“Kid Little” is one of many pseudonyms, but it’s the closest to his real name that this cutesy con artist is likely to get. Kid makes it by faking it: a little flirting here, a little counterfeit ID there – throw in some sleight of hand and a stolen outfit – and actually it’s not that difficult to get a VIP invite to a closed corporate event!
While not formally educated, Kid has an excellent memory, he’s organised, and he knows people well – or, at least, he knows how to get them to do what he wants. What he wants, typically, is to do some good: steal and make public the formula for an expensive medication; tank a corporation’s stocks in the process, and make a little profit for himself on the side? Sign him up.
Whether feigned or real, Kid’s naiveté gets him out of about as much trouble as it gets him into, and his biggest problem isn’t keeping his personas straight – it’s making sure his various romantic dalliances don’t invite different versions of him to the same party. Luckily, Kid’s, knack for making himself into anyone also means he can make himself nobody – which is useful when he needs to disappear.
Kid supplements his natural talents and learned skills with a genetic modification and cyberware that enable him to change his skin and eye colour at will: in a blink, he can turn blue; develop tattoos, scars or freckles; apply contouring to change his structure, or even mimic a background to achieve a sort of terrible invisibility. His eyes contain retinal cameras to help him recall details – and to facilitate blackmail, of course.
Kid’s abilities and his desire for fun might make him 100% trickster energy if he weren’t actually just nice, and his first instinct is always to do something kind and right. He is fiercely loyal to those to whom he’s bared even a little of his true self; he’s the type to have a heart-to-heart with villains – and be surprised when they betray him.
History
Kid’s childhood was spent in safety and luxury the likes of which he’s rarely known since. His adoptive mother, Dae-Sung Tae, was a famous reporter, renowned for her investigative journalism and photography, which often revealed the secrets of the corporate and military classes. Kid learned many of her tricks early, and they share the same cleverness, charm, and disarming smile. Dae-Sung had married a military man, herself, but it was Xander’s right hand, Axel, who served as Kid’s father figure.
Around ten years old, things changed. Dae-Sung disappeared during an investigation, and after a year or so of searching and waiting, she was declared dead – with Kid as her beneficiary. Xander, more interested in Dae-Sung’s mysterious inheritance than in Kid’s wellbeing, planned a special “disappearance” for Kid, as well. With Axel’s help, Kid escaped to the streets, and he was soon afterwards taken in by a brothel madame, Varvara.
While indeed a brothel, Thrusters also operates as a halfway house for people in liminal spaces – particularly for those who may have lost their jobs, families, rights or identities in the transit between Earth and Utnapishtim, or after the Pulse. Here, like many others, Kid received a new identity – and, in fact, learned to create them. Too young to participate in the main aspects of the brothel’s business, he began to dabble in petty crime – trespassing, theft, impersonation, forgery, fraud – and over time turned this into a career.
Identity
One of the themes of Kid’s story is, of course, identity. Adoption is not unusual in Utnapishtim, and Kid never wondered about birth parents – until he discovered, during a job, that he is actually one of many clones. In a world where clones are quite common – for corporate, industrial or personal purchase and use – Kid would be considered by most to be “stolen property” more than a person of any kind. And while part of him is happy to pretend to be different people, this masks an injured sense of self, and deep questions about the meaning of his existence.
Known Aliases
This section is under construction!
- Gideon Glacier
- Elethriel
- Zepheniah
- Raphaël
- Fin
- Emmerich
- Neil
- Eric
- Dexter Park
- Anna Boletti
- Laurent
- Lyric