by Treadwell » Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:54 am
Afternoon of the thirty-first day of the tenth month, 210.
"Great Tubbius. . . Aloisius. . . Do excuse my saying such, my lord, but you look dreadfully tired."
Such are the words of Dr. Bill Jacobson, physician turned Tubbian. The middle-aged fellow with the red beard and goodly paunch stands near Aloisius in the Tubbian leader's bedroom. Aloisius, however, is where the doctor often finds him: sunk as low as possible into the warmth of his bathtub, close to the fireplace.
"I am, mmph mmph, and with good reason!" Tready yawns at this, his flabby navel jiggling at the action, cresting from the bath water as a white-haired island.
"And what is that? Belly upset?" The doctor reaches to trace a finger around the outer, fleshy ring pooching from Treadwell's skin, setting the ring's owner to shivering and drawing in a breath. Finger is pulled back quickly enough.
"In a manner of speaking, Doctor. Porcus has had a most demanding bit of birthing this week, hmm hmm, and this always takes much out of me."
"Oh. You know, Aloisius, I have always found it a bit distressing that it is Porcus's activities, not those of Tubbius, praise your name, that always exact the worst on your blessed body." With these words, Dr. Jacobson settles into a tubside seat; as with all chairs in the church, it is very sturdily built, wide-bottomed, and plumply cushioned.
"With good reason! Porcus is the form most foreign to me, mmph mmph. The Glutton floats and eats all the while, little more and little less. As the Glutton, I carry on with no extraordinary effort; as long as I don't devour the twins hanging from my bosom, hmm hmm, I'm perfectly fine and happy! As Tubbius, I move not, save for the spread of my roots and the ages long creep of the swell of my fat! But for Porcus?" Aloisius sighs and rubs his belly where he rests.
"The Great Pig leads a life terribly, dreadfully active. As Porcus, I eat, I forage, I dig, I wallow about, I lie mostly still while my babes take nourishment, mmph mmph, and I birth more! Bill, as a sow, I do much more than I typically do as an old man!" Tready grins wide, here. "And Porcus, hmm hmm, she's taken to having company, too!"
"Company, Father?"
"Company! There is a male pig, Hoggum, who's much the same as she: fat and lazy, but just waiting for the moment to unite with his newfound love!"
"Porcus, you mean?"
"Of course! Who else would I mean, mmph mmph?"
At this, the doctor laughs merrily and bends forward a little, bringing fleshy fingers up to take hold of and jiggle Aloisius's jowls. "You complacent, corpulent, greedy god! You're dazzled! You're lovestruck, even as you sit here old and fat and male and mortal! Why, I'd wager that part of you--the part of your memories that keeps Porcus in the back of your head like the others--is just waiting for that moment!"
"And if it is, hmm hmm? Porcus doesn't hold her own organized, devoted faith. She stands as a part of the Tubbians, hmm hmm, who mostly see her as an extension, a note, something to remember but not necessarily to actively revere, mmph mmph!"
"Then I fear for you, my Lord. What if, in years to come, the Tubbians fall out regarding the Mother Pig?"
"And belief in her splits to a church of its own?"
"Yes, Father."
Treadwell smiles. "That still means growth, Bill. The Glutton wants more and more, and he will have it, regardless of what body certain people hold sacred over others! Tubbius will endure--Tubbius is the closest to a human guise, Tubbius ties to the harvest and seasons, Tubbius most encourages stuffing one's self for pleasure! The Glutton may be forgotten in time, mmph mmph, as an active, watchful deity, as The Glutton doesn't concern himself with followers, either way. He will exist, mmph mmph, and he will age and fatten and continue on. He is already above and removed from worship as we know it, able to feed of raw emotion and action and thought! For who would worship a monstrosity?"
"But what of Porcus, my Lord? What of, ahem, your maternal side?"
Treadwell chuckles and gently rubs his lunch-engrossed stomach.
"When Hoggum and Porcus unite, their faithful will know. There will be exchanges of stories, revelations of each other's existence among their believers, and, thus, faith in Porcus will spread like the rippling, rough flesh of her belly! Believers of that faith won't always know of the Mother Pig's connection to Tubbius and to the Glutton as a form of the others, mmph mmph; thus, there will be slight, slight degrees of separation between them, but, should the Tubbians in an area decline, hmm hmm, I will still have a foothold there as long as there are believers in Porcus!"
The doctor sits there, taking this in. "You really have considered all of this, haven't you?"
"Of course I have! The Glutton will always have his will, as the Creator decreed, mmph mmph, regardless of what body he takes or of whom he influences! Monster, man, plant-man, pig, or whatever else comes, the Glutton will endure! I will! I must!"
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium