Professor Nathan Xavier
July 06, 2019 9:16 PM
Head of House Speech by Professor Nathan Xavier
Nathan Xavier stood up from the staff table once it looked like all the new Teppenpaws were done eating and headed over to collect them. The first year class was quite small this year and it was reflected in Teppenpaw's take as well, which was nice, because he was currently acting as a single parent to a one year old, and the fewer new students he had to take care of on top of that, the better."Hello," he greeted them, once he had collected all of his new students, trying not to show anything but cheer and welcome for the new kids, though it was a bit harder than normal when his wife was currently battling postpartum depression and had left to just 'get away' for a semester. "Welcome to Teppenpaw, first years. I'm your Head of House. Follow me, and I'll show you the way to our common room. My name is Professor Xavier," he introduced himself. "I'm your new Head of House, and the school's Herbology professor."
He pointed out landmarks to help them find their way back to the Cascade Hall for breakfast tomorrow, and made conversation to get to know them a bit. He liked to foster a familiar family-like atmosphere in Teppenpaw and that started with getting to know each student as a person as well as sharing enough information about himself so he wouldn't feel so much like a strange adult that had no personal investment in them.
"The Hospital Wing," he pointed out as they passed by its door, putting the most relevant point first so the German boy would hopefully pick up at least that much. Fortunately, his sister was in their House, too, so anything the kid didn't understand, she would hopefully be about to explain. "With luck, you won't need it too much, but if you do, our House is located conveniently close to it. Just head up these stairs here, and," he stopped only partway up, "here we are." He pointed down to the step he was standing on. "Look for the diamond shaped chip," he stated, pointing at it.
"You'll need to dance a jig on the chipped stair to open the Common Room," he continued. "Like this." He demonstrated. He was tired (but he couldn't remember not being tired so he was kind of used to that, and he was positively well rested compared to last year at this time). He was worried about his wife. He was overweight (though he'd lost a little bit of weight since this whole thing with Isis started). He was past fifty years old now. So it wasn't a pretty jig. Fortunately, it didn't have to be. It was the steps that mattered, not their rhythm or grace, and he could do the steps in his sleep (he was pretty sure he had at least once last year). "Repeat it two more times. Try it with me." He offered corrections when he saw mistakes, then at the end of the third repetition of step, step, step, heel-click, tap, tap, and shuffle, the wall beside him opened up, revealing the Teppenpaw Common Room, decorated in muted yellow and maroon tones.
They went in, Nathan taking the rear, and closing the wall behind him. On this side, it just looked like a door. In Nathan's opinion, the Teppenpaw Common Room was a nice relaxing space and he enjoyed spending a couple hours of 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. Little Dora had changed that dynamic a little bit, but he enjoyed engaging the students there in conversation and getting to know them, and having the not-quite-toddler about seemed to just add to the family atmosphere. His daughter loved having the students play with her and read books to her and while not every Teppenpaw enjoyed the company of a baby, enough did that he brought her down here with him at least twice a week. Though with Isis not available this semester, either that amount of time was going to increase or Mary Brooding was going to get called upon as a baby-sitter a lot more often. Sometimes for HoH duties, sometimes for the baby.
"Your House is like your family here. As your Head of House, I'm the one responsible for your safety and well being and I take that responsibility very seriously. I just ask you all to respect one another and school property and we shouldn't have too many problems." As this was Teppenpaw, the House of diplomacy and friendship, the problems in that regard were thankfully quite few. "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 boys - is up those stairs there, on the left. Those other stairs lead to the girls dorms; don't go up there or you'll end up back down here. Your year number is on your door."
He pointed over to the wall beside where they had entered. "The bulletin board is over there. That's where we post school and club announcements. Our prefects are Kir McLeod, Eden Manger, and Dorian Montoir this year." If they had stuck around the common room to see the incoming first years, he pointed them out as he said their name. "Prefects are students appointed to help you find your way around or otherwise be of assistance to you, and you can recognize one by the badge they wear. Kir is also this year's Head Boy, so congratulations to him for that. So any of those people, or myself, are good ones to go to with questions or problems or even if you just want to talk to somebody."
"Finally," he began his wrap-up with a more personal note, "my daughter, she's just over a year old, lives here at the school with me, so she'll be spending some time in commons with us this year, so I just wanted to warn you all about that in advance, because she does like chewing on unattended books. Her name is Theodora - Dora for short. So unless there are any questions, I think that's about it from me. Again, welcome to Teppenpaw. Breakfast is at seven, and I have more maps next to my office over there if you can't find yours."
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 just basically means that while these things can be happening at the same time out of character, 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!
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Professor Nathan Xavier
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