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When her mini tree popped out of her present box Mea was both surprised and had the faintest hint of disappointment. Weren't gifts supposed to be things you liked? Another ploy of this joy thing no doubt. It did look like it needed some decorations though and she looked to others around her. Muse huh?

With a shrug she shut her eyes and hoped maybe for a muse to come to her. "Muse muse muse muse muse..." she repeated, bouncing in her seat. She expected something she knew, something she could relate to something useful...

What she got was none of that.

"Mhm, oh girl you are just what you need right now!" A voice shot into her mind. There in the recesses of her clenched eyes she saw not one, not two, but multiple muses and all in the shape of tiny people. Mea licked her lips, that would be a good snack.

Well I...

"Everything you need is right there, you are empowered and can do this all on your own!" One of the others spoke with the others nodding their heads.

But I'd like-

"Let us tell you what it's all about." Suddenly there was music in her ears and outwardly she was frowning just slightly. If they kept interrupting her she would manage to find some sort of way to eat them, real or not real. The beat got louder and louder and they began to sing. Mea could do little to stop it and she let out a tiny sigh, allowing her muses to sing to her. Maybe it was helpful after all.


Everything you need is inside!
Open your eyes, don't let it hide,
To the beat of your heart,
Let it drum drum drum,

No MAN, no worries, no lie,
Just set it in motion and you'll see why,
To use what you've got,
And make it go go go,

That thumping of your chest,
Don't make it go to rest,
It asks for more and needs,
All your soul, soul soul!

Joy, Christmas and all of that jazz,
With your heart give it some razamatazz,
Gotta do, gotta be, gotta make it yours,
It's all you, you, you!

At the end of their songs they bowed and smiled at her and asked, "Do you understand? GET ON IT GURL!" And were gone again. Blinking her eyes open she was confused. Was it helpful? Not entirely. Was it confusing? Yes. And what was that about a man? She liked eating their livers, so she did need them occasionally.

Shrugging it off she bounded away, turning back to the tree and thinking it over. "Hmmm." An idea hit her as clear as day. I guess tiny singing women are good for more than just eating.

It was a very simple tree, decorated in silvers and reds because those were the colors that Mathias liked best. His muse was...of very little help to him in this situation, really, talking too much about how it could one day become real if he believed just enough, and not doing enough to actually give him advice on how to proceed.

Red baubles were hung and silver tinsel was strung, and when it was all said and done, all that his muse would tell him is that no tree was complete without a star to go on top.

The wolpertinger snatched up one that was bronze in color, one that almost seemed to shine in the right light, and placed it on top of his tiny tree.

"There, finished." He smiled, appreciating his own work, even if it was not the most elaborate.

If you have been quoted you have won a joy ticket! Please use this post as your win confirmation~

Ruth was surprisingly neat when she undid her box's wrapper. In fact she even folded them into squares, as if she planned to use them for later (she didn't but what loss was there if others thought she was?)

Ruth was fortunate enough that her "muse" wasn't a snowman but something she could relate more with. Yes, it could stand to look a bit less lopsided but a pumpkin was still a symbol of Halloween. Even when it began to sing, in a wheezing, broken way, a mishmash of clashing, contrasting genres. The pumpkin tried some sort of medley about following one's heart but that doesn't seem like a good idea for the paranoia agent.

She figured out her theme, oh yes, she certain had. But the grin on her face was less joyful and more malicious when she returned with an armful of random decorations. She kept close to Brenley and Piper, not needing formal introductions to feel right at home with anyone. And to prove it, she lobbed a bright green ornament ball at Piper and a pink ornament ball at Brenley.

She had hoped the snowman would be a very cute muse. After all, the class had been going favorably: free food, free supplies, all super easy. So naturally this had to be the point where it wasn't easy.

The snowman went from smiling to scowling in seconds, berating her angrily that she needed to do the tree and like right now and also hurry up or else and she really didn't want to know what the or else bit meant. And then the ghoul had to toss an ornament at her. Really? Really??

(She didn't have the mind to actually catch it, whoops.)

"Okayokayokayleavemealone!" Piper whined as she dodged the projectile and fended off the snowman, hopping to the tree quick as she could.

Now she had no real sense of how Christmas was supposed to look, but she imagined it was pretty colorful, right? So she started with a peppermint striped . . . whatever this thing was . . . a wrap? . . . a tree snake that wasn't alive or whatever?? . . . Either way, round and round it went as high as she could reach. Then Piper began humming to herself as she plucked out baubles one by one and began to hang them, all of which she felt stuck out nicely against the green. It was a good thing she remembered not to get a topper just yet, otherwise that would've been embarrassing . . . Piper stepped back to admire her work.

Eh, it'd do. She liked her trees bare and natural honestly, not all covered up in merchandise. "How'd yours go?" she asked the other reapers, already getting competitive.

(( Piper is the only one who can claim any tickets as a note! ))

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At first Mort was going to say they were five kinda cutesy little chicks, in the weird sort of minipet way cute (although he couldn't help but imagine that even tossing that out as a comment was enough to earn him from glowers from Bells). And they sang too! Although not needing a man, uh . . . Well, no, no he didn't, he tried to tell them. He had a ghoul already.

This did not actually incense them into attacking him, but it was some pretty poor timing.

The muses assaulted him on all sides, and the zomboil was reduced to stumbling forward and apologizing frequently (although for what he didn't exactly know yet). If he failed to decorate the tree, well . . . He didn't want to risk it. Oh Jack.

Mort was not a fast-working person, and it earned him further either with his so-called bunch of muses. At least this time as he worked, they only berated him through songs. Catchy songs while they were at it. Tinsel and ornaments, a bit of fake snow here and there, plucking the tree to make things all nice and even for them. Was that enough . . . ?

It seemed to be. They weren't trying to kill him at this point.

Excited Spencer may have been, but TK most definitely was not. He only stared at the reindeer with blank, glowing eyes before slowly looking down at the box in his hands. “…” Some students may have ripped open the wrapping, but the skeleton carefully removed the tape sealing the edges and let the paper neatly fall to the ground. Then a tiny pine tree plopped out. Another blank stare. He looked to the instructor for some sort of guidance, but what he received wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. At least the spiel contained some information that actually intrigued him somewhat. He would file it away into his mind, and hopefully it would come in handy one day.

But for now he was forced to decorate a tree. The song coming from his sweater caused him to wince until it fortunately went away in a flash. Sighing, TK closed his eyes in search of his, ahem, decorating muse.

Which turned out to be a group of woman in Greek-styled dresses. That…that was not what he was looking for. But they were already imparting wisdom, if he could call staring with hollow eyes advice. Looked like he would have to figure out how to decorate on his own.

The boil shrugged slightly at Piper's claim, slowly gathering a small pile of ornaments and gently placing them next to his tree. He supposed the expectation that they might find something more explosive in their boxes was a bit of a stretch, but he would have thought the same of loud, obnoxious hallucinatory snowmen and musical numbers as well. There was no way this "muse" could have come from the depths of his own mind, so it must have been stored up in his gift somehow. In some ways, what he'd ended up with was far worse than a little explosion.

He saw the pink ornament Ruth threw out of the corner of his eye and scrambled to catch it, fumbling a little but failing to drop it completely. Brenley added it to his pile with deliberately exaggerated care, glaring at the blonde as he started to make introductions. "This is Ruth. She can't speak. Or doesn't. I'm not certain." He didn't elaborate on exactly how he'd learned her name, in fact, the memory brought a faint touch of color to his cheeks until he cleared his throat. "And Ruth, this is Piper. She's—"

He paused as the mage had a mild freakout, but she seemed to recover quickly enough, so he didn't make any move to intervene. Both ghouls were making significant progress on their trees, but his was... How the hell was he supposed to decorate this thing anyway?

After another moment's thought, the boil began hanging ornaments and plastic shards of ice from his tiny tree's branches. He stuck Ruth's ornament on last, sighing to himself when he saw how poorly it fit in.

Mea was gravitating around the decorations, unsure as to which one she should pick first. With a finger to her mouth she found a long string of white objects and looking closer she could see popcorn. A bounce in her ears showed her approval and she draped it around the tree, sneaking a bite of the what would be stale-beyond-reason treat. Coughing due to the dryness she ignored it and went on her way, coming back a second time for her next round.

This time something shiny.

A bit of tinsel caught her eye and she went to work, sandwiching it between the long strands of the popcorn. With care she managed to work with the mini-tree - which now she was grateful for considering she wasn't very tall herself and couldn't imagine getting to the top of another without help - and looked back, tilting her head back and forth, looking for approval. So far it reminded her of layers, like a layered cake or layered flesh sandwich or any other thing she liked.

Grabbing a hold of a few small ornaments of colors she liked (from wrappers of things she usually ate or things that reminded of her such) and stuck them on the tree in weird spots. Taking a step back she went silent and still for a moment before giving a "V" with her fingers. "Just like it should be!" She shouted aloud.

Of course, Mea didn't know much about how they were supposed to look.