Doorways had become a bigger reminder of her failures of willpower than Toph could ever be; Liu simply strolled through the portal while Katara had to use her now pitifully weak and flabby arms to squeeze the dough of her hips and buttocks through the unyielding metal frame. Not only did it chafe, but Katara knew she belched and broke wind whenever she exerted herself. All in all, the waterbender was certain she already had the room's attention by the time she was through. Consoling herself with the thought of doing something good for Liu and the rest of the currently block-less crew, Katara began to scan the mess hall for a good podium. As the her footfalls sent out quasi-earthquakes rattled cutlery and shook the mess hall's massive metal tables and benches, the elephantine waterbender's progress was halted by a dozen or so Kiyoshi Warriors...most of which looked a little overfed.
Katara steeled herself for a confrontation only to find looks of admiration and goodwill on the young faces around her. The most porcine of the crowd, so fat that she let cellulite-ridden thighs and loose stomach hang out of her robe out of clear inability to close it, seemed almost reverent. “Commander Katara, what can we do for you? Thank you for taking the time and effort to walk down here to grace us with your presence!” Katara was unable to hold in a belch which muted the last few words of the warrior’s sentence, but if it offended her, the warrior’s double-chinned face gave no indication. On closer inspection, the girl looked not only flabby but sort of worn-out; her robes were stained with sweat, and she breathed heavily. “Well, I’m here to talk to you all!” Katara’s eyes fell to the Kiyoshi’s body; her thighs were flabby but showed some evidence of musculature underneath the cellulite and knee-dimples; she had certainly been very fit, up until recently. The thighs rubbed against each other and her belly collided with hers. Katara barely felt it. “Of course! But no use standing, please, take a seat! Commander Toph bent this place into shape; all the benches will accommodate you in both width and durability!”

Katara was led to a bench by the crowd and bade to sit; as the heavenly sensation of inactivity began to seep into her body once more, Katara turned to observe Liu watching patiently from the other side of the mess hall, unwilling to be detected by the mob. As soon as she was seated, the noose of girls around her quickly slid their own meals in front of her; many of them half eaten and on dirty plates. The hefty Kiyoshi spoke up again, her belly slapping breifly against the table as she sat down. “Enjoy! You need it more than we do! I’m Fei Lin, by the way!” she jovially slid her own plate to Katara, toppling a tower of mashed potatoes saturated in gravy off onto the table. “Oh, no thank you!” Katara politely responded. Or at least she wanted to; the words seemed to stick in her throat. She swallowed hard, allowed more foul air to escape her rear end, then tried again. “Thanks! I’m famished!” she shouted, spraying Fei Lin with drool (which she was very slow to wipe off) and grabbing the handful of spilled mashed potatoes off the table before scarfing down the partially-eaten lunches of a dozen sailors. After she finished, Katara couldn’t help but lick the plates clean.

Upon burying her hunger pangs, Katara realized how embarrassing her actions were. Before she could apologize for being a hog, Fei Lin casually remarked “I’m hoping my butt will fill in like yours, though it’s probably wishful thinking.” A refined looking girl with a profound hourglass figure two seats away gave a proud snort. “But, I’m already developing some great belly hang, which Toph says is just as comfortable when I get over the three hundred pound hump; by that point your butt’s nicely padded even if you’re a total stomach gal like Song here.” A chunky looking girl with a potbelly sitting to Fei Lin’s left blushed and tried to pull her shirt over her gut. “Fei Lin, I’m not even close to two hundred yet! You’re embarrassing me!” She turned to Katara apologetically. “I’m so sorry, I’m a twig! Just give me a week, I’ll get myself to one seventy-five at least and-”

“ENOUGH!” Katara shouted, spraying Fei Lin with another stream of saliva. This time she caught her licking a little of it off. “Look; all of you are going to stop this, right now! I never asked for this, I don’t want to be this way! Its unhygienic and a surefire way to make sure you’ll be a food addict, like a real, legitimate addict who can’t think of anything else but what they’re going to gorge on next! You need to struggle to even think about doing anything else, and it gets harder and harder to even mind! You could wake up one day and suddenly the only thing you care about is how fat you can get yourself, then the next thing you know you start wanting everyone around you to be the same way to make sure that you’re never uncomfortable!"

“Exactly!” Song cut in. “I’ve never seen the commander so content, and you look just beautiful!”
Katara’s thoughts swam. She was only just getting fat, how could she be so eager to pile hundred of pounds of extra weight on to her figure? Could she actually be making a mostly-conscious decision? She saw the girls in front of her, and herself, back to their own thin selves, traveling and running and breathing fresh air instead of clouds of their own gas....then she saw herself luxuriating in a peace of mind that only a devotion to gluttony could bring, surrounded by people who thought she was beautiful and made sure she ate her fill, no matter how impossibly ravenous her hunger grew...