night scenes are wonderful fun to practice lighting on
edit: added the rider's tail

on a cool, dark evening after the twilight storms have passed, in a crowded city on the rim of the Great Basin, a lone cyclist pulls into a diesel station for a fill-up.

small stations like this one are tucked into nooks and crannies beneath the tall apartment blocks, squeezing in between cheap eateries and other small businesses that line the orange-lit corridors leading off to either side. this station in particular threads between two of the city's major avenues, ensuring its owners a steady supply of cold hard cash.

diesel is the fuel of choice for automobiles on Drywinds because diesel engines can be started without electricity, which Drywinds peoples have not yet learned how to produce. instead, all vehicles take two inputs at the pump: diesel, and compressed air, which is used to drive an air-start system. while on Earth the use of these is limited to large diesel engines, i tentatively say that air-start motorcycles are possible after 1000 years of technological refinement.

in lieu of electricity, the lights pictured are powered by foxfire, or bioluminscent cells, cultured industrially in massive vats and stored in glass vessels. by day, they soak up food and solar energy, then release it at night. they must be kept periodically nourished to retain a healthy glow.

in the far distance, Drywinds' parent planet Blue Yonder and its two fellow Earth-like moons watch over the night.