Page 26 of Trove’s Purpose

“Sure. That’s how bets work, isn’t it? If you try these on and hate them, I’ll do whatever you want. But if you try them on and you love them – and I know you will – then you do whatever I want.”

“Within reason,” she added quickly.

“Of course. I’d never ask for more than you’d be willing to give.”

Chee stared him down, biting on her tongue, trying hard to resist. She didn’t have to do this. She didn’t have to indulge him or take this bet or anything. But he just looked so smug, like he was some fashion guru, that she wanted to prove him wrong.

After all, the bet wasn’t if he loved it, it was if she did. And she already knew she wouldn’t. So, this was an easy win.

“If I hate them, you owe me dinner at a nice restaurant.”

“Deal. And if you love them, then you’ll have fun with me for the rest of the day, no matter what I want to do. Within reason, of course.”

Chee looked him over carefully, but she couldn’t find anything wrong in what he was saying. So, after a few seconds of considering, she said-

“Fine. Deal. But you don’t get to take any pictures of anything, and you don’t get to laugh or judge me. You picked all these clothes, don’t forget that.”

“Oh, I certainly won’t,” he smirked. “Now, take off the sweater. It’s too baggy, the mirror is going to read your body as bigger than it is. And stand here.”

She pulled the beige sweater up and over her head, revealing the plain white shirt underneath. It was a simple tank top, and she hated wearing it alone, because it did nothing to disguise the way her hips immediately flared out.

But a deal was a deal and, handing the sweater over to Trove to hold, she stepped forward to the spot indicated on the floor. Steeling herself for what she was going to see, knowing without even looking that she was going to hate it.

The mirror’s edges glowed gold, with sparkles for affect, a light going around the edge in what was clearly a loading symbol as it took a second to scan her. She stood there, arms down, waiting with her head held high. She just had to survive this-

The mirror shimmered, and then her clothes were swapped. So quick and easy, so realistic appearing, she started in surprise. Then took a breath, already ready to disparage herself-

-only to have nothing waiting as she actually took a look.

The first outfit Trove had chosen included a skirt. Chee refused to wear skirts or shorts because those only seemed to make her already wide hips seem even bigger. She had especially never chosen a tight skirt, because she knew those would be worse.

Except the form fitting skirt somehow wasn’t worse? Yes, her hips were still wide, that wasn’t something that could be disguised, but the midrise skirt in deep, navy blue that extended only to her knees, tight on her hips, didn’t accentuate them like she expected. And it wasn’t just the skirt, but he’d also paired it with a shimmery, silken, white shirt with a loose, circular, cowl neckline that came down low on her shoulders that gave more of a concept of a bust than she actually had.

But it wasn’t just the clothes. He’d picked shoes. He’d chosen accessories. And they were good! They were cute! Strappy shoes in the same blue as her skirt, light golden chains at her wrists, one hanging across her right hip, hanging from her ears. Nothing at her neck, the loose folds of the shirt was enough décor for that area, but the tiny flashes that did exist were just bright sparkles that seemed to decorate her body.

“Wha…” Chee hesitated, looking over herself again. Then understood all at once. “Oh, I get it. This is a trick mirror. It’s designed to make you look better, isn’t it?”

Trove laughed. “You think so?”

“It’s obvious. There’s no way I look good in that skirt.”

“Alright. Step aside.”

She happily did so, moving out of the circle on the floor. She was somehow surprised when Trove took her place, standing confidently in the circle. Immediately, her gaze darted to the mirror. No way, there was no way that-

It did! It showed him wearing the same outfit – tight skirt, loose shirt, golden accents. And he looked absolutely terrible. His shoulders were too broad for that shirt style, his hips too narrow for that skirt, and it did nothing to change his orange skin tone that matched that orange jumpsuit, so the colors clashed horribly. He looked terrible, and exactly like himself. The reflection wasn’t thinner, it wasn’t blurred a bit to hide any imperfections, it wasn’t shaping the clothes to him to try to make them appear more flattering. It looked bad on him, and the mirror let it look bad on him.

“I don’t think it’s my style. It makes my butt look flat,” he said dolefully, turning around to inspect his hind end. And he was right. Unlike her, his trim waist was made so pencil straight by the skirt, it really did seem to flatten his butt.

The mirror wasn’t exaggerating or enhancing his image. It was just letting him look ugly.

She could just imagine the stunned look on her face because he turned and grinned. Then, with a flourish, he stepped out of the way and swept his arm out, indicating for her to step forward.

More cautiously this time, sure she wasn’t going to see the same thing as before, she took the indicated place in front of the mirror. And again, the mirror thought about it for a second before adding the outfit back onto her body.

And it looked just as good. No, it looked better, because she could actually see at all the details and appreciate them. Like the fact that the skirt wasn’t a silken texture like she thought, it was instead scaley, with a faint rainbow shimmer in it. The shoes looked like they would be impossible to actually stay on her feet, but they did. The golden chains were very complicated, tiny knots.

“If you don’t like that one, how about this one?” Trove asked, using the console on the wall to change to the next outfit.