Work Text:
Orisa began in the spring. She was not born, or even, truly, made, she was a thing half formed, shaped and molded, becoming, shifting, something else and then, suddenly—herself. Orisa, not an OR-15. It was neither resurrection nor transformation, and she was not new enough to be birthed or created. So, she thinks, she began.
Many things which begin in spring end in the winter time. Orisa knows this, knows about life cycles and symbolism both. She does not fear the winter—this body has died before, in a sense, and she is still here—but she is cautious, nonetheless.
What will it mean for her, if snow falls? Can this form—not a body, not quite, not entirely hers—withstand the cold, and the snow? Will she rust, or freeze, or become stuck in tall drifts? Surely, Efi did not design her with such weather in mind—but perhaps her other creators did? She does not know, and she cannot ask them, for parts of her design were birthed in the Omnium itself. There are things even Efi cannot understand, and Orisa does not want to.
But Zenyatta is safe, in the snow, as is the Bastion unit, so Orisa should be, as well. And a word with Efi reassures her that the parts of her—pieces, sections?—which are not of Omnic origin will be safe, too. That ought to be the end of it.
Of course, it is not.
Orisa began in the spring, because what—who? did she have a soul then? a being? a personality?—she was before died in the wintertime. So, one question remains.
Must she die again?
Orisa is content, now, with who she is, but perhaps her OR-15 self (or predecessor, for she does not know if that is also a part of her now), felt the same. Perhaps it is in her nature, as an Omnic removed from the Omnium, to be unable to dream of progress, lest history repeat itself. Perhaps she cannot conceive of the ways she must change to better perform her duties until she is remade.
Could she be better? Certainly, though she does not know how. Does that mean that she has to die—that Orisa has to end—so she can begin anew? She does not know that either.
She cannot remember her time as an OR-15—does this mean she had no thoughts, then? Or were they erased when she began again? Must she end, so that her body (not body, shell, parts, it is not a body for it is not tied to one soul, but two, or maybe more) can continue to perform its function?
Zenyatta speaks of passing into the Iris, when he dies, but he has a body all his own, will not continue on in death as the home of someone else. What awaits Orisa? Winter? Can she even be said to live, if she cannot die? Or does she merely exist?
Winter, Orisa thinks, is not alive. It exists, begins from something else, ends and is transformed. Still, it can change things, still, it is important. Perhaps Orisa is not alive, is not a state of being, is a season. This form is not hers, not truly, but she shapes it for the time being.
Winter will pass, and so shall she. But for the time being, she is here.
Now is the season of Orisa.