"I could stick a crocodile in the moat. Then, whenever two lovers sailed down my tunnels, I could have a quick snack! No, wait, what am I thinking?" Amanda shuddered. "Humans would taste terrible. I'll put this option on hold until I figure out a use for a big hole. Let's see what else I have to choose from."
Amanda dismissed that window and moved to the next skill she considered, the [Inevitable Drop]. "It would be nice to repair my roller coaster, but I don't see any guests willingly hopping onto that rickety thing. I'd have to support the coaster with the infrastructure to make it worth the ride. I'll consider it when I have a few more attractions, but transportation is not my top priority."
Her next option was the [Funnel of Feasts]. This one held some promise, although not immediately. "I could build a food court and siphon kayempi that way. But I don't have many guests from which to siphon that energy. What would they come for, to see my mirrors? Watch me juggle ice and chicken nuggets, perhaps? So, I think we can put this to the side for now."
A number of the options on display felt limited by her lack of attractions. Of the five options, only two seemed to be able to generate traffic independently. "[Flood of Dammed] sounds evil, and I don't need an army of lawyers right now. We can dismiss that, so we're left with [Mass Cult]! Having minions does sound like a good way to keep Starkeepers off my back, and I could pair it with some of these other options down the line to generate revenue."
That did it; Amanda was sold. She made her purchase and pressed [Confirm], letting the energy flow through her body. Magic within her dungeon core arced outwards and skipped across the floor of the House of Mirror, zooming towards the Customer Experience Center. Once a monument to false faces and service to spoiled customers, it would now form the foundation of a cathedral of found faces and exceptional service for her guests.
That last part was not a particularly significant change, but Amanda was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The walls of the Customer Experience Center buckled, and elegant windows of mirrored glass began to fill the spaces between buttresses and columns. Amanda allowed the building to wind and twist into its new shape, masks engraving themselves into murals of the new Customer Experience Cathedral.
Spires shot upwards, spikes grown in defiance to the gods. Gaps in their cobble exterior formed, forcing Amanda to cannibalize another structure in the park to maintain structural integrity. Parts of the merry-go-round were gobbled up first, the consumed steel composing mythical unicorns in the place of rooftop gargoyles and supporting the frame of the building where it was weakest.
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The magnificent structure left in the wake of its transformation was a work of art, a place of faith and worship for all to see.
"The Bascila Den," Amanda whispered. She leapt to her feet, excitedly making her way into the depths of her dungeon. The church was half-constructed; she could see gaps in the walls, and only half of the pews had been set. A beautiful statue made of steel and glass, an angel with the face of a television screen. "That must be the System," Amanda whispered, looking straight into her reflection.
Amanda could see only a modest and adorable girl on the mirrored screen of the shrine. Indeed, this shrine was built so everyone could admire what made them cute! She sees no other reason why such a strange statue would be erected in the middle of her church. Pushing aside admittedly uncomfortable thoughts to unpack never, she found her way to a stairwell and began her ascent.
Her strides were interrupted by gaps in the stone, stairwells far too unsafe to cross by human or machine. Thinking quickly, she let out a whistle. A reflecthive crawled through the stained glass mirrors that lined the wall, buzzing over to her outstretched claw. "I need you to go up that stairwell for me and show me what you see."
After feeling it vibrate in confirmation, Amanda released the wasp, sending it up the stairwell. She closed the eyes of her dungeon avatar, focusing solely on the view from the drone as it wound its way up her steps. The rooms it passed through were barren, save for large hooks hanging from the ceiling and shelves for storage. One room was more interesting than the others.
Low-cut shelves seemed to serve as bedframes, and a stained bedspring sat on one of the shelves. Bottles and scraps of cardboard covered the floor, savings scraped together and stuffed into a duffel bag underneath piles of cloth and food plastic. These were someone's belongings, hard-earned and stashed next to the place they slept.
Amanda's eyes opened as she felt someone shaking her fence. It wasn't a Starkeeper; the aura was too faint for that. Instead, the figure seemed human; she was wandering deeper into Amanda's dungeon. How oblivious! Her eyes flicked back between the wasp's view and her sense of the intruder, and she pressed her palm into her fist.
"They must be unhoused. I thought the government made that illegal?" Sometime after they'd locked down all traffic in and out of America, they'd made it illegal not to rent a home. If they imprisoned those in society worst off, they wouldn't be targets for Malice recruitment; a foul system that Amanda couldn't approve of, but some weeds slipped through the cracks.
The intruder must be one of the few on the lam from law enforcement; nobody would think to check an abandoned theme park looking for people to arrest. Even the cops weren't suicidal enough to walk into someplace condemned like this.
A light bulb went off in Amanda's head. If they were going to treat the unhoused in her city poorly, then she'd have to step up and do something about that, wouldn't she? Since they were so concerned about Malice recruiting them, maybe she should make their dreams come true and recruit them.
Karma, it's all karma. What goes around comes around; it's time to grab her first cultist.
Executive Order No. 13592
social contagion cannot be stopped by the distribution of masks. Our only answer is to relocate and detain malefactors in society and to administrate over them until such time as they are reformed and can be re-introduced to society. It must be stressed that this is the only solution which remains to the United States, despite claims to the contrary.
necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order.
enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area hereinabove authorized to be designated, including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies.
assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services.
Executive Order 9066 is a real executive order signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 that explicitly outlines the steps the president must take to throw people into indefinite internment camps. It is as simple as this. Because of its implementation, countless Japanese-American citizens were thrown into prison camps, their assets seized and their lives torn apart. To this day, there are still living persons who were imprisoned in internment camps in the United States. Please note the beliefs of Armand S. Calvarello, fictional president of the United States, are not the beliefs of the author.)