Tintagel's New Headmaster!

[Shini]

In the early evening, once everyone is gathered, a young man (you think you recognise him, didn't he used to be a secretary at the school? Maybe his name is Todd... what fairytale is he from again? Doesn't matter..) steps onto the stage clutching an envelope.

"Hello everybody!" he calls through the microphone "May I have your attention please? I'd like to announce the results of the vote for headmaster..."

He opens up the envelope, scanning his eyes down the list.

"Okay, in reverse order... in joint 14th place is, um, Harry Styles? and Andrina with 43 votes, in joint 13th place with 44 votes is Morgana, Dracula and Elsa... are any of them even teachers? 12th place goes to Olaf with 45 votes, also not a teacher... 11th place goes to, oh, wow, 11th place is Todd with 46 votes, thank you guys. 10th place with 47 votes go to Lancelot, and 49 votes put Mumble in 9th place. King Arthur is 8th with 51 votes, and Queen Alyss is 7th with 58. Rounding off the royalty we have Queen Guinevere in 6th place with 59 votes, and 5th place is Cazaril with 87 votes. 97 votes put Apollo in 4th, and 102 go to Merlin for 3rd place." he finishes up the list fairly quickly, making sure to announce each name loudly and clearly.

"And that brings us to the actual positions. Beating Merlin by just one point, I'd like to congratulate our new Deputy Head, Gaston, for earning 2nd place with 103 votes, well done Gaston. And our new headteacher is... " the band starts up a drum roll "With an astounding 372 votes, I present... Milo Thatch!"

Banners unfurl from the stage behind him announcing the new headteacher and deputy head for anyone who missed Todd's speech, and the two teachers in question are invited up onto the stage to receive the keys to their new offices, which are somehow now accessible again.

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OOC if anybody would like to see the results you can access the spreadsheet showing them here, if you have any questions about anything let me know. This thread is for your reactions to Todd's speech, enjoy!

[Gaston]

Gaston had swaggered onto the field, gun no longer on his shoulder but sword at his side and dagger in his belt. He was a little irritated by the whole 'vote' thing, it was completely unnecessary given his takeover and colonisation of the headmaster's office, but he knew the need to allow the little people their play at democracy.

As Todd took the stage to announce the results, Gaston stood by the steps leading up to the platform, ready to take his place and give his speech; carefully prepared and memorised. He looked around at the faces gathered, nodding at a few people in a leader-like way and puffing his chest out, arms behind his back, fully aware that he looked at his most impressive and important.

Todd took to the microphone, and Gaston smirked, not bothering to turn and face the speaker. He knew what this result would be after all - of course he knew he would win regardless, he had still spent rather an excessive amount of time making his way around the school, marking his name on every single voting slip he could find. There was no way he wasn't going to win this.

He tapped his foot slightly impatiently as Todd worked his way through his list - God that was a lot of votes - and his smirk grew as he heard Merlin's name announced in third place. Ha! He knew the poofy magic boy would never beat him. He scanned the crowd looking for Merlin to give him a triumphant look.

The final two names were announced, and Gaston smiled graciously, turning to take the stage. And stopped, one foot on the first step, as the announcement sunk in. Deputy Head? Deputy Head?! His face fell, and he stared up at Todd in shock and disbelief. There was a mistake, there had to be. Gaston jumped up the steps to the stage, shoving Todd out of the way and grabbing the paper from his hands, checking the votes. That idiot Todd must have just read it out wrong...

103 votes - Deputy Head Gaston. How could this be? He had lost?! Gaston felt a rage swell within him, as he stared down at the paper. He had lost by 269 votes. Who even was this Milo Thatch?! He screwed up the paper and threw it back at Todd, glaring around at the crowd, waiting for this Milo Thatch to appear.

People were going to pay for this.

[Milo Thatch]

Milo was feeling a little guilty. He had written down Apollo's name on the voting slip he'd turned in and it was only after he'd already submitted it that he had started to wonder if maybe that was a conflict of interest. Maybe you weren't supposed to vote for the person who was pursuing you romantically. What if that was seen as some kind of a bribe? He'd been so worried that he'd gone back and voted for Alyss a couple of times too just to make up for it. Then he'd felt guilty about that, because maybe he wasn't allowed to vote more than once. Although...he'd seen Gaston around the ballots at least twice. He was very worried at first, but as the names started to be announced, he relaxed a little. There were votes in there for people Milo was pretty sure had never even set foot in the school, so maybe his little foray into misbehavior wouldn't be counted against him.

He started to grow concerned again, though, as the names were ticked off the list. It wasn't Alyss. It wasn't Apollo. It wasn't even Merlin, who Milo was pretty sure might be more qualified than any of them, he'd always had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to know things. He also hadn't heard his own name, which he assumed was because he hadn't gone out and asked anyone to vote for him at all. There had been some serious campaigning happening, he thought, and maybe...

Gaston was rushing up to the stage, and Milo let out his breath slowly. Ah. Well, that made some sense. Gaston was handsome and quite the go-getter, and Milo could only assume that all the time he'd been spending around the polling locations had been spent campaigning. And then...wait, what?

Milo felt like he was going to sink into the earth...or maybe it was just that he wanted to, he couldn't be sure. Gaston was up there, looking like he might actually murder someone, and it took a good ten seconds for it to sink in that the obvious victim of that crime would be him. He wanted to say are you sure? or just what?! but he couldn't seem to say anything at all. It wasn't until someone next to him gave him a little nudge that he snapped out of it and took a first, hesitant step towards the stage.

Was this smart? Probably not. Gaston was probably going to strangle him, or something. He could die. But it was that realization that gave Milo a little oomph of bravery. If Gaston was so upset about losing this election that he would actually murder the person who'd won, well...that was something the people deserved to know. And if he didn't step up there, if he forfeited or something, that would make Gaston winner by default, wouldn't it? Milo put his shoulders back, held his head high, and walked up onto the stage.

[Lancelot du Lac]

Who the hell voted for Lance? He was tempted to ask, since he'd actually been considered the tenth best candidate of those available. Clearly someone didn't really know much about him, since there was no way he'd have done it. More surprising was hearing so many royals landing around him: Arthur, someone named Alyss... Gwyn. Caz made some sense, but it actually made Lance flinch when Merlin got third. That would've been the best choice, and surely everyone in the school knew it. Even worse, Lance was pretty sure he hadn't heard...

Yes, there it was. Gaston, winning by one vote, probably one of several he'd cast for himself. But he wasn't the Headmaster, wasn't the actual one in charge. That was....

"Who the fuck is Milo Thatch?" Lance all but yelled, his voice cutting through the crowd. He stared as a guy he couldn't remember ever seeing before cautiously took the stage. Given the way Gaston looked, and the fact that Gaston was one of the biggest guys around, Lance didn't blame him. The guy was going to need support. Lance scanned the crowd, looking for some of the others he knew would agree with him there. They actually had a chance at a halfway decent Headmaster, or at least one who wasn't actively killing them. They needed to support him, and they needed to do it soon.

[Judy Hopps]

Judy had actually been bustling around, helping to set up the bonfire. The moment she'd heard this was a thing, she'd immediately volunteered, helping to get people together and gather wood, though she also found out that there were, apparently, people about that were doing a lot of the heavy lifting. It was almost like the school had started providing actual bodies, people that Judy just recalled seeing in passing, including Todd, who of course she'd worked with already at this point (was that from cleaning the library? The stables? The arts building? She couldn't quite remember).

The names got rattled off, and Judy knew a few of them. She was slightly surprised to hear that people who'd actually been helping work weren't up there. It was less surprising to see and hear this "Gaston" up there. He did look kind of commanding, reminding Judy of some of the politicians back in Zootopia. It was pretty easy to see why people voted for him, and wasn't he the guy that the one guy had sung about back at their meeting?

Then Milo Thatch was announced. Judy had to hop to see him over the crowd, and was slightly surprised to see a much meeker man. She was immediately reminded of all the prey animals from back home, herself included. It was like literally seeing a lamb walking up to a lion. It probably didn't help that some big guy was kinda rudely asking who Milo even was.

"Let's hear it for Headmaster Thatch and Deputy head Gaston!" Judy called, thrusting her arms into the air, ready to get a chant going. This was something to celebrate, after all: they were putting the school together! They needed to rally behind these two, get unity going, get everyone working together.

[Alyss Heart]

Alyss let out a gasp the moment her friend was announced as the new Headmaster. She had barely been paying attention until then, except to be a little surprised she got any votes at all, but then this...that…she hadn’t expected that, but it didn’t take long for her to realize how happy she was about it. It certainly helped that out of the corner of her eye, she could see Della breaking into a celebratory dance because Gaston, at the very least, wasn’t going to making any final decisions on how the school was run. Beaming with pride, she scooted over towards him, holding Tori up…who proceeded to nudge Milo over before she could offer him congratulations.

“Go, Mr. Milo, go!” Tori urged him, and honestly, Alyss wouldn’t have had as much of a problem with this…if she hadn’t caught sight of the stage again, and hadn’t been reminded of Gaston trying to take the office for his own…

Images of a fateful prom night flashed before her eyes…no, nonononono, she wasn’t going to watch another friend die at Gaston’s hands.

“Tori? Remember that trick we’ve been working on?” she muttered, her eyes fixed on Milo, following him up closer and closer to his potential doom.

“Cards up the sleeves?”

“Good girl...I might need to use it soon, so pay very good attention at how I aim if I do, okay?”

Tori’s little face grew to one of concern. “Is Milo in trouble?”

Alyss took a deep breath. “We’ll see, sweetheart…”

[Della Miller]

It seemed that ever since she returned to Tintagel, there was something new to worry about every other hour, and ever since that one meeting, where Naveen stopped her from leaving to let her know that Gaston intended to be headmaster, that had been a very big concern. She barely even approved of Hermes as Headmaster, and she LIKED Hermes, and could generally trust him not to kill people? But Gaston? Violent, egocentric, sexist Gaston? Della was pretty sure she’d rather die than let that happen. She voted as much as she could, because much as she didn’t want to cheat, she doubted anyone else was following the rules, so why the hell should she? And now, as she waited with Tori and Alyss, she found herself looking longingly at her flask. If he won, she swore to every god she knew, she was getting wasted.

She was about ready to do so when they announced that her attempts at getting Merlin into the seat had failed, so it was really only a matter of time before…wait…deputy head? He was only Deputy Head? Well that was still bad, but not AS bad, so who…

Milo Thatch?

As in Alyss’ friend Milo Thatch?

Della wheezed, and then started to laugh out of both pure joy and borderline insanity. “Oh my gods…oh my gods, we dodged a BULLET,” she whispered, and she couldn’t help but break into a happy dance.

It was tempting to shout out ‘I AGREE ON THE MILO PART’ to Judy attempts to start a cheer, but…honestly, the poor thing didn’t know how much of a lousy human being Gaston was, so why rain on her parade? Instead Della threw in some cheers along with some other people…

…but like a record scratch in her own head, it hit Della that oh fuck, Gaston was on stage, looking ready to commit some murders. No. Nonononono, they weren’t going to do that. No way were they going to let him kill someone who was probably going to be the best Headmaster they had…and it was around this time she caught sight of another person who seemed concerned. Ironically she was pretty sure this was the person who had asked who the fuck Milo Thatch was, but hey, she’d go with it.

Weaving through the crowd, she reached him and hissed, “Hey, I know we’ve never spoken, but I get the feeling we’re on similar pages when it comes to protecting Milo at all costs. I don’t suppose you’re opposed to firing warning shots or something if Gaston actually tries to murder him on stage, would you? Because that’s my plan.”

[Cazaril]

Cazaril hadn't really thought he would be in the running to be headmaster, and even if he had been voted for, he didn't want it. He might have given it up if he'd been offered it. What was that quote again? 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely. He wondered who would get the role, and hoping that he could assist whoever it was.

Todd -- such a nice man, they'd spoken once or twice -- went about making the announcement, and lo and behold, Cazaril's face was also filled with surprise at the final score. He had voted for Merlin, because even with Arthur as King, he may have to go back to Camelot for his people, and Merlin was a good influence on everyone present. Still, even to hear he came in 5th place, he found himself shaking his head. That would have been a very interesting indeed.

But now, the lovely Milo, who he'd probably spoken to once or twice around a coffee machine was going to be headmaster. Meanwhile, Gaston whom he'd only had dealings with in Staff Meetigns when he made a fuss, was going to be deputy.

He figured it was going to be difficult indeed.

Still as the cheers went out, Cazaril joined them, sipping on his drink with merriment in his eyes. The school was slowly coming together again, and perhaps it meant that life will start to sort itself out for everyone too. (Maybe, he might have a chance to find his fiancee, and his son. Maybe, just maybe.)

[Lancelot du Lac]

At least Milo, or as the one small girl cheered, Headmaster Thatch was heading up toward the dais. From the looks of things, someone had to nudge him up there, but judging by the mostly well meant cheers erupting, people were at least somewhat pleased by the situation. Lance grunted, wondering how much longer he had to stick around for this. Shouldn't most of his fellow faculty and staff have been here? He didn't make out many faces in the crowd.

a hissing voice drew his attention, and Lance turned to look at a girl he felt like he vaguely knew. Her words drew his attention back to Milo, and to the lumbering, potentially murderous man standing beside him. "How exactly do you suppose I do that?" he asked, looking back to the girl. "I'm the school medic: I don't have laser eye vision." That shouldn't be something he had to say period, but unfortunately it was all but necessary in Tintagel. "Gaston's not stupid enough to try something in public. He's an idiot, but he's not that big of one."

Though Lance's tone held quite a bit of uncertainty. He was beginning to wish he'd thought to bring his sword, or even to find an actual gun or long-range weapon. He did agree with the girl though: this Milo and what he represented needed to be protected.

[Gaston]

There was a lot going on, but Gaston's eyes were searching the crowd, ignoring the happy faces, the relieved faces and the concerned faces. He heard Lancelot's shout and turned his head to Todd with a growl. "Yeah, who the fuck is Milo Thatch?" He asked, but Todd, who looked more than a little alarmed, just shook his head, seemingly unable to respond. Gaston rolled his eyes and turned back to the crowd, in time to see a bespectacled little nerd making slow progress towards the stage. Gaston's scowl deepened as he watched, wishing he had brought his gun.

He crossed his arms and waited for Milo to join him, and scanned the crowd. He narrowed his eyes as he thought he saw a little posse forming, consisting of two of the people he hated the most in this place. He briefly wondered how easy it would be to have Della and Lance disposed of.

He turned his attention to Milo as he finally reached the stage. Attempting to smile, but merely grimacing at the other man, his eyes cold and murderous, he grabbed Milo's hand to shake it, hoping he was at least putting on a show of gracious defeat. "Congratulations, Headmaster." He spoke through clenched teeth, squeezing Milo's hand as hard he could in a clear show of intimidation. "I look forward to working together."

Releasing his hand, Gaston stepped back to allow Milo to take the podium, turning his scowl back on Lance and Della in the crowd.

"Gaston is no one's fucking deputy..." He muttered to himself.

[Milo Thatch]

Milo would have found the various strategies regarding his well-being comforting if he had heard them, but as it was, all he had to go on was a precious little voice saying go, Mr. Milo, and that was almost enough to put an embarrassing smile on his face as he walked up to deal with this very serious situation. He wasn't sure anyone had called him "Mr. Milo" ever in his whole life. The smile was rapidly chased away by the look on Gaston's face as Milo joined him on stage. Milo had been in the presence of some murderers in his life, and he had a feeling he was repeating that experience right at this moment.

Against his every survival instinct, he put his hand out to shake Gaston's, and immediately felt as if he'd slammed his hand in a door. A really heavy, strong, fleshy door. God, was Gaston actually trying to shatter his fingers? Well, two could play at that game. He set his jaw and turned his wrist slightly counter-clockwise so his hand was further on top, and shook about as firmly as he could with the strength still left in his near-mangled fingers.

"Likewise," he said, keeping his smile friendly. It was odd, being thrust into this position without having tried to get there as Gaston clearly had. That morning, Milo had still been wondering and worrying whether he would get a job here at all, whether he could be the professor he wanted to be, and now suddenly he was supposed to be heading up all of the teachers? How had that even happened? Even the other people here didn't seem sure how it had happened. Was he supposed to give a speech or something? He turned to face Todd.

"Should I say something? I didn't...this is really...I'm speechless, really, I don't know what to say, I didn't plan for this at all."

[Apollo]

With a flash of bright lights, Apollo arrived on the stage beside Milo, ensuring that all the lights were focused on the two of them.

Apollo didn’t even know a vote on the position of headmaster was happening until it was almost too late. He had, of course, voted for his Apple, who would in his mind be the only acceptable person he would be willing to work under. Apollo was someone who liked to be on top, however for some people he would make the exception.

It also has not occurred to him that he could have swayed the vote to ensure that was the case, or perhaps dumped a whole lot of votes with Milo’s name (although he had written ‘Apple’) into the box. He put it down to just being that confident that Milo would win.

He also had not intention of attending the announcement although did happen to be coincidentally walking by when it was made. His smile really did light up how face.

Standing beside his beloved Apple he shouted, “THREE CHEERS FOR HEADMASTER APPLE!”

...it did not occur to Apollo to use Milo’s real name. It never did.

[Hades]

A figure hovered on the edge of the crowd. Hades hadn't been here long, but the impressive fire, the crowds of people, drew him like a moth toward a flame. A school, likely the school. And they'd just decided who would be in charge. Hades smirked at that. Sure, put someone else in charge for the time being. He'd just figure out--

Him. Hades' eyes flashed, almost literally as he saw the bounding idiot taking the stage now. He'd recognize that idiotic nephew of his anyway. Blinding with the sun, basking in attention, the crown fool of Olympus' glory, Apollo. So, apparently he was here now? "Hey, just another to add to the list," Hades said to himself, dusting off. He glanced around the crowd, noting the differing fashions from his own robes. A snap of the fingers fixed that, putting him in a fairly sharp looking suit. But he let a little more shadow wrap about. They were all celebrating, but Hades didn't see his main target here, not yet.

His gaze flicked toward the stage though. Soon though. Because hey, who doesn't like to see the sun fall every once in a while, right? Gotta be night sometime.

[Alyss Heart]

Gaston's angry growl towards Todd only made Alyss feel like causing Gaston all sorts of pain even more...although she supposed shooting him with cards without any warning would be a bit of an overreaction, and not the best example to Tori of how to handle these situations. Still, when she saw the pained look on Milo's face from just shaking the man's hand, she was practically bursting at the seams to at the very least bind him as a warning to never touch her friend again...much as she hated to admit it, she was going to have a word with him once there were less witnesses to her threatening to essentially murder him...

While Alyss was focusing on Gaston and Milo, her daughter was deciding she too didn't like that man, and if Mum wasn't living up to her promise, well, perhaps she could make sure the floor just by Gaston's feet got surprisingly slippery. Someone would have to see to that leak or something, who knew. Before Tori could giggle evilly, Uncle Apollo came to the stage and called Mr. Milo Headmaster Apple. That was kind of weird...but she WAS excited. She knew this meant he was the boss of everybody now, no matter what that mean old Gaston thought. He wouldn't seem so smart once he slipped on that water she Imagined, now would he? Hmph...

...and was it just Tori or did it somehow feel colder around here? She curled up closer towards her mother as if she was trying to use her skirt as a blanket.

Meanwhile, Alyss was just standing there with her jaw dropped. She had half a mind to walk up on that stage and help Milo, but would that just overwhelm him more? She glanced towards him, hoping to meet his eyes, see if he was going to signal for her to come rescue him from this madness.

[Della Miller]

When the man pointed out he was just the school medic, she barely even paid attention to him saying he didn't have laser vision. "Well that's perfect then! And you truly underestimate Gaston's idiocy, we're talking about a guy who committed a murder in the middle of Prom one year!" She took a deep breath, trying to not get overexcited over the really painful memory that she had stress fainted from. "Look, the point is, if he tries something, you can stop the bleeding while my friend and I--" she motioned towards Alyss as she said that, "--threaten him or something. Milo's a pretty good friend of hers and she can literally conjure up whatever she wants, Gaston is screwed if he tries anything, but we still need to at least have a game plan in case he does, is all I'm saying...oh, I'm Della, by the way...but are you in for this plan or not?"

She paid as much attention to what was going on onstage while she discussed the matters with the stranger as she could, and fortunately it looked like the most Gaston tried to do was crush Milo's hand with a handshake (good gods, wasn't this crap part of why she left America?)...like, it was terrible, and was probably only a taste of what was to come, but she didn't have to attempt to kill Gaston over it. Yet.

Once that passed, she turned her face towards the stage, where Milo was nervous annnnnd...was that Apollo? She hadn't even known he came back...and...and...

Headmaster Apple?

Good gods, if Milo came out of this with his bones and his pride in tact, it'd be a miracle.

She took a deep breath, pulled out her flask, and took a swig. This wasn't enough to warrant getting wasted, of course, but it was definitely ridiculous enough to get some alcohol in her system...

And well, since she was trying to talk this guy into helping her, she held the flask towards him. "Want some?"