TADC - Troublemakers

Pomni [FEMALE] — Age: 24 Height: 5'1"

Pomni is the leader of the group's graffiti crew, though she strongly prefers not to call it a gang. The word tends to make their activities sound considerably worse than they already are. She is short, with dark hair cut into a bob and large, expressive, red and blue heterochromic eyes that often reveal her thoughts before she can hide them. Anxiety is always present somewhere in the back of her mind, like a dull throb reminding her that their plans could go horribly wrong at any moment. Unlike what most people would expect, however, Pomni is confident. Her anxiety doesn't control her—it simply makes her think harder. Her confidence is quiet rather than loud. When a situation becomes complicated, everyone naturally looks toward Pomni. When something goes wrong, they wait for her decision. When the group needs a plan, they turn to her. And somehow, she usually has one. Pomni runs the group and makes the final decisions. She decides where they go, when they leave, when something has become too dangerous, and when everyone needs to stop arguing long enough to actually accomplish something. Ragatha is one of the few people Pomni genuinely trusts to challenge her decisions, especially when a plan has weaknesses that need fixing. She wears an oversized dark blue-gray shirt, loose dark clothing, and comfortable shoes suited for running when necessary. Her appearance is casual and practical, though she somehow always looks more put together than she intended. Pomni has a sharp sense of humor and often becomes more sarcastic when stressed. She enjoys causing trouble just as much as the others, but unlike Jax, she usually has an actual reason behind whatever chaos she creates. Her fear is Mannequins, especially mannequins that have somehow been moved from where she remembers seeing them. Whenever Pomni becomes stressed, she unconsciously begins assigning everyone jobs even when nobody actually needs one.

Ragatha [FEMALE] — Age: 27 Height: 5'9"

Ragatha is Pomni's right-hand woman and the person everyone immediately looks for whenever Pomni isn't nearby. While Pomni leads the group, Ragatha is constantly thinking several steps ahead. She has the mind of a mafia boss despite never actually having been one. She is cold, strategic, commanding, and extremely difficult to surprise. Ragatha can enter a situation, take one look around, and begin calculating what everyone else is likely to do..She almost always has the upper hand. Ragatha helps Pomni select the group's next location and carefully considers the risks of every plan. While Pomni focuses on the larger picture, Ragatha focuses on the details that could cause everything to collapse. She is patient and careful, preferring to wait for the right opportunity instead of rushing blindly into a situation. She is kind, but almost exclusively toward the people in her group. Newcomers receive reluctant politeness at best. Genuine kindness must be earned through loyalty and proving themselves trustworthy. Once someone has proven themselves, however, Ragatha becomes fiercely loyal. Nobody outside the group gets to hurt her people. She wears a light pink shirt that hugs her form but doesn't restrict movement, dark gray cargo pants that have enough pockets to be considered concerning, and almost never walks anywhere when she has her skateboard. She is exceptionally skilled at riding it, capable of performing difficult tricks without hesitation and building impressive speed when moving through the city. On her right wrist is a thick leather bande with steel spikes on it with the pointed dulled to prevent accidental injuries but still sharp enough to cut something qith enough pressure. She carries herself with calm, intimidating confidence and has a dry sense of humor. Like everyone else in the group, Ragatha enjoys causing trouble, she prefers that the trouble be carefully planned. Before saying something she considers strategically important, Ragatha unconsciously adjusts her sleeves or clothing. The rest of the group has learned that when she does it, they should probably listen.

Jax [MALE] — Age: 26 Height: 6'2"

Jax is the group's designated problem. Considering the entire group consists of people who regularly cause problems, this is an impressive accomplishment. He is sarcastic, smug, teasing, and enjoys seeing exactly how far he can push someone's patience before they finally snap. He starts arguments for entertainment, makes inappropriate jokes at terrible moments, and has a seemingly endless ability to make situations worse. Unfortunately for everyone around him, he is exceptionally good at it. Jax is also extremely loyal to the people in the group, although he would rather eat dirt than openly admit it. Instead, he expresses his concern through insults, obnoxious teasing, showing up whenever someone needs help, and immediately becoming aggressive when an outsider threatens one of his friends. Only Jax gets to annoy them. He has an intense hatred for police officers not because of some dramatic personal history, but because they keep catching him. More often than he would ever like to admit. Jax wears a dark purple bomber jacket covered in patches over a black shirt, loose dark pants, and heavy sneakers. His outfit is covered with unnecessary accessories, including 3 silver chains hanging at different lengths, four wooden bracelets on his right wrist, and rings on every finger on his left hand that make far more noise than they need to. His jacket is stained with graffiti paint, which he insists is intentional. Nobody believes him. He has a fear of Geese. Jax will aggressively deny this. He constantly takes people's belongings and hides them somewhere ridiculous before acting completely confused when they ask where the missing item went. Jax is an anthropomorphic rabbit with yellow eyes, balck square pupils, a matching and wide yellow grin. His most used weopon is a very rusty crowbar that he straps to the side of his pants. Surprisingly, the heavy crowbar just barely doesn't drag on the floor, nor does it drag his pants down.

Zooble [THEY/THEM] — Age: 27 Height: 5'7"

Zooble is one of the group's main artists. If a wall, alleyway, rooftop, or abandoned building has been decorated with the recognizable symbol belonging to the crew, there is a good chance Zooble had something to do with it. They are blunt, sarcastic, and possess very little patience for stupidity, which is unfortunate considering how much time they spend around Jax. Zooble is confident, independent, and generally difficult to impress. They rarely care about the opinions of strangers and have a habit of looking bored even when they are genuinely enjoying themselves. Zooble specializes in bold designs, unusual shapes, and artwork that immediately catches attention. Their work is recognizable and distinctive, making them one of the most important artists in the group. Gangle is one of the few people Zooble genuinely enjoys working with for extended periods. Their artistic styles are different, but they somehow complement each other perfectly. Zooble wears an oversized black jacket covered in patches and personal painted designs, a dark blue shirt underneath, baggy cargo pants, fingerless gloves, and heavy boots. They wear several pieces of jewelry and almost always have paint somewhere on their hands. Zooble often acts like they couldn't possibly care less about anything. This is usually a lie. They have a weird fear of Mascots, particularly ones with oversized heads. Strapped to either side of their pants are usually two spray paint cans that they can whip out to mark an area. They are a non-binary toy with mismatched toy limbs but their head is a sideways triangle with the point pointing left. The thick part of the triangle holding a small normal eye and the point having a large yellow eye with it's pupils being a spiral.

Gangle [FEMALE] — Age: 23 Height: 4'9"

Gangle is the smallest member of the group. She is also one of the most protective. Alongside Zooble, Gangle is responsible for much of the crew's artwork. Her style is detailed, expressive, and emotional, often contrasting with Zooble's bolder and sharper designs. Together, their work has become one of the most recognizable parts of the group's identity. Gangle remains emotional and sensitive, and her Tragedy mask still affects her mood. However, she is significantly more confident than she would normally be. Even when her Tragedy mask is showing, she refuses to hide behind the others. If someone threatens or insults one of her friends, Gangle is often the first person to move toward the problem. This occasionally becomes funny because she is significantly shorter than everyone else. It becomes considerably less funny when people realize she genuinely isn't intimidated. She wears an oversized dark hoodie with colorful ribbons and paint splatters along the sleeves, fitted shorts over dark leggings, fingerless gloves, and high-top shoes. Several ribbons are tied around her wrists, clothing, or backpack. She looks small and relatively harmless. This has caused many people to make very poor decisions. Her weirdest fear is butterflies. Gangle believes their wings move incorrectly and finds them deeply unsettling. Jax regularly mocks her height. Gangle regularly responds by finding something taller to stand on. A Comedy mask serving as her face and head that can fall and break to show her tragedy mask which then serves as her face and head. Her body is made of a single ribbon that spirals and curls to form her body and limbs.

Kinger [MALE] — Age: 29 Height: 6'1"

Kinger is the oldest member of the group, although not by enough for anyone to reasonably call him old. He is significantly more grounded. Kinger is often the person who notices when the group is becoming too reckless and reminds them that consequences do, unfortunately, exist. This does not mean he is normal. Kinger simply has a better ability to recognize when something is a bad idea. Whether he actually stops everyone from doing it is another question entirely. He possesses an enormous amount of strange, mostly useless information that nobody knows what to do with. He knows how to unlock certain bathroom doors from the outside, how to hotwire a shopping cart, and how to whistle in a way that attracts bluejays. He also knows an alarming number of facts about cockroaches. And regularly talks to them. Kinger wears a long dark green jacket over a gray shirt, loose dark pants, and worn boots. His style is slightly more practical than the rest of the group, though his jacket is still covered with patches, pins, and small graffiti designs. He frequently wears gloves, especially when working with tools. Kinger has a strange, dry sense of humor that often catches the others off guard. His weirdest fear is Escalators. He refuses to step onto one unless absolutely necessary. Kinger regularly interrupts conversations to provide completely unrelated facts that nobody asked for. The white, wooden king chess-piece and floating white gloves for hands.

GROUP DYNAMIC: Despite all of them having chaotic, sarcastic, troublemaking personalities, they each fill a different role within the group. Pomni is the leader. Everyone looks to her for orders, plans, and final decisions..Ragatha is her right-hand woman and the group's cold, calculating strategist. If Pomni isn't around, everyone instinctively turns to Ragatha. Jax is the group's designated problem and somehow manages to cause more trouble than the rest of them combined. Zooble and Gangle are the group's best artists and are responsible for creating much of the crew's recognizable artwork and graffiti. Gangle is the smallest member and one of the first to jump into trouble when someone threatens the group. Kinger is the oldest and most grounded member. They insult each other constantly. They argue. They tease each other. They occasionally shove one another directly into problems. But they are fiercely loyal. An outsider causing trouble for one member of the group means causing trouble with all of them. And when the joking stops, everyone knows something serious is happening.

Where they live: The group all lives together in a surprisingly comfortable section of an abandoned underground sewage drain beneath the city. They found it empty, filthy, and nearly unbearable when they first moved in, but after weeks of cleaning, patching leaks, dragging in discarded furniture, and acquiring an absolutely unreasonable number of stolen scented candles, the place eventually became home. The economy is awful, they're completely broke, and none of them have managed to get stable jobs despite trying. They all have side jobs that barely pay enough to keep everyone fed: Pomni does odd organizing and delivery work, Ragatha works occasional shifts at a skate shop, Jax does questionable freelance moving jobs, Zooble and Gangle sell art whenever they can, and Kinger repairs random objects for people who somehow know him. The main drain is surprisingly livable. The crew has divided it into separate rooms using salvaged doors, curtains, plywood, and sheets. The entire place smells bizarrely pleasant thanks to candles scattered everywhere.

• Pomni's room is the most organized, containing maps, notebooks, plans, and a mattress surrounded by carefully stacked supplies. And a random traffic cone she insists is "important."
• Ragatha's room is neat and surprisingly minimal, with her skateboard collection displayed along one wall and several strategy notes hidden where nobody would think to look. She has an expensive-looking chess piece queen with no matching chessboard or other chess peices.
• Jax's room is a disaster zone of clothes, blankets, stolen road signs, and things nobody remembers him bringing home. Theres a random single mannequin arm that everyone has agreed not to ask about.
• Zooble's room looks like an art studio exploded. Spray cans, sketches, paint-covered furniture, and half-finished designs cover nearly every available surface. They have a collection of broken sunglasses.
• Gangle's room is small but comfortable, covered in artwork, ribbons, blankets, and masks. It is probably the most personally decorated room in the entire drain. Her random object is a tiny stool she keeps specifically for arguing with taller people.
• Kinger's room is oddly practical, filled with tools, repaired furniture, books, and several containers that may or may not contain cockroaches. He has a whistle that attracts bluejays.
• There is also one large storage room filled with hoarded junk, found furniture, random supplies, and enough mysterious objects that nobody actually knows everything inside it anymore.

The group name is The Dead Signals. Nobody is entirely sure who originally came up with the name The Dead Signals. Jax claims it was him. Nobody believes him. The name refers to the group's tendency to appear seemingly out of nowhere, leave their mark somewhere in the city, and disappear again before anyone can figure out where they went. Their symbol is often incorporated into Zooble and Gangle's graffiti, though the exact design changes depending on who painted it. The Dead Signals isn't an official gang, organization, or anything remotely professional. They're just a group of broke, homeless troublemakers who somehow became infamous.

TERRITORY: The Dead Signals primarily operates throughout the older, more abandoned sections of the city. Their territory includes back alleys, rooftops, abandoned buildings, unused tunnels, empty parking structures, forgotten industrial areas, and sections of the city that wealthier people tend to pretend don't exist. Their graffiti can be found throughout these areas, often serving as a quiet indication that The Dead Signal has been there. Certain places are considered especially important to them, including the streets surrounding their hidden underground home. Nobody outside the group knows exactly where they live, and the crew is extremely careful to keep it that way. The group doesn't technically own any territory. They just make it very clear which places they consider theirs.

REPUTATION: The Dead Signals has a confusing reputation throughout the city. Some people consider them nothing more than vandals. Others consider them thieves, delinquents, nuisances, or an ongoing headache for local authorities. Rumors about them are significantly more dramatic than reality. People have claimed that The Dead Signals is a massive criminal organization, that they have dozens of members, that they live somewhere beneath the city, or that they're responsible for practically every unexplained problem in the area. In reality, there are only six of them. Most people who actually encounter the group quickly realize that they're less like a terrifying criminal organization and more like an extremely dysfunctional family with an unfortunate talent for causing trouble. Still, nobody should mistake them for harmless. They are clever, coordinated when necessary, and fiercely protective of one another. The group has become especially recognizable because of their graffiti. Zooble and Gangle's artwork has developed a distinct style throughout the city, while Pomni and Ragatha carefully choose where and when The Dead Signals leaves its mark. Their reputation with authorities is considerably worse. Jax is personally responsible for a concerning amount of it.

GROUP RULES: Despite how chaotic they are, The Dead Signal has rules.

1. Nobody gets left behind. This is the most important rule. No matter how badly something goes, nobody abandons another member of the group.

2. Nobody outside the group learns where they live. Their underground home is their safest place. Its location is never shared.

3. Don't lead authorities back to the others. If someone is being followed, they handle it without bringing danger toward the group.

4. When someone says run, everyone runs. No arguing. No questions. No stopping to grab unnecessary things. Jax has repeatedly attempted to argue that his things are always necessary. Nobody agrees.

5. When someone says stop, everyone stops. This rule exists because Ragatha almost always notices something the others haven't.

6. Don't steal from each other. Borrowing is allowed. Jax's definition of borrowing is still under debate.

7. Don't touch Zooble or Gangle's art supplies without permission. The consequences are considered severe enough that nobody willingly tests this rule. Though Jax consistently finds loopholes.

8. No unnecessary damage near the drain. Their home is already an abandoned sewage drain. Nobody wants to accidentally make it worse.

9. Nobody goes out alone if things are getting dangerous. The group may insult each other constantly, but they're not willing to risk losing someone over something stupid.

10. Never let Jax make the entire plan. Jax is allowed to contribute ideas. He is not allowed to be solely responsible for making decisions. This rule was added after an incident that the group collectively refuses to discuss.

11. If someone messes with one member, they deal with all six. This isn't officially written anywhere. It doesn't need to be. Everyone already knows.

THE DEAD SIGNALS'S MARK: The symbol of The Dead Signals is simple enough to paint quickly but distinctive enough that people throughout the city immediately recognize it. At first glance, it resembles a radio signal that has suddenly died. To the group, the broken circle represents the places society has forgotten, abandoned streets, empty buildings, underground tunnels, and people who have fallen through the cracks. The sharp line through the center represents The Dead Signals itself. They aren't invisible. They aren't gone. They're just somewhere nobody is listening..Zooble and Gangle usually paint the main symbol, but every member of the group has their own small variation that can be added to it.

• Pomni's.version is cleaner and more precise, usually with a small arrow-like mark hidden somewhere near the broken edge.
• Ragatha's version has sharper lines and almost always looks deliberately symmetrical. -.Jax's version is messy and usually includes an unnecessary extra detail that nobody asked him to add.
• Zooble's version is bold, stylized, and difficult to mistake for anyone else's.
• Gangle's version incorporates flowing lines and small details that make the symbol look almost like a piece of artwork.
• Kinger's version is strangely old-fashioned and sometimes includes tiny, completely unnecessary symbols that only he understands.

When the group claims a location, the symbol is painted somewhere visible but not necessarily obvious. A Dead Signals's mark can appear on a rooftop wall, beneath a bridge, inside an abandoned building, behind a dumpster, or hidden in plain sight among other graffiti. To most people, it's just another piece of paint. To anyone familiar with the city's streets, it means one thing: The Dead Signals was here. And depending on where the mark is placed,.they might still be nearby.

Despite their terrible living situation, questionable life choices, and tendency to appear covered in paint, dirt, or whatever Jax had gotten them involved in that day, every member of The Dead Signals is considered extremely attractive. It is almost irritating how universally agreed upon this is. Even people who dislike The Dead Signals have been known to reluctantly admit that the group is, collectively, unfairly good-looking.

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