<div class="floatleft">(http://i1264.photobucket.com/albums/jj499/MzHyde/Roxi2_zps71663c48.jpg)</div><strong>~Roxi Rocket</strong><br/><strong>~The Desktop</strong><br/><br/>Phat beats (as the kids would say - did kids still say that?) emerged from the small alcove where Roxi was sitting with her tablet computer, the tiny device projecting both a working keyboard and a holographic screen displaying old race footage. It was also the source of the music she was listening to, much to the probable annoyance of the characters passing through.<br/><br/><em>In-slum-national, underground/Thunder pounds when I stomp the ground (Woo!)/Like a million elephants and silverback orangutans/You can't stop a train</em><br/><br/>Well, too bad. Roxi didn't like being cooped up in her game all the time and wandering from world to world sometimes wore out it's excitement. Sometimes she just preferred to sit down out here and watch people come and go. The noise didn't bother her much. The din of people talking and walking was certainly far less noisy than the race track, the explosions, the sound of revving engines. Actually, she kind of loved those sounds, it's just that, y'know, a break was in order from time to time.<br/><br/><em>Who want some? Don't come un-pre-pared/I'll be there, but when I leave there/Better be a household name/Weather man tellin' us it ain't gon' rain/So now we sittin' in a drop-top, soaking wet/In a silk suit, tryin' not to sweat</em><br/><br/>So, 'bout once a week or so, Roxi liked to park herself in a spot out here and go over the race replays from her games that week. She always liked to try and improve herself and reviewing the replays was a good way to sort out some of the competition's strategy and tactics. It was also a good way to analyze any mistakes she'd made. Not for the real game, of course. When the Player was on, it was all strict routines and obeying commands. During downtime things were different. REAL races, REAL driving, REAL winners and losers. She even loved to tweak her ride, CherryBomb, for the events. Granted, all the improvements and enhancements she'd make would get reset to defaults the next time the Player fired her game up, but she loved it anyway. The other racers called her efforts futile and a waste of time, but Roxi could care less.<br/><br/><em>Hits somersaults without the net/But this'll be the year that we won't forget/One-Nine-Nine-Nine, Anno Domini anything goes, be whatchu wanna be/Long as you know consequences, to give and for livin'/The fence is too high to jump in jail/Too low to dig, I might just touch hell</em><br/><br/>The little commotion in line caused Roxi to glance up from her footage. She saw the Avatar getting disrespected by one of those sourpuss Guards and that snob from Yokaimon. Roxi wondered why they always treated the kid with disrespect. The Avatar was the symbol of the Player, y'know? Why all the hate? It didn't make much sense. One of the little handmade medals rolled and landed by her foot. Scooping it up, she strolled over to May and held it out, "Hey, kiddo. You dropped this." She smiled, "Don't let 'em get to ya, okay? They're just jealous, you know?" She knelt to be at May's height, and carefully pinned the medal on her. She mussed the kid's hair playfully and grinned. "Cheer up, okay?"