Conversation · Cuno

The girl's face appears again above the fence, just long enough to make eye contact with Cuno.

She doesn't know whether to be glad because Cuno's finally convinced of the lameness... or more worried, because of his continued use of the first-person singular. Cuno is Cuno. Not I.

"Okay, now that that's settled, I'd better be off." (Conclude.)

"The fuck are they trying to catch anyway?" he asks before you leave. "With the traps?"

"The Insulindian phasmid."

"Huh..." he mutters to himself.

He recognizes the name.

"Wait, you know what the Insulindian phasmid is?"

"Bitches think Cuno doesn't know shit..." he says angrily. "The fuck outta here, Cuno's tired of this shit."

As you leave, you notice his usual rooster-like swaying posture has changed, slowed down. Like clockwork unwinding.

There's silence between the two children. They're not saying anything to each other nor looking in each other's direction.

"Later, Cuno."

"The fuck outta here..." he says, not entirely convinced of himself. "Cuno's tired of this shit."

"None of your business." [Leave.]

"Yeah, whatever."

"Me and Cuno have discussed this. I promised I won't do that."

"I don't believe you!" She disappears entirely behind the fence.

Say nothing.

"That depends on the choices you make, young girl."

"Hold on, did I hear you right? You said 'I'."

"Cuno made Cuno. Cuno says whatever the fuck he wants! There are no rules here, pig." He steps closer...

"I fucking say 'I' when I wanna and 'Cuno' when I wanna. Cuno's free. Cuno's free to fucking die, bitch."

This is what he sometimes does when things get tense.

"That's great, Cuno. It's cool to make art."

"OH MY GOD, CUNO! He's gonna make you totally lame in, like, three seconds! Don't let him, Cuno!"

"City of Rage sounds like a cool place."

"Cuno, the pig wants to help you..." she moans. "That's how lame it is. Please just don't say you're --"

"An artist?" He pushes his chest out. "Maybe I am an artist? You hear that everyone, I'm a fucking artist now."

"Whatever, kids, I just wanted to ask..."

"You don't have a brain for this shit, no one has the brain to take Cuno's shit."

"It's because of the lame, Cuno!"

"I am who I am, C, fuck you!"

"So this is the city you kept talking about."

"You stop! It's like they're fucking night. Locust City, Night City. City of Rage..."

"You say you don't give a fuck about bugs, then you go and build a whole bug town."

"It's not Bug Town, it's the City of Locusts," he says, enunciating every syllable. "Locusts aren't just bug-shit. They come out of the sky like a fucking shadow. Shit descends."

"Stoooooop!" she wails from behind the fence, then buries her face in her hands.