Complaints - Part 2

The girl held out a receipt. Dee looked it over and stamped it. She remained turned and placed her arms over the opening in her swimsuit.

Dee gave the girl and plunger a quick look, then asked, “Could you please explain the situation?”

The girl nudged the plunger with her elbow and frowned. “Do I have to?”

Dee shrugged. “It might help.” He already had the report form out.

Her feet clapped against the floor as she shuffled, sighed, and suggested, “It’s a little bewildering and embarrassing…”

Dee glanced at the plunger again. “I see.”

She cleared her throat and attempted, “My name is…” After a deep breath, she stated, “Carol Wistry.” She frowned.

Dee looked down at the receipt. The customer was credited as ‘Jack Wistry’. That was a good bit of information when trying to ascertain unintended effects. He looked at the plunger. It didn’t have any mental block or special change warnings stamped on the side.

He made a note on the report form. The girl mouthed a few words. She seemed to be trying to say “Jack”. She practiced it a few times but couldn’t get it out in the same sentence as, “My name is…”

Dee entered the information. Carol/Jack shook her head and offered, “Well, so I just moved and I couldn’t find the plunger in any of the boxes after the toilet in my new apartment backed up. I figured it was simpler to just buy another and then I’d have a spare when I found it…”

Dee made sporadic notes as she mentioned that it was late and all the hardware stores were closed. The time on the receipt checked out with that. She came to this store because she saw bathroom fixtures through the main door.

Dee recalled seeing a display with toilets. He could tell the seats were booby-trapped. If left up by a man after use, the embedded nanites would go to work on him. By the end of the day, ‘he’ would have a lot more trouble peeing standing up.

Dee flipped through the catalog of all stated-properties of store products. He’d read the entire thing several times already. Sure, it didn’t cover the employee break area but it kept him safe with knowing how to handle particular store products.

He listened as the customer related taking the item home. Their toilet soon started backing up even more. They rushed over and tried to hold back the rising water with a few presses on the plunger. Just as it was about to pass the rim, they slipped and leaned on it.

The customer gestured to her chest, which was small compared to the illusion which ‘Cindi’ had opted for, and said, “Then I felt the plunger stick right against me. I had this massive, kinda...pleasurable rush through my body…and then I was standing there just like this.”

Dee nodded. A ‘rush’ was the telltale sign of nanites at work. They introduced a high load of endorphins into the body to forestall shock. The customer tried unscrewing the handle and used water on the seal but nothing would budge the plunger.

She blushed and then carefully-explained how, every few moments, she could feel a little tingle and residual rush through her body. She also noted the plunger was squeezing in a way she had trouble describing.

Dee jotted down a few, summarized notes. The residual sensations sounded like a feedback error from the nanites. While they were supposed to make the transformed feel nice, the sensation wasn’t intended to be continual because of the risk of psychological dependence.

The catalog entry was broken up. There were twelve official entries, nine of which were standard for lavatory use. As with all “useful” store products, the nine varieties were intended to affect male (and, occasionally, female) behavior. They included manners, cleanliness, and some effeminate, subconscious nudging but nothing on this mental scale.

Of the three, remaining entries, two were out of stock. One was a gag gift intended to give a man breasts depending on how much he plungered. You press down on the plunger and it pulled out on you. Again, temporary consequences. The other was a sex toy in the form of a plunger, which modified certain, bedroom activities. The example provided looked nothing like what was stuck to the customer’s chest.

He wondered about the last one on the page. It was a grainy picture but it did resemble the item. It seemed it was listed as a ‘curse/revenge’ item intended “for unscrupulous plumbers.” The customer’s feet squeaked. He encouraged her to take a seat in one of the chairs facing the counter.

The entry was annoyingly vague. It had nanites, as usual, but there was no reference to “trans. w/ mental effects”. The listing did say that it was only dangerous during normal use but, considering the situation, Dee didn’t want to risk touching it.

He stopped at the manufacturing information. It was made by “Florani Tools, Ltd.”, a local subsidiary to the Chinese conglomerate which provided the vast majority of store merchandise.

Dee hung his head. The customer leaned forward and asked softly, “Is it bad?”

He rubbed his face, gave a polite smile, and assured her, “Don’t worry. I just need to make a few calls.”