[Phase 1*

"Russel!"

The drummer awakens from his heavy slumber at the shrill call that had come from the other side of the hallway. The young girl who had yelled had only recently learned to say his name correctly, and usually when she did call it, it took a moment for the man to realize she was saying it due to her heavy accent. See, most of the time, the man, who had a heavy Brooklyn accent, himself, was easily able to understand most other accents. However, it annoyed him somewhat when she was speaking a bit of English but he couldn't tell.

Russel shakes his head, getting himself off of the worn-down bed located in his bedroom. Stifling a yawn, the man heads towards Noodle's room to see what she wants. Opening the door, the man takes a moment to gaze at the frame itself. The door frame was splintered at the bottom corner, causing Russel to sigh, not even wanting to know what caused said splintering.

"What's tha matter, baby-girl?" The man asked, gazing into the room with a sense of dread. He is immediately greeted with a tiny girl barreling into his legs while she speaks frenzied Japanese. Only able to translate a few words, Russ lifts up the girl so that he can make eye-contact, because God knows he doesn't feel like bending down to talk to the girl.

"Now, now, girl, slow your roll a little." Russel speaks again, this time raising his eyebrow with confusion.

"Ah! Uh.. Um..." The girl starts, trying to piece some form of English wording together to describe her current situation. A frown gracing her face, she finally spoke up. "Ah.. Loud.. Um.. Green.." Unable to come up with the correct describing word, the child puffs out her cheeks with annoyance.

"Loud, green... Are ya thinking about Murdoc?" Russel guesses.

"Mu-doc..." Noodle knows who that is, but it has nothing to do with what her problem is. Shaking her head rapidly, the girl crosses her arms. "Ah, um.." Looking deep in thought, the nine-year-old wrinkles her nose with frustration.

Russ holds back a chuckle at this. "Well, girl, can ya maybe show what it is?" He has the feeling that if she doesn't get her point across, Noodle won't go back to sleep, even if it is three in the morning.

A pause. "..Hai!" The child gestures that she wants to be set back down on the floor. After being obliged, Noodle immediately takes Russel's hand and drags him back into her room. "It's in here, huh?

A nod. Pausing, the tiny girl sits on her bed, patting the empty spot next to her and looking up at her father figure expectantly. Russ sits down, chuckling. "Wha-" Noodle makes a shushing noise, putting a finger to her lips. "Sh! Hear!" She instructs. Russel nods, focussing on the silence. Well, he would, if there weren't odd scratching noises in the wall. Was that a moan?

"Baby-girl, I think a zombie somehow got stuck in yo wall. Is that what you were tryna say?"

Noodle looks at the man with confusion.

Russ pauses a moment, pointing to the wall. "Uh, big green in there?" He says slowly.

The girl nods at this, looking at the wall the noises were coming from. "Hai. Big green," she points at herself, "scare Noodle."

A frown makes its way onto Russel's face. "Can't do much about it without wakin' up 'D, considerin' how light a sleeper he is."

Noodle perks up at his mention of the bluenette. "Too-chee?"

"Yeah, girl. He's sleepin' right now." He reminded her.

"Bed." Noodle says confidently, bringing a laugh from the large man. "Yeah." Russ agrees with a yawn. It's pushing on three-thirty AM, now.

More scratching in the wall makes Noodle look nervous. "Big green.. Um, uh, hurt Noodle. Try."

Russ takes a moment to gaze at the wall again. "I can see why you'd think that, yeah." Noodle slides closer to the large man, eventually climbing onto him. "Leave? Noodle leave... Uh.. Bed?"

"Hold on, baby, you can't stay up for much longer, or you'll be real grumpy in the morning." He says, knowing full well Noodle can't understand his words. Despite this, she nods and slouches over to rest her forehead on the man's oversized stomach. "Russel bed!" She giggles a bit as Russ puts his arms around her so she is lying down in them. Maybe she's a bit old to be held like a baby, but he knows she doesn't mind in the slightest.

Standing up with Noodle still in his arms, he bends down slightly to take hold of her stuffed monkey, then handing it to the child, who takes it happily. "Alright, baby-girl, you can sleep in my room, but only if you *actually* sleep." The man says, though aware that she would probably fall asleep any moment now just in his arms. Gazing down at the drowsy girl, he grins a bit. She has one arm wrapped around her monkey and her free hand rested on his shoulder. He can feel the gentle grip she has on the fabric of his shirt.

"Oyasumai." Noodle says softly, opening one eye to gaze at Russ. He smiles down at her as he opens the door to his own bedroom. "Good night to you, too, baby-girl," he replies, then pecking her forehead. He knows that she had already fallen asleep before he could cover her with his comforter.

A/N

Hello, world! I've been wanting to write some Gorillaz snap shots for awhile. Y'know, just for the hell of it. I don't have much in the way of ideas whenever I write a chapter, I just sort of make it up as I go along. That being said, I am open to any writing prompts suggested to me! So if you're sitting on a cute idea for me to write up for you, go ahead and send it in!! This first chapter was short, but I have the feeling that I'll make my future ones longer as I get more comfortable writing as the members of Gorillaz. So, sorry if my first few chapters have a bit of an OOC element to them, I'll be sure to work on it further.

Until next time,

Liz