Nathan Xavier
March 13, 2021 8:19 AM
Head of House Speech by Nathan Xavier
OOC: It is not required that you reply to this post, but you may if you'd like. BIC:
Nathan Xavier stood up from the staff table once it looked like the new Teppenpaws were done eating. His step was lighter than it had been this time last year as he headed over to their table to collect them. His youngest child was actually sleeping through most nights these days, and Nathan was no longer weighed down by persistent exhaustion. It was an amazing relief, and he was optimistic about the coming year.
"Hello, first years" he greeted the new Teppenpaw students with a smile, once he had collected the small group of them. "Welcome to Teppenpaw! I am your new Head of House, Professor Xavier, and your Herbology teacher. Follow me, please, and we'll head over to our common room, where you will be living for the next seven years while you're here at Sonora."
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 like a strange adult who had no personal investment in them. He mentioned that he had a wife, a preschooler, and an toddler living with him here at the school, so they'd probably meet them over the course of the year as well, particularly since his wife was Professor Carter-Xavier, Pecari's Head of House, and the on-staff substitute teacher.
"The Hospital Wing," he pointed out as they passed by its door. "With luck, you won't need it too much, but if you do, our House is located conveniently close to it. We'll 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. "It goes like this." He demonstrated. He was overweight and in his mid-fifties, so it wasn't a necessarily pretty jig, but fortunately for many Teppenpaws, it did not have to be pretty. It was the steps that mattered, not their rhythm or grace, and after seventeen years of being the Teppenpaw Head - Merlin, even the seventh years had barely been born then - he could do those in his sleep (and was pretty sure he had on a few occasions). "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 an hour or so 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. Sometimes he would chat casually with whoever was present, and sometimes he'd set up a big jigsaw puzzle for the kids to help him with, and sometimes he'd just work on a word search or something.
"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. Even when there were problems, they tended more toward implosion than explosive collateral damage. "Also, curfew begins at ten so please be back here or in your room by that time and keep your noise level to minimum so your Housemates can sleep. Your rooms are up those stairs there, boys on the left, girls to the right; don't go up the wrong one or you'll end up back down here. Your year number is on your door, and each year group gets its own room."
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 Katerina Vorontosov who you may remember also earned Head Student tonight, Zara Jackson, and Dathan Fischer." If any of the prefects happened to be around the Commons either by intent or chance, he pointed them out as he said their name. "Prefects are students appointed by the staff to help you find your way around or otherwise be of assistance to you. There is one from each of the upper three year groups. They can be recognized by the badges they wear. So any of those three, or myself, are good people to ask questions or bring problems to or just talk to if you need a sounding board for anything."
"Also, I see you have a pet," he added to Mr. Hexenmeister. "Please don't it it loose in the common room." Cats were generally welcome to wander freely, and his own Alice did that when the old girl was feeling energetic enough, but he doubted that a snake would be as readily welcomed by the other House members.
"Finally, 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." He gestured to a small box set next to a door labeled PROFESSOR XAVIER - OFFICE.
OOC: Welcome to Sonora and to Teppenpaw House! You may reply here with questions or just chat with your new Housemates and get to know them. You are now welcome to post your new Teppenpaw student 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 would like to, thanks to fuzzy time which 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!
Subthreads: Hi hallmate! [Lydia] by Valentine Duell with Lydia Priory
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Nathan Xavier
Head of House Speech
28
1
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Valentine Duell
March 19, 2021 3:38 PM
Hi hallmate! [Lydia] by Valentine Duell
Valentine hoped Wally hadn't gotten into to much trouble at the feast. She'd felt awful guilty through the rest of the meal about the whole thing. He'd tried to make a quick apology for his brother, and she had forgotten about the rules and kept him there. Now she would need to find and apologize to him soon. Maybe at breakfast if she saw him there... and didn't run into anyone else first and got distracted.As the feast ended, she said some quick 'See you in the morning's to Bonabelle and Lavender and tried to catch up to Professor Xavier and the new first years. She hadn't gotten a chance to meet them at the feast properly, and she wanted to rectify that as soon as she could. The new Hexenmeister had looked like he was doing well talking with Dathen, but the new girl seemed a little uncertain. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with other things... Val chided herself, she should have been more attentive.
Her farewells may have taken to long as they were already inside and Professor Xavier had finished up his welcoming speech when she arrived. She smiled warmly as she walked up to the new girl, "Hi! I'm Valentine, I'm happy to have you here!" That was a bit of an understatement, there had been a distinct lack of other girls in Teppenpaw around her age to hang out with. "Do you want to go check out your new room? I'm in third year so mine is right nearby." She sighed a light, knowing sigh. "I don't have any roommates either, but we can be hallmates!" She ended with a bright smile.
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Valentine Duell
Hi hallmate! [Lydia]
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Lydia Priory
April 17, 2021 11:01 PM
Hey! by Lydia Priory
The feast was pretty much at it's end and the Heads of Houses were gathering up the first years. Lydia heard one of the professors call for Teppenpaw. She said goodbye to Tommy, and followed the man and the other first year in her house, looking sadly over at Iris on her way to Crotalus. She looked back at the boy, wondering if they would become friends. Lydia hoped so-or at least that they didn't become enemies. It was Teppenpaw though, so maybe that wouldn't happen? Because everyone was, by definition, nice.Still, that didn't mean they'd become close. Bridget liked the other Tepps in her year, but wasn't all that close to them. In fact, one of Bridget's roommates was actually Sophia's friend. And neither Mommy nor Aunt Hope had been close to the other Tepps in their classes either. But then, they also hadn't been enemies with them.
Anyway, it wasn't like she could only be friends with people in her own house either. Pretty much most of the people in her family had been friends with people in other houses rather than their own. The only person she could think of that her relatives had been friends with in their own house was Connor's girlfriend Peyton. And the only Aladren that Sophia seemed friendly with was a younger girl.Whom the Teppenpaw was just a tiny bit jealous of. Sophia had never been especially interested in her .
Still, remembering this about her family made Lydia feel just a tiny bit better about being separated from Iris. Though she still hoped she made friends with her year and housemate.
They arrived at what was apparently the entrance to the Teppenpaw common room and Professor Xavier informed the two of them exactly how they would enter their new home. Lydia wasn't a bad dancer, she was tiny enough that she always seemed graceful and light on her feet but she couldn't help but worry that she wouldn't be able to learn the jig quickly and she'd end up stuck outside, unable to enter her common room.
After practicing a few times, they entered the common room. Professor Xavier gave a quick speech welcoming to Teppenpaw, explaining about prefects and curfew and what not. Once he finished up, Lydia was about to go up to her new room when an older girl came up and introduced herself to the first year. "Hi." Lydia replied. "I'm Lydia Priory, of the Wisconsin Priorys."The greeting was a habit by now and she rarely gave any though to introducing herself in such a manner. It was what she'd been taught to do and it wouldn't occur to her that anyone would have an issue with her over it." It's nice to meet you Valentine." Lydia nodded. "Yes, I'd like that." She smiled despite herself and her anxiety. "That will be nice." She added. Valentine seemed super kind and welcoming and Lydia was genuinely happy to meet her. She hoped things were going just as well for Iris over in Crotalus. Her friend's roommate looked kind of intimidating.
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Lydia Priory
Hey!
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Valentine Duell
April 19, 2021 4:55 PM
Like the place so far? by Valentine Duell
Valentine nodded cheerfully at the introduction and did her best to commit the name to memory while forgetting about the 'Wisconsin Priorys' part. She certainly didn't have anything against such things, but Aunt Jhonice got a little weird with questions whenever she mentioned any of her school-friends with such names. "It's great to meet you Lyida!" She gestured towards the girls' stairs, "Come on then, let's go see what it looks like! I can show you where my room is as well."She headed towards the stairs talking to the new Teppenpaw along the way. "Do you know much about the school yet?" Val assumed she probably did if she came from a 'family' but assumptions were bad to make and this was an excellent way to get to know Lydia, especially if she led off with some sharing to start. "Both of my parents went here so I knew a bit, Papa was even a Teppenpaw, Mama was a Crotalus. That was ages ago though." She flashed Lydia a playful smile. "So things were a little different than they remembered."
Another thought struck her. "Do you have any hobbies? There are a bunch of clubs around the school, and Quidditch." Quidditch was fun, clubs were fun. People were fun... usually. Her face dropped a few cheeriness levels when the thought of Stanley drifted through her mind again. She still had the crumpled up letter stashed in her robe pocket, not quite sure what to do with it... or him. Right! Lydia! New friend and hallmate! She perked back up and squashed those not-so-happy feelings back away to be dealt with later. "So, I may not be a prefect or anything, but you can still ask me whatever you'd like. I'm not an expert, but I may be able to find one for you!"
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Valentine Duell
Like the place so far?
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5