we get a lot of really great stuff in system collapse about murderbot's relationships with ART and ratthi, which makes sense, because it spends almost the entire book with them. but i also love how even though mensah isn't there for most of the story, other people keep reminding mb of her:
chapter 2, page 25: “From ART’s personnel file, she [Karime] was older than Mensah and she didn’t look like an intrepid space explorer, either, even in the protective environmental suit.”
2, 27: “It took Karime three seconds to process the abrupt statement. (She was almost as good at not looking annoyed as Mensah was.) She kept her expression neutral and patient.”
2, 28: “In the underground colony room, Karime lifted her brows. ‘Another occupied site?’ I thought she was being careful not to show too much reaction. It was the way Mensah would have played it.”
4, 70: “Iris looked at me and I saw her hesitate, because her hesitation looked a lot like Dr. Mensah’s hesitation. And I realized I really didn’t want to go down there.”
5, 104: "Iris has that same thing as Dr. Mensah, the thing where she’s able to look and sound calm under circumstances where shit is possibly about to go down.”
it's spent so much time with her and it knows her so well and respects her so much that she's the model against which it compares all other humans. it thinks about her when they're not together. it's protective of her. it has such total faith in her competence. it (non-romantically) loves her and doesn't want to not see her again. idk man, it just gets to me! and they were teammates (oh my god they were teammates!!)
bonus:
I said, aloud, "You have to be kidding me." (ch. 2, p. 28)
seven pages later, in reaction to the same thing:
Mensah had had time to review the feed video. She muttered, "Oh, you have to be kidding me."
Yeah.
twinsies 🥰
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It may not be a curtain vision, but here’s a little snippet of a dream I had with Reynie. There’s very limited context but I hope you enjoy regardless!
✧┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈✧
Reynie hovered by the dining room entrance, his stomach twisted in knots. He took a hesitant step forward, and then another. Mr. Benedict sat at the table, a book in hand, while Number Two bustled about the kitchen, preparing breakfast.
"Where is everyone?" Reynie's voice barely rose above a whisper. Mr. Benedict looked up in slight surprise before smiling, his glasses balanced delicately on the bridge of his nose.
"Ah, good morning, Reynie," he greeted warmly, setting aside his book and removing his glasses. "I believe Milligan and the others took the children out to run errands."
“Oh,” Reynie murmured, swallowing hard. ‘Of course after everything they probably don’t want to see me…’ His thoughts trailed off as he lingered in the doorway.
Mr. Benedict waved him in. “Sit down, sit down! Number Two is almost done with breakfast.”
Reynie hesitated before taking the seat opposite Mr. Benedict. The only sound was the gentle crackling of food on the stove.
“How are you feeling?” Mr. Benedict's voice broke the silence. Reynie glanced down, fidgeting with his hands.
"Fine," he replied quietly.
The room fell silent once more. Mr. Benedict regarded him with an indefinable expression. It wasn’t negative really, but Reynie felt terrible from it all the same.
"Reyn—" Mr. Benedict started, interrupted by the arrival of a plate.
"Oh, lovely! Thank you, Number Two," he said gratefully before turning back to Reynie, ready to continue their conversation.
"Toast?" Number Two interjected, addressing Mr. Benedict.
Mr. Benedict blinked in surprise. "Yes- sorry- Toast?”
“I wasn’t sure which bread you wanted? We have whole wheat, whole grain, sourdough…”
“Well, Yes I’m sure they’re all good Number Two.” Mr Benedict began. Number two cut him off.
“…pumpernickel, rye bread, a baguette, white bread, brown bread-” She continues listing of bread.
“Yes, Number Two, that’s all fine—“ Mr. Benedict quickly looked up at her, bewildered. “Do we really have that much bread?”
Reynie glances between them.
“Any bread will do Number Two. Or no bread… Actually I’m rather fine without toast.”
“..No bread?” Number Two mumbled, a look of disbelief on her face.
Reynie slowly gets up from his chair as to not draw attention to himself. Maybe this conversation will last long enough for him to slip away and avoid talking about last night. Once he’s a good distance from the table he turns asround, preparing to make a quick exit up the stairs.
"Reynie?" Mr. Benedict's voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned, meeting Mr. Benedict's gentle smile, which was enough for him to sit back down at his seat.
“Sorry.”
"No need to apologize, my dear boy," Mr. Benedict reassured him.
Reynie lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“Now, first things first, are you hungry?”
Reynie looks at him and then at Number Two. He pauses, then smiles. “Actually, is it alright if I have some toast?”
Mr. Benedict laughs for a moment, before promptly passing out.
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Hey, Guys! Friendly reminder that this happened in the first book:
From his shirt pocket Sticky took out a thin piece of cotton cloth and polished his spectacles with it. “If you’re right, it’s a little creepy that they’re tricking us like that.” He put the glasses back on and blinked his big, nervous eyes. “But I shouldn’t complain. They were very nice to let me continue to the third stage even though I missed a few questions. Very generous of them —”
“Wait a minute,” Reynie said. “How could you possibly have missed any? Did you circle the wrong letters by accident?”
Sticky seemed embarrassed. He shuffled his feet as he spoke. “Oh, well, I suppose the questions were easy for you, but for me they were rather difficult. Time ran out before I could answer the last three, so I had to just circle some answers and hope I’d get lucky. I didn’t, of course. But as I said, they were very forgiving.”
Reynie couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You mean you knew the answers to those questions?”
Sticky grew more dejected with Reynie’s every question. Tears brimmed in his eyes as he said, “Well, yes, I suppose I do look rather stupid, don’t I? I look like a person who doesn’t know any answers. I understand that.”
Reynie interrupted him. “No, no! I didn’t mean that! I meant that I’m surprised anybody knew the answers. One or two, maybe, but certainly not all of them.”
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