chapter 1 - maria

It was a wholly unexceptional day for Maria, a chemist at Gorzen Pharmaceuticals. She drove to the sprawling parking lot, swiped into the massive concrete building that housed the primary labs for the multinational corporation, and began her tasks for the day. She had recently been part of a team that developed a very effective cancer drug, leading to much acclaim for her and the rest of the group – in fact Maria had recently been promoted for her prominent role as part of the project. She was now the lead researcher on a new developmental drug: an easy-to-take pill that would help individuals with severe eating disorders or malnutrition gain weight. This would be Maria’s first leadership role and she wanted to be extra efficient and develop this new drug as quickly as possible. As a result, she had been working longer hours than usual and performing many more experiments than she would normally. In her search for potential drug targets, Maria came upon one that she labeled “compound 117” since it was the 117th drug that she had started looking at. It was shown to very effectively slow down metabolism, leading to potential weight gain. Maria thought that compound 117 in combination with a low dose of a steroid could be the combination that she was looking for. As she went about her day finishing experiments with some of the other compounds Maria had tested she began to formulate her plan to use compound 117. By the time she had a chance to start those experiments, though, it was later than she thought, so she decided to wait until the next day to begin those experiments.
Once she got back to her apartment, Maria made herself a small dinner, of salad and chicken, no dressing. She kept a trim figure and standing at 5’8” she was taller than many of her colleagues. Usually she would go for runs before going to work and after getting home, but today she didn’t because she had stayed at work so long. Even though she had a two-bedroom apartment, Maria lived alone since she hadn’t found anyone who she wanted to live with yet – and her salary meant she didn’t have to worry about rent for a large space.

“Hey nice ass” were the first words that Maria heard from another person the next morning. They came from a car that passed her on her morning run, and they weren’t necessarily wrong. “I do have a nice ass” Maria thought to herself as she continued her run “and that’s as close as that jerk will ever get to it” she added, with resolution. After she got home from her morning run, she had to shower before work and as she got out, Maria took note of her body in the mirror – she had dark hair that fell just below her shoulders, leading her gaze to small, pert breasts. Following the lines of her body down she had a trim, toned midriff, just firm to the touch; Maria was clearly active and in good shape. This lead to her hips and aforementioned bottom, which flared out from her hips. Whenever she got complimented on her body, this was always what men noticed. Holding up this body was a pair of muscular legs, given to her by how much running she did. Maria put her hands on her thighs, feeling the musculature ripple under her skin. She felt strong, she felt powerful, she loved her body, loved feeling beautiful. But she couldn’t linger on that now, for she today was the day that she was going to begin experimenting with compound 117!