Skate, but make it fashion.

Teno’s skate style is largely reminiscent of Freestyle Slalom, an artistic form of skating that involves executing complex moves around a line of cones, dodging and weaving through them, while avoiding hitting any. His street skating style emphasizes avoiding obstacles nimbly, without losing any of his momentum. He is not the fastest skater, but his rockered skate setup and slalom background allow him to make the tightest of turns with ease, and in an obstacle course-like setting, he excels.

Cam began her skating journey at a young age, in the form of ice figure skating. She became very skilled, and competed regionally, until she came out as trans. Current figure skating rules prohibit trans persons from competing, and thus her competitive career was cut short. Also in coming out, her parents, whom she thought would be supportive, instead disowned her. Her older brother, Teno, decided to move out with her, and she began working with him at his new store, Vasilias Corner Store, as a part-time employee, while going to school. 

While he had sheltered her from all things street skating, it was only a matter of time before she encountered the Pixelle Girls, an all female street skating gang, while walking home from school. She immediately realized that was her calling, and saved up what little money she had, until she was eventually able to purchase some skates. 

Begin Cut-scene

She is outside practicing with them when she suddenly sees the Pixelle Girls again. They are one street down, skating rapidly away from her. She begins to give chase. 

“Wait!” Cam calls out, while roughly beginning to pick up her pace. “How are these so different to figure skates?!” she says to herself. She begins to pick up some speed as the hill slopes downwards. 

“Please, wait!” she tries again. Suddenly, the group turns sharply into a narrow alleyway. She attempts to make the same difficult turn, but loses her edge, and falls forwards, rolling before coming to a stop. She sits up and looks at her knees, which are scraped and bloody. Tears well up in her eyes. 

“Well, that was something. You ok?”

History:

Panic was born and raised in the heart of Arcadia. He learned to skate very early from his mother, who would take him to her roller derby practices after school. He’s the oldest of 7; 4 sisters and 2 brothers. With his mom working full time, Panic spent a lot of his time caring for his siblings; cooking, cleaning and attempting to help with homework. This was one of the reasons he dropped out of highschool.

Around this time he was brought on as a dishwasher at the Panda Deli. While he was sufficient at his job, he was going nuts standing in one place all day. Mr. Phan, the owner, was looking into home delivery for the shop, but couldn’t ensure a quick delivery time in rush hour traffic. Panic had always used skates as his primary mode of transport, and Mr. Phan had an epiphany. He offered Panic a job hand-delivering orders.

Panic’s speed paired with his acute knowledge of the city made him very good at his job, and the time he spent traversing the city doing deliveries only expanded his map. He often takes alleyways and obscure shortcuts on any given route, making speed his prime priority. He also gained an extensive knowledge of the local characters, making him the go-to for weird “I-know-a-guy” contacts. One notable example of strange characters is Tuna, who he used to deliver to often.

With the very little free-time he had in these days, Panic  would race at the roller rink for scratch. The leagues were full of casual racers, usually retirees having a good time, but eventually he got turned on to a local circuit that held tournaments in an abandoned mall. He raced there for a few years, never joining a team, but cleaning house in singles races. Now he races occasionally, but most of his time is dedicated to the Soundhounds.  

For the past couple years, Panic has been living half at the shop with Mr. Phan and half at home. Cypher, a friend he had met that fixed up his skates, had offered to team up with Panic, but he politely declined. A few times he’d noticed skate gangs together and wished he’d had his own, but work and such had prevented him from seeking one out. After a debacle with a local delinquent gang vandalizing the Deli, he caved in and joined up with Cypher to beat them in a race.

Sano grew up alongside 4 brothers as the middle child. His parents had all but given up on raising their children in traditional ways by the time Sano came around, as his older brothers were extremely misbehaved. He was born in an older part of town, where the buildings are tightly packed and brick walls choke the alleyways. He spent a great deal of time traversing these winding, dirty streets in his youth. Eventually, him and all of his brothers became heavily invested in street hockey, which is where Sano learned how to blade. Sano learned how to take a hit, how to dodge and evade, and his style of blading developed from there.

Sano’s brothers eventually got him running with their gang, the “Devil’s Bath Boys”. The gangs ruthless defense of their turf made them well know throughout the city, with Sano and his brothers acting as scouts of a sort; they were the first in the gang to be bladers, and would often go out into the night to tag new territory and wreak havoc (destroying windows, bashing up cars, and occasionally beating up other crews). During this time, Sano came to know another blader who existed outside of the gang, nicknamed Demo. He and Sano became fast friends, with Demo showing Sano how blading could be a positive release rather then an outlet for anger. Demo was the only person Sano was ever able to have healthy emotional conversations with.

Eventually, Demo was injured by a member of the Devils Bath Boys, and had to get a metal plate put into his knee, but he could never skate again. Sano quit the Devils Bath Boys that day; but not before beating the living shit out of the member that had injured Demo. Demo appreciated the gesture (but recognized it as unhealthy) and gifted Sano his pair of state of the art Roller Blades, still damaged from the attack.

Eventually Sano ran into Panic and Cypher one night while he was out tagging. Seeing the pure joy they embodied while skating, he began tagging along with them, being reminded of his days spent blading with Demo.

Currently Sano works at a print shop, where he secretly prints stencils and stickers that he uses around the city.