[That gets a rueful smirk.]

Striving, I suppose. Been far too long since I could really be considered a "good" mech.

Anyway . . . you know that you've been here before, or a very close alternate of you. The latter, maybe, since you don't remember. Anyway, you - he - was a very good mech. And . . . and a good friend. I am who I am now, as opposed to who I was when I first arrived, partly thanks to him.