Despite what some of the citizens of Aiedo thought, the Hunter's Guild bar was not just a place for Motavia's mercenary troubleshooters to drink themselves senseless, leer at fan-dancers, and brawl with each other until dawn. Some of that went on (mostly of the first two; surprisingly little fighting took place between hunters, perhaps because they preferred to be paid for it), but in reality the Guild bar was a full-service nightclub, drinking establishment, and restaurant where hunters could put their feet up and relax in the company of other people who knew and understood the trials of their work.

Of course, having food ready to go was more than tossing noodles into a pot or a slab of meat on the grill. If a customer wanted dessert, he or she probably didn't want to wait for it to be baked from scratch. While Garn, the owner, bought fresh bread from one of the bakeries in town, his cook Nala spent several hours each day whipping up various homemade pies. Every day, the kitchen windows overlooking the Guild's practice field were laden with cooling pastry that sent their aromas out to tease and tantalize the hunters as they worked up an appetite during training.

Garn wasn't a fool when it came to advertising.

Unfortunately, human nostrils were not the only ones teased and tantalized by the aroma of pie. Nala had to keep a sharp eye out or birds (and on a couple of dramatic occasions, monsterflies) would be feasting on the baked goods while the paying customers went hungry.

Alys Brangwin saw the plump, well-muscled cook swatting at crows with a towel. Nala was, herself, an ex-hunter and the gray-haired lady was still quite capable of swiping a bird out of the sky with a thrown missile, so the fact that she was only shooing them away was because of her soft heart, not her ability. Alys approved. She herself had a soft spot for dumb animals.

Perhaps that explained why she hadn't put Joss Howland out of his misery years ago.

As a hunter, Joss wasn't bad. He was big, strong, a competent fighter, and had the toughness and willpower to take hits and keep on going despite the pain. Unfortunately for Alys, that latter quality was something he applied to his romantic pursuit of her, as well.

"Hey, check it out, babe!" he boomed smugly. "I mastered a new skill!"

"Seriously?" Many hunters learned combat skills which were similar to mystic techniques but drew on power within rather than without, and tended to be more personalized as opposed to the systematic, rigid cause-and-effect of technique use. "What is it, some kind of deathblow?"

He shook his head, his smile growing.

"Nope. It's a mind-affecting technique."

"A guy who has trouble thinking for one can now think for his enemies as well?" Alys said, raising an eyebrow. The comment was a little acerbic for friendly dialogue, but he'd lost out on her limited store of politeness right off by calling her "babe."

"Uh-huh. It makes them want to attack me."

"You don't need a special skill for that. Or are you using it on me right now?"

Joss chuckled, apparently believing, somehow, that she was joking.

"Nah, that's not what I mean. It only works on people or monsters already in battle. It makes them want to direct their attacks at me instead of the people I'm with, 'cause I'm usually the toughest, most heavily-armored guy in the group, instead of the tech-users, or if I'm escorting merchants or travelers or something like that."

"Oh, I see." She paused, then with the courage suitable for Motavia's most famous hunter she said, "Actually, that's a pretty good idea. It could help keep people safe and make battles work on your terms instead of the other side's." Monsters tended to go after the apparently weak and helpless on instinct, and a skill like that could also completely foul up the tactics of human enemies.

"Yeah, and it looks cool, too. Check it out!"

He clenched his fists, curling his arms in, like a muscle-builder flexing, and gave a deep, growling roar. An aura like shimmering green flames wreathed his body. Alys glanced around, hoping that none of the other training hunters would be suddenly sending their weapons sailing Joss's way, but apparently the mental state required for solo weapons practice wasn't aggressive or combative enough to open up vulnerability to Joss's skill.

It did, however, prove its effectiveness by reaching the one person in range who was engaged in actual battle. In the next moment, a hot magentaberry pie connected with the side of Joss's face. Alys couldn't be sure if the thieving crows, too, had been influenced or just hungry, but they followed after, swooping and diving at the hunter. He bolted for cover, flailing his arms wildly to try and shoo off the flock.

"Darn; I was hoping for a slice of that with dinner tonight," Alys complained.

~X X X~

A/N: The title to this story, by the way, was inspired by the fact that the skill which Joss shows here is an actual game ability in the Xenosaga series, by which your tank characters (Ziggy & KOS-MOS) can attract the attention of the enemies to them, rather than having the enemies attack more vulnerable targets or blast the whole party. That skill is called "Heat."