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 Winchester. 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 was winning the battle against paperwork today, so she didn't feel guilty about taking the occasional break to look for clothes for Grace online. She was growing way too fast in Zoe's opinion, and not just because they were running out of pants that fit her well. Somewhere on the internet, there had to be clothes for little girls that weren't pink, and she was going to find them.

Zoe had set aside her usual paperwork for reports about the gremlin attack and the damage that had been done throughout the dorms and town. She was very grateful that things had gone so well, not just because none of the students were seriously hurt, but because she was pretty sure she could get away with not telling the school board anything about what had happened. What they didn't know didn't hurt them, and it didn't hurt Zoe either.

[Door and post are open!]

With the weather outside being so miserable lately, Zoe was taking some time to go online and look at vacation spots in warmer climates. Looking at pictures of beaches and sunlight might not have actually made her warmer, but it put her into a much better mood before she had to deal with her latest round of e-mails from the school board.

[Door and post are open!]

Zoe had Grace with her at work today, and was once again using child labor to deal with the disposal of old paperwork. Considering that every time Zoe handed Grace a new sheet she squealed and said, "Bye bye paper!" she didn't think Grace really minded being used as a human shredder.

[Door and post are open!]

The new semester meant Zoe's paperwork had started reproducing amongst itself again. She was almost to the point where she was worried about her desk weakening under the weight of everything on top of it, but the longer she took to get through everything, the longer she could ignore the messages she'd gotten from the school board, wanting to talk about something involving New York. To say that she'd rather give herself paper cuts said a lot about how she still felt about the board.

[Door and post are open!]

In the years since she'd first come to Fandom, Zoe had grown kind of fond of Thanksgiving. It reminded her of special meals on Serenity, the ones that came right after they'd finished a job and actually gotten paid for it, when they could afford good food and everyone could get together in the same place at the same time to eat together and relax.

Those days came about as often as holidays around here, so the comparison came easily.

As nice as the dinner at the school sounded, Zoe wanted something a little more personal with just family and friends. She'd actually managed to get the turkey thawed at a decent hour this year, and she was pretty sure they had enough food for everyone, including pie. She knew far better than to forget the pie.

[For the Winchesters and friends!]

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?