Why is Ciplusius a man?

The beginning of the end was when one said to another “you should look him up, something strange is going on here”. A slip of paper with my name was passed from one hand to the other, and tucked away for a few months. Then the holder of that slip of paper moved away, to find themself, start a new life. It didn't work. So they returned, found that slip of paper, and made it their mission to focus on that name, rather than their own.

There were many strange stories going on around this name. My name. It seemed so clear to the person in possession of the slip of paper what was going on. The usual story, really. The name was a fake. A ruse. A sleight of hand. A metaphor. Why this person got it and no one else did wasn't a mystery. But why they would care enough was.

If I could ask them why, perhaps they would say the name on the paper matched the sound of the ringing in their ears. Matched the story in their own head. Matched their own fake name.

Perhaps.