[Zenyatta listens quietly, and as Reaper speaks he feels himself warm and blossom beneath his praise, just as quickly as he wilted, and quite against his will; this conversation was never supposed to be about him, even if it touches him in a way he could not have anticipated. The man he describes is everything he should hope to be, everything Mondatta was once to him.
Maybe that's part of why his answer is delayed. If Reaper- no, Gabriel- wanted to catch him off guard, he has succeeded spectacularly, and he's still catching up when the man continues to speak. When he says that word again. Monster.
Zenyatta has no need to breathe. Yet across the network he exhales softly, not in a sigh but a gentle, clearing breath.]
I do not know. Monsters do not exist.
[He pauses again, gathering his thoughts about him like a cloak, in preparation.]
Yes. Perhaps we will return, and perhaps our paths will never cross again- or perhaps you will put a bullet in my head. But you are not an oracle, Gabriel, and neither am I. The future is beyond our understanding. All I ask is that you live in our present, not as the man you once were or the man you might be, but the man you are growing into now.
For what it is worth to you, I have great faith in him.
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Maybe that's part of why his answer is delayed. If Reaper- no, Gabriel- wanted to catch him off guard, he has succeeded spectacularly, and he's still catching up when the man continues to speak. When he says that word again. Monster.
Zenyatta has no need to breathe. Yet across the network he exhales softly, not in a sigh but a gentle, clearing breath.]
I do not know. Monsters do not exist.
[He pauses again, gathering his thoughts about him like a cloak, in preparation.]
Yes. Perhaps we will return, and perhaps our paths will never cross again- or perhaps you will put a bullet in my head. But you are not an oracle, Gabriel, and neither am I. The future is beyond our understanding. All I ask is that you live in our present, not as the man you once were or the man you might be, but the man you are growing into now.
For what it is worth to you, I have great faith in him.