors and explosions and pink-and-blue fire erupts. The viewpoint is of a man dressed in a fully-covered sleek black robotic suit, though it looks nothing like the short, neon green-haired boy who activated the memory. The scene that plays out is some kind of fight involving motorbikes, a lot of vibrantly colored fire and smoke, and another man in a far bulkier, way less elegant robot flashing red and blue police sirens. It is loud, it is flashy, it is extremely chaotic, and it reveals next to nothing about his life other than the fact that he lived hard and dangerous and was possibly some kind of criminal.

His expression is... conflicted, once it ends. He doesn't even seem to notice or care that it exploded over the eyes of everyone else too, he just wants to glean as much as he can from... whatever that was.

...in fact, he's about to hit replay.]

3: Game Time

[He is clearly unimpressed by every part of this game: the outfit, the spinning wheel, and the slip of paper in his hand that he appears to be glaring at. Despite that, he is apparently intending to take this as seriously as he can.]

Is this all meant to be taken literally, or figuratively...?

4: Fanmail

[He hasn't read any of it. He has not opened a single letter, not even the few that are actually addressed to him and especially not anyone else's.

But he does gather up as many of the letters as he can into a large pile of kindling in the middle of the lobby.]

Have any of you ever received a letter you've enjoyed? No, I sincerely doubt that.

These scraps are only good for one thing: burning.

[He flips a lit match into the massive pile of letters and watches it all go up in flames! Right there, in the middle of the lobby. Is that one of your letters burning? Probably!]

3

[heavenlyvisitor]

If they haven't specified, it's open to interpretation. ..."Steal a Heart" included.

Re: 3

[pyromaniash]

[That is indeed the one he was tasked with.]

...I see.

Then in this case, the literal interpretation is probably easier.

[heavenlyvisitor]

Mm, is it? I suppose, for some, carving out someone's still-beating heart is a simple task ...

[pyromaniash]

...




It merely seems faster than the alternative.

1/2

[heavenlyvisitor]

Is it?

Watch this.

[heavenlyvisitor]

[ he steps forward, extending a hand to gently touch his fingertips beneath lio's chin. his demeanor switches entirely as he does. ]

Aah ... I wouldn't want you to sully your hands like that. It would be too sad.

[fakenews]

[ She taps the cane she's leaning on against the ground, briefly in thought, before: ]

Ah, well. Knowing demons of this sort, the preferred interpretation would be literal. A creative or lewd interpretation may also draw their favour.

The "easy" solution to each of these problems is almost certainly to weed out those who they'll declare the losers of this game. It's a bit of a bother, isn't it?

[pyromaniash]

How disgusting.

With that in mind I'd rather complete the task in a way they would not approve of at all, but then I would just lose anyway, so why play at all? What a stupid, arbitrary system....

[He exhales in a sigh and rubs his temples.]

You're right. This is a pain.

[fakenews]

Such is the burden of those trapped in show business. Whether it's demons or humans, the industry is built on the suffering of those who languish at the edge of the spotlight.

Which is to say -- I think that the reason for playing "properly" is to ensure a better future for you and your unit. The optimal strategy, then, is to accomplish your goal in some dangerous, degrading, or cruel way, without causing harm beyond what your conscience permits...

If I may ask, what is your task for this evening?

[pyromaniash]

...you're quite well spoken. [Is that sarcasm? It's hard to tell.]

I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin my own unit's future, so I guess there's no other choice but to play to the whims of these demons. For now.

I was tasked to "steal a heart". Hence my question.

3

[mywife]

[This guy already ditched the cloak and hat cuz that is unnecessary.]

There is no need to waste time by wondering. The criminals that have brought us here make up asinine rules with different opinions of what is acceptable. Some may be rigid, but if they do not clearly speak of the rules, interpretation is usually more flexible.

Attempt it once, and if it fails, do it another way.

Re: 3

[pyromaniash]

[You don't have to wear the outfit?! That's news to him. The moment he sees this guy without them, he rips his own off as well.]

It would be nice if they were more specific about what they wanted to see. I can choose the violent option or the embarrassing option, and neither are very appealing.

...but I guess seeing us debase ourselves is what these "criminals" want, isn't it?

4

[showmelove]

[Venus honestly. Is not sure how to respond to that.

So her first instinct is to panic directionlessly by flailing her hands as if that might convince him to stop.]

No no no! You shouldn't!!! Be doing this!!! That's not up to you to decide! They aren't all yours to decide to burn! S-some people might want those, and also FIRE! It's dangerous!

Re: 4

[pyromaniash]

[It does not get him to stop. He just looks over at her, unamused, as he tosses another envelope into the growing fire.]

Oh? Give me one reason why anyone would want to read this filth.

[showmelove]

[W-hy...?]

Because! The people who wrote them put their feelings into them! And not all of them are bad. Just... a lot of them... is all...

[pyromaniash]

Most of them are bad, if not downright damaging to read. It isn't worth trying to find a single piece of hay in a pile of needles.

2

[bondsofsuffering]

Whoa- talk about a flashy memory.

[He saw it on the other screens, although from this guy's movements, it's not super hard to figure what he might be up to. He gains +1 attempted shoulder friend as Hizumi tries to take a peek at the replay.]

You're... the guy in black?

Re: 2

[pyromaniash]

Apparently.

[If he's startled by someone peeking over his shoulder, he doesn't show it. He just glances calmly over at him and then hits replay. The lightshow starts right up again from the beginning in all its explosive glory.]

Despite it being my own memory, without context it's still difficult to understand....

[bondsofsuffering]

[So many explosions...]

It looks like something you'd see out of a comic book... That's way too much fire for people to just comfortably fight in.

[Wild. Assuming any of these memories are real, anyway. Even without recalling any details of his own life, he's a skeptic at heart.]

Is this your first one?

[pyromaniash]

...that's one way to describe it. I suppose you wouldn't be able to feel it, but I am entirely within my comfort zone in that fight. The fire... speaks to me.

[He pauses. That felt like a strange, personal thing to say, so he changes the subject.]

But yes, that was my first one. Not the most informative memory to receive.

4

[firstworldproblem]

[A sigh as this man peers at the burning pile.]

What did someone write you to offend you so?

Re: 4

[pyromaniash]

...that isn't the point. It's not just for me, it's for the sake of everyone's sanity.

Re: 4

[firstworldproblem]

Do not be too hard on the authors. There is naught much else they can do.

Re: 4

[pyromaniash]

Then they don't have to send anything at all. Why do you seem to pity them?