<strong>Roderick - Outside in the City</strong><br/><br/>The city's football team, the Paradiso Punishers, had just signed on a new quarterback who was said to have laser accuracy when getting the ball to the wide receivers.  As a result of clever marketing and the interviews of scantily-clad journalists, sales of football tickets were really starting to skyrocket this year.  The only available tickets were from scalpers, people who bought tickets which should have been readily available to everyone and made a profit by jacking up the price.  Their very existence, however, had proven the worth of the tickets, and with each passing year, the prices rose on their own.  Eventually no scalper would be able to make any profit because the cost of tickets would end up almost too high to pay.<br/><br/>The streets outside were still uncomfortably warm, but a cool autumn breeze managed to bring enough chill that many preferred coats when out at night.  The full moon overhead shone its uncaring light from so far away, and in the city, it was impossible to see the stars.<br/><br/>Although the city had its own thriving night life, such areas were more focused in the commercial district, some distance away from the Embassy.  Some preferred the peace and quiet, but many of the ambassadors made sure to complain, wanting to see a proper Saturday night in a bustling city like Paradiso.<br/><br/>Only one other pedestrian was immediately visible, a young woman working on crossing through the streets to head her way towards the parking garage.  She held such a bright smile on her face, her gaze slightly uplifted and peacefully warm.  It would have taken a blaring horn to snap her from her reverie, but when the car horn came, it was already too late.  Her neck started to snap towards the oncoming vehicle, but it was already too late.<br/><br/>It all happened about a half a block away from Roderick without any more warning than the sharp noise of the vehicle, then a crunch as she flew off into the nearby building.  Several trash cans were knocked to the side as she smacked into a number of trash cans, sending plastic bottles and paper bags sending, but insufficient to stop her impact.  The sharp crunch left a silhouette of blood and viscera upon the white brick of the building, and her body collapsed like a rag doll.<br/><br/>The vehicle which had hit her suddenly squealed on the brakes, far too late to stop her, but perhaps not too late to try to help.  Of course, it didn't take much to realize that the young woman had pretty much no chance at all.