[Phase 2]
It's 17:00. The band members are all lounging at the dinner table, having finished recording another track of their latest album, Demon Days. Russ had ordered Chinese food for an early dinner. Everyone but Murdoc had been complaining about how hungry they were; especially Stuart. Murdoc doesn't seem to eat much, instead just drinking beer and rum; along with the occasional glass of whiskey.
So now they're eating. Murdoc looks to be picking at the questionably-sourced meat on his plate. It's a strange yellowish-white on the inside, not exactly the colour of chicken, but not the colour of beef or turkey, either.
Noodle is chowing down on a huge pile of food, humming contentedly. She always acts like she's starving to death, (looks it, too), but she eats almost as much as Russel, and it never ceases to blow Murdoc's mind. He thinks it might have to do with how fast she's been growing recently.
"--So then I says, 'what am I supposed to do with a giant teddy? Eat it?'" Murdoc shakes his head with a frown. "Of course, I thanked the bird, but what does one do with something that bloody useless?"
"Dunno." Stuart replies, his mouth full.
Noodle shrugs. "It is almost bigger than my bed." The girl says between bites of rice. "And that is without all of my stuffed animals and comforters."
"D'you want it?" Murdoc offers. "I very well can't fit that in my Winnie, can I? What the fuck was the bird thinking?"
"Will it even fit in my own room?" Noodle wonders.
"Oh, yeah, you don't have a lot of space in there, do you, now?" The bassist asks, now nibbling at his food.
"Not a lot of space, no." Noodle agrees. The girl scratches the back of her neck before going back to eating.
"That's why she likes to sleep in the den, it's not as stuffy in there." Stuart speaks up.
"She sleeps in the den?" Russel cuts in finally, an eyebrow raised.
Noodle nods. "I thought that you had known." She sets her chopsticks down, her stomach full.
"Hm." Is Russel's reply. He goes back to eating, obviously speculating this.
"Looks like I might just go burn the thing. It's too much bloody trouble to deal with." Murdoc says. He's actually eaten a few full bites of food, miraculously.
"That is wasteful. Do not burn it, Murdoc!" Noodle protests, shaking her head.
"What's being wasted other than my space?" He retorts.
"The nice lady bought it for you, so her money. It is not fair to the fans!" She insists.
Murdoc considers this begrudgingly. He picks at his food a bit more, once nibbling at a few grains of rice. "S'pose I might just throw it away instead of burning?" He's aware how powerless against Noodle he is, and he had accepted that he can't say no to her within the first month of her arrival. It hasn't changed at all within the years she's been there, much to his annoyance.
"No, not good. That is still wasting. I will keep it in my room." Noodle says with a sigh.
"No, there won't be any space for you if the bear's in there, baby-girl." Russel counters. His voice is firm, and both Murdoc and Noodle know that he's not open for arguments.
Stuart sets his own chopsticks down. He had been having trouble holding them correctly and had zoned out from the conversation as he struggled with them. He seems rather frustrated, picking up a fork and shoveling food into his mouth. Russ had been watching him with amusement, unsurprised that 2D had been defeated by the thin wooden sticks.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do with it, then?!" Murdoc scowls, slamming his fist down on the table. No one has an answer, and he grunts.
"Maybe I can put it in my room. It's one of the bigger ones in the place, pretty sure." Stuart says, mouth stuffed to the point where he's spewing crumbs from it.
"Hm. Suppose." Murdoc replies. "Close your fucking mouth when you're chewing, paper-brain! Nobody needs to see that shite!" He complains, trying to reach over the table to smack the bluenette. Luckily, Stu is just far enough that Murdoc can't quite reach.
"No hitting!" Noodle yells angrily. "You promised!"
"But I didn't hit him, now, did I?" Murdoc retorts, sticking his overly-elongated tongue out at her.
The girl returns the gesture, sticking up a certain finger at him. There's a look of warning from Russel and she quickly withdrawals said finger, but the pissed-off expression remains on her face.
"Don't worry, luv. I'm all right." 2D reassures the child, smiling at her.
"That's very good, but Murdoc needs to control himself." Noodle grumbles, pushing herself from the table. She walks over to Russ and buries her face in his chest, as she usually does when she gets angry or upset but doesn't want the other two to see it. He sets down the takeout box he had been eating dumplings from and lets her climb to his lap.
He's so used to Murdoc injuring 2D that he usually forgets about how it affects Noodle. He'll separate the two from each other if it gets out of hand, but the rest of the violence is such a norm for them that he doesn't really notice it, unless it upsets his kid. Then he's ready to break Murdoc's nose again if she asks him to.
"Oh, come the fuck on, why would you get all upset about nothing?!" Murdoc demands, not ready to admit that there's guilt crawling around in the back of his head.
Noodle doesn't answer, sulking. She refuses to even acknowledge Murdoc's existence at this point.
Both Russel and Stuart are glaring at Murdoc angrily, though the Satanist pretends not to notice. Noodle's in one of the moods where it'll be a bit before she's back to her normal self, and all of them know it. There's heated silence for awhile, during which Murdoc and Russ are having a sort of silent shouting match.
'Apologise!' Russ mouths, his eyes blazing with anger.
'No! I did nothing wrong!' Murdoc retorts soundlessly.
"What?" 2D whispers. "I can't hear you two," his head's tilted, much like a confused pup tilts its head.
There's no response, although Murdoc would have much liked to punch him at that moment.
Russel shakes his head angrily, standing up with the child in his arms. "C'mon, baby, let's get you cleaned up, huh?" He says, his voice tight.
"I'll help." Stuart offers, standing up so suddenly he almost knocks the table over.
"Alright, then." Russel agrees, gesturing with his head to the hallway leading to the den.
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It's been a few hours since the argument, no one has really heard from Murdoc. However, he had dumped the ginormous teddy bear into the den, and both Noodle and 2D have managed to lie on it, somehow. They're tangled up in limbs of both the teddy and each other, watching some God awful zombie flick. Russ is reading a biography of some bloke who did something pertaining to football.
"You know, maybe these daft girls would survive if they did not keep separating from each other. Strength in numbers, yeah?" Noodle says, sighing. She's back to her normal self, but now she's dreading what might become of the human race if everyone were this stupid in real life. She knows that she and her boys would survive an apocalypse; hell, Murdoc would fit right in with the zombies, they probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between themselves and he. The other three, well, they've already proven themselves against zombies, considering they'd lived in a graveyard for years. However, she can't really vouch for the rest of humanity.
"Yeah, they aren't smart at all, are they?" Stuart replies, ruffling her hair.
"Not at all. Have they not seen any horror movies? Splitting up never works out well. They all end up getting sacked, save for the one couple who are smart enough to stay together." She goes on, returning the gesture.
"Oh, yeah. Well, they might be too scared to watch horror movies when, uh, they have the option." Stuart points out, his pitch black eyes falling back to the screen.
"Hm, pathetic. They have to prepare, but no. It is too scary. Except that pretty much every single horror flick is so farfetched, it is not even slightly believable. No matter how good the graphics are." She replies, shaking her head.
"Well, not everyone's as brave as you, little luv." The young man reminds her.
"Hmm, yeah." Noodle says. "But I am fifteen. They are at least twenty, each of them."
"They're not karate masters."
"That is not an excuse, I cannot kick a demon no matter how much I want to; my leg will go straight through it. Unless Murdoc counts as a demon, but . . . That is too easy." She looks a bit ticked off when she says the bassist's name, still obviously mad at him. "The bastard cannot even move out of the way when I kick him, he is so slow."
"What the fuck did you just say about me, girl?" Murdoc's voice sounds from the hallway.
"She called you slow!" Stuart speaks up before there's a chance for her to reply, unable to stop himself.
Murdoc stomps into the room angrily, stopping to loom over the youngest band members threateningly. Stuart wraps his lanky arms around the girl protectively, flinching.
"That is right. You are slow, and awful, and I hate you very much." Noodle doesn't look remotely afraid of him. Instead, her eyes harden as she gazes back at him, easily matching his burning glare.
"I'm sorry I nearly broke my promise." He says reluctantly, much to everyone's surprise. His soulfire eye is flickering, again, and his glare doesn't waver.
Noodle gently unwraps herself from Stuart's grasp, patting him on the head as she stands up. She stomps over to Murdoc angrily. "Never do it again." She mumbles, wrapping her arms round his lower half.
"I can't guarantee anything, you know that." Murdoc replies, returning the hug.
A sigh. "I still hate you," She reminds him.
"Hate you, too. Always have." The Satanist agrees, pecking the top of Noodle's head.
They embrace for a bit longer. When they let go, the pair realise that both Stu and Russ are staring at them, both looking touched by this exchange.
Murdoc blushes angrily. "What are you two dullards looking at?! Get a life!" He hollers, storming out of the room.
Noodle returns to her position atop the bear next to 2D, just barely smiling. "How'd you do that?!" Stuart asks, purely dumbfounded. "He never apologises, 'specially when he thinks he's done nothing wrong!"
"He is an idiot." She says simply.
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Hello again!
I didn't really get anywhere with this one. Then again, maybe there wasn't anywhere to go. This was basically just a short example of how complicated Noodle's relationship with Murdoc is. And by short, I mean upwards of 1,770 words. Still pretty short compared to my recent chapters, but not as short as my first few.
Special thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, followed, etc. You all are awesome! It keeps me motivated to write, so keep it up, yeah?
I hope you've all had a great week, mates!
Been working on Lety's request. Expect the finished story in around three weeks!
Until next time,
Liz
