u/Matinee_Lightning

You are presented with an opportunity to erase yourself from a specific period in your past.

This period must be defined by a clear start date and end date.

The universe will be reconfigured as though you were absent and did not exist during this deleted era.

Any influence you exerted on the world during that time will be nullified, and similarly, any impact the world had on you will be undone, with the sole exception of your memories. You have the option to also erase these memories, if you so choose.

Upon making your decision, you will be returned to the present day, though the world around you may have undergone significant alterations.

You receive a spreadsheet file containing every purchase you ever made in your life. It has the date, time, price, and description of purchase. You are told that you may return as many of these purchases as you wish, for a full refund into your current bank account. If you no longer possess the purchase, you still get refunded but the catch applies.

​The Catch: When you refund a purchase, you don't just lose the object, you lose the memory and personal growth associated with the period of time that purchase represented.

For example, if you refund the dinner where you met your partner, you retain no memory of that night. While you are still together in the present, the "foundation" of the relationship in your mind becomes a blank space, creating a permanent emotional disconnect.

If you refund a laptop you used to learn coding, or a car you used to commute to a pivotal job, the neural pathways formed during those hours of use are wiped. You keep the money, but you lose the professional competency.

​

Refunding past meals or life-saving medical expenses results in a "physical debt." Your body reverts to the nutritional or health state it would be in had those purchases never occurred, potentially inducing immediate illness or physical exhaustion.

Every purchase is a plot point. If you refund too many "frivolous" purchases from your youth to pay off a modern debt, you wake up as a person who has technically lived 35 years but possesses the life experience and wisdom of a teenager.

Mind reading is pretty simple. You can hear what people around you are thinking, and you can use this power however you want.

The Maroon 5 rule needs a bit more explaining. You can hear songs played or recorded by the actual band Maroon 5, covers of their studio songs by other artists, or if you can somehow pull it off, any song at all performed by the actual band Maroon 5. Any other music playing can be heard by others, but not you. You cannot hear the music in their mind either (unless it's Maroon 5).

Would you accept the power at this cost? How would you use the power, and how would you deal with the limited selection of music?