Head of House Speech on Crotalus Commons

Professor Skies

February 03, 2018 12:21 AM

Head of House Speech by Professor Skies

Selina hd been very tempted to spend the feast hiding in her office and deputise all the duties with the first years to the prefects. But she would have had to hand the sorting over to Nathan, who had already also had a hell of a day, or Mortimer, who would resent it and wasn’t exactly the most welcoming figure for the nervous first years. She’d done what she had to, and just sucked up how she was feeling and got through it. She was more than ready for bed now though, hoping her mind wouldn’t start churning over everything the second she tried to sleep. At least she could be by herself for a while, and stop having to do things for other people.

At the end of the feast, at which she hadn’t had much of an appetite, she went to collect her students, checking she had the right number, and no more.

“Follow me, please,” she instructed, spacing the prefects out throughout the line to prevent stragglers or wanderers. All the older students had the password, so there wasn’t really a risk of them getting locked out. And hopefully they’d had plenty of time before the feast to catch up with friends from other houses and, along with the fact that one of her house’s characteristics was being rule-abiding, she hoped they wouldn’t really be tempted to wander off. She pointed out useful landmarks to the first years as they walked, which would help them navigate their way back down to breakfast in the morning.

“We are now approaching Crotalus,” she informed them, as they came to the last turn in the corridor, “Our house is guarded by a portrait known as Gunther. He is an inferus,” she added, feeling it prudent to warn them, as the picture was rather grizzly and could be a shock if they were unprepared. “If you offer him the password, he will open for you. Please treat him politely.”

They had now approached the picture, and Gunther eyed them hungrily, hands clawing against the front of his canvas.

“Asphodel,” Selina told him, and the portrait swung back, revealing a cosy room, decorated richly in red velvet with silver trimmings, including many comfortable chairs and couches.

"Welcome," she smiled. "I am Professor Skies - head of Crotalus house, and your transfiguration teacher. If you need anything, my office is just over there, or you can speak to one of the prefects," she pointed out the relevant students. "Our Quidditch captains - will be posting notices about tryouts shortly,” she explained. What with all the Cleo drama she’d completely forgotten to inform the new captains of their responsibilities and see whether they accepted, and so she figured that announcing it to the common room at large was probably not the best way for them to find out. “All the teams are very keen for new players, so think about signing up - even if you're new to the sport, you'll be against a lot of people in the same position.

"New passwords and useful information about clubs and so on are displayed on the notice board over there. Curfew is 10pm -you must be back in the common room by then, and are asked to keep noise down.

"Girls dormitories are to the right, boys to the left. If you have any questions, let me know. Otherwise, I suggest you settle in and get some sleep."

OOC -welcome to Crotalus. You are now free to post on any board except other houses and the staff/prefect lounge. You may continue your threads at the feast as well as posting here. This does not mean your character is in two places at once, as we operate under fuzzy time, whereby the time passing in the real world is not the same as Sonora - so long as threads are set at different times and do not have an effect on each other, you can be in multiple threads at once. You are not obliged to reply to this post but may do so if your character had questions to ask. Enjoy!

Subthreads:

Relying on big brother instead (tag Simon) by Sylvia Mordue

13 Professor Skies Head of House Speech 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Sylvia Mordue

February 14, 2018 11:18 PM

Relying on big brother instead (tag Simon) by Sylvia Mordue

Sylvia had enjoyed the feast, and talking with Chrystopher. She also noticed that Caitlin Pierce had been sorted into her house, and was looking forward to getting to know her roommate. Crotalus really was shaping up to be everything she had hoped for, bar one rather significant detail.

She followed Professor Skies up to the common room. She didn’t think much of the portrait - why have something so ugly and unpleasant representing the best house in the school?- but the room itself was simply delightful, and she could picture herself spending many happy hours here, once the initial issues were resolved. She considered mentioning it when Professor Skies asked if there were any questions, but it was more of a private enquiry, especially as she didn’t want to draw too much attention to Nate’s missorting in front of Caitlin.

After answering any other questions, their head of house left for her office. Sylvia considered following, and she certainly wasn’t shy of demanding exactly what she wanted from all and sundry. But before she could follow the professor, Simon approached and smiled at her.
“Welcome to Crotalus,” he said warmly. “Do you have any questions before we turn in?"

“Yes,” Sylvia nodded, appreciative for once of some of Simon’s good points. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box, but he was actually a very nice big brother. It felt good to be in Crotalus with him, his tone at the same time making her feel proud of her achievement but also safe and at home. “How do we get Nate here? Does he need to do the sorting thing again, or can we just ask Professor Skies?”

OOC - god-modding approved/written by Simon’s author.

13 Sylvia Mordue Relying on big brother instead (tag Simon) 1413 Sylvia Mordue 0 5

Simon Mordue

February 14, 2018 11:58 PM

Stating the obvious. by Simon Mordue

Simon had not been anxious about the Sorting ceremony. He had, after all, been quite sure that Sylvia would either be a Crotalus or an Aladren, either of which was a perfectly – well, most of the time – proper thing to be. He had, however, watched with anticipation, just to know – was Sylvia going to be Here or There? And Nathaniel as well, though he thought of Nathaniel as such an extension of Sylvia’s will that he could scarcely imagine them being separated. It never really occurred to him to wonder until it actually happened, startling him enough that he just stared at the front of the room for a moment.

Well, then.

Teppenpaw. That he had not anticipated, for either of them. He was relieved, however, to see Sylvia settle down to the table and begin talking to one of her yearmates, and not displeased when he discovered that Winston’s sister was to be her roommate. At least Sylvia would have one friend whose personal respectability he could feel fairly confident of.

He waited in the background while Professor Skies spoke to the first years, then approached his sister, smiling about as enthusiastically as he ever did.

“Welcome to Crotalus,” he said warmly. “Do you have any questions before we turn in?”

Professor Skies had just asked that, of course, but Simon felt an older brother’s desire to double-check. Sylvia liked to play at being grown-up, but she really had not been out in the world very much before, and was of course the baby of the family – asking the Deputy Headmistress a question might have seemed a bit much, if only for fear of asking a stupid question. Simon knew that feeling well enough. He did not, however, really expect Sylvia to ask him much of anything, much less what she actually did. His smile flickered in confusion.

“We can’t,” he said. “The potion put him in Teppenpaw, Sylvie. That’s his House.”

This sounded very much of stating the obvious, but he really didn’t know what else to say. He would have thought it was completely obvious to her, and was now very glad he had asked her if she had questions. It would have been embarrassing for them all if she had asked Professor Skies.

16 Simon Mordue Stating the obvious. 369 Simon Mordue 0 5

Sylvia Mordue

February 16, 2018 5:19 AM

Ditto by Sylvia Mordue

“But the potion got it wrong,” Sylvia protested, wondering why she was having to state something so obvious, even to Simon. “He’s supposed to be here with us. I want him to be here,” she added, the last point in her mind having far more significance.

She cast her eyes quickly, subtly around. Winston and Victor weren’t nearby. No one really seemed to be paying much attention to their little interaction, which after all was merely the unremarkable act of two siblings saying goodnight. She allowed her eyes to fill with tears. To say she was faking them would not have been entirely fair - although she could will up tears on command - they were an expression of how she genuinely felt, but she could have been grown up and kept them inside if she had felt it necessary, had anyone by whom she did not want to be thought a crybaby been looking. Sylvia cried often, but rarely without being in complete control of the fact that she was doing so, and almost never in such a way as would make her puffy faced or unattractive. She was good at having sparkling little tears well up in her green eyes and that was usually sufficient to move her family on whatever point was under contention.

“Can’t you do something?” Simon was her big brother. It was his job to look after her, to make sure she was happy. And, as her face clearly told him right now, happy she was not.

13 Sylvia Mordue Ditto 1413 Sylvia Mordue 0 5

Simon

February 20, 2018 12:58 PM

Playing with fire. by Simon

“Sylvie – don’t do that – “ said Simon helplessly as Sylvia’s eyes welled up with tears. “We can’t do anything, but – you don’t want Miss Pierce to see you with your eyes red, do you?”

This was admittedly a thin line to grasp, but maybe it would help. Sylvia had been so excited about entering society, wanting to meet his roommates and all that, and he could only assume she would be as excited about making friends with her roommate, who was his roommate’s sister. Simon had to admit this was a slight concern, too – he could not imagine it would do him any good for Miss Pierce to tell Winston that Simon’s sister was sniveling over being separated from her only-just-barely-respectable cousin. It would make the family look bad.

“Nathaniel will be fine in Teppenpaw,” he assured her, rubbing her shoulder. “They’re very nice people there, all of them.” Well, Jozua Sparks, besides being a public menace, ran the dueling club and his friend Umland had done…something a couple of years ago besides having the same none-too-common name as a rather alarming older fellow who’d terrified Simon on his second day of school by popping out from behind a bookcase like a vampire and asking in a rather threatening manner if he needed something, but that was not something to tell Sylvia right now. Nathaniel would probably never cross paths with those two. “And besides – it’s probably better for both of us – and maybe him as well – that he’s somewhere else,” he added in a very low voice. “All things considered.”

16 Simon Playing with fire. 369 Simon 0 5

Sylvia

February 22, 2018 7:30 AM

You should know better by Sylvia

No, of course she did not want Miss Pierce to see her with her eyes red, but she wasn’t going to, because Sylvia didn’t do ugly crying. She did not to unrestrained, turn your face blotchy and make your eyes red crying because it was disgusting. Had Simon really paid so little attention to her tears that he hadn’t noticed that she was still beautiful when she cried?

“No, but I- I’m not crying,” she pleaded, making her tone tremble in a way that definitely implied ‘yet,’ and that it was Simon’s responsibility to make sure they didn’t reach that point, her bottom lip quivering.

The rest of his speech did nothing to make her blink back the tears. Teppenpaws were nice. Who cared? Nice was not a way to win friends and influence people, and whether or not Nate was going to be fine mattered a lot less than whether he was going to be here. It was Simon’s last words however, that finally changed Sylvia’s mood. The tears disappeared as her green eyes flashed dangerously.

“What did you just say?” she hissed. “You’re glad he’s not here, aren’t you? You want to push him out? Are you going to try to treat him like he isn’t part of our family! How dare you!”

13 Sylvia You should know better 1413 Sylvia 0 5

Simon

February 22, 2018 2:53 PM

But instead, here's some incendiary fuel for the fire. by Simon

This was going all wrong. Simon desperately wished someone else had this problem, or that Victor and Winston would both walk up at once so he’d have an excuse to escape without dealing with the problem, or something.

Since they didn’t, though, he naturally put his foot in it and made the situation worse.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sylvia,” said Simon, startled by the abrupt swing in her temper but annoyed, too, himself by this point. She was being ridiculous and – ridiculous, that was all. Of course she’d always be his baby sister first, and forgiven a lot for that, but she was at school now and it was time to act less like a baby and more like a young lady of distinction, especially here, in his Common Room. Crying was all right at home, but not here. They had to conduct themselves to the highest standard at all times. “Of course Nathaniel is a member of our family, and I'm not trying to push him out of anything,” he continued, and then, to his own distant horror, continued, “but it's better this way, and I'm sure you'll understand that once you've thought about it for a while.”

It was for the best, however little Sylvia liked hearing it. Winston’s cousin Thaddeus and his social-climbing wife had two sons now, so Winston and Caitlin were technically having a worse time of the cousin game than Simon and Sylvia were – at least there was nothing wrong with Nathaniel, just his father – but the fact remained that the Pierces of ill repute were not underfoot while the Mordue with the useless father was. Therefore, it was better that Sylvia was being very clearly differentiated from Nathaniel right off the bat – everyone would know her as Simon Mordue’s sister, rather than Nathaniel Mordue’s cousin and thus, indirectly, Nicky Mordue’s niece. Alexander Mordue’s children were upstanding members of society, as Alexander Mordue himself was. His brother was best forgotten entirely.

16 Simon But instead, here's some incendiary fuel for the fire. 369 Simon 0 5

Sylvia

February 23, 2018 9:49 AM

Why would you do that? by Sylvia

Ridiculous? Ridiculous?! The accusation stung. She knew Simon had no idea that she was in perfect control of this little display - that was rather the point - but to call her ridiculous! Simon was supposed to love her devotedly and unquestioningly. He was her big brother. He did not find her ridiculous! She had wanted to come to Sonora so much, and now it was all ruined – Nate and she were split up, and Simon was being most un-Simon-like, and all the things that had got her her way in the past were not only not working but making him be actively unkind to her. \r\n

\r\n“Don’t be mean to me!” she gasped, the hurt in her voice not totally faked. She had found cause to be irritated with him in the past for being slow, or stupid, or for being the heir and getting unfair advantages, or even for being mean to Nate but never, ever for being mean to her! “You… You’re supposed to look after me here and make everything better, and now you’re being horrible about Nate and horrid to me. Why are you doing this?\r\n

\r\n“It’s not Nate’s fault,” she added, lowering her voice, even though it had been so quiet before that no one would have heard her. “What happened. We’re supposed to stick by him, and prove that. He’s done nothing wrong. And I’m not ridiculous!” \r\n

13 Sylvia Why would you do that? 1413 Sylvia 0 5

Simon

February 23, 2018 10:44 AM

Because I'm slow, stupid, and am the heir. by Simon

“I’m trying to look out for you here,” said Simon, struggling to remain calm between the growing desire to panic and the growing desire to get openly angry with his sister. “Do you know how much Professor Skies would laugh at you if you went to her with this? She’s not Father – she won’t just give you whatever you want because you want it!”

He paused, then, startled by his own vehemence, and by how close he felt he had just gotten to doing something absolutely forbidden: criticizing Father. That wasn’t done. It was not supposed to be done by anyone but especially not by Simon.

Underneath it all, too, he was a little hurt. Why’s it so important to have Nathaniel here? You’ve got me. I can look after you better than someone with a shadow over his head can anyway. And I am, in case you’ve forgotten, your brother. What makes him so special?

This, though, was something Simon would never say. It was pathetic, groveling for affection from his baby sister, being jealous of the likes of Nathaniel – all pathetic. He was the heir of the Mordue family. He was not allowed to be pathetic no matter how much he wanted.

“There’s no point in discussing this further,” he said brusquely. “You should go meet Miss Pierce. Good night, Sylvia.”

16 Simon Because I'm slow, stupid, and am the heir. 369 Simon 0 5

Sylvia

March 03, 2018 8:30 PM

And I'm the baby and the girl and you're meant to be nice! by Sylvia

She doubted very much that Professor Skies would laugh at her. That would be cruel and unkind, and very unteacherly. However right Simon might be about the fact that she couldn’t just have what she wanted here, Sylvia was not inclined to credit his opinion much when she couldn’t imagine a staff member being so openly rude - perhaps in part, an accurate expectation of a teacher, but also in part the rather over inflated notion that she was a very grown up young lady and could not possibly be a figure of fun to anyone; after all she had had all the right lessons, she knew all the right things to say, the right way to be.

“I bet you wouldn’t help me, even if you could,” she frowned at Simon. “You’re doing this on purpose. You’ve never liked Nate,” she accused, perhaps a little wildly. Obviously Simon didn’t love Nate as much as she did because that was impossible, but she was capable of taking his lack of enthusiasm as either proof that she and Nate were inseparable best friends, of why Simon - or more often Jeremy, for this purpose - should leave them to be just the two of them, or as a slight from Simon, whichever suited her purpose better. She felt on firmer ground, revisiting this accusation. She and Simon did row from time to time, of course, but she wasn’t used to personal insult from him, harsh tones, or not, ultimately, either getting her way from him or having an adult that she could then go wheedle to to either rectify the situation or make up for it in another way. She would leave him to stew, and he would be sorry he’d upset because that was what happened.

“Indeed,” she glared, when he told her they might as well go to bed, “I hope you sleep well and wake up in a kinder mood!” she turned on her heel and headed up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories.

13 Sylvia And I'm the baby and the girl and you're meant to be nice! 1413 Sylvia 0 5