Hello. You've reached the voicemail of the office of Zoe Washburn. If you need to make an appointment to see the principal, please leave a message after the beep, and an appointment will be arranged for you. Thank you.

*BEEP*

[Leave a message here if you need to/want to come in and see Zoe, and we'll work out a time for her to be in her office. All messages will be screened, but IC messages will be unscreened unless otherwise noted.

In creating this journal, the author has assumed the identity of a fictional person for use in the role-playing game fandomhigh, for the sole purpose of entertainment, without intending to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud either the person who created the fictional person, or any reader of this content. The author does not purport to be the creator of the fictional person, or to be affiliated with the creator, or with any person or entity with an interest in the fictional person. The author does not claim to be the person who is being used as the graphical representation of that fictional person, nor intend to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud that person by use of their image.]

You've reached the voicemail of Zoe Washburn. I'm not available right now, but if you leave your name and a message, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Zoe had gotten a late start to the day thanks to someone deciding to be a human alarm clock and waking her and John up at 4:30 in the morning. When the only way to get Grace to go back to sleep was to let her get into bed with them, she'd turned her actual alarm off in the process, and there went the morning. Grace was dressed, fed, and squared away for now, and that meant Zoe could finally focus on getting herself into the same state. Surely, not even Deadpool and Barney could destroy the school in a single morning without her.

[For that guy who totally talked me into this. Again, the topic of conversation is NFB.]

With Parents Weekend and Homecoming over for another year, Zoe's desk was cleaner than it had been in months. She still had plenty of things to get through, but not so much to stop her from keeping her door open in case anyone needed to speak with her.

The fact that she was still trying to air out the faint aroma of cigars that someone had left behind? That was a total coincidence.

[I'll be on SP during the day, and around in the afternoon and evening. :)]

After making Mal promise that he wouldn't be a bother to anyone while she was working, Zoe took Grace and got settled in her office, as ready to speak with parents as she ever got. Wanting to keep Grace entertained, she let her be a human paper shredder with old documents she didn't need anymore. She'd tear some up herself if she needed to work out anger issues later.

[Door and post are open!]

With the meet and greet in Barney's hopefully capable hands, Zoe had been content to spend the morning teaching Grace how to clean up her toys so that none of their guests would step on them and break them or hurt themselves. That might teach Mal a lesson in watching where he was going, but she didn't want anyone else who would be paying them a visit to get hurt.

[For visitors and guests and wheee PW!]

Sometimes, Zoe wondered if she'd wronged someone in a past life to end up working with Deadpool and Barney. And sometimes, she was reminded about how nice it was to not have to deal with problem students by herself. She was having a quiet day so far, and while she was ready for that to change, for once it wasn't a given.

[Door's open!]

The first day of the school year always brought out the last shreds of Zoe's optimism, even after all these years. It was the one day of the semester where she could still pretend that nothing would invade the island for a while, no one would destroy school property, and everyone would get along.

When you worked with Deadpool and Barney Stinson, drastic measures were sometimes necessary to stay sane.

[She's expecting one person, but the door is open too!]

Normally, Zoe didn't much mind this time of year, when she had to take the school records of all of the most recent graduates and have them filed away elsewhere. But she was finding it a little more difficult today, thanks to one record in particular, and she was trying not to look too emotional, in case anyone came by for something.

[door and post are open!]

Zoe had planned on having a quiet evening at home, until Grace insisted on watching her new favorite video over, and over, and over again. She was fairly certain that the songs and dances would play a large role in her nightmares tonight, but it was worth it to keep Grace entertained. She certainly wouldn't have minded a distraction though.

[for one!]

There was nothing like having a child in the throes of the terrible twos - who, as a bonus, had decided that "No!" was her favorite new expression - to make a woman actually look forward to being in her nice, quiet office dealing with paperwork. At least here, if anyone had issues that needed to be dealt with, they'd use complete sentences and wouldn't throw themselves on the floor to cry. Hopefully.

[Door and post are open!]

Incoming students meant fun times with paperwork for Zoe, and it was just the distraction she needed after whatever the hell it was that had happened last week. She hadn't been able to get straight answers out of Dean or Sam, and she'd been married to John for long enough to know that aversion meant something was very wrong. Unfortunately for the boys, she was a patient woman, and she knew she'd get all the details - after she'd finished cleaning her file cabinet, at least.

[The OCD is trapped under paperwork!]

With Grace safely tucked away in bed, Zoe was taking the opportunity to spend an evening relaxing and cleaning her guns.

Yes, those two things went together, in this house at least. Someday, she might even let Grace help.

[for the husband!]

Yes, my flist spam is done after this, I promise. I'm about to head out with my family for our very first cruise (to Bermuda eeeee!), so I'm going to be very much AFK until Thursday afternoon, when I will sadly return home. I have no idea what my cell service is going to be like, nor do I know how expensive internet access will be, so I'm assuming that the best way to reach me until I get back is going to be via e-mail (fhkatie at gmail). Peter and Dean have Sam-modding rights, and Minsc can mod Ziva. Other than that, everyone else is around and just quiet.

Try not to break LJ too many times in my absence, okay?

Anyone peeking into Zoe's office might not have too much trouble noticing that she wasn't in the best mood. She was rummaging around in her desk and her file cabinets to get things ready for the upcoming influx of new students, muttering all the while about broken cabins and students who needed to learn to keep their pants on.

[She's expecting two cabin breakers, but the door is open.]

Zoe had headed back to the house a little earlier than usual, knowing full well that she wouldn't last a whole day in her office away from John. She tried to be quiet as she went inside, partly to try to surprise John, and partly because she was hoping Grace might be down for her nap. It was possible that whatever was going on was making her vastly optimistic, and not just full of desire for her husband.

As tempting as it was to stay home, Zoe knew she couldn't let her whacked-out hormones keep her from her job. If her paperwork and daily duties took longer than usual while she got mentally distracted, well, she had a feeling from the radio broadcast last night that people would understand.

[Door and post are open!]

It was a beautiful day on the Isle of IKEA, flowers rising high between the pieces of Swedish furniture. The flags flickered happily in the afternoon sun, and even the island's usual silence was broken by the arrival of some visitors - or customers, as the case would be. Cable's boots stalked firmly across the wooden boards, his fingers entangled with little Jan's. A gun was strapped to his back, but that wasn't anywhere out of the ordinary.

He needed toddler furniture. It was one of those days.

Zoe had opted for a stroller for Grace, and she'd left her gun at home, but she was on a similar mission on the Isle, searching for furniture that was childish, but not pink. Anything but pink would do, and while having Grace with her actually made shopping more complicated, Zoe figured that if a pretty, pretty princess gene had somehow managed to get passed down to her daughter, this would be the place to discover it.

Nathan Summers was much more for blue, himself. Blue and yellow. Which made his options even *more* limited. He was standing by an outrageously baby-blue bedframe, Jan's hands coming out to - almost religiously - touch the edge of it, when he noticed Zoe. He looked up. "Baby shopping?" he guessed.

He did not look like a man accustomed to baby shopping.

"Yes, we are," Zoe said, grinning and watching Jan with amusement. "It's amazing sometimes how much they need to just get by. I wouldn't have expected to see you here; you don't strike me as the IKEA type."

"I might as well make use of the isle seeing that it's here," he said, "Or it's my love of Swedish furniture..." Nate was going to work surveillance equipment into every inch of that bed.

As Jan touched it, a little flower sprung up, brilliant blue and yellow, all for her. She giggled.

"Is that a sign of approval?" Zoe asked as the flower came up. "I wish I could get commentary that was that concrete, besides the word 'no' over and over again." In the stroller, Grace was sitting quietly, like she knew now would be a good time to be on her best behavior.

"I think the Isle might have been left desolate for too long," Nate replied, considering it. More flowers were starting to grow around Jan's feet; some of them were settling alongside the stroller. "Interesting..."

Zoe took a step back, pulling the stroller with her, and more flowers sprung up to take up the space. "Is it just me, or does it seem like maybe this isn't the best time for shopping?" she asked.

"Might want to postpone it," Cable agreed, one hand going for Jan's, the other for his gun. "Move."

Sure, it was only a plague of flowers upon their children, but you could never know for sure.

Zoe wasn't quite as concerned, but it hadn't been long enough since Grace was taken that she was willing to take a chance on her safety. "I'm right behind you. Let's go."

And with that, they abandoned the Isle to its own affairs, even though a trail of flowers followed the children as they went. In their wake, the Isle of Ikea seemed to swell with great joy as every colour became more and more vivid.

Cable, predictably, didn't look back.

[Preplayed with the lovely, if paranoid, spring_lost. Establishy and NFB!]

In Zoe's defense, she actually had a good reason to be in her office today, although that didn't stop her from dealing with paperwork while she waited for Fiona. Today, "dealing with paperwork" meant taking all the pamphlets and files she didn't need anymore and giving them to Grace. Each piece of paper ended up in enough separate pieces that it was almost like having a real shredder.

[For Fiona and any moral support only please, unless there's an emergency!]

Zoe didn't usually come into the office on Saturdays, but then, she didn't usually get calls about late students being admitted to the school either. Wanting to make sure that the girl got settled in without trouble, Zoe waited in her office for her to arrive.

[For one, please!]