Missing Top, 2025, Interactive game simulation

Three women at a nightclub or bar with neon lighting, one with long wavy hair in a white and black dress, one with red hair in a long brown dress, and one with black hair in a shimmery silver dress. The woman in the front is contemplating a choice be
An animated woman in a pink and white striped pajama set standing in a modern living room with large windows, a black bed, and artwork on the wall. She is contemplating a pink graphic t-shirt with a photo of a woman wearing a bunny mask and the words
Three women standing in a modern living room with large windows, artwork, and a bed in the background. One woman on the left, wearing a pink and white striped shirt, has a thought bubble with a t-shirt and the text 'What is that supposed to mean?'. T

Missing Top is an interactive game simulation based on a sestina (a poetic form consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line envoi). It allows the viewer to be the main character, who experiences a mysterious disappearance of her favourite Ariana top, causing tension with her friends and crush. Borrowing characters and background scenes from Romance Club, it mimics the game's interactive aspect by giving viewers choices, but the characters still follow the same storyline regardless of the choices they make.

Sestina

Chapter 1

Going to the party with my coolest friends

Can not stop thinking about my handsome crush

But something big is missing in my party look

And I exclaim: my Ariana top!

Friends are in hurry - “we have to leave right now!”

I take a full deep breath - and gotta make a choice

Chapter 2

I’m at the party - that’s my choice

I look at him, but friends

Suggest another route. They want to dance - “It’s just the girls’ night now!”

I’m there with them, but in my thoughts - with crush

My nervousness has reached the top

Wish I could let go, but I just look

Chapter 3

I decide to go talk to him, unsure of my look

Maybe I should have made another choice

He smiles and compliments my top I think: how good I have such caring friends

But still the thoughts of loss return and crush

All pleasant smiles and laughs right now

Chapter 4

Woke up next day - time to relax now

But can’t let go, continuing to look

The thoughts of that top, the weight of the frustration - they crush

My mind, my soul, I make my further choice

Share with my friends

But they don’t understand me. How precious I am of that Ariana top

Chapter 5

I go online and see intriguing auction - that top…

It’s same as mine. In confusion, begin to wonder now

Is that the one I lost? It’s rarest and dearest to my heart. And friends,

They see my concentrated look

As I proceed to win and buy. And so, I think - the choice Is mine!

I’ll bring it back, I’ll go and rush and I will not just let it crush

Chapter 6

I stand and wait, then raise my gaze, and see… my crush

He holds a bag with my lost top

I stumble and I can’t decide what choice

Would help me sort the things out now

He seems unbothered - I catch his look I wish I’d listened to my friends

Chapter 7 – Envoi

Turns out my crush resells the merch - the choice I made revealed the truth

This Ariana stan never wanted to be with me

What he desired was new top, new look - and now I see.