Chapter Text
Noodle's life had always been quite odd from the moment she was born. Her earliest memories that were as clear as she could remember started out being confined to four walls, a floor, and a ceiling constructed entirely out of wood before breaking those barriers to discover her found family and making an incredible first impression on them with a guitar solo to put any others considered to be one of the greats to shame.
There was never really much stability in her life either, what with spending her days running around a building with so many floors and rooms to get lost in, exiting through one of its many doors that lead to it outside, revealing a creepy wasteland of a graveyard containing who knows who like she stepped into some twilight zone-esque dimension, and both practicing and recording music before perfecting it into performances of the likes that'd never been heard nor seen before all around the world in every territory, country, and continent.
It was a dream for any kid to do what they loved and never have to worry about school, but that was something Noodle had always wondered about in the back of her head.
What if she got the chance to go to school? What if she got to experience what all the kids her age on TV got to go through? What if she got to stay a little longer in the places they'd toured before so she could muck about in the arcades or playgrounds?
Noodle felt kinda lucky she didn't have to suffer what she guessed some of what was true on TV, the annoyance of dealing with bullies on a day-to-day basis, terrible school lunches, catching a bus late and having to run to school before she was late, but when she gave it another thought, she knew she could handle it all if she could!
She'd karate kick their asses and make them have second thoughts on who to pick on to know who they're dealing with. Russel always seemed to be the head chef of Kong, creating either experimental or simple yet comforting dishes, so she'd never worry about having a bad lunch in her life. Unfortunately, Noodle became aware of Murdoc's habits with booze and 2D's substance abuse since he did a poor job of hiding it from her sometimes, but Russel seemed to be free one way or another to help her.
Actually, that was the thing, Russel, he was always the one taking charge of caring for her and looking after her when Murdoc or 2D couldn't. There were times when Murdoc had days he had to look after her, her favorite times being when he teaches her pranks, mostly on 2D for his amusement, or they go doing donuts in empty lots, and 2D still had his inner child on the outside at times, not caring about joining in one of Noodle's games in front of other people no matter how foolish he'll make himself look to some, but Russel was always the more responsible member of the group to her.
He was still young, though, and that didn't prevent him from making mistakes. There was a time he rented Princess Mononoke for Noodle, thinking it looked like something Noodle would've enjoyed before coming in to see her with eyes glued to the screen as a boar talked lowly and echoed as his voice and flesh began to fade with viscera and black, writhing worm-like creatures flopping about.
Noodle had grown a strong attachment to the boys and all the music they'd write and the antics they'd get into, but sometimes she wished for more than what she had.
She didn't want to go to school for just the learning she could be doing, since Russel did sometimes remember to teach her more than just English and the typical stuff you'd teach a kid like looking both ways before crossing the road, but she craved to have her own set of friends, her own adventures, knowing what a normal life was like.
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It was a chilly late-morning, and 2D walked her through the busy streets of Osaka. They'd finished up one of the many shows on their 2001 tour and decided to take a little walk around after breakfast, since Russel wanted to stay in the hotel room and Murdoc had a pulsing migraine to recover from his hangover, which miso soup couldn't cure.
As they walked, they decided to stop by Katsuo-ji to clear their minds and strengthen their already rock-solid zen bond. During a point in the visit, 2D had spotted a load of charms and other trinkets, one of which had Noodle's gaze fixed on it. It was a Daruma doll. They were both explained to each other that you'd draw in the doll's left eye when you wanted to make a goal to fulfill, and each color had a different meaning.
2D didn't fully understand it, thinking it worked like a genie, and he grabbed the blue one because it had the same color as his hair. Noodle, on the other han,d was intrigued with the idea! She thought for a long time about what color to get, friends, a normal life, going to school, what exactly would it fall under? She decided she'd be a bit more general about it and grabbed a red one.
It was packed away in her bag later that day, before they had to make their way to Tokyo for their show the next day, and she eagerly awaited the time she had a brush and ink in hand, letting the doll see out its left eye.
Though several times, both during the spare times of the tour when the band wasn't sightseeing or living experiences other countries had to offer, and when there would be a moment, she truly embraced the chaos, it made her second-guess a lot of things.
If she were to go to school, how would the band even work around everything? She could take her new jetpack, which Murdoc recently bought her, now that she doesn't worry about missing the bus. She could learn to make her own lunches; she's a big girl! If she can really play guitar and kick zombie-gorilla ass, then she can definitely handle school!
A rush of energy surged through her like a piece of electrical wire coming on after a blackout, and she eagerly pulled her bag with her through the graveyard once they got home. She did help the others unpack too, but even using her sudden energy to take heavy bags with her and running out of it didn't stop her from quickly rummaging through her bag to get the doll and paint its eye on.
Without even bothering to change, she took her radio helmet off and flopped into her bed, dreaming of a life she hopes to obtain.