Paul loved biochemistry and the lab instructor let him get extra practice after hours, knowing the he would need an edge applying for grad school. After months of tinkering, he developed what he called a "conditioning agent." It wasn't truly a mind control agent, because such a thing was not really possible. Rather, it was just something that would nudge a person's preferences ever so slightly.
Here's how it worked: the agent would disintegrate after about 5 minutes, so it would have to be used quickly. It worked through inhalation. So if a person was exposed to it for a few seconds, they would associate other related stimuli present at the same time in a more positive way. The food analogy was not exactly like sugar, it was more like a very exotic spice that would make you think about the food you just ate hours or even days later, and even want to go back to the same restaurant where you had it and try it again.
Paul was jaded in the world of romance though, and he had a particularly issue with the prettiest girl at school, Christine. She was a perfect beauty: tall, perfect skin, bright blue eyes, long light blonde hair, perfect medium breasts, a skinny body, long slender athletic limbs, but dainty feminine hands and feet. She seemed to be good at everything, a natural leader. A top student but also a gymnast, the head of several university clubs, and a leading member of student council, running for president next year for sure. But she had an attitude with guys. She would never have even noticed Paul much less talked to him, even though she valued intelligence and talent. Like many girls, despite their sophistication and intelligence, she was attracted to the handsome but stupid athlete guys, in this case Dale, who was at college on a baseball scholarship. Dumb as dirt, but handsome and a perfect body. Christine and Dale had dated now for a few months, and it was sickening to behold why an awesome girl like her would be with some stupid lout like him. One of Paul's friends was Dale's cousin, and he heard through reliable gossip that Christine and Dale were planning to "get intimate" for the first time on Dale's birthday, which was coming up in 3 weeks. In fact, he heard they had rented a cabin at a nearby lake where they would consummate their relationship.
It was time to test the conditioning agent. For safety reasons, since it was still experimental, he wouldn't test it directly involving himself, but would test it out on two people where it wouldn't matter to him too much if something went a little wrong. It wasn't like there was any risk of poisoning or any medical harm, it was just that it might lead to a temporary unexpected behaviour. Anyway, time for the test! He would choose the unlikeliest couple, and try to make them feel something for each other. He thought it was a long shot that it would do anything at all, but time for a try!
Karl was the college janitor. A grotesque man. Fat. 63 years old. Balding. Stubbly face. Hairy body. Short, just 5'9, compared to Christine's 5'11. A smoker. Grubby clothes. Sweaty clammy pasty skin. A bit of body odor smell, so you could tell if he'd been in the room recently. His hands were dirty and callused from his janitor work. His teeth were crooked; he had good oral hygiene but a bit of a smell influenced by his culinary tastes (greasy fast food and beer).
For the conditioning agent to work there would need to be an association between the odor of the agent and another stimulus in the environment... so Paul secretly pilfered one of Karl's old, dirty, sweaty t-shirts that was in a laundry bin just outside the janitor office. it had a strong smell of Mr. K's body odor... with stains under the armpit area, food stains, and a few body hairs on the inside, mixed with a slight smell of Mr. K's particular brand of cigarettes and beer. Mike sprayed the shirt all over with the conditioning compound, then sealed it in a sterile ziploc bag.
Christine liked to swim every thursday morning, and would store her towel in an open, unlocked shelf area next to the pool. When Christine was doing laps, Paul casually wandered into the pool area, talked to the lifeguard a little bit, a friend of his from calculus class, then shuffled past the shelf where Christine stored her towel. In her hurry that morning she had stuffed her towel into a shelf where other people's towel were nearby, some of them touching against other people's towels. He opened the ziplock bag and rubbed Karl's dirty shirt + conditioning compound all over Christine's towel, then tucked the shirt underneath the towel, so it looked like someone else had just left their t-shirt during their swim.
When Christine came out of the pool, about 5 minutes later (just in time before the conditioning agent would lose its potency) she rubbed down her body with her towel. She noticed something diffeent about it, at first a slight disgusting smell like body odor, that initially gave her a stirring of nausea, but then another feeling of slight interest, almost like the feeling you'd get noticing the smell of a bakery or a coffee shop, giving her a slight tingle down her spine, such that she buried her face into her towel and inhaled deeply, soaking in the smells of Karl's body alongside the conditioning compound, giving her a shiver in her body... it was this weird pairing of intense disgust but then a feeling of curiosity and even a shiver of pleasure. It was a little bit analogous to how people develop a taste for coffee, which is bitter. Children find bitterness aversive, but over time and exposure, you can grow to enjoy and even crave bitter flavours, as long as they are paired with positive experience as well in some way. Unlike coffee, the conditioning agent was much, much more potent and rapid-acting.
Christine always loathed Karl. and would feel almost physically sick whenever he walked by, with his gruff, foul manner and odor. He would sometimes leer at her, and would often make no effort to conceal his staring, which made her sick that he was just a dirty, gross old man. A few times when he was walking past in the hallway, and when nobody else was around, he would stare at her and say, "How's about a kiss" with a gross little laugh, making her shudder, and mutter "fuck off!" in her mind as she hurried away from him. She wondered how even got hired at a major university.
Later that day, she felt restless. She kept thinking back to sucking in the smell of her swim towel for some reason, thinking over and over about this. She got so restless with this that she couldn't sleep, and went for a walk in the dorm at around 11 pm.
She noticed a faint smell that was just like her towel near the stairwell in her building, which was weird for her, and she decided to follow it further. She went down the stairs, and she found the smell getting a little bit stronger. An ordinary person would not notice anything ... it was because of the conditioning agent ... it was sensitizing her to the smell associated with the compound. but it wasn't controlling her mind, just piquing her curiosity....Finally she ended up in the basement, and the smell got a little stronger... she investigated and it led to the corner area near Karl's office. She wasn't even sure what was in there, probably cleaning supplies, mops, garbage containers on the outside, a laundry bin outside the door where Paul had obtained Karl's shirt.
The smell was strongest just outside Karl's door. She was very curious and had the thought of investigating inside. She knew it was Karl's door, and it disgusted her to think of him being in there, but she was curious to find out the source of the smell. She snuck in, where the room was dark. She used her phone flashlight to quickly look around. She noticed a dingy cot, a strong smell of cleaning supplies, tools, oil, and body odor. She noticed a pile of laundry on the floor and followed the odor. She picked up one of Karl's t-shirts and reflexively bought it to her nose, discovering the smell she had first noticed at the pool, sucking it in, and feeling a rush of mild enjoyment. The association with Karl intellectually was revolting to her, but the sensory experience had shifted something in her mind, once again a bit like discovering a new unexpected spice at an exotic restaurant.
Then she heard steps approaching outisde. Heavy steps with an irregular cadence reflecting Karl's lumbering, limping gait with his stiff left knee and chronically swollen ankles. Maybe he was drunk again. She had a wave of anxiety about being discovered, and quickly escpaed the office, bringing the t-shirt with her.
That night she kept the shirt next to her pillow. This helped her sleep more deeply and dream. She had a dream about Karl and his heavy, limping footsteps. And she imagined his grotesque face. But instead of disgust she had a weird feeling of curiosity and a tingling sensation in her body.
She would have usually been dreaming of Dale, looking forward to kissing him and exploring his body, thinking excitedly about their first night together coming up at the hotel next week. But no dreams of Dale... when she did think of him, she noticed that her excitement was subdued but not entirely gone. This wasn't mind control, this was just new stimuli starting to shift her attention and feelings.
In a few days the smell of the t-shirt had dissipated. Christine decided she would head down to Karl's office, and switch his shirt for another in the laundry bin. But this time, she got caught.
Karl found her rummaging through the laundry bin, and plucking out one of his dirty shirts. She was trembling as she lied that she was looking for a rag to clean up her bike chain...
Karl, always the gross old man, but having no idea about the conditioning agent, half-joked with her, "tell ya what, honey, if I gets a kiss you can take whatever rag you want! Otherwise I gotta report you for stealin!
Normally Christine would have been totally grossed out and on her way to making a complaint to the police. But today she paused... and said... "well.. maybe..just one little kiss."..she could hardly believe what she was saying... She did reason with herself that it was just a trivial action...maybe even an act of kindness to this bestial old man...it was commonplace for example for young people to give their grandparents a kiss or a hug... that was never for her, she always thought it was gross to do that...but she reasoned this was a normal thing, and she decided that she would give it a try.
she timidly moved towards Karl, anticipating giving him a little peck on the cheek.
"hold your horses missy..." Karl hoarsely grunted at her... "we gotta make sure I don't get into any trouble here... so I gotta set up some proof that this is all little Chrstine's idea...not me pushing you into something and getting me in trouble... for all I know yer settin' me up now, maybe a dare from your bitchy little friends.".
so Karl rummaged in his cupboard and brought out a tripod and what looked like a professional quality video camera. It was school property, and Katie wondered if Karl had pilfered it or was planning to sell it for extra cash. She'd heard about equipment thefts around the school.
