Roka’s reaction here ties back to an earlier conversation he had with Bocce about being a runner. Basically, it’s pretty evident that Roka isn’t all that happy being a runner, but it’s what he does. That feeling of being “trapped” has its origins in my first job out of college.

I went to school for architecture, but upon graduation, I realized my real passion was in comic illustration and storytelling. But my first job was at an architecture firm in Boston. While the job itself was fun (I was a full-time model-maker back when actual models were built instead of computer generated), after 3 years at the job, I just felt trapped doing something that wasn’t my passion and not knowing how to get out of that situation to where I wanted to be.

I can’t say I’m completely where I want to be yet, but I’m certainly closer than I was before! Anyway, that’s how I came up with Roka’s character.