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Lozaro looked at Abdul with big, strained eyes but said nothing.

"You're makin' me feel bad," said Abdul, frowning. "In fact, you haven't been your usual, chipper self for a while now, Lozzie. Something eating at you?"

And Lozaro, the one they called the Bloody Professor, seemed momentarily as if he were no more dignified or intimidating than a lost child. But then he regained some of his composure as a scowl appeared on his face. "You were not invited to this conversation, Mari. Leave us."

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that." Abdul's hand left Karkash's shoulder and found its way over to Lozaro's. He brushed up against the unhappy scientist like they were old friends. "If you've got a problem, you know you can always come to me, right? People tell me I'm a great listener. In fact, some say too good."

Karkash, for his part, had already heard enough and so turned to leave the two of them alone, but Lozaro stopped him again. "Headhunter. Request something of me, and I shall make it for you. Any weapon you desire. Any tool. Name it."

"Oooh," said Abdul, cocking an eyebrow towards Karkash. "Hell of an offer. Could I get something, too?"

Lozaro ignored him and maintained eye contact with Karkash.

Abruptly, he was glad that Hoyohté was not immediately present. She would have taken over right here and picked something in his stead.

"Anything I desire?" said Karkash, not caring to conceal the doubt in his tone.

"Anything," echoed Lozaro. He sounded more confident now, but perhaps that was just an act.

It made Karkash want to request something impossible, if only to see how he reacted. He held onto that for a moment longer, though, wondering if he should really take such a risk in pushing the boundaries of proper conduct with someone who was obviously much more important and influential than himself.

And Abdul's smiling presence was certainly not helping, either. The man looked like he was having a grand time. "Go on. Say something, Bolt. Headhunter. Lightning Llama. Sharky Karkky. Which name do you like, by the way? I'm partial to the Llama, personally. Everyone wants to be some kind of tough, edgy animal, but don't llamas deserve some love, too?"

He said that, but Karkash knew for a fact that Abdul had invented that last moniker himself.

Regardless, the correct response was simply to ignore him, just as Lozaro had done. "There is much that I desire, Professor. Perhaps you should narrow the focus of what I may request."