Author's Notes: This is an optional chapter! I know it’s a lot of information all at once, but I thought it’d be easy to get the technical and character-introduction stuff out of the way.
Content Warning for: Brief descriptions of violence, manipulation, and trauma. I don’t think any of it is too bad in this chapter, but I’d like to cover all my bases. Please take care of yourself! And without further ado…
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If you were one day warned that a group of escaped cult members-slash-criminals had recently moved onto the fourth floor of your innocuous apartment complex, it’s very unlikely that you would believe whoever told you. You might laugh uncomfortably and think they were bad at telling jokes, or shake your head and dismiss the statement as a paranoid conspiracy. Unbeknownst to you, the person who informed you about the newest residents would probably then be killed off screen. Or at the very least, be offered a very tempting trip to the Bahamas.
The escaped cult members-slash-criminals can’t let anybody know they’re living here now. Best not to let them know you know as well.
Even so, maybe you’d start to wonder about the residents of Apartment 409. You’d never be sure how many people lived there or what they got up to, or even what they’d all look like. Thankfully, you don’t live in their apartment. The ex-cult members don’t live next to you. And you probably won’t get sent to the Bahamas as well for knowing this information. So, with that, I can introduce to you: The residents of Apartment 409.
Dmitri, the leader after Caiden’s credibility declined, was the sniper of the Unit.
Physically, they are lean and long limbed, with fair hair, pale skin, and luminescent green that had required them to wear a visor, lest they gave themself and their team away on missions. Their voice is smooth, malleable, and authoritative, and carries a slight accent that fluctuates in its intensity depending on their stress levels. After all these years, it never went away.
In combat, they are relentless and, for lack of a more descriptive word, terrifying. They could charm anybody with a light smile and innocent conversation, then gut them like a fish without hesitation or stutter (and have done so on more than one occasion). Nobody would know anything about their true nature until it was too late.
When they are able to let their guard down, they can be quite playful and bubbly. They like bows in their hair and twirling around in skirts; they like indie music, butterflies, guns, Thai food, and they hate being cooped up in the house. But more often than not, Dmitri constantly hides behind a front that makes them cold, competent, and serious. They have to be, really. Someone has to step up and take charge.
Like the rest of the Unit, they get distressed whenever something throws them off the natural order of things. Sometimes something as simple as a late delivery, uninvited guest, or slow internet was enough to set them off.
Before 409, Dmitri was on track to be a Valedictorian–a special kind of soldier in the Telanth. It’s a high honor, and it meant you were special enough and strong enough to be noticed. Sometimes, Caiden wonders if they miss being in the Telanth because they lost that chance.
Caiden is next. The other half to Dmitri. Together, the two were an unstoppable force. Alone, Caiden was the tank and unofficial second-in-command. She was the only one who had escaped from the Telanth. Twice.
Physically, they carry a six-foot tall, broad-shouldered stature. She is a half-dragon–very obvious once you first meet her. Their horns angle sharply from their head, the scales dotting their face are a glittering crimson, and their eyes are the color of molten gold. Her red hair is tufty at the moment, and trying very hard to be grown out of the enduring Telanth buzzcut. Her tanned skin is dotted with small scars, freckles, and burns. Their forearms, which are every day covered with long sleeves or arm warmers, are covered in a long stretch of faded scars. The most dramatic of her old injuries is their nose–permanently crooked after being broken too many times. Her grin is wicked, displaying their silver-sharp teeth with ferocious unabashedness.
In combat, they favor the use of a staff. A bit unconventional, but a jack of all trades when you saw that almost anything could be a staff if one was willing to ignore the parameters of what a staff should be. (That broomstick? Staff! That standing lamp? Staff!) Fighting to her is about creativity, which gives her one more advantage over the robotic, routine-dependent Telanth soldiers. They are strong and confident in their abilities. Really, the only person she hasn’t beaten in a fight is Dmitri.
Caiden is candid, acute, and cheerful in her own mordant way. They loved penguins, aquariums, burning popcorn, snoozing in sunlight, and wrapping their arms around the nearest pillow, stuffed object, or Dmitri. She enjoys proclaiming ridiculously grandiose things about herself, and the more stupidly pretentious it is, the more amusing. They have a habit of flapping their hands or shuffling from foot to foot when they are anxious, frustrated, or overwhelmingly excited.
Since she had left the Telanth in the middle of her training, she had some time to ‘deprogram’ herself before she was caught and returned. After that, she was never really the same again. It was like they were stuck between two worlds. Soldier and civilian, glitching and functional, robot and human. Their mannerisms display the toll it took on them. They are slow to process and respond, and when they do, their voice is jerky and unstable. Loud and slow, lurching to a quick-paced murmur leaping to a stutter. She would stare at empty spaces, mutter at nothing, and cover her mirrors on bad days. Dmitri wondered how much of their behavior was a normal recovery and how much of it was a response to the Telanth’s wrath when they were recaptured.
Next is Plague Upon Bright Land. Bright for short. They were a good informationist for the Unit. She is diplomatic, sharp, and her authenticity is a special kind that Dmitri and Caiden had trouble mimicking. (Probably because it was genuine.)
Physically, Bright had a humanoid figure with feline features. She is covered in rich golden fur, dappled with dark spots. Thin dark lines rained down from her gray-green eyes. Their face is round and their cheekbones are prominent. Bright carried themself with hesitation. They had a habit of hiding in their shoulders in an effort to make themself look small. Bright was squat, curvy, and sturdy. Very comforting to cuddle with, or so Sigma had said, and Sigma typically hated physical contact, so it was high praise.
In combat, the way she fought is feral, fueled only by desperation and whatever feelings she had buried deep within herself. No weapon needed, they use their claws and brute strength. Though, this meant that she got clumsy early in the fight, and her short stature posed a slight disadvantage.
Bright’s memory and bookish knowledge is random and obscure. They enjoy sharing arbitrary facts to others around them. They also like taking things apart, figuring out how they worked, and putting it back together with a satisfying click. It frustrates the rest of the Unit when they find Bright huddled over the fractured pieces of something they owned, but it was always neatly reconstructed before too much damage was done. If they are determined enough, Bright tries to do the same thing with people.
Bright is careful when it comes to other beings in the world. She wants them to feel comfortable and happy in a way that she never was. It makes her sensitive and empathetic. Thankfully she was well-equipped with a mask of apathy and disdain, otherwise she would have been another casualty the Telanth would have been happy to dispose of in no time at all.
Alix was the spy within the Unit. He specialized in speed, stealth, and deception, but his true power came from being a wildcard, ready to pick up the slack from the others when needed.
Alix’s father was a human, and her mother was a changeling. Though she stands at an atypically short height for a full-blooded changeling–shorter than Caiden and Dmitri, but still taller than Bright and Sig–there were other features that pointed to her changeling heritage: her large blank eyes, a slender build, and pointed ears. From her father, she had gotten her round face, brown skin, and button nose. Her shapeshifting abilities are limited, and if she tries to push herself beyond teeth shape or eye color, things tend to get…painful.
When it comes to combat, Alix has the lucky combination of both strength and speed. If he fights an opponent too taxing for him, he’ll be able to duck their blows and wear them out in the long run. If he has a chance, however, he brute forces his way to victory. For the most part, he relies heavily on his speed. He expends a lot of energy when he fights.
Personality-wise, Alix is cool and kiddish. Outside of the Telanth, she expresses herself with impassioned ferocity, and did so in every way she could. After escaping, Alix developed an interest in aesthetic and fashion, meticulously planning most of the outfits she wears just for the sole pleasure of doing so. She is heavily invested in culture and art, and because of that, she accumulated a miscellany of obscure and various interests.
Sigma Icarius was the “mind reader” of the Unit, which was exceptionally useful for mind games and interrogations. The Unit called it “mind reading”, but really, Sig was able to sense the energy and aura of others in order to determine intentions, and on occasion, thoughts.
Sig is a Sympaxta’rlus--or a galaxy-touched elf. This means deep indigo skin, soft and feathery hair, large blank eyes dotted with stars, and a thin and sharp build. Sig is alarmingly quiet, practically gliding everywhere instead of walking.
In combat, Sig has a soft spot for longer-ranged poisons. Splash-acid, toxic smoke–really anything insidious and terrible–as it is easier to hide in the shadows and get away with things that way. In unarmed combat, Sig is deft and dexterous, and favors pressure points and sensitive spots on the opponent to finish quickly. If the fight went on for too long, it’s a guarantee Sig will run out of stamina, as the galaxy-touched elf had the worst endurance of the entire Unit.
It is not that Sig is a blank slate, moreso that Sig prefers to live in a rich internal world of thoughts, predictions, and observations. To the untrained eye, that may seem like Sig does not have any personality beyond a physical presence in the room, but the Unit and anyone else who has known or studied Sig, just knows that it’s more of a disinterest and defence mechanism against the noisy, nonsensical world more than it is a lack of substance. Sig is rather anxious around crowds, and is rather avoidant to touch, close quarters and chaos. Conversely, Sig enjoys predictable media (cartoons especially), the natural world, and creating new concoctions in the kitchen.
These residents of Apartment 409 were once members of the Telanth. They were called Unit 36-2a-N. Colloquially, Unit 2aN.
The Telanth is an underground organization that specializes in various organized criminal activity, and relies on brainwashed children to carry it out. It was founded by ancient eldritch creatures of the same name, who use this organization to carry out their sadistic, megalomaniacal beliefs. It’s…it’s a cult. It’s a sewer cult. Every single member of the Telanth would stab me immediately for me calling it out for what it is, that's how good of a cult it is. Despite how I make it sound, be rest assured that the Telanth is a powerful enemy to have, for it is not an organization that lets go of its assets so easily. Our fearless protagonists are going to need all the luck they have.
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So how does our story work?
Roughly every first Thursday of the month, (I am not making any promises) a self-contained story will be posted detailing the life of Unit 2aN. The chapters vary in genre, sometimes it’s fluff, angst, flashback, or even a multiple-part story. The same characters will be used in the same urban fantasy world, and each chapter will focus on their healing process, daily routine, and/or something else that’s *zesty*. For the most part, you don't have to read in a specific order, but there will be notes if one chapter equates to another. There are five parts to the overarching story, each part focusing on a specific conflict or time period.
~Part 1~ The Residents of 409 - IN PROGRESS
>Part 1.5< [Redacted] - NOT STARTED
--Part 2-- [Redacted] - NOT STARTED
**Part 2.5** [Redacted] - NOT STARTED
||Part 3|| [Redacted] - NOT STARTED
If you’re reading this, I’d like to thank you for clicking! All of this started off as a little way to entertain myself, but now I truly feel like it has blossomed into something with a lot of potential, so I’m glad I get to share it with you. (I hope you stick around, even out of curiosity.)
But now, without further ado, I welcome you to the party. I’ll see you next Thursday.
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