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Language was a subject that Satya excelled in. Although whether it was a born talent or a forced one was still up to debate. You see, Vishkar was a profit driven corporation whose success was depended on manipulation and control. And the best way of subtly easing your paws into other people’s life was to communicate.
Satya hadn’t known this when she took various language classes along with her architect training. Vishkar had told her it was to make it easier to communicate with architect from other regions. To make their dream of a better world easier to achieve.
But Satya should have known that a corporation that forbid her to speak Telugu or Urdu because it wasn’t going to fit in their “vision” didn’t have their best interest in mind.
No matter what Viskar had in mind, it was all in the past, and Satya’s interest in language has stuck with her through these years despite the origin of said interest.
She was surprised (although should not be) when she realized most people in the new Overwatch spoke more than two languages. English, their mother tongue, and one other.
Some grew up with two languages – like McCree, who spoke English in school and Spanish at home. Or just simply overachievers like Hana who could speak Japanese, Mandarin, and a little German (“There was a tournament held there that I was going!” Hana popped her gum and shrugged. “Wanted to learn how to talk shit to my opponents.”) Though most of the members learned because of the nature of their work. Hanzo and Genji could both speak Mandarin, but Hanzo could also speak Korean, Polish and Russian due to the locations of some of their business partners back when he was still running the Shimada Gumi (McCree told her, however, Hanzo could only really threaten people in Polish and Russian than hold any actual conversations.)
Angela could speak fluent French, Spanish and Norwegian (and often be heard talking to Torbjörn in Norwegian, with the Swedish loudly complaining that he has no idea what she was saying.) Zenyatta also picked up some languages here and there during his travel. Lena could speak French. Mei-Ling could speak Japanese and rusty Russian. She and Hanzo traded words they knew and found themselves at a lost at what the other was saying.
“What does that mean?” Hanzo asked, puzzled.
“It means ‘X-rays offer early warnings for solar flares’!” Mei-Ling replied cheerfully. “Was it too hard?”
“I cannot say I have encountered this kind of terms in my study…”
Language was a common topic in the watchpoint. With people murmuring quietly to each other in another language if they wanted privacy and others yelling “Stop talking shit about me right in front of me!”
Similarly, and at the same time a different nature of discussions also occurs in their base. Where everyone teaches their friends how to speak a little of each.
“Hey, beautiful ¿Estás casado o soltero?” McCree murmured into Hanzo’s cheek.
“Hmm, yo soy casado, ¿y tú?” Hanzo replied.
“Aw, you’re just messing with me. Or you’re trying to say something…”
“Maybe I just want to hear you speak Spanish more.”
“Oh my god, shut the fuck up,” Hana turned her face away, and faked some gagging noise. “I don’t know what you two are saying, but it’s grossing me out.”
“I know what they are saying and it is, as you say, quite gross,” Angela said without looking up from her tablet.
“Y’all just jealous,” McCree stretched his arm around Hanzo’s shoulder and tugged him flush against McCree’s body.
That was the most common thing. McCree teaching Hanzo something and vice versa. Satya ran into them on multiple occasion during late hours of them just sitting in the rec room sofa, engaged in hushed conversations of mixed languages.
Angela and Reinhardt also exchange the differences between Swiss Standard German and German Standard German. Mei-Ling and Genji traded funny interpretation of Kanjis in Mandarin and Japanese. And Angela and McCree often confused each other with their Spanish.
And Satya…well…
She couldn’t help but hide the fact that she was practically groomed into using language for gaining more profits for Vishkar. But the urge to join conversations or the guilt that came with hiding the fact she could understand them was sometimes almost too much.
It was one day when Mei-Ling was saying something to Genji in Mandarin that Satya got caught.
Mei-Ling was peering at her and blushing while making coffee next to Genji. Shuffling her feet nervously. She leaned into Genji and whispered.
“莎提雅今天的紗麗好漂亮,” Mei-Ling said in a hushed tone. “不知道可不可以問她有沒有類似設計的衣服…”
“妳就直接問她吧,” Genji responded in a normal volume, “她當然會幫妳。”
“我不知道…我不想麻煩她…”
“It is no trouble, Mei. I will be happy to help you,” Satya said without thinking, and realized what she had done.
Satya turned around and faced Mei-Ling and Genji with a gasp, face mirroring Mei-Ling’s surprised expression. Genji just leaned back a little in surprise.
“What…you understood me?” Mei-Ling covered her mouth and blushed furiously. “I’m embarrassed!”
“No, no!” Satya urgently replied. Trying to salvage the situation, but finding no escape. “I am…I’m the one…”
“Satya, have you been hiding this from us this whole time?” Genji crossed his arms across his chest. His voice light and teasing. Satya blushed.
“I’m sorry,” Satya stood up from the table, taking her cup of tea. “I’ll take my lea – ”
“No!” Mei-Ling grabbed her hands and cupped them. “Where did you learn your Mandarin? What else can you speak? What kind of Mandarin did you learn? Do you learn it with simplified or traditional Chinese? Oh! I’m sorry, am I being rude?”
Genji pulled a flustered Mei-Ling away from an equally flustered Satya and put his free hand on Satya’s shoulder.
“We’re not angry, Satya. Why you think we would be is beyond me,” Genji said. “I just don’t understand why you were hiding it?”
Satya lowered her face. The old, familiar shame bubbled up in her stomach.
Genji removed his hand from her shoulder. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to,” he said softly. “But since we know now, would you like to chat with us?”
Satya kept her face down. Her face still hot and her nose stung. Satya let out a breathless laugh.
“I would love to.”
And from then on, a floodgate opened. Satya’s urge to talk to people in another language was filled. After so long of letting the words stay on her tongue but never past her lips, letting them all out now seemed like a blessing.
Everyone was amazed by Satya’s ability to pick up languages so quickly. Though the truth was that she was trained to remember lots of information in a very short time during her training in Vishkar. So when people tell her how to say certain words or phrases she could easily remember it.
Though Satya had somewhat become the new darling of everyone.
“No, I want Satya to practice with me !” Hana yelled. “McCree, go away! You don’t even speak Korean!”
“Why are you attacking me?” McCree shoved Hana’s hand away from his face. “I was just asking her if she wanted to practice Spanish she could come to me!”
“Tell her some other times!”
“Hanzo, babe, Hana is being mean to me,” McCree draped himself across Hanzo, who was sitting next to Satya reading a book on his tablet. “Tell her to stop.”
“Stop,” Hanzo said, obviously out of reflex and wasn’t even listening to what McCree was saying.
“Are you talking to me or him?” Hana asked. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Go. Away.”
“Han-zo,” McCree whined.
Hanzo turned his head slightly and gave McCree a kiss on the lips, eyes not leaving his tablet. McCree sat down with a satisfied sigh, silent at last.
Satya couldn’t help but chuckled as Hana groaned, and they returned to their practice.
．．．．．
Although most of the conversation was still in English, the murmurs of foreign words could still be heard around the base. Sometimes, you just want to speak your mother tongue, so you can feel the shape on your lips and feel like you were not forgetting it.
And no matter how many language the agents of Overwatch speak, no one could converse with Satya in her mother tongue.
But that does not mean she couldn’t teach them.
Lúcio came back from his mission with other agents and found Satya smothered by everyone. He heard what had happened and laughed.
“Man, you guys didn’t know how crazy smart she was?” Lúcio said. “Never notice how she always smiles when you guys were telling jokes or making puns in other languages? Dudes, open your eyes!”
Satya’s heart melted a little as Lúcio swing an arm around her shoulder. Her best friend, noticing such small things-
“What about you, Satya?” Hanzo caught everyone’s attention with this question. “What about Urdu?”
Satya tensed up a little when everyone’s gaze fell on her.
“Is that what you speak, Satya?” Angela chimed in. “Would you mind teaching us a little?”
“Or just say something, if you don’t want to!” Lena piped up. “Ah! You don’t have to if you don’t want to as well.”
Satya looked around the room with all of them sitting there. Not everyone was paying attention to this conversation. Mei-Ling, Genji and Winston was by the table looking at something and laughing. McCree was arguing with Torbjörn. Zenyatta was meditating, stating that the voices of the team calmed him.
“Ah well, I don’t mind saying a phrase or two,” Satya replied. “What would you like to hear?”
“Anything!” Lena shouted, bouncing in her seat.
Satya hummed, pretending to think. She smiled softly, and the words rolled off of her tongue. Easy as breathing.