"So, while I have all of you here…" Kim began as the various sugary, carbonated drinks flowed and bags of chips were opened, "can I ask for your help? Willy and Tammy especially."

"What about, Kuya Kim?" Tammy asked.

"How do you keep your balance?" he asked, exasperated. "I mean, Sanny's no surprise—"

"I use ears," Sanny said, nodding.

"—but what about the rest of you? Because I keep cheating by just twisting space around me so I'm standing straight, but that only works so long…"

"What?" Katherine said, looking torn between confusion and amusement.

"Oh, yeah, that can be a problem," Tammy nodded. "Not so much when you're walking, but when you're running and jumping around, or doing it through ha drone yeah, balance can be an issue."

"How did you solve it?" Kim asked eagerly.

"Oh, well, it turns out roots have little structures that can orient with gravity so they know which way to grow," Tammy said. "So a make a couple in m head to act like an inner ear so i have a way to help me balance. It works pretty well."

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Kim twitched, and sighed. "Darn. I can't do that."

"Sorry, I can't help either," Jas said. "I orient using plasma, which tends to go upward because it's lighter than air. It's the opposite of how Tammy does it, but it gets the same result. "

Kim looked towards Willy pleadingly.

Tammy nudged her cousin. "Willy, how do you keep your balance when you're made of water? Or ice, in some cases?"

Willy tilted her head. "I… don't need to?" she said, as if not sure why it was even a problem. "I've never had trouble keeping my balance."

"Water does find its own level," Sanny mused. "Well-known masonry fact."

Kim sighed. "Damn. And I was really hoping you had a solution I could use."

Sanny tilted her head thoughtfully. "I have a little idea, if you're willing to try it."

"I've got nothing that doesn't include more warping of space, so go ahead."

"Okay, you're going to need a bottle…"

––––––––––––––––––

It was more of a round-bottom flask than a bottle, unless you were talking about the kind used for some fancy balsamic vinegars. Kim made it with his self, forgoing the more usual easy geometric shapes he was used to. At Sanny's suggestion, he then dropped in a small round piece of him self and watched it roll around inside.

"Ta dah," Sanny said. "An artificial inner ear, good for being able to tell up from down, with pretty decent sensitivity."

It took a little blinking before the penny dropped and Kim got what she meant. Slowly, he swung the pink, slightly transparent bottle—not true glass, but rather pink obsidian—and felt the little ball rolling around inside.

"A bit big, don't you think?" Kim said.

Sanny shrugged. "I'm sure you can figure out how to shrink it."

And he did.