"Mei-liiiiiiing~!"

The trilling voice of a woman woke Mei from her fitful,drooling slumber slumped over her desk.

She barely had time to reach for her glasses before she was greeted by a pair of hazel eyes peering down into hers.

"Oh." Mei wheezed. "Hana,what is it...?"

The other woman huffed,putting her hands on her hips. "I made breakfast,thought you'd like to know. You know,if you were ever interested in waking up."

Her eyes flicked over the contents of Mei's desk. "Is there something you're not telling me...?"

Mei straightened up,wiping her face off on the back of her arm as she hurriedly straightened everything out,several thick books,a tablet,and her drone broadcasting a constant feed of meteorological trends across the globe. "N-no,I was just...doing some research."

Given their circumstances,there was really nothing much to do than for her to go back to desk work. It seemed like the days of climbing mountains and traversing forests were behind her now.

"Well,okay." Hana's face softened. "Go ahead and wash up. Everything's on the table already."

After a quick round of face-washing and hair-brushing,Mei and Hana were sat on opposite ends of the table in Mei's reasonably-small apartment,with the smell of bacon,eggs,and toast filling the room. It was the kind of place you'd stay snugly enough in on your own,but it'd definitely be just a little cramped if someone else moved in. For what it was worth,it even had a pretty good view of Lijiang Tower. Which is to say,it was close enough that the office workers could look in if Mei didn't keep her blinds drawn.

Up till now,she really never lingered for long in this place,but it was well-kept enough for the sudden introduction of an unexpected,but not entirely unwelcome houseguest.

Hana had shown up one day saying she needed a place to hide out,though she was pretty tight-lipped on whether it was just the fans and their attention,or that mysterious reaper that'd been hunting down Overwatch agents. Both seemed equally worth running far,far away from.

In fact,that was pretty much the only thing that Hana had been tight-lipped about since she crashed in. Mei didn't want to make any assumptions,but it rather seemed like Hana was practically relieved to be able to slip into a mundane,sedate pace of life. Just like she slipped into Mei's comparatively oversized T-shirts and sweatpants. She'd (somewhat reluctantly) taken Mei's bed,and spent her time at surprising ease within the house,cleaning up a little,watching Mei's anime collection...it really did look sweet,when Mei thought about it.

Mei glanced across the table,over at the woman who'd found her way back into her life after they'd gone seperate ways.

Global celebrity (among a certain subset of the population),and a prominent military officer in the Omnic Crisis,all before the age of 19. Mei wondered what that must be like. But the woman before her was that bit more grounded,more modest,more naturally bright and caring. With someone like her,a charmingly domestic existence would be...nice,if not forced by circumstance.

Mei's thoughts were soon interrupted by Hana raising her voice ever so slightly with concern. "Heeey,are you listening? Anyway...I thought maybe we could visit the Tower today,you know? Get out a bit. I've never really got a good look inside it."

Mei sighed,pinching the bridge of her nose. "Hana,we've been over this. I mean,we can't have anyone recognising you." And so it'd been for the past couple of weeks. They couldn't get anything they needed online,and Hana would be too much of a risk if someone recognised her. So she was the one to pull a coat over herself,and make a run for whatever they needed resupplied.

"Oh. Of course...But-" Hana glanced up briefly,considering trying to press the issue,before looking back at her plate.

Mei's gaze of mild annoyance turned to one of worry. It made sense,after all. Hana sure wasn't a kid anymore,even if she was more than ten years younger. Her eyes jumped over to the endothermic blaster resting on the side of the table. At this time,it was never more than a few feet away from her. Even without being hooked up to her tank,it still carried enough to freeze a couple people solid and shatter them into tiny pieces.

"You know...I think that'd be great. We could both get out for a while. I could...show you around." Mei's voice trailed off,as a semblance of a smile tugged at the edges of her lips.

"Thanks-" Hana began,just as the doorbell rang. The gradually lightening mood was smothered again by a thick,dark cloud of adrenaline.

Rising quickly to her feet,Mei held up her blaster,treading towards the door. Hana clearly had the same thought,as she moved to cover Mei,her own gun in hand.

Mei really didn't want to show her face to whatever was on the other side of the door,but it's not like she could ask Hana to do it either.

Pointing with her chin,she signaled to Hana to stand behind the door and pull it open,as she leveled her blaster at the deadly threat that no doubt lay just beyond it.

Creak.

The door swung open,Hana spun around to face the doorway,Mei hesitated for a second.

And she was glad she did.

Greeting them,not the face of a man or a machine,but the radiant,golden glow of an angel.

"Morning ladies,Winston called. It appears...Overwatch is back in business."