boo! II headcanon
Mephone has specific code logged in for each character that dictates their appearence within Melife. The contestants have the freedom to change their appearences and everything while alive, but once they die they revert back to whatever appearance Mephone sees them as in his head. When he recovers them, he has the option to subconsciously alter them to fit their new appearance, which typically happens when he recovers them under normal circumstances.
Before episode 15 of season 2, Taco hadn't died since season 1.
she's been living in the forest for years. Her hair's grown out, the color's faded, she's discarded all the clothes she wore in season 1, and if it weren't for her face she could be an entirely different person.
She dies in episode 15. Mephone wasn't planning to recover her right away, But he does anyway because of the pressure of everyone else. He's not thinking, even subconciously, about updating her appearance at all.
So when Taco gets recovered, it's almost as if she never left season 1. Her hair has returned to its bright dyes and fluffy shortness, she's cleaner, and she's back in the same clothes she'd since abandoned. She looks at her own reflection and sees a stranger that she hasn't been for years. A stranger that she never truly was.
When she goes to talk to Pickle, she looks exactly the same as she did when they'd been friends. And that somehow makes things worse than if he'd seen the woman she'd become.
at least she had the time to practically rob her own grave and retrieve the clothes that now belonged to her. But that doesn't change the bright eyes and spitting image of the girl she'd once been.
