Tammy and Willow stared down at Bill's colossal (and unconscious) form on the floor of the Strasserman kitchen. Tammy still couldn't believe how small she was now and how big the world was, especially with the memories of being the 6'3 Tom still lingering in her mind. That had been one of the first sensations when the Stone had...changed? Fixed? Whatever it could be catagorized as being almost half Tom's original size had been disorienting. And now? Now she was smaller than ever! And she was going to stay small forever if they didn't get to that magical rock. She tossed a quick look at Willow and felt a ping of sadness at how different the girl that had once been her daughter looked but the miniature Ackerton still felt a motherly bond to the curly haired girl. She had to take charge and figure out a way to get to that rock!
"Well" Tammy said as she carefully peered over the edge of the table, "We can't stick around here and wait. Bill needs help and we need to get big before something happens to us."
"But what, Tammy?" Willow's voice was wavering on the edge of hysterics. The now elder Strasserman was holding it together, but just barely.
Tammy gave her former daughter a re-assuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll figure out...something. There's got to be a way down somehow..." Tammy gave Willow a small smile and carefully made her way to the very edge of the table, being careful as the thick tablecloth beneath her feet made walking a little difficult. And then Tammy gazed out upon the sheer drop to the kitchen tiles and her stomach filled with butterflies. The Everest comparison she'd made moments ago seemed less fitting now. Instead the image of an oceanic drop-off came to mind, a memory from a future honeymoon where she and Bill had gone scuba diving in Australia and the strange terror seeing the ocean floor drop away to...nothing. And abyss. Even though she could clearly see the floor below in this situation, the thalassophobia still crept into the back of her mind and made her shudder.
"You're...We can't jump, Tammy!" Willow said from behind her.
"I know, honey. I just need to get a good look at what we're dealing with, okay?" The short blonde replied.
"And what's with that? All that 'honey' stuff? You've never called me that before today, Tammy. It's really weird for someone five years younger than me to be calling me that!"
For a brief moment Tammy was afraid of a unpleasant conversation. If Willow somehow pieced it together, now that she knew about the magic gemstone and all this insanity happening...She had to act more like the teenager Willow knew instead of like a mom.
"What? Oh, sorry, Willow. I'm just, I mean we're three inches tall? I'm allowed to be a little weird, okay?" Tammy said, deflecting the question as she pointed to the nearby skyscraper that was one of the table's chairs. "And that means we're too small to climb down those. You got anything?"
"Well, what about grabbing the end of the tablecloth and letting it drop us down?" Willow said, giving the dry, thick cushion of fabric a soft stomp, "That might work..."
Tammy shook her head. "No, there's nothing up here except for the plastic fruit bowl. With all three of us it'd fly right off and we'd break our necks" Tammy said with a sigh, turning to face Willow again and pointing to the building sized bowl of fruit that Gloria was currently huddled against, tiny head buried in her knees. Tammy felt her eyes narrow as darker thoughts entered her mind. 'Serves you right, Gloria. Now you get to feel what it's like to be vulnerable to the world and like you're nothing'
More evil thoughts entered Tammy's mind. About leaving Gloria that size, if they somehow managed to get back to normal. And maybe make everyone forget about her...Tammy wasn't sure if it was her thinking or the residual memories of being Tom, but either way, she was enjoying the mental image of an inch tall Gloria having to survive like that old film 'The Borrowers'.
"Tammy?"
Willow's reedy voice cut through the dark cloud in Tammy's brain and forced her back into reality. The tiny short blonde looked at the tiny tall girl blankly for a moment before the haze dissipated. No, she couldn't do that to Gloria, not even after all the shit the drama queen had put Tom through...That was a different life, and she was a better person now. And that meant finding a way down and being the hero.
"Oh, sorry I was just...thinking on how to get down" Tammy said with a smile that felt about as fake as it probably looked.
"Yeah, because you totally weren't shooting daggers at her" Willow said, tossing a thumb towards Gloria, who was now peering over her knees at them with big watery red eyes. "Listen, Bill loves you Tammy, you don't have to worry about him cheating on you. Especially with Gloria. I don't know why she was here this morning but I can promise you, she's not having an affair with Bill!"
But Tammy wasn't listening. Instead a lightbulb had turned on in her mind as she started walking towards Gloria and the fruit bowl. Maybe...
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Willow said, jogging over to the girl that had previously made oup half of her genetic code.
"Willow, I think I might have just found a way down!" Tammy said, pointing up at the plastic fruit.
Option 1: Tammy has found a plastic fruit that has a hole large enough for them to fit into. Using the piece of fruit as transport, Tammy thinks that they could survive the trip down to the kitchen floor!
Option 2: Tammy wants to somehow toss the fruit off the table and try to wake Bill up!