DIVA: Jetbird and the Kid #0

[deucexm]

This one deserves a little explanation, I think.  After seeing some names pop up
around me due to people crafting in FFXIV, I had a lively little discussion with
Mr. Perron regarding some one-off 'superhero' character ideas that could result
from a little modification.  But then I took the idea, ran with it, and started
weaving it into the fabric of the DiVerse; and thus, after some frantic typing in
my spare moments at work tonight, I bring you the following!

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Jetbird Leone and the Black Mamba Kid: A DiVerse Alpha Chronicle
by Colin Stokes

Chapter 0, Prologue: Rumors

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   They say that a man can't choose the circumstances of his birth, but everything
after that - where he goes, what he does, and how he faces death - is all up to
him.

   They say that the desert frontier wasn't always a desert; that once, long ago,
it was full of plants and water and all kinds of beautiful, flourishing life.  They
say something happened, but ain't a soul around now that knows what, I reckon.  All
we know is that now it's all sand and dust and rock - and metals and chemicals and
strange, twisted beasts.

   They say that Cortland J. Leone used to be a normal kid - well, as normal as a 
Leone family kid can be, anyway.  But then one day he fell asleep too close to the
Blackstone Pillar, and woke up with his head full of clouds, not knowing some
things a body ought to know - and knowing some things a body ought not to.  They
say his family was scared he'd tell their dirty secrets, so they had him declared
legally insane so no one would listen, and they busted up the Pillar too.  But I've
listened to Jetbird, and he seems pretty sane to me; most of the time, anyway.

   They say that when the Brightstar Home for Orphans burned down, it wasn't a
normal flame; it was a blaze every color of the rainbow, the same kind of
conflagration you'd see in the wildest and darkest parts of the frontier, and it
lit up the desert for miles around.  And not a single orphan died that day, and
/they/ say it's all because of the Kid that they're alive.  The Black Mamba Kid.

   They say that when the Black Mamba Kid came out of the burned-out ruins of the
orphanage, he was dragging a sack filled with books and papers and something else
nobody knows about.  And when someone tried to take the sack away, why, the Kid
opened his mouth and spat deadly acid right in that poor fool's face.  Melted him
right to the bone, so they say.  I wasn't there, so I dunno for sure - but I know
that no one goes after the Kid's sack these days, not unless they're a fool - or
desperate enough to risk death, which as I see it amounts to the same thing.

   They say the Kid works with Jetbird 'cause he knows the secrets of the Leone
family, and the Kid's got some sort of grudge against the Leones.

   They say that Jetbird works with the Kid 'cause the Kid's the only one who
really listens to the things he says, even the crazy things.  /Especially/ the
crazy things.

   And they say that sometimes, if you do everything just as you're told and don't
make a single mistake, that snake oil that Jetbird Leone and the Black Mamba Kid
sold you?

   It really /will/ do miracles...