Nathan Xavier

February 12, 2015 9:43 AM
The try-outs had gone even better than Nathan had hoped. Not only had they met the minimum number of seven players, but they even had one in reserve. Perhaps even more miraculously, the students had divvied themselves up such that each position had enough potentials that Nathan and Selina didn't have to assign anybody to a role they didn't want.

Sorting out the positions had been almost easier than he'd expected it to be. He and Selina had worked a bit with the assumption that what people tried out for first was their first choice, and mostly, they had been able to accommodate that. Isaac had, admittedly, been a bit better at Keeper than Ginger, but he had also been a better Chaser than her, and they had opted to give both children their top choices, in no small part due to the consideration that having all three Chasers be first years was just a bad idea. Likewise Andrew had not been a bad beater, but he was smaller than the two second years trying out for the position, so they had left the older students who tried out for it first as their first string beaters.

The only real conflict was in Seeker, where both students had done well and neither seemed to have much of a second choice. Consequently, Nathan's only serious concern about the whole thing was that, after reviewing everyone's performance and looking over the names, it was one of the older Teppenpaws who had already been stuck on the sidelines after Teppenpaw had been unable to field a team last year who had landed in the reserve slot.

So after he posted the new roster - printed on a much milder shade of yellow paper - in the place of the garish try-outs reminder, he went looking for his reserve player to make sure he was okay with the results.


Team Roster
for the combined
Teppenpaw-Crotalus (Teppalus) Team

Co-Captains: Alistair Johnson and Liac Reinhardt
Chasers: Isaac Douglas, Alistair Johnson, Andrew Carey
Beaters: Liac Reinhardt, Tobias Reinhardt
Keeper: Ginger Pierce
Seeker: Uzume Shinohara
Reserve Seeker: Jacob Manger

Subthreads:
1 Nathan Xavier Team Roster 28 Nathan Xavier 1 5

Nathan Xavier

February 12, 2015 10:07 AM
Eventually, Nathan was able to spot Jake Manger as he entered the common room. As all Teppenpaws had to pass through the space several times a day as they came and went from their rooms, it had been the logical place to stake out, especially since he was also watching for Liac at the same time, as he had a badge to hand out.

He saw Jake first though and raised a hand to flag the third year down, hopefully without drawing the attention of everyone present. Nathan was a fairly large man and not entirely inconspicuous in the student lounge, even after sitting around quietly for a good part of the afternoon, seemingly just reading a book and petting his cat.

"Jake," he began, then hesitated, wondering if that was an appropriate way to address a student, but then he decided he wanted Teppenpaw to be a comfortable, friendly, and casual place to live and there wasn't a great need for formalities here, so he continued with only a momentary pause. "I don't know if you saw the Roster yet, but I just wanted to let you know, that I think you're a good player, and I seriously considered putting one of the first years as our reserve and letting you play Chaser or something," Nathan vaguely recalled Jake had tried out for that position last year, so that had briefly entered the discussion, "but I am confident that next year Teppenpaw will be able to field a full team on its own, and when we do, we'll need a Seeker. So I put you in reserve so you and Uzume can practice and compete against each other all year, honing both of your skills, and next year you will be ready to come out and play as Teppenpaw's experienced Seeker."

Nathan paused a moment to let that sink in, then added, "But, that said, if you do want to play in one of the games this year, you can probably work something out with your captains and teammates to have you substitute in."
1 Nathan Xavier Consolation? (tag Jake) 28 Nathan Xavier 0 5

Nathan Xavier

February 12, 2015 10:45 AM
After speaking with Jake, Nathan returned to his book, though Alice had run off at some point to stalk Prairie Elves or something so he no longer had his white long-haired cat to pet. After a little while, he spotted his second quarry appear. This conversation, he expected, would be much more upbeat.

The choice of captain had fallen to Nathan, seeing as Tepenpaw hadn't had a team in a few years and as he'd run the last two Tepp try-outs, Nathan had a better idea of the Teppenpaw players' abilities and skills than Florence did at this point. He had pretty much decided early on that he was going to name one of the unfortunate students who had tried to play last year but had been sadly relegated mostly to the Aladren and Pecari benches. Only three students therefore met that initial cut, and of those, one had graduated and the other didn't make first string. The one remaining, though, was an excellent candidate, and really the one who had seemed the most upset by last year's restrictions. He'd also pulled in his brother? - cousin? - relative this year to fill out their numbers when they looked like they were going to come up short. So Nathan felt no second thoughts about naming Liac Reinhardt as the new Teppenpaw Captain.

Instead of calling Liac's given name, as he had for Jake, though, Nathan instead felt a small grin creep across his sun weathered face as he instead called out, "Captain Reinhardt!"

When the second year turned his way, the grin broke into a wider smile and he held up the shiny metal Captain's badge. "I have something for you." He held out the badge and waited for Liac to approach. Handing the badge over, he said more seriously, "Congratulations, you're the official Teppenpaw Quidditch Captain. Obviously, as we're sharing a team with Crotalus this year, you'll be sharing co-captain responsibilities with the Crotalus captain, who is now Alistair Johnson. Together, you can work out how and when you're going to run your practices, reserve the pitch, give pre-game pep talks, and so forth. Next year, you'll take over sign-ups and try-outs for Teppenpaw. I think we've got a good shot at a full team then, so we'll give you an assistant once we've got that confirmed. Sound good? Any questions?"
1 Nathan Xavier A promotion (tag Liac) 28 Nathan Xavier 0 5

Jake Manger

February 15, 2015 5:32 PM
To hear your name called by your Head of House basically out of no where was generally a pretty unsettling experience. Jake hadn’t done anything wrong--at least to his knowledge, anyway--so it caught him a bit off-guard. But he wasn’t one to fear authority, mostly because he did consider himself well-behaved, so he wasn’t too worried, really. And in no time, Mr. Xavier explained.

When the man finished, Jake was momentarily silent. He had seen the roster, yes, and felt a surprising mix of emotions in response. On the one hand, he was glad to be the reserve; that meant all those kids who really, really wanted to play were going to have an opportunity, especially since he had only signed up to ensure they would have the numbers. But on the other hand, he was a bit saddened by the position. In a way, he had almost talked himself into it, hyping up for the season and the letter he could send to his parents and Marcus.

But Jake remembered that in signing up, he was aiming to be a leader. That meant taking whatever came with grace. So he just smiled back at his Head of House. “Oh, it’s no problem,” he answered cheerfully. “I don’t mind a little bench-riding, honestly. And I’m sure Uzume and I will have a lot of fun competing at practices this year.”

“Thank you, though,” he added quickly. Jake sincerely appreciated the fact that Mr. Xavier had taken time to make sure he was okay with his assigned position. “I might see about getting substituted in at some point, but if Uzume really shines in our first match, I think I’d be more help from the sidelines.” The third year chuckled lightly before grinning, “How excited must Liac be, huh?”
12 Jake Manger More like conversation 280 Jake Manger 0 5