His Partners

6

Within this odd pairing the Liar called a "partnership", I have yet to touch on anything about sex, even in my own notes. I have considered a lot of other things, including this agreement, but have not yet wondered about the entire business that this agreement centred around. Perhaps I should.

Of course, I asked for and listened to each account given by the two partners of the Liar I have met thus far. While there are a few notable differences, the method the Liar employed to win both of their hearts and time in bed were more or less the same. Whether either Carrellés or Lull is aware of this, I am not sure.

However, I will not start by thinking of what Carrellés told me; the artist was erratic in his speech, just as I would have expected. As such, I would rather dissect and remember the more steady and relaxed words of the hermaphrodite over the rushed rhetoric of the artist.

To begin with, it would make sense to compare just how the Liar persuaded them into his arms. I tap the nib of my biro on the paper, while my left thumb nail is becoming the victim of intense chewing. At one point during my interview with Lull, he did pick up on my habit:

"Are you restless?" he asked me.

I was confused, and asked him why he'd think that.

"You're scribbling."

"I write a lot, so when I'm not writing my hand gets... well, restless I suppose. Perhaps I'm simply anticipating what you're about to reveal to me."

"Yes," he tapped his nail on the rim of the teacup in front of him, breaking the conversation for a second or two. "I understand." I nodded at him, but I was unsure if he understood my penchant to doodle or my anticipation. I could not look away from his intense grey eyes as he sat a slight bit straighter, but he began telling me about his experience with my subject.

This was what I wanted, or needed, to hear, so my apparently "restless" habit stopped immediately for the thrill of the information: "Obviously, Hieronymus got it into his head he wanted to fuck a hermaphrodite before he died. Or maybe he took the opportunity to fuck a hermaphrodite when he found one lived so close," Lull paused and shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Either way, his target was pretty obvious. Perhaps two or three evenings a week, he'd arrive at the door to speak to me. Started off like that, he'd lure me in and we'd simply talk. For hours. I preferred that. The talking."

I smiled at Lull, "Preferred it to the sex?"

He neither nodded nor shook his head, but merely kept looking at me. My smile dwindled as his gaze remained. At one point, it seemed as though he was about to talk, though he thought better of it.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't that the sex was bad, but maybe I have different desires. Thing is, Hieronymus was so intrigued by what he could possibly do with me that I found it less hassle to give into him."

"What do you mean?" despite Lull's request that I refrain from caution, I found myself being anxious about my line of questioning at that point too. "You know. What could he do with you?"

"Not as much as he thought."

I could not help but smile.

"Big hole in his façade. We both know how clever he seems. But he clearly knew so little about hermaphrodites when he realised his strange little fantasies might never come true. I won't go into detail about myself, but, even though I'm a so-called "true" hermaphrodite, I can only do what a woman can. He thought I could do everything."