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She woke up to the smell of blood. Opening her eyes a crack, Noodle saw that the shelter was lit up brightly by the rising sun. Morning. She moved to turn over so that her back was to the window and found that she was still covered up by the Boogieman's cape. As the memories of last night came flooding back, Noodle sat up with a start, looking all around the shelter.

She was alone. There was no sign of the masked creature, other than the cape it had left over her and a blood soaked piece of gauze that was on the floor in the corner. Probably the one that had covered its head wound, given how bloody it was. She wondered where the creature could have gone. She doubted that it had simply abandoned her, since she didn't think it would have left its cape behind if it had left for good, but she wasn't sure where it could have gone off to. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to clear the fuzziness from her head, and as she did so, she realized that she could still smell blood.

She looked around the room again and realized that the smell was coming from a rusty, dented metal washtub that she hadn't noticed before. It was sitting near the door of the shelter, and she crawled over to it, eyeing it with some misgiving, wondering if there was something nasty inside. Steeling herself, she looked inside it, and was greeted with the sight of four headless seagulls, a long silvery fish, and two Superfast Jellyfish, the last two still smiling vacantly at her despite being dead. Such a sight would normally have startled her a bit, but as it was, she could only look at the pile of dead animals and think one thing…

FOOD!

She heard the crunching of footsteps outside, and a moment later, the Boogieman entered the shelter, holding two more dead seagulls. Its dark, emaciated body looked even scrawnier without its cloak to give it added bulk, and in turn, made its head look almost comically huge and round. Its body glistened with wetness, as though the creature had been swimming, and its huge green hands, the gloves removed, were covered in white feathers. Blood stained its long, yellow claws. Despite its lack of a face, she could have sworn it looked pleased with itself.

"You brought breakfast!" Noodle chirped at it, surprised to find she was glad to see it.

It looked at her and nodded, then chucked both seagulls into the washtub with an unceremonious thunk! That taken care of, it wiped its hands on its pants and moved over to the window, where it had left its clothes. It pulled on the pair of long-fingered leather gloves that Noodle hadn't noticed on the ground before, then slipped its cloak back on over its dark, skeletal body. Noodle realized she was staring again and turned to look back into the washtub in embarrassment. They should probably find some way to make a fire to cook all these goodies. She was sure there would be plenty of scrapwood on the island, and she had a small lighter in her pack, so it shouldn't be too difficult. She heard the Boogieman approach again, and looked up at it. "We need to cook all this," she told it. "Can you help me gather some wood so we can make a fire?"

It nodded again, then went out the door. Noodle followed it, and the two of them split up to search the area for firewood. As she picked her way among the piles of trash, scooping up what wood she could find, she pondered last night's events, a bit baffled about what had taken place. The strange monster certainly didn't seem like the type of creature who would take pity on crying girls…but it had, and she wasn't quite sure why. Had it merely been trying to repay her for helping it the night before? She supposed that she could understand that, at least…but even so, a demon didn't seem like the type of being who would care about paying back debts. Unless it wasn't a demon… She still knew absolutely nothing about it, and she obviously couldn't ask it anything about itself, unless she wanted a blank look for an answer.

But she supposed that the important thing was that it HAD helped her. And she was grateful. If it hadn't shown up last night, she wasn't sure what would have happened to her…what she would have done. Would I have…would I have done something to myse-? She didn't want to finish the thought. It made pain and anger and embarrassment come flooding back, and she didn't want to have to deal with all that again. Not right now, anyway.

She stooped down and picked up one more piece of scrapwood, this one a broken table leg, and decided that that was enough. Readjusting her burden so it was easier to carry, she headed back to the shelter.

The Boogieman was already out front with a pile of its own scrapwood that it had gathered. Noodle added her bundle of wood to the pile and saw that they had plenty of wood for a roaring bonfire. Her stomach began to growl as she thought of the food inside the shelter that was sitting there, waiting to be cooked.

"I'll need you to clean the stuff you caught," she told the Boogieman. It looked at her blankly, its head cocked slightly to the side. She knew what that meant. "Clean it," she repeated for the confused creature. "Take off the feathers, take out the guts, take off the feet, that sort of thing. Just leave the meat attached. Can you do that?"

It hesitated a bit, as though thinking, but then nodded at her. "Okay," said Noodle. "You bring the stuff outside and clean it, and I'm going to go get a few things. I'll be right back."

She started searching among the garbage for scrap metal, trying to find long thin pieces that they could use for skewers. She finally located a few pieces that she thought would work, and she picked them up. Then she scooped up handfuls of old newspapers, making sure to find the driest pieces. When she had everything she needed, and brought it back to the shelter, where the Boogieman was sitting in front of the old washtub, its green hands covered in blood. Its long claws had proven ideal for slicing and gutting the birds and fish, and it now had what looked like six miniature, dark-meat chickens and an awkwardly filleted fish in the washtub in front of it.

Her stomach growling even harder, Noodle set to work clearing an area that was free of anything that might burn. They definitely didn't want to risk setting the surrounding garbage on fire. She moved aside combustible material and placed metal and other things that wouldn't burn down in its place, until there was a nice fireproof substrate on which to build the fire. She even placed larger metal objects in a ring around the makeshift "fire pit," just as she would rocks around a campfire. When she had made the spot as safe as she could, she piled some of the wood they had gathered on top of it. Then she went back into the shelter and dug the green cigarette lighter and a pair of handkerchiefs out of her pack. Returning outside, she crumpled the newspapers she had gathered and set them on top of the wood. She lit the papers with a flick of the lighter and watched them ignite. They burned quickly and brightly, and soon the little blaze had spread to the wood below. Once she was sure the fire would not go out, she picked up the metal "skewers" and wiped them as clean as she could get them on her dress, then stuck them into the flames, hoping the fire would at least kill anything nasty on them that might make her sick. Once they were disinfected to her satisfaction, she wrapped the handkerchiefs around the end of each one, hoping that the cloth would insulate their hands from the soon to be hot metal. Once everything was ready, she went back over to the Boogieman. It had been watching her with interest while she had made the fire, and now looked up at her as she approached.

"Okay, we're ready to cook it," she told the monster. She had it slice the long fish in half, then she threaded three of the seagulls, half the fish and one of the jellyfish onto each skewer. She gave one to the Boogieman, then took the other for herself. Moving back to the fire, she held her skewer near the flames, but not in them or directly over them, and rotated it slowly to let the meat cook on all sides as well as prevent all the juices from running off the birds. The meat began to snap and sizzle immediately, and Noodle's mouth began to water as the smell of it reached her nose. She wanted to reach out and rip off a piece of meat from one of the seagulls, but she had to remind herself to wait until they were fully cooked, or there would be a good chance of making herself sick. Gulls were filthy birds, after all. Fortunately, they were also fairly small, and so she didn't think it would take longer than five or so minutes before they were done. She could wait a little longer.

The Boogieman stuck its skewer directly into the fire, and there was a fwoosh sound as every piece of meat on it went up in flames.

"No, don't do that!" Noodle shouted, looking for a place to set her own skewer down. She rested it awkwardly against the pile of unused firewood and rushed to the Boogieman's side. It was waving the flaming meat around frantically as though it were trying to put out the flames. "Here, give it to me!" Noodle demanded, reaching out and prying the metal stick from the startled monster's hand. She blew on it as hard as she could, managing to extinguish the fire after huffing and puffing a bit, then surveyed the damage. The seagulls and fish were burnt in a few places, but thankfully, they still looked salvageable. "Here, let me show you how to cook it," she said to the creature. It hesitantly came over to her side and she gently placed the stick back in its hands. She adjusted its fingers a bit, showing it how to hold the stick so that it could be rotated properly, then guided the skewer back into the fire, this time off to the side, like her own had been. "If you stick it right into the fire like you did, the heat will make all the fat and oil in the birds catch fire," she told the creature. "And if you put it directly above the flame, the same thing will happen. Heat rises, you see, so it's hottest there. Put it off to the side, so that the heat will cook the meat, but not burn it. Then spin it, like this," she said, as she guided the monster's fingers, showing it how to rotate the skewer. "That way, the meat will cook on all sides." She watched as the creature slowly rotated the stick in its fingers, keeping it out of the flames this time. "There, you've got it," she said, smiling at it. She gave it a gentle pat on the arm before moving back to her side of the fire and picking her own skewer back up.

Just as she'd thought, it didn't take very long before the meat was done, and then the two of them sat down next to each other on the overturned washtub ands got to work on it. She pulled the jellyfish off first and looked at it with some slight misgiving. It was still smiling at her, despite being fully cooked and having had a skewer shoved between its eyes. This dampened her appetite slightly, but she had to remind herself that people ate these things every day and seemed quite fond of them, so they couldn't be THAT bad. Besides, they were full of water, and water was definitely something that was in short supply here. She glanced over at the Boogieman and saw that it had ripped its own jellyfish to pieces already and was eagerly slurping the tentacles through the snout of its mask. Its fingers were stained with the invertebrate's dark juices. IT certainly seemed to be enjoying the jellyfish.

Screwing up her courage, Noodle stuck the entire jellyfish into her mouth and slurped it down in one gulp, which was the popular way to eat them. It went down surprisingly easily and strangely enough, tasted a bit like chicken. It certainly wasn't the best thing she had ever eaten, but it was definitely edible, and her stomach accepted it gratefully. She pushed aside a sudden mental picture of the jellyfish floating in her stomach juices, still smiling serenely, and moved on to the piece of fish. She tore the flaky bits of meat from the bones and shoved them into her mouth, savoring the flavor only for a moment, then swallowing them quickly and shoving more into her mouth. She didn't care that she was eating like a pig or that the juices from the fish were running down her chin. It was food, and she wanted it in her stomach as quickly as possible and that was all that mattered. She gobbled the rest of the fish off the bone, tossed it aside and moved on to the first seagull.

She paused a moment to glance at the Boogieman, wanting to make sure that it wasn't having any trouble eating the meat through its mask. It didn't seem to be, since it had finished the fish and had already started to eat the seagull, tearing pieces of meat from the breast of the bird and shoving them into the snout of its mask, then tipping its head back slightly and gulping them down, looking a bit like a bird itself. As she watched, it ripped a tiny drumstick from the seagull and stuck the end of it into its snout. It slurped loudly, then pulled the bone back out, completely clean, and flicked it aside.

Noodle giggled.

It paused and glanced over at her.

She grinned at it. "Do it again," she giggled.

It looked at her blankly, its head cocked to the side, as though it found her reaction bewildering.

She gave it her best winning smile. "Please?" she asked with syrupy sweetness. On a whim, she grabbed one of the drumsticks from her own seagull and waved it in the monster's face.

It hesitated a moment more before apparently deciding to indulge her. It leaned over and let her stick the drumstick into its snout. A moment later it had slurped the meat down, leaving her holding a bare bone.

She tossed the bone aside, still laughing and pulled the second drumstick from the carcass. The Boogieman obligingly let her feed it the other drumstick, slurping a bit louder this time, as though actually trying to entertain her, and Noodle dissolved into giggles. It really wasn't that funny, but damn it, after everything that had happened, it felt good to laugh at something, even if it was something as inane as the Boogieman's table manners.

She paused to take a breath in the middle of her giggling, and the Boogieman stuck another drumstick into her open mouth.

"Mmmph!" Noodle said in surprise, her mouth full of seagull. She looked up and saw that the monster had turned its head away from her, as though trying to hide its own snickers.

Quickly, Noodle scraped the meat from the bone with her teeth and pulled the bone out. "I'll get you for that," she said with around a mouthful of food, flicking the bone at the creature. It hit the back of its head and bounced off, and the creature turned its head back to look at her. Noodle pounced, seizing its long, ridiculous nose in both hands and holding onto it. The Boogieman froze, looking completely thunderstruck.

"I like your nose," was all Noodle said, still in that sweet voice. She batted her eyelashes at the monster.

It stared at her, dumbfounded, for a few moments before shaking its head slightly side to side, reminding her of a dog trying to free its snout from a similar predicament. She laughed harder at it and released its nose. It pulled away, and put one hand on its nose protectively, then stared at her, head cocked to the side again.

Noodle laughed again and patted it on the back affectionately. "You're a good sport," she told it, smiling at it.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that, while goofing around could be nice, eating was even nicer. She turned back to her breakfast and started ripping pieces of meat from the seagull and devouring them. It tasted like dry, slightly tough chicken, but in her current state, Noodle found it delicious. She wolfed the meat down, and beside her, the Boogieman did the same, and silence fell over them as they contentedly finished their breakfast.

In the end, the two of them made short work of every single thing the Boogieman had caught, and soon they were surrounded by nothing but bones. Noodle wiped her mouth on her sleeve, feeling full and content, while beside her, the monster tried to wipe seagull grease from its snout with its cloak. Noodle decided that the only thing the meal needed was a bit of water to wash it all down, so she got up and went into the shelter, where she dug the second water bottle out of her pack. She took a few swigs of the warm water, letting it wash the greasy taste out of her mouth, then poured the Boogieman's ration of water into its water bowl.

"You must be thirsty," she said kindly, as she exited the shelter and brought the creature its water dish. It reached out to take the bowl from her, but, on another whim, Noodle hung onto it and instead raised it up to the creature's snout herself. She found something sweet and tender about letting it drink from her hands and she didn't know why, but she wanted that right now. It didn't seem inclined to argue and stuck its snout into the dish, slurping the water down in three long gulps.

Once it was finished, Noodle set the dish aside and sat back down next to the monster. Hesitantly, she reached out and placed her hand on its own. "Listen," she said, a bit awkwardly. "I want to thank you for…for all this. For the food, and for…for last night…" She felt her face turning redder than a tomato, but she made herself continue. The creature deserved a proper thank you. "For staying with me when…when you…found me." For not abandoning me like I was nothing… "I don't know what I would have done if…I…I…I mean…it..it meant a lot…." She stared at her feet, feeling herself blush harder as she stuttered incoherently. "Thank you," she finally finished. "Just, thank you." She hesitantly slipped her arms around the monster and gave it a gentle hug.

For a long moment, she felt it stiffen in her arms, and she wondered if perhaps she'd gone a touch too far and made it uncomfortable, but then she felt its arm slip around her shoulder and draw her a bit nearer. Its hand came up and it gently stroked her hair with a single finger.

The tiny little gesture told Noodle all that she needed to know, and she grinned. It liked her. It wasn't just doing this out of some uncharacteristic kindness or to repay her for helping it. It actually liked her.

At least somebody does… she thought as she wrapped her arms around it tightly. It let her, and the two of them sat there contentedly for several minutes while they listened to the crackling of the bonfire as it burned itself out.

"Do you have a name?" Noodle murmured, her cheek once against resting against the monster's chest. She wasn't sure why she asked, since it couldn't have told her its name even if it did have one, but she would have like to have had something to call it, something to think of it as other than "the creature," or Murdoc's silly name of "The Boogieman." Not really expecting an answer, she was surprised when she looked up and saw it shake its head.

"No name?" she said. "None at all?"

It shook its head again.

"I can relate," she said, laying her head back against its chest. "I don't really have a name either. At least, I don't know my real name. 'Noodle' is just the name my fr-, uh, I mean, bandmates gave me when I was a little girl. It was the only English word I could say." She chuckled a bit, remembering. "Maybe I should give you a name," she said to the Boogieman. "If you want me to, that is," she hastily amended. She probably shouldn't be presumptuous. Maybe it was just fine with not having a name.

It cocked its head to the side, considering her words, and then nodded.

"Really?" she asked, a bit surprised. When it nodded again, she set to work trying to come up with something. She really wasn't good at naming things. She supposed she could name it something to do with its appearance. Creepy? Pinocchio? Gasmask? Skeleton-man?

She laughed out loud. Those were AWFUL! She had to come up with something better. She tried to think of something else about the monster that might be a source of inspiration. Something about pirates? It had been leading pirates when she'd first met it. Something about hunting? It had certainly proven that it was good at that. Maybe something from the song it had "sung" for her last night? Of course, last night was a bit of a jumble in her mind, and she wasn't sure she could even remember any of the lyrics of that song. She tried to think back and recall them, but she couldn't remember anything but a little snippet. Something like…

"Sun moon stars," she said to herself.

The Boogieman looked at her for a moment, then nodded its head.

Noodle burst out laughing. "No, no!" she frantically tried to correct it. "That wasn't the name I picked out!" She laughed even harder at the absurdity of it. "I was just thinking out loud, trying to remember the words to the song you sang for me. I thought maybe I could come up with some inspiration from them. I wasn't naming you Sunmoonstars!" She giggled hysterically. "Sunmoonstars" made all the other names she'd come up with sound positively dignified. "That name makes you sound like a Hippie!"

The creature looked at her and shrugged slightly, then went back to watching the fire, as though it didn't find this whole business as big of a deal as she did. It probably didn't know what a Hippie was or even that "Sunmoonstars" wasn't a real name. It probably had little idea as to what was a proper name and what wasn't. Noodle realized that she could have named it "Butthead" and it probably would have accepted it without question.

This was absolutely too much, and she dissolved into hysterical laughter, losing her balance and falling off the washtub. "Sunmoonstars" managed to reach out and catch her before she hit the ground, which was probably fortunate, since she likely would have landed on broken glass or sharp pointy metal or something otherwise. The creature hauled her back up onto the washtub and supported her while she tried to get her breath back. It stared at her with its head cocked so far to the side it was practically looking at her sideways. It was probably wondering if she'd lost her mind.

"Sorry, sorry," she gasped out in between bouts of laughter. She took a few deep breaths to try and get her giggling under control. "Listen, 'Sunmoonstars,'" she told it, still snickering a bit. "I've got to come up with a better name for you than that. But I'll have to think about it, because I'm not good at making up names. In the meantime, we should probably get going." She offered a hand to it, and helped it to its feet. "We've got a lot of work to do, because we're finding a way to get off this island."