Mary decided to visits the woods. It was such a nice day, and she suddenly felt quite excited about exploring the trails. She wasn't completely sure if it was an effect of the potion or just her imagination, but it seemed like she could sense things a little differently. She thought that the smells around her were much stronger, and her ears twitched under her beanie as different animals made noises. Mary walked down the path to the woods, breathing in the fresh air.
Lost in thought, she was startled when a squirrel ran past her, jumping atop the wooden fence lining the path before leaping again onto the nearest tree. It was an ordinary black squirrel, with a big bushy tail. Although the size of the animal wasn't intimidating, it had caught her by surprise with how close it had come when whizzing past her, causing her to let out a small screech.
It did not screech back or flee, but rather simply clung to the tree and stared for a moment before skittering up to the higher branches. She watched it climb and disappear out of sight, her eyes seeming to notice the treetops for the first time. The whole of the forest seemed to expand before her, going from one restrictive trail to a world of possibility. Her eyes flicked from branch to branch, her muscles tensing as she imagined being among them.
She want to climb the boughs, to swing from the branches, to see from their great heights, and to be safe from the threats on the forest floor.
Mary swallowed and glanced nervously around the park, and did not see any people around, just an empty trail. It was still pretty early in the morning, so she was not surprised to find it deserted. But what if someone came across her?
"Ahh hell," she muttered, "why come out here at all if not to test out these changes.
Mary deftly climbed over the trail fence, approaching a nearby tree. The lowest branches were a several feet above her. Throwing caution to the wind, she took a running start and leapt at the trunk, trying to scramble up and grasp the low hanging branch. For a moment it seemed as though she would succeed. Her slightly larger hands found a grip and started to pull her up, but her white canvas sneakers scrabbled against the bark, finding no purchase. She struggled for a moment, her enhanced arm muscles trying to hold onto the trunk, but her slipping shoes caused her grip to loosen, and soon Mary found herself backward, landing painfully on her rear in the dirt.
"OooOoof!" she grunted, her sharper teeth bared in a grimace of pain. She sat there for a moment, rubbing at her sore tailbone, mistaking the twitching feeling in her tailbone as a result of her fall. The pain died down, and Mary looked back up at the tree, the black squirrel reappeared from around the back side of the trunk, looking down Mary, silent.
He's mocking me, she thought, before looking back down at herself, still sitting on the ground.
Mary saw why she was having difficulty climbing up; her shoes constricted and hurt her oddly shaped feet terribly, and seemed to be stopping her from getting a good grip. Untying them, she slid them off leaving her white athletic socks on display. Mary stopped to rub her feet, stretching her toes against the fabric of the socks as she felt their strange shape. They popped satisfyingly as she did so, and she could have sworn she felt her big toes slide a little higher on her feet, lengthening more as the joint gained dexterity. Sliding off her socks and stuffing them in her shoes, she looked at her feet, her longer toes and roughened soles rubbing against the ground.
"Okay, let's try that again," said Mary.
She ran much quicker without her shoes, leaping up and grabbing at the trunk again. This time, her stronger toes were able to find purchase on the bark. Gripping the tree with hands and feet, she scurried up the trunk a bit before pushing off. She propelled herself up, grabbing the lower branch with her hands and deftly swinging up higher before grabbing another branch and steadying herself. She'd done it! Emboldened by her newfound agility, she quickly began climbing higher, brushing past branches and leaves as she moved toward the top of the tree. It didn't take long for Mary's hat to get dislodged and fall off, but she was having so much fun herself, that she didn't bother trying to catch it as it fell down near her discarded footwear.