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Jesse never really liked tea, but faced with somebody's grandma wielding a kettle like a knife, he couldn't say no. Setting his duffle of supplies aside, he settled into an antique armchair for requisite teatime conversation.
"I never caught why you were here," his lovely host, Johanna, hummed. Her spectacles caught the sunrise just right, but he wasn't sure if she could tell how loud all her damn clocks were through those thick curls.
His sip lasted a few moments longer than necessary. A fabric doily caught itself in the joints of his elbow as he tried to lower the cup to the saucer. "Trackin' down a story," explained Jesse. Flesh fingers pinched and extricated the fabric. "I'm a independent reporter for--y'know the site with the quizzes?"
"BuzzBee?"
"Yea, BuzzBee. There’s rumors ‘bout--”
“You write the quizzes?”
“Some of ‘em, yeah.”
“The ones that tell you what puppy you are?”
“Not… not quite those, ma’am, but--I’m here ‘cause there’s rumors ‘bout a haunting nearby.”
That earned an “Oh, my,” and wide-eyed interest from his captor. Turned out, no matter where in the world you went, grandmothers were always nosy. “Is it the cathedral?”
Jesse shook his head. His glasses drifted down his nose with the motion. “You know the, uh…” He pushed the improperly-fitted pair back up, grimacing in apprehension. “... the old Overwatch HQ?”
“Overwatch,” Johanna repeated. The master of her doily-decorated domain, she controlled the flow of conversation, and so it sat silent for just long enough to become uncomfortable, before she confirmed. “Yes, I know it.”
“I’m there to put ‘em to rest. The rumors,” he quickly corrected.
Johanna nodded, rocking gently back and forth in her chair in thought. Another bout of silence and Jesse almost finished his tea with polite sips before she spoke again.
“My daughter served with them.”
The neutral tone and past tense were not lost on McCree. “Did she?” he probed, softly.
Johanna nodded once more. “Doctor Charlot Wagner, Vice Chair of the Oceanic Reconstruction Committee,” she rattled off. “She was going to leave on a mission to Australia that day. We were out in the garden when we saw the smoke.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am,” Jesse murmured. He couldn’t finish the tea.
“Sorry will not bring my grandson’s mother back, Joel.” Johanna set her cup and saucer aside. “Good luck with your story, but watch out for the dead.”