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"Well, to get the full picture of that, you would have to ask Germal," said Wally, "but my understanding is that Lighteyes has been invited because of his reputation as a principled warrior who does not use excessive force to complete his missions."

"You mean because he's not a bloodthirsty psycho," said Zahi. "But hey, I'm not bloodthirsty, either."

"Ah--y-yes, well, as I mentioned, the invitations are delivered at our leader's sole discretion..."

"Oh, but if it were up to you, then you'd give me an invite, right?"

"Er, well, I barely know you, so..."

He stuck his hand out. "Zahi Rambata. Great to meet you. They call me the Bard of the Modern Era."

"No, they don't," said Loren.

"Don't listen to him; he's just jealous. I'm a real man out of time, you see. Tell me, have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong period of history? Because that's me in a nutshell, my friend. Very relatable, right? Oh, and I can play twenty instruments, you know. And I'll talk your ear off if you'll let me, aha! And I'm also very much what you would call a joiner! It's why I'm with Abolish, in fact! Someone just offered me a membership, so I said okay! I didn't even have a reaper yet! Boy, was I in for a surprise later!"

"Th-that's all very nice, Mr. Rambata, but--"

"I'm all about maintaining morale, see. I think that's very important. You need cheering up, I'm your guy. You need a wingman when you go pick up chicks, I'm your guy. You need someone to carry something heavy up a hill for you, well, that's why I keep this killjoy around. But for anything else, I'm probably your guy. Just give me a chance, and you'll see how multi-talented I am."