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Ulmuka had fled the theater and missed the resurrection and then final demise of the Rat King. He'd fled with the sole purpose of finding help or maybe just getting away from the JOY influx that was messing with his senses. His sense of smell was fine but all the flashing bright lights and the joy in the air made him very uncomfortable.

Thankfully he hadn't seen many flying Christmas creatures. The strix boil was still in his fancy play costume, a white coat with gold embroidery and tails. He was wearing a flashy golden cape that was a bit obvious but he hadn't given any thought to the flash of his clothing. The owl-boil had landed on top of the main school building, perched on the roof and was currently using his very keen eyesight to scope out a teacher that perhaps could help. He definitely wasn't expecting to be attacked or even meet anyone up here.

Ulmuka was lucky to not have the bitter memories of past Christmas horrors but it didn't stop the strix from being disturbed by the dancing visions and the essence of JOY so thick that you could cut it with a knife. He certainly wasn't expecting an erratic flight to smack into him. He was hit in the back and stumbled from his perch. The strix scrambled a bit but didn't have time to take flight to save himself.

When he finally lifted his head from the snow the strix let out a hissing groan and wiped his face. His head bobbled to an odd angle as he did his best to identify his culprit.

Long hair. Pretty wings. Strange wings on the head... hmmm he'd never seen such things before.

"Are you a teacher?" It was a stupid question.. mostly because a teacher probably wouldn't have crash landed on him. The usual giggling was absent from the owl-boil though his smile remained. It was definitely a little more subdued than usual. "Do you know where one is? Are you alright?"

He stood and did his best to wipe snow and dirt from his elaborate costume. He'd hate to ruin it.

Muka shrugged when Israfel informed him that he couldn't possibly be a teacher. He was appreciative of the comment on his performance. "Oh thank you.." His head bobbled appreciatively. Ulmuka was obviously very avian, more bird than man in mannerism. He was slowly improving.

"My name is Ulmuka by the way." He extended a taloned hand for respectful handshake. "You have lovely wings! Very colorful." His head tilted, wide golden eyes admiring them. He seemed very interested in socializing and less focused on the obvious invasion going on around them.

Suddenly some snow was kicked up by a fleeing gnome nearby. It hit him in the back and he shivered, wings ruffling in agitation. "I don't like this.... JOY stuff." His normal smile had twisted into a frown. He had keen senses and didn't like the common visions that JOY gave him.

"Let's try that.. Flying?" He flapped his large wings once, twice, ready to take off.

Muka was a bit envious, though he had an issue identifying that particular feeling, because when he molted his feathers never changed. He could only imagine how exciting it was to know that when you molted it would be something new afterwards. So jealous!

"I'm new.." This seemed to be a good enough explanation. He hadn't been around for anything Christmas related before. "But I've met the Hunters." His smile was a frown at the memory. "I wonder if we will meet a ninja. That seems rather exciting!" He pondered aloud as they flew for the offices. The building seemed less under siege than others but also there were not many students around. Most of the assault seemed to concentrate on where there were people. Little did Muka know that the school's pumpkin patch, not far away, was very much in danger.

His keen sight picked over the windows, hoping for the usual broken frame or dilapidated patch of roof. For some reason it didn't dawn on him to try the door. "What species are you?" The owl was pretty curious.

"Oooh thank you." Muka accepted the protection charm and looked it over. He took Isra's word for it. Ninja pumpkins sounded very dangerous. He'd paused in the air and by the time he looked up the siren was ahead of him a ways. He flapped harder to catch up and eventually also slid through the window onto the floor. For a moment he looked ruffled and undignified until he straightened and smoothed his clothes out meticulously.

"Perhaps we should just walk the halls and check the rooms until we see someone." He shrugged, moving to the door and peeking out into the hall for Christmas critters.

As Israfel looked for a teacher with his eyes, his ears were trying to pick up on sounds. "Mhmm. Hopefully we'll-" A rustle and Israfel jumped slightly. It had come from- Arel's office? Timidly moving over, the siren's earwings were flat to his skull. Opening the door he was surprised to see one very familiar teacher- "Miss Cricket? What are you doing goring through Arel's desk." Well that was forward.
Motioning over to Ulmuka, he smiled. Miss Cricket wouldn't hurt them, provided they didn't hurt any bugs.

She watched as the paper plane rumpled underneath the door when it was opened. Oh well, Arel could blame it on one of these JOY creatures or a gnome that such an important looking paper had been ruined. She certainly wasn't going to be accepting the blame for something so..menial..in her mind. Still, Israfel's assumption was right on the money - Cricket would not be hurting the Siren or the Strix just for being in her presence.

As long as they mind their feet.

"I was looking for any ideas of where he'd gone.." and where he stashes his alcohol, but she wasn't going to comment on that out loud, "as it seems Arel is not in the building." And that notion alone actually did garner some worry from the nurse. He was so tiny and festive, those Elves might have just kidnapped him back to their hive!

However, at speaking about helping, the Nurse leaned over the desk thoughtfully, leaning her head onto the back of her hands.

"Define what you mean by 'going on'. I'd assume you mean the fact we have JOY filled residents running rampant, but for all I know, there is something else going on." She curled a stray lock of hair around a finger. "If you mean the JOY...destroy it at the source of whatever is spawning it, would be my assumption. Take care of the big problems before the menial symptoms."

Muka, perhaps, was not the best to be teamed up with Isra for the moment. When the siren proposed that Arel was kidnapped he ruffled with agitation. "Oh no! Not snatched up!" He was taking Isra's word for it and finding the prospect especially heinous. "We need to save him!" He imagined a daring aerial rescue where he got to chomp on a few elves... just a taste.

"The source.. the source.." Muka clacked his beak and tried to think of a way to find it. "We can follow one of them maybe? It should lead us to it's base, hmmm?" Frankly the idea of the bird-boils as rescuers or spies was a pretty ridiculous one but their little black hearts were in the right places.