The gentle morning sunrise did nothing to stir Katniss over the next morning. The few times her tightly shut eyes happened into one of the scattered beams of sunlight passing through her windows, Katniss momentarily stirred, assured herself there was no reason to wake up at the crack of dawn if she was waiting for everyone to settle into their daily routines, then embraced sleep once again. As her body and mind adjusted to uninterrupted rest in a non-hostile environment, the threshold of light and sound that would rouse her from her calorie-crash slumbers had begun to widen. The Capitol was opulent and overindulgent, to be certain, but it had been too comfortable for her. It had been too alien for Katniss to ever feel totally secure...but now, she was home. Without realizing it, Katniss found her sleep schedule bloating by nearly fifteen minutes a night on her new diet.

"Impossible."

In one icy moment of total lucidity, Katniss' eyes snapped open. Rolling off of her sinfully welcoming mattress, Katniss stumbled to her window to find the sun was passing its midpoint in the sky. She had somehow managed to miss the entirety of the morning. Determined to make up for lost time, Katniss became a dervish of activity, getting her things together and trying to select an outfit that she could wear around District 12 without looking like an outsider...something that made her look like one of them...something that would hide her damn stomach, which was now riding up her pajama shirt when she walked....her hunting pants! Katniss realized had them tailored around her gut when she first got back home, and she was often seen around town in her hunting gear. It was perfect.
Grabbing the garment from her spacious closet and heaving them on past her thighs, Katniss was forced to fiddle with the front button for a few seconds before it stuck. To Katniss' disgust, a big flabby roll of blubber now hung over the garment's waistband. If she wanted to wear her fitted hunting shirt when out with Gale, there would be no hope of hiding the obvious bulges. She found it looked even worse when she bent over or knelt down; she could hear the material in her waistband creak, and a second, less bulky roll formed above the first. "Can't do anything about this now. I need to get out there and start shaking myself out of this...one problem at a time." Choosing a well-tailored brown shirt and an unseasonably warm tunic to hide her paunch, Katniss left her room.

With a mix of trepidation and gnawing hunger, Katniss went outside to collect the day's Prugel's shipments; at this point, she was certain both the Breakfast and Lunch cratewould be waiting. Upon only finding "Lunch", Katniss poked her head into the kitchen to see if Prim had gotten into it first. She found an empty box and a ransacked cupboard. Jogging up the stairs (and beginning to breathe heavily three-quarters of the way) to Prim's room , Katniss nudged her door open to find her sister sitting up in bed with her feet tucked snugly under he blankets. She had brought several plates up to her room, along with what appeared to be the entirety of the contents of Prugels' breakfast box. Wrappers and plates were strewn all over Prim's bed, spilling onto the floor. A few packages hadn't been opened;muffins that practically dripped butter when you squeezed them and bagels made with pounds of cinnamon were among them. Prim seemed to have opted for the donuts, jelly spreads, and sweet rolls that were so copiously provided every morning. The smell in the spacious room made Katniss' stomach growl.

"Oh, you're up!" Prim chirped, licking some sort of blue sauce from her lips. "I figured I'd get a head start on helping you with breakfast; now you don't have to worry about it!" Katniss knew from her smile that "helping" had been quite a bit of fun for her as well. Katniss grabbed a muffin near Prim's foot just to eliminate the possibility of her sister eating through an entire crate on her own. Unsurprisingly, it was quite good, and Katniss reflexively reached for more. As the elder Everdeen sister reached for a bagel overflowing with cream cheese, Prim nonchalantly asked Katniss to let her know when the lunch crate came. "What?" Katniss asked with her mouth full. "I'm going to take a nap, just let me know when the next box shows up!" Katniss' eyes darted to her sister's stomach. It was bloated and round, and her belly button was visible now that her pajamas had ridden up a little, but that was only because she had overeaten...right? The thought of Prim becoming district 12's spoiled piglet princess boiled her blood. Snow could try and ruin her life however much he wanted, Prim was off-limits. Prim was always off-limits. Katniss forced herself to be momentarily diplomatic."Fine Prim. I'll let you know when it gets here."

Katniss stormed downstairs, dragged the new box of food into the kitchen, and with the ferocity of a wolf began gobbling through pre-cooked sausages, hero sandwiches that had as much mayonnaise as meat (which was...impressive), box after box of omnipresent donuts, massive bags of chips, and perhaps even more donuts. Prim stuck her head into the kitchen a few moments after Katniss had poured the last orange soda in the box down her gullet. "You ate it all?!" Prim gasped. Katniss gave her sister a stern look. Some time had passed while Katniss gorged, and Prim's pudgy belly-button was still on display. Now that she was in a better light, Katniss could also observe how cherubic her sister's cheeks had gotten; they had swollen up beyond plump. Just a hint of flesh had even accumulated under her sister's chin. Unfortunately, it made her look even more harmless and adorable than usual, and Katniss felt unable to bring herself to give her sister a lecture on overeating when she herself had returned from the Capitol generously softened up. "I figured you'd be full from breakfast, so yeah, I ate it all."
"I was really full! But.." Prim rubbed her stomach, making it shake a bit. "...I could have at least had a little..."
---------------------------------
It was mid afternoon by the time Katniss felt comfortable enough to do anything but sit on her kitchen chair and belch. She had strolled uncomfortably through a large majority of the Merchants' section and the Seam, and while she was successful at slipping a little money onto a few windowsills and collection buckets, she was having extreme difficulty finding concrete ways to help. The district treated her very warmly, but it was practically impossible to get people to give her a chore or something of that ilk. She had started tending to a garden for one older woman, but once she was heard grunting whenever she knelt down, the old woman politely took back her trowel, explaining that she didn't want to take up any more of her time and thanking her profusely. The woman then went on to arrange the small garden three times as quickly than the way Katniss had trundled along. Too self conscious to seek out Peeta or Gale, Katniss found herself spending two hours at the tailor's getting more elastic sown into the waistband of her hunting pants, then headed down to The Hob. While the black market was bustling just a little less now that extra rations were pouring into District 12 from the Capitol, the regular faces were still there and Katniss still was able to disseminate a good amount of money to children selling eggs, turnips and trinkets.
Actual money was nearly unheard of at the Hob, and soon she heard her name whispered admiringly all around her. Greasy Sae generously offered her some stew, which Katniss felt terrible about turning down, opting instead to overpay for it. However, one sip of the foul concoction made her gag, and she found herself dumping it out around the corner, visions of her Prugel's "Dinner" box already in her head. As Katniss began to head back home, she failed to notice the pair of rail-thin, soot-covered, gossip-loving children who witnessed her casually tossing food to the floor. That night, a new rumor began to mingle with the sea of other Katniss tales in the District, perhaps made more memorable for its uncharacteristic negativity.
-----

President Snow paced around some of the models for Ellington's Fine Wares, a top clothing line for discerning Capitol consumers. "I'm not one to argue with the President, but this much fat on a woman hasn't been in vogue for months!!" An array of overly made up women of various skin tones stood statue-still in poses that accentuated their hundreds of pounds of adipose tissue. "On top of that, a weight loss procedure that deals with more than 100 pounds of fat can take nearly an hour these days after the fad ends...what a hassle!" Snow glared and grinned, his frozen smile set in stone since the beginning of the meeting he called with the first of many big names in Capitol fashion. "Xavier, I trust your savvy completely. You most certainly will bring this look back, and keep it there for a bit, yes?" Snow's eyes snapped to the purple skinned, blue-haired fashion designer. "...Well...I suppose...but must I include a model who hasn't had any skin recoloring done? That is sooo last-"

"Yes. " Snow stated.