Nami and Regina lounged around the lounge as the day continued all day. Most of the girls were enamored by the TV--many having had none or very limited access to television before. Nami and Regina actually had watched plenty of TV in their life already (by way of solar panels for energy, and gypped electricity respectively,) so they weren't quite as interested. Besides, the programming consisted of nothing but Feedee and Feeder culture. Fashion shows with 600 pound models who often go topless, for example. Sitcoms with characters all sitting in their hover chairs and never going outside without their Feeders was another common sight.
Nami and Regina decided to pop over to the bookshelf and see what there was to read. Unsurprisingly, it consisted of nothing but Feedee and Feeder content, as well. A lot of comic books of Feedee superheroes (and their Feeder sidekicks,) and a lot of slice of life manga in which the characters barely fit in the panels half the time. The fan service in all of the sequential art was bizarre, as it often involved zooming into a Feedee's soft, doughy cellulite. There were also a number of scenes in which a character defecated herself, and it seemed to be presented like this was supposed to be enticing.
"Ew." Nami and Regina said together, giggling.
The non-comics were no better. Stories of girls "sucked into a fantasy world" or "forced into a new life through incredible circumstances" nevertheless consisted entirely of all-female characters who are morbidly obese and incontinent, as if no one was supposed to question that. There was a whole shelf for "classic literature," which piqued Regina's interest. In absolute shock, she realized that every one of the books had been edited to reflect a Feedee/Feeder culture. Every character was now female, obese and incontinent, and without any mention in the Foreword or Copyright info that an edit had been made. It was the same for every book on the shelf: The Great Gatsby; Emma; A Tale of Two Cities; even 1984 which Regina thought was, "absolutely fucking hilarious."
Sometimes (often,) the edits didn't make any sense or created massive plot holes. Of course Tom Sawyer wasn't able to paint the fence and needed her Feeder friends to do it, she can't even reach past her belly! (The one thing that wasn't changed, interestingly, were the names. It would appear male names need not be scrubbed from history, since there aren't any men to take then now... Regina supposed.)
Other times, the revisionism caused a chain of other edits to be made. In The Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion were not changed at all. Non-human or fantasy characters were allowed to stay skinny. But Toto, however, is recast as Dorothy's younger brother, just so he can be her Feeder.
The Grapes of Wrath, in Regina's opinion, was the most egregiously editorialized. None of the characters were actually starving, they were just NOT able to eat piles upon piles of junk food, because the economy didn't actually ruin agriculture, just restaurants and processed food.
"And yet they were still DYING." Regina said, explaining it to Nami. "They were, in fact, eating. Plenty of calories to live, in fact, but it was all veggies and salads. And that was portrayed as literally the same thing as STARVING."
"That is pretty interesting. Weird. Yeah." Nami idly replied. She didn't want to admit it, but she had grown tired of Regina summarizing books she'd been skimming as the day went on. Nami was sitting at one of the game tables, trying to beat this one other girl at checkers, and Regina was talking to her from a few feet away on the couch.
Regina looked over on the wall to check the time. They had had breakfast at 8AM, and it was already 1PM. Many of the girls were pretty hungry again, but not the ones who went to the kitchen for snacks. The snacks consisted of potato chips and other bagged finger food, as well as corn dogs, frozen burritos, and other microwavable food. There was plenty of soda and lemonade, too.
"I dunno, man." One girl said as she continued to scarf down a bag of chips. "I get that they're doing this to make us gain weight, but as long as I don't overeat, and I keep a good exercise regimen up, I'll keep the pounds off no problem." She continued, pouring the last bits of salty potato dust into her mouth.
"I guess..." Regina replied, sitting next to her on the couch. "I really don't want to risk it, though. I would like to eat as healthy of food as I can, because I kind of suspect they're gonna take the healthy food away eventually."
"Yeah probably." The other girl said, raising her arms for a stretch; her mint-green dress riding up her legs just a little.
"I really like the color you picked." Regina commented.
"Mhm? Well thanks. I noticed you and your squint-eye friend over there were the only ones in our group who picked teal. You probably didn't feel so special when you saw all the teal in the other groups, huh?" She smiled.
Regina was a bit put-off by the racist comment, but had to remember what her elders had told her: that most of the professional decorum society had built up about non-discrimination had been destroyed in the Hedonocalypse. So she decided to forgive the girl for that offense, and ask for her name.
"Dora Spencer, nice to meet you." Dora said, extending her hand.
"Regina Nash, nice to meet you too." Regina reciprocated with a shake.
They chatted for a while. Regina learned that Dora came from a garbage processing plant, where she and a few families hid in crevices and cracks in the foundation during the day, then snuck out at night to steal as much trash as could.
"So I'm already very much accustomed to eating junk food, you see." Dora said. "Because Feedees and Feeders are ridiculously wasteful. Sometimes they throw away whole bags of food that weren't even opened. Honestly, it was only because I got so much exercise that I maintained a slim figure." Dora continued, patting her belly.
Regina wasn't sure what to think of that, as she had read that exercise doesn't necessarily do much to your weight, but she let that slide. The conversation continued, eventually leading to the subject of the near future.
"Oh, I'm in the same boat as you, then." Dora said. "I'm more-or-less resigned to the fact that I can't do anything to escape the system now, and the best I can do is... yeah, go along with it and try to make my own decisions within the options presented to my. What you said." Dora said, taking another bite.
During the conversation, Dora had opened another bag of chips, and Regina wasn't sure if Dora was self-aware about that.
"Lunch time, everybody!" Mrs. Joseph proclaimed, having just waltzed in from one of the locked doors.
Everyone perked up, stood up, and followed behind her back into the auditorium. One table consisted of nothing but hamburgers. Some big, others huge. Some with barbecue on top, others with multiple types of melted cheese. There were lunch-meat sandwiches, and they all had ludicrous amounts of mayo or mayo-alternatives on them. The bread was always white bread, without exception. There were countless trays of freshly-warm fries. Some straight, some curly and some seasoned. There was liquid cheese on-tap that you could pour onto your fries, as well as the usual ketchup and mustard. Dozens and dozens of 2-liters of soda were on offer; sometimes filling up entire tables.
"No diet sodas anywhere." Regina noted, not that she was surprised. She had heard rumors that "diet" anything had been abolished.
The tables featured copious deserts as well. There was a pile of chocolate chip cookies so big, it almost looked like the table was struggling under the weight. There were oatmeal cookies, and snicker-doodles, and sugar cookies, and even a few brownies. Several jugs of chocolate milk were nearby. Regina overheard a Community Director from another group tell her group, "You should put your desert on the same plate as your meal, so you don't forget. Actually, maybe you should eat some desert first so you don't accidentally run out of room."
"Wow." Regina thought to herself. "The other groups must already be getting further along into the system than my group is."
Nami found the "healthy section" of the food and pointed it out to Regina. The two of them and a few others huddled around. It was just a simple salad bar, and again with water. Lettuce, tomato, spinach, carrots and cauliflower. That was it. No bell peppers, no red onion. Only a few, flat flavors.
This time, the "skinny-or-die" kids grouped together into one distant table, to avoid the social pressures of the "enormous-greasy sandwich" girls everywhere else in the cafeteria.
"So Robyn isn't here?" Nami asked Paula.
"I know, right?" Paula answered, nibbling on a tomato. "I was like, 'Dude, we have to keep the weight off.' And she was like, 'You don't gain weight overnight, dumbass. I'll enjoy the food I wanna enjoy, and that'll just give me more energy to kick ass when I need to. If I start gaining weight, I'll stop and join you at the little baby salad bar.'"
"Uhhh... Paula?" Nami asked.
"What? Are you gonna ask me why Robyn is kind of a jerk?" Paula asked back.
"...yeah." Nami nodded.
"Well, I don't know man. We're still on a wavelength together, me and her. I think we're the only two people 100% committed to sneaking out, not capitulating to being a blubber ball like everybody else." Paula answered, stuffing her mouth with lettuce. "Including you and Regina, no offense."
Regina chuckled.
"None taken." She smiled. "It's fair to question my willpower, that I've already decided to go along with it. I say that out of pure lack of choice, however." Regina spun her fork around her plate. "I admire you and Robyn's determination to find a way out, but I don't think that will work. Not when there's a camera pointed at every possible angle in the facility."
"I totally get you." Paula replied. "Me and Robyn are doing what we call Low-Key Snooping.:
"Low-Key Snooping?" Regina asked.
"Low-Key Snooping! We act like we're doing something normal: watching TV, taking a pee, ext. But what we're really doing is feeling around for weak points in the facility's security system." Paula answered.
"Interesting. How does that work specifically?" Regina asked.
"We're still working on it. For now, what we're doing is standing near a wall, then pretending to almost trip, then 'saving ourselves' by leaning into the wall, sometimes even slapping the wall in 'fear.' The idea is that maybe, potentially, we'll find a weak part of wall, or a secret opening or something. That would be a good first step: a secret place to hide a weapon or something." Paula proudly explained as she finished off her salad.
"Oh geeze... well I hope that works out for you. Don't get yourselves in trouble." Regina said.
"Mmmm." Paula hummed, downing her water. "Trouble, yeah. I didn't want trouble. I wanted to be a simple housewife with a simple life with my beautiful man. But they decided I'd be better off in here. So fine, they want trouble, and I'm gonna give them trouble!" Paula stood up to go join Robyn and the others in "the giant hamburger club."