I don't write very often and when I do it's fanfic, but I just wanted to practice my world-building. I hope this all makes sense.

Tina and Alan ran into the alleyway. A dead end. Hurriedly, Tina wove air and stone to mask themselves from the fearsome beast that rushed past bellowing.

Temporarily safe she ripped open a protein bar and ate hurriedly.

"How long is your distraction going to last?"

Tina glared at Alan and swallowed to the last of the dry bar, "Long enough, I hope, for you to think of something. I'm out."

She patted down her pockets, looking for another bar.

Invokers were the flashiest of spell slingers, and the ones people tended to think of first. Able to conjure powers at a whim with little or no preparation, but it burned though calories like nobody's business. It burned though other things too. There was a reason most Invokers had heath problems later in life. It was also limited with what you can handle at any given time. No storing power like Crafters could, or building it up like Ritualist.

"A few Deadlings my foot! How did Intel miss a rogue Summoner?" she said, disgusted.

Alan rummaged in his bag and found another protein bar. Tossing it over he started to sorting though his props.

"That's not fair. You know that this had to be some over eager newbie, otherwise that thing wouldn't be rampaging around like that. The stupid idiot was probably it's first meal."

Tina just grunted already eating the second bar. Making a face at the taste she pondered the fact that people looking for a short-cut to power always seemed to go for the discipline that was the lest forgiving for mistakes. As magic styles go it was very paint-by-numbers, that is, if the painting blew up in you face every time you crossed a line.

It was those people that gave Summoners such a bad rap. Summoning was the heavy artillery of the magic world, which meant that when it went wrong it could take out cities. And while it was true some of them were odd, they always seemed to Tina to be more model-train-enthusiast weird rather than mwahaha-evil-laugh weird.

She finished off the bar and looked at Alan's rather depressing pile of used rods, charms and scrolls. A Ritualist relied on props to build up power. Whether physical things, words or movements it always took time to set up. Having props made by a Crafter sped things up but most of them were only one-shots.

It was why Invokers and Ritualists worked best in pairs on these type of things. An Invoker can adapt to changes quickly but didn't last long and a Ritualist could use the time bought to finish things off and get everyone home safe.

Provided, of course, they where prepared.

"Tell me you have something."

"Um," Alan looked nervous, "I might have one thing. I've only done it once and that was in college."

"It's unstable?"

"No, it's fine. I just really didn't want to have to use it."

A large bellowing roar filled the air.

"Well, we don't have much in the way of options."

"Right, well, just ... don't say anything."

Tina raised her eyes at that, she wasn't a novice. But she kept her mouth shut and took a step back. And then another. Ritual work wasn't Summoning but sometimes that just meant loosing an arm or a leg instead of being blowing into little chunks.

Alan placed a used idol, a twisted paper man he had made while bored that morning and the joke voodoo doll he had received as a birthday gift on the ground. Including himself they made a very rough circle.

Tina had taken an introductory course in ritual work once so she knew that it was a stand-in for a proper circle. Sometimes it was better to fake it rather then risk mistakes from people that didn't know the ritual. It worked better if you had charged idols, but you worked with what you got.

She tried to think back to the course in order to try and figure out just what Alan was doing.

Inhaling, that was to draw in energy and trusting the right hand forward, that was for a directing power to the circle. The right hand signified something but she couldn't remember what. Exhaling while sweeping the hand out and behind, was to gather from far afield and pulling the hand in and forward again was to keep it from escaping. She didn't know what waving the arm and making a so-so motion with the hand did. Mouthing words could possible be naming the ritual but since she couldn't lip read she didn't know what he said. She honestly had no idea what turning on the spot did.

She watch as he repeated everything with the left hand. She was pretty sure that it had something to do with balance or stabilisation. There was also something about the whole thing the was niggling her, it looked looking familiar somehow but she couldn't think why.

She pondered this as he went through a third reparation, this time with both hands. While three was an important number it was rarely used for variations. For chaotic rituals, maybe, but then why all the symmetry? What could possibly require putting hands in and out a circle and the shaking them...

Her hands flew to her mouth to stop herself from saying anything. She couldn't help a snort as she recognised the silent words. She struggled not to laugh as energy visibly gathered in the circle. Ridiculous or not, the ritual was working.

As the energy concentrated into a ball of brilliance between his hands Alan concluded the ritual with the words "And that's what it's all about" and Tina couldn't hold it in any longer.

"The Hokey-Pokey!?"

Alan winced at she bust out laughing.

"Look, Rituals can gather power by reputation. Do you have any idea the amount of times the hokey-pokey is done in the world? And by children? There are extremely few ways to get innocent energy without it getting corrupted."

"But the hokey-pokey?!"

Alan looked like the only thing stopping him face-palming was the ball of energy between his hands.

"Would you believe me if I said I was drunk?"

Tina struggled to get herself under control.

"You don't drink."

"Ok, so I was just really, really, tired. I hadn't slept all night and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was hopped up on caffeine and sugar!

And hey, it worked alright."

Tina took a deep breath and calmed herself down and eyed the shining brilliance. If it had been real light it would have seared her eyes out, as it was it didn't even leave an after image.

"All right, it'll do. But I'm leaving this out of the report."

"Thank you," Alan said gratefully, "but we should get a move on, this wont last long."

She waved away the camouflage spell and heard the bests roar again.

"Fine. Let's do this."