You've missed some stuff but everybody's focused on the holiday break! You can borrow my notes if there's anything you really want to know about. [After they're heavily edited and rewritten and all the embarrassing doodles are removed.]
But yeah, I guess it doesn't matter. [She looks around at his kitchen with interest, dumping her bag of stuff on the table and wrestling the lid off the ice cream.] Saving people and making friends and having super cool adventures, that's what matters!
Hmm, I haven't been able to do much of those, though. I made friends, at least.
[But the adventure part... They caught an alligator? That's about it. Moving across the kitchen with practiced ease, he tiptoes to get into the cabinets and pull out a couple of bowls. From there, it's the spoons, the ice cream scoop, and-- ah, it seems he has toppings available, too.]
You helped save people in the maze! Who knows what those guys you fought would've done if you hadn't been there?
[She bounces a little bit in anticipation. She grabs the scoop and starts dividing the ice cream into two bowls, making sure the one Killua gets has the most.]
I guess most of this stuff doesn't count as an adventure to you, though, since your life is so exciting and cool all the time.
Actually, I don't really think I was helpful in the maze, either...
[Everyone helped themselves in the end, didn't they? Mabel included. He makes a face like he's troubled by this memory (Kite was there, too), but that fades soon enough into something a little more neutral.]
I wouldn't really say my life is cool either. [What? Denying something about himself as cool? He sorts out the syrup and cookie crumbs on the counter, watching Mabel with interest.]
My family's nuts, my big brother is a total creep and hangs out with an even bigger freak that likes following me and Gon around, and we're always getting involved in dangerous, uncool things! ...It's kind of tiring.
[ Her enthusiasm for the toppings dies down as Killua starts describing his life back home. By the time he admits how tiring it is, she's stopped paying any attention to the ice cream at all.]
That's... [Depressing? Disheartening? Mabel had no idea Killua had all that to deal with. Sure, she knew about his assassin background, but... this isn't what she was picturing. She thought it was romantic and cool-- this is complicated. This might be a challenge to fix.]
...yeah. It sounds tiring. Why's your brother a creep? [Mabel hopes it's because of his internet search history or an inappropriate crush on a teenager. Those, at least, she knows how to deal with.]
[His internet search history is probably a lot of rich old guys... Still weird, but not quite what Killua's talking about here. He blinks, wondering how far he should get into this with Mabel. She seems a lot more innocent, and honestly, he's not sure how to handle it. Talking to his sister is one thing, but to another girl?]
He's always trying to control me. Following me around and telling me that friends are useless and bad for me, and that I'd just end up hurting them. He's upset that I quit being an assassin, I think.
[For a second Mabel's just stunned. It's always a little difficult for her to see siblings who aren't as close as her and Dipper, but she's gotten used to it. Sometimes brothers and sisters just don't get along as well as they do. But there's a huge difference between a brother who calls his brother names and one who's actively trying to ruin his whole life!
The shock doesn't last for more than a second before she gets angry. Mabel jabs her spoon in the air, as if Killua's brother is right there and silverware is any kind of effective weapon at all.]
He what!?! What the heck, your brother is the biggest jerk! [Now she's waving the spoon around for emphasis, her voice just a little big shoutier than strictly necessary.] What a huge liar! You'd only hurt your friends if you did what he wanted, and like he'd know about friendship and stuff if all he does is hang around with creepy people and try to make your life suck!
[Her outburst actually startles Killua. Thoroughly distracted by her motions, he steps back the slightest bit from her spoon waving, his shocked expression slowly fading into something honestly torn.
He agrees with her. He's always complained about it, since he grew old enough to realize how restricting it was. But somehow now, self doubt nagged at the back of his mind. The constant thoughts and desires to run didn't help, and a recent decision to abandon a friend to die in order to carry Gon away had sealed the deal. He was troubled over all of this, and Illumi's face was tied to it all.
But--]
Do you ever feel scared? [He asks this out of nowhere, soft and curious, but toned just casually enough to sound like he doesn't mind if the answer goes one way or the other.] That I've killed a bunch of people. Does it ever feel like I could hurt you?
[That's what he's worried about. He'd never do it-- but his brother keeps warning that it'll happen anyway. And with recent news from Hisoka about Gon...]
I-- what? [She calms down at his question, confusion all over her face. Did he really just ask her that?] Of course not!
[The answer is a reflex-- she's never even considered being scared of him. Killua's her friend.
He's killed people, though... she thinks back, to all the times she's seen him fight. Killua's strong, definitely. Like, way stronger than anybody she's ever met, and probably much stronger than any of the weird terrifying stuff she's seen in Gravity Falls. Even knowing that, though, she can't even bring herself to be nervous around him.
Mabel shakes her head forcefully.]
No way! I don't think you ever would, so I never worry about it. You're my friend, Killua-- I trust you!
[She says it confidently, like there's no other option. He's a good guy, case closed.]
[He watches his owm hands as she reacts, curling his fingers one by one. The answer was so immediate, but he can't say he's surprised by the answer. Worry lifts but an imprint remains in the back of his mind with the rest. Raising that hand, he rubs at his forehead a little, pausing when Mabel speaks those last words so confidently.
He looks over like he's caught off guard before blinking away to try and hide the smallest bit of blush at his cheeks.]
Y-yeah. Well, good! We're friends! [It's amazing to think that he can have people like this around him. How? He swore with everything in his soul that he'd never hurt a friend, but fear can linger when all the powerful adults around him press this into him. For now, though, he lets it fade away, a smile slowly taking over the sheepish look on his face.
He looks back to her now.] Let's hurry and have some ice cream before it melts!
[She smiles at him in return, full of relief. If he's anything like Dipper (and he is pretty fond of long-winded explanations of stuff, so yeah, they do have a thing or two in common) then he'll probably need multiple reassurances, but that's okay. Mabel's not sure if awkward friend hugs are a thing, but she might need to make it a thing.
And, privately, she promises herself if she ever meets Killua's brother she is going to give him a piece of her mind. The jerk!!]
Yeah! And then we'll do cool, non-dangerous and fun things. Since you're on vacation from school, you need to make the most of it.
[Mabel no... that's not a good idea to have in mind ever.]
Yeah!
[Building up from the optimistic excitement, Killua beams, himself. Sticking a spoon into each bowl, he helps finish up with the toppings before putting them away. From there, he grabs his own bowl and moves to the table, hopping into one of the seats there.]
Hmm. [Eventually, he's thinking, the spoon hanging out of his mouth and wiggling a little as idly lets one of his legs swing forward and back.] But what sort of things could we do? What do you usually do for fun, Mabel?
[Making a list in her head, she disregards most of the things she does on her own. Killua's good at drawing, so arts and crafts would probably be boring, and he wouldn't get the appeal of reading books about dreamy vampires. So Mabel takes an extra long time to finish off her bit of ice cream to give herself a moment to think about the kind of things a boy would want to do.]
Well, Dipper and I went to the arcade a couple times! That was fun. [Except for when the video game characters came to life and tried to fight everybody but eh, details.] And sometimes we make up things like rolly chair races and trying to tape each other to walls and stuff. I dunno, usually we just go exploring and fun or weird things happen out of nowhere.
[It could be that arcade games are more preferable, or maybe he got this wrong... But he blinks upwards in his thought, digging into his ice cream some more.] I don't really know if I want anything weird to happen here, either.
[The images of Hisoka and Kimblee respectively come to mind, and he makes a face. Well, they're both busy with other things, right... Right.]
Exploring is pretty cool, though. I haven't been around too much.
I don't like certain ones! You know, evil ones. [It's just hard to tell the difference between the evil ones and the not-so-evil ones.] I'm pretty good at racing games and dance games.
Me neither. [She stirs the leftover ice cream slush in her bowl.] It's hard to explore in Heropa since it's mostly stores and city and then swamp that's too wet to have much fun it. [With the exception of getting alligators in, obviously.] I wish we could get to California! Or Oregon. Then I could probably give you tours and we could go to all the fun places that I bet totally also exist in this world!
Evil ones? [He laughs, and he can't help but think of Greed Island. But they'd already mentioned that to Mabel, and she'd seemed pretty bothered at the state of both of their hands after that, so--]
That's right, you're actually from a world where these places exist! Weeeird... I mean, the map's kind of similar, though... [Seriously Togashi, please. Killua considers that for a moment before shrugging it off, nudging his empty bowl a bit closer towards the center of the table.]
We could always just explore and find fun places ourselves.
[She waves her hands in the air like it's just so complicated, but figures he knows what she means by evil video games anyway. After all, she hasn't forgotten about the adventure in limb-loss they told her about. If anyone gets evil video games, it's probably Killua.]
Well, yeah, most of them! Some stuff's in the wrong place. Like Disney World! But since that's in a weird place, there's probably all kinds of cool places I don't have at home. We can strike out on an adventure when-- ["When Gon gets back" is what she starts to say, but Mabel stops abruptly when she remembers that there's no telling when Gon might be back. Time to backpedal to keep Killua from feeling any worse than he already does!]
--uhh when the holidays are all over! Since I bet it's cold everywhere and that makes it less fun. So much less fun. [Smooth, Mabel. Super smooth save.]
[He's so distracted by Disney World being in her world too that he almost misses that slip up. In the end, he doesn't. Not even between wondering if he should ask what it's like or if he should leave it for the surprise if--
If Gon comes back. When Gon comes back?
It's probably just that this whole train of thought was accidentally set up wrong. He frowns for a split second, flicking the edge of his bowl as he slumps a little more over the table. But at Mabel's attempted recovery, he still smiles.]
You don't like the cold? [He's not sure if that's true, but.] I guess we could wait. There's nothing that's really standing out to me right now, anyway. Maybe by the time the holidays pass I'll have some ideas!
If it's still cold, you can just wear an extra sweater. [He likes to wear turtlenecks under his t-shirts so he finds this acceptable.]
[Mabel saw that frown, and for a second she despairs. She's off her game in the worst way. Right now she's sure that she's officially the worst at helping. ]
The cold's okay, but it makes it really hard to do stuff! Like find underground caves and search abandoned buildings.
--and you can't just wear a sweater over a sweater. [That's just crazy talk.] Every sweater needs its chance to shine! Unless you need an emergency sweater and you don't have a backpack then wearing two at once is just-- no. Killua, no.
[Okay, that actually makes him laugh shortly before he raises up one of his arms in a wide shrug. He doesn't get it!! Its chance to shine?]
What's so bad about it? If you're cold, you're cold! It's better than freezing! [Have you seen his fashion Mabel, he does not understand. Maybe when you meet his brother you'll see.]
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But yeah, I guess it doesn't matter. [She looks around at his kitchen with interest, dumping her bag of stuff on the table and wrestling the lid off the ice cream.] Saving people and making friends and having super cool adventures, that's what matters!
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[But the adventure part... They caught an alligator? That's about it. Moving across the kitchen with practiced ease, he tiptoes to get into the cabinets and pull out a couple of bowls. From there, it's the spoons, the ice cream scoop, and-- ah, it seems he has toppings available, too.]
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[She bounces a little bit in anticipation. She grabs the scoop and starts dividing the ice cream into two bowls, making sure the one Killua gets has the most.]
I guess most of this stuff doesn't count as an adventure to you, though, since your life is so exciting and cool all the time.
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[Everyone helped themselves in the end, didn't they? Mabel included. He makes a face like he's troubled by this memory (Kite was there, too), but that fades soon enough into something a little more neutral.]
I wouldn't really say my life is cool either. [What? Denying something about himself as cool? He sorts out the syrup and cookie crumbs on the counter, watching Mabel with interest.]
My family's nuts, my big brother is a total creep and hangs out with an even bigger freak that likes following me and Gon around, and we're always getting involved in dangerous, uncool things! ...It's kind of tiring.
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That's... [Depressing? Disheartening? Mabel had no idea Killua had all that to deal with. Sure, she knew about his assassin background, but... this isn't what she was picturing. She thought it was romantic and cool-- this is complicated. This might be a challenge to fix.]
...yeah. It sounds tiring. Why's your brother a creep? [Mabel hopes it's because of his internet search history or an inappropriate crush on a teenager. Those, at least, she knows how to deal with.]
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He's always trying to control me. Following me around and telling me that friends are useless and bad for me, and that I'd just end up hurting them. He's upset that I quit being an assassin, I think.
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The shock doesn't last for more than a second before she gets angry. Mabel jabs her spoon in the air, as if Killua's brother is right there and silverware is any kind of effective weapon at all.]
He what!?! What the heck, your brother is the biggest jerk! [Now she's waving the spoon around for emphasis, her voice just a little big shoutier than strictly necessary.] What a huge liar! You'd only hurt your friends if you did what he wanted, and like he'd know about friendship and stuff if all he does is hang around with creepy people and try to make your life suck!
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He agrees with her. He's always complained about it, since he grew old enough to realize how restricting it was. But somehow now, self doubt nagged at the back of his mind. The constant thoughts and desires to run didn't help, and a recent decision to abandon a friend to die in order to carry Gon away had sealed the deal. He was troubled over all of this, and Illumi's face was tied to it all.
But--]
Do you ever feel scared? [He asks this out of nowhere, soft and curious, but toned just casually enough to sound like he doesn't mind if the answer goes one way or the other.] That I've killed a bunch of people. Does it ever feel like I could hurt you?
[That's what he's worried about. He'd never do it-- but his brother keeps warning that it'll happen anyway. And with recent news from Hisoka about Gon...]
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[The answer is a reflex-- she's never even considered being scared of him. Killua's her friend.
He's killed people, though... she thinks back, to all the times she's seen him fight. Killua's strong, definitely. Like, way stronger than anybody she's ever met, and probably much stronger than any of the weird terrifying stuff she's seen in Gravity Falls. Even knowing that, though, she can't even bring herself to be nervous around him.
Mabel shakes her head forcefully.]
No way! I don't think you ever would, so I never worry about it. You're my friend, Killua-- I trust you!
[She says it confidently, like there's no other option. He's a good guy, case closed.]
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He looks over like he's caught off guard before blinking away to try and hide the smallest bit of blush at his cheeks.]
Y-yeah. Well, good! We're friends! [It's amazing to think that he can have people like this around him. How? He swore with everything in his soul that he'd never hurt a friend, but fear can linger when all the powerful adults around him press this into him. For now, though, he lets it fade away, a smile slowly taking over the sheepish look on his face.
He looks back to her now.] Let's hurry and have some ice cream before it melts!
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And, privately, she promises herself if she ever meets Killua's brother she is going to give him a piece of her mind. The jerk!!]
Yeah! And then we'll do cool, non-dangerous and fun things. Since you're on vacation from school, you need to make the most of it.
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Yeah!
[Building up from the optimistic excitement, Killua beams, himself. Sticking a spoon into each bowl, he helps finish up with the toppings before putting them away. From there, he grabs his own bowl and moves to the table, hopping into one of the seats there.]
Hmm. [Eventually, he's thinking, the spoon hanging out of his mouth and wiggling a little as idly lets one of his legs swing forward and back.] But what sort of things could we do? What do you usually do for fun, Mabel?
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Well, Dipper and I went to the arcade a couple times! That was fun. [Except for when the video game characters came to life and tried to fight everybody but eh, details.] And sometimes we make up things like rolly chair races and trying to tape each other to walls and stuff. I dunno, usually we just go exploring and fun or weird things happen out of nowhere.
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[It could be that arcade games are more preferable, or maybe he got this wrong... But he blinks upwards in his thought, digging into his ice cream some more.] I don't really know if I want anything weird to happen here, either.
[The images of Hisoka and Kimblee respectively come to mind, and he makes a face. Well, they're both busy with other things, right... Right.]
Exploring is pretty cool, though. I haven't been around too much.
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Me neither. [She stirs the leftover ice cream slush in her bowl.] It's hard to explore in Heropa since it's mostly stores and city and then swamp that's too wet to have much fun it. [With the exception of getting alligators in, obviously.] I wish we could get to California! Or Oregon. Then I could probably give you tours and we could go to all the fun places that I bet totally also exist in this world!
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That's right, you're actually from a world where these places exist! Weeeird... I mean, the map's kind of similar, though... [Seriously Togashi, please. Killua considers that for a moment before shrugging it off, nudging his empty bowl a bit closer towards the center of the table.]
We could always just explore and find fun places ourselves.
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Well, yeah, most of them! Some stuff's in the wrong place. Like Disney World! But since that's in a weird place, there's probably all kinds of cool places I don't have at home. We can strike out on an adventure when-- ["When Gon gets back" is what she starts to say, but Mabel stops abruptly when she remembers that there's no telling when Gon might be back. Time to backpedal to keep Killua from feeling any worse than he already does!]
--uhh when the holidays are all over! Since I bet it's cold everywhere and that makes it less fun. So much less fun. [Smooth, Mabel. Super smooth save.]
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If Gon comes back. When Gon comes back?
It's probably just that this whole train of thought was accidentally set up wrong. He frowns for a split second, flicking the edge of his bowl as he slumps a little more over the table. But at Mabel's attempted recovery, he still smiles.]
You don't like the cold? [He's not sure if that's true, but.] I guess we could wait. There's nothing that's really standing out to me right now, anyway. Maybe by the time the holidays pass I'll have some ideas!
If it's still cold, you can just wear an extra sweater. [He likes to wear turtlenecks under his t-shirts so he finds this acceptable.]
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The cold's okay, but it makes it really hard to do stuff! Like find underground caves and search abandoned buildings.
--and you can't just wear a sweater over a sweater. [That's just crazy talk.] Every sweater needs its chance to shine! Unless you need an emergency sweater and you don't have a backpack then wearing two at once is just-- no. Killua, no.
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What's so bad about it? If you're cold, you're cold! It's better than freezing! [Have you seen his fashion Mabel, he does not understand. Maybe when you meet his brother you'll see.]
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(Besides his brother and his parents and basically entire family, except for his little sister.)]
No, no way. [She shakes her head emphatically.] You can't layer statement pieces like that! It's a sweater betrayal. If you're cold you put on a hat!
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[He has worn hats before, though, and they have never been anything less hideous than double sweaters.]
I guess it would help a little, though.
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[There are some sacrifices that have to be made for fashion.]
Unless you have any heat making powers. Have you tried throwing fireballs ever?
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[Yes, he did have to phrase it like that. On accident. He looks so cocky about it, too.] I don't need any mittens!
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If you can't do fire stuff... what can you do? Killua, tell me!
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