The Great Outdoors Pt. 04

Part 4

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For he wears long hair and his feet are bare

He says he's mad as an old march hare

But his cares are none and he owes no one

The Old Man of the Mountain

He talks with the birds when he's lonely

He sleeps with the stars for a tent

The bees spread a feast when he's hungry

And God charges no rent

He'll live as long as the old oak tree

And laugh at fools like you and me

Oh, I often sigh and wish that I

Were the Old Man of the Mountain

-Cab Calloway, The Old Man of the Mountain, 1932

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It was a lot to take in. Sasquatch was real and her name was Jennifer and she was helping them get back to their car while their bodies were radically changing. The girls talked about their options, agreeing that, for better or worse, they would go back to human society, preferring netflix, antibiotics and bread to the great outdoors. They also agreed that they would stay away from doctors and the press, because who wanted that kind of attention?

They would make their way in their new bodies. Emily didn't want to miss the next Fast and the Furious movie. Sushmita kept talking about bread, how it was humanity's greatest invention and how she even missed it on this three-day hike. Claire wondered what her little nieces in Cranbrook would think. Jennifer was getting back into the rhythm of speaking and hearing English again, enjoying their company and offering insight where she could. They promised Jennifer that they would never say a word about the existence of sasquatch.

Trailing in the shade of a ridge, they hiked down Mount Capilano. Claire and Emily both observed that their bare feet seemed invulnerable to the rocks, tree roots and pine needles on the trail. Sushmita wore Claire's old boots. Jennifer guided them, although sometimes, if they zoned out while walking or thinking, the girls found it surprisingly hard to know exactly where she was.

Emily could not stop thinking about the scale of Jennifer's body. Seeing her in comparison to the tiny Sushmita or Claire made her look incredibly powerful and truly massive. She was, after all, a beautiful woman, even if she wasn't exactly human any more. Her figure was heartstopping, and her face, behind the hair and beard, was still delicate and pleasant. Clear blue eyes, full lips, a dazzling smile. Emily stifled a flush and tried to focus on the hike. What would it be like to be that tall?

Sometimes they would come to a gully, a ditch, a cliff, an obstacle that seemed like it would require hours of going the long way around, and Jennifer would simply pick them up and carry them across, over, or down, one by one. On one such climb, up a cedar tree and onto a ledge, Claire notices that Jennifer's feet were slightly less humanlike than she had thought at first, with short, wide, but flexible big toes, set back towards the heel, like a thumb on a hand, that could easily grip the branches.

One time Sushmita had been at the grocery store and asked another shopper for help with something on the top shelf, and he'd simply walked behind her, grabbed her under her arms and lifted her up. She was so furious that when he put her down she just glared at him "uh,... you're welcome?" he said, and walked away. She had spent her whole life getting into fights with people, mostly but not exclusively men (sometimes it was drunk girls at the bar), who picked her up without asking.

This was different. She started to become excited to feel those massive hands supporting her weight, anxious to come up to the next impassable thing.

Emily asked Jennifer endless questions. Do you hibernate? What did you used to do? Do you miss the city? Are there boy sasquatches? How tall are you? Are all sasquatch women that tall? Did all sasquatches used to be humans? Is there a difference between people who became sasquatches and, like, born sasquatch? Is the yeti real? Is the loch ness monster real? How are you so good at hiding? When can we eat next?

Not really, more like several big naps.

I was a management consultant.

No, basically nothing. I haven't replied to an email or spent an hour looking for parking since 2018. There's a different kind of, like, truth out here. I used to sit in meetings and talk about synergy and live in a condo that I couldn't afford. I used to go to companies and concoct elaborate justifications for them to give their employees "alternative career opportunities" because if I didn't tell them to fire people, they'd find a consultant who would. Now I breathe the air and walk the mountains and sleep on the earth and eat what I can find, and I feel free. (pause) chai lattes, I guess.

Of course there are.

I'm not sure. No measuring tapes out here, right? Tall though.

No

Actually no. Most are around six, seven feet tall, but there's a lot of variation. As you can see. The males are about a foot taller on average but they also have a big spread.

Born sasquatch have slightly heavier ape features. Pointier heads. Bigger teeth. Thicker necks. but it's often very hard to tell.

I... Don't know. You know, I've never even thought about it. I should ask around.

What? How would I know that?

*shrug*

Oh, right! Goodness. Be right back

Somehow, all nine-odd feet of Jennifer disappeared silently into the bush. Emily's towel skirt fell away, crumpling on her feet.

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The girls rested, finished the game birds from breakfast, adjusted their clothing and generally tried to make the most of things. It wasn't so hot today and the forest was really alive with birds, squirrels and insects. Emily lay out her sleeping bag and dozed in the grass beside the trail, although her legs hung off it into the grass substantially.

"The thing is..." Claire began "the thing is, I think I'm starting to like it."

"What do you mean?" Sushmita was not ready for this conversation, but she was also desperate for it. She had to talk about it. And Claire just floated it out, like nothing bad would happen.

"What do you think I mean? I think I'm starting to like being a Bigfoot."

"A Sasquatch"

"No, a Bigfoot. I'm not growing fur like you, but you have to admit that these feet are big. But like, haven't you ever wanted your body to have something special? Like, when you see someone has, like, big lips or an eye patch or a million face tattoos and piercings and whatever and they just totally own it? Like, did you ever watch that show Own my Look on TLC with, like, a guy with no legs but he's a model? Like they're just totally their own freaky selves? I'm gonna be the girl with the big hair and the big boobs and the massive feet. I kinda think, you know, I kinda think they're sexy" she blushed. "They're so long and wide. My toes are so long. It... it kinda works for me. Not to mention this hair and this figure."

Claire's hair flowed around her body with astonishing volume. It floated and bounced when she moved. It hung just past her newly expanded butt, just onto her thighs. Emily's old bra struggled to keep her breasts contained.

Claire waited for some kind of banter from Sushmita, but it never came. Instead, Sushmita looked up at her, the brown skin of her face shining in contrast to the frame of dark hair all around it. Her beard was short but dense. At the edges, in the highlights, on her shoulders, her arms, was a tint of red, almost like a black bear. Claire slowly but unexpectedly reached out to her friend, touching the hair on her forearm. It looked bristly but it was incredibly soft to the touch. Sushmita gently closed her eyes and gasped. She pulled back.

"I think. I think I know what you mean. Like, I feel beautiful. I have an ass for the first time in my life. This beard looks feminine on me. I like how it frames my face. This hair feels right on me. I just want it to keep growing. I want to run my fingers through it. I want someone else to run their fingers through it. I want to kiss someone's body and tickle them with my moustache. God I can't believe I'm saying this"

Suddenly Claire leaned forward and kissed her deeply, taking her into a tight embrace against her swollen chest. Sushmita completely melted away in her arms. Claire pressed her hand into Sushmita's back, lost in the sensation of the thousand tiny hairs. Their lips separated and they looked into each other's eyes, breathing heavily.

"Hey Claire?" panted Sushmita

"Yeah"

"Stick out your tongue for me"

"Uh, ok"

Claire stuck out her tongue. It came out past her lips, and continued down past her chin. Claire licked under her chin momentarily before snapping her tongue back into her mouth.

Sushmita's eyes bugged out. "This hike just keeps getting weirder."

They stood there, thinking a thousand thoughts. "I hope you were serious about wanting to be a freak"

_________________________

(Translated)

I tell

I listen

I am sighted. There are three women who have seen my face, my body. I am not pictured. I am not written. I am not in danger.

I have heard this. If you are not in danger, we are not in danger. We continue.

I ask

I answer

Three have drank the springs. But each has not drunk all, each has drunk one each. What will happen?

The three waters are only balanced together. Some things will be more. Some things will be less. Everything will be faster. Some things will be new.

I ask

I answer

I seek more food for them, from our keep

It is given

I ask

I answer

I would take the three into our caves

You must not.

I ask

I answer

Hey, have you ever, uh, heard of the Yeti? Are they real?

Our family is large and in the tongues of men we have many names.

_________________________

Jennifer didn't ever look forward to talking with the Old Man, and she was glad to leave his den behind and join A'heuk, who was waiting outside. The Old Man was friendly enough, white-haired and not particularly tall, but somehow intimidating. Her new life didn't involve too much social etiquette outside of the salmon run and solstices, but still, you had to tell things to the Old Man. He could answer any question, although Jennifer didn't know what she was supposed to do with "we have many names". He knew all the mountains, every rock and tree and season and story. Jennifer suspected he already knew about the girls.

From the ridge that became Ben Lomond as it rose up inland, they moved swiftly back across the valley, away from the abandoned mine sites and their faded warning signs, and the honeycomb of basalt passages where the communal food keep was. They each carried two six-foot tall wicker baskets of smoked fish and meat, pemmican, mushrooms, and other food.

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Emily woke up at around 5:00, feeling refreshed but hungry. She saw that the other two had set up camp while she was sleeping. She thought about pitching her own tent, but immediately knew she would no longer fit inside it. She wriggled up to the top of her sleeping bag and stretched it out lengthwise. An eyeballed measurement, to be sure, but she felt like she was probably six foot six now. Incredible. She had only seen a few people that tall in her life. That guy in her first year English class. Cousin Claude. That one time on the metro, there was that huge guy, he was probably a lot taller, but honestly it was hard to tell. Her body felt incredible. Strong, lithe, and undeniably womanly. She had an idle urge to run down the trail as fast as she could go, leaping over gorges and scaling slopes. Her long-sleeve shirt didn't look particularly long sleeve anymore, so she pulled it off and cut it into a tank top, pulling the fabric along the blade of her hatchet. She was negotiating the travel towel skirt with a length of paracord when Claire turned towards her.

"Hey Emily, did you sleep well? Sushmita found a packet of couscous at the bottom of her pack and I'm just fixing it up now. Sush is out scouting" Claire beamed up at her. She walked back over to her pack, her enormous curly hair bouncing as she went. "Jennifer's still not back yet."

"I'm good, I'm good. Are we camping here? I thought we were trying to get to the car tonight?"

"And so you had a three-hour nap in the middle of the day?"

"Yeah, well, you know..."

"Oh hey look at this" Claire walked up to Emily's side, sliding an arm around her waist, resting her hand on her generous hips and swinging her leg around, stepping between Emily's feet. Feeling flushed by the unexpected contact, Emily tried hard to breathe normally.

"They grew again. Yours probably grew again too, but look!"

Claire's foot was obviously bigger than Emily's, maybe by more than an inch. Their soles were about the same length, but Claire's were wider and her toes were longer.

"You seem... happy about that?"

"Don't you? Not about me having big feet, I mean. Aren't you happy about growing? God you're massive" Claire dropped her hand a bit and squeezed Emily's butt "The look on your face when you talk about it, I think you are."

"Is it that obvious?" Emily tried not to get too excited "I feel amazing. I feel hungry, constantly hungry, but amazing. I feel like I was meant to be tall. I want people to think about my body for years after they see it. Like the huge guy on the metro."

"Oh yeah I remember that guy. I bet you're taller than him now."

"Hey guys!" Sushmita tumbled out of the bush onto the trail. Picking herself up she said "there's a little clearing about ten minutes out, and a short ways past that is the fire break. We should be able to take it straight back to the service road to the parking lot."

"Oh wow look at your beard!" said Emily "It's really getting long"

It was, at most, an inch and a half long, but Sushmita held an upturned palm to her cheek and posed "Do you like it? I'm thinking of shaving the moustache and chin and just doing massive muttonchops."

"That'll be perfect for all those civil war reenactments that you do" Emily deadpanned.

"You're still getting bigger, I guess, hey? Any chance I've grown? Can anyone tell?"

Emily and Claire regarded Sushmita. She seemed normally short to Claire and tinier than ever to Emily. Just curvier and hairier.

"You know what? Don't answer that"

"Hey Emily, check this out!" Claire stuck out her tongue. Somehow it just kept coming. She touched the tip between her eyes. She tied it into a knot and then slid out of it. She flexed it into a zigzag, then stairsteps, then a tall vertical curve that culminated in her licking the base of her tongue with the tip of her tongue.

Emily tried to breathe normally again. She was bewildered, both at the tongue itself and how incredibly arousing the sight of it was. "You're seeing this too, right Sush?"

"Uh huh. Cool right?" Sushmita wouldn't meet her gaze for some reason. "Uh hey, does anyone have reception up here?" It was almost a non-suspicious change of subject. "I should text Sarah and let her know we're fine."

"Are we though?" said Claire "anyway I'm on Freedom mobile so I don't even get coverage in the West Van."

"You told Sarah we were going hiking?" Emily searched in the pouches of her pack.

"Sure. We're three gorgeous young women heading off into the woods with only our pocketknives. I tell her every time we go hiking" Sushmita theatrically arched her back on the word "gorgeous".

"What, so, she can come out here and rescue us? Just coming in like Rambo and mowing down grizzly bears and hillfolk or whatever with the machine gun that I guess she has?" Emily swiped her passcode on her phone. It looked tiny in her hands.

"No! So she can call the cops if we don't come home!"

"Ah. Makes sense. Here, I got one bar. And I really don't want to meet an RCMP detachment at the trailhead."

"You and me both"

"You know," said Claire "I think the three of us aren't feeling well. I think we got beaver fever from some bad spring water. We should email work and let them know we'll be sick for a week."

"Ooh good idea. Cash in some of those sick days. Can a person give two weeks notice while they're on sick leave?" Emily adjusted the straps on her pack, letting out the webbing a couple inches. Again.

"You're quitting? But why?" Claire looked like she was already missing her.

"I'm hoping to never set foot in that office again. I'm hoping I never fit in that office again."

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Sushmita Gaddam (25)

Height 4'9" 145 cm

Chapter End No change

Shoe Size 9" (size 5) 23 cm (size 35)

Chapter End No change

Bust 32C

Chapter End 32D

Hips 32 1/2" 83 cm

Chapter End 34" 86cm

Hair past her shoulders

Chapter End no change

Body Hair Imagine a normal human man who's got a lot of body hair but not, like, a medical disorder. About that hairy. Beard is feathery and short but dark.

Chapter End Noticeably hairier than the hairiest man you've ever seen.

Beard is dense now, roughly and inch and a half long.

Emily Mmeremikwu (27)

Height 6'2 1/4" 189

Chapter End 6'5 1/2" 197

Shoe Size 12 1/4" (size 15.5) 31 cm (size 48)

Chapter End 12 3/4" (size 17) 32 cm (size 50)

Bust 36F

Chapter End 38 E

Hips 45" 114cm

Chapter End 50" 127

Hair Just touching her shoulders

Chapter End no change

Claire Rigel (25)

Height 5'1" 156 cm

Chapter End No Change

Shoe Size 11 1/2" (Size 11.5) 29 cm (size 44.5)

Chapter End 14" 36 cm

(Claire is bigger than commercially sized shoes. I couldn't find reliable conversion info but I estimate about size 21)

Bust 32DD

Chapter End 32DDD

Hips 36" 91 cm

Chapter End 40 1/2" 103cm

Hair Hanging to just above her butt. Wavy and high-volume

Chapter End Hanging to mid-thigh

Jennifer Alder (35) (No change)

Height 9'2" 275 cm

Shoe Size 18 1/4" 46 cm

Bust 106" 269 cm

Hips 115" 292 cm

Hair Length 4'5" 137 cm

Beard length 10" 25 cm

Clit Size 4 3/4" cm x 1 1/4" 12 x 3cm

Body Hair Density Furry like a gorilla (summer coat)