Conversation · Cuno

"No. Cuno doesn't give a fuck about bugs."

So he knows locusts are bugs.

"Oh my god." The little one seems distraught. "I told you that shit is lame!"

"Shut up, C!"

"Now they're gonna take you to lame-prison!"

She sounds like she's about to cry out of disappointment at Cuno's newfound lameness.

"You kids are in trouble."

"Deny everything, Cuno! You need to lawyer up!"

"Cuno's not gonna say anything without his lawyer present."

Lame... That rings some bells... Could this be connected to Night City -- a.k.a. the City of Rage?

Yeah, that's pretty lame. Sounds like art.

No, I don't want to talk to the kid about lame stuff.

But it's not lame! There's a real tension there... "City of Rage"...

There's definitely something going on here. Maybe he's got them stashed somewhere nearby, in some hidden place?

"Cuno is this about... Rage City?"

"Oh god, Cuno, NO!" The little one behind the fence takes her hat off. "It's gonna happen now! They're gonna make you lame."

"Stop it, C! No one's gonna make anyone lame. Cuno's got this under control."

There's definitely something going on here. You should check out Cuno's shack, the one with the pig's head.

There's definitely something going on here. Remember his pigs' head shack? You should check it out.

There's definitely something going on here. Maybe he's got them stashed somewhere nearby, in some hidden place?

There's a suspicious shack in the eastern corner of the yard...

"Cuno's not gonna say anything without his lawyer present."

"What's this about?"

"Now hold on, no one is lame here... just tell me what happened?"

"Yeah," he says slowly, meeting your gaze with sullen defiance. "Cuno took the bugs. So what?"

So it wasn't the phasmid... a wave of disappointment washes over you.

"I was really hoping it would be the reed-phasmid that ate the locusts. Not you, Cuno.“

"Yeah, well... Cuno's all you got, bitch."

"Why steal locusts? Couldn't you find some other pets?"

"They're not pets." Sounds like you've offended him. "Don't you know what locusts are, when they come out of the fucking sky? Fuckin' descend and shit."

"Stooooop!" she wails from behind the fence, then covers her face with her hands.

"You stop! It's like they're night. Locusts are like this huge shadow..."

Locusts coming down like a shadow... This must be the Night City he mentioned when you asked him where he's been.

(Point at the shack.) "So that, in there, is Night City?"

"Yeah. Locust City -- City of Rage, City of Lights..."

There's a tug-of-war over the name of his fantastical city. It's almost too big for his imagination.

The girl forces herself to watch again, the corners of her eyes twitching from discomfort.

The lameness is causing her physical pain. The damage may be permanent.

"What are you, some kind of artist now?"

"Maybe I am," he says, looking you straight in the eye...

Did he just say I? Cuno usually calls Cuno Cuno.

"You should listen to your friend, Cuno. Art's lame as hell."

"ARRRRGH, CUNO! It's so lame even the pig knows it's lame. Please, stop!"

"Yo, fuck you, C. Cuno can be what Cuno wants to be. Cuno's his own man, Cuno's free!" He tears at the buttons of his shirt, trying to rip them open. They don't give way.

"Cuno made himself into Cuno. Cuno can make himself into anything. Cuno can make himself into a pig if he wants, Cuno can make himself into a f****t. Cuno doesn't give a shit."

"Don't make yourself into a pig, Cuno. You'll have to take me away..." A leaden silence fills the yard.

In it, you hear snow melting, dripping from the eaves. Someone closing a window.

So that's what this is about.

"Oh c'mon, no one is coming to take you away."

Without a word she disappears entirely behind the fence.

For once, the boy is lost for words. He's turned completely red now, with splotches of white beginning to appear across his face.

Use this momentary confusion to take control of the situation.

You got him. Now convince him to leave the cryptozoologists' traps alone.

"What's going to happen to the locusts?" (Nod toward the shack.)

"Cuno's gonna let the fucking locusts die."

"I have to ask -- what does the City of Locusts mean?"

"It don't mean anything. It's shit. Cuno just likes to focus. Cuno likes to concentrate on shit, build shit when he's zipping hard. Fuck..." He turns his face up to the heavens.

"Pig," he says finally, lowering his gaze to meet yours, "you really shouldn't have fucked with Cuno's city. Now it's all fucking lame."

"I need you to stop taking locusts from the traps. The cryptozoologists are trying to find something very important. Those locusts are bait."

"I don't give a shit, I don't need the locusts anyway. Shit is all lame now." He turns toward the fence. "C was right."