Willa watched as the others began to display their weapons after Bee's comment on Rattlesnake Jack's guns. She pondered the responses she had received to her question for a moment, before looking back down at the miniature ribbon laid across her lap. What was the use of such a small object? She examined the ribbon stick for anything that indicated that it was not simply a downsized ribbon, but to no avail. Furrowing her brow, Willa then examined it more closely, until her fingers found a small lump at the bottom of the stick. It was tiny-about the size of one fourth of her pinkie-but she pressed down on it, and before she knew what was going on, the ribbon enlarged itself to a normal-sized rhythmic gymnastic ribbon. She smiled at the pure familiarity of it; for it looked and felt exactly like the one she owned out there in the real world.
Setting the ribbon aside, Willa reached for the small hoop. The shiny hoop tape was exactly like the tape on the hoop she had at home, down to the last little patch of silver that was missing from one of the color sections. Repeating the process, Willa was able to find a button of sorts along the inside of the hoop. She pressed it, and suddenly the hoop sprang to its full size. Grinning from ear to ear, feeling a tad accomplished for figuring it out, the next thing Willa laid eyes on was her bright cherry pink ball. She was slightly embarrassed by the color, but she was glad to see it. This time, she could not find a button or anything to enlarge the ball to its true size. She played around with it, bouncing it on the "ground" a few times and even letting it roll down her right arm, across her chest area, and across her left arm-a longtime habit of hers. She did not expect the ball to enlarge itself that way, and when it did, it took her by surprise. Shrugging it off, Willa supposed it made sense-it was a simple manipulation she had been performing for years.
After the ball was her pastel blue rope, and it was rather easy to locate this button-at the end of one of the knots. Feeling the rope in her two palms comforted Willa, and she picked up the last item. A pair of plain white clubs was all that remained, and as before with the ball, there was no obvious way to enlarge them. Thinking back to what she did with the ball, Willa performed simple manipulations and tosses with the clubs, actions so deeply ingrained to her muscle memory that she could have performed them in her sleep. What triggered the enlargement of the clubs turned out to be an easy vertical forwards mill. With her arsenal. so to speak, complete, Willa shoved everything as best as she could back into the bag (with the exception of the ribbon, because of the long lime green tail hanging out) and returned her attention to the rest of the group, who seemed to be conversing about their weapons.