Chapter Text
Rather than go out with your friends or god forbid opening a dating app, you opted to stay in your apartment playing shitty fashion games you modded in on your old DS. Maybe you should have been putting your energy into working on an essay due within the week, but Alyssa's wedge heels with a gala gown was too horrid to ignore.
"Wow. I've seen more inspired pieces from Animal Planet. You know, like the animals before they're skinned for their fur."
Right. And there was the main reason you modded the game judging your choices yet again. Miranda Berry. A redheaded fashionista with high style and higher standards from the game "Look Book." You don't think you've seen her smile politely at the screen once in her poor quality 2D sprites. Her berating didn't stop at you, either. You found it exceedingly hilarious whenever she would tell off the clients coming into her store with a frumpy olive sweater and tights taken from an eccentric grandma from the 1900s. Early 2000s games used to be so beautifully brutal.
"Alyssa? Please stop visually assaulting me. Go back to Burlington and stay there. Prq7qe? Just so you know, these are pity coins."
Miranda's character resurfaced after her deep burial in ancient online forums. You personally did not play her game when you were younger, though after trying and failing to get Style Savvy from Bookmans over several months, you decided that modding a similar game would suffice. Now playing it, you could understand why this game didn't do well in the market upon its release.
Most of the game was pretty scuffed and you couldn't really do much other than set outfits and have Miranda judge them cruelly. There was no multiplayer option, the items in the store were ridiculously over-priced for how little coins Miranda gives you, and the NPCs that would come into the store didn't have too much personality. Sometimes her polka-dot speech bubbles would clip through her text as well.
Throughout playing, however, you found something oddly charming about this Americanized copy of the Japanese game you were looking for. This snobby hot girl judging your soul itched a craving within you that simple cozy games couldn't reach. Her rudeness was so unlike other NPCs that only existed to compliment and cherish you. You supposed you wanted more fire from your characters so that it felt satisfying when you fought hard to achieve their validation.
You need to go to class.
You shut off your DS after a bit of playing and threw it aside. You grabbed your bag with your items and left your bedroom. Before leaving, you waved to your roommate while unlocking the door.
"Heading to class. Bdubs at 7?"
Your roommate, Vivienne, turned her head up to face you. She had soft features on mixed skin, predominately her big lips and long lashes. Her black hair was silk pressed into a high ponytail. She wore a white headband with her edges curled and framing her round face. She mostly wore slim athletic track suits and skirts, as she modeled for a sports apparel brand and got to keep most of the items.
She curtly shook her head. "Need to cut down on junk food. Salad and go?"
You gave her a narrowed glance. "Girl. Flat Stanley is your cousin. Bdubs."
You wondered if playing Look Book was having an influence on your personality.
"I don't know who that is," Vivienne responded. "But no. I don't want wings."
You leaned against the wall, staring at her quietly. "Then what are you craving?"
"Salad," she responded, being sure to enunciate each syllable.
"Ugh," you scoffed. You wanted to punch her manager's face most of the time. "Fine. We'll eat True Blends. Their menu is general and vegan enough."
Vivienne smiled at you, clearly pleased she beat you out. "Have fun in class."
"Love you, pretty girl." You called out before leaving the apartment and heading to your lecture.
♡ ♡ ♡
You couldn't stop thinking about Miranda.
Was this how gross men felt about their waifus?
She didn't need to do much to have you utterly wrapped around her digital manicured finger. Perhaps you did need to download a dating app again. Lecture crushes weren't going to cut it for you. To you, it was just easier to like something fictional so that you wouldn't have to go through the arduous steps of getting to know someone.
Vivienne didn't know what she was talking about when she was calling you "emotionally unavailable." You were honestly just surprised to know that she actually knew what those words were in English before French. You wouldn't be surprised if she picked up a thesaurus just to berate you.
Currently, you were both eating at True Blends. You were stuffing your face with the food you ordered while Vivienne ate her kale sweet potato salad with chicken like a princess would eat an éclair. The restaurant was pretty empty being that only crazy people like your roommate would eat organic salads and burgers for dinner.
"Did you ever play Look Book as a kid?"
God, you needed a job.
"What?" asked Vivienne, turning her head up to look at you with a confused expression.
"Look Book," you responded, as if repeating the name would make her understand what you were talking about.
"... You mean like the real fashion thing or–?"
"–No," you interrupted. "Well– yes, that's the reference, but it's not that. It was a DS game about creating fashion looks for clients. Had a mean judge girl? Miranda?"
"Priestly?"
"Uh... no. Come to think of it, she is very similar though."
"Maybe that was the point," Vivienne suggested with a shoulder shrug. She took another forkful of her salad.
"... Maybe. Anyway, so?" You asked, your expression far too expectant. She kept staring at you with a quiet bewildered expression.
"... No," responded Vivienne. "I played Mario Kart once, I guess."
You sighed. You don't know why you asked, to be honest. The reputation of the game was small enough as is.
"Ah... it's a DS game. I just got it for myself and it's pretty fun, is all. Pretty impossible to progress though." You explained, taking another bite out of your food. "Just curious if you knew about it."
Vivienne stared at you blankly. Coldly? Perhaps it was a European thing to stare bluntly into someone's pupils while thinking. "I don't play video games."
"Right..." You picked at your food for a couple of seconds. "It must be boring living like you."
"Like a model with an active social life?"
"Yeah," you responded curtly. "Where's the hobbies? The ovulating suspense of someone maybe asking you out knowing you're viscously undesirable?"
The other woman tsked at your words. "You know you could get anyone you want, too. You seem to forget you're also very beautiful."
"Hmph," you shrugged, taking another bite of your food. "I'd rather not plague our beautiful home. Wanna eat box later?"
Vivienne chuckled at your response and ate another forkful of her salad. "You're such a nerd."
"You love me," you teased, slowly smiling at her.
"Absolutely not."
"You super love me."
"Nope."
"It's creepy how badly you're obsessed with me, Viv."
"You're the creepy shut-in."
You scoffed at her words. "I'm not creepy!"
Vivienne gave you a pointed glance. "You're a little creepy."
"Name one time I was creepy."
Vivienne pointed her fork at you before speaking. "Last week, you called your professor–"
"–That was literally not that bad–"
"–a hot piece of ass second only to prime RDJ."
You stared at her blankly, a frown painted across your lips. You were highly unamused by her smirking triumphant expression. "At least I eat carbs."
Vivienne glared at you, dropping her fork into her bowl. "I do eat carbs–"
"Not enough!"
♡ ♡ ♡
You really weren't trying to prove Vivienne's point of being a creepy shut-in, but sometimes it was healthy to own labels.
You were in bed scrounging the Internet on your laptop to look for anything related to Look Book. You looked through cheat codes, outfit discussions, some unfortunate fanarts of some of the clients and Miranda herself, but nothing resulted in anything substantial. Everything you found was oddly dated five years ago, which is odd considering the game was much older than that. Furthermore, searching it up confirmed that there was a burst in popularity with the phrase "Look Book" five years ago, so something must have happened then.
You looked everywhere. Possible remake announcements—there was no such project happening—, a pilot animated series, even new music by the game's soundtrack designer. Nothing. There was nothing official released in that year span that would indicate a reemergence in popularity.
You were currently scrolling through old blog posts as a last-ditch effort to find a small community. You found some tier lists of Miranda's quips, outfit decisions, and other subjects that only mildly interested you. It was at least entertaining seeing others talk about the game even when you were a couple years behind.
Just as you were about to shut your laptop and call it a night, you found it. A post made five years ago from an anonymous user.
@/pinkaluchious • 5 yr ago
"After a troubling production cycle, I'm proud to announce the completion of the desktop pet addon available for Windows & Mac for Miranda Berry! She can walk around your desktop and—as I'm sure most of you know if you've been following—bullies you to do your homework if you connect it to your education platform! Be nice to her world—really, she might butcher you if you aren't!"
A desktop pet!
You honestly hadn't expected that to be what gains her popularity back momentarily. You suppose it is a very 2000s way to come back essentially as a tamagotchi for the modern era. You were especially curious about the education platform function she appears to have. Does that mean she acts as an addon for your college browser and can actually help you stay on top of coursework? You could use the extra help, since your calendar was in a state of complete disarray.
You'll admit, it is very tempting. You've never downloaded a desktop pet before, but you are slightly wary of it having access to your college coursework site. What if the pet was actually spyware and your personal information from your college website would be stolen and used? That could set you back for a while for school, and just the thought of it was enough to make you back up for a second.
After scrolling through the comments of the announcement post, you were slightly relieved that the desktop pet was received very positively. Someone had even asked if it was spyware, and the programmer had comforted the user saying that all of Miranda's code was public and free use, so people could see for themselves if it was running as it should be. They also assured users to contact them if she did do anything suspicious just in case.
"Party rock."
You downloaded the zip file containing the application for the desktop pet. You waited quietly in the darkness of your room while watching its progress bar. Checking the time confirmed to you that it was 3:30am on a Saturday. You would have to get started on that essay when you wake up. After mindlessly moving your mouse around your desktop screen, a micro ding! sound effect rang through your laptop speakers.
Finished downloading.
You stared at the app now sitting on your desktop. It was a high relief vector graphic of the top half of Miranda's face with her eyes shut. She was monochromatic with the deep-red in her hair and eyes having a subtle tartan pattern. The caption beneath it read "MirandaPet."
You debated for a couple of seconds to see if you should open the app tonight and allow the desktop version of Miranda into your laptop, but your exhaustion had officially caught up to you. You shut your laptop and placed it back on your desk with its charger. You then plopped back down on your bed, threw your comforter back over yourself, and let yourself drift off to slumber.
Tomorrow would be the day you hoped your life would change for the better.