I find myself in the largest of the city's many parks, lounging on a bench. Sighing contentedly after a grateful sip of my morning coffee, I look around the tranquil scene. Nearby trees sway gently in the breeze, light waves roll across the surface of the pond just across the walkway, and there are even a few cars traveling up and down the roads bordering the park. Nice to know I'm not up at this hour by myself. I shift my gaze upwards. Mighty skyscrapers tower into the sky, surrounding the park as if they want to keep it to themselves. The only thing that rises higher is the sky itself, but, unfortunately that is where the illusion of normal starts to break.
The sky itself is... charming, that's a word for it: four walls of wood thicker than any tree, towering hundreds of feet into the air, surrounding the city and the land around it on all sides, lovingly painted with sweeping landscapes, mountains, rivers and rolling hills the likes of which I haven't seen in a while. The scenes are no child's paintings, but they're not exactly convincingly realistic either. The true sky, the area beyond those walls, however... That, is where our reality sinks in.
It looks like someone's bedroom but hundreds of times larger, and that's because that's exactly what it is! The painted landscapes try to hide that fact, and to some extent they do, but some things can't be hidden, like the blurry doorframes, the towering bookcase miles away, or the light in the sky of a ceiling that may as well be the sun to us. The most telling giveaway is the taller table right next to one of the painted walls, on which sits what I can only guess is a computer monitor, except it's so big that we'd have to measure the screen size in yards, not inches.
The object of my interest today is the bookshelf. It's so far away that its edges are blurry, yet it's very easy to tell the thing's stocked with books. While I'm trying to figure out how one of our skyscrapers would stack up against one of the books, a quake races through the land, shaking down loose leaves and sloshing a little bit of water out of the pond. I shrug and take another sip of my coffee. The whole area suddenly gets roughly twice as bright, and seconds later a loud and long noise echoes out from beyond the painted walls. It's this noise, not the quake, which causes the traffic to slow to a stop, because we know what that noise is: a yawn. And that, can only mean one thing: she is awake.
Another quake surges through the land, quickly followed by another, stronger quake. As this sequence repeats a few more times, there are no sounds of panic, anarchy, or buildings collapsing, even though they are noticeably swaying like trees by this point. If anything, groups of people have been coaxed outside by the shaking, and some aren't as graceful about moving during it yet. Everyone's attention, including mine, is fixed on the twin peaks rising above the painted walls. Each quake reveals more of her. First, her ears and two things that look like pigtails but aren't, then the top of her head and face appears, then the rest of it along with her neck and shoulders, then her absolutely enormous chest enters view, contained within a t-shirt that is way too big for her. I don't get to enjoy that sight for long, though, as the shaking has forced me to focus on not spilling my drink.
By the time all is still again, she has taken up the entire view of the rest of the room with her colossal form. Her hands gently grip along the top of the wall, lavender fingers resting along the wall's painted side. I'm fairly certain that just the tip of one of those digits could take out at least a city block. Probably this entire park, if she wanted it. My train of thought is cut off as a rushing of wind fills my ears. I look up just in time to see her lean towards us. Now her head, shoulders, and chest all hang above the confines of the walls, and each loom larger as she bends closer. Eventually she stops, and I'm treated to her monumental, smiling face. It's almost like she's looking square at me, even though I know that's not the case. I steal a glance downward and notice her chest hanging somewhat heavily over another part of the city, the shape more defined within the shirt thanks to gravity. I start wondering if the people in that section are lucky or unlucky, being under something like a disaster on pause.
"Good morning, everyone~! Did you sleep well? Well, those of you that sleep during the night, anyway!''
The gentle booming of her voice once again breaks my train of thought and causes me to look up at her face again. Even though she's speaking softly for our sakes, it's still enough to shake the ground and a few buildings. The giggling from laughing at her own words shakes the ground slightly more. One of her colossal hands reaches over and grabs a city-sized cellphone from the nearby raised table. The smile never leaves her face as she focuses on it. Although a lot of us still try to shout our replies to her, the easiest and best way to talk with her is digitally. She has some kind of system set up where we can send her messages, basically a group chat with her. After a while of checking those messages, she speaks again.
"I'm seeing a lot of yes, a couple no's, and some complaints. That's good! I've added the complaints to the queue here, but I may not get to them as quickly today as it's very special! Just gotta check my email...''
Her fingers tighten on her phone, then both hands raise above her head, reaching above her purple jelly-like hair and lavender not-tails as she stretches, inadvertently showing off her terrifyingly colossal height to everyone in the city. Her chest now was in the heavens, obscuring any view of her face from the front, and hips nearly as wide as the painted wall now dominate the immediate view. The shirt keeps her well-covered throughout the whole motion. I wonder if she had it custom-made...
The ground vibrates as her feet touch the ground once more, completing her stretch, and a few heavy quakes signify her walking over to the raised table, taking a seat, and waking her computer.
As I watch her work, I think back on what brought us here. How we were suddenly in the middle of a field of giant grass, how she stumbled upon us and literally dug us out of trouble, how she worked with the city to meet its various needs like water and power, and how she's been searching as often as she can for where we came from. It sounds like she hopes to put us back somehow.
I remember a night not long after she set up that group chat. A majority of the city was quick to call her their goddess, and she quickly demanded an end to that, only wanting to be called `Gabby'. It didn't stop some from calling her goddess where she couldn't hear it, but a majority did take those words to heart.
Part of me hopes she succeeds, but part of me wouldn't mind if it took longer. She does provide quite the view--
"No! No! NO! Why?!''
My head instinctually snaps in her direction, but I can already hear the sounds of shattering glass, and the ground shakes violently with each word. The first quake flings my coffee out of my hand, spilling its contents across the park path. The second bounces me off the bench and onto the grass, and I spread as flat as possible to keep the remaining quakes from moving me, but have very little success as I soon feel hard stone below me. ...As well as wet coffee.
There's a tug on my arm. Rising with the tug, I realize someone is helping me to my feet. I thank the random passerby but he doesn't leave or respond; instead, he's looking in a direction, a frown on his face. Following his gaze, it was obvious what has his attention.
Gabby has her head against the raised table with her arms cradling it, a lavender fortress protecting a purple mountain. I can hear and slightly feel her phone vibrating like crazy as concerned citizens are no-doubt messaging away trying to figure out the cause of the outburst, but as the unmistakable sound of a giant door opening echoes throughout the room, I know that someone with more concern than all of us combined is about to find out.
"Gabby..? Are you okay? What's wrong?''
A gentle, youthful voice comes from beyond the purple one, and it wasn't long before Gabby's head turns in the direction of the voice. She lets out a sigh that has all the fury of hurricane-force winds.
"This day isn't going how I planned, that's what's wrong!''
"Aww... Wanna talk about it?''
After what feels like an eternity, Gabby finally replies.
"Yeah, may as well.''
With that, the purple one gets up and starts walking towards the same corner of the room that she initially appeared from with a bundle of pink following her and it looked like... ushering her? It's hard to tell for sure, the ground is shaking pretty heavily and the passerby and I have to grip each other for support. But, that glimpse of pink told me who we're working with now. I've only ever heard her called `Mola,' and I'm pretty certain she's Gabby's sister. Younger, if I had to guess. She visits often enough and I swear she's joy incarnate. She's always bright and smiling, and rumor has it she's even played music for everyone.
"So, what's wrong, sis?''
"They're making me come in for work today even though I specifically requested this day off! I even put in the request months ago!''
"That alone wouldn't normally get you this upset...''
"Don't tell me you forgot what today was? Of all people, I was hoping you wouldn't!''
"Well, the only thing today is-- ''
There is quite the long pause. Hard to see what's happening when those walls block most of the room. A sudden loud gasp signals the end of the silence.
" --Today's Gail and I's--''
"Your and I what?''
Uh oh. A third voice, and one laced with a lot of smugness. I'd know who it belongs to even if it wasn't said 30 seconds ago. `Gail' visits us about as frequently as Mola, and when she does come by, Mola is usually right with her. One of Gail's favorite pastimes must be to rile Mola up about how small we are by comparison with how often she does it. But, it does result in Mola twisting and twitching about cutely and the two are cute together, so I suppose it's worth it.
Tremors rob me of my thoughts once again, a few short ones that most-likely mean walking, but since I can't see her from where I am, all I can do is guess.
"Our anniversary, Gail.''
"I wanted to spend time with you two, maybe get dinner somewhere fancy together, since I'm also thankful that Gail is in our lives, but... With my having to work today, now I'm not sure we'd have the time...''
"I'm touched, Gabs, really. It means a lot that, uh, I mean so much to you both. I just... Has it already been a year?''
It seems Gigantic Miss Smug isn't used to compliments yet.
"Mhm~! And what a wonderful year it has been~!''
"Okay now you're just trying to make me blush!''
I find myself reaching for support and stability once more as the two sisters laugh at Gail's expense.
"Wait! If you're worried about time, sis, what if we went to work with you?''
"Triple the hands means triple the speed, right? We can try to make time for that fancy dinner, and if not, we still spent the day together! Not like they'll turn down our help! Whatdaya think, Gabs?''
"It is a solid plan... Yeah we can do it! Email said it was only one project today, although from the scope of it I may have asked for both of your help anyway...''
"That bad, huh?''
"Mhm... Oh! I just remembered, can you check on the city, Gail? I surely rattled them up after reading the email.''
"Yeah, I can do that.''
I really didn't want a visit from Gigantic Miss Smug today, but that's what it looks like I was going to get as the top of her head appears over the wall. Don't get me wrong, Gail is the most tease-y of the three so she's prone to giving the best views, so to speak, but it also puts her at the top of the list of `most likely to break something'. Not the greatest person to send on damage control, but I forget that line of thinking as more of her approaching body enters view. Gail has hips and thighs that apparently rival Gabby's, but the one thing I can't stop staring at is her hair! It blocks out the view of the rest of the room before she fully approaches the enclosure! It's like someone taped a giant cottonball to her back; I don't even want to imagine how much shampoo she must go throu -
"Yo! You alright down there? Any complaints?''
She's already leaning over the city with a smug snaggletoothed grin, but there is enough concern present in her echoing voice for me to consider the questions genuine. Her shorter stature makes her lean all the more imposing, and it's only by a miracle that her cotton-y hair hasn't cascaded down on the city. Without breaking her pose, she pulls out her own colossal calling device and scrolls through it. Eventually, she's satisfied, raising back to her full height, and turning her head in what I assume is the direction of the others.
"A few broken windows, a few rattled nerves, but nothing serious! Majority of the messages suggest they're just glad you're back in higher spirits! Even though we're always in higher spirits by comparison~.....''
There is audible snickering coming from beyond the walls. I swear, she can inject teasing into any moment! A burst of rumbling suddenly erupts, causing everything to sway visibly. Gail, for her part, steps to the side and soon Gabby is standing next to her, with Mola on her other side. The three loom over the table completely, and the sheer height of Gabby compared to the other two is on display for all to see. Having to contend with Mola's energy, Gail's smugness and Gabby's gentleness all at once can be quite the ordeal, what with seeing these three indescribably large beings that want nothing more than our safety and comfort at the end of the day, but as is the running theme today, my train of thought is once again halted by Gabby leaning down and speaking.
"About an hour from now, I will be activating the Severe Seismic Activity alarms ahead of the three of us leaving the house. I know you're well aware of this, but all residents must proceed to their designated Seismic Shelter and remain there until the alarms have turned off. Even with all the earthquake-proofing I've done to everything, it'll still be a bumpy ride for you due to your scale, so please keep each other safe while the alarms are active.''
"We'll be sure to swing by and say bye before the alarms turn on!''
"Try not to have too much fun while we're gone~!''
Typical Gail.
The hour came and went. I used my time to go back home and pack away the few things that weren't nailed down. Eventually our three overseers are looming above us in a matching trio of work overalls with colored t-shirts: Yellow for Mola, green for Gail, and purple for Gabby.
"Bye everyone, take care! And sorry for earlier!''
Gail and Mola look like they are going to add to that, but both simultaneously take out their phones and look at them. Tears well up in Mola's eyes and it's hard for Gail to keep her eyes dry. Gabby even pulls out her phone to see what has gotten them worked up; when she sees it, she smiles and pulls both of them closer to her for a brief hug. I have a pretty good idea as to what they're seeing, as I sent in the same message myself. Two simple words: Happy Anniversary.
"T-thank you s-s-so much! I just-- I-I can't--''
Mola surprises everyone by pushing past Gabby and pressing into Gail, hugging her tightly and sobbing into her shoulder. Gail pulls her further into the hug, patting her back. She glances down at us the best that she can.
"It might not look like it, but you all just made her day! And mine, too. Thank you for all the well wishes! Really, I mean it!''
The alarms begin to sound as Mola collects herself. When she is good, the trio give one final wave - with Mola beaming an especially bright smile - and then leave the room. I hurry towards my designated shelter, wanting to get a decent spot. These things are shared by at least a couple dozen people each, so the earlier, the better. I think about how to resume my day as I cram into a cushioned alcove to ride out the earthquake. The first thing on the list is to change my clothes. The second thing on the list? Another coffee.
