Nathan Xavier
August 03, 2018 10:59 PM
Head of House Speech by Nathan Xavier
Nathan rose from his seat next to Isis (now his fiancé!) as the feast drew to a close and the food began to disappear, and he looked to his newest group of young Teppenpaws. It was another small group this year, with only two Teppenpaws again, as had been the case last year as well. It was one of the few things about last year he that he didn't mind repeating. Smaller classes meant less crowded rooms, which were generally considered good for student morale. This time both were girls, so sharing would be required, but in Teppenpaw, that was often cited as a good thing as it meant a high probability for a new friend.He approached the student table and was surprised when Dorian personally escorted one of the new students over to him. As he already had half the group, he just led Katerina over to the other half of her House class and that was that. No need for calling out to the room at large to collect his charges this year. "Hello, welcome to Teppenpaw," he greeted the pair of them. "Katerina and Lyssa, right?" he asked, less certain of the names this year than he normally was because he hadn't been the one helping Selina get everyone Sorted.
"My name's Professor Xavier," he introduced himself. "I'm your new Head of House. You may have noticed the dormitory locations were not on the tour earlier;" he may not have been the one giving the tour this year, but he knew without a doubt that commonrooms would not have been included, "that's because they're supposed to be a secret to anyone not in the House." He still doubted they stayed too secret to anyone really intent on figuring them out, but it was the principle of the thing. "I'll show you the way now. Follow me please," he instructed. "It's right near the Hospital Wing," he added as they walked, "so you can use that as a landmark on your maps. You got maps, right?" The question was intended to remind them that they had them than because he had any reason to doubt that Gray might have forgotten to hand them out.
As he hadn't given the main tour, he filled the intervening journey with some of his favorite anecdotes that he hoped might help them remember the way easier as he pointed out a few key landmarks. "Here's the Hospital Wing," he said when they did eventually reach it. "We're up this set of stairs here. Other things up this way include the elf quarters and some supply closets, so there generally isn't much traffic beyond people from our house. My external office door is the first one on the right, up at the top, but mostly you won't get that far." He came to a halt partway up the stairs. "Watch for this diamond shaped chip in the stair," he instructed, nudging the spot on the stair beneath him with his toe. "To get into our common room, you stand on this step a do a jig."
After this many years, his tone wasn't even resigned anymore as he delivered this piece of bad news. It just was what it was. "Fortunately, you don't need to do it with rhythm or grace. It's the steps that are important. It goes like this."
Nathan demonstrated. The Teppenpaw Head of House was a big man with too many pounds around his middle, and no young chicken anymore either, so it was by no means a graceful or even a dignified dance, but he no longer looked like he was suffering a seizure, so improvement was possible. More importantly, his steps followed the pattern he described out loud, "step, step, step, click your heels, tap, tap, shuffle," he paused briefly, looking at the two students, "do it with me, we repeat that two more times, three in total. Step, step, step, click your heels, tap, tap, shuffle. Getting there, one more time. Step, step, step, click your heels, tap, tap, shuffle." On the completion of the third iteration, the wall beside him opened up, revealing the Teppenpaw Common Room, decorated in muted yellow and maroon tones. "Go on in," he invited, and followed after once they were both inside.
Nathan found the Teppenpaw Common Room a nice relaxing space and he often spent a couple hours each day sitting on one of the comfortable couches or chairs scattered about the room, in the hopes that familiarity bred trust and the students would voluntarily come to him if they had any issues with anything. He enjoyed engaging the students there in conversation and getting to know them, and his cat Alice could often be counted on as an ice-breaker as well. It made him feel like part of the House, not just its overseer, and he hoped the students likewise saw him as a favored uncle with whom they could be comfortable and joke, rather than being an imposing authority figure.
"As I think I mentioned earlier, your House is like your family here. I hope you will see me as something like an Uncle, but if there is trouble, I'm the one responsible for your safety and well being and I take that very seriously. I just ask you all to respect one another and school property and we shouldn't have too many problems. Also, curfew begins at ten so please be in here or your room by that time and keep your noise level to minimum so your Housemates can sleep."
"Your room - you'll be sharing, since you're both girls - is up those stairs there, on the right. The stairs on the left are for boys, so don't go that way. There are charms in place to physically expel anyone using the wrong staircase back down here, so I recommend not getting them mixed up," he added dryly. "Your year number is on your door."
He pointed over to the wall beside where they had entered. "The bulletin board is over there, keep an eye on it for school and club announcements. And you can see the House Cup over there. Teppenpaw is very proud to be hosting it again this year. Our prefects include Joe Umland, who is also our Head Boy this year, Georgia Kirkly, and Kir McLeod this year. So any of those people, or myself, are good folks to go to if you have a question or problem or just want to talk to somebody. They all wear badges so you can easily identify them as House and School authorities."
He believed he had hit all the key points, so he wrapped up his speech there. "I think that's everything. Any questions, please ask, otherwise, you may get to know each other more or head up to bed. Breakfast is at seven, and I have more maps in my office right over there if you misplace yours and can't remember how to get there."
OOC: Welcome to Sonora and Teppenpaw House! You may reply here with questions or just chat with and get to know your Housemates. You are now welcome to post your new Teppenpaw on any board except the common rooms of other Houses or the Lounges, because first year Teppenpaw students aren't allowed in those places. You may continue your feast and orientation posts as long as you like thanks to fuzzy time, which basically just means that while out of character, these things can be happening at the same time, in character, they are clearly happening a different times so your character can be involved in all of them. Have fun! And we are always happy to help answer questions on the OOC board or Chatzy if you have any!
Subthreads: Getting to know you better (tag Lyssa). by Katerina Vorontsov
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Nathan Xavier
Head of House Speech
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Nathan Xavier
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Katerina Vorontsov
August 06, 2018 10:17 PM
Getting to know you better (tag Lyssa). by Katerina Vorontsov
Katya supposed it spoke poorly of her, and was an insult to Dorian, but she was a little surprised when he offered her a hand getting up and then escorted her over to Professor Xavier and the Other Girl. She smiled, genuinely pleased and flattered, when he said he had enjoyed having dinner with her.“Moi aussi,” she said.
She flushed, more flattered and pleased still, when he put action to words and offered to spend yet more time in her company in the morning, by showing her down to breakfast. “Oui, c’est bien,” she agreed, stammering slightly, as he set a time for the meeting and subsequent escorting downstairs. “Je voudrais beaucoup ça.” I’d like that very much.
She smiled again when wished a good night in her own language and with her own name. “Bonne nuit,” she replied, with a small curtsy.
What, she thought as they walked along, listening to Professor Xavier say a great many things in English, must the other girl think! Katerina had been here only a few hours and was being escorted here and there by an exotically well-looking older boy. In her novels, this would be quite a feather in her cap, and so she assumed an American girl would be impressed even though said girl did not know that Dorian Montoir was also kind, intelligent, and possessed of elegant manners….
It was such a pity he was not Russian! If he had been, Tatya would have been as good as settled for life, she thought enviously. No-one was perfect, of course, but unless Dorian had some truly appalling secrets – some secret life involving utter depravity and horrible taste – then he was as close to the elegant people she read about than anyone else she had ever seen in real life, except maybe Mama….
Absorbed in these thoughts, Katya could not truthfully say she absorbed very much from Professor Xavier’s talk, which she felt slightly bad about when she realized it when they stopped walking on and on and on. Her eyes widened slightly in horror as she heard about how they were to get in and out of the house. She knew how to dance, but she had never…done that, whatever it was. It looked so undignified. She was suddenly very glad Dorian had not accompanied her any further. To think of – Tatya’s friend seeing….
Inside, her first thought was that there was something strangely comforting about all the yellow fabrics. At home, she and Tatiana had yellow covers as the top layers of their bedding, and bands of yellow and blue flowers painted for the frieze just below the ceiling in her room. Of course, at home the curtains were a blue-and-white chintz and the furniture itself was all wood painted white and the only reds were touches on pictures or lacquerware this-and-that, but soft yellow was a familiar color, a safe color. Realizing the professor had yet more to say, she sat down gingerly on the edge of a settee, crossing her ankles and folding her hands in her lap, handbag discreetly placed by her feet.
She had known the announcement she would share a room with the other girl was coming, and had not expected it to bother her, but she was in for an unpleasant surprise when the actual announcement brought a flutter of anxiety. She had never had a room of her own, of course – there were four girls in her family, two to each bedroom – but the thing which hadn’t really occurred to her until now was that this roommate wasn’t Tatya. She was used to sharing spaces with her sisters, but a roommate was slightly different, she thought, now that she was faced with an actual person with a face and a name – a name she suspected she was going to say slightly wrong when Professor Xavier finished his speech.
She looked somberly at the other girl when that happened. “Hello,” she said gravely, slipping automatically into Russian etiquette, which dictated that she refrain from smiling during this, their first meeting, lest her new roommate think that Katya was making fun of her. “My name is Katerina. Professor said yours – Leeza?” she tried hopefully.
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Katerina Vorontsov
Getting to know you better (tag Lyssa).
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Katerina Vorontsov
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Lyssa Fitzgerald
October 22, 2018 4:28 PM
I guess we better get to know each other by Lyssa Fitzgerald
Lyssa was uncomfortable in her robe. She’d never worn something like it, and she wished she could just wear jeans, though she did think the look of the big hall with everyone in their robes was beautiful.Parker had been right in describing it as a place where the outside had been brought in, and throughout the talk she had been staring around, not fully listening to what the principal was saying. When the time came for the sorting Parker had poked her in the side so that she would be paying attention.
When she found that she’d been sorted into not Pecari, Lyssa let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her brother, it was more that she didn’t want to have Parker checking in on her every day.
She smiled politely when the other first year had walked up and followed the rest of her new house out the door. Lyssa held her map in front of her trying to orient herself as Professor Xavier talked to them. Lyssa assumed from the description given that this was the Professor X Parker mentioned.
When she saw him do the jig she had found the jig entertaining, though a bit hard to follow if she was being honest with herself. The first time she tried it she failed miserably and by the third time had gotten it, though it was not pretty. Still the door opened and Lyssa walked in.
The colors were warm and welcoming. She couldn’t say that yellow was a color she had thought of as one she enjoyed before the moment of walking into the room. Yet now as she felt some unknown tension release itself, she associated this color with relaxation.
When the professor mentioned they were going to share rooms Lyssa simply nodded. Honestly she hadn’t thought about it at all. If you had asked her, she would have said that she was going to have her own room, just like Parker seemed to. She’d never shared a room with anyone. Living with older brothers meant she always, at least in her memory, had her own room. Part of her was interested, but she didn’t even know what to expect. What did you do when you shared a room?
The other girl sounded like she wasn’t a native English speaker. Parker had mentioned there was a girl his year from Russia or maybe just Russian? Katerina sounded like she might be related.
Lyssa stuck out her hand. Lyssa spoke slowly in hopes that she didn’t speak too quickly.
“Yes. Lyssa. It’s nice to meet you Katerina. So umm…. I’ve never shared a room. Have you? What do we do first? Choose beds?”
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Lyssa Fitzgerald
I guess we better get to know each other
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Lyssa Fitzgerald
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Katerina
November 05, 2018 8:42 PM
It seems like a good idea. by Katerina
Katya listened closely to the talking, understanding words and, with a slight delay, putting them into meaningful units.“That is a good start, I think,” she said, also slowly, but in her case because just thinking through the words was an effort. She didn’t think she was speaking too slowly, but how could she be sure? What if this girl was going to tell her she should not speak at all, the way that pig had at Orientation? What if –
No. She was not going to think like this. She was not some nobody. She was Katerina Andreyevna Vorontsova. Her papa was one of the biggest men in Volshebnaya Derevnya and her mama had been the most beautiful woman in St. Petersburg before she had married. Katerina could read four languages. Papa always called Tatiana his umnaya doch’ and Anya had a wealthy fiancé, but even they were not as proficient with languages as Katya was – Anya had little English and Tatya had never even tried to acquire any German. When she was an adult – well, it wouldn’t be proper for her to do so, of course, but if she had been a man, she could have traveled through half of Europe by herself and got around without an interpreter. She could definitely have a conversation with another little girl.
“I always share a room,” she added, adding an American smile to cover her nerves. “I have sisters three. Do you have sisters?” This was a good way to gain information about Lyssa and about her family, how they lived.
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Katerina
It seems like a good idea.
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Katerina
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Lyssa Fitzgerald
November 19, 2018 7:28 PM
Glad we're on the same page then by Lyssa Fitzgerald
Scratchy. That was the word that kept coming into Lyssa's head whenever the robes moved. They were scratchy beyond belief. Or maybe it was the sudden change in the air. There was something about this air she wasn't used to, and she didn't know what it was. It was almost like it was a bit wet. She tried to keep still so she wouldn't bother her new roommate though.Lyssa's eyes grew large at the mention of "sisters three."
She'd dreamed of having a sister once or twice, especially when JJ was at his worst right before the man in the kitchen. Still, Lyssa had never thought of having three of them. That would be too much for her. Having Parker and JJ was enough of a pain at times, adding anyone else would be, difficult.
"Wow, three sisters? I have two brothers. That was a lot. One is here. He is in Pecari."
Lyssa doubted her new roommate knew Parker, or if she did it was by reputation only and not the real Parker. She could imagine what people thought of Parker already. If it was anything like the last school they'd shared it was that he was a slightly dim jock.
Lyssa couldn't take it anymore and pulled the robe overhead. She was standing in the nice new jeans and collared blue shirt she'd had on when her parents drove her to the station to be picked up. She brushed down the front of her shirt getting all the fuzzy bits off.
"Sorry. I don't like the robes." She picked up the robes off the ground and looked around for a place to hang them up.
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Lyssa Fitzgerald
Glad we're on the same page then
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Lyssa Fitzgerald
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