Liu absolutely did not visit Ty Lee the next morning. In fact, she had purposely avoided that doorway for two days now. Fearful by nature, her mind darted to the most fatal scenarios. The commander, normally so fast to get a new recruit into fighting shape, was letting more and more of her command off their duties. What could be the reason for this? What were so many of the Avatar's former companions doing on a fire nation steamer without the Avatar himself? Azula had reportedly kept the commander locked up as a prisoner under her personal watch during the war; could Suki, upon hearing of her escape, become overwhelmed psychologically? Was the entire steamer to be delivered to Azula, once everyone aboard the ship was bedridden, shoving food into their faces with arms that had so much fat and so little muscle that they struggled to transfer handfuls of bacon and pastries to gaping, slobbering mouths?The idea of it was ridiculous...a week ago, before she saw Suki's friends.

Upon their arrival aboard the ship, Liu knew Katara and Toph had gained a monstrous amount of weight since their victory over the Fire Lord, but she wouldn't deny their right to a life of leisure after putting their lives at risk for so long, after fighting so hard. She almost envied them; they had become heroes, and let their bodies make sure the world knew that they had paid whatever debt to society they may have had, and were now occupied solely with enjoying life. That life was not for her, however. She had always wanted to make a difference in the world. She needed something practical. She ended up turning her back from the family bakery to enlist in the Kiyoshi warriors. It was her life's purpose to stay in prime physical condition to be able to uphold order and keep her family safe from harm. Liu wondered if she would feel the same way if she had made her goal in life perpetuating the family business; if she didn't join the warriors and instead chose to help her family, would she let herself grow a little softer every day on mouth-watering pastries as a reward for her hard work? The more responsibilities her older sister Lan Wen took on at the bakery, the closer she came to being able to fit in their mother's dresses. Even little Kaien, turning 12 next month, was growing in a tummy as she became an expert at frosting the many cakes and buns that they nurtured into dessert perfection every morning. While Liu patrolled the island in the cold seaside mornings, the rest of her family were sipping through mugs of drinking chocolate and sopping up the dregs with warm breakfast rolls.

Liu thought her plump (-ing) family was perfectly natural given their occupation, but now, she was starting to see warriors with baker's bodies. She heard whispers about how large the commander was becoming, but she was too fearful to go see for herself. What was she going to do, tell off her commanding officer? The thought of Commander Suki weakening up the ship for Azula kept crossing Liu's mind, but she just couldn't bring herself to voice her fears to other Kiyoshi Warriors. It was becoming harder to look for clues as well; she had been assigned an extra half-hour of daily work both nights after Song had tried to bring her to Suki and Ty Lee. Song herself hadn't come up to visit Liu in her cabin again, and was no longer spotted at work. The only time Liu saw her since that night was in the mess hall, and even then she didn't try and speak to her. Song was sitting at table packed with gorging Kiyoshi Warriors. Song had looked up from her honey-drizzled moo-sow and gave Liu a friendly wave. Liu would have sat with her to eat, but there were a number of ample rear ends at the table, which made it difficult to locate a spot to squeeze in. Liu tried not to look at her friend too closely, lest she notice fuller cheeks or a more jutting bosom pressing at her shirt.
---
Liu's paranoia hit an unbearable crescendo three days later. After a back-breaking 7 hours of duty, Liu only wished to stumble through the smoky bowels of the ship to get up to her cabin. However, before she could get out of the supply holds, she heard shouting. After a minute of navigating past crates of salted bacon and preserved butter, she spotted Eyri, a 16 year old Kiyoshi Warrior who Liu was now very familiar with; they had both found their workloads swelling by the day, and had taken to trading shifts when one was too tired to work with the heavy boxes of the cargo hold in exchange for a less strenuous job, such as kitchen duty (though the number of dirty plates seemed to multiply by a power of 2 every day, and the never-ending cooking made the air nearly un-breathable) When Liu found her, she had tears streaming down her face. Her confusion was quickly slaked as an even heftier Fei Lin stepped into view, flanked by Athe, a soft spoken and elegant Warrior of 18 years, known for her knack for hurling war fans with accuracy, her noble upbringing that could be noticed through her polite speech, and her head of beautiful silver hair which flowed down to her hips. (Which had widened considerably since Liu last saw her.) At Fei Lin's left hand was Song. Fei Lin looked like she had run out of clothes that fit her; she was clad in her green robe, which was open and revealing her undergarments, which were barely holding in sac-like breasts and a stomach that hung down enough to gently slap itself into her body when she walked, undulating slightly. Song was more conservatively dressed, except for a big, round stomach which had escaped the confines of her shirt. Song's body reminded Liu a little of her older sister's. While Song was slimmer, she had a coating of fat everywhere, giving her form a sense of wideness and inertia. Fei Lin licked her lips. "We've been waiting fifteen minutes for the salt pork! We got so hungry we came down here ourselves, and here we find you, lazing around, half asleep!" Eyri shook her head; her copper-colored bangs flopped a bit. " I was just so exhausted; I've been at this for hours!" Fei Lin grabbed her by the shoulder, bringing herself close enough to ram Eyri slim body with her gut. "All I know is that I'm hungry, and you abandoned your duty of keeping the main floor well-stocked." Fei Lin waddled toward the crate in question, which looked to have been slid across the floor in an attempt to push it to the stairs. Fei Lin's flabby arms strained to slide the lid off. When the smell hit her, she immediately began stuffing its contents past her plump lips.

[[ http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/2043/... ]]


Liu glanced back to Eyri, who was now pinned to the floor - Athe was sitting on her! Eyri was pressed to the floor by a considerable pair of buttocks, growing out past her delicate but girthy thighs.Athe's face was expressionless, as if she were doing a boring chore.. Softly, she explained the necessity of what she was doing: " You've been very silly for not going to see Ty Lee yet...all this exertion will make you just barbaric in time, all rough and full of callouses. You need to start to enjoy staying put. I'm sorry if I'm a bit heavy, but t I tend to put on the most weight in my rear, so my weight should be nicely distributed across your body, I'm obviously not trying to hurt you, just practicing what I preach. You'd barely feel this if you were a little heavier yourself, you know. Also, please excuse our flatulence. We can't help ourselves, but it really turns out to be a lovely sensation after a bit." Eyri was red in the face, too shocked to respond. Song grabbed a crate of her own and brought it upstairs, pretending not to notice Eyri's little punishment, which Liu thought was downright wrong; Song always stood up to bullies. Liu watched from the shadows, numb to the resolution: the trio grabbed crates of food, leaving a gasping Eyri on the floor. Before Liu could bring herself to approach, Eyri was running up the nearest flight of steps, weeping.

----

When Liu saw Eyri sitting with Song, Fei Lin, and Athe at their sagging mess hall table the next evening, laughing at Song's jokes and gobbling down pudding with chocolate chunks embedded in it, Liu knew it was time for a confrontation.