HoH Speech on Teppenpaw Commons

Nathan Xavier

January 18, 2019 9:11 PM

HoH Speech by Nathan Xavier

Nathan, more than anything in the world, just wanted to go to sleep. He'd been awake far too many hours already today and he was ready for it to be over. Fortunately, there was really only one thing left to do before he could fall into bed - it was the first night Theodora was sleeping over at Gramma's House so both he and Isis could be rested and ready for their first day back as teachers, and Nathan couldn't begin to express how grateful he was for the night off tonight.

So he stood up from the Staff table - perhaps a minute or two earlier than the clock declared was the normal wrap up time, but he didn't thing anyone would care overmuch. It looked like all the new Teppenpaws were done eating - and headed over to collect them. The first year class had been pretty evenly split this year, which was nice, but it did look like Teppenpaw was not very well distributed on girls versus boys for this year group. The girls room was going to be a bit crowded.

"Hello," he greeted them again, once he had collected all of his new students, trying not to let his exhaustion show too badly. "Welcome to Teppenpaw, first years. I'm your Head of House. Come follow me and I'll show you the way to our common room. My name is Professor Xavier," he repeated his earlier introduction, in case they had forgotten.

Normally, he tried to point out landmarks to help them find their way back to the Cascade Hall for breakfast tomorrow, and make conversation to get to know them a bit, but tonight he just wasn't that on top of things. He still managed one or two of the most obvious landmarks, especially near where they needed to make turns, but it wasn't anywhere near his best trip back after the feast, and he felt a little guilty about it.

"The Hospital Wing," he pointed out as they passed by its door and headed up a flight of stairs, but then he stopped only partway up. He pointed to the step he was standing on. "Diamond shaped chip," he stated, pointing at it. Good news was, his sentences were getting really short, so the one German girl in the group shouldn't get lost in run-on sentences. Bad news was he was losing verbs and he still had one more speech to get through tonight.

"You need to dance a jig on the chipped stair to open the Common Room," he continued. "Like this." He demonstrated. He was tired. He was overweight. He was getting old (fifty years old this year). It wasn't pretty. Fortunately, it didn't have to be. It was the steps that mattered, not their rhythm or grace, and he could (as he was proving tonight) do the steps in his sleep. "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. Nathan found the Teppenpaw Common Room a nice relaxing space and, prior to this year, he had 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 wasn't sure how much the baby would change that, but he enjoyed engaging the students there in conversation and getting to know them, and he hoped it would be able to continue now that he was a dad to an infant.

"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. 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 all girls - is up those stairs there, on the right. Those other stairs lead to the boys 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 Georgia Kirkly, Kir McLeod, and Eden Manger this year, and they'll be organizing our House performance at the concert this June. So any of those people, or myself, are good ones to go to with questions or problems or concert ideas or even if you just want to talk to somebody. They all wear badges so you can easily recognize them as House and School authorities."

"Finally," he began his wrap-up with a more personal note, "my wife - Isis Carter-Xavier, the Pecari Head of House here - and I just had a baby, she's three months old, and you'll probably see her around the commons a bit this year, so I just wanted to warn you all about that in advance. Fortunately, you can't hear her crying in the middle of the night from here, so that won't be a problem you need to worry about. 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!

Subthreads:

Tag the roommates! Fay, Bridget and Johana-Leonie! by Zara Jackson

1 Nathan Xavier HoH Speech 28 Nathan Xavier 1 5

Zara Jackson

January 23, 2019 8:10 AM

Tag the roommates! Fay, Bridget and Johana-Leonie! by Zara Jackson

Zara was pleased with how Sonora was going so far. She already had a friend. And knew how to say that in her friend's native language. Freunde. She kept repeating it in her head so that she would not forget. It helped that it sounded similar. She knew the word for magical people had begun with Z but it didn't want to stick in her head. That was a shame because she was fond of the letter, for obvious reasons, and if she could remember it, she could have been Zara the Z... whatever it was.

At the end of the feast, she followed Professor Xavier, trying to keep an eye on the landmarks but well aware that she could just get Kir to look after her. Or, she supposed, any of the other older students. She wasn't shy when it came to approaching people but she was pretty sure Kir had sworn if not an actual unbreakable vow then something pretty close to it that he would look out for her before her parents had agreed to let her come to school.

She watched, delighted as Professor Xavier explained they had to jig their way into the common room. Most of the information was fairly expected, and as Zara was starting to feel sleepy, she hoped it was brief. She almost did a double take at the end, thinking she might have misheard him when he talked about how there might be a baby in the common room. That was... different. Zara did not have particular feelings beyond that. She wasn't the kind to go all gooey over babies but it wasn't like she hated them either.

Once his speech finished, and any questions were out of the way, she headed upstairs. Although she was getting sleepy, there was still one more thing to do: meet her roommates. She was used to having a lot of people around - she had a brother and a sister, plus five cousins who basically felt like immediate family. But she had still always had a space to call her own. Still, she had signed up for this, and she thought a part of her would have been disappointed not to have any roommates. It was all part of the adventure.

"Hi," she smiled at the other girls. "I'm Zara," she added, for the benefit of those other than Johana-Leonie (whom she had met at the feast). "Looks like we're roommates. Should be fun, right?" she added cheerily.

13 Zara Jackson Tag the roommates! Fay, Bridget and Johana-Leonie! 1444 Zara Jackson 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

January 23, 2019 2:26 PM

Ich bin einer von denen! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie wasn't sure how she felt about dancing to get into the Common Room. There was enough about her that already stood out, and she didn't really need the added layer of dancing in front of people she didn't know. Dances were a big part of her childhood, but she didn't know these people yet and was less convinced about it. Still, it wasn't all bad.

The man that had talked to them before talked to them again and Johana Leonie was pleased to confirm that he did not indeed have any heads in the room. The word "baby" was easy enough to catch, and she was thrilled to think she might meet a tiny person soon. Babies were commonplace at the Zauberhexen home since so many people came to them for midwifery and Johana Leonie was eager.

Following her new friend and roommate upstairs, Johana Leonie was pleased to find that the room was fairly comfortable and she and Zara weren't the only Teppenpaw first year girls. This was good because it meant that Zara wouldn't only have to struggle through conversations with her for the next 7 years, but would also have some other people to chat with. She was glad to know she was less burdensome that she originally feared.

She understood Zara's self-introduction and bits and pieces of the rest of her comment, but her tired brain wasn't going to cooperate in English much longer and she mostly just nodded blearily. Zara looked happy and that meant she wasn't expressing anything to troublesome just yet. It sounded like a question, but Johana Leonie wasn't sure.

"Ja, fun," she said, her voice thick with sleep and her accent thick with home. "I'm Johana Leonie," she said to those present, although Zara probably didn't need a reminder. "Mein Englisch ist. . . ehhh..." she held up two finger close together as a warning to her other roommates, and was grateful that her German sentence was pretty close to "my English is..." all by itself.

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Ich bin einer von denen! 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Bridget Ferguson

February 04, 2019 6:42 AM

You are....einer von denen? by Bridget Ferguson

Once the feast was getting towards the end, Professor Xavier called for all the new Teppenpaws. Bridget stood up and joined the other girls as they followed their Head of House up, glad to be able to go up to her room. The fact that she had to deal with roommates wasn't something she was looking forward to, at least not tonight. Not that she didn't want to make friends, but tonight she was upset and worried and kind of just wanted to be alone, not meeting strangers.

She was even less enthralled with knowing that she was going to have to dance to get into her common room. Bridget had always been sort of clumsy and uncoordinated. Fortunately they got to practice. Unfortunately, in the state that the Teppenpaw was in, she made a lot of mistakes and got a few corrections. Her cheeks burned in humiliation and she forced back tears. She knew Professor Xavier was just trying to help but still, it wasn't the first impression she wanted to make on her new roommates. Bridget just hoped that on top of everything else, the other girls wouldn't make fun of her now.

So what if you can't dance? You are good at Transfig and Potions. She reminded herself in order to make herself feel better. The former was assumed based on her gentics since Dad was a Transfig prodigy-though due to the fact that he was usually drunk, he'd never tried to become an animagus, like Bridget was herself planning to do-and the latter was assumed because, well, her cousin Nora liked to send her father books on how to make cocktails because he, well, really liked drinking, and growing up, the first year had ended up reading them and trying to make the drinks for her dad. And her dolls and teddy bears, but obviously, Dad drank those too. And if Bridget could make drinks, then she could do potions.

Besides, this was Teppenpaw, so hopefully that meant her roommates would not pick on her for doing things wrong and getting called out on it the way they might in another house.

Bridget followed Professor Xavier and her roommates into the common room. The Head of House gave a speech that barely registered with her aside from the part where he told them where their room was.

Once the girls were all upstairs in their room, an African American girl introduced herself as Zara and a girl with a German accent introduced herself as Johana Leonie and explained, from what Bridget could gather that she didn't speak English well. Bridget felt kind of bad for her, surely it would be a struggle to go to a school in another country where you could barely speak the language. She couldn't help but wonder why Johana Leonie was here and not at a German speaking school but felt it might be rude to ask.

On the other hand, Sophia would probably be excited to meet Johana Leonie and practice her German since the Aladren was taking lessons in it. Bridget, on the other hand, had had basically no tutoring in anything extra because her parents just plain didn't think of it and she had no burning desire to do anything more than what she had to do. Not that Bridget was lazy but she just didn't have the passion to do anything but hide out in books and wireless programs. And become an animagus.

"I'm Bridget." She introduced herself. " Ferguson. Of the Michigan Fergusons." The Teppenpaw added for the benefit of the girl who hadn't spoken yet, just in case she was a member of society."It's nice to meet you both." Bridget turned to Johana Leonie. "And my German is non-existent but my cousin Sophia is learning the language.She's a first year like us. In Aladren." She thought for a moment. "Do you mind if people call you Johana?" Johana Leonie was a mouthful, to be honest, and Bridget had never met anyone who went by both their first and middle names. Usually middle names were only added when someone was in trouble. Not that she was very often herself. For one thing, that would require her parents to be aware of what was going on.

11 Bridget Ferguson You are....einer von denen? 1448 Bridget Ferguson 0 5

Zara

February 07, 2019 2:33 AM

A.... something. One of them? by Zara

“Your English is good,” Zara assured Johana Leonie encouragingly. Ok, her roommate had resorted to her own language to say that her English wasn’t great, which probably didn’t seem like an encouraging sign to everyone else, but hadn’t they just got through a whole feast and got to know each other pretty well? And certainly none of that had been down to Zara being able to speak Johana Leonie’s language - it had been English, and the power of mime.

The next roommate was called Bridget. Ferguson. Of the Michigan Fergusons. Zara recognised the standard Pureblood intro when she heard it, but the way Bridget said it made it seem tacked on as an afterthought. Zara wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

She was confused about why Bridget started talking about German, when Johana Leonie hadn’t named the language she spoke, and when Zara was pretty sure the other girl had said it was Dutch at the feast. Maybe they sounded really similar, and Bridget knew enough German to think she was hearing it. Or something. Zara wasn’t about to wade in and answer on Johana Leonie’s behalf and, as it was her Bridget had mostly addressed herself to, Zara just kept back.

13 Zara A.... something. One of them? 1444 Zara 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

February 07, 2019 2:53 AM

Room friend? Room . . . room partner? by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie's English was not good.

Still, she smiled at her roommates, appreciating their kind words that she sort of understood. The one that called herself Bridget was harder to understand because she didn't know her as well yet and also because she said a whole lot of words all at once. Johana Leonie wasn't sure what she was trying to say when she introduced herself because there were a whole lot of words that sounded like part of the introduction and then she asked Johana Leonie about shortening her name . . . was that not right? She wasn't sure how to explain her thoughts on the matter.

"Johana Leonie is my . . " She paused to think of the words. ist mine and ist mein were so close that she could keep those mostly straight, but other words were much harder. "Johana Leonie is front," she finally managed. "Johana Leonie Gerhard Zauberhexen. Johana Leonie is front, Zauberhexen back. Gerhard ist. . ." Again, nothing came to mind that seemed to fit. All she could think of was "sideways," and she was pretty sure that wasn't right. She shrugged.

She met someone once who said their name was Johanna, but it was pronounced very differently and they could go by "Jo." Somehow, her German pronunciation of "Jo" sounded too much like what people said when they wanted each other's attention in English.

"German!" Johana Leonie said when Bridget mentioned it. "Ja, Deutsch!" She wasn't totally sure who this person was that Bridget said she knew, but if someone else here spoke German, then it was going to be a good year. She couldn't wait to tell Hilda.

She had so many questions. She wanted to ask Bridget about her background and where she was from, she wanted to ask what classes they were excited for or not excited for. She was mostly just exhausted.

Getting an idea, she rummaged in her pockets for a moment and retrieved her class schedule from orientation. Holding it up and pointing to the class she'd drawn a little plant next to to remember that it was herbology, she smiled at her roommates. "I would like class!" she said, struggling with everything about that sentence. Raising her eyebrows into a question, she looked at each of her roommates. "Du like . . .?"

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Room friend? Room . . . room partner? 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5