Dora Xavier
June 04, 2023 10:00 PM
Teppenpaw Head of House by Dora Xavier
With Edu and Zeus both actually in the sorting ceremony, and Otto being old enough now that he could be trusted to eat in public without making a scene, Dora and Otto got to eat at the staff table tonight instead of being shunted off to be watched by a babysitter. Dora had arrived with the tour group in the Cascade Hall, but she'd had to stay with Dad while her two friends got to dunk badges and join the student tables. (One to each of her parents' Houses, she was quite pleased to note!)She was a little sulky as the feast wrapped up because Otto had been allowed to go sit at the Pecari table, but Dad shook his head when she'd tried to ask if she could go join either Edu or Zeus, and had to sit with the grown ups who all had boring conversations. Something about them needing to bond with their new Housemates, and her needing to wait a year and then she could go be a student, too. Blah blah blah.
She had managed to at least finagle out a 'maybe' instead of 'no' to whether or not she could go the ball, but it was small comfort in the immediate moment.
Dad did let her tag along though as he started to gather up the Teppenpaw First Years. Otto got to do the same with Mom so it wasn't a super high honor like Orientation had been, but she'd been largely kept out of the Teppenpaw Commons for the last few years now, and so it did feel a bit like being allowed into forbidden territory again as they retraced part of the tour route back to the Hospital Wing.
She and Dad chatted with the small group as they walked, introducing themselves and getting to know Ursula (and not excluding Edu from the conversation, of course, but they both knew him quite well already, so most of the prompts in his direction were more so he and Ursula could become acquainted with each other as well).
But when dad led the way up the steps, toward where his office was, he stopped halfway up. "Dora, go on up to my office," he told her, and she frowned at him. He gave her the Dad-Look. "Dora. My office. Some things are for Teppenpaws only. You can meet us inside."
"Fine!" she huffed, and marched up the stairs, stomping loudly to show her displeasure.
She could still hear his voice following her up. "If you watch where my daughter is going, that's the public entrance to my office. If you need to reach me because you can't get in for whatever reason, you can go knock on that door. It's warded so I'll hear you where ever I'm at in the school. If I'm in the greenhouses, you may have a long wait before I can answer your knock, but I'll get to you as quickly as I can."
Dora pulled the door open and slammed it shut behind her so Dad would know she was inside. But then she cracked it open again and listened very hard.
"Now, this step here, with the diamond shaped chip on it, is the main entrance to the Teppenpaw Common Room. Only Teppenpaws are allowed to know about it, so don't go sharing it with your friends, including Dora." Dora could only guess that Dad was looking at Edu for that part. "She'll get to learn it next year if she gets sorted here. Anyway, to open our Commons, you need to dance a little jig on this step. Here, I'll show it to you once, and then you do it with me. You'll need to repeat it three time for the door to open." There was the sound of a heavy man stepping and shuffling around on a stair, but Dora could not guess from where she was what exactly it was that Dad was doing. "Alright, this time you do it with me." More stepping and shuffling sounds, with the first years joining in with Dad as they did whatever it was the jig was. "And once more."
Dora carefully closed the door without letting it make any sound this time, and then hurried through the door on the opposite side of the office that lead into the Teppenpaw Commons. She had just barely thrown herself onto a yellow couch in a sulky pose before the main door on this side opened up and the others filed into the room.
Dad took a position next to the bulletin board, and started droning on, apparently past all the secret Teppenpaw only stuff now, and fine with her hearing the rest of his spiel. Somewhat mollified now that she was no longer being excluded, she sat up and paid attention as he pointed at the board and said, "This is the Announcement board. If there are any school wide announcements or rule changes, they will be posted here. Also, this is where you would look for notices about when Quidditch and club events are being held, though you might also want to check the one in the Cascade Hall as well, especially for Quidditch sign-ups or clubs that don't have a Teppenpaw president."
"And speaking of student leaders, I'd like to draw your attention to our House Prefects, Ian Malone, Hansel Hexenmeister, and Liesl Brockert." Dora popped up, and helpfully ran around, tagging each of the older students so Ursula would know who they were. (And Edu, if he didn't already; his dad might not have pointed out key Teppenpaws to him the way Dad did for her. Assuming Mr. Alamilla even knew who the Teppenpaws were; she wasn't sure how much the grumpy seeming caretaker interacted with the students.) Her mood bounced back up with the opportunity to show off how much she knew already even though she was only ten and not yet a student. "And our very own Tommy Jamison earned Head Student this year, so congratulations to him," Dad added, sounding quite proud, and Dora ran over Tommy and held his hand triumphantly over her head (which sadly was very definitely not over his own head so the pose probably looked a bit awkward).
"Ian, Hansel, Liesl, and Tommy are all excellent resources you can go to if you run into trouble of any kind. Prefects are students appointed by the staff to help you find your way around the school or otherwise be of assistance to you. There is one from each of the upper three year groups. If you forget who they are, they can be recognized by the badges they wear." Dora helpfully pointed at Tommy's because she was still standing next to him. "Head Students, likewise, are elected student leaders, with similar responsibilities to the prefects, though unlike the prefects who have one from each House for each year group, there are only two Head Students in the school. So any of those four, or myself, are good people to ask questions or bring problems to or just talk to if you need a sounding board for anything. That's what we're here for."
"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." Dora drifted back toward her dad, as the pointing people out part of the evening seemed to be over.
"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: girls to the right, boys to the left. Don't go up the wrong one or you'll just end up back down here. Your year number is on your door, and each year group gets its own room." Dad sounded like he was repeating something he'd said a million times and Dora was getting bored listening to him.
"Beds are warded to only allow one person in them at a time, so please be aware of that. Beanbag chairs are available upon request if you want a comfortable place to sit and hang out with your friends that's not the floor or down here."
Dora looked up at him in surprise. There were beanbag chairs? She wanted a beanbag chair!
"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 and class schedules next to my office over there if you can't find yours." Dad gestured to a small box set next to the door Dora had come through, which was labeled PROFESSOR XAVIER - OFFICE on this side of it.
OOC: 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, while in character, they are clearly happening a different times, thus allowing your character to be involved in any of them. Have fun! And we are always happy to help answer questions on the OOC board or Chatzy if you have any!
Subthreads:
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Dora Xavier
Teppenpaw Head of House
1507
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Nathan Xavier