She appreciated sunsets the most. Perhaps it was the calm of dusk that called to her, or the quiet of the evening chill. Regardless, she always took a break from the shop to climb the attic ladder. She'd secure herself on the roof and stare as the clouds snared themselves with the night time stars.

It had been another trying day. Very few customers and more than enough anxiety to go around. Jax would be by soon and she didn't have the money. He'd been accepting smaller sized payments up to this point but it was starting to get out of hand.

Letting her cobalt eyes drop to the ground beneath her, she glanced out at the gate surrounding Aleria. Such a beautiful metropolis, a gem in a vast, never ending desert.

She knew, if her shop was inside the city walls, she'd probably have better business. Her and Sky wouldn't have to scrape and struggle and Jax wouldn't even be an issue. But she promised her old man in his last days she'd take over and never could afford to relocate. Hell, she could barely afford to keep it open.

Her clientele typically consisted of traders and travelers, passing through the Savanna in need of repairs. She had good prices and, in her humble opinion, damn good service. There weren't a lot of repair shops in Aleria for hover gear and most of them were owned under a monopoly.

There were the regulars, which she was thankful for, but there weren't enough of them and she could only stretch her profits so far.

From beneath her, she heard a rustling in the reeds surrounding the shop. She knew who it was, so didn't bother to look down.

"Wave." Sky, a hawk with light blue plumage and eyes to match, poked her head out from the doorway. "Do you want me to cut the generator for the night?"

Wave crossed her legs, dangling them over the edge of the roof. "Might as well, it'll save on electricity later." She smiled to her friend. "Have you gone into the city yet?"

"I will, I just need to make a list of what we need." Sky responded. "I want to wait until Jax swings by, so I know how much money we have to work with." Along the dirt road leading to their yard, a crop of dust was stirred by a slew of hover boards heading in their direction. Sky saw this and sighed. "Speak of the devil."

Wave could spy Jax at the front of his pack. He was a rather intimidating Echidna, muscular built, brown furred, with an impressive scar running the full length of his bicep. He typically came to collect his payment with a slew of men, mostly his rich, elitist buddies. They were all the upper class type. Snobs and bullies living large with their parent's money. However, even though there were the typical faces, Jax had a new member trailing the back. An Albatross by the looks of it, a person who put Jax to shame in size.

Clambering down the ladder to their little one room shack, Wave pulled the chain to the center light. Their "shop" started its days as a shed, a small hobby her dad had while racing hovers on the side. As she got older, she worked along side him and they were able to open their own business. Sky came along as an apprentice shortly before Wave's father passed, this left her responsible for Sky's training. She was a bright girl, if not a bit too clumsy.

"Just take a seat." Wave ordered to her assistant. "I'll take care of this." Every other Wednesday, without fail, Jax came at dusk for his money. He was never late, and was typically in good humor. (She could only hope he was today).

"Ladies." Jax, boastful as always, came bounding in without knocking. He pulled the door mat from its nails and kicked up dust from the dirt floors as he invited himself and his buddies inside. "As much as I'd love to sit and chatter today, I'm in a hurry."

"I could tell by the way you were speeding along the road." Wave murmured, turning to a rusted coffee can sitting on her card table. She popped the top off and pulled an assortment of bills out. "Here. I have clients early in the morning, so if you and your friends could leave, I'd like to get some rest."

Jax didn't bother counting the money as it was handed to him. He forked it over to one of his cronies and continued to walk through the shop, almost as if he were assessing the place. "Last time we talked you mentioned wanting to upgrade the joint." He scuffed his boot into the ground. "Maybe put in some carpet, make it less..." He gestured vaguely around him. "Like this."

Wave clenched her jaw but kept an even expression. "I need money to do that first. As long as we're paying you, it won't be happening any time soon."

"Hey Jax." The buddy who had been counting the cash called to his friend. "This is smaller than last time."

Jax took the money from him to count himself. "Is it now?" He did a quick shuffle of the bills. "I thought we agreed you'd be paying double?" He frowned. "If you want to get out from under this loan, I'm gonna need more than this."

Sky spoke up, doing so at a whisper. "It's all we have."

Wave knew this was going to be an issue. She'd been scrimping and saving as much as she could over the last two weeks. Her and Sky would spend some days without eating just to make Jax's ridiculous payments. "I only agreed to double because we had the business. Things have been tight since you were here last."

Jax folded the cash and secured it in a pocket fastened to his belt. "You see the thing is-" He motioned for two of his boys to come forward. "That isn't my problem. I was promised an amount, and you don't have it."

"But-" Wave was interrupted.

"How important is this little shack of yours? Enough that your dead old man left you with all the bills before he bit it?" Jax smiled, the type of cocky smile that made Wave's blood both boil and run cold. "I gave you the money to save your sorry hide and this is the respect I get?" As he spoke, his two men went to Wave's kitchen, one of which smashed her table in two with a single fling of the arm. The other shattered a window before stealing a set of wrenches she had hung on the wall beside it. "Consider his your final warning. Have MY money next time, or you can kiss this little hobby of yours goodbye." Snapping his fingers, all of the men started to file out. "Oh, and while we're here." He called to the Albatross who had, up til this point, stood silent. "Storm. Leave your board here. Our friend can tune it, as penitence for her audacity."

Storm approached quietly, refusing to make eye contact. If Wave didn't know any better, she'd say he was embarrassed. "Here." He mumbled, almost too quiet to hear. Putting his board down at Wave's feet, he took the door mat and hung it back into place before leaving.