HoH's speech (cont'd thread from Feast) on Aladren Commons

Professor Kijewski

January 25, 2006 9:14 PM

HoH's speech (cont'd thread from Feast) by Professor Kijewski

Kiva walked through the halls of the school with the children following close behind. Every-so-often if she took a passageway or back-tracked, she would pause briefly and make sure everyone was still with her.

Down the corridors and up the staircase. Down the hall and pausing before giant doors with signs about animals. They were standing in front of the library. "I'm about to show you exactly how to enter the Aladren Common room. You are not allowed to reveal this to anyone. Understand?" She asked, surveying the students around her. "Good. Now, my office is just that door there." She pointed to a door a little way down the hallway, "There is also an entrance to it in the common room. Quickly, follow me."

She led them into the library. Row after row of shelves covered in books, they walked between. There were many twists and turns throughout the isles of books that she was sure the students would become lost. Finally, they reached the last corner of the library. Her hands reached up and grasped an old tattered looking book called, Birds of Prey in reference to the Hawk. She pulled on it and the enterence to the Aladren commonroom was revealed. She gestured to the students to go through first and then followed them in after. The commonroom was a brilliant royal blue filled with large sofas and comfortable chairs. Shelves of books littered the walls and tables surrounded the room. There was a large fireplace against the wall, already lit to make the room a comfortable warm. An occassional painting or portrait decorated the walls.

"Hello and welcome to Sonora Academy. This is the Aladren Common Room, your new home. I am your Head of House, Professor Kiva Kijewski. You may call my Professor K or just Kiva if my last name is too hard for you. Boys dorms are on the left and girls are on the right. Curfew is at 9. Anyone caught out after that is susceptable to punishment. My office is through that door there. You'll have to knock first before entering." Kiva told them, giving them a smile. "Classes start bright and early tomorrow morning, so try not to be late. There are plenty of older students around who, I'm sure, would be willing to help you out if you need it and you my come to me for anything. Are there any questions?"\n\n

Subthreads:

What happens... by Günter Heindrich with Gabriel Antonious Van Brookhoven IV, Professor K.

S.A.H. Aladren, or The Second Year That Knew a Firstie by Anne Wright and Geoffrey Layne

0 Professor Kijewski HoH's speech (cont'd thread from Feast) 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Günter Heindrich

January 27, 2006 5:15 PM

What happens... by Günter Heindrich

Günter raised his hand to ask a question that was not really important but made sense at least. "What happens if someone takes the book by mistake or sees us take it and we aren't aware that they saw us?"

It was something that had crossed his mind immediatly as soon as he had seen the Professor pull the book. What if a Teppenpaw somehow got into the common room? That would just cause chaos. \n\n

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Gabriel Antonious Van Brookhoven IV

January 29, 2006 12:18 PM

That would be a problem by Gabriel Antonious Van Brookhoven IV

Gabriel - Gabe - nodded in agreement to Günter's question, brow creased slightly as he thought about that possibility. They'd have to be extra careful about getting in to the Common Room, though it shouldn't actually be too hard (considering that they were probably the only students to go so far back in the Library). Maybe there was an enchantment on the book to let only those from Aladren through? No, that would be too easy. If that was true then the Professor would never have warned them about not letting themselves be seen.

He wondered if the students in the other Houses had similar worries, or if their entrances were different. Mom had said she'd had to learn a rather silly dance to get into her Commons, and that it had taken her forever to get it right - she still remembered it, though. But the method had probably changed over time, and besides, he didn't know where one had to be to get into the Teppenpaw Common Room anyway. Not like he wanted to, though it would probably be interesting.\n\n

0 Gabriel Antonious Van Brookhoven IV That would be a problem 0 Gabriel Antonious Van Brookhoven IV 0 5

Anne Wright and Geoffrey Layne

January 29, 2006 7:41 PM

S.A.H. Aladren, or The Second Year That Knew a Firstie by Anne Wright and Geoffrey Layne

Feasts were preferable to eating breakfast with Grandmother St.Martin and Aunt Sarah, but Anne didn't especially like them. It didn't take all that long to Sort the firsties, listen to a short speech, grab a bite to eat, and leave, but it seemed that the rest of the school was determined to disagree with her. Being a second year, however, meant having the advantage of knowing how to get into the common room without Kijewski, and so when she had grown bored with the food and spying on Lila, she had left the Hall and, resisting the temptation to claim her old table and find a good book among the shelves, made her way through the library and into the common room.

A quick trip up to the dormitory revealed that her trunk had already been delivered, and another moment found her back in the common room with a thick tome on political theory, stolen from Uncle Roland's desk both out of interest and to pull his hypothetical beard, ready for her perusal. The manner Mr. Keilgraves laid the material out in was somewhat dry, but he hadn't made the subject entirely boring. She had just reached page ten when the entranceway slid open once more, admitting her Head of House and the first years. Anne shut Keilgraves with an irritated shrug, using a finger to keep her place. No chance she'd be able to pay attention to her book while a teacher was talking, even if she did know that it was meant for the firsties.

* * * *

Geoffrey had been studying his Head of House as thoroughly as one able to see nothing but the back of her head and robes could since she rose to lead the new Aladrens out of Cascade Hall. She seemed a bit...young to be holding the position, but a lot of the professors at the top table had seemed young. At least she seemed to know where she was going. Geoff could only imagine how pleased Anne must be to have a legitimate excuse to pass through the library all the time. A peculiar and quickly repressed half-smile flickered across his face when the woman pulled on a book to admit them to the common room. Yeah, Anne was probably so devoted to her - their - House that it wasn't even funny.

Not bad, he thought, looking around the common room as he entered it with his fellow first years. Not bad at all. Better than Dad's house in Charleston, anyway. He'd always envied Anne her only-child status because of the size of the houses people in their father's income group could afford in their hometown. His folks had a nice place, but his living room was to the Aladren Common Room as the Shienaran forts were to the White Tower.

Not that he'd ever say so, of course.

Though the Head of House did cause him some amusement when she gave them all permission to call her by her given name, he found most of the speech fairly routine. What details of dorms and curfew Anne hadn't given him had been supplied by his father, though Mark Layne didn't know how to get into Aladren. It was just Geoffrey's luck to get the family Crotalus who married a Gryffindor for parents out of a litter of three Aladrens and one Pecari. He wished she'd hurry up and dismiss them. Mum and Dad had surprised him with Book Eleven of The Wheel of Time that morning as a going-away present, and he wanted to start reading it before turning in for the night. He had only been wondering what happened to Egwene for a year now...

* * * *

She couldn't remember specifics, but Anne was fairly sure that this year's introductory speech could pass for the brother or sister of last year's. There was, unfortunately, little one could do to make curfew and dorm locations more interesting. She wound her fingers into her hair as she looked around at the fairly small group of firsties, trying not to be noticed for once, when she saw a the back of a familiar-looking head. When the boy attached to it raised a thin, fine-boned hand made tougher than it looked by a combination of playing Beater and playing violin to toss a lock of hair that had just fallen into his face out of it, the boy's identity was confirmed. Trying to look as much like a firstie herself as possible, Anne slipped out of her corner approached him. Faking confusion, she said in an undertone, "You look like this guy I used to know..."

* * * *

Geoffrey didn't jump when a girl's voice, its accent almost the twin of his own but for the faint traces of over-breeding and something else, spoke up directly behind him, but it was a close thing. He wasn't surprised when, turning around, he met a pair of dark eyes that alone of said girl's expression betrayed any amusement. She'd always been good at keeping a straight face. "No kidding, Einstein," he said, just as quietly, doing a fairly good job of controlling his own expression.

"Einstien? Are you trying to imply something about my parents, or was that a compliment?"

Geoffrey assumed an air of extreme patience. "That was sarcasm, Anita m'dear." 'Tiny Anne' no longer really worked for her, but whatever. He stepped back to get a proper look at her, and found himself rendered temporarily speechless, and it had nothing to do with how attractive or unattractive his old friend had become since he'd last seen her. It didn't have much to do with the fact that royal blue, black, and forest green didn't do much for each other in their current combination. He thought he knew Anne pretty well, but either he didn't or she had lost her mind. The only times he had ever seen her wearing skirts were at church and awards ceremonies, and the only time in his life he had ever seen her wear robes was at her mum's funeral, but she was wearing both at the moment. The shoes didn't help. She was starting to look a little wary.

"Wright, what in Hades are you wearing?"

She glanced down at her attire and grinned in sudden comprehension. "The rags Aunt Sarah forced me into," she said cheerfully, ignoring Geoff's roommate who had just asked a question about what happened if someone else pulled on the book. "I don't have anything else. Got any britches and decent shoes you could donate to the cause of making my folks have simultaneous psychotic breaks?"

He thought she was joking. It was always a little hard to tell with Anne when she got on her much-despised family, but he thought she had to be joking this time. "I don't think your feet would go in my shoes," he said, causing her to laugh out loud.

"Yeah, 'cause your feet are about the size of Texas." She had been joking. "Sorry, Professor," she said out of a blue sky. Geoffrey was momentarily confused before realizing that her sudden merriment had probably interrupted the question-and-answer session and drawn Kijewski's attention to them. "We're having a family-reunion-type thing." Geoff had to work hard to keep from allowing his eyebrows to shoot up. Anne was not suggesting that they were related. She was not. They didn't even look alike. \n\n

16 Anne Wright and Geoffrey Layne S.A.H. Aladren, or The Second Year That Knew a Firstie 59 Anne Wright and Geoffrey Layne 0 5

Professor K.

February 06, 2006 12:02 AM

That's a good question by Professor K.

Kiva stood around waiting for someone to ask something. If she remembered correctly, no one had asked her anything the year before, so perhaps she was rather good at explaining everything. And then someone did ask a question. Though, she had to admit, it was a good question to ask and one she had often thought about.

"That's a good question Mr...?" Kiva said with a smile. "You know, I often wondered what exactly would keep another house from entering ours if a simple book was all it took to open the enterance. After deliberation and examination, plus some thorough investigating and studying, I found the real reason behind it all-" Kiva had to stop there as a bout of laughter interupted her.

Her eyes wandered through the crowd of first years before they fell upon one student that Kiva had the pleasure of meeting the year before. She waited a moment until Miss Wright explained the reasoning behind the laughter. They had lists of people who were related so as to look out for any family troubles, but Kiva didn't recall anything said about this. Of course, family could really mean any one thing.

"It's alright Anne, but please try to listen. This is for his benefit as much as it is for all the other first years. The polite thing to do would be to allow him to listen so that I do not have to explain this all over again." Kiva scolded the girl. Her voice wasn't stern nor was it angry. In fact, it was still the same soft lighthearted tone that it always was and her smiled showed that she didn't feel that Anne meant any harm. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, you see, and I'm sorry for such a terrible example, but simply put. Magic. There are plenty of spells and enchatments on the book as well as the library and this entrance itself that keep others from entering unless given explicate permission from a Head of House or the Headmis-excuse me-master.

I'm sure there are plenty of ways around that, but I do not advise any of you to try and figure them out. If anyone were to allow someone from another house to enter this room or if you were to enter another house, it would bring great consequence and unbalance to our system." Kiva warned them. "If you do need to hang out or chat or get in touch with someone from another house, there are areas within the school where such meetings can take place without causing anyone trouble. Such places are the Library, Cascade Hall, or the garden." Kiva paused again. She hated playing boss.

"Okay, I hoped that answered at least somewhat of your question. I also wanted to talk about Quidditch. Anne, since you are here, you can answer anyone's question on it. Miss Anne Wright is our Quidditch Coach and decides on the team. Any questions feel free to ask her or myself. Any other questions, feel free to ask me."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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