16 Unicorn Street, Tuesday Morning

[bigdamnprincipal]

The search for a new place to live brought Zoe and John to one of the few vacant houses still left in town, and they both agreed that they wanted to check the place thoroughly before making any kind of final decision.

"Well, it looks upright from the outside," Zoe said, "which is more than I can say about certain other buildings on the island right now.

[For demons_death.]

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[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Not being a pile of rubble is a definite in the plus common," John said wryly.

[bigdamnprincipal]

"This is so strange," Zoe said, looking around. "For all we've talked about getting a house of our own, it feels different to actually be standing here looking at the place."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"It does," John agreed. He'd been unable to stop thinking about when Mary and him had gone house hunting back a lifetime ago.

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe recognized that look, and went over to slip her hand in John's, giving it a light squeeze. "It looks to me like there's enough room out here to set up whatever kind of protections you want.

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Yes," John said, squeezing Zoe's hand back and smiling at her. "Though I'm still working on how to protect against alien invasions."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe laughed. "I think the answer to that is to not have any graduation ceremonies. I never thought I'd be wishing for a giant gremlin like the one we had last year." She glanced at the house again before looking to John. "Want to see what the inside looks like?"

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Giant gremlin?" John asked curiously, as they headed for the front door.

[bigdamnprincipal]

"At last year's graduation, there was a big gremlin up for decoration," Zoe explained. "It...well, it kind of came alive, and the seniors were the only one who could move and kill it. I probably should have known that something crazy would happen this year too."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"It probably says something about my life that the giant gremlin doesn't seem all that weird to me," John mused, opening the front door and stepping inside.

[bigdamnprincipal]

"I wouldn't expect it to be weird if I'd been through everything you've been through either," Zoe said, following him inside. "Wow. This actually looks like the inside of a house."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Imagine that," John said, looking around. "You'd almost think people were supposed to live here."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Hey, around here, that's not exactly a given," Zoe pointed out. "I wouldn't have been surprised to walk in and find the entire inside just open with nothing in it." She peered in a little more, and headed for the kitchen area first.

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

John followed, poking at the various installed appliances. "Should we check to make sure it doesn't have talking mice or something?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe smirked. "That's a very good idea. Talking mice, miniature colonies of strange animals...who knows what we could find." She smiled at John. "Those are all things we could probably get rid of though, if we got the place."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Cast an exorcism, call in an exterminator..." He grinned. "Would give a whole new meaning to fixer-upper."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"We could put the boys to work in helping us. Maybe keep them out of trouble," Zoe said, only lightly teasing.

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure they'd be happy to help," John said, doing one more look around the kitchen before wandering back out into the living room and down the hallway beside the stairs. "Especially... I want to have a room for them too if we can manage it."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"They have rooms in the dorms, you know," she said, smirking. "Not that I'd mind having in-house babysitters, of course."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I doubt they'd want to give up living at the dorm," John said. "But still. It's a dorm. This is a home -- or will be if we do it right. It's not something I've been able to give them since their mother died. They need to know they have a place here if they ever need or want it."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe came out from the kitchen and gave John a reassuring smile. "We're going to do this right," she said. "And if that means making a place for the boys, then that's what we'll do."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

John gave her a boyish grin and kissed her. "Thanks. And like you said, when they're here, I'm sure they'll be happy to help look after Grace."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Oh good. I'm almost positive that this house has enough bedrooms, but we can check when we go upstairs." Zoe peered around, into the living room and dining room. "I don't know what we'd do with all this space. I'm not used to having more than a few rooms to go through, even on a ship."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"We're going to need to get more furniture," John observed. "Or any furniture, since it's not like we have much left from the fire."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe sighed softly. "That sounds so daunting," she said, before smiling weakly. "It's a good thing I like a challenge."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"We can take it one room at a time," John said. He glanced at the staircase. "Let's look upstairs."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Good idea." Zoe headed for the stairs first, making sure she got a head start in case she got stuck and needed a boost from behind. As soon as she got to the top of the stairs, she started counting rooms. "There's four bedrooms. At least, I think this is a bedroom," she said, eyeing the smallest room.

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Could be considered Grace-sized," John observed. "Least for a few years."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Oh, it would be perfect for her, wouldn't it?" Zoe said, grinning. "She's not going to need a lot of space, at the beginning, and that would leave lots of room for us and the boys."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

John continued down the hall stopping at the door to the master bedroom. "I guess this would be ours then."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"I guess so," Zoe said, peering over his shoulder. "How do you feel about paint? For the walls, that is."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"I don't have a vendetta against it or anything," John said with a teasing grin. "What colours did you have in mind?"