Hooray! Ok you know what? I'll just post all of Stonebound-The Sigiled Skateboard here as I write it.
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I popped my board and ground along the rail, muttering the lift sigil activation for the back wheels. Waited for the kink, popped a ninety and settled on the grooves. No need for airfeet. Bailed at the landing, grabbed my board, vaulted the flower bed and jumped down the terraces. Down in the skate park, I paused by the mirrored glass of the Starbucks. Looking at myself, I smoothed down my short spiky blond hair around my black tuque, stuffed my boobs into a more comfortable position in the sports bra (PROTIP: Don’t skateboard without a sports bra. You could get taken in for indecent exposure) and stuffed my horseshoe and circle pendant back in my black shirt.
I walked towards The Corner, an area where poor planning had given us a large four foot deep bowl in a semi-diamond shape stuck between the wall, a vert ramp and and a half pipe. The place where we practiced our craft, scrawling sigils and quietly muttering activations. I could see the half-erased signs, the corner ledge where we stored the chalk and cleaner, and the lonesome yellow painted Fae Gate over in the smallest corner, already half grown over with hanging ivy.
I dropped down in there and walked over to the equipment. I wanted to try a few speed sigils Charlie showed me, when I saw an unbroken circle near the gateway. That was the result of someone’s utter stupidity. We always erased our workings, because leaving a whole sigil about was asking for trouble. Stoners do the weirdest things, and they usually end up with some Fae nearby too. I grabbed the stuff anyways. Might as clean it up after getting a look.
I crouched down by it. It had the look of a summoning circle and the positional shielding glyphs reinforced that. Of course, some were less than optimal for the job. A few power glyphs that seemed familiar, but nothing was.... It hit me like a six foot drop onto my tits. Shit. It was a blood powered summoning. Bad mojo. No point looking for blood stains, this type soaked it up better than a sponge. I looked for target types and saw conflicting choices everywhere. Someone thudded into the bowl and I looked over. New guy. He was slightly short, dressed kinda gothy, and had the neo-pagan Wicca symbols nearly everywhere.He looked over at me and nearly dropped the coke can he was carrying.
“What yer doing to my ritual?!” he hoarsely demanded in a shrill baritone. Striding over, his black hair swaying in a ponytail, he looked kinda cute. No matter. Two strides took me to him, and a fist put him on the ground. Not stopping, I reached down, grabbed the front of his t-shirt, pulled up and slammed him into the wall.”Wha?”
“Actually, it’d be better if you told me what the fuck you’re doing!” I nearly shouted in his face
“I needed a soda and...” I just glared at him.
“Know who’s turf this is?”
“Turf?” he raised his eyebrow at me. “I was told this was free space.”
“Well you got told wrong. This here Corner is the property of Skaterhenge.” I glared at him some more.
“What you guys about anyways?” I dropped him fully and pulled my phone out of my fanny pack.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” I stated, flicking through my contacts. Started a call to Charlie. He answered in record time.
“What up Sandy? Having some glyph problems?” His slightly grating alto was a touch of knowledge.
“You might say that.” I replied evenly.
“Oh?”
“Some new guy got told the Corner wasn’t ours and started a really bad summon. Wanna come look?”
“I can be over in five minutes.” Click. I looked over at the guy.
“We’re going to go sit over there.” I pointed to the entrance.
“Why?” he demanded surly.
“One, I don’t trust you near this thing. Two, do you know what that yellow area is?”
“Crumbling concrete?” I nearly laughed at that one. They built this thing six months ago.
“It’s actually a Fae Gate. One of the Fifteen Known ones in the city. And it’s among the top seven in sheer power.”
“Oh.” By this time, we were sitting down at the entrance. “Skaterhenge?”
“We’re one of the Mage gang-slash-Covens. Charlie, our leader, thought up the name.”
“Skaterhenge?”
“We’re skateboarders. We’re also Druids. Seems a bit weird, but...” I just shrugged.
“You can’t be Druids. You’d all be treehugger hippies out in the woods and besides, the last actual Druids died out yoinks ago.”
“Yeah, it gets some people, but we sort of take a D&D approach, shapeshifting and all. Here, lookit our symbol.” I pulled out my pendant and cupped it in my hands, allowing him to see.
“Circle and horseshoe...” he muttered. “Seems kinda familiar, but I’m not getting it.” I just rolled my eyes. “Still doesn’t explain the lack of treehugging though.”
“It’s the basic schematic of Stonehenge. As for the treehugging, we dance to a different heartbeat. Not the beat of the tides, the rustle of growing leaves in the wind, or the howls of the wolves. Our beat is the sound of a thousand pairs of feet walking the pavement, the roar of cars and buses on the road, and the whine of power and data traveling the wires.”
“What about the history thing though?”
“Well, nearest that we can figure is that back in the days of Nero of the Romans, about three quarters of the Old Druids of the time got wiped out with Boudica, the rest moved up to Caledonia. Now from there, some bugged out with a bunch of Vikings to the Northern Americas, some hid, some died bravely, and others found the heartbeat of the city. We carry on the extremely modified traditions of those Old Druids.”
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And now I wait for my inspiration trigger to come online.....