"...Sarden Demons." Cole said. "They can touch a person to make them gain weight. Not instantaneously, of course, it just makes you gain faster than you normally would. That way, normal mortal victims don't realise that something supernatural is going on. At least, not at first. They blame themselves, for not exercising enough, or faulty nutritional information on whatever they've been eating. Then, when they start dieting and exercising, they realise that something's going wrong, because they still gain. Not as quickly as when they were eating a normal amount, but still gaining. By this point, they're really getting chubby, so when they try telling people that something wierd is going on, most of them just dismiss it as an excuse for letting yourself go."
"But why fatten people up? And why me? Surely they know I'm a Charmed One, so I'd realise something was up right away." Pheobe asked.
"They do it for two reasons. Firstly, they like the taste of fear, and there are few fears stronger than the feeling that there is something going wrong inside you, inside your very body, and that you can't even understand what it is, let alone stop it. They don't even need to hang around afterward, they can just absorb the fear where-ever they go. And secondly, because they can take a Human form, but only one the same rough size and shape as their own. And all adult Sarden's look about the same as a Human who weighs about 200 to 300lbs, with around 100 to 200lbs of pure fat. Quite a limited shapeshifting ability. Fortunately, they also have their ability to make more Humans gain till they are as fat as the Sarden itself. Unless you gain some weight yourself, in addition to the fat they give you. That brings us to why they would fatten a Charmed One, who wouldn't be afraid of a little thing like fat, and will be quick to discover the cause. I think that it may just be a kind of 'tagging' for a younger Sarden."
"Tagging? What, I've been marked for assasination or something?" Phoebe asked, suddenly much more worried.
"No, I mean, like a grafitti artist." Cole explained. "They try to find good spots, very public spots, to put their work and sign it with a pseudonym. Then their work can be seen by millions of people. The more public and dangerous the spot, the more likely they are to get caught or killed, and the more prestige they build up by putting their name there. The Sardens see fat women as more attractive, so the teenagers often look for beautiful thin women to make them fatter and therefore, in their eyes, more beautiful. They see powerful witches, famous figures and very beautiful people as being the most prestigious targets. You are a Charmed One, so you are one of the three most powerful, and famous, witches in the magical world and you are an astonishingly attractive woman. You would be to the Sarden taggers what Helen of Troy was to the Trojans."
"So, I'm the 'Helen of Troy' of fat-loving demons?" She asked sardonically.
"Oh, just take the damn compliment." Cole kissed her.
"So how do I stop the gain?" She asked.
"You can't stop it while it's still working. If you do so using magic, it'll count as using magic for personal gain and you'll just gain twice as much in the end. But think of it like this. You can *starve* yourself, and do a *lot* of sweaty exercise, and *still* gain weight really slowly for the next five years anyway. Or you can eat as much as you can, drop all the exercise, and you'll gain a hundred pounds like..." He snapped his fingers. "...that. And then, if you want to, I'll show you some potions that help slim you down. Or you might *grow* to love your potbelly."
"Ha! Not likely. But wouldn't a slimming potion count as personal gain?"
"Potions don't count. Some rituals don't count. In fact, if you would like, I do know a few ways to skirt around the whole 'No magic for personal gain' rule. After all, there have to be *some* benefits to the darkside or no one would join up, would they?"
"Well, in that case..."
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