[Phase 1]
NOTE: in Phase 1, Noodle's age range went from 8-12.
Between the planning of the Gorillaz' debut album and the adjusting to life at Kong Studios there really doesn't leave much free time for Noodle. So, when her birthday rolls around, there's not much she can really say about it without sounding demanding. She's sure her boys will remember it, so she doesn't bother mentioning it to them. Otherwise, she's sure that Murdoc will complain and be all upset about her being too ungrateful for all he's been doing for her.
But really, she knows it's mostly been by the efforts of Russel and 2D that she's as lively as she is now. Not that she doesn't love Murdoc, though. He can just be.. Difficult, maybe a bit scary. And very gross at times, (well, most of the time), and overall a terrible person. Not usually to her; most of his violence is directed at 2D and sometimes the zombies outside.
Here it is, now, the day before her tenth birthday, and she's awfully nervous that they've forgotten all about it. She had heard 2D give a passing thought about All Hallows' Eve being tomorrow; but aside from that, nothing.
Currently, she's lying in Russel's bed and watching a cartoon on his small black-and-white telly. The sound is low, she's mainly in there because he's downstairs in Murdoc's Winnebago discussing the album. Another thing is that she loves to be surrounded by the pictures on his wall; both the ones from her colouring books and the ones of the friends he's lost. She knows that they're still with Russel, she's very perceptive to them, but nevertheless she still feels their life from Russel's pictures. So much so that she feels as if she'd known his friends personally, though she's really only met Del. And she loves Del, he's her best friend along with 2D. She hasn't gotten to see him recently, though, he's been inside Russel. And since Russel's not been sleeping well, Del's not been able to come out. Mainly, it's been his choice since he runs off of Russel's energy. Del has been able to determine whether there's enough energy left for Russ to be able to function.
Still, it's been a few hours since her father figure had gone down to the car park. Noodle reckons she'd better go check to make sure that Murdoc and Russ haven't killed each other. With a small yawn, Noodle wraps one of Russel's smaller blankets around herself and starts off down towards the lift. She loves this blanket in particular; it smells like Russel the most. It's the blanket that he's had since he was a baby, so it's her favourite. She's just sure to be careful with it; better to be safe than sorry. The girl hits the down arrow and taps her foot as she waits, examining her calloused fingers as she waits.
It's strange for her to think about how she'll be ten years old tomorrow. She feels way younger. Then again, there's a definite gap in her memories from before her arrival; the farthest back she can remember is that awful trip in the cramped FedEx crate, where she lived off of two and a half boxes of 'Kellogg's Frosted Flakes' cereal and a twelve-pack of 'Coca-Cola Lite'. That was awful. Whoever had mailed her to Kong Studios definitely did not know how to take care of a child. Though, she's glad she's still here; Noodle loves her boys.
The girl arrives in the car park, stepping out of the lift. With a hum, she tightens the blanket around her shoulders; it's awfully chilly down here. Walking over to the door, Noodle knocks. Usually, she wouldn't bother with knocking, but she knows that the others are probably busy.
The door opens to reveal an exhausted Murdoc. "What?! Oh, it's you."
"Umm. Is Mu-doc dead?" Noodle asks, tilting her head.
"No, no, I'm just fine. I guess you can come in; Lards and the faceache are here." The Satanist says, stepping aside to let Noodle in. She grins, giving him a hug as soon as she's in.
"Uh, thank! Good Mu-doc." The Japanese girl says after letting go of Murdoc. "Russel? Toochee?"
"Back here, baby," Russel's deep voice calls from the back of the Winnebago. Noodle's surprised that the smell isn't as bad as usual; she figures that Murdoc's cleaned in here recently. He cleans whenever he's indecisive or frustrated about something; Russel always jokingly compares Murdoc's behavior to a worried mother.
She makes her way over to the small table where they sit, still humming. "Hallo!" The child hugs 2D before she climbs to Russel's lap. The girl notises papers spread about; some crumpled and some with unfinished instrumentals written. "Write, um. A music? Uh. Still?" She seems impressed.
"Oh, yeah! We're almost done with Re-Hash. That guitar rhythm you wrote fits perfectly, Noods." Stuart compliments, leaning over to peck her forehead.
Noodle grins widely. "Ohh, hai. A good. Guitar, uh, and the, the ban-jou," she reminds him. "For, um. Solo."
"Right, that banjo part." Russ nods. "Real good. Real good." His arms go around her. "You had a good nap? I see you got my blanket still."
"Hai! A Russel blanket." She rests her head on his chest. "Smell good."
Russ laughs. "Good girl." The man says, writing down another string of notes on the paper. Noodle plays the notes in her head as she reads them.
"Um. No, no, put.. Put." She sticks her finger on a small section of chords, specifically the bass line for the first verse. "Uh, scale, um. Letter.. Letter 'G' scale. In, umm. Five-five. Try."
Murdoc takes his seat next to Russ. "That would make sense. It would add, uh. A tad more consistency, yeah?"
Stu nods. "But that's what I said earlier, remember? Before Russ came down?"
"No, you said the 'E' scales. Which completely fucks up the key you start out with on that damned verse. I said that earlier, too, paper-brain." Murdoc appears ready to whack 2D again, even raises his fist, but one scathing look from Russ causes him to mumble something regarding how sweet Satan is and then pound said fist on the table. This causes both Noodle and Stuart to jump with surprise, while Russ just shakes his head.
"I told you's not to do that shit around her. She don't need to see it, man." The large man has a threat laced into his voice as his arms tighten around his kid protectively. "I gotta say it again, imma fuck you up again. You catch?"
Murdoc waves him off, annoyance very apparent. "Oh, shut up. He deserves every bit of it."
This brings a whimper from Stuart.
"The fuck you just say?" Russel cracks his knuckles. "Looks like you need a reminder that ya don't get to talk to me that way."
"No fight, stop!" Noodle shrieks, eyes wide with fear. "Bad!"
"Why does she get a say, again?" Murdoc glares at Noodle, who glares back with just as much mental force. "She's only a bloody child!"
"She deserve it more than you do, cracker ass." But Russ lets himself relax again, just enough that it satisfies Noodle. "Don't even start getting on her about your motherfuckin problems."
"Besides, it's her birthday tomorrow, remember?" Stuart points out. "You should be, uhh. You. You should be nice to her."
He's greeted with stunned silence.
"Shit." Russel mutters. "That tomorrow?"
Noodle nods, her face falling. "Russel forgetted? Mu-doc forgetted?" She asks, lower lip trembling. It's fake, though, she had known all along that the two had forgotten about it. But, she knows that she can use this to her advantage. "Forgetted Noodle birthday?" The girl puts as much 'pathetic' and 'hurt' into her voice as possible.
"I didn't forget! I have you lots of presents!" 2D answers with a terrified look. He doesn't like when his best friend is upset. "I even wrapped them! All by myself!"
Noodle gives a sad smile. "Thank a Toochee. Love." Her voice trembles.
"Fuck. Haven't even looked at my calendar in weeks." Murdoc scratches his neck awkwardly. They all look at said calendar; it's still flipped to August. There's a picture of some busty model on it in a yellow bikini on the top, above the actual dates.
"Me either, man. Why didn't you say nothing, baby?"
Noodle frowns. "Um.. Did no want Mu-doc be mad, a yell at Noodle. No good." She admits, burying her face in his shirt. "Scare."
"Oh." Russ replies with another glare at Murdoc. "Fuck that."
"I don't yell at you!" Murdoc insists loudly.
"Um, Murdoc.. You're doing it right now.." 2D says, shy.
"Shut up!"
Noodle sniffles. "No, uhh. No fight." She tries pathetically.
"Look, you're upsettin' her! Knock it out!" Russ looks annoyed. "Baby, I'll take you shopping for whatever ya want tomorrow. And you can get ice cream." He offers, feeling really guilty. The album had distracted him from his kid.
"Nnn.." Noodle mumbles. "A Russel." Is all she says. Really, she just wants to spend time with her boys outside of working on the album. It's all they've been doing recently, and admittedly, she's gotten lonely. "Play with Noodle. Russel, Mu-doc, Toochee. Play?"
"Whatever you want to play." Russ promises. "All of us will with ya."
"But-" Murdoc starts, but gets cut off by another hateful glare from Russel. "Fine." He crosses his arms childishly. Maybe a break will be good for them.
"How exciting! We can bake a cake!" 2D giggles, looking giddy. "A chocolate one!"
Noodle's eyes widen. "Ohh! A, um. A cake for Noodle?" She seems to be picking up some of 2D's excitement.
"I do like a good cake." Murdoc agrees reluctantly.
She squeals a bit, a big smile on her face. "Hai! Noodle cake! Ice, uh, um. Ice cream? Russel?"
"Course, baby-girl. Ain't no birthday without ice cream." Russ chuckles, kissing the top of her head.
"Hmm, good!" She beams at the boys before curling back up in Russel's arms. "Will play with Noodle." Noodle pats the man's cheek, sighing with contentment.
Noodle's birthday was fun. They had somehow managed to surprise her with a big pile of birthday presents. She suspects that Russ and Murdoc had put their differences aside and gone emergency gift shopping once she'd gone down to sleep. Really, she can't remember anything other than falling asleep in Russel's arms about an hour into helping write music. It'd probably been around 21:15, she thinks. She'd woken up in her bed wrapped up in her blankets in the way only Russ knows how to do. There was chocolate milk, (her favourite!), sitting on her night table, much to her surprise.
Once she'd gotten to the kitchen, she had been delighted to find Russel making pancakes. He puts chocolate chips in the batter, which Noodle absolutely adores. She was even more surprised to find all the presents on the table. That was exciting! But how did they get there...?
Once Noodle's been put in her bed, Russel gently wraps the blankets around her. He knows how cold she gets at night, after all, and it always breaks his heart to be woken up by a shivering and upset little girl. He kisses her forehead, and with one last affectionate glance at the sleeping child (his baby-girl is so damned cute), he dims the lights and quietly leaves the room.
"What are you planning?" Says a gruff voice in a whisper. Murdoc's standing outside the door to Noodle's bedroom, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Going shopping." Russ replies quietly. The large man stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Gonna get her a shit ton of presents."
"I'm coming. We can pool together our money." Murdoc suggests. Though, it's more a factual statement than a suggestion, the way he says it.
Russ shrugs. "Just don't be an ass or I'll leave you in the car. Imma tell Dee we're going so he can keep an ear out for Noodle. Just in case."
"Right, right. I'll be in the Geep." Murdoc pulls the keys from a hook mounted in the wall next to the lift.
The shopping trip ended up turning into a contest between the two men to see who could find the best gifts. At the end it'll all just come down to Noodle's opinion.
At this point, it's around three by the time they're back, and they still have to giftwrap everything. Russel's getting increasingly short-tempered with Murdoc. He'd tried to convince Russ to let him buy Noodle her first pack of cigarettes; to which Russel so affectionately replied, "You try it, imma break yo fucking neck," with an intensely pissed off expression. "It bad enough that you be smokin' round her all the damn time. She nine, you piece of shit."
Murdoc waves him off. "Not as if she cares, now does she, no?" He says with a shrug. "I don't even think she notices when I am."
"She coughs a ton when you smokin' close to her." Russ points out. "You might at least try to not be such an asshole all the time."-
"Eh." Murdoc shrugs again as he pulls into the car park. "She isn't my kid. You're the one with the legal papers."
"That ain't no excuse. She be looking up to you for some reason. You seen the way she picks things up from us." Russ retorts, sighing as he gets out. "It ain't only about you anymore. We still got a baby girl to take care of." He opens the back door.
The Satanist rolls his eyes. "Oh, fuck off. You're starting to sound like 2-D's mum."
"I got major respect for that woman. Imma take that as a compliment." Grabbing half of the bags from the back seat, he starts toward the lift, feeling annoyingly drowsy. He hopes that Noodle's still asleep; more often than not, the girl climbs into his bed at night because of another nightmare. He's usually awake most of the night so he can watch the news, since he's usually so busy during the day.
Grumbling, Murdoc grabs the remainder of the shopping bags and gets into the lift next to Russel. There's awkward silence until backwards Stairway to Heaven starts up. Russel groans. "This song is shit!" He complains. "It was shit before it was reversed, but it's just. Just fuckin terrible."
Meanwhile, Murdoc's somehow singing along with the backwards vocals. It's a lot of groaning noises since it's not really possible to sound reversed unless you're using a tape recorder, but it's pretty accurate-sounding, all things considered.
A few torturous minutes later, Russ and Murdoc are finally let off. They've got some work to do.
Hey, there! It's like.. 01:00 right now. I forgot to update. So sorry!!!!!!!
This one was fun to write. Lots of laughs, some fluff, and Murdoc being an arsehole. What more could you ask for?
By the way, Russ wins the contest with a fishing rod. She'll be excited to go fishing with her boys!
Until next time,
ELIZABETH
