(phase 1)

The moment she wakes, the cold of the morning feels as if it is attacking her bare arms; the tiny child cannot help but shiver a bit. The dusty alarm clock reads 04:25, though she can't read it, herself. It is early autumn, the girl vaguely thinks she remembers Murdoc saying just that previous day when she asked for the season.

Kong Studio's heating system is certainly not the most functional of devices; it's rather old and doesn't tend to work correctly but for once in a blue moon. Russel had tried to fix this by purchasing a small space heater for his kid's bedroom, but the room is just big enough that the heater doesn't do much more than circulate slightly-warmed air around towards the cracked window. Still, the Asian girl quickly slides her feet into the pink slippers that lay on the floor beside her bed. She's well aware that she won't be getting much more in the way of sleep until she finds out a way to warm herself up. Blankets don't seem to help much, annoyingly.

She considers summoning Del; her best friend always seems to have great ideas. Besides, the ghost is probably lonely. The girl feels around the wall by her doorframe for the light switch; eventually finding and flipping it up. The room is bathed in yellowish light as she cracks open the door.

"Hallo, Del? Del come Noodle room?" Calls the small girl. She waits a moment, staring down the eerily dark hallway.

"Heya, girl. What you want me for?" A deep voice comes from behind her, one with a heavy Brooklyn accent like Russel's. Their voices are very different, however; Russel's is more gruff. Del's is deep, yes, but also has a bit of an amused tone to it. Chills go up her spine as she whips her head around to gape at the source of the familiar voice.

"You look like you seen a ghost! Ha ha!" The pale blue spirit laughs at his own joke. His laugh is hearty; and Noodle feels a twinge of warmth towards the ghost rapper. She gets the joke, luckily, due to some sort of mystical power translating his words to her native language.

"Um. Del, uh.. Noodle ghost friend." Noodle reminds him, grinning a bit.

Del grins back at her. "New word? Ain't heard ya say 'friend' before." He does a thumbs-up.

"Oh! Uh! Toochee show Noodle. Um. Show Noodle.. New say." She pauses for a moment, knowing that the last part of her sentence didn't make much sense.

"Word, yo. Ya means word." Del corrects, chuckling. He sits down on the floor and glances up at the clock over by Noodle's bed. "It's hella early. Why you still up, baby girl?" The ghost inquires, his head tilting to the side.

Noodle is silent for another moment. She doesn't know the word for how cold she is, so she decides to give up on English again and says in Japanese, "I am awake early because it is too cold to sleep. The heater that Russel put here is not helping me feel warm." The young girl explains, plopping down on the floor next to her friend. There are bumps on her arms from the cold, she notices with annoyance.

"Oh. I see, I see." Del looks to be deep in thought. "Well, it ain't like I can move the thing closer to yo bed, the cord too short. Maybe more blankets?" He suggests, looking down at the child. If he weren't dead, he'd give her a big hug. That'd likely warm her right up. He sighs; what a shame.

Noodle looks up at Del, also obviously thinking. "Blankets are not enough, I am too cold even with all the ones Russel gave me." She complains. "There are four of them on the bed, yeah?"

The ghost rapper is silent again. "Hmm. You either have a fever or need some sorta alternate source of heat." He says cautiously. He'd feel her forehead if he could touch living things. "You feeling okay?"

Noodle frowns. She had noticed a cough developing, but had disregarded it as just dust flying round. "I have been coughing a bit, but that might just be because Russel and Toochee were cleaning." She points out, surveying her body for any other symptoms of potential illness. "I cannot think of anything else."

Del looks at her. "Be careful, baby. This place ain't never clean enough." He warns. "Is there soap in the bathrooms so your hands get washed?" He gestures out towards the hallway. "God knows what kinda germs are all up in here. I'm surprised you ain't ever caught anything worse than a cold." He goes on, tapping his fingers on the floor. He has his chin rested on the palm of his hand, and his expression is that of worry.

"There is soap. Though sometimes I even have to remind Toochee about how clean hands keeps the sick away. Mu-doc does not care, even when I do try to tell him to wash." Noodle scratches her head. "But that does not solve the cold."

Del nods attentively. "Yeah, you right. What we gotta do is, uh. Well. I ain't able to do much in my, uh. Current state. I can tuck you in, though. Do ya got them fleece PJ's still?" The dead man suggests.

"Hmm. Yes, but I cannot reach the top shelf well enough to pull them down. I can jump or climb up, but my arms are too short to reach and I do not want to get her. They are on the very back of the shelf. Towards the wall." Explains the child.

"I could probably reach." Del stands up and opens the door of the closet. The ghost rapper floats up to towards the top shelf. Once he'd retrieved them, the man tosses the clothing to Noodle and grins. "Got 'em. Go ahead and change, I'll wait out in the hall, okay?"

Noodle nods. "Yes, thank you!" She says with a wide grin.

After Noodle has changed clothes, she calls Del back. He floats through the door. "Any better? You already seem like it." He inquires.

"Hm. Good." Noodle's switched back to English. "Noodle sleep, yeah?"

"Ha! Okay, baby girl. I'll tuck ya back in." Del walks to the bed and watches as the young girl climbs into it. "You think you gonna sleep better?"

"Hai. Warm. No cold, see?" She pulls her sleeve up to reveal that the bumps have gone away. "Um, Del. Thank!" Smiling again, the girl blows him a kiss.

"Ha ha! Love you too, baby." Del pulls the blankets over Noodle. He blows the kiss back to her. "Now you get some sleep. I'm gonna leave Russ a note so he don't wake you up so early later." The ghost promises.

Noodle nods. "Love Del. Oyasumi."

"Night night, baby. You sleep good."

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Hello, all!

YES! I've returned to the scene! Glad to be back as February comes to a close. I'll be trying to get this updated more often, if anyone was wondering. Of course, if there are any short story suggestions, I would really love to hear them. I don't have much in the way of ideas, but I'm hoping I'll get more reviews to keep me well motivated.

The second semester of college is going well, I'm very glad to say that I got out of a bad relationship and so I'm finding more time for myself. That also means more time here!

Let me know what you think! The occasional lovely reviews I'm getting keep me from completely abandoning this story, you know?

To Lety, if you're still round! I will try to do that Strobelite request you have there!

Until next time,

Liz