Willow followed Tammy's stare for a moment before failure to reach the same conclusion. "Uh, what?"
Tammy tried not to roll her eyes. "Look, Willow! Look at the peach! Look at what's under the leaf! If we can get in there, we can use it to get us down!"
And there, almost invisible had it not been for the last remnants of sun poking through dark rainclouds, was a hole that looked big enough for the girls to enter.
"Oh! I see it! But how are we gonna get it out of the bowl? We're not..." Willow took a moment to look at herself and swallow the sudden panic entering her mind again, "We not big enough to get in the bowl, Tammy!"
Tammy looked up at the rim of the brown wooden bowl, suddenly thankful for the fact that whoever Bill's new parents were, they had the taste (or maybe lack of taste) to put the cliche decorative piece on the table. The rim hung over her, and she, now being the shortest of the group, had no chance of reaching it but maybe...
"Willow, do you think you can put me on your shoulders? I might be able to reach it!" Tammy couldn't help but give a sad chuckle at the absurd irony of it, memories of carrying a baby Willow around on her own shoulders fresh in her mind.
"I..guess? I've never done that before though. Would you be ta-" Willow saw the frown forming on Tammy's face and silenced herself before she insulted her friend. In her mind, she'd always found it really funny how Bill found one of the shortest women she knew to hook up with. But now it seemed like her brother's fun-sized blonde wasn't going to be much help other than giving ideas. And she knew that sometimes Tammy could be...sensitive about her height, which was part of the reason it was so strange that Tammy was taking the current situation so well. "Uh, I mean, what do we do once we get in?"
"If we get it out of the bowl and get in, I think we might be able to force it to roll! We use the chair on the way down to keep us slow and the peach to protect us! Then we just climb out, go get the Stone and make ourselves big again! Then we can help Bill!" Tammy's face brightened again, but Willow could see some red on her cheeks. But the smile faded as soon as a sniffling cruel voice cut into the planning session.
"You're fucking insane, Tom" Gloria chuckled bitterly as she slowly rose to her feet. Now that the hysteria had passed, the teen diva was starting to think a little more clearly. She shrugged off the glare Tammy gave her.
"Tom? Who is Tom?" Willow asked, confused and somewhat alarmed at the look on Gloria's face. It was the look Tammy had just a few minutes ago only made worse through a mask of smeared makeup. Gloria shot her a look but quickly turned back to Tammy, whose face was turning red and tiny hands balling into fists.
"I mean look at you! You're short! You're the shortest person I've ever seen outside of TV! How's the weather down there, short fry?" Gloria hissed as she closed in on Tammy, standing almost a full head higher over the blonde. "If you were still my man, if you'd just listened to me, we wouldn't even be here! WE could be at school and-"
"SHUT UP!" Tammy screamed, a tiny fist rocketing into Gloria's gut, knocking the taller girl over and causing her to wheeze.
"YOU DON'T GET TO SPEAK! NOT NOW, NOT EVER! YOU'RE THE REASON ALL OF THIS HAS HAPPENED! NOW EITHER HELP US OR SHUT UP!" Tammy's screamed, her voice cracking as it reached the highest octaves it could manage. LArge, hot sweaty tears boiled along the rim of her eyes and she ran a arm across her face, wiping them away with a choked sniffle.
"Ahh ahh heh he ahh heh" Gloria wheezed as air flowed back into her lungs. "S-still a big cry-crybaby! Ma-maybe you-ahh-deserve to be like th-this! H-ah!" The raven haired beauty did an un-ladylike spit of mico phlegm onto the tablecloth as she pushed herself up.
"Don't..Don't make me hit you again Gloria. Just because I can now doesn't mean I want to" Tammy lied through gritted teeth. Some part of her burned with a fury that overrode her patience, her reason. There was a part of her that very much wanted to throw Gloria over the side of the table and just finish it. Suddenly those thoughts of leaving her small for eternity didn't seem all that bad.
"Oh that's just what you want to be, h-huh? A woman beater? You can go join Ingerman and the rest of the no life fucks! I'm sure they'd be glad to have you around! Get yourself a real man, not like half-a-fag laying on the floor there"
"FUCK YOU GLORIA!" Tammy screamed as the last of her reason crumpled before the tidal wave of rage. She launched her small body at the cheerleader before suddenly she felt herself being pushed back. Tammy turned her hate-filled blue eyes upwards and saw the terrified face of her former daughter staring back.
"TAMMY! STOP!"
Immediately the rage receded back to it's place at the back of her mind. She had almost, she had, all in front of...
"Oh god" Tammy whispered to herself as the blood drained from her face. The memories of her past life, of teaching Willow to be a good person, always do the right thing and be kind, to turn the other cheek and be the better person, they all came rolling back. "I-I'm sorry honey! I just, she you, your father-" Tammy's hands shot to her mouth as she realized what she was saying.
"I don't now what any of this is about, but as of right now I'm telling you both to end it, okay? I have plenty of questions but can we just focus on being big again, please?" Willow tried her best to sound authoritative, to hide the anxiety attack that was just waiting to be acknolwedged. Tons of thoughts were floating around in her head, none of them good, but even as her breath became shallower she focused on the plan. They were small, they were trapped, and this was their only option. But her show of force seemed to work as the two girls back away from each other, Gloria with a hateful little smirk on her face and Tammy, tears freely flowing, hands still over her mouth as she stared at Willow as if she'd shot a dog.
'Well, whatever works' Willow thought to herself as she closed her eyes and took as a deep a breath as she could manage before looking over to Gloria. "Gloria, you're about as tall as me. Will you help us get into the bowl? Onece you're up you can pull Tammy up, okay?"
"This plan is still fucking nuts.." Gloria said, and it looked like she was about to say something else when Willow cleared her throat and fixed Gloria with her best 'don't you even try it' look. The messy shrunken teen paused and then let loose one final cough. "Fine, whatever!"
"Are you okay with that, Tammy?" Willow asked, softening her gaze as it turned to the girl that she didn't remember being her mother. The look on Tammy's face was still shock an shame, but it looked as though the blonde could speak now.
"Y-yeah. Sure I can do that" Tammy said, and went right back to screaming at herself mentally for letting it all slip. Willow was doing fine now but it was only a matter of time before the questions came. Before Tammy had to tell her the full truth and how Willow, technically, wasn't real.
"Okay, good. Good. Gloria, are you ready?" Willow asked, to which Gloria just nodded. "Okay, here it goes..." Willow said as she lowered herself to the soft cottony surface taht now counted as the ground for her.
Gloria walked on the uneven surface as best as she could and after a few moments of whining and with Tammy's silent help, managed to get into a crouched position on Willow's shoulders. There wasn't too much difference from cheerleading, but it still felt incredibly weird to be on the shoulders of a woman that hadn't even until an hour ago.
"Oh shit, this hurts!" Willow gasped from beneath Gloria's rump, and after several failed attempt,s finally rose upwards, her hands clamped tight to Gloria's ankles and leg's dangerously knocking from the strain.
Tammy could only watch from below as Gloria reached up as high as she could and...grabbed the rim! With more than a few shares of hissed 'fucks' and 'shit' Gloria lifted herself upwards, engaging her core body strength to pull her arms above the rim as he feet began to leave Willow's shoulders.
"Help me!" She cried as she felt her hands and arms slipping.
"I CAN'T GO ANY HIGHER YOU ARE KILLING ME" Is the only response she got in return. Instead Gloria forced herself upwards, clearing the rim of the bowl and staring at the mountains of plastic fruits and vegetables. 'If only there were real...' Gloria sneered as she climbed fully onto the rim.
"OH THANK GOD" Willow screamed from below. But she was alreadty resetting to lift Tammy.
"Maybe I should just let her fall..." Gloria thought to herself. If she couldn't have her man, then she was going to make do and treat this 'Tammy' like she would any other little tubby nerdette; bully her into submission until Tammy KNEW who was the better woman. But her first instinct as she stared down into Tammy's watery blue eyes was just sadness. Where was Tom's brooding intensity? He...He couldn't really be this girl now, right? Surely he was just putting on an act or that...rock was forcing him to act like this, right? But Gloria didn't have time to react as Tammy stood painfully on Willow's shoulders and the girl out of time lifted herself up with a pained groan as Tammy reached upwards towards Gloria. Their fingers reached towards each other as Tammy swayed back and forth as Willow's own legs threatened to give out on her...But it still wasn't enough!
"Jump to me!" Gloria barked and with a look of pure pain, Tammy pushed herself off of Willow's shoulders, making the taller girl scream in pain as Tammy was, for a moment, weightless. And then she...
1. Grabbed Gloria's hands and Gloria pulled her up! *
2. Gloria missed her, sending Tammy back to the table. *