Omake Week 2015, Day 2: The Alys and Joss stories were the first "omake" I ever wrote, even though I didn't call them that at the time, so we definitely have to have one for Omake Week.

~X X X~

"Hey, Garn!" Fenris called cheerily as she strolled into the Hunter's Guild bar, waving to its owner. The red-haired hunter crossed to the table where her friend Alys Brangwin was already halfway through her dinner. "Oh, hey, is that a new chair?"

"The brown one?" Alys said, pointing with her fork. "No, Garn just had it refinished and stained."

"I figured on doing them one by one," Garn filled in as he brought over Fenris's usual drink order. "Maybe it'll spruce this place up a bit, give it a touch of class."

"You tried that with the wood floor, and look what that got you."

"Hey, who expects fire techniques in a bar fight, even around here?"

"Fair point. And the Guild agreed," Alys noted. "At least they paid your damages, and they'll be taking it out of Rollin and Keele's hides until the century turns." On the desert planet of sand and rock, wood was expensive.

"Sometimes, I wonder how some people get Guild membership at all," Fenris mused.

"Well, most of the time it's better to have that kind of fool in the Guild where at least there can be some sort of oversight—"

"Hey, Alys, babe!" The bellowing bray echoed through the room.

"—although on the other hand, maybe that oversight should be at a branch office in Torinco."

Joss Howland, anybody's perfect example of an idiot Hunter, swaggered over to the table.

"So, how's the hottest hunter on the planet doing today?"

"I'm fine, if a little hungry," Fenris said.

"Huh? Joss said, turning. "Oh, hey, Fen. Didn't see you there."

"Ordinarily, that would offend me, but coming from you, that's just fine."

"That's cool, then," Joss said, his smile making it plain he'd completely missed the insult. "So, Alys, can I treat you to a drink?"

Alys looked him over, measuringly.

"You know what, maybe I'll buy you one, or at least give you a chance to win it, with a test of strength."

"I'm your man!" he beamed.

"No, you're not, for which I give thanks every day. Just sit down there and relax."

Joss dropped into the brown chair, leaning back in his usual slouch.

"So what've I got to do?"

Alys stood up, then reached out and pressed her forefinger against the center of his forehead.

"Just stand up."

"Huh?"

"Stand up. If I can't hold you down with one finger, I'll buy you a round."

Joss smirked at her.

"Heh, you must really want to hang out with me if you're giving me an easy one like—"

He broke off when it became plain that he was not, in fact, easily standing up. On the contrary, though he thrashed and grunted and screwed his face into all kinds of entertaining expressions, it was plain that he was not going to budge any time soon. At last, in desperation, he raised his feet, then slammed them down onto the floor, kicking off with enormous force…which threw him over backward, breaking off the chair's back legs and rungs and smacking his head hard into the (back to being stone) floor.

"Oh, I know, that's that leverage trick, isn't it?" Fenris realized. "His weight is so far back that he can't get his legs under him to help lift."

"That, plus the fact that the stain hasn't set, so he basically just glued the chair to his back and butt. With him, it doesn't pay to take chances."

"It's going to ruin the new finish, peeling him off there, though."

Garn, bringing over a steaming plate with Fenris's dinner, looked down and clucked his tongue.

"It's always more of the same in here. We just can't have nice things!"

~X X X~

A/N: And thus we have the explanation for how the floor got back to being stone for the actual game. Continuity!