Martin and the Woglies (III/III)

Posted on March 22, 2005 by Jenna

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It is March 25, 1995, and Martin is in the Underworld.

The Underworld is a place where awful things happen. For example, Martin’s got cooties, and he’s turned someone he loved to dust, and he’s started to understand why he isn’t.

(Isn’t what, you ask?

Isn’t anything.)

Worst of all, though, there’s a wogly.

It floats near him on the mud. It’s a hollow thing, shaped like a torus. It has soft ruby skin and two winky eyes. It hisses.

Inside the wogly it’s empty.

“I know why you’re there,” Martin tells it. “It’s because I believe in the kind of love that has teeth, but the toothier it gets, the more it resembles a monster’s love. It’s because I think suffering helps people, but there’s a lot of suffering in the world that isn’t doing anyone any good. It’s because I’m not some pathetic kind of angel, wringing my hands and hoping that someday people will grow without a shove, but I can’t figure myself for a sociopath either. I know.”

The wogly, impartially, rotates right.

“I’ll get to the heart of the Underworld,” Martin says, “and learn how to fix things, and then everything will be okay.”

The wogly rotates left.

It devours a bit more of the integrity of the world.

From every direction, now, Martin hears the cries.

“Help us. Save us.”

The air is full of these cries; they come from every direction; they ring through Tartarus. They are a sound attuned to the resonant frequency of Martin’s soul.

It is March 26, 1995.

The cries are silent, and Martin’s hands are full of dust.

There are many woglies now. They crowd around him like the end of Martin’s world.

(But it’s okay!

Just in case you were worried.

We already know he survives.)

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Categories: Histories, Histories and Stories, Canon, Hitherby, On Heroes, Woglies and the Maw, The Witch of Children's Teeth, Storyline 3: The Mini-People Making Machine

+ Show Comments

Metal Fatigue on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am said:

Well, we now have a much better idea what he meant when he said “This isn’t working.”

‘Cause, you know, it really isn’t.

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David Goldfarb on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am said:

I really want to know: when Martin says “I’m not some pathetic kind of angel” — does he mean that he’s an angel, just not the pathetic kind; or does he mean that he’s something else?

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HedgeMouse on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am said:

I wonder how one kills woglies, since it seems that killing Jane’s other siblings is what created the woglies to begin with. Perhaps Martin had to create something that made sense of all the empty spaces?

Incidentally, I like how you finished this series on Martin’s tenth birthday. Happy birthday Martin!

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bv728 on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am said:

I wonder how one kills woglies, since it seems that killing Jane’s other siblings is what created the woglies to begin with. Perhaps Martin had to create something that made sense of all the empty spaces?

With an axe, of course. ;)

Inside a Wogly it’s empty.

Martin seems to answer Emptiness with Being; after all, he made himself from nothing, and that seems to be his central trick (see also: Martin IV/IV).

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Ford Dent on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am said:

I think that Martin can take care of woglies by willing the nothing inside them into something. Since woglies are based around the concept of being empty inside, it makes sense that if the emptiness were to be filled, the wogly would die.

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GoldenH on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am said:

note to self: forcibly rotating woglies to the right is a bad thing.

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